The Day of Languages

Today I had a crazy but fascinating day. I had to get up early in the morning to arrive in time at the university because I had to participate at the European Day of Languages.  I almost ran till the bus station, because I had all the chances to lose my bus from 7.30h. At the university I attended the Romanian class; I met there a very talented Romanian professor that performed a wonderful class having as students persons away from Warsaw.  They were taught how to communicate the basic Romanian; the lesson was really helpful, distractive and interactive. At the second class I experienced a little bit of the Portuguese accent and culture; I learned how to say my name, what I like/dislike and many other stuffs. The Portuguese teacher spread around her a lot of positive energy and joy. After this event I enjoyed the free time with my friends (Diana, Sergiu and Alberto) by exploring the stands where we found a lot of information regarding the languages of the UE countries.  

The next stop for today we decided to be at the Palace of Culture. This building is finding in the center of the city being the tallest in Poland, the eighth tallest building in the European Union. From 1955 to 1990 it was the tallest building in the present-day extent of the European Union. The building was originally known as the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science (Pałac Kultury i Nauki imienia Józefa Stalina), but in the wake of destalinization the dedication to Stalin was revoked; Stalin's name was removed from the interior lobby and one of the building's sculptures. It is now the 187th tallest building in the world. Here daily lots of tourists are enjoying from the upper parts of this building the view of the entire Warsaw. But I and my friends, loving the adventure, tried to get to the top of this building by using the stairs (more than 30 floors). So you can imagine how we felt in the end of our “trip”. Unfortunately at the 30^th floor the door was closed, so we, being disappointed, were about to go down back, but fortunately, we had access at the 29^th floor. There we found a nice person that allowed us take picture with the view of the Warsaw from his office. It was amazing... In the end our efforts were fully rewarded.

I got back home tired but happy; today I really spent my time in a constructive wayJ.

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My first “contact” with the Polish culture and style of life…

I was really excited to start my EVS project at the Centrum Rehabilitacji Educacji i Opieki Towarzystwa Przyjaciol Dzieci “Helenow”, Warsaw...

 After a long farewell with my family and friends; and after a tiring journey till the arrival point – the airport of Warsaw- me and my colleague Sergiu finally stepped on the land of the country where we were planned to live for 9 months. There we were welcomed by our wonderful mentors, our first Polish friends. All together we leaved the airport for the trip to my future house. I enjoyed this trip, because we crossed the entire city to get to the final point; so that, I pictured in my mind the first impression about the place what will be for me and for the other volunteers the second home. When I arrived to Helenow, I was very positively surprised of the green region in the middle of which it was finding. I met the other 3 apartment mates very great (Mari from Belgium, Diana from Portugal and Claudia from Germany); I was happy that I finally was “home”.

In the next days of September I have started to discover the school where I will volunteer, also the environments, the city center, the most important places/regions of Warsaw. Due to my mentor Hanka, in the first 3 weeks I visited the Planetarium of Warsaw (recently opened in the city), the Festival of Science, some art galleries and many other interesting events. She is trying all the best to make me feel well in her country, being very helpful and friendly.

Regarding the Polish food it seems to be almost the same as in my country; there are only some small differences concerning the tastes and the amount of spices. I am happy to have the food ready prepared for me; but in weekends it’s kind of impossible to follow the meals schedule 100% because in our free time we attend different activities out of our place of work, so, most of the time we eat away from home.

I also have Polish classes 2 times a week; I hope to speak normally in Polish very soon.

Generally speaking, my first contact with Poland was positive; and now my mission is to discover more and more this country.

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