Where has all my zloty gone?

Sunday was designated for the "All American Field Trip," which basically consisted of taking all the American students that are now here on a walking tour of the city (the whole thing was rather repetative for Lance, Andrea, Xan, and myself, but we went anyway, just for the mingling expirience). I've concluded that in Europe one can easily find a large group of American sight-seeing together--simply listen for the dull roar. We stopped for coffee at the cafe/pub underneath the town hall, and it felt as though the entire building could hear the conversations taking place at our table. Until yesterday I did not realize that when I speak with my Polish flatmates, I talk more quietly than I would in the States. Apparently, Americans are inherently loud.

Anyway, back to the main topic of the day: money. Since arriving here, it has been my goal to conserve my eating money and use it for other things (ie. travel--and no, I am not starving myself). Yesterdat afternoon, we stopped at a restaurant in the Town Square for lunch, and it seemed to be one of the pricier ones on the street. Being the frugal person that I am, (ask anyone who's gone shopping with me--I'm horribly cheap), I decided to order salmon, since it was only 8 zloty (1 zloty = 2.5 US Dollars). The waitress asked about side dishes, so I ordered some sort of rice to go with it which was 8 zl. When the bill came, my salmon was 31 zl! Apparently, there's not a set fee for the fish itself--it's sold by the ounce. That was a ridiculously expensive piece of fish, and I didn't think it was that good. All and all (with my rice and water), I paid 43 zl for dinner. Of course, I only had a 100 zl bill and the table's ticket was written as one. So, I offered to use my money to pay for what I could of the mean, and then the others would pay me back. Galen gave me 40 zl (since he and I had ordered the same thing) and the other girls at the table paid exact amounts. The waitress came and took the money, and never brought back change. Finally, we asked her and she said that she tought the extra money was her tip. So, because I have been inflicted with that classic "Midwestern Niceness," I couldn't bring myself to take the tip away from the nice lady. Instead, I paid 60 zl for freakin' fish!


In other news, I drank my very first beer in Poland. Actually, it was the first beer I have ever legally drank in my life. All the international students went to a club called "Insomnia" last night for a mixer event. There were students from Vietnam, Germany, Britian, Thiland, Turkey, Denmark, ect., ect. Toward the end of the evening, I found myself discussing the American Democratic Primary with a Norweigian, a Dane, a Turk, and a German. Each was completely up on the current news regarding the race--so much so, that it felt as though they knew more than I did...anyway, the beer was good.


Today was the official start of the intensive language course. After breakfast, all the international students (there are over 100 new ones here for the summer semester) crowded into a classroom for our initial lessons. We learned a few vital phrases, the numbers 1 - 10 and the alphabet. The pronunciations are ridiculously hard; I have trouble making the sounds correctly. I have been told that Polish is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. Most people speak their native language with complete grammatical accuracey at age 16; however, Poles do so at 21. As Lance said, "Well, I've got one week down..."


Today, when I got back to my flat, my flatmates were very interested to hear about my expiriences in Polish class. I tried to tell them the phrases that I had learned, and they helped me with some pronunciation issues. Kate and I ended up chatting about very random things and the subject of music was brought up. I asked her about the popularity of polka in Poland, and she said that it is more associated with the Czech people. Polka means "Polish woman" in Polish, but that's really it's biggest association. She said that not even the older people of the country aren't really that into it. Apparently, there's more traditional dances assosiated with Poland that are much more beautiful.

So, if Polka is not Polish, then my entire life has been a lie...I feel cheated.