Discovering Poland

The first time I got a bit acquainted with the polish culture and traditions I was still at home, in Romania. It was summer and the European Football Championship - Euro 2012 was driving all of the students, boys and girls crazy. Every night they gathered in front of the major dorms, brought a TV and watched the football matches, going from hapiness to sadness. This is when a polish girl studying in Romania at my university, Kasia (I already told you about her in another post) invited me to watch the Poland - Czech Republic match with her.

Altough Poland lost, I won. Kasia made some traditionals meals. This was the first time I ate "pierogi" - meaning dumplings that can be filled with potatoes, meat, carrots, cheese, sweet apples or other delicious fruits. One can eat them simple or with sos. They are really good and I know people, students that love them so much that they ate only pierogi for a week:))). Talk about passion! After coming to Warsaw I tasted the magic of the pierogi more than once. I think that one can discover much more about a new and unknown culture through the culinary arts and wine/ beer sipping. Like the old saying tells, "loves goes firstly through the stomac and then through the brain".

Most of all, when you are coming to Poland, open your Google page, write Google Translate and click on it, then write, wine = wino, beer = piwo, vodka is simple, just vodka. These are the main three words you need to know for starters. The rest, like saying hello and telling people what you want or need comes easier:))). For those of you that want to learn more words and phrases just write on youtube, (as you know) polish for beginners or polish for dummies. Do not be afraid listening to polish for dummies. It doesn’t mean you are stupid, it just means their language is hard. Which is completely true.

For the people that are in Warsaw and who really like to have as many piwo as possible, I recommend this place. It is not so fancy, but the alcohol is cheaper than other places and the music isn't bad.

Moving on, firstly I found Poland through pierogi and, of course beer, but when I got here, when I moved, I think Poland found me really interested in the great views, the astonishing parks, the bridges and the nice people. What amazed me is the diversity, I am not talking about the cultural one, yes this is also present, but I am talking about the contrast between the Old Warsaw and the newer one. As you know, Poland had a lot to suffer after the Second World War (1939-1945), many of it's beautiful buildings were destroyed and replaced by newer ones, influenced by the inovations in architecture. That is why the centre of the city looks more contemporary, whereas the part called "Praga" has an older architectural style.

Warsaw is also famous for all the churches. They spread all over the city, in different architectural styles, big and impressive or smaller, but also beautiful. Quite interesting are the chandeliers that you can find inside the churches, all of them are exquisitely engraved with candles on top. The walls bare the mark of the founders as well, being thoroughly and delicately carved. Warsaw is full of pubs that's why it is called “the city of fun” and it respects its name. Everybody goes pub crawling with friends, so not only you get to drink, meet people, but also see Warsaw and its different parts.

More on this topic on next post! Also I will tell you a lot about other places that I saw like, Gdansk, WesterPlatte, Worclaw and Krakow (including Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau).