Arrival

I've been living in Krakow for almost a week now and have already fallen in love with the city. I live in a cozy flat on Ulica Długa, which is about a fifteen minute walk from Rynek Główny, or the main city center/market square (where the majority of my classes are also held). My flatmate is Leanne, a quiet but incredibly sweet girl from California who never curses. We share a quaint little kitchen with big windows and a tile floor that could be pulled straight from my conception of "vintage" and "European", alternating cream and orange with lots of dirt in the corners.  Our bathroom boasts an array of large forest green and marigold tiles, with a standup shower in the corner, to the left of the sink and cabinet. The water in our flat gets hot almost instantly. The bidet is, and will probably always be, unused by either of us. To myself, I have a lovely, spacious bedroom with wooden floors and green shades. My landlady, who is seemingly quite serious about her job, also left me with a myriad of cabinets which I will probably never fill and a large desk facing four tall corner windows overlooking two intersecting streets. I love my room way too much.

Beneath our apartment building stands an elaborate farmer's market, where people have set up stands filled with flowers, meat, candy, produce, pastries, clothing, bags, and almost anything else imaginable. I've shopped there only once--and bought a pair of leather gloves--but have yet to try my luck at bartering. I do not foresee myself acquiring any amazing deals, as I am usually so nervous in trying out my Polish that I hardly consider arguing over the price. The more elderly Poles working in the market always approach me kindly, offering me items and telling me that I am grzeczna dziewczyna, or a good girl. From my bedroom window I can see several large buildings (some are pictured below); the rooftop of the building on the right is almost always a perching place for a flock of pigeons that constantly vacillates between our rooftop and that one. I often sit on my bed and stare at them flying back and forth--it's an uplifting sight as I drift off for midday naps.

The last few days have been spent growing more and more accustomed to new surroundings and cold weather; I've already found several places to go for cheap and delicious Polish food, bars with great atmospheres, and coffee shops wherein I can pass the time writing my daily journal entries or chatting with friends. One of my favorite drinks to order here is hot chocolate, or czekolada naturalna/goraca, which is essentially a mug filled with hot, melted chocolate. I can only describe it as such; it's like drinking a bar of chocolate, so rich and thick, so amazing. Every corner I turn here is so picturesque, even on the shabbiest of streets!

The most fascinating aspect of the city for me is its immense history, as many of the buildings date back to the 12th century. Poland is a land steeped with tragedy, but holds a great deal of resilience, perseverance and beauty. There is a story behind everything, so much so that I feel disinclined to even attempt to relay some of the information I've learned so far. Such tidbits will have to be saved for my handwritten journal, or my brain, or my voice. 

This (above) is one of the largest of my university's buildings, called Collegium Novum. Like many of the buildings here, or perhaps everywhere in Poland, this building has a sad history. In 1939, as part of the Nazi German action called Sonderaktion Krakau, 183 professors of the university were gathered for a "mandatory" meeting to discuss Polish education. Instead, they were arrested and later taken to camps in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. This was just one part of the Nazi German action plan Intelligentzaktion, through which the Germans could exterminate the Polish intellectual elites. 

St. Peter and St. Paul's Church. 

My favorite picture so far; Rynek Główny. In the background is St. Mary's Basilica, a beautiful church originally built in the 1220s. Its altar is filled with wooden sculptures so accurate that researchers have used them to determine which types of diseases the people of the Middle Ages had endured. The wood used to make these sculptures is now over 1,000 years old.

So far, our group has gone on one excursion--to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a 700-year-old mine 15 km outside of the city. It was absolutely incredible. First, we had to descend some 500 steps to reach the 3rd level of the mine, 100 meters below the surface. Even though I felt we were already so very far below the surface, I then came to find that we were only on the 3rd out of a total of 8 levels in the mine! Below you can see the view to the bottom as we descended the steps. It was pretty unreal--even in person it was impossible to discern where exactly the staircase ended. 

The mine was filled with countless chambers, somewhere around 2,000 total I believe, and most of them were excavated by hand using simple tools. Some of the larger chambers took over 100 years to carve out! Moreover, each chamber was adorned with salt carvings and intricate sculptures created by miners throughout the centuries. The last photo depicts a chamber that was voluntarily carved out between 1862-1880 by miners who wanted another chapel in which they could pray while working down below. It's called the Chapel of St. Kinga. The floors, walls, chandeliers and banisters are all carved from salt! In this chapel there are also several basrelief carvings, which are practically flat, but are so dimensionally sound that they appear to have a great deal of three-dimensional depth to them. 

My experiences so far, just in the last few days, have already been life-changing. I have so much to learn, so much to see and do, and so many people to meet...but it's still hard to conceive of the fact that I will be living here for the next 5 months. I miss everyone back home so very much--and I wish nothing more than for them to be able to share these experiences with me now or someday. Every corner I turn, every sip I take, I think to myself, you would love this. You should see this, taste it, feel it.