Oh Poland (the mother land)

Boarding a bus Thursday night, we were excited. A nice night of sleep on a bus, followed by a trip to Poland. The excitement quickly died when our 9 hour ride of sleep turned into a 9 hour ride of trying and failing to sleep because the roads in the Czech Republic feel like you're on an old, bad roller coaster. Nonetheless, we arrived in Czestachowa, and the weekend began.

We first went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestachowa. This was an image that is supposed to have been painted by St. Luke on a table made by Jesus for Mary. It was moved to Poland hundreds of years ago, and while Poland was continually destroyed and conquered, it was never hurt. Mass was awesome there, and seeing the image of our lady was powerful, as were the modern stations of the cross they had there. Overall, it was awesome. We then boarded the busses and headed to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz is an experience I will find difficult to express in words. It is quite possibly the worst place I have ever been in my entire life, but an experience that I feel I am better for having. Walking in and seeing the sign which says "Arbeit Macht Frei" was one of the eeriest things I have ever done. After seeing pictures of the sign, I thought I was ready for it. Being there, however, and walking through the gate that all of the prisoners would have walked thru, was very difficult and bone-chilling. Walking thru Auschwitz was difficult, as we walked thru the barracks which have since been turned into a museum. One exhibit, for example, was an entire room long and deep, and completely filled with human hair which was cut off of the women and would have been used to make textiles. We also walked thru a gas chamber which set off a whole different slew of emotions. After Auschwitz I, the main camp, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the second and larger camp. In 1944, Birkenau had over 100,000 people there. It was also where the train tracks came in and all of the people would have gotten off of the train. Overall, the day at Auschwitz was painful and very difficult, but one that I am glad to have experienced.

After Auschwitz we went to Krakow, where our hotel was. On Saturday, we began with a walking tour of Krakow, seeing the cathedral as well as many of the places John Paul II lived and studied while he was in Krakow. The tour was very cool, and we saw a lot of the city. After the tour, we had some free time, after which we took the bus to the Divine Mercy Shrine. Here, Saint Sister Faustina lived when she was given the Divine Mercy image from Christ. This was an amazing shrine, and a great place to spend the day.

We returned to downtown Krakow, where we went to a hole-in-the-wall little restaurant and each got a plate of traditional pirogies. They were, well, AMAZING. After that, we went to the mall because everyone needed pea coats (fail this time, they all got them later though). After the mall, we went and got gelato (yes, it was Poland and not Italy, but whatever it was awesome) and then found some pub in a basement and sat and hung out.

Sunday we went to mass at the cathedral in Poland. It was in Latin/Polish, so that was a little difficult, but hey it was mass so it was great. After that, we wandered to the main square, from which we returned to the mall. Here, almost 100 Franciscan students could be found wandering intently looking for pea coats, pipes, shoes, and anything cheap that they could find. I must say, we were successful, as everyone got what they wanted (for me: a pipe, some new pants, and a new messenger bag to travel with) and got it for very very cheap. After this, more gelato (like i said, it was delicious, and might i mention cheap...2 zilote (no idea how to spell them, they're polish currency) for one scoop in a waffle cone, and 2 more for every other scoop, which equals like 75 cents American). After the gelato, we got on the busses and headed for Wadowice, the hometown of John Paul II.

Wadowice was glorious, although most things were closed. The day consisted of a gift shop, peeking through the locked gate into JPII's hometown, and seeing his church from when he grew up, including kissing the baptismal font he was baptized in and kissed when returning later in life. After that, we ate pope cake and some pretty darn good European pizza, and after that we boarded the bus and headed back to Gaming.

Overall, one word to describe Poland?: Powerful. And there ya have it. Midterms after a 2 day weekend next week, and then Rome and Assisi for 10-day!

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=196939&id=570370259&l=283958456e

Remember that time we snuck into Hungary?

If you don't get the title, it's okay, i'll explain that later.

Thursday night at approximately 23:00 (that's 11:00 pm, i'm trying to get used to this Europe thing), two friends and I decided to go to Budapest...at 6:20 the next day (yes, am). And so, after planning, packing, hanging out, and not being able to sleep, i went to bed at about 2 am. After a late start (Daniel decided that when we said leave at 5:30 we meant wake up at 5:40 to me pounding on the door), we got a ride to the train station, and left Gaming at 6:20, not really knowing what to do from there. After getting the phone number of a bus company, we found at that seats to Budapest would be cheap and readily available, and so we decided to take the bus. Arriving in Vienna, we got the name of the train station (from the other group going to Budpaest, they helped us a lot), and we got on a bus. Most of us had to check our bags and show our passports. Daniel, on the other hand, snuck onto the bus, and thus snuck into Hungary (see, told you it'd make sense).

Upon arriving in Budapest, we followed the other group (told you they'd help us) to they're hostel, which just so happened was full. We found another hostel, Emerald hostel, after searching a courtyard and being directed by an elderly man in his underwear. We then bartered down the price of the hostel so it wasn't ridiculous, and he gave us a room. He began by handing me a ring of keys (apparently they need a LOT of security in Budapest), and taking us across the street to get to the room. The room was nice, though, so our only worry was being robbed and getting bed bugs (neither of which happened, don't worry mom/all of you aunts out there).

We began by wandering the city until we found a sports bar named Legends. They were playing college basketball (yes, like the NCAA basketball i've been missing daily), and we were sold. We sat down for dinner (which included nachos as an appetizer...we had to splurge a little). We had seen these spotlights moving around the whole time, but thought nothing of it. Then, when we were still eating, our waitress came up to us (and after we stared at her like idiots because she tried speaking Hungarian to us), she told us in English that they were filming a commercial. Our two options were to move, or to sign a waiver so that we could be shown in the commercial. Obviously, we signed the waiver for our chance to be on Hungarian television. We were in the background finishing our food and guiness for a few scenes, until they asked us to move into the other room for the final scene. We figured we'd give it a shot, and it paid off. Daniel was literally sitting in the front row, i was two people back, and tyler was directly behind me. At this point were were definitely, without a doubt, in a Hungarian commercial.

That night, we went back to the hostel and met some sweet people from Spain who were in the room next door. On Saturday, our day consisted mainly of a bath. Budapest has hot springs under the city, and runs the warm water into a series of thermal baths where you can sit and just enjoy life. So we did...for four hours.

Saturday night, we found a mass in English, and then went back to Legends. You see, the owner had given everyone else in the commercial free drinks. We didn't get them, however, and so he promised that if we were to return the next night he would give us some (he didn't think we'd actually come back). We went back, and watched England vs. Whales rugby with a bunch of college kids from England singing drinking songs, cheering loudly and throwing beer everywhere (as the owner explained, "they call that binge drinking in the UK").

After that, we returned to our hostel to find a very different group of neighbors. This group was a Brazilian man and two Swiss men who had come to Budapest simply to go to a nighttime rave at a bath (mind you, we had almost gone simply because we though night hours would be fun..we made the good decision in not doing that). After talking to them for 45 minutes, I learned a few things: America sucks...Americans suck...everyone needs to be able to smoke pot any time anywhere...everyone needs to be able to drink anytime anywhere...if you speak english you have a gaurunteed job anywhere anytime...and this was all from a man who told us that he was a 'citizen of the world'. Needless to say, it was interesting.

On Sunday, we sat in a bus station for a while (and almost got killed by a security guard because Daniel took his shoes off). After that, we took the bus and then train back, and returned to the Kartause feeling pretty great.

One word for Budapest? Ridiculous. That's all. Poland next weekend, can't wait!