Hannah in a Suitcase

This holiday season was a new experience for me. As much as I love the season, it was a little bittersweet this year. I was missing family and our traditions, it felt weird to not decorate the tree with my parents and Cameron. We also did not have snow here so it felt like something was missing, in fact, the day before Christmas I woke up to the sound of rain on the roof! Crazy stuff! I really enjoyed celebrating with my class at school, we did a secret Santa of sorts and then everyone brought in food and we had a 'Christmas Eve' dinner all together. My secret Santa gave me some cozy socks, chocolate, and lotion, she also wrote some sweet little notes on them for me :) The 24th I went with my host family to their parents' houses (about an hour away) for more festivities. That evening we had our big, traditional meal, featuring all things mushroom and cabbage!  It is tradition to have 12 dishes on the table for Christmas eve (none with meat!), we had about nine...

Friday I stepped outside at seven in the morning, ready for my ten-hour journey to Wroclaw! The one thing I did forget on this trip was my phone, I was wrapped up in getting out the door to see my friends that I forgot it in my room. That made for an extra long train ride, but Olivia and I passed the time talking and snoozing until we arrived in Wroclaw. Friday/Pi ątek: I arrived at the Wroclaw train station at 5:00 and we walked to our hostel, from there we were taken into the old town to meet the rest of our group. The Christmas market was this weekend so the whole square was lit up, I wasn't able to look around a lot because I was late getting there. I was nice to see everyone and have felt so Christmasy at the same time :)  All 70 of us squeezed into a Pizza Hut for dinner before we headed to a university athletic center for some team games.  Saturday/Sobota: We had a quick breakfast and hopped on a coach bus, we had an hour plus drive through ...

I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!! I am thinking of you all and missing sharing a table and all that food with everybody! In Poland Thanksgiving is not celebrated so I am missing the food but I would still like to give thanks for a number things :)  Here are a few of those things: 1. Being able to experience such a different culture and meet so many new people 2. All the messages I've received via mail and email from everyone at home  3. All the hot chocolate ;) 4. My family (and Host family) for supporting me this year and all the years before this 5. This overall newness and busyness in my life I hope that all of you at home are enjoying the food and the parade today! I don't have a lot to share about the last couple of weeks, I have been in a regular routine. Gym, school, polish learning, and running (or now dancing). November has been great for me to get into the swing of things and breath before the craziness of...

It has been quite a while since I last posted, and I have so much to share! The first snow was on Halloween!! This holiday is not largely celebrated in Poland but I was very excited to see the big Hollywood snowflakes falling when I woke up :) We celebrated  Wszystkich Swietych or All Saints' Day on November first. This is a  holiday  to commemorate family members that have passed away. Wednesday morning we left the house at nine and  drove  two hours to Marek and Jola's home town. We went to the church and then we walked over to the  cemetery, where we lit candles and placed flowers on the graves of my host family's loved ones. It was surprising to see how different the  cemetery was from what I'm used to seeing at home. Usually the cemeteries are grass with a small headstone, here there are rows and rows of stone tombs above the ground. Each 'tomb' has a picture of the deceased and their age on it. Every grave is covered in candles and flowers...

The past week or so felt a little bit like driving on the good ol' Vermont roads, bumpy with a lot of ups and downs!  At the beginning of the week Olivia and I decided it was time to join the gym. I had tried out a couple in the city and we found a really great one that was just a couple minutes from our school. It has been really nice to go after school when I don't have running, it gives me an extra boost!  Last Wednesday was my birthday and I would like to thank all of you for all the warm wishes! I was thinking of all of you :) The day started out pretty good, in my first class the students sang happy birthday to me and they also gave me chocolate! The rest of the school day was pretty normal but I was excited and happy that it was my birthday. After school I went home like normal and just kind of hung out. I was still having a pretty good day but part of me was starting to think that my host family didn't know that it was my birthday. Finally after we had e...

Friday night I went to my first polish party! Jan brought Olivia and I to his friends 18th birthday. I was a little nervous at first. I didn't know anyone at the party and I wasn't sure what it would be like but people were very friendly! People seemed more interested than they normally are at school, it was refreshing to meet so many new people. The beginning of the night was a little awkward but then more people came and we started dancing! It was so hear some new polish music (!!) and see everyones dance moves. I think people are a lot less shy about dancing here. In the states kinds just kind of sway awkwardly, here there is a lot more movement!  This past weekend I was able to go with Olivia and her host parents to Lidzbark Warminski. Our first stop was the castle. If I'm being honest I wasn't as excited about seeing the castle, the castles here are very similar, and while amazing, we usually just take a tour of the main points with a guide. When we arrived I ...

The last week and a bit have seemed to escape me, things are moving fast here!  Last weekend I had a Rotary meeting in Torun, Poland, a city about three hours away from Olsztyn. It was great to see all the kids from the language camp again, everyone in that group is so kind and welcoming. We always have a lot of fun together! The day we arrived we went on a sightseeing tour around the city, if I'm being honest we all spent more time catching up with each other than listening to our tour guide, but it was great to see the city.  The side streets of Torun! We also got a chance to make Piernik (Ginger bread!) that the city is famous for. We made batter as a group but it takes a long time for that to be ready to use so we used pre-made dough for our souvenirs. I say souvenirs because they aren't for eating, once they come out of the oven and cool they harden.  The following day we got to go on a short cruise on the Vistula river, it was a beautiful night ...