New Year

Hello everyone!

NEW YEAR, NEW START!

What can I say, New Year has started off really well for me. For New Years Eve, I went to Zakopane with Lee (a small city with mountains in Poland, close to the Slovakian border) and it was amazing! It was probably one of the best cities I have ever been to. Not only did I have a chance to see mountains, which looked absolutely incredible from our apartment, but I also got to experience a real winter with a lot of snow and ice everywhere. I haven't seen real snow, that stays on the ground for a couple of days in like 3 years so that was wicked! We arrived to Zakopane at 6 am on the 31st of December, which probably wasn't the smartest idea. Our coach left Wroclaw at 11 pm on the 30th and it was a 7 hour journey. It was so tiring and uncomfortable, but like always I was worrying that there will be a lot of traffic and that we wouldn't be able to get there on time, so I booked an early coach, and I regretted it so much, as everything was closed by the time we got to Zakopane. Even McDonald's wasn't opening till 7 am and it was absolutely freezing outside, so that was pretty awful. We couldn't check into our apartment until 12 am so we stayed in Mcdonald's for as long as we could as soon as it opened, then went for a short walk around Krupowki (city centre of Zakopane) But that wasn't the best experience, as we had 2 big suitcases with us, so that was a bit annoying. But in the end, we managed to get to Koscielisko (city near Zakopane) where our apartment was, and managed to check in early so as soon as we got there, we rested for a couple of hours before the evening, as we didn't want to be too tired later on. And it was so worth going through this, to experience New Years Eve celebrations there.

In the evening, we walked all the way to Zakopane, and after a couple of hours finally managed to find a really nice restaurant, with local food. I've never even considered booking a reservation or buying tickets for the New Years Eve parties. I just assumed everything would be opened. Silly me. Literally I have never seen so many people in one spot. There was queues everywhere! Some restaurants would not even let you in, unless you had a reservation so we was quite lucky to actually find a decent place in the end. After that we went to small bars/ outdoor bars for a couple of drinks, then headed towards the concert. Every New Years Eve, in Poland there are concerts taking place in a couple of cities, which change every year, and they are filmed by the television. They are free of charge, and sometimes real celebrities actually perform at these concerts. Not just Polish celebrities but also people from abroad. Like for example this year I had the chance to see Michal Szpak, Maryla- famous Polish singers, and Luis Fonsi- (you guys might know his famous song- Despacito) I think it's amazing, how Poland enables people to have such an amazing New Years Eve, which is free of charge and you can have so much fun there. I have never seen people so happy and cheerful, and I have been to other festivals, but never seen anything like it- maybe except Woodstock. In addition  to that if you can't make it or don't feel like you want to leave the house, you can actually watch the whole concert in the Polish television, which is what my mum was doing this year, and she kept looking out to see if she can see me anywhere, as it was all filmed :) It was such a good way to start New Year. On top of that after 12 o'clock there was so many fireworks going off, the sky looked red at one point, and you could just see smiles everywhere. Like there was no care in the world. So beautiful! It was a nightmare though to get out of this place!! Everyone was still setting off fireworks, including civilians. It was so much different from UK. At one point as we was all walking towards Krupowki, some guy started setting them off right in front of us. It felt like a bomb has just exploded, and the police was not even bothered about that. It didn't bother me so much but the roads we was on, were quite small. It was so dangerous to set these fireworks off, when there was thousands of people walking back from the concert. Someone could of got hurt and it wasn't very safe. But I guess I just forgot what it's like to celebrate New Years Eve in Poland. Everyone does that and everyone has always done that. It's the only time in the year when people can actually do that and it's pretty normal, so instead of moaning I just enjoyed myself and appreciated it. The fact that I had the chance to experience something so crazy <3 We was actually considering going to one of these parties, as I've never had the chance to experience a Gorals (a group of Polish, Czech, Slovak areas- this is how we refer to the people that live in these areas- similar example in UK- the Geordies) party. However there was so many people everywhere. It would of been a nightmare to get into any places. And on top of that, we was leaving Zakopane on the 2nd, so we didn't really want to get into a bad state and not being able to explore the city the next day, so like a responsible adults, straight after the concert we walked back to our apartment :)

The next day, we was actually considering going skiing and seeing the mountains, but I've never actually done skiing in my whole life, neither has Lee. And there was just so much snow everywhere. I've heard that it's dangerous to go into the mountains when it's snowy and icy. So we decided to explore Krupowki more, and went on the cable carts, to get a really nice view of the mountains, take a couple of nice pictures. Also we went for a few cocktails, and actually treated each other as we had no chance to do that on New Years Eve :) It was such a great experience. If any of you like skiing, mountains, snow and that kind of holiday, I definitely would recommend Zakopane. It's got a bit of everything. Including horses, and Oscypki ( smoked cheese made out of sheep milk, famous within the Tatry Mountain region in Poland). I know what you're all thinking that sounds disgusting, but it was actually the best thing I have tried this year. You can't get in anywhere in Poland, for it to taste the same way, so while I was there I just kept eating it constantly, anywhere I possibly could. In terms of restaurants, if any of you are thinking about going there, I suggest you should try 'Bakowo Zohylina Niznio' and 'Gazdowo Kuznia'. These were the only restaurants, along with the one we went to on New Years Eve (can't remember the name) that we had the chance to experience. I'm pretty sure there are some other ones which were great, as they are literally everywhere on Krupowki, but I really enjoyed the food in these restaurants. Mainly as it was something completely different :)

On the 4th of January, we had to return to Germany, as my university was starting this week. And although I could say this week at uni, had started off pretty well for me as I have found out that I have passed one of my tests, that I had to do before the Christmas break, and it was also nice to see everyone back. I just feel like I have lost any motivation to get things done. It's really stressing me out, because I have exams coming up. And I know I shouldn't worry. But I still do. Like always! I went to one of my seminars, where we was practising exam questions and literally I had no clue what the hell was going on. It's like my mind has gone blank because of the Christmas break. I still want to do well this year, but at the minute I don't even feel like I would be able to answer any of the exam questions that are going to come up in February, which is so so soon. It's stressful. I've never experienced a situation, where I knew I was going to fail something or not be fully prepared for something. But this is exactly what's going to happen this year, and it's not good. People are constantly reminding me, that this is a Year Abroad placement, I don't have to pass anything therefore I shouldn't worry. I should just focus on improving my language but that's just not how I'am. I always worry about everything, and everything always has to be perfect. So it's just getting me down a little bit. On top of that, my fear of speaking German to my classmates and teachers, has unfortunately returned. Last week, the teacher has said something to me. I think he could see I was struggling with the work, so he probably wanted me to work with one of the students, and I've just ignored what he said, carried on doing the work on my own. I know it's silly and I shouldn't be like that, but I'm just so scared of making mistakes, someone looking down on me or treating me like I'm an idiot, so I just think the best way to get out of it is by not talking so much.

Similar situation has actually happened this week. Lee has actually got himself a job, working for Easyjet as a Cabin Crew. I just want to quickly congratulate him again, I'm so proud of him. <3 <3 But before he can start any training or work, he has to fill in all these medical forms, and has to see an optician. Which is why we went to Potsdam yesterday, and looked for an optician. We went to 3 different places and the first one has got me so stressed I felt like crying or just having a go at these woman's that was working there. I've practised in my head how to say everything properly. We only needed to get him an appointment with someone. Everything else that he needed to get done, was on the sheet. So I went up to these women and as soon as I started talking, they just looked at me like I was from another planet. It was so stressful and absolute lack of respect. The situation got me so frustrated, but I knew we had to get this sorted. In the end we ended up going to 2 more places, and the last one was actually successful. I managed to get him an appointment with someone. In the end, I felt good about it but situations like that just make me think, I can't wait to be able to live in a country where I can communicate with everyone, say exactly what I want to say, without having people looking down on me. At the same time though, when situations like that happen, Lee always reminds me that the more I try, and the more stressful situations like that, I go through, the better understanding I'll have for the language. So deep down, I know I have to go through this, in order to learn, but it's just so hard sometimes, and I think I'm just missing home a little bit.

At the start of January, one of Lee's friends Kouri has came over to see us for a couple of days. And it was so nice to have him around. On one of the days we went to Berlin to show him around, and of course randomly decided to drive to Poland, which is what we do with most people that come over to see us. I don't know what it is. I think it's just because I feel so safe and happy in Poland, it's like a little break for me from all this language stress, I like to go there once in a while. This time around we actually went to Poznan, which is not where I originally come from. I wanted to see something new after being in Poland for 2 weeks, with my family. And to be honest with you all, I was so shocked with how beautiful Poznan is, and how similar it is to Wroclaw. Absolutely crazy. The square in Poznan and the buildings look exactly the same. It was amazing. Definitely enjoyed this city more than Szczecin. So if any of you guys are planning to go to Poland, Poznan is the place to be at  <3

Tomorrow I'm off to Hamburg, to celebrate my birthday there, so my next post will be more about the German cities, and the differences between Hamburg/ Berlin-Potsdam.

Thank you for reading my post, MR x