This weekend I went on a trip coordinated by ECES, the program through which I am studying abroad in Prague. It was my first trip outside of the Czech Republic since I have been here. We went to Auschwitz concentration camp and then Krakow in Poland. We took an overnight bus to Auschwitz first so it was definitely an intense experience to wake up to. I feel fairly well-informed and well-educated about the Holocaust, but I definitely learned several new things from our tour of Auschwitz; besides, being in the actual location and presence of where these historical events occurred certainly gave new and profound meaning to my prior knowledge. I won’t blabber on and on about the camp because I am still reeling from it, but I highly recommend that anyone who has the slightest interest in venturing to Auschwitz do so because it will be a powerful experience that you will never forget. I uploaded photos that i took while I was there on my facebook, so check them out if you haven’t already. After spending the most part of our first day at Auschwitz, we got back on our bus and headed to Krakow. When we arrived in Krakow, I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was. I don’t know exactly why, but I was anticipating this run-down developing city that was still experiencing the effects of WWII. On the contrary, Krakow was really beautiful. Architecturally it is very similar to Prague except that there are much more churches since they estimate that approximately 90% of Polish citizens are Roman Catholic. This, obviously, gave the city a much different vibe from that of Prague, which is predominantly non-religious. Krakow also has a quainter feel to it than Prague as the public transportation was slightly more antiquated and the city itself was quite small in comparison. The buildings were also not nearly as well kept as those in Prague, but this simply validated my decision to study in Prague and made me feel sort of proud in a way and far more grateful to be living in picturesque Prague. The exchange was also not as good as the crown but still decent. The food was what compensated for Krakow’s differences to Prague because the proportions were enormous and the traditional Polish food itself was delicious! All in all I really enjoyed my visit to Poland, but it was certainly not a trip that was centered around partying and having lots of fun. On our way back to Prague we stopped at these famous salt mines that were located over 300 feet underground. They were actually really cool, but I was too cheap to pay the necessary fee in order to take pictures. Sorry, I am just now realizing how boring this post is, but I wanted it to be more informative than entertaining. I promise to post more so I’m not just word-vomitting once a month.
Shalom!
