Long journey home!

I'm home!  I could have stayed another week, though!

We were able to sleep a little later yesterday because we didn't have to leave the hotel until 10:00 yesterday morning.  Some of us met for one last breakfast at the hotel.  A breakfast buffet was provided every day at the hotel.  It was interesting... Polish people like to eat a lot of meats and cheeses at breakfast time!  (I stuck with bread and nutella with scrambled eggs many days!)

Some of us were ready to go early so we took one last walk over to the main square.  We hadn't yet been here early in the morning so there were many people out and about getting ready for the day.  To get to the main square fromour hotel, first we have to cross the park space.  The park surrounds the entire downtown area, and it's the space where the walls used to stand a loooong time ago to protect the city.

We even saw some small Polish School children!  They were SO adorable!

We were only able to stay about 15 minutes before we had to get back to the hotel to grabour things and get on the bus.  Here is Jenn, Amy and I on the bus about to leave our hotel in Krakow.

And then finally, we all boarded the plane in Krakow and were on our way to Munich, Germany for a quick layover.  Jenn and I got to sit next to each other on this flight.  But on the 2nd flight all 21 of us were spread out over the plane.  Here are some of the people I traveled with this week:

The plane from Munich to Boston was very cool.  The bathrooms were located down stairs and there were about 6 or 8 of them!!  I took about a 2 hour nap on the plane and then spent a long time working on my portfolio.  I got about 16 pages done!  I was very happy with what I accomplished!  I spent the last hour before landing listening to my book on tape.  I didn't have any time at all, really, to read or listen to my audio book.  I didn't even touch the book I brought!  But I figured that's ok.  The reason I didn't have any time at all is because I was out experiencing all that Poland had to offer.

Our plane landed in Boston just before 6:30.  Customs and passport control was easy.  My luggage was one of the last to come up, which was annoying.  But at least it was there!

My parents were waiting for me and I was happy to see them!! We stopped to get something to eat on the way home and arrived home just in time to watch American Idol!  I was asleep by 9:30 and didn't wake up until almost 10:00 this morning!  I did wake up around 2:00am (would have been 8am Poland time) but was easily able to fall back asleep (thankfully!!)

And now, here I am, sitting at my kitchen table in Beverly, Massachusetts.  Yesterday morning I woke up in Krakow, Poland.  I had a wonderful week, making new friends, learning about the world, a different country, and learned even in the face of something terrible new life can begin new again.

Thanks for reading this blog and sharing this journey with me.

(p.s. I do plan to go back and add to some of the older posts!!  Many times when I did the posts it was late at night and I was really tired, so be sure to check back!!)



Keep checking back!

Hello everyone!

Today is my LAST day in Poland.  I want to get the most out of this experience, so this will most likely be my last post until I return home.

BUT... please keep checking back because once home I plan on updating and adding to posts!!  I feel like I have lots more to say and show you (including some videos!) but want to spend time on getting it ready!  And I'll be able to do that when I get home and finish my project for the trip!!

See you all soon!!

:-)

Last Day!

So today was our last day in Poland.  I cannot believe how quickly the week has flown by!!  We spent most of the day touring Krakow and then had most of the afternoon to shop and get things done that we hadn't had time or energy for yet.  We also met a professor and a  few students who go to school in Poland.

Our tour began here, in the Jewish quarter in Krakow.  Now it's difficult to even say there is a Jewish quarter because there are so few Jews left in Krakow.

This is the main square of the Jewish Quarter.  It's an area in transition since the 1990's.  What I mean is that it's an area that is slowly changing.  Some of you may have heard of the movie called Schindler's List.  This is a movie you should watch when you are older, but many of your parents probably saw the movie when it came out in the 90's.  Schindler's List is a movie about a man, Oscar Schindler who was able to save 1,200 Jews.  Oscar was a business man who came to Krakow to take advantage of the war and make money.  In the end, he managed to save over 1,000 peoples lives by creating a "list" and having those people work in his factory.

This is where the movie was filmed.  AND our tour guide was the translator for Steven Spielberg when he was here.  (We all thought that was very cool!!)

So when Speilberg was doing researching and looking for locations to film in Krakow he came upon this square.  At this time it was run down and hadn't changed much since the end of the war.  It was the perfect location to film the movie.  It was just outside the walls former Krakow Ghetto, but since the building hadn't changed since the war it was very authentic.

So here's what the square looks like today...

This building in the middle is what the entire square looked like.  This is the last building to undergo renovations.

Here is a monument in the square to all the victims who lived in the Krakow Ghetto.

After we left the former ghetto and the location where the film was shot, we made our way to the location of the Oscar Schindler Factory.  So this is the actual factory and it's also where the movie was filmed.  Here's what it looks like on the outside today.

And here's a scene from the movie, showing the same exact location!

source

In the windows are all the faces of the people that were saved by working in this factory.

Inside the factory is a museum that follows the history of the city of Krakow under Nazi occupation.

There were excellent artifacts and exhibits the traced the entire history.  I can't read Polish, but I'm pretty sure I can figure out what this says.  Take a guess... what do you think this sign on the side of a trolly says?

There was so much great information, that I had to take notes so I didn't forget it all!

We walked around the corner and there were 2 Nazi flags.  It's something I've seen many photos of, but never in person like this.  It was powerful to walk through these flags that have such a terrible history and meaning.

But then there was something like this to look at... and Polish Kindergarten class!  Aren't they adorable?!

Here's Jenn, Jenn and I sitting inside the trolley car.

It was an interactive museum, too.  We could make cards and stamp them!

Here's another location from the movie.  There's a scene where a woman comes in to ask Schindler for help, and she's standing at the bottom the stairs. 

Here I am standing at his desk. 

And behind me are some of the pots created at the factory.

There's space inside the box of pots and on the walls are all the names of the people that survived because of Schindler.  Here are some of those names.

Here's a photo from one of the exhibits.

The last part of the museum you go through a dark tunnel and even the floor is different, it's squishy and you have to be careful.  You come out into a bright, light room.  It represents the terrible times ending and there is new life.  Here's a picture from the white room at the end.  All along the walls were quotes from survivors.

 

And finally, here is a picture of me outside the factory!

After we left the Schindler Factory, we made our way to the former concentration camp Plaszow.  If you remember, the book I read for the class "I promised I would tell" by Sonia Weitz, this is one of the camps she was in.

It's very different from Auschwitz because nothing stands there today but a monument.  Now, it's just open green space.

As you can see it was a gorgeous, sunny day.  To look out over that space and imagine what once stood there was difficult.

This concluded our tour, and we headed back into the city center.

We had skipped lunch again, so the first thing we did was get a snack to eat.  It was almost like a pretzel.  It was yummy!

We had an hour to do some shopping before we had to meet back up.  A professor from Poland and some of her students were going to meet us in the square.

I was all excited because I found a GREAT wedding gift for my college roommate, Shawna!  Her fiance is Polish, so I am so excited by what I got!!  (Sorry, can't tell you what it is on here... she might be reading!!!  I can tell you in school!!)

After our quick, yet productive shopping trip we met with the rest if the group, the Polish professor and 1 of her students.  We went to this interesting restaurant to have coffee.

The girl on the right in the purple tank top is Sandra.  She was great to talk with!

We only stayed about an hour, then Sandra joined us to do some shopping before dinner.  There were lots of street performers in the square today!

Finally, it was our last meal.  I had potato and cheese perogi's.  YUM!

Four other students met up with is, so Amy, Matt and I had dinner with 5 Polish students!  All the girls on the right hand side of the table are Polish college students.  It was really great to share a meal with them and talk to them.  We shared with them about America, and they shared with us about Poland.  It was an excellent last meal in Poland!

And that's how my last day in Poland ended!!  It was a jam packed full day, but I LOVED every single minute of it!