Poland

During hiihtoloma (translation: skiing holiday) my host family and I went to Poland! Most families go up to Lapland for this time to go skiing or snowboarding, or some stay at home, and others use this break as a time to travel.

We arrived in Poland on the 21st of Februrary

After we got to our hotel in Krakow, we decided to walk around Krakow and see the life of the city. It was a bit of a sprinkle and it was refreshing to be somewhere new.


Day 2: Monday

Our day began with a 2 hour car ride with two ladies from Ireland to Auchwitz. This was a very impactful day for me. I can't put into words the immensity of emotions you feel when visiting. I've read many books in class and out of class about this place but being there and re hearing the things that happened there was a lot. I can't put much into words about the feeling I got but here are pictures that I took, so you can also bear witness in a way.


Day 3: Tuesday

Tuesday we were scheduled to go to Schlinders Factory at 10 am. For those of you who don't know who Schlinder is he was a Nazi offcial who helped saved hundreds of Jews from death at Auchwitz. It was another place I had been wanting to go and see for sometime. After Auchwitz we took a taxi to the old synagouge and went in and walked around in there for about 20 minutes. After this we walked back to the center and I meet up with a Rotary Exchange Student from Krakow, Maggie from Colorado. We hung out at a nice little cafe and talked about our exchanges and our lives in our new countries. After meeting up with her we went to go find my host parents and ended up running into them on our way to the mall.


Day 4: Wednesday

On Wednesday we walked to the Cathedral and Castle and had little audio tours around these places. I'm such a history nerd, since I had never learned of Polish history besides the fact that they had king and that was pretty much my knowledge of Poland until WW2. It was a bit creepy going into the cathedral and being able to walk to where the bodies of many kings/queens/ and saints lie.


Day 5: Thursday

On Thursday we left to come back to Finland. So there was nothing very speical, we ate breakfast, got our luggage, did a little last walk around Krakow and left soon after.

PICTURES!!

...

Things about Poland:

I would also like to note the wonderful tasting breakfast at this hotel, I would not have expected it from there.

Things there are pretty cheap, I was honestly thinking how much I could buy if I went there on exchange (1USD= 3.6 zlottys)

Their food is pretty heavy.

They have many of the same customs as Russia

My next trip is to Rome on Friday!! I was hoping to have my American flag to take with me but it seems Posti (Finland's postal system) has lost track of it. Crying on the inside.

Sorry this post is so late, but better late then never?!

Until next time,
Hailey