Here in Poland...

Zehra and I were trading pictures a few days ago (before her computer went kapoot) and I really liked this one. So, I stole it, and posted it on my blog. But of course, I gave credit to the original owner...otherwise Mrs. Bond would hit me over the head with her legal pad for failure to follow the rules of "not plagerising" she taught us senior year. Steph and I concluded that despite the violence, "dingbat" was a term of affection. But still, no one likes blows to the head via office supplies.
This week went by so fast... and I'm not really sure why. It was a strange mix of really crappy and gorgeous weather. On Monday it was snowing, and on Wednesday we were studying in the park. The highlight of my week: talking with Lacey and Nate on skype. I hadn't seen Nate since December and the last time Lace and I spoke, I was in the car heading for the airport. So, chatting with my German counterparts about the oddities of European life was the perfect way to spend Wednesday night.

Classes are going well...for the most part. There's a few classes that I really enjoy (Polish Society in Transistion, Ethics in Polish Film, Theatre, and Poetry [even though the professor for this class is one of the spaciest people I've ever met--she's run out of the room on more than one occasion to see what's happening in the hallway--the material/films she has presented thus far has been really interesting], and Contemporary Polish Theatre [this is with the Jay Scott Chipman of Poland, who I think would single-handedly act out the plays he's trying to describe if he could]). There's a few that are interesting, but have a tendency to make me sleepy (History of Silesian Art and Culture, Polish History since 1945). And of course, I have a few that make no sense at all (Contemporary Polish Literature, Tuesday Polish Films).

I actually went to the Erasmus office to talk with my coordinator about Polish Lit, because I just don't feel as though I'm getting anything out of it. It's a literature course and we've read five pages! She showed us a film of some Polish play that is supposed to be one of the nations great literary pieces, but she projected it on the wall in such a way that no one could see it. We didn't even finish it. Then, the next class period, she was trying to get us to discuss how we felt about the ending of the film. It makes no sense. So, hopefully, I can get into another class with the English Philology Department, which means I would most likely be the only one in my class who spoke English as a first language. I went to this faculty (well, actually I intially went to the wrong building and was laughed at for doing so--it was the first time in awhile that I've felt very stupid/uninformed in Poland) and got a schedule, but no one has been able to help me find contact information for the professors. The univerisity system here is so differant from home--the departments don't really communicate with one another or the students. It's really annoying and frustrating at times. Hopefully, I'll get a new class this week. This could be very interesting...
In other news, we cooked real food on Thursday night: potato soup. We used mom/grandma Jarzynka's recipe. I was in charge of stirring; Zehra was protector of the butter: This is why Erasumus students should not have knives--they get bored waiting for dinner and strange things happen.

We let Nina chop the parsley since she seemed to be having the most fun with the knives. The finished product--it even smelled like home.
Tada!
Friday, Nina and I went to the Rynek to run some errands. The plan was to end up at Melyczanya to study, but it was really nice out...we got a little distracted.
This is how you put the city's old architecture to good use.

The coverstation that preceeded this picture:

MAGGIE: Nina, if I jump up on the fountain, will you take my picture?

NINA: Yes. And when you fall in, I'll take another one.

Needless to say, I am a master of balance and all things ninja-related. I stayed compeletely dry. You should never doubt my coordination...except when there's a ball of any sort involved. In other news, we've discovered an English library in the Rynek. I now have books other than the ones I brought with me/Megan mailed to me! Plus, they have a very wide selection of Polish music that I plan to import onto my iTunes so I can bring it home with me.

And that's all for now, folks. Here's another sunset courtesty of Zehra and her camera that is a little more high tech than mine.