This week has been crazy busy. My trip to Europe went into full swing the minute I entered the Jagiellonian University campus in Krakow. Everything at the campus is average. It's very different compared to american universities (I go to Umass Amherst). The dorms are typical dorms. My dorm has two beds, a closet, a balcony, and two desks. We are also connected to another room and we share one bathroom. We are sharing a suite with the RA. Just our luck! The dc is different. You only have two choices of what to eat and they serve it for you. You are not allowed to go up for seconds. The pretty sick thing about my dorm is there is a bar downstairs with extremely cheap drinks! I am enrolled in two classes. One is the study of the Polish language and the other is a Polish history course which is mad hard because they are fitting the history of poland from like 900 to 1991 which is way too much material to cover in three weeks. But I am getting 7 credits for all this! I am basically in class from 8 am to 5 pm everyday and then I have the nights and weekends free. I have been doing everything from sightseeing to bar hopping. Everything is MAD MAD cheap. For every American dollar you have 2.73 zloty which is amazing. This weekend I have so far visited the Wawel (Krakows castle) and tomorrow I am seeing the Pienny. My trip to the Wawel was very histroic. The Wawel began to gain great significant political meaning in the first milliemum of AD. The first historical king Mieszko I(c. 965-992) resided in the Wawel.
Unfortunetly taking pictures inside the castle was not permitted so I was not able to document that part of the tour. Every room had its own fancy archetecture, tapstery, and paitings. I also got to stop in the Wawel Catherdral and the Royal Graves where the kings and the Polish former president Kaczynski were buried. There is also a tower you are able to climb in the Wawel where you can see a view of stare miasto (old town) and touch the bell. Myth has it that if you touch the bell with your left hand you have good luck for an entire year!
(view of stare miasto from the top of the tower)
On the second day of my summer college course (monday) I went to the university's museum. The university was established in 1364. Many well known people attended this unviersity such as Nicholas Copernicus.
The party scene is pretty decent here in Krakow. The drinks at the bars can be very cheap. Cocktails cost about 6 zloty which is about 2 bucks! The clubs are pretty decent...good music, good drinks, and you don't have to pay to get it! But don't make the mistake of not bringing your ID to get in (especially on a Friday night). They actually do card. All the big clubs and bars are on the rynek (main square) and that is the place to be on a weekend night.
I'll keep you all posted! More coming soon (and hopefully not in week intervals)
Lots of love.
P.s-The snails are huge here!
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