Ok. Alright. It's ok, I'm alright.

Dzien dobry! I have gotten over my inadequacy a little. It still pains me that I am not as cool as some of the people I'm with. These kids are younger than me with so much ambition. They are just everything I want to be. So, I guess it's good I'm hanging out with them. I just feel so inferior because here are these people that speak their mother tongue and my mother tongue. Then on top of that they are learning Polish as well as other languages. There is one girl who speaks something like 15 languages. I can barely speak a paragraph in French, which is never understood by the French people here because my words are drowning in my accent. By the way, it turns out American accents are ugly. I know this because they pick on me. I still try, and as time progresses my language ability will also. I'm so glad that I am here because it felt like I was walking in circles living in Greensboro. I'm starting to not take myself so seriously, and who knows maybe someday I might be the life of the party. I'm just kidding I was definitely always the life of the party, maybe.

Everything is working out very well with school. I was freaking out about it a little, but it turns out it's fine. I'm taking the Polish course, sociology of politics, a class on global and regional governance, a polish movie night course (you just watch polish movies with subtitles in English), and contemporary polish society. The classes are an hour and a half one day a week, each class on a different day. Now you can see why I have all this free time. Teresa has some diplomacy workshops she is going to and I'm planning on joining her for some of those. I'm trying to find the school gym, and there is also a gigantic pool here with water slides. Maybe I'll come back to the US ripped, but I doubt it.

So far, that's the update. Some of the other students and I are planning a trip to Berlin not this weekend, but the next. Also, Stockholm is in the works, and maybe Amsterdam. I'm not really crazy about going to Amsterdam so maybe not. There is also a trip being planned for Krakow. Just outside of Krakow is Auschwitz and we will have a guided tour of that when we go for all you Nazi fanatics. The group that is planning that trip likes to give a one day notice and you have to sign up because there are only 100 slots available out of 300 Erasmus students. It is possible that I might not go because I can go later and it isn't a problem. I promise I will go so my family doesn't freak out. I personally think that going to Auschwitz is going to scar me a little, but you can all hug me when I return. I think both the Stockholm and Amsterdam plans are for around that same time. All of them, however, are not until the end of November with the exception of Berlin. I've talked to Jenna, and she will come sometime after December. I think I'm going to wait for her to get here before going to France or Italy. It depends on what she wants to do. There is talk of trips to Prague and Barcelona as well. I will keep you all up to date in photos and such. I am also accepting any kind of donations for hostel costs, food, a leather jacket, etc (did you catch that?). I can't afford to buy presents for everyone and pay for the trips. Also, the gifts have to be shipped. Just a little thought for food. I hope everyone is well, and I will try to be in contact as much as possible to feed you stories of life in this backwards country (that's no joke). Do widzenia!