Human Rights and a Fun Fall Break: Visiting Poland

This past five days has been our fall break, and, instead of whiling away my time soaking up the last rays of sun on the Amalfi Coast or curling up with a coffee and a good book in a cafe in Paris or Vienna, I participated in my school's offered trip to Poland to visit a symposium on Human Rights and a Just Society.

I know, you're thinking: this is totally what a college student in Europe wants to do for their fall break. Human rights is obviously the most exciting conference topic that I've ever heard of. And if you were thinking that (or saying that) sarcastically, you'd be wrong.

However, because it was a trip that I was involved with, nothing could go smoothly.

Our itinerary called for us to fly out of Bologna Airport at 3:30 (15:30, European time) and arrive in Krakow, Poland, with time to drop our bags off at our hostel, explore for a while, and then reconvene for dinner. Instead, Air France decided that that particular Thursday seemed like an excellent day to hold a strike. And their strike shut down the entire airport. My roommate and a friend of ours took a taxi from Camplus to Bologna Airport around 1:30 - and arrived at the departures sign to discover that our flight was delayed until 11:30 that night.

Our director had yet to arrive at the airport, and so we sat around, trying to figure out what we were doing. Our first attempt at going through security was a failure - we were told that we would not be allowed through until we had two hours before our departure. Resigned to our fates, we bought some waters and sat around some more - until we learned that some of our classmates, inexplicably, had made it through. Without further ado, about half of us stood up and made the trek through security.

After making it through security, I looked down at my ticket, and realized that there was fine print at the top - because we were not EU citizens, we needed our tickets stamped at the check-in gate downstairs - BEFORE security - or the airline had the right to throw us off of the plane. I attempted to round up as many of my classmates as I could gather, and we turned around and walked out of the secured area, annoyed that no one had mentioned this to us before we arrived at the airport.

We walked downstairs to the check-in counter, only to discover our director (who had just arrived) and the other adults who were joining us for the conference. One student was already in the line, and was being used as the test subject as to whether we would be allowed to stamp our tickets at the moment or not. After a 15 minute wait (the test student had been waiting for 45 minutes because of the lack of staff at the airport - the strike was slowly killing everyone), we learned that they wouldn't even consider stamping our tickets until 7 PM that night. All of us split up, and began to wander the airport, killing time until 7.

My roommate and I wandered into the bookstore, looking at English language books (because, let's face it, neither one of us is that fluent in Italian yet). I picked up a copy of Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer to read on the flight (and while sitting in the airport) for two reasons: 1) it had been on my to-read list for years, and 2) it was the first copy that I had seen of the novel that didn't involve a nude woman on it (not something I really want to be carrying around with me). We then wandered down towards the other end of the ground floor, looking at what there was to offer, and wound up at a coffee shop, where I got a macchiato (my roommate had a cappuccino) and sat down to avail ourselves of the wifi (which was pretty bad on the ground floor) and to read for a little while.

Chilling in the Bologna Airport

After sitting got boring, we walked back towards the escalators, and stopped into a makeup store on the way because my roommate had forgotten to pack her lipstick. There, I bought a cute color for a little less than 2 euro, but my roommate and I both had an issue with our colors: the ones that we grabbed (that were stocked in the row of the color that we liked) were not the ones that we wanted. Instead, we had to switch the colors out. Mine was switched out, no problem - I caught the mistake, checked the number, and informed the woman at the counter. My roommate's, however, became more complicated, as both she and the woman at the counter became increasingly upset over the issue - and their combined lack of language (not enough Italian or English between them to make them understand what was happening) only compounded the problem. Finally, we both had our purchases and left, with my roommate slightly more upset than before, and me wishing to be anywhere but the Bologna Airport.

After we got up to the first floor, we killed the rest of the time until 7 checking wifi and chatting with family and friends. Once our tickets were stamped, we were able to get a free dinner (mortadella sandwiches and a bottle of water) from a restaurant near the check-in, and then go through security. After security, we wandered through some shops and bought some gelato (it had been a stressful evening already, and it was only 8 PM). We then proceeded to kill time until 9, when another restaurant (this time inside security) provided free food for us in compensation (yet another mortadella sandwich, but with a Coke this time - which was amazing, even if it was flat). Finally, around 10:55, we began to queue for our flight, and we took off for Krakow on time.

We landed into Krakow at 1:15 AM, and wound up at our hotel around 1:30. None of us had money, because Poland (we had found out the day before) is not on the euro. Instead, it uses the zloty (one euro is 4.23 zloty and one dollar is 3.72, to give you an idea of just how bad the zloty is as a currency). We walked into our hostel - The Goodbye Lenin - and, as soon as we were checked in, put on pajamas and went to bed.

The sign greeting us in our hostel

We woke up early and got on the bus for Auschwitz the next morning, the vast majority of us sleep-deprived, moneyless, and very cold. We spent an hour and a half on the bus, most of which was spent sleeping (we'd gone to bed around 2:30 and woken up at 7 for our bus at 8:45). Once we arrived at Auschwitz, we were able to pull cash from the ATM there, and then we went on a tour of both Auschwitz I and the nearby Auschwitz II - Birkenau.

In order to fully capture my thoughts about the experience, I will be posting a separate blog on Auschwitz. Suffice to say that I was in a pretty crummy mood for the rest of the day from what I saw.

When we returned to the hostel that afternoon, my roommate and I immediately jumped at the chance to explore a little bit of Krakow. We wandered into a coffeehouse nearby (because we were both freezing and very tired), and discovered the wonders that is Columbus Coffee. A national chain in Poland, Columbus, we both decided, is better than Starbucks (and with the conversion rate, much cheaper). I got a caramel macchiato and was very happy indeed.

The best caramel macchiato you will ever have (sorry, Starbucks)

From the coffeehouse, we wandered along the way to the Old Town and main square, stopping to pick up more things that my roommate had forgotten in Bologna. We made it to the market just as the sun was setting, and found all sorts of beautiful artisan booths set up. Ignoring the food (we were going back to meet up for dinner in an hour), we wandered around, looking for gifts. I found book earrings with the cover art for The Great Gatsby and a pair of wooden earring that were carved to look like the city's horse drawn carriages, and my roommate picked up a metal rose.

When we arrived at the hostel for dinner, our director said that we were splitting into three groups and going to three different restaurants because of our late arrival the night before. After a very tense bidding war, I wound up at the modern Polish restaurant Mamas, along with eleven other students and our director. Given 60 zloty to spend, we managed to all feast. I had a small bottle of water, a bowl of onion soup, gnocchi with pan-seared beef tenderloin and Asian spices and a dessert of "unbaked cheesecake," and still came in 4 under. Everything was delicious, and I got to know my classmates better.

Afterwards, I walked back to the hostel with another girl who didn't want to go out drinking (which was the general consensus from the rest of my classmates), and so I caught up on the hostel wifi and then went to bed.

 We woke up early again the next morning to get on the bus and drive to Warsaw. We were assured that it would only be a 3-4 hour bus ride, and we would be in the city by 3 at the latest. It turned into a disaster. Our bus driver was not from Warsaw, and so he didn't know where he was going. He also didn't speak a lick of English. And the air conditioning was broken, so the bus was sweltering for the entire ride. Our only break, besides two for the bathroom, was because the driver was legally obligated to stop for 45 minutes, and so we finally managed to eat lunch.

Needless to say, we didn't get into Warsaw until 5:30. And we didn't really get to see much of the city.

At 7, we boarded the bus to head to dinner. And that's when our director hit us with more bad news.

Our restaurant - which had been reserved months in advance, had a planned menu, and was completely ready to go - had cancelled our reservation. The only reason that our director could think of as to why the restaurant would cancel (because he had contacted the person helping him set up the trip, who happened to be a Polish lawyer) was the fact that he had asked to select the soups upon arrival at the restaurant. But instead of a delicious meal as a group, we were sent in pairs into the Old Town of Warsaw with 100 zloty to split equally.

Old Town Warsaw

My roommate and I joined some friends in wandering into the Old Town, where (after considerable debate, involving miscommunication and lots of walking up and down stairs) we chose a restaurant. We wound up spending the next two and a half hours at the restaurant because the waitstaff were incredibly slow and spoke very little English. The food was decent, but not the best food we had on the trip (Mamas was by far much better than the place we stopped at), and, if there had been fewer than 8 in our party, I'm sure we would have been able to get in anywhere we wanted.

After dinner, I took a taxi back to the hotel with a friend and then got ready for bed.

In the morning, we woke up early and got on the bus (there was definitely a theme of getting up early and climbing on the bus) to drive to the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising. Our director gave us an hour and a half to see the museum and buy souvenirs.

It was not nearly enough time.

The Museum is set up similarly to The National World War II Museum's Road to Berlin and the International Spy Museum, in that it is interactive and set up to be a sort of "immersive history" museum. When a new part of the timeline started, a flyer was available (in Polish and English) giving background details on the time discussed. Little pieces of paper with the date and important events hung on the walls for visitors to take. Planes soared overhead, bullets could be heard clashing, and, in one memorable part, visitors walked down a sewer tunnel while hearing whispers in Polish (this was too terrifying for me - in part because I was by myself, and in part because I know literally one word in Polish - the word for gingerbread - and I didn't want to find out if there was someone at the other end with a gun. It was really scary).

That being said, however, I wish that the layout was better, because it was difficult to follow the story of the Warsaw Uprising once I left the first floor (and the time restriction didn't help here). At one point, the Germans had just entered Warsaw; the next, there were Poles in the RAF; suddenly, the Uprising was over and people were dead. There was no real flow to the museum, and I found it confusing. I also wished that the date pages were in English as well, because I would have loved to take quotes and information pages back with me on more than just the general background.

Because I was so confused, I wound up finishing the museum a half hour early. I walked out to the bookstore, bought some gifts, and then wandered over to the memorial garden in back.

The Memorial Wall

Roses growing over a colorized photograph taken during the 1944 Uprising

The Memorial Garden

Surrounding the entire museum is a memorial wall, with the names of those who died fighting for the Polish Resistance - called the Home Army, or Armia Krakow - and other insurgent groups in 1944 to free Poland from German control. Behind it is a small garden, with murals and photographs alongside rose bushes and other flowers. I was the only one back there, and so I spent a quiet fifteen minutes walking among the flowers before I got too cold and went back to the bus.

After we got back on the bus, we headed out to Torun, the location of our conference. The drive was supposed to be 3-4 hours, and this time it was - we got into Torun exactly on time. We had a good hour and a half to explore the city before the first night of the conference, which was a film about how Italy has dealt with the migrant crisis, and so I wandered around the streets of Torun with some friends, chasing pigeons and taking lots of pictures.

The main square of Torun

The Church of Saint James - the only Gothic style building in Torun

Statue of Nicolas Copernicus in the main square - Torun was the home of the famous astronomer

The film that night was difficult to watch (not just because I was having to crane my neck to read subtitles). It made me realize just how little I actually had heard about the migrant crisis in Europe before I got here, and how little information we are given about world affairs in the states. The discussion from students was really good, and we left via taxi to go to dinner.

Mixed among the Polish students and students from the Loyola University of Chicago program in Rome, I got the chance to talk over what I had seen and also meet new people. Dinner was pizza - which seemed a little unusual in Poland, especially when the vast majority of us at the conference were at school in Italy - but we enjoyed it immensely.

The next morning, we sat through the rest of the symposium, which discussed who the refugees are, where they are from, and why they are fleeing, and what we can do to fix the issue. We heard about the conditions on the front lines in Sicily now and the story of a man who had made the journey 8 years prior. We also heard from one of the representatives of Human Rights Watch as to what they recommend the EU do in order to fix the issues. Finally, the symposium closed with a mock panel, choosing whether or not to grant refugee status to a migrant.

What I took from the symposium was this: I know practically nothing outside of the news provided to me in the states. I knew nothing about the crisis except for the views presented on national television and in national papers, and I don't think that this is acceptable. Although the presentations (with the exception of HRW's) attempted to play to our emotions rather than our rationality, they did make me realize that something momentous is happening and nothing is really being done about it. And our country is one of the ones saying that it isn't really our problem.

After a packed morning, my roommate and I dropped our things at the hotel and spent the afternoon wandering Torun. We wanted to go to the Gingerbread Museum, but the only tour in English was at 4, and we didn't feel like waiting that long. Instead, we walked to a tea room that I had spotted the other day and spent an hour drinking tea and relaxing. After buying the teas we had (they were both amazing), we walked around looking for a store that would have t-shirts (for my roommate). Instead, we wound up in a coffeehouse buying cakes (we were starving) and then in a gingerbread store - which, incidentally, Torun is famous for making. We finally found a shop that had exactly what we wanted, and, after leaving, went back to the hotel, where we devoured some gingerbread within the warmth of the lobby.

The best little tea shop  

The view from our lobby

Not long after, we met our director to walk to dinner with the students from the Loyola Program, which was a multi-course Polish meal, complete with a toast of vodka in the middle. After dinner, we walked to a brewery, where we met the Polish students and shared some beers with them.

This morning, we had to be up very early - 6:45 - and on the bus to drive to Warsaw Airport. This time, our bus was actually on schedule, with no issues. And today, I made it safely back to my dorm.

Overall, I had a great time in Poland, despite the setbacks. I really loved Torun and Krakow, and I wish we'd spent more time there. Warsaw wasn't my favorite, but I think I would've liked it more if there had been more to do around our hotel.

Honestly, it just means that someday I'll have to go back and visit everything that I missed.