Written by: Cédric Reese
Dzień dobry! For those of you who don’t know, that means good day in Polish. Hello everyone and welcome to my study abroad blog. My name is Cédric Reese, I’m a junior double majoring in history and geography at UND. I am currently studying in Krakow, Poland. Krakow is located in southern Poland and was its capital city during the middle ages. Unlike other major Polish cities, Krakow wasn’t very heavily hit during World War 2, so many historical buildings still dot the city. Krakow is a major center for education, with over 1/3 of the city’s population being comprised of students! I am currently studying at the Krakow University of Economics, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the city.
So, many of you must be asking, why Poland? It wasn’t really my first choice. I wanted to go both someplace warm, and somewhere that spoke English, so I wouldn’t have to worry about learning another language. My original plan was either Australia or New Zealand, but I quickly learn their semester starts in mid-March. I wanted to go someplace warm in order to avoid the North Dakota winter, so leaving in mid-March kind of defeated the purpose. With that ruled out I decided to look at the opportunities in Europe. I don’t know why, but of all the countries in Europe, the Czech Republic and Poland stood out to me the most. I don’t really know why, as neither place is known for its warm weather. Both programs had wonderful history courses being offered and I think that’s what ultimately led to me deciding between the two. While the Czech Republic would’ve been great, I decided to go with Poland as the tuition cost quite a bit less than in the Czech Republic.
Even after having chosen Poland I was still very unsure of going there. I didn’t know the language and I didn’t really know what to expect. From what I had heard, most people had described post-soviet countries as run down and poor. I decided to still give Poland a chance, and on January 7th, I left for Krakow. I arrived the morning of the 8th and my first impression was that I had worried over nothing. The city and surrounding countryside were beautiful, and the culture didn’t appear too different from other countries in Europe.
On the other hand, the language barrier became a big problem very quickly. I had attempted to study a little Polish before I had left, but it was very much far from adequate. After being dropped off at my listed apartment by taxi, I had quite the encounter. I honestly wasn’t 100% sure if I was at the right place and I was unsure how exactly to check in to my room as my arrival guide hadn’t been too detailed. When I entered, I attempted to ask the receptionist, but it took a while to explain what I wanted. After about a minute of struggling, an older Polish lady came over to me and began talking extremely quickly in Polish and looking at me as if I understood her. I was completely flabbergasted. Thankfully a student came by and he was able to translate a bit as he knows some English.
After getting my key and finding my room I became extremely bored. It was only noon, so I couldn’t sleep, and the Wi-Fi in the room was not working at all. I had been the first to arrive, so I just had to wait until the other American students arrived. When I finally met them, I was excited as they all seemed to be great people. Since we didn’t have class until the next week, we had some time to explore the city. The people in charge of the program showed us around the city and university for the first two days. After that, it was the weekend, so we were able to choose what to do. On Saturday, me and some friends looked around the city’s historical town center. We saw some churches and museums and ate some amazing pierogi. In Europe, most places are closed on Sundays, but I was able to find a Polish air force museum that was opened, so I spent most of my day there and in the park around it.
While there have been a few bumps in the road, I’m overall very glad to have come here. The apartment is nice, the food is great, and the city and university are both beautiful. We got a bus pass so its pretty easy for me to get around the city. Well until the next time, do widzenia!
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