Last Weekend in Krakow and My Trip Home

After I got back from Warsaw, I was staying with the girls in my program who had moved into an apartment. I had already moved out of my Piast dormitory so that I wouldn’t have to pay for rent in June. The first night, it was only Aniela in the apartment because the other girls were on their whirl wind tour of Europe. We just hung out and she packed up since she was leaving the next day. We were thinking of going out, but it was raining and didn’t seem like it was worth it.

The next morning, Aniela left early to meet up with the other two girls (Ania and Idalia) at the airport as they were getting back to Krakow so that they could say good bye. After the girls rested, we planned a lunch with our IPS program coordinator, Michał. We went to a pizza place that I really liked, and I got a pie loaded with meat. Unfortunately, the waitress got the sizes of our orders all mixed up giving larges to people who ordered smalls and the other way around. I also took the opportunity to steal the coveted Żywiec beer glass that most other people had already gotten. You can’t buy the glass anywhere and they won’t sell it at the bars so the only way to get one is to steal it. Usually this burglary is done in a crowded night club, but I had to live dangerously and hope the waitress wouldn’t come flying out of the restaurant when she noticed.
Also at lunch, we got our futures predicted by Michał. I guess I will be a successful doctor. Ania will be a super successful business woman, and Idalia will go to the Congo and get inspiration to make her line of very successful handbags. Apparently this is not what Idalia plans on doing with her life, but we all laughed at and speculated on the reasons why she got pinned with that personality.
I don’t remember what we did that night. Maybe we went out, maybe we stayed in and packed. It’s foggy. But I do know that I made sure to pack my Żywiec glass with my socks so that it would be safe on the way home. Also, I got Ania to call the cab company for me so that she could schedule a early time for me using Polish since she is fluent. For bed time, I figured out that the pull out couch opened up about three feet more than I had thought the night before, and that gave me a much better sleep.
I woke about four hours before my flight left since you are advised to be three hours early for international flights. I tried to wake the girls up before I left to say good bye and thanks, but they were pretty heavy sleepers and I didn’t want to yell to wake them. The taxi got there on time and I talked to him in my broken Polish talking about the World Cup, the weather and about what I had done in Poland. At the airport, I was super early and found out check in was only two hours before departure. I took that opportunity to weigh my stuff on the scales and load them up with extra stuff I had in my backpack just in case the luggage was too heavy. I went through security in like a second and sat waiting for a while.
My first flight was to Munich, Germany so we were on a small plane that was loaded by shuttling us by bus to the plane. I ended up sitting next to a Polish girl who was dressed up in business attire. She pulled out a book that I guess she had gotten for a business English class she had taken awhile ago. I tried to speak a little Polish to her, but I guess she was more interested in practicing her English. She told me that the company she works for has an office in Krakow, but that for a few days every week she has to fly to Vienna to the company’s headquarters to do whatever. She didn’t have to speak English for the longest time, but since going to Vienna she’s had to relearn it since that is the only language she has in common with her co-workers who are also from different countries. She could say all the business stuff, but when he went out to dinner she was having trouble talking about her life and hobbies in English.  She made the plane ride enjoyable and I think I was the first native English speaker that she got seated next to. Normally, she said she couldn’t tell what language her neighbor usually spoke and was curious what language I would speak. I learned a little about Polish education from her too in that a lot of people in Poland prefer to go to school after high school by taking weekend classes and work during the week.
Once we landed, I did not have that long of a layover so I rushed to the next terminal. I wanted to stop in the duty free shop and get my sisters some Haribo gummi candies, but I had no time. The security was very expedited for the connecting flight and I got right into the terminal. While I was waiting in line, I met a pediatrician who works in Simsbury and he was really interested to hear that I was going to medical school. Once I got on the plane, I was seated next to an older woman who was born in Germany, but is now a permanent resident in the US. I didn’t start talking to her until she offered some of her meal to me. After that we talked about politics, my time in Poland, and about her retirement and travels around the world with her family. I couldn’t keep a conversation with her that long and eventually started just watching the free movies Lufthansa offered.

The whole time, I never slept and the return trip to the US was strange since there was so much more sunlight and the daytime seemed much longer. Getting off the plane, getting my baggage, and going through customs were a breeze. Once I got out to my family I was greeted by a huge glittering sign that read “Welcome to AMERICA Grześ.” I should have expected it because my sister loves making big embarrassing signs when we pick people up at the airport. People were looking at us, but I know that they were really just jealous. I was really glad to see my family that I had been missing for months. On the ride home, my sister made sure to update me all about what had been going on in pop culture with Miley Cirus and Selena Gomez. I first learned about Silly Bandz too, which are stupid rubbery bracelets that form different shapes when you take them off. I also learned about a argument my family had had on the way to the airport. They wanted to know if one of them were held by gun point over a high bridge they passed over would they jump and hope to survive or take their chances getting shot. My mom and sister (and eventually I) said that they would jump and try to enter through the smallest point in the water so that we didn’t die. My dad said there is no way anyone could survive the fall, so he would take his chances with the bullet to the head. It was a nice to be back getting a dose of craziness from my sister’s questions.

Once we got home, my friends, Rob and Phil, came to see me. I gave out some souvenirs to my family and friends and Phil brought to the house Scoresby (a very rare blended Scotch Whiskey). We all took shots of it or had it over ice, and with that I was glad to be back in the US.