Poland

Standing on the corner of a busy road surrounded by three massive men in puffa jackets who had just snatched out passports whilst shouting at us is perhaps not the most ideal way to end a holiday. However, in an odd way its in this bizarre encounter that my trip to Poland is summed up. Don't get me wrong, Krakow was a stunning and ultimately lovely place to be yet I couldn't shrug off the idea that I was very, very far from home. With a language that you can't even attempt to pronounce and inhabitants which never stopped staring and my friend and I (heaven forbid because we were the only ones not wearing hoodies and trainers) it became very easy to feel unsettled.

Sitting in a tex mex themed restreaunt (because we really exbraced the polish cuisine) I though I would be safe for at least an hour from the country's oddness yet when a man reached over to our table and asked “can I please take a photo of you eating” I reckoned it was time to get out of there. I was very confused at how I felt about the people and the country when I left Poland. I have always considered myself an openminded person and when this is combined with a city full of the most eclectic and stunning architecture I have seen, you think I'd be on to a winner. But I was distanced. It felt so alien and I don't know why.

As I write this I am becoming more and more aware of how idiotic I sound. Just because a country thinks apple and mint would make a good drink combination doesn't mean you should write it off. I learnt an important thing in Poland and that is the importance of travel. It sounds cliched and at the time we may think that “oh its just a holiday” but the experiences we have there, become invaluable to the growth of our tollerance. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and when I thought about it, I was being stupid, sterotypical and judgemental about a nation which has a such a rich tradition and culture which I was ingornat to and made to no attempt to rectify. And hey, who can hate a country and that idolises Pope John Paul II as much as God himself!

It's easy to be rude, it's easy to genralise and it's particularly easy to abandon a country becuase its differnt. Yet its precisely because of this that I have eventually come to admire Krakow . It might be a bit rough round the edges and a bit old fashioned in its ways but there is always something to gain from wherever you find yourself.

H xx

P.s. I am beginning to sound self-rightous and for this I apologise!