Becoming Orientated

The last few days have been hectic for the Traveling Attorney and his paralegal, Emily. On Tuesday we departed Poznan for Warsaw,  and the beginning of Fulbright orientation. On Wednesday we spent the day at the Ambassador's residence, and on Thursday we travelled by Autobusovoda to Krakow. After arriving in Krakow we did a few things. First, we ate a pretty good but mildly unsatisfying lunch of fried pork and potatoes. More satisfying than the actual lunch was the realization that the device we use to connect to the internet (the DONGLE!) is an amazing multi-use tool that sounds as if it could have been purchased just as easily at a sex shop as at the internet store! Please go out and get yourself a dongle if you are one of the few people out there who's mind has yet to grasp the many advantages of this revolutionary device! After lunch we headed for our first Polish Language course. Instead of wasting precious blog space by describing the experience, I'll just say that it felt like 2nd grade all over again. Coincidently, Emily and I, along with a host of other highly intelligent people are toiling at the beginners level. Suffice it to say, the Czech language is not quite as interchangeable with the Polish language as I had initially hoped. Oh well.

Today, we began the day with a nice reception at the university in Krakow which morphed in to a mostly unexciting tour of the university's museum. After the tour, my paralegal and I spent the rest of the day walking around Krakow, eating at my favorite Krakovian greek restaurant, and buying a couple of sorely needed books. Now I'll be able to read before bed instead of watching In Bruges for the 45th time. For our return from the city, we embarked upon a pleasant taxi ride back to our hotel, thereby avoiding the large hill that sits at a menacing 100 degree angle and separates our hotel from the civilized world.

Currently, it is about 4pm on Friday, and we are sitting in a class room "absorbing" a lecture on Polish history. The use of the word absorb is especially appropriate here, as the information being presented is hitting me in every conceivable body area except on those two things attached to my head called ears.

Until Next Class,

TA ESQ.