Traveling to Poland was an extremely long and exhausting journey. 1 car ride, 3 flights and 1 bus ride took 24 hours. Needless to say, we were all a little tired by the time we had arrived in Poland. As soon as the plane landed I quickly started realizing cultural differences. On our bus ride to the hotel, it became obvious that the elderly, particularly women, are highly respected in Polish culture. If an elderly women were to walk on to a completely full bus, someone would immediately hop up and offer up their seat. In America, if anyone walked onto a full bus, it is likely that they would be stuck standing and trying not to topple over through all of the crazy turns and jolts the bus takes. I respected how highly the elderly were valued in society.

Another cultural difference is that water is NOT free in Poland. On our first full day in Poland I quickly realized the effects of dehydration and lack of food. I had fruit for breakfast around 9 anticipating a nice lunch around noon. However, we ended up hiking around the city, through a Palace, and into several churches before we could get lunch around 3:00. 3:00 is way past my usual lunch time combined with lack of water and walking for six hours I was exhausted. Then to be charged between 2 and 3 dollars for a bottle of water was very different than what I am accustomed to. The one upside of limited water intake is that you don’t have to use the restroom, which you also have to pay to use as well. BONUS!

One thing that has surprised me is how much I love the food! At times, I can be a bit of a picky eater, but I have not come across a meal I haven’t liked so far. On our first night I had “chicken, chicken, cheesecake!" We had two options for each a starter, main course, and dessert, and I loved the chicken noodle soup, stuffed chicken, and strawberry, carmel AND hot fudge cheesecake. I have also eaten pierogi’s with spinach and cheese, good old fashioned pizza, and chicken. Food is definitely a plus to the trip this far!

Poland has been quite different than what I expected. I am not one hundred percent sure what I thought I would experience in Warsaw, but I am loving learning about the rich history and culture. Honestly, I wish I would have done more research before coming on the trip. Some of the Polish important people and partitions have been difficult to follow when we are learning so much information each day. I have been having such a great time that it is easy to learn information that I find most interesting.

Highlight of the trip so far: My favorite activity so far has surprisingly been the Multimedia Fountain Park! It was a ginormous water fountain that had had a variety of patterns of when water would shoot into the air and different color lights in the evening. I visited twice in one day…:) One of the entertaining parts if the trips was that several brides were taking their wedding photos around the fountain and surrounding park. We attempted to photo bomb and take stalker shots of the happy couples.