Study Tour Part II

Ok so I am going to continue now...

Friday was the day we visited the concentration camp at Auschwitz, probably the most famous site of the Holocaust in the world. I think part of the reason I have been slow with blogging this week is that I just don't want to face and process everything we saw, but I know I really need to. Our teacher offered us the chance to write a paper on our experience for extra credit, and I am going to do that using what I write for my blog, so I need to get on it. I have started this post about a million times this week, and I am really struggling with how to organize it/lay it out. Ok, so here goes nothing...

On Friday, April 8, I visited Auschwitz concentration camp with my class “The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler.” I was very anxious to visit a place where some of the worst atrocities of all time were committed, and I was quite nervous about how I would react. To begin with, I am generally a very emotional person, and often even trivial or small things can make me cry and get upset. On top of that, being abroad and away from everything and everyone I love has heightened my sensitivity to some degree, and just saying goodbye to my parents had increased this homesickness and perhaps made me even more emotionally charged than usual. In addition, I have studied the Holocaust to a significant level, and feel that I am relatively knowledgeable on the subject. I feared that the high level of information I had on the topic would make the journey even more difficult for me than perhaps others who had less of an idea what exactly went on there. I called Kyle (the bf) for a few minutes on Thursday night and he encouraged me to stay strong and reminded me that my entire class would be experiencing the same thing and I could talk to my friends there if I needed. This advice was comforting and I tried to keep it in mind the next morning.

Before I get into the specifics of the day, I think it would be helpful if I gave some overall impressions of the camp. That night, I took down a few notes to remember how I felt, and the one word that clearly summarized my mood was “drained.” I had felt so many things at once- I was overwhelmed, disgusted, shocked, horrified, sad, worried, and lonely- that I was completely ravaged and exhausted from it all. Despite this feeling of fatigue, I also felt glad to have experienced the day and seen for my own eyes what I had read about for so many years. Although not an enjoyable experience, going to Auschwitz or another concentration camp is important, and I think every human should be required to visit. We need to see and recognize the potential evil we can do to one another and the catastrophic consequences that hatred can bring. There are a lot of myths surrounding the Holocaust that Auschwitz proves are completely false. One of the most troubling to me is the idea that the genocide was carried out by Hitler himself, who is portrayed as a completely evil lunatic, and a relatively small group of his top followers - Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Eichmann etc- who many believe killed 6 million Jews with their own hands. Another idea people use to explain the Holocaust is that Hitler and these Nazis brainwashed all of Germany, and the population became “robots” who would thoughtlessly follow any order. Both of these ideas are completely wrong and please, if you take anything from this blog, I hope you remember this. The Holocaust was carried out by ordinary people and was really not only the product of Hitler’s evil or brainwashing.

Of course, I am not suggesting that he should in any way be exonerated of his guilt; it was his crazy racist ideology and determination to exterminate the Jewish population in order to make room for the Aryan race that started and drove the Holocaust. I am just trying to emphasize that we must not think it was only Hitler who should be held responsible. Thousands on the ground across Germany and Eastern Europe were carrying out his plans, or in some way allowing them to go on uninterrupted. We must realize that regular people, like ourselves, in certain circumstances and conditions, can and will do evil. In the Auschwitz book, a Jewish survivor named Toivi who lived through Auschwitz because he gained a position as a “helper” to the Nazis in which he sheared the heads of women about to be gassed, is interviewed and comes to this conclusion. He told the author that “Nobody knows themselves, all of us could be good or bad people in different situations.” Rees, the author of the book I read who has interviewed nearly 100 survivors and perpetrators, wrote “what these survivors has taught me (and if I am honest, what the perpetrators have taught me as well), is that human behavior is fragile and unpredictable and often at the mercy of the situation…perhaps above all…Auschwitz and the Nazi’s Final Solution demonstrate the overwhelming power of the situation to influence behavior.” I am not saying I completely agree with this in everyday life, and I believe that even in the most extreme situations, everyone still has the power to make choices. I hope to think that if in an extreme situation, I would stand up, and make the choice to do the “right” thing. I do not know for sure though, if I would.

This lesson illustrates an important part of what happened in Auschwitz, in an extreme world where regular social norms and rules were completely abandoned. The case of these camps teaches something to us all, even when we are living far away in a world completely different than Auschwitz. We must try to really KNOW OURSELVES, and always make the conscious choice to do what is right. If we lose ourselves, there is no telling what can happen.

Another thing that struck me from the book that the camp brought to life for me is the extremely cold-blooded and calculated way that the murders were carried out. Although many Jews and victims of the Holocaust were shot or killed in moments of frenzy or chaos the great majority were gassed in crematorium-gas chambers built specifically for the purpose. What many people do not realize is that the Nazi state had a variety of different types of camps that served different purposes. Places like Dachau, which was in operation as early as 1933, were work camps, which housed political prisoners doing forced labor to serve the Reich. Other camps, the infamous ‘factories of death’ like Treblinka, established for the sole purpose of carrying out the Final Solution to massively murdering the Jewish population, were not built until the middle of the war. Auschwitz was a curious combination of these two types of camps. First set up in the 1940, Auschwitz 1, under the leadership of a real scumbag named Rudolph Hoss, was set up as a political prison and labor camp for Poles. Later in the war, when the Final Solution was established and the mass Holocaust began, a new complex 3 kilometers away, called Auschwitz-Birkneau, was created. Birkneau was built with the solely as a site for mass murder. I will tell you more about my visit to both of these in a little, but what I want to comment on now is the chilling calculation with which Birkneau and other camps were constructed. By 1943, 4 crematorium-gas chambers were in operation at Auschwitz, they had the capability to kill and burn the bodies of 4,400 people a day. It is simply despicable and horrific that I even have to write that sentence!! Can you imagine being a part of the planning and execution of this operation?! How could you ever sleep at night?! I don’t know!! Rees points out that while war and frenzied ethnic killing has sadly occurred throughout history, “this killing seems entirely new-the careful creation of places where human beings were to be murdered in an entirely cold-blooded manner. The calm, dispassionate, systematic nature of the process finds tangible expression in the neat red brick structure of the crematorium at Birkenau.” I saw the remains of these structures first hand, and it was chilling to imagine what went on inside them and just how many people spent their last seconds in such a horrific place.


I think some people wonder why I am so interested in studying the Holocaust. It is such a morbid and depressing event and I am not Jewish nor do I know of any family members who were in some ways involved. The things I have discussed above repulse me, but they also draw me to the topic. Somehow, it just seems right for me to study it, because I want to try to understand why and how. Why did this happen? Why were so many killed? How could so many people commit murder? How could people hate so much? How could no one have stopped it? These are all questions I want to study. I know I will never be able to find the answers, but I believe the exploration is worthwhile. Perhaps I can learn something in my studies, and I can begin to understand more about people, history, sacrifice, compassion, love, and hate, if I continue to study the Holocaust. If I do that, and share it with others, then I will feel like I am doing something to honor the memory of the victims and prevent something similar from happening again.


Whew, I really did intend to just make that a few general thoughts, but I just kept going! I think those were things I really needed to get off my chest. Ok, now onto the actual recap of the day.

We started our guided tour at Auschwitz 1, the original camp set up to house any Poles the Nazis considered to be a threat to the state. Because Auschwitz 1 held political prisoners, rather than “sub humans” (i.e. Jews), conditions were somewhat better than at Birkeneau, however they were still appalling and violated international legal standards about the treatment of prisoners of war. The barracks of Auschwitz one were brick buildings that were slightly bigger and more spacious than what I imagined. While one has been kept in the same state the Nazis left it in, the others have been transformed and together form a sort of museum that examines various aspects of the camp. We visited all of the exhibits within the barracks, and they were incredibly powerful. I will share with you several of the things I saw that have stuck with me…

• In one of the first buildings we went in, we saw a mini reconstructed model of the gas chamber-crematorium models that were active at Birkeneau. The precise, rigid process victims went through that it displayed was horrifying. They were told they would be taking showers and were forced to undress in a type of holding room. All of their clothes and belongings would be confiscated, but at the time prisoners believed they were being washed and they would be returned soon. The SS men and Kapos (prisoners who helped the SS and acted as guards) were reassuring, and did their best to maintain calm. One of the keys to the Nazi genocide was keeping it a secret from the victims until the last second. If victims found out what was happening to them, panic and chaos ensued and it was much more difficult and messy for the Nazis to carry out their plans. The highly impersonal nature of the murders was also helpful to the SS men; originally shooting squads had been used to commit mass killings, but the Nazi leadership found that it often had a harmful psychological impact on their soldiers (uh- duh?!). Experiments were done to find a more impersonal way that murder could be carried out on a huge, efficient scale, and gas chambers with crematorium attached were created. Seeing the model really brought this to life. We also walked through a to scale model of a gas chamber and crematorium, that was one of the hardest moments of the day for me. While the small model revealed the sadistic, bone-chilling element of the murders, being inside the chamber brought to life the deeply personal and individual sufferings of the victims. I just kept imagining what it would be like to be in this horrible place and suddenly realize that these are your last minutes on earth. I kept thinking of what you would think of in those final seconds and what you would do. I especially felt for those who were alone, and completely removed from family and friends. I am not a deeply praying person, but I found myself saying a lot of prayers that day. I prayed that those in the gas chamber who had to meet their end in such horrible circumstances had someone to stand with in the end, someone to comfort them, and that they too could comfort. I prayed that all of the victims had someone to hold their hand.

• Another portion of the museum revealed all the things that the victims had left behind. There were enormous piles of thousands and thousands of pairs of shoes, eyeglasses, suitcases, prosthetic limbs, hairbrushes, clothing etc. It was so sad to see the material pieces of the lives that were left behind. It was also horrible because so many of these people did not know what fate they would meet, they had all carefully written their names and addresses on their suitcases, confident that one day soon they would be returned. Of course, they never were. This part also illustrated the grotesque way that the Nazis were sure to exploit every last part of their victims, even their hair. Prisoners who made it past selection and were fit to work had their heads shaved upon arrival, and the corpses of those killed in the gas chambers were shaved after their death. All of this hair was then used in the Nazi war effort, as wire, string, etc. There was a case in the exhibits filled with two TONS of human hair; all found when the Soviets liberated the camp in January 1945. It was both overwhelmingly appalling and frightening to see this evidence of the Nazis crimes.

• One of the exhibits was devoted to the children of Auschwitz. This portion had a huge impact on me. There were baby prams that had been left behind, thousands of tiny kid shoes, and photographs of children so emaciated they looked like walking skeletons. This part of the genocide is to me the hardest to understand. I don’t think killing is ever justified, but I can understand the killing of one man by another, for hatred, revenge, greed etc. Sadly, this violence is a part of life. What I cannot understand though, is the planned murder of small, innocent children, who have not yet had a chance at life! How can you take that away from them!? How can anyone kill a child, an infant, a baby? I do not know. The Nazis did it though, 200,000 children were killed at Auschwitz, as well as countless pregnant women with life inside of them. I even learned that 700 babies were born in the camp, and less than 50 survived. My mom always has said that she thinks the hardest thing one could do is bury their own child, and I couldn’t help but think of all the parents who had to see their children murdered there. I am getting to an age where I am beginning to see myself as a mother one day, and since I have a niece who is perfect and adorable, I just couldn’t stand to think of poor children who suffered.

• Two barracks have been preserved in the way that they were found when the camp was liberated so visitors can see how the prisoners and SS guards lived. We first visited the infamous Block 11, the cell used to carry out torture on prisoners who had misbehaved and where many SS operated. It made me really angry to see the nice, comfortable office that the SS slept in while prisoners below them struggled in horrible conditions. There is a small memorial in one of the cells dedicated to a famous Polish priest who sacrificed his life for another man who was about to be murdered. His story has become well known, and I said a prayer at the little monument. I wondered how many other stories of compassion and love in the direst circumstances happened, but were lost when the voices that would have told them were silenced. We also saw another barrack that was preserved as a place where prisoners slept. It is amazing how many people they shoved into such a small space. We learned that the bottom bunks were the worst place to sleep because rats would attack at night. I truly cannot imagine.

• One barrack was dedicated to the Gypsies who were murdered at Auschwitz. I was really happy to see this exhibit, I had just been saying to my roommates the previous night I was somewhat confused about gypsies and their role in the Holocaust. This portion was really well done and provided a lot of information. I had not really understood what a “gypsy” was, I thought it was more about your actions-begging, traveling in groups- that made you a gypsy, rather than something racial. Sadly, in the crazy hierarchy of the Nazis, the gypsies were a sub-human race who only ranked slightly higher than the Jews, and deserved murder just for existing. 23,000 gypsies were deported from across Europe, and 20,000 were killed there, either from the horrific conditions and starvation, or inside the gas chambers. It is important that we remember these other groups, like the gypsies, who suffered during the Holocaust and lost so many lives. What struck me most about the exhibit were all of the family photographs, portraits of huge entire families who were completely liquidated. They looked so “normal,” just regular, happy families who had no idea of the fate that was to meet them in a few months.
• Another barrack had all of the photographs of political prisoners that were taken immediately upon their arrival lining one wall. Below each face were a name, birthday, date of arrival, and date of death. It was so sad to see some men and women who only lasted a few weeks in months in the hell that was Auschwitz. The looks on the faces were incredibly telling, and I spent awhile just staring into the eyes of some of the prisoners. They looked scared, and sad, and lost. One frame, on which a fresh yellow flower hung, held a picture of a very young man who had tears running down his face. I said a prayer and hoped that both he and whoever put the flower next to him could find comfort.

Overall, the morning at Auschwitz 1 was very informative and emotional. I was not expecting it to be converted into a museum, but I was very happy it was. It was helpful for providing information, yet had not become too commercialized or touristy. Even though Auschwitz is one of the most visited sites in Eastern Europe, I still felt that there was a feeling of seriousness and respect in the air which I really appreciated.

We took a quick break for lunch and then headed to the Auschwitz Birkeneau, the death camp set up exclusively to carry out the mass murder of the Jewish race. Rees estimates in his book that 1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz, and 1.1 million died there. Of this, 90 percent were Jews, who committed only one crime that robbed them of their life- being Jewish. I learned from Rees book that of this 1 million, over 400,000 of the murdered were from Hungary, there was a massive killing frenzy that took place in the summer of 1944 when Hungarian ghettos were liquidated and massive numbers sent immediately to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. The next largest group was Polish Jews, followed by France, the Netherlands, and others. Literally Jews from every country in Europe came to Birkenau and met their end.

Birkeneau looks a bit more like the concentration camp that I expected, or at least what I had seen in photographs and pictures. It has largely been kept exactly as the Soviets found it, and visitors mostly just walk around the grounds, there are not exhibits to visit like at Auschwitz 1. I was very glad we had a tour guide, as well as our Professor with us, to show us around. The most striking thing initially about Birkenau it its size, it could hold five times the amount of prisoners as Auschwitz 1 (100,000 compared to 20,000). Everywhere you look, there are barrack style houses, lining the grass in uniform rows. We visited the inside of one, and the conditions within were astounding, just rows and rows of bare wooden bunk beds where thousands of prisoners were crowded surrounded by filth and waste. From a barrack, we then walked along the train tracks that many of you have likely seen in photographs and movies. We stood at the place where trains, filled with Jews exhausted and ravaged from traveling long distances in horrid conditions, arrived. The Jews were hustled off the trains and immediately separated into men and women. From there, selection began. One group, usually at least 70% and at times a great deal more, those deemed too old or unhealthy to do any meaningful work, was immediately sent to the crematorium for death. The other group, the lucky ones who were seen as fit to work, were sent to actual showers, where they were stripped off all personal belongings, shaved, showered, and tattooed. From there, they began work and just tried to stay alive in place that killed most within a few months. Selections were routine, and one of the most infamous parts of Auschwitz. It is incredible the way these Nazi doctors played God, and took so lightly their choice of who was to live and who died. I can’t imagine how they could do so.

From the train tracks, we walked and saw the remains of two of the crematoriums. The Nazis blew up the buildings just before the Soviets arrived and they fled in hopes of hiding the evidence of their crimes. The rubble from the explosions and parts of the building remains. We learned at this point that the ashes of the 1.1 million people killed remain on that very ground today, and we were standing on the largest mass grave on this earth. I couldn’t really believe I was standing on such a place, and again said a prayer for all those who perished there. We learned from our tour guide the importance of proper burial to the Jewish faith, and it is such a crime that all of these people did not get the resting place they deserve. Can you imagine having a family member who was killed there, and having no gravestone to visit and lay a flower or stone on? It really makes closure difficult I think.

As some constellation, there were two very poignant monuments marking this horrific sight, one had a stone in every language that those murdered people spoke, there must have been 20 stones. One was in English for international tourists and the inscription read, “Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning for to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one a half million men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe.” I hope that is true.

From there, we walked to another part of the camp (it is huge) to the place nicknamed by prisoners “Canada.” Canada was the warehouse where all the possessions of the murdered were sorted and stored. It was called Canada because it was the best place to work, and prisoners likened to a place they imagined to be peaceful and safe. Working in Canada meant you were inside, free from trying physical labor, and had access to food that could sometimes be found in the belongings. The actual building does not remain, but on the grounds where it was, you can still find forks, jewelry, and other remnants of long lost lives scattered. Our last stop of the day was the shower complex where those selected to live were cleaned and stripped of their identities, to the Nazis here they ceased being people, and became the number that was tattooed on their wrist. We walked through a shower room and then ended in a place they have transformed into a little exhibit. Walls were covered in photographs and the stories of entire families of Jews were told. In most cases, almost all perished at Auschwitz.

Wow. I have written so much about this day, but I am really glad I got all of my thoughts down. I hope it wasn’t too depressing for you to read. I think it will be really helpful when I write my paper in a few weeks, I can probably just do some major copying and pasting.

After the visit, we drove 2 more hours to Krakow and had a couple of hours to relax before dinner. I ended up taking a bubble bath in the hotel, and that really made me feel better- I love baths! Then we went out to dinner in Krakow’s old Jewish quarter, where we had a traditional Jewish meal while listening to a live band. It was a nice meal (more meat and potatoes) and took my mind off what we had seen that day. I sat with some good friends, as well as this character on our trip named Dan Dowd. If anyone knows who Mr. Kmiec (my 9th student council advisor) is, Dan Dowd is Mr. Kmiec times ten million. Basically a big tool. He was kind of annoying, but comic relief.

Saturday

The next day we did major sightseeing in Krakow. This time we had a really great guy who stayed with us our entire time in Poland, he met us at Auschwitz and stayed with us until we boarded the plane home Sunday. His name was Philip and he was quite young, probably in his late 20s. He was very knowledgeable, but also down to earth, relaxed, and funny. Much better than the murse carrying Georges!

We began our tour at a very nondescript building in a random part of town. It was the headquarters of the Gestapo during WWII and had been transformed into a museum. It was really interesting and showed how extremely the Nazis monitored and supervised daily life in Krakow, even of the non-Jewish population. The Poles themselves suffered greatly during the war, and we should not forget how their civil liberties were violated during this time. We were in one of the torture cells- where prisoners last words that they had etched into the walls could still be seen- when our tour guide checked his phone which had been ringing and suddenly gave us extremely tragic news. The President and several top Polish officials had been killed in a plane crash on their way to Russia! It was such a strange moment, none of us knew the first thing about Polish politics, but we were overwhelmed being in a country going through such a tragic event. It is so sad! We found out more and more about the accident as the day went on, in total 97 people were killed. It was clear that people were upset and stressed, but things did not interrupt into mass chaos. It was more of a feeling of shock and mourning I think. We saw tons of people that afternoon heading to a mass in his honor, and there were candles and flowers burning in the President memory in every church we visited. Pray for Poland, I hope they can get through this time!

From the Gestapo cells, we then went to the old Jewish ghetto, where Krakow’s Jewish population was forced to live during the war. It was obvious that this was not a desirable area, it was a very industrial, run down, and dirty part of town. Unlike in Prague, the Jews of Krakow before the war were very much assimilated into society, and many were quite wealthy and prominent. It must have been such a humiliation and insult for them to move from their nice homes into this filthy, cramped ghetto. As I mentioned earlier, the film Schindler’s List took place in Krakow, and throughout our visit we saw many of the sights from the film. The main square of the ghetto that we saw first was key in several movie scenes, and were Jews had to register each day. Having a pass that said you were a valuable worker was absolutely essential, if you did not gain one, you faced immediate deportation, likely to Auschwitz. In the main square today is a modern art memorial, dozens and dozens of simple, straight-backed chairs are arranged throughout the square. They represent the Jews and all that they lost when they came to the ghetto. Most noticeably, they are empty, showing that almost no Jews left to reclaim their place. The statistics on Krakow are amazing, hundreds of thousands (im not sure the exact number) lived there before the war, and today the population is less than 200. Like Prague, a once huge and important part of the population (Jews made up 25% of Krakow) is gone. Poland had the biggest portion of Jews in Europe- over 3 million- before the war, and now there are almost none.

From the chair memorial, we went into a little museum in the old pharmacy. The pharmacy was run by a non-Jew but the Nazis allowed him to continue to operate inside the ghetto and he actually saved the lives of hundreds of Jews who he helped get work and shelter during the war. The museum was interesting, and I would really like to learn more about this pharmacist. He wrote a book about his experience, and I really want to order it online and read it. From there, we headed to the factory where Oscar Schindler employed 3,000 Jews and protected them from the Nazi’s mass extermination. The building was recently converted into a museum and is in the process of becoming a huge complex, for now it is just a small 2 room exhibition. The walls talked a lot about Schindler’s personal life and quest and it was learn more about the story and how it is different from the movie (although I think the movie sticks to it pretty well). Sadly, after his heroic acts in the war, Schindler failed in a series of business ventures and marriages, his only real success came during the war years. He is buried in Israel, where he is commemorated with a special tree that anyone who saved Jews in the Holocaust is given. Philip told us that thousands of people have trees dedicated to them in Israel, Schindler is just the most well known recipient. I would like to know about other recipients of this honor. After the factory, we stopped by a portion of the wall that used to surround the ghetto. At this point, Philip told us the story of Nicholas Polanksi, the director of the Pianist who escaped from the Krakow ghetto when he was ten. His mother was killed at Auschwitz. Although the film the Pianist is about the Warsaw ghetto (which was a lot bigger than Krakows) it was clear that Polanski’s own experience influenced his film (which is great and everyone should see).

From the factory, we head to the center of Krakow, which was much more picturesque and quaint than the ghetto area. We went on a tour of the library of the University of Krakow, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Eastern Europe. Its collection was pretty extraordinary, and we saw a lot of really interesting pieces, including a thing called a reading rack, which could hold six books open for you, in case you wanted to read that many at one time (a secret dream of mine). We learned about the two most famous alumni of the institution- Nicholas Coppernicus, the astronomer who first proposed a heliocentric universe where the Earth revolved around the sun and Pope John Paul II, who studied for one year before the Universtiy was closed during WWII and then secretly completed his schooling at night. I have taken a class on History of the Scientific Revolution, so it was really cool to see some of Coppernicus’ tools, including an astrolobe and globe. In the room devoted to him, there was even a picture of Earth, taken from the moon and signed by Neil Armstrong, who sent the University the photo to celebrate Copppernicus’ 500th birthday! Way to go USA!

After the tour, we had some free time for lunch. I grabbed some pizza with a few girls from class and then they talked me into getting a McFlurry! They are obsessed with them and say they are much better in Europe (something about swirling chocolate sauce and toppings in I think). It was good, but not great. I can’t wait for Archs and TCBY when I get home to get my soft serve fix.

After the break, we met back up in the main square and spent the afternoon exploring the area of Old Krakow. We went into the church that is the focal point of the city, St. Anne’s basilica! I know I say this a lot, but it was gorgeous inside, the alter is incredible and one of the most famous in the world. Already set on the alter was a photo of the lost President and candles, and many in church were clearly praying with him in mind. It gave a special poignancy to our visit to be there during such a hard time for the whole nation. We were scheduled to visit a few more churchs’ that afternoon, but many were closed to the public as a result of the President’ death, they were beginning their preparations for a week of national mourning. We did walk through a nice park, and saw several monuments to Pope John Paul II, who was born about 50 km from Krakow and considered it “his city.” He is a huge figure in Krakow and it is clear he means a great deal to the Polish people. I was surprised by just how Catholic and religious Krakow felt, although I probably shouldn’t have been, I just didn’t realize how Catholic of a county Poland is. Philip told me it is over 95% Catholic, and of those 70% regularly attend church! This is a huge figure, especially at a time when in the US and Europe church attendance is dwindling. A funny story, all day several rowdy boys in our group were playing a little game called “nun hunt” where, you guessed it, they counted nuns- whoever was the first one to spot one got a point. When I heard of it I thought it was pretty funny, but wasn’t sure if Prof. Haag and company would approve! Boy, was I wrong! When Haag heard about it, he thought it was hysterical and began playing. When he said, in his refined French accent, “those are mine” about some nuns that walked by, I almost died laughing! Later, when he recapped our trip, he said one thing that made our group unique and special was the “nun hunt” which was one of his highlights. I challenge you to a nun hunt next time you are in Poland!

In the afternoon, we also visited the national castle/cathedral (it is huge complex that fits both) that overlooks the city. It was really, really pretty and I enjoyed the views from the top. The actual building was closed because of the tragedy, but we were able to still walk around the grounds. It was sad, there were tons of news crews and vans outside, and when we left in late afternoon, the square was beginning to fill with Poles who were coming to mourn at the memorial service that would be held that night. I know most people preferred Prague, but I thought Krakow was fascinating and very nice. Prague is gorgeous, but I loved all the history of Krakow and would recommend a visit to anyone.

That night was the last of our study tour, and the Professors made it special for us! The composer Chopin is another famous Krakowian and since Professor Bachaus, Professor Hagge’s bff, is a music teacher, he arranged a concert for us. It was in an old palace in the city center and was super classy. The room was gorgeous and only held about 10 other people in addition to our group. A young girl (only few years older than us) played Chopin for us on the piano and I really enjoyed it. I am a big fan of piano, and I don’t know much about composers, but Chopin sounded good to me. His music is very expressive, you could feel the intense emotion behind all the pieces and the pianist who played was great! We all got dressed up for the occasion, and it was just a nice evening. After, a big group of us went to a traditional Polish restaurant for dinner. I had perogies, because I knew if I didn’t my bff Natalie would kill me- she is obsessed with them! They are little dumpling like things filled with cheese and potatoes. I’ll admit, Nat is right for once, they are delicious! I was glad I tried them and had the “authentic” food even though I was getting sick of Eastern Europe’s cuisine.

Sunday morning we only had an hour or so for sightseeing before we left. We went to the Old Jewish Quarter (the nice neighborhood they prospered in, not the ghetto they were forced to live) and visited several synagogues and a Jewish graveyard. Even though everyone was tired and ready to go home, I’m glad we stopped there, I had never been inside a synagogue and it was really neat to see. From there, we took a bus to an airport in Krakow and headed back to Lux. The traveling wasn’t too bad and I was home relatively early!

Whoa, this has been such a long post! It has taken me forever to write, but I’m really glad I did it, I think I’ll be thankful later when I look back and I have all these thoughts down on paper.


My week this week was ok, but to be honest, not my best. After so much travel, it was just hard to get into the swing of school and Lux life again. Just seeing my parents was so great, and I think actually made me miss and appreciate them more than I had before. It is getting close to the end, and as much as I love love my life here, I am getting somewhat ready to be home. I just want to see everyone! I knew the best way to combat stress/homesickness was to keep busy, so I really tried to do that this week! I went to the gym, went to a movie (I saw Date Night- its funny!), went on walks with my friend Allie, and went out to Das Boot last night, and today went to Metz, France with my French class for the afternoon! All these activities did the trick, and I have felt a lot better. Just looking forward to some of my favorite people and the comforts of home that I will be enjoying in a few weeks.

Ah, but this weekend I will be doing something so exciting, going to Amsterdam!! One friend from Lux is going with me, and I am meeting my sorority sisters Clare (who I have traveled with and visited) and Diana (who I have not seen yet). I’m really excited because, as you know drugs and prostitution are two of my favorite activities and they are quite popular- and legal- in Amsterdam. Kidding! Actually, I am really excited for the tulips- it is prime time for them to be in bloom- and they are my favorite flower!!
Woo, cant wait!

Have a great weekend all!!
Love you.