Gdansk, Poland

Dear Adiya,

They say certain things are universal: things like love, fear and hope. I'd like to add one more thing to the list: pigeons. Pigeons are universal. It amazes me how you can journey across the world and still be plagued by flying demons with no respect for human dignity. I don't get it.

I want to warn you that I'm not about to proceed with a wildly hilarious story about how I got attacked by a pigeon in Poland and vowed to take down his little cohort of beady eyed monsters, because that really and truly didn't happen. If it had, my blog might actually be interesting. I really just wanted to begin by saying that there are a lot of things about Gdansk, Poland that remind me of the US, and pigeons are one of those things.

Okay, moving on. We are in Gdansk, Poland and it is a truly beautiful city! Gdansk is a seaside town and a very popular place for locals to travel to. Most people in Poland stay in Poland to vacation - so while the town is somewhat touristy, it's touristy with actual Polish people.

Gdansk has a lot of history. As I've learned in class, it had great historical significance in the solidarity movement - think 1980s Poland. In the Gdansk shipyard, solidarity leaders locked themselves inside the gates and crafted a list of demands which were soon agreed to by the Polish government. Most of the town was also rebuilt after WWII. So, apart from having picturesque cobblestone streets and good nightlife, Gdansk is an important town.

One of the things I did while there was climb the tower in St. Mary's cathedral. Let me tell you how it went down.

We spent a fair amount of time wandering the streets, knowing in a vague sense where the cathedral was but feeling no rush to get there. It was very casual. We eventually entered the wooden doors and recognized a group of Semester at Sea students who immediately said: "You have to go up the tower! The view was stunning! Just beware of the stairs..."
I hadn't known there was a tower at this cathedral but this sounded like an adventure. Her added warning made it seem even more adventurous and mysterious. "I'm climbing up a tower! In Poland!" I thought. I was so busy thinking: adventure adventure! that I didn't think to take in their sweaty faces.

While we prepared, a group of maybe thirty five Polish students passed us and ducked into the narrow doorway to the stairs. The group didn't take long to file in.

After a minute we followed. First, you enter a narrow spiral staircase with steep stone steps and stone walls, and I would be shocked if even a size six woman's shoe would fit on that step it was so narrow. It only took 30 seconds of climbing for my thighs to say: you will pay for this dearly tomorrow, weak human. I felt the first bead of sweat gather on my forehead. All I could think was: how the heck did that many Polish school children disappear so fast??

It's official: I'm not the youth I used to be. Bring out the wheelchair now, I might as well give in. I have become an old woman complaining about my joints.

When you feel as though you are on the brink of heart failure, the spiral stairs end and you get to what looks like the roof of the church, although still indoors. There is good news: you are on top of the church. Bad news: you have not yet climbed the tower.

Now, you are faced with non-spiral stairs that wrap around the inside edge of the large tower, and if you're afraid of heights I beg of you, don't ever look down. Because of the way its built and the darkness of it all, you really have no clue how much is left. So we climbed. And climbed. At one point I saw a black girl's detached braid on the ground and I knew: one of our brethren has perished here. The climb ahead is perilous indeed.

All dramatics aside, it really was a sweat-inducing, arduous climb. However, when you finally exit the tower and get to the viewing deck, the view of Gdansk and the sea beyond is breathtaking. You can see red slate roof for miles.

It wasn't until afterwards that I learned we had climbed over 400 steps.

Another thing I learned besides the universality of pigeons I learned from our little group: that is, how different people react to speaking no Polish in the heart of Poland. Granted, because there are tourists some people speak English. But not most.

Here is the spectrum:
People who speak louder or slower in English: because when Hi, do you speak English doesn't work, HI!!!!!!!    WE   ARE    AMERICAN   DO   YOU    SPEAK    ENGLISH    PLEASE    always does the trick.

People who find other English speakers, but use so many idioms that it's impossible to understand. I kid you not, the kid I was with kept saying things like yo dude, that Polish sausage was dope! to confused old Polish  men.

People who assume nobody speaks English and proceed to talk about people right in front of them like they can't understand.

People who assume nobody speaks English and just go silent instead, resorting to awkward smiles and a lot of pointing and gesticulating. I am in this category.

I would add a category for normal respectful travelers but I am still not convinced these people exist.

Of course this all reflects very well on Americans.



I also had a lovely time eating pierogis and kielbasa, kayaking through the canals, experiencing local nightlife and, yes, using wifi.

Tomorrow we depart for Germany, so stay tuned.


And of course, Happy Birthday to the most wonderful friend, Adiya! Love you!


Love,

Nicole