WANDERLUST

Today was my last Thursday in school (since I’ll be traveling for the rest of the month) and I know that seems unimportant, but my school schedule changes everyday, so it was the first time I had to say goodbye to certain teachers. Even though it’s just school, my Spanish and English teachers took me under their wing this year to help me with my Polish and they’re the main reason why my Polish got to be where it is. I only have class with them on Thursdays on I never realized how quickly these last few remaining weeks have been going by. I’m terrible at saying goodbyes and it felt so unreal for me knowing that that was the last time I’d be seeing them for a long time. Then after school on Monday-Thursdays, I volunteer teaching little kids English and it has honestly made my exchange so much more fulfilling. Thursday’s are my favorite class and I got so attached to these kids. They threw me a farewell party and signed my flag and it just didn’t click that this would my last class with them. When we had to say goodbye, I couldn’t even believe that this was it. All of these people were so significant during my year here and parting really is the sweetest sorrow. We’ve done so much together and looking back at the memories, it’s always something I’ll hold close to my heart but it hurts so much to bring this experience to a close.

So I honestly don’t know who reads my blog anymore… hahah but I’m happy to continue it so I can look back on my exchange and remember things I did and the way I felt at certain times of the year. But one person I know for certain who is an avid reader is my bestie, Becky :) Shout out to you Rebina! I’ve been getting pretty lazy with posting, but just to give her something to read about as a reward for being such a loyal follower — I’ve been taking a picture every day for my last 30 days in Poland of something I’m going to miss when I go back to the States. It was just a little way for me to enjoy the simple things, but to keep ya posted… enjoy Rebz :) Here are the past ten days!

One of my good friends on exchange, Tom, invited me up to Scandinavia with his host family for the weekend! His host mom has friends there that she wanted to visit and I got to tag along :) Our hosts were so lovely: Anita, a woman from Peru, and her husband from Iraq, Theib. They met studying in Poznań, a city here in Polska, and currently live in Malmö, Sweden. It was absolutely beauuutiful there! It was literally one, if not, the cleanest place I have ever been to. Scandinavian countries are known for being the most expensive countries in the world, but for good reason because they are the most developed. If I have to pay 20 krone for an ice cream cone in return for clean drinking water from the tap and free, spotless public toilets, then I’ll take it. From there, we took a 45 minute train over the Baltic Sea to Copenhagen, Denmark! Although it rained, it didn’t stop Tom’s and my day at Tivoli, the amusement park there! Oh how I’ve missed roller coasters <3 Plus I got to cross seeing the Little Mermaid off my list :) But the best sight for sure was bumping, literally by chance, into an old friend! My friend Amanda lived in Beverly for a year and her older sister, Rebekka, did too and befriended my older sister. Sooo grateful for that bit of luck! Hands down, I absolutely loved it up north. It was so beautiful and had equally lovely people. I would have loved to spend my exchange there, only if it weren’t so expensive. Last country I need to make it to now is Norway!

This weekend we had our very last meeting in Mielno, right on the beach. It was the last time I’d be seeing a lot of the other exchangers before we all went our separate ways back home. It was one of the most fun, crazy, and wild times. We all cut loose and just did whatever without any boundaries knowing that it’d be one of the last times we’d all be together. But on the last day, saying goodbyes… it was definitely one of the hardest and saddest things I’ve ever had to encounter. We all knew that exchange would have to come to an end eventually and we’d have to say our goodbyes sometime, but now we couldn’t procrastinate anymore. There was no more “we’ll do it later” or “can we just avoid this right now” or “next meeting we’ll do it” or anything - this really was the last meeting. It finally hit me that we were reaching the end. I bawled my eyes out at the sad and scary realization that this life in a year was slowly reaching its finale. I can’t express how much it hurts to see a face and not know when you’re gonna see it again. I’ve gone through the most difficult year with the help of these people knowing we were all experiencing the same thing. I’ve made lifelong friends who can understand not even like my best friends or family can. I love you district 2230 <3 You’re forever in my heart and thank you for being there for me always.

Miranda and I went up to the beach town, Gdańsk, to have a little vacation and celebrate Isa’s birthday, a Brasilian girl from exchange. We met up with our other close friends from exchange: Mike from Chicago, and Lucas and Juliana from Brasil. Now that time is really counting down, every single minute we spent together meant a lot. It was a super relaxing getaway and nice vacay right before our last Rotary meeting in Mielno, another coastal town.

Happy 19th birthday to me! I can’t believe I’ve come to the last of my teenage years… I honestly had one of the best birthdays ever this year! Of course I missed my family and friends back in the States, but it barely even crossed my mind… Honestly, my host family has accepted me into theirs and I’ve made so many close friends here that it definitely filled the void. It meant so much to me that my host family made a great effort to make my birthday the best. They threw me a barbecue with the whole family to celebrate my 19th in addition to Mother’s Day, which is the same day here in Poland. One of my best friends on exchange, Miranda, came up to Olsztyn nine hours away from her city just to be with me. We went out with my good Polish friends and had the most amazinggg time going out and partying. So many memorable things happened and it was one of the moments that I really will keep close to my heart. Although adolescence is coming to an end, I feel so ready to tackle whatever is coming up in my future :) Sto lat!!!

This weekend, we had our second to last Rotary meeting in Auschwitz, or Oświęcim. It was my second time there but this time I think was more meaningful to me. Although it was really depressing and emotionally draining to be at the concentration camps, I was so grateful to get the chance to visit and learn about Poland’s history. On the other side though, it was a very laid back meeting and so special to be with the exchange students since some of us are already getting ready to go home. The meeting was an intense, yet still gentle way to bring us all together and appreciate where we’ve been living for the past year.

KORTOWIADA is the biggest university party in Poland for college students to celebrate the end of finals. It’s one of the very few major attractions to bring people to Olsztyn. They play free concerts, sell drinks on the cheap, and is just a really crazy celebration with 50,000+ people, a super busy weekend, and looots of trash to clean up in the morning!