Cracow, it's been great getting to know you.

When moving to a new city, there's always so much to explore, experience, and learn.  I've been in Cracow for a month now and like to think I've put in a pretty good effort in the above mentioned things.  But I learned even more this weekend.

On Saturday, I took a free walking tour of Cracow.  It was less than 20 degrees with the wind chill, but still a very enjoyable experience.  The tour lasted about 2.5 hours and it mainly focused on the Old Town (Market Square included) and Wawel Castle (that's right, I live in a city with a castle...be jealous).  We hit many famous spots in the city:  St. Mary's Church, the City Hall Tower, Cloth Hall, the Barbican, the Florian Gate, the Papal Window, and ended at Wawel.  It was a really interesting tour and we had a very witty guide--always appreciated when learning about history.

Sunday started with an enjoyable walk through the city since the weather was beautiful.  A group of friends and I headed towards Wawel Castle once more to tour some of the castle--some of the rooms offer free admission on Sundays.  We also visited the Cathedral on Wawel hill, a place of implicit importance for Poland.  It is the final resting place of the kings of Poland along with others who were very important to Polish life and culture.  We ended the day with a short walk along the river and dinner.

Even after being here a month, one of my favorite spots in the city (though I still have so much more of the city to discover) is still Market Square.  It is the largest square in Europe and is the only square  today that is still used for the same purpose as it was in Medieval times--for the trading and selling of goods (Cloth Hall).  Despite the season, it was packed full of people on Sunday (the sun was finally cooperating and the temperature was almost 40 degrees).  There was so much life going on there; horse-drawn carriage rides, kids and grandparents feeding the endless hoards of pigeons, vendors selling fresh flowers, tourists and locals alike admiring and taking in the sites.  It gives the city a vibrancy that I have yet to feel in the other Polish cities I've visited, though my list is very short.

I definitely feel like I'm in a city that suits me well here.  Even more that I'm in exactly the right place that I should be at this time in my life.  In fact, I haven't been this happy since I lived in Italy (though Italy is still more of a home than Cracow to me and always will be).  But it helps that Cracow reminds me of Italy in certain ways, like the narrow cobblestone roads and parts of the Medieval fortification that still exist around the Old Town (Macerata, where I lived in Italy, was still surrounded by the Medieval fortification walls).  There's so much culture in Cracow, too--always a museum to go to, a concert to see, an opera to attend, a historic site to tour.  Boredom, at least at this point, seems virtually impossible.  There are so many cafes, pubs, restaurants (vegetarian ones at that too!), and clubs to visit it seems like I won't have time for all of them even in the five months that I have here.  Since living in Italy, I've had a yearning to move to Europe--maybe not permanently, but for a time at least.  Cracow has only enhanced that feeling.  There's just something about Europe for me, some irresistible pull that is hard to verbalize.  In the simplest terms, my soul feels at home here.

I added a few photos to the post: sunset on the Vistula River, me on Wawel hill, a shot of Market Square, and me in front of the castle (all my Cracow pics are at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2497621&id=22425039&l=d9e8509c5d).  Until next time, do zobaczenia!

New City, New Experience...and So Much More.

I'm finally doing it...blogging, that is!  I meant to do so while living in Hungary last semester, but it just didn't come together (I'll blame it on too many distractions of living in the dorms with crazy--yet very fun--international students). And as many of you know, during my semester in Italy, I sent out updates of my adventures through emails and got so much positive feedback about those that I wanted to do something similar to keep my friends and family at home updated about my life abroad.  And now it's a new semester, new experience, and new opportunity to blog throughout my time in Poland.

For those of you that don't know, I'm residing in Cracow this semester.  I couldn't have chosen a better city to come to (outside of Italy, of course) and partake in the culture, learn the history, and experience all this place has to offer.  It's a wonderful city with so much to do and see.  And the people have been wonderful so far.

People often ask me which city I prefer; Krakow or Debrecen, Hungary (where I studied last semester).  Both cities have a uniqueness to them, a wealth of experiences I couldn't have gained anywhere else but that place, and people who made my experience so much more than I could have hoped for.  But aesthetically and culturally (so far at least), I do like Krakow better.  There's so much history here, not unlike other places in Europe, that it is mind-blowing.  I'm currently reading "Schindler's List" (some of you may know the movie) and it is eerie to read about the man that saved more Jews from certain death that any other single person during WWII and yet recognize the street names and areas of town referred to throughout the book (since Schindler lived and worked in Krakow).  I always enjoy learning as much about new places I'm living in as I can, but this time it's much sadder and heart wrenching.  But it's part of the experience.

On a happier note, I'm very happy with the start to my semester here.  I live in an apartment within a five minute walk to the university and 15-20 walk from the city center or Market Square.  I have two great roommates so far, one girl from Bulgaria and another girl from Croatia, with a third roommate from Croatia set to move in sometime next week.  Our apartment is a good size; nice kitchen, big bathroom, and I have my own room!

My classes started this week and there has been a little bit more frustration there.  I'll be taking 9 courses this semester while writing my Bachelor's thesis.  I'm part of the STAIR (Studies in Trans-Atlantic International Relations) program here and it is a dual-degree program.  This means that at the end of my time in Europe, I will have a second Bachelor's degree in International Economics from Cracow University of Economics.  But to do so, I had to take a number of required courses and write a thesis on a topic of my choosing, preferably related to economics in some way, shape, or form.  Call me crazy, but I'm actually, kind of looking forward to doing it...

Other than that, I've been to two other cities besides Cracow since being in Poland.  The first was Warsaw, the capital of Poland, where I stayed with friends I met in Hungary for a long weekend.  Warsaw is a really nice city, perhaps with an even more devastating history than Cracow.  But they have rebuilt and the city is beautiful.  I'm looking forward to visiting again and learning and seeing even more.  The second city I visited was Orawka, near the Slovakian boarder in the mountains.  We went there for an "integration" weekend with most of the other international students attending my university.  It was a really fun weekend and I met some amazing people!  There is such a greater amount of diversity in my program here in Cracow than there was in Debrecen, something I really appreciate.

Well for now, that's it for me.  By the way, if you're looking for pictures, you can find most of my pictures up on my Facebook page.

Do zobaczenia!