Partners in Crime

This man is Ben, and he was Teresa's surprise birthday present. We did such a good job keeping secrets that she was writing angry songs about him in her room while I was sending him emails to confirm his arrival and deliberating our party plans. We have a slight language barrier, but that never stood in the way of true friends. You all might remember him as our connection at Oktoberfest. Anyway, we spent the weekend hanging out with him. He went to stand in the hour-long line at the store for us, and then made us breakfast 2 mornings in a row. I was very impressed.

This is how the weekend played out because my weekend starts on Thursday. Thursday was a dinner to plan our trip to Amsterdam on Halloween weekend. After that it was bedtime. Then on Friday, Teresa and I took Ben on a tour of the city. It was cold and raining so we stopped to get some mulled wine at a pub in the city center. There is a picture of the wine on Facebook in the Wroclaw photo album. It's hot wine with an orange slice, nutmeg, and cloves. It was perfect after being out in the cold for so long. Then we met with my friend Maria and we went to eat traditional Polish cuisine.

After dinner we went to our first live music event in Poland. These events take careful planning because we can't read the signs that tell us what they are and where to go. There was the band and they played a montage of footage from different films on a big screen. It was cool, and we had a good time. We had a slight altercation with one of the Polish men. Apparently, the Polish men are very possessive. The guy got jealous that Ben was talking to Teresa, Maria, and myself so he tried to pick a fight. I told him to leave and he did. Later that evening a very nice Asian woman told me to be careful. She said she remembered me from the last time I was there (2 weeks ago) because all Polish men were watching me. That scared me a little, but I'm going to find some mace and go out in a larger group. We took a taxi home. My roommate informed me the next morning that I was speaking French to Ben on the balcony once we got home because of our language barrier. She said I was speaking it perfectly because I was drunk. The funny thing is that Ben doesn't speak French.

Last night, Saturday, we went to the pub, with the swings, across the street. Two of the Erasmus students were the DJs. It was crowded and hot. I would describe it as muggy, almost like standing in a sauna where the steam is other people’s sweat. I was told I have a classic Slovak beauty, which boosted my self-esteem. We got to the party late and then left early. I was tired and I wasn't in the mood to socialize. Plus, everyone was so drunk when we got there it was hard to hold a conversation. The photo is of Teresa, Jenny-Vaugn, and myself on Saturday night. Right after this Jenny-Vauhn asked me if someone ripped my tits. She meant to say tights.

This is going to be a normal week. Friday we go to Berlin and I'm really excited about that. As I said before, the next weekend is Amsterdam. Then the weekend after that is Krakow if my request is accepted. If anyone has any interesting questions about what I’m doing here, the culture, etc. Please let me know I would be happy to post a blog about it, and I’m sure that others would be happy to learn more about the country. Stay tuned!