Lessons learned

Sometimes in life you're thrown an unexpected curve ball. You know the saying "the best laid plans..." well why isn't there an end to that? I'm sure sometimes the best laid plans DO work out and sometimes they DON'T. Is there a reason for this? Is it luck or just better planning? I don't know the answer to these questions but I have learned some lessons along the way.

1. You will feel disoriented when no one around you speaks the same language as you.

Whenever anyone walks up and starts talking to me, whether a server, someone working in a shop who wants to help me or the cashier at the grocery store, my mind goes blank. I can't even muster the few Polish words I know to convey that "I'm sorry" "I don't understand" "Do you speak English?" I usually end up with a half assed "Przepraszam" (which means sorry or excuse me) and a "Do you speak English?" Pathetic...I give myself a C-.

2. Plan ahead for entertainment.

All the books we have are read and we only get two channels, CNN World and CNBC. Luckily, at the movie theaters they do show movies in English (they have Polish subtitles) so that's good. But obviously it'll get expensive if you go to the movies all of the time. Also, we only have two movies on the computer. Netflix does not work in Poland. It doesn't work in a lot of countries. Granted we didn't bring most of our stuff because we were going to be living here for awhile and our stuff would get shipped to us. At any rate...bring extra reading materials!

3. Internet is not the same at home.

It's slower and way more expensive. Even if Netflix did work, you'd wait an hour just for the show to download and then you'd have to put more money on your card just to watch the show. The lesson here is...learn to let it go and live without...and don't forget the reading material!

4. You will (probably) lose weight!

Your ass will be walking everywhere. Yes, you can take the bus or tram but why not save some money AND eat more of the foods you want without worrying about it. Plus!

5. Sign up for Facebook if you haven't (but seriously who hasn't by now?!)

You will use it as your main means of communication with people at home. Calling internationally is way too expensive.

6. You'll miss and miss out on things happening at home.

This is a no-brainer...so just deal with it.

7. You'll "aaawwwwwee" every time a dogs walks by because you miss yours so much.

I can't wait to see our pup Mia!

8. Don't sign a contract for anything.

Not your phone, not your internet...nada. If you have an apartment, make sure you can give a months notice and your not locked in for a whole year. Luckily, our contract was like that or we'd be in a bit of a pickle.

9. You will enjoy and have the time of your life!

Yes, if you manage to find yourself in the same situation as us, you will become slightly annoyed and irritated that you sold your car, quit your job, sold/donated many material possessions and packed up your life to move 4000 miles away from home. The upside is that you sold your car and got rid of a lot of unnecessary material goods. The whole losing your job isn't the greatest. Another upside...YOU LIVE IN EUROPE! That doesn't happen often so try to get past the negative bologna and enjoy!

and finally 10. You will miss your family and friends a great deal.

The good thing is that when you're hanging out for a few weeks with not too much to do, thinking about seeing your family and friends soon will keep you going and potentially save your sanity. Unless of course you have my family, sanity was never an option!

Well hope this helps if you ever find yourself in a foreign country with no job, no car, and no school to go to!

Thanks for following, S.

Uh-oh

Alright everybody...this is where things get a little...hmmm how should i put this? crappy? aggravating? crappy? yeah let's just go with crappy for now.

Tuesday 9/6

We were feeling great! Cody found a place to take Polish language classes. So our first order of business was to go there and talk with them. The director, Marta, was very nice and took the time right than and there to speak with Cody and determine what level of class he should be in. After that we took a walk to my school to see if we could find the International Department. I brought all of my documents because I wanted to make sure everything was all set before school was to start in a couple weeks. When we got near the school I called them to find their offices. They said they were closing in seven minutes but were closed to students right now anyways. Then she asked my name and said oh come in tomorrow. So we decide that I'll go in at around 10:00-11:00 the next day. Cody and I leave the area to go wander around in very good spirits. Also, wandering why after learning my name they wanted me to come in the next day...was I known already?! haha

Turns out that yes I was known but for a not so good reason. Later that evening when we got back to our apartment I checked my email. The email I received from school went a little something like this....A minimum of five students are needed for the program to run and three of the students couldn't get their visas. Therefore, they are announcing the suspension of my program...well that just puts a kink in the whole things now doesn't it.

Wednesday 9/7

I met with my school to discuss the matter at hand. My only other options for study were to a) get my Masters in Tourism Studies or b) see if they could contact another school about an environmental engineering program and if they'd accept me. So plan a. would not work because that's not close to my interest in environmental studies and b. wouldn't work because engineering and technologies were not my area of interest and to be honest I would probably not do well in engineering courses.

Cody started his Polish classes and really enjoyed it.

Thurday to present day 9/8-9/10

The past few days have had there ups and downs. We're not sure yet what we are going to do. Backpacking throughout Europe seems to be our main plan. We are still trying to decide on everything. Cody and I are tired of going back and forth with everything and can't believe we have to make a ton more decisions again. We'll figure it all out though and will be sure to let you know when we do! Feel free to shoot any ideas our way.

Sarah

We're in Poland!

Thursday 8/25

Well...we made it to our friends house in Warsaw. Phew...what a lengthy journey. After a much needed shower and a seven hour nap, we awoke to find dinner ready. yum. Then a couple hours later we headed out to karaoke with Miko (the son of the Margaret and Olgierd, our awesome hosts). Off we headed, the whole time Miko animatedly explaining the bus routes and talking about anything and everything. We arrived at karaoke and met two of Miko's friends. Let me just say that karaoke at this bar was waaaay more entertaining than any karaoke I have ever been to! Someone was always singing and dancing around, getting their friends to join in. Miko and his friends sang 'Alejandro' by Lady Gaga! A few American songs were sung in between the Polish ones.

Friday 8/26

We hung around and relaxed. I was still in a lot of pain and trying to deal with that. That night, Cody's dad, Richard, arrived from Amsterdam.

Saturday 8/27

I couldn't stand the pain anymore and we went to the doctors. All in all it was nothing major but I got a prescription for some antibiotics and was better in a few days.

Cody's cousin, Greg and his wife Eliza picked the three of us up to go to Liza Stare where Cody's Babcia and Uncle Jrik (Eric in english) lives. It was a lengthy drive and I slept most of the way because I still wasn't feeling well. We arrived late that night.

Sunday through Wednesday 8/28-8/31

We spent a lot of time with Cody's family whom I was very excited to finally meet! His Babcia taught me how to make placki ziemneczane (potato pancakes and if the polish spelling is wrong..blame Cody!) She doesn't speak English and I don't speak Polish. When neither of you can communicate by language you find other ways. She even taught me some words in Polish : )

Cody and I spent time walking around Liza Stare. We made a small fire in the woods to roast kielbasa to eat with bread. It was delicious!

Thursday 9/1

It was time for us to travel to Wroclaw. It was sad to leave Babcia and Uncle Jrik. Greg and Eliza made the journey with us. After many hours we arrived in the city that we were to call our home. We met up with Peter, a friend of Richard's, at a hotel where we stayed for the night. We just had time to sit around and talk while waiting for pizza to be delivered. Than we ate and went to bed.

Friday 9/2

We said goodbye to Peter and made our to the center of the city. Our first objective was to find where the apartment that we might be renting was located. We found it, parked and than went to explore the city. All details aside, we met with the guy about the apartment at 16:00 and signed the contract at 16:30; we had our apartment! Rich, Greg and Eliza stayed that night after an exhaustive day of helping us find anything and everything we might have needed from a new cell phone for me to blankets for our bed.

Saturday 9/3

It was now time to say goodbye (again!!!) to the last people we really knew. Then we were all alone...uh oh! It was definitely hard at first. Cody and I were pretty sad, nervous and excited. We spent the rest of the day exploring the city.

Sunday, Monday 9/4,9/5

A lot of time was spent exploring the city. We found the indoor climbing gym and took the bus to get there. We were both excited to learn how the buses worked here. Everything's exciting when you learn something new in a country that your main language is not there main language. Also, we found a a great Italian restaurant where we spent hours after the climbing gym, eating, drinking and enjoying the city around us.

We went to the top of a church towers and got a bird's eye view of the entire city. We could even see my school from up there! After that, we went to find my school to see it up close. The architecture is amazing. It really feels like you're stepping back in time.

All in all we were very excited to be here and to start studying and meeting new people!

Sarah

Getting across the pond

This may be a lengthy post so please bear with me..or I'll break it up for you. Let's see how it goes. So rewind to the last post. We were jobless, carless but luckily not homeless. Excited and nervously anticipating our big trip abroad. Preparing to leave everything we knew for a place we didn't know anything. We said a million good-byes with multiple times to the same people. That was hard because it became hard to believe we were actually going anywhere! As the time passed though, all of our belongings were either sold, donated, boxed up to be shipped to us or packed away in suitcases for the journey. Our last couples days at home very bittersweet. We hung out a lot with our families and Cody's band Jimmy and the Hats recorded their (possibly) final CD.

We awoke Wednesday morning in great spirits, finished our last minute packing and relaxed with the family before 10:00 rolled around and it was time to pile into the cars and make the hour drive to Logan International Airport.

We took separate cars (Cody with his parents and brother and me with my parents, sister, and nephew) and arrived at about the same time. We said our said goodbye's to his mom and brother (his dad was flying the same day to Europe to meet up with us and help us get established with a place to live, bank accounts etc) at the drop-off. My family stayed long enough for us to check-in and talk with us for a bit. Shortly thereafter, we too, said our goodbyes. Then, hand in hand, Cody and I made our way through security, found our gate, and settled in for a two hours wait. Lucky for us there was a restaurant nearby so we grabbed a bite to eat. At 2:30 it was time to board our flight and make our first journey; a five hour flight to Iceland. First, let me tell you that they say everything in Icelandic first and then in English. I was just praying that we didn't have an emergency and I'd have to wait to find out what was going wrong! Thankfully, we didn't and we landed in Iceland at 23:30. On the flight, we saw the sunset and sunrise...really cool but talk about messing with your internal clock. The airport was amazing and I got my first stamp(!!) in my passport because we had to go through security (again!) since we came from a non-EU country...oy. We found our next gate and then found food while we waited for the next flight. But before we could get any food we had to exchange money. It's a weird feeling when you had many US dollars on you and they are useless. So we exchanged for some Kronor (which is Icelandic monies) and bought ourselves some food. At this point in our trip I started not to feel well. Let me just say that getting sick while traveling...SUCKS!

Anyway, the bathrooms were awesome for the simple fact they are unlike our toilets at home. At this point, anything is impressing me if it's different than our American style!

Our next flight boarded at 1:00 and that was a three hour flight to Copenhagen. This is where things get dicey...we land in Copenhagen to find out our last flight got cancelled...hhmm...luckily we get put on a different flight to Warsaw...phew! So now we must wait again for hours and now I'm started to really not feel good. We exchange some more money (yup! now to the Danish kronor) and buy something to drink and find a place to settle down. One funny thing to note: as we were wondering the airport we came across a bar, but not just any bar, no a NEW ENGLAND SPORTS BAR! WHAAATTT...There are Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, Patriots paraphernalia everywhere! There's Massachusetts Avenue sign, pictures of Boston all over the place...I thought the universe was messing with us and we just landed back at home!

Anyway after that little mind f*** we find a place to lay down because now I'm about to lose it I'm not feeling well. Thankfully, we wake up in time to rush to our gate and thankfully I had Cody to lean on because when I woke up the sickness reached a whole new level. I thought someone was stabbing me in the kidneys. We make it onto our flight and Cody gets me some aspirin from a flight attendant and that seems to make me feel better. Now we're just a short flight away from landing in Warsaw. We landed in Warsaw at around 11:00-12:00, we grab our luggage that (yes!) stayed with us on all flights and hailed a taxi to take us to a friends house.

I will leave you with this for now and break up the posts based on destination!

Thanks for following!

Sarah

Yesterday made one month until our flight to Europe. I'm really feeling the anticipation now. This is my last week of work; tying up lose ends and cleaning out my desk. Trying to stay focused is going to be a little challenging. I'm already feeling like I need to get the ball rolling on a bunch of things. Priority #1: Find a place to live! Hours are going to (and have been) spent scouring the internet and calling people. Once we have a place I'll definitely be more relaxed. We're going to start packing up soon too. We don't need a lot of stuff especially winter gear right away. I can feel the anticipation and butterflies as I type...
Also, will definitely try to keep this blog more up-to-date. I'll take you all along for the ride that's about to ensue!
Thanks for staying tuned : )
S

happy summer solstice

Well..it's official! Cody and I bought our one-way tickets to Warsaw, Poland yesterday! We'll be leaving August 24 and land in Warsaw August 25. This gives us some time to visit friends and Cody's family which I'm very excited about.

I can't believe it's only two months away. Before we know it, we'll be standing at the security check point saying goodbye to our families. I can't think about it too much or I get a little emotional. I'm going to miss my family so much. Through it all, the ups and downs, the sometimes bullshit of life, my parents have been my biggest supporteres. Always trying to help me and guide me through this crazy world. At 25, I am ready to go and explore this crazy world and learn everything I can.

I'm so excited to go back to school! To learn more about the environment and what I may do to protect it. This is my dream and it's actually coming true. Through all the set backs we must remain positive, optimistic, and hopeful. I recently read an amazing book entitled "The Art of Racing in the Rain" that my Mum knew I would love and let me borrow. I highly highly recommend it. The narrator of the story is a dog named Enzo. I will only tell you this about the book...there are two great quotes (1) "that which you manifest is before you," and (2) "your car goes where your eyes go." And my car is going to europe!
-S

Now it's time for us to play the waiting game. When you first hear the exciting news and you know an amazing change is around the corner, you're filled with this overwheling since of "oh my goodness! I have so much to do!!" And then, over the course of a few days, maybe a couple weeks life slows back to normal and you're filled with "now what?" Anticipating change can be a tricky matter. It's finding a balance between living in the present and preparing for the future. You don't want to do too much of either. So now Cody and I continue to work and do all of the fun, regular things we do around Fairhaven, New Bedford and the surrounding area while chipping away bits and pieces of what needs to be accomplished before moving to Poland.

We have a fun-filled weekend ahead of us on the Cape. Also, we're training/raising money for the 18th Annual Buzzards Bay Swim on July 2nd. I'm learning the yard sale ropes and taking a crack at the whole buying/selling business. Enjoying simplifying life; swimming; longboarding, line drying clothes; playing with our pup Mia, loving life together and with our families.
-S