Poland Update 05/20/08

05/20/08

We finished the two day conference today. I presented my paper first day. It went well; the students enjoyed my laughable introduction. It was a long day of listening to many other students some who struggle to present in English. Tonight was the first break I had to update I decide to stay at the dorm instead of going to eat with group on the square.

Last night we had the city games (Amazing Race II). It was fun, I have included some photos. Our team won the race and received a nice mug with the city Wroclaw on it. This year’s race was shorter but still many fun tasks; such as water coloring a banner, filling up a pale with water with out using your hands, visiting several statues and trying to remake them later.

Tomorrow we have class again with a lecture from the author of our text book in the afternoon. Thursday is national holiday, everything shuts down like Christmas day back home. It is a Catholic Holiday of some type. Poland is over 95% Catholic.

I am looking forward to watching the race someplace on Sunday. I should have time to update again on Thursday.

Poland 05/15/2008

May 15, 2008

Today was our first day of class. Many of the students are staying out all night and getting in around 4:30. The dorm is locked from 2:00 till 4:30 so they have to wait till 4:30 to get in. They still are able to get up for class today but they were have a hard time staying awake in class.

We had two classes today and no lunch. The Polish students were not in class today so the cafeteria was closed. We finished class around 4:00. It was a long day of class because John want the students to understand a few terms before we go to Auschwitz tomorrow. We will leave at 8:00 for 2 ½ bus ride and then tour the museum for 2 to 3 hours. It should be a different experience this year having been there last year.

Poland Update Day 2-3

I arrived safely in Poland on Tuesday. It was a long flight but I had an aisle seat. The plan was full. The flight went across Canada and then the Atlantic, Greenland and around London. The Warsaw airport has a new terminal. Several shops and food court inside security. We have a married couple with us. They are Muslim and from Jordan. They had trouble getting into the Poland. It took about hour for them to verify there visas. I don’t think they seem many Jordan here. She wears a head covering.  She believes that Jesus was mentioned in the Koran but does not believe he was the only ‘prophet’ She said that she believes there are several prophets for different eras.

 

We had our usual long dinner Tuesday night at the Golden Lamb, I had salmon, it took 2 ½ hours before we got our main course. Most of the students were very tried.  Afterwards, a few of the students went to Guinness pub for drinks.

 

Food is more expensive this year; the conversation rate is 2.2 to 1 compared to last year 3.3 to 1.

When started on our tour day but was unable to see everything the group is bigger these year and we have one family with 2 ½ year old, boy with them.  It’s very hard for them to push a carriage for most of the roads are cobble stone and lots of steps.

I have Internet now in the room, it is slow. I stayed in tonight and rested. I went across the street for a hamburger, they put everything on it, big pickles, sauce, corn, cabbage, relish. It tasted great.

 

Tomorrow we have our first class. More updates later

Poland Trip

Hello

Today is Saturday May 11, 2008. I leave tomorrow to Wroclaw, Poland with a group of students from IUPUI, Communication Study Abroad program. There are 16 students and one professor, Dr. John Parrish-Sprawl going on this trip. I was able to go to Poland last year on the same program. I enjoyed Poland so much. I decided to return again this year. We have a different bunch of students this year, 6 males and 10 females, 5 graduate students and 11 undergraduate, one student from the Ft Wayne campus and the rest from IUPUI campus. It will be a fun and enjoyable trip.

I am packing now, getting my computer, software, and camera gear ready. We leave Indianapolis around 1:30 pm on Monday, fly to Chicago. At Chicago we board LOT airlines, a polish airline. We fly to Warsaw and then a commuter flight to Wroclaw. We arrive around 2:00 pm on Tuesday. There is a six hour difference in time.

On with packing, I will post more updates soon.