Erasmus in Warsaw

  Well, as you probably can tell by the previous nostalgic blog, we didn’t spend too much time in Warsaw on our first day there, and it wasn’t any different on our second day in the city. We got up bright and early because we had a long drive ahead of us — plus we only bought parking ticket till 1000. The travel time between Warsaw and Vilnius was supposed to take us a little bit more than six hours, in reality it took as way longer, mainly because we stopped at Biebrza National Park for an hour-ish hike and for a quick lunch. We stopped at a birdwatching place’s parking lot, and walked around 30 minutes to the place, where we found nothing, and the wind was too strong to my little gas stow, so we had to walk back and find some other place to deal with our empty stomachs. Not so far away, probably still in the national park we found a nice little dirt road, where we stopped and finally had our lunch. It’s funny because we hated that day for the detour of the birdwatching place beca...

  Yesterday when I woke up I could defines tell I had gone running the day before yesterday. My muscles we a bit sore and surprisingly my knee hurt also. And that was the end of my complains, because after I finally got out of my bed things turned for the better. We cooked some awesome lunch, which set the awesome mood for our date-night. We were going to the movies! Sari has never been to movie theater outside Hungary, and I haven’t been in a movie theater in Poland either, so we decided to give it a shot. Luckily here, in Poland most of the movies are in their original language, and all they have in Polish is the subtitles. This is a genius idea when it comes to American movies, however it could be definitely an issue, when they are playing some Portuguese movies. We heard the thriller of a Spanish movie, and well… I wouldn’t watch that even if it was interesting.  The movie theater we went to was in Zlote Tarasy and I think was called Multi Kino. It seemed like a huge movie...

  So, after we left Krakow things got exciting. Very exciting! I’ve never been further North than Krakow — in Europe, by car. We took the interstate-alike route S7, which is a two by two lane highway with 120 km/h speed limit. We only took a small detour to have lunch. It was a longish drive, because a) we don’t go faster than 100 km/h — polar bear friendly driving style — and b) because the interstate is unfinished between Krakow and Warsaw! To me, and I guess to many of you might sound very strange, but the capital city isn’t/wasn’t connected to all major cities by interstate! However Krakow’s been connected to Katowice by interstate for many years. That’s so surprising for me, as a Hungarian. Back in Hungary the capital city IS EVERYTHING, it’s connected with all major cities, and all the interstates run from the major cities to the capital city, and hardly any other big city is connected to another big city by interstate. Anyway, after lunch we got on the interstate again, and ...

  Yesterday was one of those typical days when a lot was going on, but nothing particularly exciting to write about. However I’ll try to do my best making it sound interesting.   After we got up I continued something I’ve started preparing for a future blog. I’d started going thru our payment history, I noted every single expense by sorts, by currencies, by months. I’ve learned buncha interesting things from doing it, for instance our lifestyle might won’t be sustainable when we finish our university studies, and start working as a teacher… That doesn’t sound good.  While Sari was doing her homework I cooked us some lunch, I did some brown rice with croquettes filled with cabbage and mushrooms. Although I messed up the rice, the croquettes were delicious! We probably gonna buy more of that while we are here! — but only after February 1 st , after the reduced taxes are alive. After lunch I wrote a new episode of my blog, we watched the first most searched movie on Netflix;...

  So, we arrived to Krakow, found out that the accommodation we booked for the nights didn’t have free parking, although their Booking page said that… On that sorta disappointing start we packed out of the car, and then headed to the city. Our first walk took us to the Main Market Square where we walked around, however, we were starving so we looked for a restaurant. Our goal was to find a place which looked nice, but wasn’t super fancy since we didn’t win the lottery the previous day. Surprisingly we found one in five minutes maximum! It was a smaller restaurant, where I believe we had pizza and(!) I had something I have never ever had; my first ever, my very first, my introduction to a new world, or in a fewer words: my first Polish beer. And, oh boy. It was joyous. It was a very fine pint of Okocim. I still remember the taste in my mouth.  The next day we did the compulsory sightseeing tour, we checked out the market square again, the market, the barbican, a few parks, and ...

  So, yesterday was another shopping day… And I gotta say Sari is a good player. She played me like I played Shake It Off when it was a new song; continuously! When we got up, the day started slowly. We had no place to rush, no slides to study, no exams to die for. I meant study for. Anyway, after a nice breakfast we got up, and started our commute to the… mall? I guess. We drove there, which might sound like a environmentally irresponsible decision, but we haven’t started the car in three weeks(!!!), last week when I walked to the garage to check on her, I was literally surprised how she looked! I hardly remember her face! Damn. We took the in-city-highway to the mall which had a great travel vibe, or maybe it was just me who wanted to be on a roadtrip rather than a shoptrip. We arrived to the mall in 25 minutes, the same trip took me 52 minutes last time when I took public transport, which is surprisingly long, and I don’t really understand why did it took so long then. I took a ...

  As I told you in my previous blog I wanna be absolutely sure that my blog writing has anchoraged you to go on an Erasmus, however if you still not sure if you should go on   your   Erasmus or not, these few blogs are written for you! How we started? — Unfortunately I can’t perfectly recall the exact dates, so I’ll use numbers for the days instead of actual dates. — The first day of our Erasmus actually started in Pécs. We had to pack all our possessions in a small car — haha yeah, if I’m talking about my car I usually say it’s an SUV, however when I had to pack all our shit in it, it felt like I’m trying to move a family with a tiny hatchback. I packed everything I thought I would need in a big suitcase and maybe in a smaller one too. However I wasn’t coming here alone! And this was the point where we stared having issues. Sari’s stuff only fitted in slightly more suitcases, so when I wanted to pack everything in the car I found  six  suitcases around me! SIX!...

  Yesterday I had my last exam! And I have passed! Not out, but the exam! How awesome is that?!   When I woke up I read thru the all the slides once more and crossed all my fingers. I also took the time to ask Sari and our neighbors to cross their fingers as well. And it worked! I’ve passed the exam! I had two attempts, first I got some 50% then at the second attempt I got 65%! Yess! I like that number.  After my exam we got ready and hopped on a tram to Praga! Not the Praga in the Czech Republic, but the one in Warsaw. Our plan was to check out the Praha Museum, and find a bar to have a gin and tonic to celebrate my successful exam period.  When we got off the tram we realized we have walked past the Praha Museum several times already! Last week(?) when we were at Praha we walked past it, and I’m pretty sure we walked past it before. We entered the building, this time the host was much nicer, she immediately told us there were no entrance fees that day, and tol...

  Yesterday, I almost didn’t do anything. That’s actually not true, I did   work   and I did walk quite a distance, what I meant was I didn’t study as much as it could’ve been necessary for a good final grade. When I woke up I started the day with writing emails. As I told you earlier I’ve joined the mentor system of the University of Pécs, and I already had received a list of my mentees, however I didn’t have the time to contact them. Till yesterday. I wrote ten welcome email, and I think I had two or three answers for my messages so far.  After I was done with emailing it was already past noon, so we had a quick lunch, thankfully we had some leftovers from the day before yesterday, so we were covered for the day — lately we’ve found it hard to come up with dish ideas… I guess it’s mainly because we haven’t had anything else in the past four months than pasta, chicken, and burgers. And don’t give me wrong I’d eat burgers till I die, however it’s not the cheapest sol...

  So, yesterday. I had yet another exam, or actually my second exam at the University of Warsaw. I’d say it went well. Although the exam went well in the afternoon, I felt quite nervous in the morning. Last night I took a little time off to chill, but this morning I had to get back to studying. I’ve read thru all the Power Points that were sent to me, I read thru all the notes I wrote, just to make sure I got as much information as possible. While I was studying I received an email, about an old/new adventure that I’ve turned down previously, but the company has my money, and now they only want to return 150 dollars instead of the 550 dollars I’ve given them. Which doesn’t sound to good, but I guess that’s what it is. I still want to check out their other programs to see if I could get a better deal choosing one of other their programs… Anyway what I wanted to say here is, this email really didn’t come at a perfect moment, it didn’t help with concentrating on my studies.  I re...

  So, yesterday was examination day, but let’s not start the meal with the dessert. When I woke up I quickly wrote the day before yesterday’s blog, and then I started reading thru all the Power Points that our professors have sent us. Soon Sari was headed to her class, so I walked with her to the bus stop, which has become sort of a tradition for us in the last few weeks. Surprisingly my walk was pretty uneventful which is pretty unusual; I always seem to find  something  interesting to talk about. I think what happened yesterday is that I was blinded by the lights — sorry — blinded by the stress. The time until my exam was now measured in  hours  not in  days , which made me feel really uncomfortable. When I got back home I continued studying, till Sari came home, and started listening to her online class on full blast. I was great… I’m not blaming her, she hadn’t any other option since I’ve fallen on my earphones yesterweek — I know yesterweek hasn’t exis...

  Yesterday was one of the last study-days — if everything goes well today; and tomorrow and the day after after tomorrow (Thursday if I’ve counted correctly). After I got up I started studying, I’ve already read through all of the powerpoint our professors sent us, so I just had to read them again yesterday. Which went okay. Then I started reading the powerpoint for the exam on Tuesday. I found it kinda funny that some professors just keep talking about the same topic no matter what the class is. And if you think about it it actually kind of makes sense. If you study and research let’s say vulcanology why would you preach about deserts, right? However if you are a student, and you have two classes with the same teacher and she keeps talking about the same thing just from a different perspective it’s kinda strange. Or not. I got confused. Haha. Maybe it’s just me, who isn’t that into that place she keeps bringing up. At least I get to know that place better. But my main problem wit...

  So, yesterday was yet another study day. I know it’s kinda boring, but trust me I hate it more than you do. The good news is that I’ve already gone thru all of the Power Points connected to my Monday class the bad news is that I’m not sure how much I will remember tomorrow. Although this could be an issue I still have almost two days — given my exam starts at 1700 — so I have plenty of time. However that small thing that makes me uncomfortable is that I’m also having an exam on Tuesday, and that efficiently splits my two days into one days. And that’s a bit worrying. Anyways, after my morning study we had no capacity to come up with an idea for lunch, so we used almost the last coupons they gave us in Maxbuger last time. First I thought how amazing those coupons are, but then after spending actually more money in last month at Maxburger, than the previous month, because than I didn’t have the coupon book. So, after thinking this thru I don’t think coupons are a good idea, I think...

  My whole yesterday was a lie! The whole day I believed it was Sunday! Bummer. If I knew it was   Friday  I would’ve gone to an Apple store and I would’ve bought myself new earphones… I might check them today, since today is Saturday not whatever I would’ve thought it would be. Apart from this hiccup the whole day was pretty organized. I got up before 0900, then I wrote a blogpost, and studied, and studied, and studied. I must study because I’m having my first exam on Monday! That’s pretty close! Although all the lectures I had this semester were similar to the ones I had back in Hungary, for instance I had class about Russia back home, and I had a similar class here as well. This could result two options. Option A) is that I’ve already heard these classes, I’ve already studied these things which should mean I will easily pass the exam. The other option; option B) is that I’ve already heard these classes, I’ve already studied these things which I’ve already forgotten, an...

  Yesterday morning we woke up for a beautiful sunny day. I thought we should’ve gone for a walk, but Sari convinced me that it was time to study… As I was studying I looked out the window and suddenly the sun was gone, and the weather was coming in. Soon it’s started snowing. However it wasn’t just a regular snowing it was yet another snowstorm! It looked awesome!   After lunch we decided to have a coffee in a café that’s literally visible from our window, it’s really that close. We saw the snow was still falling, but we did not see the wind blowing… However when we got to the door and wind was blowing thru the door it became quite obvious; we were about to experience the biggest snowstorm of our lives. It was almost like a blizzard! So, bravely we decided to go the the shop nearby and buy muffins there, because that seemed like the less freezing and less expensive option. And I gotta say we made quite a good deal! We bought at least 5 muffins for less than 15 zloty! At the c...

  Yesterday was an exciting day! I couldn’t walk Sari to the bus stop because I was about to have an interview! I was applying for a mentor program for incoming students to the University of Pécs. I’ve been a mentor for a few semesters, and it was great! I had made friends with most of my mentees — almost with all of the ones who were willing to talk to me — and I love and miss them to this very day.  After my interview I was headed to Blue City Ikea because I wanted to get some present for Sari’s name-day. I walked 45 minutes to the place, when I got there I had to find my way in — we’ve only been there once before and it was pain in the ass to enter the mall — which wasn’t easier this time either. When I finally got inside I still had to find the Ikea which didn’t go as planned. I kinda knew where it was when we first when there, however now it seemed like the store’s been Ctrl X-ed out of the mall. I walked at least three circles around the place I assumed it was, everyone ...