Week 2: Cultural (20/02/12 - 26/02/12)

Mam na imie ......

After spending nearly two weeks in Poznan, I am only now beginning to grasp how different the culture is compared to back home in Belfast.

I will begin by getting the difficult one out of the way…… LANGUAGE!!!

The Polish language is slowly becoming my nemesis. We have enrolled for two seperate three hour classes a week, and after completing six hours so far, we are still struggling to say “My name is.” I kid you not, this language is crazy!

This struggle to adapt to the language is only magnified by the fact that very little people in Poznan speak English. Even the people who work at reception in our dormitory cannot speak English. We have been managing to communicate with the age old classic of ‘pointing’ if we want something and the trusty ‘shrug of the shoulders’ when we don’t understand (which is quite often). With this being the case, we really appreciate the fact that the other Erasmus students are in the same situation and we try to help each other out.  However, I am determined to try and master the language and hopefully in a few weeks you will be reading about the fact that I can speak fluent Polish….. slightly optimistic I know, but I hope to at least be able to order my food in Polish!    

Tasty, but don't ask me what it is!

     Polish food is very different than back home with a lot of cabbage, coleslaw, cabbage, potatoes and cabbage being served. It has been  interesting and mostly enjoyable experimenting with these different plates. When I order in a restaurant, the menus are in Polish so I have devised a crafty trick of randomly pointing out to something on the menu and waiting anxiously and hoping that I have ordered something tasty. As well as Polish food, we are also being introduced to different recipes from around the world. We have planned to get our Erasmus friends to cook meals from their countries. Aina (from Catalonia) made us a delicious dish of Spanish Tortillas and tomato bread, and I think we are planning to make some Irish stew if we ever get around to buying the ingredients.

View from our hostel in Wroclaw

We had an opportunity this week to experience the Polish culture outside Poznan. We took a trip south to the city of Wroclaw (I think it’s pronounced Vrrocwov – see what I mean about the language!).

Wroclaw is a beautiful city with a stunning mix of modern and old architecture. I was asked by another Erasmus student if Belfast was a beautiful city, and I could only say “Yes, some parts of Belfast are.” It made me think about the fact that I don’t really appreciate my home city, as the more I thought about it, our city is one with a fascinating history and deserves to be given more respect and appreciation by its inhabitants.

Enjoying the view

Padlocks on 'Lock Bridge'

We only stayed in Wroclaw for one night, and it was a shame as there was still so much we had to see. 

Having said this, we still managed to see some beautiful churches, buildings, the university and the ‘Lock Bridge,’ which is a small bridge which is covered in padlocks. This tradition comes about when a couple get married and they would go to the bridge and place a padlock on to secure their love.

The people in Wroclaw are pretty similar to those in Poznan. They seem to always be focusing on getting somewhere rather than taking a step back and relaxing. A good example is when we are getting on and off the trams. It doesn’t really matter if you were there in the line first, the people will push past you to get on first. We have slowly been getting used to this and have realised that if we hesitate, we will be brushed aside without a second thought.

Apart from our trip, we have FINALLY got our classes sorted and our timetable doesn’t look too bad as we do not have to start at 8am like most other students. 

The week ahead looks to be less interesting as our first two in Poznan as we don’t have any trips planned and will be concentrating on our studies. I feel that this could be a good thing though, as maybe by the end of the week we will feel more like citizens of Poznan rather than tourists.
Till next week,
Czesc!

               

Week 1: Personal (14/02/12 - 19-02-12)

Witamy W Poznan!!

Valentine’s Day is a time that should be spent with loved ones. However, in an ironic twist, it was the day that I had to leave the people I love and start out on my new adventure in Poland.

We arrived in Poznan at 9pm and were met by our mentor and president of Erasmus in our university, Natalia. Natalia is very bubbly and talkative to say the least. She made us feel extremely welcome and relaxed within minutes of our arrival. We were taken to our dormitory which we were told is one of the better ones in Poznan and given our room keys.

Before we arrived, I was told that I would have a single room, so you can imagine my surprise/shock when I walked into my room to find a 6 foot polish guy named Piotr enjoying what can only be described as a romantic Valentines embrace with his girlfriend. I never had time to let this shock sink in as Natalia insisted that I, Anna and DarÓma attend an Erasmus party. We only stayed at the party for a short while as we were tired; however we still met several people from different countries who all managed to make us feel welcome.

Before bed, I received great news in the form that there was a mistake and I actually do have my own room, so after 30 minutes of trying to put a sheet on my bed, I finally fell asleep in my own bed.

Statue of Adam Mickiewicz

The next morning, we met with Natalia who brought us to our university (Adam Mickiewicz University). We received our welcome pack and when we asked for our timetable, we were met with a blank expression. Apparently we have to go through every module, decide which one we want to do and email each individual tutor to seek permission to attend their class. We currently have only been accepted to one class, which is slightly concerning, but I’m sure it will be sorted shortly. We also received our student cards and travel card which allows us to travel around all the trams and buses (both are quite frequent and efficient) for one month.

Erasmus friends

That night, we attended the famous ‘Erasmus Tram party’, which was really fun as it gave us an opportunity to meet more Erasmus students such as the Turkish, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch students who we have become good friends with.

On Friday, we went shopping with Aina, a Catalonia student staying in our dormitory (Do not call her Spanish or there will be trouble!). We picked up some essential items and slowly but surely, our rooms are beginning to feel more like home. We then decided it was time to cook our own dinner, however, we were restricted by the lack of an oven, grill and microwave. After some discussion, we made an extremely exciting meal of…….. Pasta! (I hope that my sarcasm is easy enough to understand while reading this)

Ice Skating.... Badly!

On Saturday, DarÓma, Anna and I took a tour of the city and visited the ‘Old town.’ This showed us how beautiful the city is, with its old multi-coloured buildings, restaurants and monuments. Our tour was cut short as we had agreed to meet other Erasmus students and dabble in a bit of ice-skating. After spending 20 minutes on the ice, I can say that I have a new found respect for figure skaters! I’m proud that I managed not to fall, however, I think it would be impossible to fall while tightly gripping the wall and skating at 2 miles per hour. I managed to get home safely and fitted in some Skype time with my girlfriend back home.

So, that was my first week in Poznan and to sum up in 3 words, it’s been Snowy, strange and exciting!

Till next week, Do widzenia!