Adventure in Warsaw

The first day

The trip to Warsaw was made through almost every means of transport, only boat was missing, because I road on a train, cab and then airplane. I went from Iasi to Bucarest by train and the trip is hell, it is more than 7 hours stuck in a train that travels at 60 km/h without comfortable seats that let you sleep and without a bar where to eat during the trip.

I arrived at Bucarest at 6 in the morning and went to the waiting room to wait, as I had scheduled a taxi to the airport for 10 o'clock, the flight was only at 13:30 o'clock, but with Carolina I have to go with spare time everywhere, because she has some trauma, I still haven't understood why, I just know that she dies of fear of missing transports, hence the need of so much spare time, if it was for me we would only go an hour before to the airport. The taxi was late half an hour and I was already imagining Carolina close to a nervous attack for not being in the airport with 3 hours left and just 2 hours and a half, she gets really nervous with this kind of situations.

Carolina would only say "if he doesn't show up quickly we will go in a normal cab", because what there is not enough is taxi drivers outside the train station, they look like vultures looking for food, the problem is they aren't to be trusted, I have heard lots of stories about what they do, such as instead of going directly to their destination, they drive around to charge much more money and they would not fool me. Moreover, they are persistent, they ride around the station looking for clients and I was approached some 4 times by different taxi drivers asking if I wanted to go by taxi, I would tell them some 6 times no and they would continue to insist, I felt like slapping them with my bags in their face.

The taxi that I had scheduled through the internet told me immediately the amount of money I would have to spend, so I eliminated the risk of arriving at the airport and having to pay some 50 euros. It eventually arrived and Carolina calmed down, the trip to the airport was around 20 minutes, so we arrived to the airport before 11 o'clock and to make Carolina close to a nervous breakdown I had to go to the bathroom to freshen up, it was about 11:20 and she was already over me saying that I had to freshen up until 11:30 so we wouldn't miss the plane, the plane was at 13:30 I repeat.

I ended beautifying myself at 11:31, I didn't along myself more or else Carolina maybe would faint with fear of missing the plane. We went to make the check-in, bag search and wait for the plane, one hour to go, we just had to wait seated in the benches and I don't know why, some people started to make a line where we would have to show our tickets to get in the plane, maybe because there wasn't any place left for them to sit and wait, I only know that it made Carolina nervous and she started to pressure me to get up and go to the line too. My thought was this, the airplane will not leave without me, my seat is reserved inside, what is the need to join a line now? To be the first in? I don't mind being the last.

I couldn't stand more feeling the stress from Carolina to get up and go to the line, so I got up and waited half an our standing up, when I could have waited half an hour sited.

The airplane trip was spent sleeping, as it was impossible to sleep in that infernal train from Iasi to Bucareste and I was really destroyed, if there was turbulence I did not felt it, it seemed as if I had arrived to Poland in 20 minutes.

I arrived to Warsaw at 14:30, at that time I had only to wait for my friend, the one who would offer me my stay, I only went to Poland because he told me he would offer me a home and would be my tourist guide, what ended up happening was not quite that.

I had to ride an Uber to his home, as he told me that there was too much traffic and he would take much time to arrive to the airport, at the time I thought he was just being dramatic, but he wasn't, he really wasn't. The traffic in Warsaw is horrible, I thought I would not leave that Uber ever again, because I looked at the telephone and where it before said there were 14 minutes left, after that it would say there were 24 minutes left. I could not drive in Warsaw, if I lived there I would probably die before reaching 30 with a heart attack, because I get really nervous and yell as a crazy person when I drive in traffic. Never will I complain about the traffic I get to go to the University in Coimbra.

The driver that was taking me had an enormous beard and what is the first thing that you think when you see a men with a giant beard? Probably you think how can he eat without dirtying it, but the second thing you think? He is fluent in English, of course. I started to try to make a conversation with him and the poor man was either shy or didn't understand a thing of English, I was very disappointed.

After acknowledging I would have to call my family and friends to warn that they would not see me more, as I now lived in an Uber and would never leave it again, I ended up arriving at my friend's home, I entered in the Uber it was daylight, I left it and it was already night. In Poland, daylight ends at 15 o'clock, so I could not manage to live there, I would end the week depressed, I am a person who needs to see light, absorb vitamin D.

I went to leave my bag at his home, he presented me his friends, because it turned out that that week everyone decided to go visit him and I know well why, it was the time where the airplane tickets where more cheap.

It was past 16 o'clock when we went for lunch, he took us to the mall to have lunch at a restaurant from a country of which I do not recall the name, some country that starts with the letter "L", I believe. The stewardess was super nice, always with a smile in her face, like in Romania, attention I am being ironic.

After we had lunch, my tourist guide took us to see the Old Town, to get there we took the metro and the tram, we didn't pay a thing, because there was no control, meaning, you can circulate the city through public transports free, sometimes a ticket collector shows up and it is when you should run.

We went back home and started what has the power to let men entertained for multiple hours, meaning, we played PlayStation. Honestly, I don't understand the fun of spending hours shooting in a game, but men also don't understand the fun of spending an afternoon in the mall buying clothes, we are beings from different planets.

At night, meaning, at 22 o'clock, because in Warsaw it is always night, we went to a bar located in one of the tallest hotels in the city and of course, the prices were proportional to the height of where the bar was situated, hence we did not consume anything, I did not come to Poland to become a beggar. The night was the biggest boredom ever, because my friend invited some more girl friends and the truth is this, unless I was already their friend before, we would not socialize, because there is no interest, no topic and moreover they looked very superficial, not that they were though, a lot of people think the same about me, I only know that at that time I did not develop any interest in trying to talk to them, maybe it was also because of the tiredness from the trip, what I know is that his friends were bored and left, I did the same, I wasn't going to stay there the whole night seeing the girls posing for Instagram photos.

We arrived home and got hold of his bed, that was one of the fears, not having a bed to sleep, since there were only two beds and at that moment 6 people were inhabiting the house. I, at least, had a bed.

Second day

I woke up early, ready to go explore the city, but the tourist guide was more interested in sleeping. After tap dancing through the house in a way that would wake him up, I aborted mission and went explore the city with Carolina, we went to see the Palace of Culture and Science, the goal was to make it to the top, but the price was 5 euros. 5 euros to see the city from the top? Wait a moment, I can well see the city from down here and not pay a thing.

The day darkened quickly, basically I strolled through the city blindly and I don't know how I didn't die of cold on the way. I noticed that people dine around 17 o'clock in Poland, as restaurants were full of people eating and, certainly, it was not lunch.

Third day

I woke up at dawn with everyone throwing pistachios and poker chips, it still is better than waking up with screams from the Spanish. They went all for a night out and as soon as they arrived they created the throwing fest, anyway, they're boys, they were in their home, so I don't complain, also I was close to waking up and going for a walk in the city, since it was dark so early, I had to leave home as soon as I saw a sun ray, I had to harness all the sun light I could.

This time I did not stay waiting for my tourist guide, I can make a mistake once, but I won't make a mistake twice, so I went to visit Lazienki park, walked 6 km in high heels to manage to get there, all this because they told me it had squirrels. My guide told me to bring them potato chips that they would come meet me, so I bought a potato chip bag on purpose for them and after walking around in the park I caught sight of a little rodent running with his tail in the air. I tried to look nice, threw some chips and the ungrateful smelled, turn half way around and climbed to the tree. Lesson learned, squirrels do not like potato chips, at least I took some pictures of them.

I did not adventure myself much more in the park, as it looked freezing and I feared for my foot toes, not managing to feel them, I already had seen the squirrels, that is what mattered.

After the park I returned back home, we lunched out and once more the tourist guide took me to the Old Town, because they had already put the Christmas lights. My friend lured me to go to Warsaw with the promise that I would have a free tour guide, however he only took me to see the Old Town, its better than nothing.

At night I went to a casino, every part of it was dominated by asians and they should be rich, because I would only see them throwing notes and more notes, completely addicted. That night I learned how to play that game that has a roulette with numbers in red and black, I don't have an idea about the name, but I know how it works, I know too that it doesn't seem that I will play it someday, as it is pure luck and although luck is my middle name, my first is without, so I'll stay as a spectator.

The night ended with a snowball fight. This is what I like, the unexpectedness of life, one minute before you're in the casino playing with Asians and in the next one you're trying to escape snowballs being thrown at you.

Fourth day

This was the day of the departure, once again Carolina was getting stressed with the time we had to be at the airport, more even we got a lot of traffic on the way, I didn't even talk during the trip so I wouldn't make her nervous. When we arrived to the airport there was 1 hour to go for our flight and it is the ideal time, I did not wait in lines, it was always moving.

In Warsaw's airport security is much more strict than in Bucharest's airport, as I had to get my shoes off, takes off my belt, all the liquids from my bag, my camera, a little more and they would also ask me to be naked.

Already in the plane, we had a baby that was charmed by Carolina, he was the sweetest thing, the mother told us that he was imitating a cat for us to laugh, I liked especially the part where he would throw his soother to the floor on purpose so his mother would have to grab it and then he would laugh.

The trip was not relaxed like last time, we had turbulence, if I didn't have my belt on I would have hit the roof with my head, it was the first time that I got real turbulence, I could only laugh, because it is what I do when I get nervous.

On the arrival to Bucharest there was again a taxi waiting for us that I had scheduled before, I felt like I was in a movie, because the driver had a peace of paper with my name on it, while waiting for my arrival.

In the train station, when I was trying to buy a ticket for the train, once again I was faced with the renowned welcoming charm of the ticket offices. I told the woman I wanted a ticket for Iasi and for reasons I don't know she started arguing with me, the same as always. We would have to wait two hours for the next train.

We went to buy food and a crepe was sold to me that look like a construction brick, I do not know how I managed to not break my teeth trying to eat it, I am not a quitter, but that crepe defeated me, I really could not bite it.

The two hours felt as eternal and eventually the train arrived, for those who do not know, here the trains are full of beggars, they roam around asking for money and I don't know, but I must have the face of a rich person, because they always insist with me, the other people say no and they go away, with me it doesn't work like this, I refuse and they persist some 3 times. A funny situation happened in this trip, a man was dragging himself sited through the train and asking people for money, supposedly he was asking for money because he was disabled, meanwhile the train starts to move and you can only see him getting up and starting to run at maximum speed to jump out of the train, it was the high point of the day.

Needless to say that the trip was a 7-hour hell, without anything to do, moreover the electricity plugs were not functioning, so I didn't have any cellphone battery. A youngster stuck in a small space during so much time without a cellphone is something to drive someone nuts.

This was one more adventure around Europe in Erasmus.