September: Rotary Trips
On the first weekend after school began, half the exchange students in Poland were given the opportunity to travel to Warsaw for the annual EEMA conference. This rotary conference is a chance for representatives from over 30 participating countries to meet and focus. Not all countries involved in the rotary youth exchange are also a part of EEMA. Our responsibility at the conference was carrying the flags of the participating countries for the opening ceremony. The majority of our weekend was spent reuniting with our friends that we had made at language camp. At the conference, we were surprised with the chance to meet one of the most internationally known poles and Polish national hero, former president Lech Walesa. After hearing him speak about leadership, change, and progress I was able to snag a picture with him. This really was an amazing experience. Afterwards, we traveled to some classic landmarks all over Warsaw. First, we went to the top of the Palac Kultury where we could see the whole city. Then we went on a bus tour which passed by all the important government buildings. Our tour stopped at Lazienki park which has the famous statue of Chopin, old town Warsaw, and the memorial of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. It was a really fun trip but that night it was tough to say goodbye to everyone.
Luckily, after two weeks we had another chance to see each other. This gathering was in Torun and was the second inbound meeting. For three days we got to be together and explore the city- an old town famous for pierniczki (gingerbread) and Mikolaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus). We got to make our own pierniczki, visit an incredible cathedral and got to ride a boat on the Wisla river. On the last night, there was an incident where the fire alarm went off at 3 in the morning blaring UWAGA! UWAGA!(attention) and we were forced to evacuate. In spite of being woken up and standing outside in the cold in shorts and no shoes, it made for a memorable story. Sadly, we had to leave the next day knowing that we wouldn't all be together until December.
This first month has been busy and full of new experiences and new friends. Even though some days have been hard when I look back I remember an ultimately wonderful experience full of great stories and change. I would never have imagined I could grow so much in 1 month. Thank you, Poland!