See You at Notre Dame?

I had gotten accustomed to the gourmet breakfast; the cheese, the assortment of pieces of bread and the array of different meats. This breakfast was different however.  I found myself holding back tears. The time had come to leave.  It flew by as a matter of fact. The last thing I wanted to do was sit on an airplane for nine hours.  The very last things I wanted to do, however, was leave Europe, my Polish best friend and my second family.

Over the past two weeks, I had witnessed places that were both beautiful and heart wrenching.  I had learned information that I was pretty excited to share with my classmates once  I was back in the classroom.  Most of the way I had viewed the world had completely changed after everything I saw.

Kasia's mom leaned over to her and whispered something in Polish into her ear.  There was laughter and I thought they were talking about how watery my eyes were.  Then Kasia stopped laughing and said, "my Mom says she'll adopt you so you don't have to go back to the states".  At that moment in time, I really considered it, but I missed my family, friends, dog and American food, so I it was time to venture home.

There were so many questions flying through my mind; among the most haunting was when would I ever see Kasia next?  I knew that she had applied to some top schools in the United States for architecture such as the University of Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Cornell, and Washington University.  I was hoping she would be accepted into one,  but they were all great schools with an even greater cost.

My thoughts were interrupted by Kasia insisting that I get all my things together because it was almost time to leave.  As I gathered my belongings, I took a second to step outside onto her balcony that overlooked the whole city of Krakow.  A year ago when I quit the varsity softball team and applied for this program, I never realized the impact that it would have on me. Not many people can say that they got a chance to learn about the Holocaust and visit various concentration camps throughout Europe.  Not many people can say that they turned eighteen in a foreign country.  Not many people can say that they have a European best friend.

As the bus driver threw my monstrous suitcase under the bus, the tears began to fall.  First I hugged Kasia's parents goodbye and thanked them for everything that they had done.  Then I went down the huge line of Polish students and said goodbye to each and every one of them. My last goodbye was probably my hardest one; at this point I was a complete basket case.  As I hugged my best friend goodbye she whispered something in my ear, "Shan , it's not a goodbye, I got into Notre Dame and I'll be attending school there in the Fall. I'll see you in the states, I'll see you later".

Stares Stares and more Stares

Our time in Europe was slowly and sadly coming to an end. We had experienced so many amazing yet heart breaking things in our week and a half journey. Four concentration camps, beautiful cities, over night trains, duck, and terrarisum. At that point in time, I forgot about what it was like to live in America.

As the door opened, twenty-five eyes stared me up and down. It felt as if there were lasers going through my whole body. Had they not seen an American before? The teacher had a huge smile on her face, "Welcome" she stated in her best english, " please sit where ever you make like". As I sat in the middle of the classroom I could still feel the laser ( polish students) eyes on my back. I mean I understood that I stuck out like a sore thumb but I was a person to.

All of the students were in there last year of high school. They were preparing to take the biggest test of their lives in just a month. It would determine which University they attended in the fall (similar to our SAT).  Luckily for me, Kasia brought me to an english class. So I was able to follow along very easily. The teacher made them do various tasks out of a workbook. She gave them about twenty minutes to complete the task and encouraged me to do it along with the other students. After she was done giving the instructions, all the students started asking me questions about America.

Have you ever been to the Statue of Liberty? Do you go to New York city a lot? Could you read my essay for this class that's due in a week and see if my English is correct? Do you think the actives in the book are easy? Do we even speak proper english one of the students asked me?

There was a hundred million questions coming at me all at once. The truth was they spoke better English than half the people in America. They could spell better than I could ever fathom. Then the English teacher put me on the spot and asked me to speak about what I liked more in America then in Poland. Then she asked me the hardest question yet, what did my classmates and I think of the camps?

I could I even begin to answer this question? I said it the most evil thing I've ever seen and that I was luckily enough to be able to go to Europe and study this subject in order to go home and tell my classmates about how this atrocesity should never happen again. Everyone was pretty impressed with my answer, they even gave me a round of applause. At this point I never wanted to leave Poland.