Week 7: Personal (26/03/12 - 01/04/12)

This week has been one of the busiest weeks so far in Poznan. I have been juggling different things at the same time, including a Polish exam, several online tasks for a class, two presentations, school placement, competing in the ‘Olympics’ and of course continuing with my delightfully hectic social schedule.  Needless to say, I am very happy that it is the Easter break.

Working hard on our presentation

Reflecting back over the events of the week, I can see how much more comfortable I am living in this city and I can genuinely say that I am happy living here. When talking to people back home in Ireland, my friends and family always ask how I am coping living outside my ‘comfort zone.’ This is very easy to answer as I feel that I haven’t left my comfort zone in Ireland, instead, I feel that I have taken it with me and that Poznan is now my new comfort zone. As well as this, I feel that I am also expanding the boundaries of my comfort zone and exploring different areas that I would not have done in Belfast.

“If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness”   Les Brown

In Poznan, the highest number of students from one country is Spain. Having said this, the Spanish people are somehow difficult to connect with as they tend to stick together in one big Spanish clique. This week however, due to the Erasmus Olympic event, I got to know several Spanish people better as we were in the same team. It is safe to say that I have never met a more competitive bunch of people in my life!!! Even when we were winning a game comfortably but gave a point away, they would be shouting and cursing at each other and often look like they would come to blows with each other (don’t worry, they never did). They explained to me that they were taught this competitive nature in school and that they wouldn’t have it any other way. It got me thinking that maybe we should encourage our children to be more competitive in sports even if it’s not to the same level as the Spanish people I met. I say this because in sports, the Spanish are dominating. They are the World and European champions in football, World champions in basketball and have a very successful volleyball and formula 1 teams, so maybe being competitive can benefit children in the future.

Taking a ride on our tractor

This week, we also took a trip to a traditional Polish farm. This may not sound like a big deal, but personally, I have no interest in farms so it was a massive step for me to crawl out of bed on a Sunday morning to go. In saying this, I am really glad I went as it gave me a chance to explore a different side to the way Polish people live. We saw how a blacksmith worked and made horse shoes, held animals, milked cows and ate delicious fresh meat and cheese made that very morning. We also took a random trip on the back of a tractor and cooked sausages on an open fire. It was both fun and interesting, however, I felt like I was slowly going insane due to the girls constant ‘cooing’ over the animals. The most commonly used phrase of the day was, “oooooh, look at the rabbit/goat/dog/chicken/pig/cow, it’s so cute!” and seeing as there were a lot of girls and a lot of animals, this phrase was in constant use and I waas never happier to hear the silence of my single room that night!

Home-made BBQ and sausages

Reference:

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