Countdown to a Final Farewell

5 days in London.

That was all I had left when I got back from Poland.

5 days, and they were gone in the blink of an eye.

 5

I went to class from 9-12.

I ate lunch in the courtyard with Jolene, and drank tea.

Our class visited King's Cross and St. Pancras Station; familiar sights for Harry Potter fans. I raided the gift shop at the British Library, then Jolene, Morgan and I meandered our way back to King's College, not without stopping to eat creamy Gelatto ice cream in sunny Regent's Square.

Jolene, Jamie and I dressed up fancy and went to laugh the night away from the front row of The Sunshine Boys, where I was so close to Danny DiVito I could have touched his big toe.

 4

Famous English writer Brian Sibley (who has met Ian McCellan and the cast of The Lord of the Rings and wrote books on The Chronicles of Narnia and Winnie the Pooh) came to speak to our class, and afterwards several of us went to lunch with him at The Wharf by the River Thames.

Morgan and I joined Aaron and Baine for a trip to Covent Garden for last minute souvenir shopping. 

Jolene and I stood like the Groundlings of Shakespeare's days in the yard of Shakespeare's Globe to watch a mediocre performance of Richard III.

3

We were supposed to have class from 9-12...

But instead we trekked down to Millennium Bridge where we had a spectacular view of the passing off of the Olympic Torch :)

I locked myself in my room all afternoon to work on writing essays for my final exam. For relief, I would run up and down the seven flights of stairs it took to get from the ground to my flat. And when I got too hot I would drink a cold diet coke and eat lemon drops in the courtyard. 

I got all dolled up to attend the 2 and a half hour long Research Symposium where both Jamie and Jolene gave spectacular and stirring presentations!

Jolene, Jamie, Tanja, Savannah, Dr. Lares and I went in search of food and ended up eating yummy crepes 

in Gabriel's Wharf that were worth every calorie :D

 2

Woke up at 5:30 a.m., spent all morning in my stuffy room finishing and proofreading my final exam. Also booked my Helsinki hotel, and took a break to eat a scone and drink a cup of tea in the breezy courtyard.

TASTED FREEDOM AT 10:30 A.M. WHEN I TURNED IN MY FINAL EXAM!
And spent my free hours navigating my way through the Tube, meandering aimlessly through Regent Gardens with my ipod, sitting under a tree and reading Jane Austen's Persuasion, then making it back to the dorms just in time to meet Jolene and Tanja for one last English tea.

Enjoyed the above mentioned English tea and the same darling bakery Jolene and I had eaten at on the day we first met. Today, though, I added a fruit tart to the mix-- and it was positively delicious. 
Joined all 150 British Studies members for a cruise down the River Thames.
Sipped champagne and watched London slip past from the back deck, blew kisses at members of the Royal Navy, danced some jigs to an Irish band, stuffed my face with scrumptious BBQ, and sat in the boat window to wave at Londoners on the shore.
Got off the boat at 8, ran back to the dorms to watch the first 5 minutes of the Olympics opening ceremony on TV, then left with Jolene and Jamie to actually live the thrill of the ceremony in London itself.
And boy, did we live it.
No, we didn't see the ceremony, but we climbed onto the monument at Trafalgar Square and sang patriotic, American tunes with fellow BSP friends and a class of American Navy students also camped out on top of one of the infamous lions.
After our sing along session, about twenty of us hopped down from the monument (the Navy boys were total gentleman and caught us ladies, who were still in our dresses) and we went trekking down the street of London in search of a pub where we could watch the rest of the opening ceremony.
Well we didn't find a pub with room for us...
But we were recruited into a club called Piccadilly Institute where they let us all in for free and we danced the night away until it was time to watch Team USA enter the stadium on a big, overhead projector.
Considering the night an enormous success, Jamie, Jolene and I meandered our way back to Kings College, enjoying the crisp, London night air, and prepared ourselves for our last day in the incredible city... 

Day 1

I waved farewell to all my favorite sites.
Rising with the sun, I ate a quick breakfast, got dressed, grabbed my camera and my map, and set out for one last walk through my beloved city.
And this one, I took by myself. Because all I needed for companionship was this splendid city I had grown to know and love over the short span of four weeks.
The sun shone gloriously and the wind blew just enough to help dissipate its heat. I walked out the door of our King's College apartments, bounced down the River Walk, crossed Westminster Bridge to gaze upon my dear, iconic friend Big Ben, was greeted by the jubilant ringing of the Westminster Abbey bells, walked through Parliament Square, then down Horse Guard Parade, watched the changing of the guard at Horse Palace, and bought a cheap, smoked salmon sandwich to eat on the steps of the National Gallery while central London buzzed around me. I wandered through the gallery and especially spent a lot of time gazing at my favorite paintings by Claude, Turner, and Monet, snacked on a yummy caramel cake and sipped on some free coffee, navigated my way through Leicester Square to Charring Cross Road where I ducked in and out of used book stores (and bought one too many books), ventured into Foyles, London's largest book store, and explored all five floors and the treasures held there. I crossed over to Oxford Street, hunted down the Handel House Museum and toured the peaceful, hidden home, stumbled into Posh London and tiptoed through the back doors of yet another spellbinding cathedral, then made my way through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens where I enjoyed dinner beneath a tree in the lawn of the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. Thinking I still had time before meeting Jamie back at King's College, I wandered into Harrods Department Store.
My jaw dropped. My eyes went wild. I had never seen so much glamor in my life.
And of course I bought a honey colored, stuffed bear, because that is the same department store where, many years ago, Alan Milne and his wife Daphne bought a teddy bear for their newborn son, Christopher Robin. 
When I finally emerged from the most stunning department store on the face of this planet, I realized I was out of minutes on my phone, late in meeting Jamie, and the tube was ridiculously packed so I was walking/running back to King's College. Along the way I passed Buckingham Palace one last time, passed through Parliament, and across Westminster Bridge, and down the River Walk-- the most fun part of it was I never once had to pull out my map!
I got back to the dorms just in time to wave six coaches, packed with 150 melancholy British Studies students, away on their journey out of the city and home to America.
Because I had flown into London on my own, I was also flying out on my own, so I got one last night to bask in the joy of the splendid city.
And what better way to say a final goodbye than with a ride in the London Eye, with the city sprawled below me and so many inches of it covered in my footprints.

That night, after our ride in the London Eye, Jamie and I bought hot chocolate just like we did on our first night there, and stood at the rail of the River Thames to gaze at Big Ben for as long as possible.
It was 11:15 p.m., and he chimed at us to say, "Hello!"
We threw a penny in the river, and made a wish.
With the cool, London wind blowing our hair across our faces we reminisced on the times we had shared there.
Then it was time to say our last goodbyes to the city.
As we began to walk away, we kept turning and looking over our shoulders to take in the sight of the grand, glowing, iconic clock one last time...
and just as he dissappeared from our view, his bells began to chime.
"Wait, Jamie!" I said, and together we jumped up on a bench as Big Ben ushered in midnight.
"He's telling us goodbye," Jamie whispered.
And in stillness we listened to the last song we would hear of London's great time keeper. 

On Sunday morning I hauled all of my luggage out of the dorms, through Waterloo Station, onto the Picadilly Line and rode the hour long journey to Heathrow Airport.
Six hours later, when I was sitting on the plane and it began to lift into the air, I pressed my face against the window and let the tears flow freely. In my head I was begging the plane to put me back down, telling it I wasn't ready to go yet.

But it took me away to Helsinki, Finland where I spent the night at a lonely hotel, and then began the last leg of my trip back to America.
What I guess was 48 hours after listening to Big Ben's goodbyes (but who really knows with all the time changes!), I was hugging my mom, hugging my dad, hugging my grandma and grandpa...and I was home.

Yet there will always be a piece of my heart that is still in London, and one day I'll go back to fetch it.

Goodbye Poland, for now... (Part 2)

So now its time for the rest of the story.

And this half begins out in the middle of Poland somewhere, among wheat fields and forests, and ends with tear-stained cheeks in a train to Berlin.

After I slept throughout the duration of the 3 hour drive into the Polish country, our crammed car pulled into a grocery store just outside of Lubikowo and we all jumped out to stretch our legs and buy a few last minute food items.

The grocery store was yet another one of the unique experiences I had in Poland. The only brand names I recognized in the store were "Lays" and "Kellogs"-- other than that all of the food was strange and new, but much of it I wish I could transport to America. One of my favorite discoveries has been a soft shortbread cookie with jam in the middle that's covered with chocolate. The jam can be any flavor under the sun-- from raspberry to orange to strawberry to grape-- and they are chewy and gooey and fun to eat! I oo-ed and ahh-ed over the eclectic food selection and then we bought sausages, bacon, and ketchup for dinner before loading back into the car for the last 10 minutes of our journey.

So when Pawel first told me that his family's chalet was very small and very old fashioned and very in the middle of nowhere, I didn't fully realize that he actually meant it was very small, very old fashioned, and very in the middle of nowhere

But I loved it so much! It was just like cabin camping. We were in a small building with a "kitchen" the size of a closet and a "bedroom" the size of two closets, and there was no plumbing and no electricity. Although years ago when the chalet was first built it was the only one in the forest by the lake, now it has innumerable neighbors that consist of anything from tents to campers to bigger chalets and even homeless men. The toilet was the scariest part of all-- it was an old, wooden outhouse with only half of a door sitting on a hill among dozens of other outhouses a little ways away from the chalet. As Pawel told me his family's outhouse was the first one there, but now all the newbies are trying to crowd it out.

The view of the lake from the chalet had also been obscured by a neighboring camper, but all I had to do was walk down a little path and I could behold an absolutely breathtaking sight of the water. Granted, this was also where we were supposed to take a bath, but since the water was freezing and I had no interest in catching hypothermia and dying just yet I never bathed while I was there. I have never not showered for two days until this weekend and I hope I will never have to do that again. I probably never smelled so bad in my life! Perhaps you didn't want to hear that, but at least you didn't have to smell it ;)

The chalet! Hey Bartek! ;)

The side, through those windows is the bedroom

Pawel filling up water from the lake!

The gorgeous lake :)

Although it wasn't glamorous, it was definitely an incredible experience! Besides, Pawel and his family are working on renovating the chalet (complete with a new bathroom!) at the very moment that I'm typing this. But I'm glad I got to see it right before its momentous makeover. There is something about living that closely to nature that just can't be beat :)

Well as soon as we tumbled out of the car everyone got to work making the chalet liveable for the next ten days. I wanted to get in on the action but ended up standing in the middle of a whirlwind of activity watching helplessly as the family settled everything in like clockwork. The car was unloaded, the two futons in the bedroom were pulled out and quickly made up with sheets and blankets, a table and cabinet was pulled out of the kitchen onto the covered porch and then creativity was manifested at its greatest. I watched as a sink top was placed on top of the cabinet, a PVC pipe was attached to the drain and led off of the porch into a ditch by the chalet, and a plastic jug with a spout at the bottom and the top half of a plastic bottle cut off and stuck into the top as a funnel served as the faucet. Several large jugs were filled with water from the lake, poured into the jug and voila-- you have a sink! I was very impressed ;)

All of the food was unloaded onto a table on the porch and just left there-- the air was cold enough at night that it worked well as a refrigerator. Of course that didn't work quite so well for me, who never took off my leggings, blue jeans, socks, boots, shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket the whole time I was there. (Alright so I guess it did warm up during the days, but most of the time I was trying to curl myself up into a ball whenever possible just to get my limbs to share its body heat with one another.) But after settling everything in that night the small George Foreman grill was lit, the sausages and bacon were loaded onto it, and the table was set with vegetables and bread. Another one of my new favorite Polish foods are cucumbers that look like pickles, but don't soak in vinegar so they're not. They soak in a jar with garlic and some other leafy looking stuff, and they're so crunchy and juicy I couldn't stop eating them!

Another marvelous thing about family in Poland is that they will make sure you absolutely never go hungry. You may remember how much food I've already eaten on this day from my last post, but that certainly wasn't going to be the end of it. Around 9:00 that night the sausages were finally ready, and with candlesticks lit on the table we all sat around it to enjoy a yummy, greasy supper. Ms. Monika served homemade wine and later in the evening the wine was replaced by Malibu and milk. It was perfectly cozy to sit snuggled up around the tiny table on the porch with the candlelight glowing, my belly settling, the radio playing, and my Polish family surrounding me. One by one Ms. Monika and then Ola and Bartek trickled off to bed, but again Pawel and I couldn't make ourselves go to sleep. Even though we had gotten only 3 hours the night before, Pawel kept reminding me that this is Europe-- I can't sleep in Europe! And he was too right ;) So we stayed outside talking for a long time talking, and by about midnight finally decided to be responsible and go to bed. After I had changed into my leggings and gym shorts I crept into the bedroom where the three "beds" were pretty much all touching each other. I slept on the futon with Ola on the far side of the room, Ms. Monika had the air mattress in the middle, and Bartek and Pawel shared the futon on the other side. I curled up in my warm blankets and fell asleep content to be one of the family.

View from the chalet

Yumm ;D

Ola is grillin like a boss ;)

The remains of a scrumptious dinner ;)

Chilling (quite literally) at the table!

The next morning us kids enjoyed a niiiice loooong sleep...until 10:30 a.m. ;) That's 10 and a half hours of rejuvenation, and with the sun shining brightly I jumped up ready to go! Okay so maybe that's an exaggeration; I was slow in unwrapping myself from all of my blankets and feeling the rush of cold air, but once I forced myself up and outside I realized it wasn't too chilly after all. After braving the bathroom, using the review mirror of the car to put in my contacts, brushing my teeth in a ditch beside the house and combing baby powder through my hair to break up the grease, I was ready to start the day! Ms. Monika of course served us a positively scrumptious breakfast of leftover sausage, vegetables, and egg casserole and afterwards we four kids set off exploring. I wanted to see the land so we took the path through the forests and the fields and basked in the warmth of the sunlight.

When we got back Pawel tried to convince me to go swimming in the lake with him, but I wouldn't budge. I told him that if I had a warm sauna to leap into afterwards I would do it, but other than that jumping into a freezing lake with no warm haven to run to sounded like a good way to discreetly do away with the American. He went swimming anyway and managed to survive, then the four of us piled into the car and drove to a nearby village for ice cream and a walk through a beautiful church garden. Poland is Catholic from head to toe and all of their cathedrals are absolutely magnificent! The path in the garden took its walkers through monuments of the 14 stations of the cross and we strolled through this, enjoying our ice cream cones and the serenity of the moment.

Upon getting back to the chalet the three others decided it was time to teach me some Polish card games. I have forgotten the name of the game we played, but after Pawel explained the rules to me I realized it was essentially the same thing as "Uno," only with a real deck of cards instead of with the manufactured game. We pulled out the cookies, leftover peach crumble cake, and sunflower seeds and got down to business. Pawel, who is always so good and kind, was explaining the rules to me as we went and kindly encouraged me to lay down a card that would make him draw 5 cards instead of laying down one that would let him off the hook. "The point is to attack me," he said, so getting too greedy at the prospect of making my opponent suffer I laid down the red king like he told me too.

Then he laid down a red king, and said I had to draw 11 cards.

The clever cousin tricked me, and boy, now it was ON.

For the rest of the game I showed him absolutely no mercy, and we all four had a competitive card playing banter going on, but that is really the only way to play cards. If you don't do mean and evil things to your opponents and they don't do mean and evil things to you, it isn't really playing cards, its just being cordial. So we had fun and laughed a lot, and Bartek won followed by Ola so that it was down to me versus Pawel. The game would have gone on forever I'm pretty sure if we hadn't eventually decided we were both winners and moved on to other things! (Ola tried to convince us that we weren't both winners, we were both losers because we both came in last. But we told her nope, we're both winners!)

The first thing we did was undertake a mission Bartek and Pawel decided we needed to accomplish. When the family had been at the chalet the week before, they had dumped all of their leftover food into a kettle for a homeless man who asked they leave it for his dog.

Well the dog never got the food because the kettle was still sitting by the chalet full of all kinds of wonderful things and it was starting to smell terrible. Bartek and Pawel grabbed a shovel and went up the hill to a field of wheat where they dug a very deep hole to bury the contents of the pot in. Next came the challenge of getting the pot to the hole, then getting the contents of the pot into the hole, and many lovely things happened next. Bartek tore a plastic bag in half to use as gloves to carry the pot up the hill and set the entire thing into the hole. Pawel and I knew the metal pot didn't need to get buried in the earth, so we took it upon ourselves to actually dump the contents out of the kettle into the hole.

We each grabbed the handle with the plastic bag and dumped it over, and I remembered to hold my nose but I forgot to close my eyes and there was little I could do to close my ears.

Instead of being so cruel as to describe the pot's expulsion to you in full detail, I'll just say that it looked and sounded like the pot had thrown up and the contents of said throw up most certainly do not deserve to be immortalized through the written word. I actually screamed as I saw (and heard) the delectable goop ooze into the earth and it was a long time before I was willing to open my eyes again. Afterwards we all felt sick to our stomachs and desperately needed something to get our minds off of what we had just seen and done, so we went to the chalet, grabbed a couple bottles of beer, some cups, and a bag of potato chips and trekked down to one of the docks on the lake. There we divided up the beer between the four of us and sat gazing at the water and crunching on yummy, salty goodness as we let ourselves forget about our sickening adventure. Somehow we began talking about words that rhyme in English, and I pointed out that nothing rhymes with orange, and then we started talking about space for some reason, and a strange story about discovering a planet and giving it a name that rhymes with orange-- such as Zoragne-- came to be and again we cracked ourselves up.

The beautiful lake :)

Relaxation at its finest :)

This guy HAD to be freezing

Then we realized it was time for some real food and Ms. Monika had left us hours ago to head back home. So we were on our own for dinner but we managed to warm up the leftover cabbage rolls to chow down on. By this time it was getting later into the evening and we were expecting Aunt Jola and her husband Klaus to arrive at anytime with all of the new furnishings and fixings for the chalet. While we were waiting the four of us took the old beds out of the chalet (okay, so Bartek and Pawel took the beds out and Ola and I half helped and half watched) and then we got a call from Aunt Jola informing us they had gotten lost.

We didn't have any car of our own with which to go find them, but they were in a nearby village so we set off down the path through the forests again heading in their direction. Along the way Ola jokingly drew signals in the sand to point them in the right direction when suddenly, up ahead, we saw a truck coming down the road. The four of us turned around and dashed back down the path towards the chalet so that we could be Aunt Jola and Klaus there and succeeded in doing just that! Aunt Jola gave her niece and nephew and then me a big hug and then the fun began: we opened up the back of their trailer to pull out all of the new furnishings and accessories for the chalet and it felt just like Christmas. Like when my grandparents would come to my house on Christmas Eve and Marie and I would open up the back of their van to pull out the multitude of shiny presents-- it never seemed to end and the presents would just keep getting bigger and shinier!

Well this trailer had everything in it from a kitchen cabinets to a new bunk bed to buckets of food to a darts game. Again I wanted to help very badly, but with the enormous language barrier (Klaus spoke German and a little bit of English, Aunt Jola spoke Polish and German, Pawel spoke Polish, English, and a little bit of German, Ola and Bartek spoke Polish and a little bit of English, and Michelle spoke English and could say "danke") and the hectic rush to get everything settled in before dark there was little I could do but uselessly stand and watch. Not only that, but Aunt Jola kept showering me with gifts-- she gave me chocolate, a bottle of wine, a new purse...and I had come empty handed! If I learned one thing from this trip I learned to never visit one's family empty handed, because all they will do is give and give and give and it feels pretty rotten when all you can do is take and give nothing in return. Aunt Jola told me (via our translator Pawel) just to be happy that we could all be together at this moment, though, and I took her advise. Because I couldn't have been happier to be a part of the chaotic but exciting family bustle.

Eventually the guys had finished constructing the new bunk bed inside the bedroom where a new sofa sleeper had also found its place, and the porch and kitchen were stacked with all of the new cabinets, counters, and food. By 10:00 we were settling in around the table (which had to be moved into the yard in front of the cabin) eating sandwiches and feeling happily exhausted. After Aunt Jola and Klaus headed off to bed we four kids stayed outside with the glow of a lantern on the table and the moon as our only light talking and trying to exchange jokes through the Polish/English language barrier. By this time Ola and Bartek were more comfortable talking to me in English and I was desperately wishing this didn't have to be my last night with all of them in Poland. Even though I was freezing and a hot shower would have been the equivalent of heaven at this point, I still didn't want to leave my family-- who had now become my dear friends-- behind. And I wanted to watch the transformation of the chalet as well as the rest of the new furniture was installed and the bathroom was built.

Dinner with the family! We are tired, we are hungry, we are cold, but we are happy :)

But alas, all good things must come to an end. 

The next morning Klaus and Aunt Jola drove me to the train station in Frankfurt (by Oder). Pawel rode with us, but I had to say goodbye to Ola and Bartek at the cabin. 

We rode most of the way in silence until I decided I really wanted to try to break down what little of the language barrier I could and have a conversation with Aunt Jola since she had done-- and still was doing-- so much for me. I asked Pawel if he would mind translating if I wanted to talk to her and of course he was more than happy to, so Aunt Jola and I talked to each other each in our own languages then looked to Pawel for the translation. I learned about her schooling and her move to Germany, she asked about my family and we found out both of us had been to California before. It was wonderful to be able to talk to her, and when I look back at it I forget that we hadn't actually been speaking the same language!

But then we had arrived at the train station, and I knew it would be time to say my last goodbyes soon. The panic was starting to settle in as I realized how completely unprepared I was for the upcoming trip. I had planned how I was going to get into Poland down to the last gritty detail, but I had put absolutely no thought into how I was going to get out again. I quickly had to pull out my laptop and pay for internet access so I could figure out which airport I was flying out of in Berlin while Klaus and Aunt Jola waited in line for me. They got to the ticket counter just as I figured out my flight and I had to run up to pay for my ticket with Klaus doing all of the talking since I was now in a German speaking land. I got my ticket, was told where to get off the train and at what time and then was informed I would have 6 minutes to get to the bus station and catch a bus for the airport (all in German and broken English of course). 

Waving bye from the platform!

But I was scared out of my mind. For the first time in all of my traveling over the past four weeks I was petrified. I wasn't really sure if I was getting on the right train or if it was going in the right direction. Then I wasn't really sure if I would be able to find the bus station once I got off the train, and if it would take me to the right place at the airport. And I knew that I all had to help me was my very poor and broken German. I wasn't going to have Pawel anymore. I had gotten so used to having him by my side as friend, comforter and translator these past four days that it had completely spoiled me, and the thought of being on my own again terrified me. I hugged Klaus, Jola, and finally Pawel for the last time. I sat down on the train and tried to ask the woman next to me if this train was going the direction I thought I was going because I couldn't read any of the signs around me. But of course she couldn't understand me so the guy sitting behind me tried to help me, and soon Pawel had run onto the train and asked "Are you okay, Michelle?" I nodded and tried to say yes, I'm fine, but already the tears were in my throat and burning my eyes as he walked back off the train again.

I wasn't fine. I didn't want to say goodbye, and I didn't know where this train was taking me. But Pawel had been telling me constantly for the past four days "Be courageous!", and if there was anytime to put that mantra to use it was now. 

I heard the whistle blow and then Klaus, Aunt Jola and Pawel began waving at me from the platform. I knew the train was about to pull away and I began to frantically wave at them too. I leaned into the window as the train pulled away, waving at them for as long as I could, and I watched long enough to be able to see them stop waving, turn around, and head down the stairs. Then the tears unexpectedly began to flow and my body shook with sobs.

First I had to leave Poland, and soon I would be leaving London, and then Europe would be behind me altogether. Not only that, but I knew it would be a long time before I would see Pawel and the rest of his (and my) dear family again. Leaving Pawel at the end of only 4 days felt like leaving a best friend. But I promised I would be back soon, and I will be. Goodbye never has to be forever if you don't want it to be.

Once my tears had slowed down I pulled out the notebook where Pawel and I had begun recording our "Adventures" on the bus to Lubiaz two days before and finished them out. Then the train pulled into Berlin, I got off and easily found my bus, got on and easily got to the airport, and before I knew it I was back in London. I rode the Piccadilly line for an hour back to Waterloo Station and then I was home, safely walking through the doors of King's College.

But I was a different person then when I last walked out of those doors to board a bus for Scotland. I had spent four days in a country so unlike America where nobody but Pawel really spoke my language enough to communicate with me. I had conquered things that terrified me, but I had made it through just fine and grew significantly through the traveling trials. And I had met someone who will be my friend for as long as I live, and that is the best part of all.

I told Pawel that he always said "You're the lucky one," and he was right, because now I know him. I'm honored to be able to call him family, and beyond blessed to have met him and now get to call him friend.  

And to anyone who is still wondering where the "life changing" part of this is, I would say to you to go back to the very first post about Poland and read it all again. Because that's it. It's all there. It was the experience as a whole and every single wonderful bit of it that changed my life, and now I can honestly say that because of my adventure in Poland I will never be the same. 

P.S: I still have one of my sunflowers, and it still smells like the earth of Poland. 

And I will have it and hold it dear for as long as I live. 

Words can't describe how my life has been changed, but here is my best try... (Part 1)

Sunflowers in Poland :)

4 days ago I got off of the airplane in Wroclaw, Poland without a clue as to what I was about to get myself into and as a stranger to everyone I was about to meet.

Today, as my train pulled out of the station in Frankfurt (by Oder) Germany, I broke down crying after waving goodbye to Aunt Jola, her husband Klaus, and especially my cousin and new wonderful friend Pawel for the last time.

Of course, goodbye never really is goodbye.  I know that we will all meet again.

But my days spent in Poland have been truly unforgettable and will remain engraved as an indelible print in my memories for as long as I live. Trying to describe the experience I just had would be impossible, because it wasn't just "something fun." "Fun" -- as it is generally defined-- is a nice thing to have in life.

But what I had was much greater and went much deeper than that.

I have left Poland feeling as though I'm leaving a wonderful friend and family behind. I didn't just "see some cool sights" or "do some cool things;" I lived in a way and place I had never lived before. I was warmly received by each and every person that I met and treated as one of the family. But most importantly of all, I got to truly know somebody who has taught me so much about the world and myself, and who has changed my life forever.

I suppose I should pick up where I left off last time. After sleeping in for a nice, long time into Wednesday morning I timidly tiptoed into the living room around 10:00 a.m. to wake Pawel up. Waking someone up always makes me nervous because I never know if they'll be the type to bite my head off. But, using his favorite catchphrase for me, Pawel told me to "be courageous" and everything was just fine! ;) (It didn't take him long to notice how indecisive I am; hence the birth of the phrase "be courageous"). We both celebrated that the sun was shining, and then we sat down to a yummy breakfast of cereal, bread, and the ultimate European indulgence-- Nutella. I have to admit that, although peanut butter will always and forever have my heart, it just isn't the same here as it is in America. Nutella, though, is pretty darn good. I could get used to creamy, chocolate, hazelnut goodness :)

After breakfast we got all dressed and ready for a day out in Wroclaw! Pawel took me to The Panorama; a large, circular painting that commemorates the battle between the Poles and the Russians during the Kosciuszko Uprising on April 4th, 1794. Although Poland lost the battle they learned from it that in times of turmoil the nation could come together to fight as a unified force against their enemy, and this knowledge was the greatest victory of all for the country.

The panorama!

After viewing the Panorama we went to eat Sushi for lunch, and while it was delicious it of course didn't fill either of us up because our ridiculous metabolisms render most food non-existent. So we went off in search of more food and, after walking down by the river to investigate a large, mysterious looking building we had seen and to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, we hopped on the tram to ride out to a shopping center where Pawel knew of a sandwich shop he loved. We each had a scrumptious salmon sandwich served on fresh, warm sunflower seed bread and then we were finally full. With happy bellies we continued our way towards Pawel's next planned out destination, and we meandered through a gorgeous Japanese Garden then watched a fountain show complete with lights and music (although it was hard to see the lights since the sun was only just beginning to set).

The mysterious, Communist looking building that we STILL don't know what it is ;D

Walkin by the river!

I'll tell you what, I'm REALLY going to miss this amazing European bread...

At the fountains!

The Japanese garden :)

It was beautiful!

The tasty red wine that I'm like, in love with :D

That evening we went back to the Town Center of Wroclaw where we met Pawel's friend Martina. She was very nice and full of laughter, and after the two of them patiently (or maybe not so patiently but I'll never know because they would never say!) waited for me to indecisively buy souvenirs we all headed back to Pawel's apartment at 8:30 for dinner.

This brings me to the night I wrote my last blog post. After Martina left for a party she was already committed to, Pawel and I continued to relax and enjoy ourselves with a brand new bottle of the wonderful red wine and (leftover) traditional Polish food.

Well round 4 a.m. in the morning we decided it may be wise we to take a 3 hour nap before packing up and heading out to Lubiaz ;) So we parted ways after a fun night of watching How I Met Your Mother, making fun of Justin Bieber, listening to music, chatting, and sipping on red wine (see why we didn't want to go to sleep?), saying we would see each other in a few hours!

By 7 o'clock my alarm was ringing and I reluctantly rolled out of the bed, brazenly barged into the living room this time to wake Pawel up, and we prepared to head out. But not, of course, without our "shakira." That's the Polish name for really super de duper strong coffee, but I think it sounds like the singer, Shakira, so I always got a good laugh out of it :D After scrambling around for 2 hours making sure Pawel had everything he need for the next 2 weeks in the middle of the woods, I had packed all the belongings I had with me into the one backpack I had brought on the trip, and we had either eaten or packed all of the food we needed, we hauled our heavy luggage (complete with my sunflowers sticking out of a bag) to the tram stop, rode to the bus station, and by 10:45 were finally on our way to Lubiaz. On the bus we spent some time laughing and filling out a notepad with 2 pages worth of inside jokes that had sprung up over the past couple of days, and then I fell asleep for the hour long trip to the small, country village.

When the bus dropped us off we were picked up by Pawel's mom, his sister Alexandra (whom we always called Ola), and her boyfriend Bartek (and I guarantee you I just completely butchered the spelling of his name but hey, that's what it sounds like to me!) At this point I will admit, I was beginning to get a little nervous. Hanging out with Pawel had been easy because he speaks beautiful English, but the three new people I had just met spoke little to no English. Suddenly it was as though someone had super glued my mouth shut and I couldn't say a word. I didn't know what to say to people who didn't speak my language, and I knew that Pawel would have to translate everything anyway so it felt silly trying to have a conversation.

It actually took me a very long time to get comfortable with this situation as we met more Polish speaking relatives and I felt more and more lost in a land where every word I had ever been taught suddenly met nothing. But Pawel was always looking out for me, and did his best to make sure I could understand what was going on as I dived deeper into Poland, and eventually the courage he was always encouraging me to grasp hold of slowly began to work its power on me. It wasn't easy breaking down the language barrier, and it certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it was also a learning experience like none other and ended up being terrifically gratifying to muddle my way through the sea of translation. But of course there will be more to come on that later.

Pawel's mother drove all of us to the home of Pawel and Ola's grandmother, who I know as Cousin Maria. She and my Grandpa Holowach are first cousins, which means that my great-grandmother was sister's with Pawel and Ola's great-grandmother....yes, we are still trying to figure out what that make us. Third cousins one million times removed? Who knows ;)

Meeting Maria was positively wonderful. Neither of us could speak a word of the other's language, but as soon as she saw me she took my arms, pulled me gently into her home, and gave me a big embrace. She sat me down and fed me coffee and absolutely scrumptious peach crumble cake (which I am not ashamed to admit I ate two pieces of), and showed me pictures of herself with my grandparents and asked me questions about my family, with Pawel as our translator. She was so sweet and good to me one would think that I was her own grandchild, but I guess that's just what family is like in Poland. They seem to love you before they even get to know you.

Maria with her grandchildren, Ola and Pawel!

The lovely Cousin Maria and I :)

Cake and tea with the family! (Left to right) Maria, Pawel, their mother Monika, Bartek (?) and Ola

After being well fed at Cousin Maria's and saying farewell, Ms. Monika dropped us kids off at the Cistercian Abbey in Lubiaz-- one of the biggest abbeys in Europe that my Grandpa had driven by and snapped a picture of, but which I was given the opportunity to explore. It was a large and beautiful building that, I feel, perfectly summed up the country of Poland and its difficult history.

Poland is a very different place from America. Some people may be saying "Well duh, tell me something I don't know," but it really is eye-opening to spend time in a country lacking many of the luxuries Americans-- or at least residents of Madison, Mississippi-- enjoy and take fore granted everyday. It's normal for every member of a family to have a car from the time they're 15 years old in America; it's normal to have large apartments and nice streets and it isn't normal to see graffiti covering every single wall of a city. But Poland was communist until 1989, and as Pawel informed me it is still a developing country with its share of problems. Poland was really unlike anything I have ever experienced, but it is how these people live every single day, and to get to be a part of that even for the small amount of time I was there was really incredible. Poland is by no means a third world country or completely destitute; it is still quite beautiful and the people live comfortably. But it is a country still crippled by oppression and hobbling to stand up on its own two feet, and to experience such a place changed my life.

Therefore, the Cistercian Abbey was Poland under a microscope. One of the biggest abbeys on the continent, it used to be full of glamor and glittering decoration. What we saw, though, was the bare bones of a building that has had all of this stripped away from it. I couldn't understand what the tour guide was saying so I wandered around taking pictures and admiring how sinister a cathedral with nothing on the walls or floors, a pipe organ and lectern that had been ripped out, and cracked windows and boarded up doors looked. I honestly thought it was spectacular, because I have seen so many cathedrals in England that would look just like this if they were stripped of all their splendor. But then Pawel told me that, while I as marveling at how incredible this all looked, other people in the group were lamenting over the cathedral's deprivation of its previous beauty and asking why everything had been stolen by the communists and any other number of vagabonds and wishing it had never come to be. Over hundreds of years this abbey has been raided by any number of foreigners who would have it completely destroyed, but it still stands.

And so does Poland.

Poland has been divided between Germany, Austria and Russia; it has been torn apart in wars; tribes and peoples have been scattered across the continent and communism has wrecked its havoc on the land.

But Poland still stands, and it grows stronger every day. 

I made it to the abbey, Grandpa! ;)

Of course, it wasn't all bare bones ;)

Here I am!

This is the actual cathedral, and the oldest part of the Abbey

Where there should be a little prayer chapel...

Where there should be a window...

Where there should be an organ...

And a lectern...

And a door....

But back to the beauty again :)

When we were done with our tour of the Abbey we walked a little bit through Lubiaz and then Ms. Monika picked us up to bring us to her parent's house for dinner. These people I have no blood relation to but they still showered me with the utmost kindness. They lived in a darling looking cottage in the feilds of Poland with a large, plentiful garden and their own lumber business in the backyard. For dinner I was treated to marvelous soup, yummy cabbage rolls with rice and beef inside of them (it's something Polish and traditional but I don't know the name of it and wouldn't be able to spell it anyway since Pawel isn't here to help me out anymore!), and then delicious cinnamon cake complete with a warm cup of tea. After eating I wanted to walk around the gardens and take in the beautiful scene of Poland basking in the warmth of the afternoon sunlight, and then we all piled in the car again to head to Pawel and Ola's house. Their house was perfectly lovely, and once there we picked peaches, folded blankets, and finished loading up the car with everything we would need at the chalet in Lubikowo.

Finally it was time to hunker down for the 3 hour drive into the true countryside of Poland, but I will have to continue regaling you with all of these tales in another post. I really wish I could write more now but the time has come to work on studying for a final exam but please stay tuned for more. There is still much more to come!

Hey Poland, I just met you, and this is crazy, but call me maybe! (courtesty of Pawel Reka)

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.... in Poland...."

Thus begins the long anticipated post on my journeys in Poland, as suggested by my third cousin Pawel when I asked him how I should begin the story on my travels to the land of my ancestors! He is sitting across the table from me right now as we listen to Polish music, eat cheese, and sip on glasses of the most delicious red wine I have ever tasted :)

And yes, it is past midnight in Poland and we do have to catch a bus to Lubiaz at 10:00 tomorrow morning, but didn't I mention something before about never sleeping while I was in Europe? ;)

So before I answer the question the question on everybody's mind-- did I really receive sunflowers in Poland-- I will share how adventurous this experience has been so far.

It all began when I boarded a train at 5:30 p.m. in Edinburgh, Scotland and rode through Great Britain for 5 hours until I reached London. I was beyond anxious as to how all of my travel plans would work out, for I had discovered that the most cost-effective way to get to Poland would entail riding a train from Edinburgh to London on Wednesday, July 18th, spending the night at the Heathrow airport, and jumping on the plane at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 19th to fly to Warsaw and finally to Wroclaw.

Through this all, I have realized that train-travel is my most favorite way of getting from one place to another in the whole wide world. There is nothing quite like kicking back in a comfortable seat with plenty of leg room, reading a book, sipping on coffee and looking out an expansive window into the magnificently idyllic countryside of the British Isles. Not only that, but life has a funny way of plopping the most wonderful and unexpected people into one's path. Sitting next to me on the train was a woman I came to call Ms. Anna; she has two daughters the same age as me and my sister, lives in the English countryside with horses, was born in Norway, and has nearly traveled the whole world. We talked about the marathon she ran in New York City the year before the Twin Towers fell, and her excursion to Kenya, my experiences in London, her family and my family, and everything else under the sun. She insisted on buying me a cup of coffee and a toffee caramel cake she could tell I had hungry eyes for, and it reminded me of the kind man who insisted on sharing his salmon bagel with me on the plane from Manchester, England to Helsinki, Finland.

Everywhere I have gone on this world-wide adventure I have met people who are beyond eager to take care of me, and such encounters are unbelievable every time. I have been beyond blessed in my travels as so many people have gone out of their way to provide me with things they can tell I need. Ms. Anna got off the train an hour before it got to London, but before she left she gave me a large, juicy orange she had been saving because she knew I would be spending the night at the airport and would need a good midnight snack. Then she said I was a good girl and she's proud of me for everything I've done and am doing, and we said a fond farewell. A couple minutes later, though, she iwas back at my seat thrusting a 5 pound bill into my hand. "In case you need anything," she said, "please take it."

3 hours ago this woman was a complete stranger. Now she was insisting I take her money and her food, and was telling me that I am a good girl. When the train stopped and she got off I stood up from my chair to look out the window and watch her walk away. But she turned around right away and we both waved goodbye to each other with large smiles and teary eyes as the train pulled away from the station. How strange it is that I would meet somebody so fantastic and know I will never see them again in my whole life. But I will never forget Ms. Anna, the orange she placed in my hands, her kind words or her abounding generosity.

I rode the train the rest of the way to Kings Cross London (feeling of course as though I were going to Hogwarts) and then disembarked from the train at 10:20 p.m. From this point on it was all about following the signs. Ms. Anna had tipped me off that it was cheaper to take the Underground Express to the airport rather then catching a train, so I took her advice, found my way to the Piccadilly Line, and took the hour long ride through winding tunnels to Heathrow Airport. Arriving close to midnight I once more followed the signs to Terminal 1, found the check-in desk for Polish Lot (which was of course closed because of the ungodly hour of night), and realized that I was safe and sound and had made it to wear I needed to be in order to made it to my final Polish destination.

It just so happened that I wandered around the terminal and found a cafe that stays open 24 hours. They severed food, coffee, and tea, and there were several other people camping out there for the night. I took my place among the ranks of the sleepless nomads and spent the remainder of the morning hours in a cozy chair keeping myself awake with tea, scones, and good conversation. The manager said we "weren't allowed to sleep on the premises"  and I didn't want to leave my fellow campers to sleep downstairs, so I didn't sleep a single wink all night long.

 Instead I read, ate, and talked for hours to another American girl who has studied abroad and now lives in Washington. All around us people were quietly chatting, the lighting was warm and yellow, and there is something about knowing a large group of strangers is toughing out the same trials together that fills one with a sense of comfort, peace, and even joy. Although it was the first night I have not slept even 10 minutes, it was fun and exciting and all part of the adventure that has left me feeling invincible. And when I said goodbye to my fellow American, Amanda, she said I have a beautiful spirit and she wishes me all the best in life.

What is it about meeting these people who are so incredibly kind? It certainly renews one's faith in humanity.

At 4:30 in the morning I was checking into my flight, and by 5:50 was finally walking onto my airplane. I do have to say that was probably the most terrible plane ride I have ever experienced. I was sitting in the aisle seat which automatically means I'm constantly going to get bumped into, and I had a screaming baby behind me, a screaming baby beside me, and a puking child in front of me.

I kid you not. I hadn't slept all night and the incredible vocal chords of a small child were certainly going to make sure I didn't sleep for the next 2 hours either. It was hot, it was crowded, it was loud, and it was exceedingly painful.

However, I did eventually make it to the airport in Warsaw where I ate a sandwich, had a milkshake (which I disappointingly discovered has no ice cream in it) then passed out on the bench at my gate for at least a half hour before my plane took off.

At 12:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, July 19th, I was walking onto the plane that would take me to Wroclaw, Poland and bring me to a long lost relative and the land of my ancestors. I had tears in my eyes as I walked down the tunnel and thought about how this dream not only I but also my Grandpa Holowach has had for years was finally coming true. I was about to be reunited with the family who, a century ago, lived together in the same country and who I owe my heritage to.

Thankfully I got to sleep for the entirely of the 40 minute flight, and then I was at the Wroclaw airport where I once more depended on the signs to lead me to where I hoped my third cousin Pawel would be waiting for me.

I went with the flow and found myself at the baggage claim, but there was no sign of a young man I thought could be my cousin. It has become a habit for me, though, to not panic on this trip, so I ran into the bathroom and upon coming out realized that what I thought was a wall was actually an automatic door.

I walked out of the door, looked all around me, and then I saw them.

It was the sunflowers.

And they were held in the hands of a young, blonde man I knew was the cousin I was looking for.

So I went towards him, we embraced, and I had my sunflowers in Poland.

It couldn't have been any more perfect :)

Using the city transportation we made his way back to his apartment where I freshened up after a night and day of traveling, then we went out to explore the city of Wroclaw! As Pawel keeps reminding me, "this is Poland," so the streets and sidewalks are cracking and there is an impressive amount of graffiti, but this is a country that didn't gain its independence until 1989 so it is still growing and developing. 

And it is still the land of my ancestors, so I love it :) We went through the town center, ate a couple of scrumptious ice cream cones (mine had a scoop of Nutella and a scoop of Tiramisu), went grocery shopping so we were prepared for breakfast the next morning, and then headed back to Pawel's apartment around 9:00 p.m. Once home we cooked a traditional meal of schabowy which we prepared ourselves (picture Country Fried Steak and you've got it), potatoes, and cabbage, enjoyed some spectacular red wine, watched a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother (which is absolutely positively HILARIOUS), and called it a night! ...at 2:00 in the morning ;)

But its Europe after all, so who needs sleep?

But I've made it to Poland. And I've got my sunflowers. And I've met wonderful people and had exciting experiences along the way. 

Life is beautiful, and that's the truth :)

Yup...watching the sunrise at the Heathrow airport ;)

Hello Wroclaw!!!!

Beautiful town center :)

Sunflowers and traditional Polish dinner!!!

Hey, there we are, it's me and my cuz Pawel from Poland!;D