Let's Krawl thru Krakow

27 days... The days are dwindling and I'm officially only in Europe for less than a month. Can we freeze time? Can I go back to Friday when we made our journey to Kraków, Poland?

 

Enjoying the pub crawl with some great friends!

We arrive to Poland Friday afternoon to the Salt mines. I didn't expect much of this trip since Poland was never on my "must see" list. Kraków sure proved me wrong. From spending hours 130 meters underground touring this legendary mine to spending Sunday afternoon at Schindler's factory. The mines were so peaceful and interesting! Our tour guide made the exhibition one to remember with her sarcastic comments and great knowledge. The salt mines were a tad bit chilly as we made our way down to the main floor. An interesting fact that our tour guide mentioned was how you inherited your job in the salt mines. So if your father were employed there when the son turned 14 he would start working in the salt mines as well. The mines had this chapel that 3 brothers worked on for 70 years. This chapel was amazing! Everything was carved from the walls in the salt mines. It was so interesting how everything sculpted within the mines was from someone back in the day. I licked a few of the walls to taste the salt! It was actually pretty good.  We learned about the accidents that occasionally happened in the mines and it was sad to think that someone was just doing their daily job and then out of nowhere they would pass away. The tour was about 2 hours long and we only got to see 1% of the salt mines.

The chapel within the salt mines.

A pond that was in the Salt mines. The water is so heavy one cannot dive into it.

After the salt mines we settled into our hostel and got some food. I tried dumplings for the first time all trip! Our group decided to try a pub-crawl later that night. I have so much fun every time I go out with our whole group. I can’t believe our time together is almost to an end. We all are so unique that together we are nothing but fun.

 

I can't put into words how much fun I have with these people.

The next day we toured the castle, however, it was so hot in there that I almost passed out and had to wait outside. I didn’t get to see much of the castle but I enjoyed walking around Krakow and visiting the local shops. I ate a little too much Polish food then I wanted to because my stomach hurt so bad from how full I was.

Schindler's factory like most holocaust museums gave me goose bumps. We focus on all the evil behind the Nazis and somehow I forgot about the people who were out there trying to help. Most of the history behind Schindler’s factory was a repeat of a lot that we discussed in class and during our visit to Auschwitz. I have never seen Schindler’s list so I didn’t know what to expect from this exhibition. Oskar Schindler saved over 1,000 Jews thanks to his factory. He was part of the Nazi; however, when he would employ the Polish Jews he wouldn’t abuse them. The Jews were able to work without fear of prosecution. Other than that I couldn’t tell you more about the factory. Sadly, our tour guide just kept reminding us that America was going to be the leaders of the World and we had to make sure history didn’t repeat itself. I wish I could’ve toured the museum alone and read the walls alone! I didn’t think our tour guide was a big fan of Americans…

 

Schindler's office.

I bounce back and forth a lot from being home sick to never wanting to leave this place. This week however was my home sick week. My grandfather had a severe stroke back in October where he almost lost his life. The doctors refused to do surgery on him because he only had “5%” survival rate. Well, this week I got a surprise phone call from my mother from Grandfather’s hospital room.. I heard him speak again for the first time in 8 months. Moments like these where I wish I could be backing at home celebrating my grandfather’s recovery. He’s slowly gaining movement again in his fingers and now that he can make words again hopefully we can get him out of the intensive care. My family is my everything and missing birthdays, graduations and simple moments like these make my heart hurt. I know my family wants whats best for me and just simple to follow my dreams. Thanks mom and dad for all that you do for me. See you in 27 days.

My surpise facetime with my favorite people! Yes I am crying.