So this is a little late, but we have been super busy lately! In the best ways imaginable, though! We had the opportunity to go to an integration camp, something like an orientation weekend that we might have at WVU, but its with far less people and lasts way longer. Berkeley and I met another American studying at Collegium Civitas, his name is Rob and he is actually here for a 2 year Master’s. All around cool guy.

Anyways, we were the three people at this camp who weren’t exactly Polish speaking. Everyone else got along with us well, though, because of course they all speak English fluently! The whole crowd was so much fun—we had a bonfire where we would cook sausages almost every night! And they taught us all very important things, like how to sing some fun Polish songs, and important Polish phrases most of which I shouldn’t repeat. In fact, we met a lot of people that we will be going to school with, whose faces we will see in the hallways of our university and who we can truly call good friends now. On one of the excursions, we went with a small group of people from the camp on a hike through the Biesczady Mountains (pictures to come later). It was absolutely beautiful and totally reminded us of West Virginia and this is why we sang Country Roads a couple of times along the trails. And at the end of the trail, about 8 hours later…(yeah I know!) we all sat around a table at a small pub and we ate delicious food-I had Russian pierogies (which I am certain are my favorite), and Berk had bigos which is a “hunter’s stew” it has all sorts of meat in it and tons of cabbage and it’s wonderful!

Altogether, quite a way to spend a week in Poland!

It was almost a week ago that Berkeley and I left the U.S. and it has been quite a whirlwind! We landed in Warsaw and immediately our contact took us to our apartment and then on to a tour of Collegium Civitas—a place where we will be spending a whole lot of town over the next few months—and then on to pick up some food and other necessities. Not to complain, but I hadn’t really slept on the plane and so needless to say this was more than just your normal long day!

Later on, after the jet lag had passed we went exploring in our little neighborhood—its a place called Mokotow, which is south of the city center, and to the left of the river. We went through a lovely park where there were peacocks and lakes and random palaces with beautiful baroque architecture! When we rounded the corner of our street onto a smaller side street we were greeted with a little restaurant called a milk bar—where the pierogies are cheap, delicious and abundant! I had the kind with cheese, which is likened to a desert, and Berk had the kind with meat—all of which disappeared within minutes!

Probably the best discovery we made in our area though was a place we went just to have a beer and ended up chatting with the owner until long after the place was supposed to have closed! Its a place called Mayday! but to us it is Toni’s Pub. Not only does it have the cheapest beer in town, but it has the best company. Even with our yet broken Polish, these older gentlemen conversed with us in such a friendly manner we couldn’t help but become enamored with the hole-in-the-wall type joint! Seriously, the only place in Morgantown that is even remotely similar to Toni’s is probably Gene’s in South Park—EXCEPT for the fact that Toni’s has maybe 4 chairs. They spent their night just hanging out with two crazy American kids, telling interesting stories with some English words thrown into the mix. We’ve been back twice since.

Unfortunately, and hopefully this is something that Student Affairs will catch wind of and remedy, preferably before next Saturday—we were unable to watch the East Carolina game on Saturday! For you to understand the seriousness of this situation, you would have to know that Berk and I are both avid WVU football fans. I think Berk said this was the first game he has missed since he was 5. So that’s a big problem. We want to find it somewhere online so we can at least pretend like we were there. :) So please don’t let us know the score of any game until we exhaust all other options!

That’s all for now—Love from Poland:)