Today has been another lazy, sleep in til past noon kind of day. After rolling out of bed at about 1, I lolled around on my computer, did some sketching, finally mustered the energy to take a shower, and decided it was time to go eat lunch before the cafeteria closed. The weather's a little gloomy again and I was feeling a bit pensive; getting out of the room for a little bit, even if it was just downstairs, would probably help me feel slightly more energetic. I grabbed my meal ticket, locked the door to the room and opened the door to the hall.
You know how sometimes random things happen that make you wonder if you're actually living real life, that you haven't somehow stepped into a scripted performance?
That's how I felt when I heard the fluid resonance of a cello coming from somewhere across the corridor. I stood there for a long moment, a bit spellbound. There's almost nothing more beautiful than a beautifully played cello, at least in my opinion. Even though my neighbour was only playing warm-ups, the almost tactile sound was gorgeous.
I left reluctantly to go downstairs, where, for the first time, I ordered something other than soup and salad to eat. It's kind of hard to order food when you've no idea what anything is called, less yet how to pronounce it, and even less yet to ask if they have any that day. 'Zupa' is easy to say, and the various kinds of salads (all shredded vegetables of some sort - cabbage, beets, carrots, or a combination) are set out to take. Today my good fortune was in the person ahead of me asking for something that looked vaguely like the cabbage rolls I'd tried at a Polish place in Ireland. I just pointed to his plate and asked for the same thing. As it turns out, this was a stuffed pork roll with some kind of mushroom filling (a little Googling tells me that this is called 'kruchenyky' and is actually of Ukrainian origin). Oh, and an added bonus was the gravy that topped it and the mashed potatoes on the side. Those starchy, bland mashed potatoes are a lot tastier with a little gravy. I actually ate everything on my plate for once.
Feeling quite satisfied with my new lunch option, I returned to my room. When I reached the third floor I wondered if the cellist would still be playing. The answer was yes. In fact, I've been sitting at my desk with both doors open, listening to this private recital for the past 40 minutes. It makes me miss my instruments at home, and wish I had devoted more time to learning how to play my violin, and especially wish that I had the money to go to the Krakow Philharmonic concert two nights ago. It also makes me wonder who is playing, whether or not they're a student who will be here all semester, where they're from, what their name is...
A mystery to be solved with time.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Day 11: Winter Wonderland
Well, things are going a bit better as of the past few days. I've got a pillow and blanket, and my meals are finally getting paid for by the university. The 'byramid' we started making out of Zywiec cans is now complete. The sun is shining and it's perfect walking weather.
Yesterday's weather was quite different from today's. Mid-morning the grey skies began spitting snowflakes, and by early evening, the flurries turned into a lovely snowfall. Falling like glitter in an everlasting snowglobe, the snow accumulated enough to allow a few lads to roll a giant snowball in the green in front of Piast. We watched from our balcony as people below walked by, bundled up and carrying umbrellas.
I even donned my handknit stocking cap when we ventured out to the sklep down the street to pick up some juice and wodka. Our coats and hats glistened with melting snowflakes as we took the elevator to the third floor. The branches of the trees outside our window even bore small, snowy burdens by nightfall. Truly, the world was transformed into a winter wonderland.
And what better way to stave off a cold, wintry evening than to stay in and warm up with a few drinks? The 500ml bottle of Tur lemon-flavoured vodka ('Original Polish Vodka!') we bought is about three quarters gone today. And there's nothing better after a few pre-game shots than walking downstairs to the bar for a few beers with friends.
Successful night? I'd say so, with one grave exception:
I TOTALLY FAILED AT TAKING ANY PICTURES.
I'm pretty sure only I could forget to photograph the one evening of picture-perfect landscape. I am a huge idiot. When I woke up this morning at 8am, walked out onto the balcony, and saw that giant snowball sitting in the green looking a little diminished and very out of place against the soggy brown grass, I felt like kicking myself.
Oh well. Maybe there will be one more beautiful snow before winter gives up the ghost. If not, I have the memory. I'm only sorry that I can share it in words alone.
Yesterday's weather was quite different from today's. Mid-morning the grey skies began spitting snowflakes, and by early evening, the flurries turned into a lovely snowfall. Falling like glitter in an everlasting snowglobe, the snow accumulated enough to allow a few lads to roll a giant snowball in the green in front of Piast. We watched from our balcony as people below walked by, bundled up and carrying umbrellas.
I even donned my handknit stocking cap when we ventured out to the sklep down the street to pick up some juice and wodka. Our coats and hats glistened with melting snowflakes as we took the elevator to the third floor. The branches of the trees outside our window even bore small, snowy burdens by nightfall. Truly, the world was transformed into a winter wonderland.
And what better way to stave off a cold, wintry evening than to stay in and warm up with a few drinks? The 500ml bottle of Tur lemon-flavoured vodka ('Original Polish Vodka!') we bought is about three quarters gone today. And there's nothing better after a few pre-game shots than walking downstairs to the bar for a few beers with friends.
Successful night? I'd say so, with one grave exception:
I TOTALLY FAILED AT TAKING ANY PICTURES.
I'm pretty sure only I could forget to photograph the one evening of picture-perfect landscape. I am a huge idiot. When I woke up this morning at 8am, walked out onto the balcony, and saw that giant snowball sitting in the green looking a little diminished and very out of place against the soggy brown grass, I felt like kicking myself.
Oh well. Maybe there will be one more beautiful snow before winter gives up the ghost. If not, I have the memory. I'm only sorry that I can share it in words alone.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Day 7: Not Impressed
I've been here for a week now and I gotta say, I expected to at least know what's going on with everything school-related. Instead, I still don't know which classes I'm taking or what my schedule will be, and even though Kelly and finally got moved into our dorm room at Piast, we won't even have bed linens until Monday at the earliest.
Communication issues are the most frustrating part of this trip so far. When I arrived on Sunday, I was told I'd move into my real dorm room when my roommate arrived on Monday. Not only did that not happen, but it wasn't until Tuesday morning that we were told we would have to check back Thursday. When I stopped into the office on Thursday, the lady there said to 'come back tomorrow.' So we did, but not until about 2pm, after sleeping in a little and getting lunch. We received instructions on where to get bedding and when to be out of the room, then headed into the city to pick up our student id's.
Little did we know that the magazine where we were to get bedding closed at 2pm, and would not reopen til Monday morning.
Even worse, when we asked at reception last evening after moving our things up to our new room if we could just use the bedding from our old room, they said we could use it for the night and return it tomorrow. Thanks for letting us know we still wouldn't be able to get bedding today. We didn't know the magazine is closed over the weekend until after we turned in our bedding and key from room 205. How convenient.
So here I am sitting on a plain bed, planning on using my stuffed hippo as a pillow and my coat as a blanket for the next two consecutive nights. Oh, and we don't have curtains yet either. Thank goodness we're on the third floor and shouldn't have to worry about creepers.
Ah well. I ate a pretty good cheeseburger today and at least the internet is working in the room (thanks to some ingenuity and a hair tie). Things could be much worse. And I'm sure they'll get better once our professor/adviser gets back to Krakow on Monday and can help us figure out classes so we have a bit more of a sense of purpose here. It's just hard not to think about how I could've stayed at home for another week without missing out on much here.
At any rate, one week down, eighteen to go.
Communication issues are the most frustrating part of this trip so far. When I arrived on Sunday, I was told I'd move into my real dorm room when my roommate arrived on Monday. Not only did that not happen, but it wasn't until Tuesday morning that we were told we would have to check back Thursday. When I stopped into the office on Thursday, the lady there said to 'come back tomorrow.' So we did, but not until about 2pm, after sleeping in a little and getting lunch. We received instructions on where to get bedding and when to be out of the room, then headed into the city to pick up our student id's.
Little did we know that the magazine where we were to get bedding closed at 2pm, and would not reopen til Monday morning.
Even worse, when we asked at reception last evening after moving our things up to our new room if we could just use the bedding from our old room, they said we could use it for the night and return it tomorrow. Thanks for letting us know we still wouldn't be able to get bedding today. We didn't know the magazine is closed over the weekend until after we turned in our bedding and key from room 205. How convenient.
So here I am sitting on a plain bed, planning on using my stuffed hippo as a pillow and my coat as a blanket for the next two consecutive nights. Oh, and we don't have curtains yet either. Thank goodness we're on the third floor and shouldn't have to worry about creepers.
Ah well. I ate a pretty good cheeseburger today and at least the internet is working in the room (thanks to some ingenuity and a hair tie). Things could be much worse. And I'm sure they'll get better once our professor/adviser gets back to Krakow on Monday and can help us figure out classes so we have a bit more of a sense of purpose here. It's just hard not to think about how I could've stayed at home for another week without missing out on much here.
At any rate, one week down, eighteen to go.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Day 5 in Krakow
So this is my fifth day in Krakow, and I've decided to finally start this blog people have been suggesting. Now that I've got internet in my room and am not dependent on inconsistent wifi signals downstairs, things should be much better. (Unlike last night in the lobby when, mid-conversation with my boyfriend, I was interrupted by a very drunk Finnish guy asking if I had any 'fire.' He was holding a cigarette and I pulled my lighter out to let him borrow. Miraculously he brought it back, though I started wishing he'd just kept the damn thing when he decided it was a good idea to alternately try to hold a conversation with me in his exceedingly limited English and pass out next to me on the bench. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to log into his Facebook account on my laptop, two of his slightly less drunk friends showed up. Rather than assist him to a bed or something similarly useful, they sort of camped out and started reading my now-typed Skype conversation over my shoulder once I reclaimed my laptop, taking the opportunity to make fun of Parker for telling me to tell them to piss off. 'Peess off? He watch porn? He looks the type.' After a few minutes of heavy hinting at them to leave, I convinced them that paying to use the internet room would be a good idea and they finally left. At 3:30 in the morning.)
Okay, so that was a bit of a rant. Anywho - interwebs in my room! Hooray!! Let the blogging commence.
I guess it's almost past dinner time here at the moment - strange that it's just getting to be lunch time back home. I'm definitely not adjusted to the time difference yet (hence 3am conversations). I'm also not quite readjusted to walking everywhere, and it's a good 30 minute walk, if not longer, just to get to the city centre from our dorm on ul. Piastowski. And speaking of dorms, my roommate and I are technically still in one of the 'hotel' rooms here at Piast and can't move into our actual dorm room until tomorrow. Looking forward to unpacking and settling in a bit more, though it seems I've lived out of suitcases for the majority of the past several months. At least we've met several people already - the joys of cooking in a communal kitchen!
Speaking of the kitchen, it's been hilarious to try and cook food around here. The only cooking or eating things I packed are my bento, two sporks, lots of chopsticks and a set of measuring cups. I brought several bags of ramen, some udon, two or three containers of furikake, an instant rice cake soup bowl, a box of cheesy tuna noodles, a pouch of tuna, a box of vanilla Jello pudding, some teabags, a huge bag of Community coffee, a couple of boxes of Pocky (thanks to Mom) and a few candy bars. My first night here I employed the provided electric kettle and coffee mugs to make a cup of tea and a cup of ramen. I realised I would need milk and sugar for the tea and found them easily enough at the grocery store (the bag of sugar took a bit of guesswork, but a few sly peeks around the shelf helped me determine which bags were leaking flour and which were sugar). I braved the kitchen two nights ago and made some tuna noodles, using a pan I found in the kitchen and my spork for stirring. Last night was the biggest success to date; Kelly wanted burritos, so we bought tortillas, chicken breasts, 'Tex-Mex' marinade in a pouch, some allegedly gouda-flavoured cheese product, and a jar of salsa. I cooked the chicken breasts whole using the marinade as a sauce after I realised I had no knives to cut it with, but the sporks once again came in handy to slice up the cooked chicken. Burrito win. (Even if the cheese was a little funky.)
Tomorrow holds another walk to the centre to pick up our student id's from the admin building, and I'm determined to finally eat a kebab from the stand across the street from Piast. As usual, the things I've found most exciting thus far are food-related: the grocery store right next door that I visited my first night here and have been to almost daily since, a sklep (shop) down the street where we can get Kinder Surprise and cheap beer, kebab places everywhere, a mall with a Carrefour (a grocery chain) and a tiny shop selling all sorts of international food (including Mexican stuff, lots of Asian and Indian stuff, some UK things and even Vermont maple syrup!!). There are so many restaurants we can't wait to try, from steak to sushi.
We've yet to figure out the tram system. And it feels weird to be surrounded by people) who speak a language of which you understand next to nothing. It's okay, though. I've got all the important bases covered. I can say yes (tak), no (nie), and thank you (dziekuje) and can ask for at least one kind of beer without messing up the pronunciation (Zywiec).
More stories to come.
Okay, so that was a bit of a rant. Anywho - interwebs in my room! Hooray!! Let the blogging commence.
I guess it's almost past dinner time here at the moment - strange that it's just getting to be lunch time back home. I'm definitely not adjusted to the time difference yet (hence 3am conversations). I'm also not quite readjusted to walking everywhere, and it's a good 30 minute walk, if not longer, just to get to the city centre from our dorm on ul. Piastowski. And speaking of dorms, my roommate and I are technically still in one of the 'hotel' rooms here at Piast and can't move into our actual dorm room until tomorrow. Looking forward to unpacking and settling in a bit more, though it seems I've lived out of suitcases for the majority of the past several months. At least we've met several people already - the joys of cooking in a communal kitchen!
Speaking of the kitchen, it's been hilarious to try and cook food around here. The only cooking or eating things I packed are my bento, two sporks, lots of chopsticks and a set of measuring cups. I brought several bags of ramen, some udon, two or three containers of furikake, an instant rice cake soup bowl, a box of cheesy tuna noodles, a pouch of tuna, a box of vanilla Jello pudding, some teabags, a huge bag of Community coffee, a couple of boxes of Pocky (thanks to Mom) and a few candy bars. My first night here I employed the provided electric kettle and coffee mugs to make a cup of tea and a cup of ramen. I realised I would need milk and sugar for the tea and found them easily enough at the grocery store (the bag of sugar took a bit of guesswork, but a few sly peeks around the shelf helped me determine which bags were leaking flour and which were sugar). I braved the kitchen two nights ago and made some tuna noodles, using a pan I found in the kitchen and my spork for stirring. Last night was the biggest success to date; Kelly wanted burritos, so we bought tortillas, chicken breasts, 'Tex-Mex' marinade in a pouch, some allegedly gouda-flavoured cheese product, and a jar of salsa. I cooked the chicken breasts whole using the marinade as a sauce after I realised I had no knives to cut it with, but the sporks once again came in handy to slice up the cooked chicken. Burrito win. (Even if the cheese was a little funky.)
Tomorrow holds another walk to the centre to pick up our student id's from the admin building, and I'm determined to finally eat a kebab from the stand across the street from Piast. As usual, the things I've found most exciting thus far are food-related: the grocery store right next door that I visited my first night here and have been to almost daily since, a sklep (shop) down the street where we can get Kinder Surprise and cheap beer, kebab places everywhere, a mall with a Carrefour (a grocery chain) and a tiny shop selling all sorts of international food (including Mexican stuff, lots of Asian and Indian stuff, some UK things and even Vermont maple syrup!!). There are so many restaurants we can't wait to try, from steak to sushi.
We've yet to figure out the tram system. And it feels weird to be surrounded by people) who speak a language of which you understand next to nothing. It's okay, though. I've got all the important bases covered. I can say yes (tak), no (nie), and thank you (dziekuje) and can ask for at least one kind of beer without messing up the pronunciation (Zywiec).
More stories to come.
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