My Semester Abroad

Today a nine-year-old girl held us hostage in an Old Town Church! She giggled as she leaned against the door and held out her collecting cup.

"I already gave you some zloty," said Laura, one of the friends I'm traveling with in Poland. We had to play the waiting game for a couple minutes until the girl relented and let us out. It's sad really; she should be in school.

Warsaw's Old Town is the most authentic place to visit; most everything else has been rebuilt since the city was flattened by bombs in World War II. The streets are wide and so are the sidewalks, which double as parking lots for cars. It's not as bad as Rome or Naples though, where mopeds will drive up on the walkway to avoid traffic and send pedestrians scrambling for the wall.

We had perogies for lunch. They're like little dumplings and were made right in front of us! Mmmmmm......

From Old Town, we walked over to the Warsaw Uprising Memorial. It takes up a whole plaza: the structures long and angular and concrete blocks weighing down on them. The Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto was strewn with flowers and wreaths. My friend's guidebook said that the Warsaw uprising occurred not because they thought they had a chance at survival — but because it was a more honorable way to die rather than waiting for the Nazis to come get them.