From One Extreme to the Other

Back by popular demand or more so by the pressures of my mother to write again this time I've got Poland and Barcelona on the agenda. Starting at 5am on November 14th 45 history students got on the bus towards Poland. We slept on the two hour bus ride to Cologne, we were comatose while waiting for the plane to load, we followed that up with more sleep on the flight to Cracow where we were finally greeted in the coldest chills we had ever experienced. Sleep was no longer an option after we landed although we were still so exhausted. Immediately we were greeted by our tour guide, taken on a walking tour around Cracow and all of this while being miserably cold. After seeing a couple of statues and one square after another the phrase "just one more thing" became nails on a chalkboard for us. We were starving and cold, but the wait was well worth it. Entering through the doors into the authentic Polish restaurant we were surrounded by old stone, warm air, and plenty of delicious smells. We walked and walked and walked, the place never ended. We were never officially told, but we think that it was an old dungeon. The fact that we were underground with only small windows at the top and surrounded by swords and other medieval weapons hanging on the wall helped to give it away. Mushroom soup, lard and bread, wiener schnitzel with red beets and potatoes, and a piece of cake were on the menu for the evening. The dinner started out great, but ended less than par. Although not the healthiest thing one can eat the lard and bread was a perfect combination, the schnitzel was filling, but the piece of cake really let us down. After about the first bite the description that became the most popular was: "Oh my god this tastes like meat...gross!" Looking back now though it is okay because other better pieces of cake followed through the week. 

The days were filled with one tedious museum not having to do with our course after another, and so the dinners and nights became the most memorable. The first night led to other days of complete laughter. The common consensus amongst my friends was that we have not laughed that hard in a very long time. During a small break in the day the boys wandered over to a grocery store buying some snacks, one of them being chips with extra smak in them. Smak became the word of the week. Everything from delicatessens to chips to beer had the word on there, but what in the world could it possibly mean? Towards the end of the week the boys asked our tour guide only to receive a less than par definition. I decided to stay naive, it was funnier that way. The whole week we were fiends for Euchre, South Park, Zwiec, and anything containing Smak. We played Euchre on the buses, for hours at night, and even while eating a nice dinner. 

To be honest the days are starting to blur together with only our visit to Auschwitz standing out. We saw the ins and outs of Cracow, but I really don't feel as if I know that much more. The museums were incredibly detailed and the tour guide's voice so quiet. There were several times where we all thought we were going to keel over. Every other room of the museums contained a bench or two and it was a mad dash to the little piece of comfort. On the second day we did receive some free time in the afternoon, which allowed us to go exploring through the "old city" part of Cracow. That was my favorite part and was truly beautiful. In the center of the square is an old governmental building with a long tunnel right down the center lined with booth after booth of Polish trinkets. Amber, jewelry boxes, and polska soccer gear was the most abundant at the incredible deal of 3 Polish Zlotys to 1 dollar. Finally a break for the dollar!

The most educational and relative day was also that of eeriness and confusion. Our class, the "Rise and Fall of Hitler", went to Poland for the purpose of seeing Auschwitz and as odd as it may sound it was my favorite day. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and kept us extremely interested, which one would have to do on a six hour tour. There are three different Auschwitz camps of which we only saw the two most important ones. The first is where people may best recognize "Arbeit macht frei" hanging over the entrance of the camp. Meaning work makes you free, the original purpose of the camp was for prisoners and labor although it did not take long before several were being killed. The camp, at one time, was used for the Polish army so the barracks were made of brick and appeared much more sturdy than the following barracks at Auschwitz Birkenau. The first part of the tour was eerie in the sense that we saw displays filled with all the suitcases, clothes, and hair of those lost in Auschwitz. Along with the eerie feeling it was also confusing. It was difficult to what I had learned and was learning to where I actually was. This place has not always been a museum, but it is hard to picture it otherwise. There are few pictures of the terror which occurred behind those gates and the most difficult part to imagine is the sounds that must have been in the camp. When you read accounts from survivors they also describe the screams that they heard either from a pained prisoner or from an ordering Nazi. 

To be continued...