Wrocław

Our bus departed the hotel around 7:30 am. I managed to pass out for most of the uneventful five-hour drive to Wrocław. After our arrival, we had little time to rest before being rushed from our housing to Wrocław University's Academy of Fine Arts, which contains a small cafeteria, where our lunch was waiting. Lunch was followed by a lecture by the rector of the University on the history of higher education in Poland. Dinner was at the same place as lunch. After walking around the city a little, I walked back to my room and well asleep at the uncharacteristically-Will hour of 8:30 pm.

At the end of World War II, the borders of Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union were shifted by the Potsdam Agreement. Poland gained Prussia, Silesia, and Western Pomerania from Germany while losing its eastern third to the Soviets. With the territorial change came the forced resettlement of ethnic groups to their "native" states. Breslau, one of Germany's largest population centers, was rechristened Wrocław (pronounced "Vraught-swav;" the 't' is very soft) and the German population was shipped out, and Poles from the newly-Soviet areas in the east(primarily from the city that is now L'viv, Ukraine) moved in.

Though Wrocław was heavily bombed during the war, there is little remaining evidence. The many churches and historical buildings have all been rebuilt. The city reminds me a lot of Krakow, which I visited last year when I was studying in Prague. At the center of the city is the Rynek, a large square closed to traffic. Ringing the Rynek are restaurants, coffee shops, night clubs, and flower stands if it is the right time of year. The Rynek is only slightly smaller than Krakow's Main Market Square. In the center of the Rynek is both the new town hall and the beautiful old town hall, while several cathedrals reside off to the sides.

While in Wrocław, our time was strictly regimented. On weekdays, there were Polish language lessons during the mornings. Though there were a broad range of abilities, Fulbright group was divided into beginners and not-beginners. In the afternoon were lectures on various subjects. Some examples of these lectures include "Highlights of Polish History," "National Polish Minorities in Poland," "Polish-German Relations, and "Subjective geography of Polish Music." The Polish lessons and lectures were held in Wrocław University's Faculty of Philology. The lectures ranged in quality. Most of the group, myself included, already knew a fair amount of Polish history so these lectures held less interest for us. The English ability of the lecturers also made some of the lectures hard to follow. The amount of time spent in a classroom everyday was slightly overwhelming, especially when you are still adjusting to a new time zone. I found myself skipping certain lectures and I certainly wasn't the only one.

On a side note, if you are wondering about national minorities in Poland, there aren't any. Following the forced resettlement and territorial shifts of WW2, Poland is one of the most homogeneous nations in the world. Minorities make up less than one percent of the entire population.

The Poles are sort of like hobbits when it comes to food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were provided everyday, as well as a mid-morning snack and maybe an afternoon one. Breakfast consisted mostly of bread, cheese, and meat and was served at our residence, the Dom Studencki Ołówek (it is the tall building in the picture and, yes, it is a student dormitory). Lunch and dinner were at the Academy of Fine Arts. Lunch is largest meal of the day and soups and potatoes are staples of meals. Once someone found out that I was vegetarian, the kitchen staff began preparing something special for me as the main entrees were usually meat.

As I mentioned before, we were housed in the student dormitory, the Dom Studencki Ołówek. It is about a 25-30 minute walk from where classes and lectures were held. I had my own room on the sixth floor, but I shared a suite (kitchen and bath) with another Fulbrighter. The room was probably meant to hold two students, so I had plenty of room.

A note, the next section on my weekend is best read while viewing my pictures of Wrocław. Contrary to the way the images load, you will wish to start with picture 001.

On Saturday, September 22, we were taken on a day trip around Wrocław. The first stop was the Church of Peace (Kościół Pokoju) in nearby Świdnica. The church is a very early Protestant church. It is built entirely of wood (stone wasn't allowed) and richly decorated inside. It reminded me far more of a Catholic church than any Protestant church I've ever seen. The next stop was Włodarz, a former Nazi site. None of the group is really sure why this was included in the trip. Włodarz consists of a grid of tunnels dug into a mountainside. That's it. No one knows what the Nazis did there. The tour guide for Włodarz kept saying statements like, "It could be a small Nazi headquarters...or it could be a chemical weapons factory! V2 rocket research! Hitler and Eva Braun's secret love nest!" In truth, Włodarz was far too small (both in overall size and the size of the tunnels) to be anything important. The most exciting (or scary...) part of the tour was when the entire tour group was herded into three boats and, propelled via arm strength and a rope on the ceiling, along flooded tunnels to a larger chamber and back again. I ended up in the heaviest boat and was not really looking forward to falling in 50 degree water.

Lunch was at an old estate at Morawa and was quite delicious. The estate originally belonged to a German family who fled the approach of the Red Army at the end of WW2. After the fall of communism, one of the children who grew up in the house restored the estate, and currently operates a kindergarten out of it. The estate serves meals to tourist groups to help raise revenue. The child who restored the estate is now a very well-spoken, elderly (and probably quad-lingual) German woman. She, through a Fulbrighter fluent in German, told us the history of the estate and her family. Amusingly, the elderly woman would break into English to correct a wrong translation by the Fulbrighter. Following lunch, I sat around on the playground and chatted with the husband of a Fulbrighter and father of two of the young children who were present.

Dinner followed on the tails of lunch and was at the Museum of Industry and Railway in Jaworzyna Śląska. The museum is actually an old train yard lined with train engines. The owner/operator also had a collection of motorcycles (primarily US, but also others). He seemed far more interested in his motorcycles than his trains. We received a tour of both the motorcycles and the trains. I made friends with a rather dirty black and white cat wandering among the trains. I also got a workout on one of those little hand-powered rail carts. After we returned to Wrocław around 8:30 pm, a large number of us went to the bar/club across the street from our dormitory for drinks and conversation.

On Sunday, we were given a guided walking tour of the city center. The tour started at the main building of the University. In that building is the Aula Leopoldina, where important ceremonial functions of the University are held. The room absolutely screams "Hapsburg" in its decoration. The building also has a tower offering a wonderful view of the city and a small museum about the University. Church services let out while we were on the tower. It was quite beautiful looking out across the city with bells ringing and people streaming into the streets.

Following the University's main building, we walked the streets towards the Rynek, passing several gnomes and the Church of St. Elisabeth. As it was Sunday, we did not enter any of the cathedrals. You might be wondering about the gnomes. The truth is, I can't really remember what their purpose is. There are many gnomes around the old town in various poses and they apparently have large theft and damage insurance policies on them. After walking through the Rynek, we went to the park near the Academy of Fine Arts and the monument to Katyń massacre. Our tour ended on the banks of the Odra River, looking across to Sand and Cathedral Islands.

The Katyń massacre refers to the execution of 22,000 Polish citizens by Soviets following the 1939 invasion in which the Soviet Union split Poland with Nazi Germany. The executed were Polish POWs and intelligentsia. The Soviets accused the Germans for Katyń and did not officially admit responsibility until 1990. You might have heard something about Katyń in the States. It has been the news lately because the director of an upcoming Polish movie about Katyń accused the government of moving the celebration/remembrance of the event in order to raise nationalist feelings that would benefit the controlling PiS party in the upcoming election.

The rest of my week consisted primarily of the schedule I detailed earlier. On Wednesday, our group was taken to the Panorama Racławicka. The Panorama is an enormous circular painting that resides in its own building. The painting is of a famous battle in 1794 following the the second partition of Polish territory in which a Polish army led by Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Pole who fought in the American Revolution with distinction, defeated an occupying Russian army. Panorama of this style are supposed to bring the viewers into the painting and this one was so good it was dizzying. 3D effects were added by extending the bottom of painting towards the viewers (i.e., real fences were extended from painted fences). Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures.

That evening, we were invited to a jazz club by our University attache, a student with the very Polish name of Sandra Schindler. No jazz was played at the club the two times I was there. The first night there was a blues rock band playing a lot of Rolling Stones' covers and American 70s rock. When I was there again on Friday night, the band, who were pretty much the same people as before, was playing more bluesy stuff (hard blues and southern rock as opposed to 70s blues rock).

On Thursday, I skipped lecture to buy my train ticket. I figured I'd screw it up if I waited till the morning off my departure. I showed the clerk a print out of the exact train and day I wanted and was sold a ticket. Then, reading the ticket, I realized that it was for Friday and not Saturday (tickets are good for one day). I then had to find an English speaking teller to change my ticket. I was also charged a 15% surcharge to change it even though it was their fault in the first place. Needless to say, I was little annoyed.

The next day after the closing ceremony, the group went out for dinner at a pizza place. Everyone had a good time talking to each other even though we did annoy the manager with the size of our group. Following dinner, I went to a bar and the jazz club again with a smaller group, not returning until past 2 am. I got about 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up in order to catch my train to Gdansk at 7:15 am.