PRE STUDY COURSE IS OVERRRRRR...oh wait!

Hello my fellow blog follower friends and family!

I know you've been anxiously waiting for a new post from me and I apologize if you have just been clicking the refresh button for the past few weeks, but it has been quite a busy time here in good old Poznan. I've found that bullet points work best so here they go:

• I am officially going to MUNICH for Oktoberfest from Wednesday until Saturday. I am more than excited and have put the celebrations that occur on a high pedestal so they definitely have a lot to live up to. Transportation plans are not perfected, but we will either be driving or taking an overnight train...either way it will be one of many of my EuroTrips so I am more than excited to go. Now don't worry, we will also be doing some sightseeing over in Deutschland and taking in the German culture. Stay tuned for pictures next week!
• Although the pre-study courses should have ended last Tuesday, we were informed that physical therapy students have to attend physics lectures and discussions for an extra week. When we learned about this extra week of physics, it put a damper on our planned trip to Oktoberfest so we talked to the professors and they said that if our exams go well then we can skip two days of the physics classes. Now all of you who know me very well know how much hatred I have towards this little subject called physics. And now for the drumrollllllll- somehow my friend Ania and I scored the best scores in physics in the program. How did this happen? I'm still wondering the exact same thing, but who cares? I'm going to Munich!
• This past Tuesday I took a 5.5 hour train ride to Pulawy (where my whole family lives) which is on the other side of Polska. I spent 4 days over there hanging out with aunts and cousins and grandmas and doing the most random things. It was weird though because once I got to Pulawy (my adventure there will be another bullet point) I felt that I was in Poland, but Poznan to me is just some city in Europe where they happpennnn to speak Polish all the time. 
• My train ride to Pulawy was interesting. I tried to play it cool and pretend that I have been on trains all the time and know exactly what I'm doing. Then I started panicking because my train was late. Now here's the thing- I had to switch trains in order to get to Pulawy. Train #1- ran behind exactly 30 minutes which meant that it would arrive at 7:59pm. Train #2- would leave the train station at 7:58pm. Yes that is right. I would be late for my train to Pulawy by exactly 1 minute! Like I said before- I panicked and found the conductor of the first train and told him my situation. He then called the conductor of the second train I had to get on and told him to wait. So when the first train arrived at the station, I literally jumped off and sprinted to the second train where some man opened the 100 pound doors for me. The second he closed those doors, the train left the station. If you really think about it, I single-handedly messed with the Polish train schedules. Okay maybe it wasn't that big of a deal, but just like in the movies for sure.
• I have been getting a better feel of the city and have been exploring different places to go out on the town or grab a cup of coffee or a feast of a dinner for cheap. So far one of the coolest places I have been was the "Dark Restaurant." It's very simple to explain- you eat in COMPLETE darkness. When I say complete, I mean PITCH black as in the waiter leads you to the table and when you close your eyes or open them, you see the same exact darkness. You eat your food with your hands and the neat thing is- you don't have a menu. You tell the waiter what types of foods you don't like and what you are allergic to and the chef customizes your dinner plate for you. It's a very entertaining experience to say the least. 
• I ALMOST FORGOT! So Ania and I decided to go check out the new stadium that Poznan finally completed for the 2012 Euro Championship in soccer (orrrr football if you don't want to get shot here in Europe). We went on opening day because Sting was going to have a performance there in honor of the new stadium. The tickets that were left were the very expensive ones that we could not/did not want to pay for. So we decided to go to a cafe nearby, get our studying done (because we had chemistry and physics exams the next day) and then listen to Sting from outside the stadium. Once we got to the stadium after our studying, we found some scalpers (didn't know they existed in Poland too!) and bought some cheap tickets literally 5 minutes before the show! I thought that this would be like any American concert where the performer is scheduled for a certain hour and doesn't get on the stage until 1.5 hours later. Well Sting is a very punctual person apparently because at 8 on the dot, he began his show with "Shape of my Heart." Somehow we made it into our seats just in time and were able to enjoy the show! Once we bought the tickets, we celebrated by dancing in the middle of the streets and screaming to each other which got us on a live broadcasting of a major nationwide radio station in Poland! 

Here are a few pictures from my recent sightseeing adventures and what not! I will have more stories shortly! Oh and also- I GOT A BLACKBERRRYYYYY!

Gosia (from Germany), Ania (from Switzerland) and me at my first Polish houseparty!

I WAS ON THE RADIOOOOO!

In front of the new stadium! Very touristy of me, I know.

Sightseeing and Such

The Warta River close to the Malta Lake

Stary Rynek (Old Market)  There are a TON of cute restaurants and cafes. Love it!

A Mexish meal (Mexican and Polish) at the Dramat restaurant. So good!

The Old City Hall which is now the History of Poznan Museum

Some more of the Stary Rynek...you would never expect it, but most of the cafes turn into nightclubs when it gets dark.

Cute homes/souvenir stores

Balconies!

Plans for the weekend include going to the Malta Mall as well as the zoo and possibly skiing? We'll see about that last part...not sure if this city is ready to see my lack of coordination. Also, I am possibly going to start teaching English, but that is still TBA. More pictures and stories coming shortly! 

This Might Not Be Thaaaaaaat Bad

After a few days of roaming the streets in a three block radius of my dorm, I finally ventured out a little bit further. The main thing that pushed me out of my dorm and my classroom building was the sun. You read right. Poland has sun and I got to see it (for one day that is). I think it will be easier if I just list my adventures and thoughts:

1. I walked further out in the city and found a wonderful market which I decided is going to be where I get my fruits and veggies every Saturday morning. That's when I really felt that I was in Europe. The cool thing about Poznan is that it is a Polish town with a lot of German flair to it so all the architecture is very original and very European. Here are a few pictures!

Turns out this is a hospital...pretty neat

I need a balcony like that!

My signature pose. Had to do it.

2. I am going out to dinner and drinks with some people that I met so I'm very excited about that because I have yet to experience the night life here in Poznan. I am also having dinner with my grandma's sisters' granddaughter (ha seriously) because she lives here and we have never met and my family thinks that I should meet her. So yes, we're grabbing dinner on Saturday after I go sightseeing with my "Rough Guide to Poland" book (yes I got one of those). My experiences TBA.

3. My bargaining skills have proved to be on their "A" game once again. I sold some dollars for Polish zloty for 6 zloty more than the listed price. I'm pretty sure it was the flip of the hair that got that one done. Andddd I had to unlock my phone because apparently Polish sim cards don't work on "locked" phones. With this discount, it must have been the pearly whites that did the trick.

4. Classes in general are looking very good. I'm dominating in both orgo and physics. That's right. Orgo and physics. Never thought I would say that. I have class from 8am until 7pm, but got out of taking Polish so I now have a three hour gap to run errands and check out parts of the city. I'm becoming closer friends with a few of them. One of the is Ania who is from Switzerland, but has Polish roots and the other one is Gosia and she's from Germany, but also has Polish roots. Status on the Norwegians segregating themselves...still happening. Although I think one of them smiled at me today. I think I'm making progress. Everyone here is very friendly and everyone helps each other out. However, it's very entertaining to see all the 6 year MD kids (usually 18 and just graduated high school) running around with beer in their hand and going out every night. Why? Because they finally can.

5. The following message showed up on my screen when I wanted to watch some hulu videos "We're sorry, but Hulu videos are not available in your region." What does that mean?! I'm in Poland, not in a third world country although I know many of you disagree with that. Not only does Hulu not work, Pandora doesn't either. It's fine. I'm not bitter. I just won't watch any of my favorite tv shows or be in touch with the music world. Not bitter.

I think that's all for now. Next blog: PICTURESSSSS!

<3 Olia