Nina's Travel Up-dates
I'm in Poland now for my semester abroad, which is very exciting. I've made some entries for my "travel observations" but I just got internet today so there has been a delay in posting.
Friday 2/16/07 (2:00am Colorado Time) STUPID AIRPLANE
Despite the lights being out and the knowledge that I won’t be able to sleep once I arrive in the Frankfurt airport, I can’t seem to fall asleep. Perhaps it could be due to the rushing sound of air mingled with people moving or the fact that I’ve placed all my scrunched up weight on one butt-cheek since the nice but unfortunately large fellow next to me is taking up a third of my seat. Or it could be a combination of my upright belted in positing and the fact that I’ve been staying out till 3:00am more then I should have. Either way, in the entire 10 hour flight it appears that I will not be getting any sleep.
Friday 2/16/07 FRANKFURT AIRPORT (16:00)
I’ve had two cups of coffee, yet my eyes still keep trying to shut against my will. It’s just my luck that I have a lovely six hour stop-over in Deutschland during the worst possible time - between 3:30 and 9:00am. I’m leaning against a glass panel watching for my boarding gate to appear on the chart. I’ve already spent a few hours reading, and walking up and down the escalator and down the hallways. Unlike the chart in the Denver airport the one in Frankfurt isn’t quite as computerized. Every few 30 seconds or so it updates in a flurry of rotating black plastic cards with letters and numbers written on them that create an interesting ticking noise as they brush together. Finally after a series of more fluttering cards my gate appears B33. Hulling myself up, I head back towards the escalator and to my gate. I reflect on how my trip really hadn’t seemed real until I saw the menu at the Airport Café and was surrounded with people speaking German. I’m actually doing this I thought with a jolt. I’m going to live in Europe. Sweet.
Saturday 2/17/07 JOASIA AND ROPS SZPOR’S APPARMENT
Its 4:30am Polish time, but I’m awake and thinking. My brain is rushing over all the German and Polish phrases I can remember, trying to pronounce the grammar correctly in my head. While Joasia can speak English nicely, Rops - whom I’ll be spending the day with- is more limited. Instead we communicate in a broken combination of scattered Polish (on my part) and German.
Last night they picked me up at the airport. After exiting the baggage claim I had felt a stab of nervousness glancing over the faces of the people waiting for someone. Would Rops recognize me from the picture I e-mailed him? But my brief fear past when I heard my name. “Mam na imie Nina!” I said with enthusiasm and pointing to my self. I recognized Joasia a bit from when I met her ten years ago. My family and I had been road tripping through Poland to visit the relatives and Warszawa (Warsaw) was one of our stops.
Thursday 2/22/07 LETTER TO ANDREW
I'm having a fantastic time in Poland still. I am in Krakow now where I am staying with Adam and Danuta for a couple of nights.
Today I met my coordinator and got assigned to my dorm room. I'm going to be moving in tomorrow morning and getting a cell phone in the afternoon. I hope to go dancing in the evening. My dorm room is a bit bigger then how I thought it would be, which is good and I'll be meeting my room-mate on Sunday night. She is a non-smoking Canadian girl, which is all I know about her for now.
I had pirogues for lunch. It's the second time I've had them this week. I'm planning to have pirogues EVERY WEEK!
My orientation is on Monday, and classes are starting on Thursday. We are having our first travel trip next weekend. (wheee)
Friday 2/16/07 (2:00am Colorado Time) STUPID AIRPLANE
Despite the lights being out and the knowledge that I won’t be able to sleep once I arrive in the Frankfurt airport, I can’t seem to fall asleep. Perhaps it could be due to the rushing sound of air mingled with people moving or the fact that I’ve placed all my scrunched up weight on one butt-cheek since the nice but unfortunately large fellow next to me is taking up a third of my seat. Or it could be a combination of my upright belted in positing and the fact that I’ve been staying out till 3:00am more then I should have. Either way, in the entire 10 hour flight it appears that I will not be getting any sleep.
Friday 2/16/07 FRANKFURT AIRPORT (16:00)
I’ve had two cups of coffee, yet my eyes still keep trying to shut against my will. It’s just my luck that I have a lovely six hour stop-over in Deutschland during the worst possible time - between 3:30 and 9:00am. I’m leaning against a glass panel watching for my boarding gate to appear on the chart. I’ve already spent a few hours reading, and walking up and down the escalator and down the hallways. Unlike the chart in the Denver airport the one in Frankfurt isn’t quite as computerized. Every few 30 seconds or so it updates in a flurry of rotating black plastic cards with letters and numbers written on them that create an interesting ticking noise as they brush together. Finally after a series of more fluttering cards my gate appears B33. Hulling myself up, I head back towards the escalator and to my gate. I reflect on how my trip really hadn’t seemed real until I saw the menu at the Airport Café and was surrounded with people speaking German. I’m actually doing this I thought with a jolt. I’m going to live in Europe. Sweet.
Saturday 2/17/07 JOASIA AND ROPS SZPOR’S APPARMENT
Its 4:30am Polish time, but I’m awake and thinking. My brain is rushing over all the German and Polish phrases I can remember, trying to pronounce the grammar correctly in my head. While Joasia can speak English nicely, Rops - whom I’ll be spending the day with- is more limited. Instead we communicate in a broken combination of scattered Polish (on my part) and German.
Last night they picked me up at the airport. After exiting the baggage claim I had felt a stab of nervousness glancing over the faces of the people waiting for someone. Would Rops recognize me from the picture I e-mailed him? But my brief fear past when I heard my name. “Mam na imie Nina!” I said with enthusiasm and pointing to my self. I recognized Joasia a bit from when I met her ten years ago. My family and I had been road tripping through Poland to visit the relatives and Warszawa (Warsaw) was one of our stops.
Thursday 2/22/07 LETTER TO ANDREW
I'm having a fantastic time in Poland still. I am in Krakow now where I am staying with Adam and Danuta for a couple of nights.
Today I met my coordinator and got assigned to my dorm room. I'm going to be moving in tomorrow morning and getting a cell phone in the afternoon. I hope to go dancing in the evening. My dorm room is a bit bigger then how I thought it would be, which is good and I'll be meeting my room-mate on Sunday night. She is a non-smoking Canadian girl, which is all I know about her for now.
I had pirogues for lunch. It's the second time I've had them this week. I'm planning to have pirogues EVERY WEEK!
My orientation is on Monday, and classes are starting on Thursday. We are having our first travel trip next weekend. (wheee)