Well, it has been almost a week here at Krakow! Met a lot of people, made new friends and life’s good! I will be working on this uni-wheeled robot under a PhD student and a professor (that professor has 607 publications OMG!) and the project is so amazing!
Life’s pretty great here! It is cold, it rains (not so much, kind of the way I like it) and the UEFA Euro 2012 spirit has enveloped this place! Just two days ago, we tried reaching the Market Square, got lost and reached the Cracovia (a team in Krakow) stadium. Almost caught sight of the Italian football team there! And it was just yesterday that we viewed the Nederland football team train! It was pretty amazing!
But the highlight of the week was today. Visited the Wawel Castle with new friends. The place is so amazingly regal! Beautiful architecture, scintillating landscapes and just pure awesomeness!
Pics should be up by tomorrow, find me on facebook for that! :D
Signing off…
June 2012
3 posts
Frankfurt Airport was HUGE. In fact I even got lost in it for some time! :/ Anyways, after waiting, roaming around and getting lost at Frankfurt Airport for four and a half hours, I boarded my connecting flight to Krakow, the place I will be interning at for the next eight weeks.
The flight hadn’t even landed yet and I had already fallen in love with this place. Krakow is one of the big cities of Poland yes, but unlike cities like Mumbai or Delhi in India. It is GREEN. Amazingly green, all over the place! Lots of trees, not many people, clean, empty roads, quaint buildings…a place I’ve always dreamed of. The opposite of the big cities in India, I must say. Amazing.
All I had known about Poland and Krakow before landing was only from the internet and the Welcome Guide, the guys at IAESTE AGH had provided me. I was prepared for a pleasant weather of about 20-21 degree Celsius. It came as a surprise to me when the cabin crew announced the temperature of the destination as 17 degrees! Again, the cold is what I love! And hailing from a two months of 30+ degrees of heat in Manipal, four months of a ridiculously hot ground-floor dorm room and a week of almost 40 degrees of Mumbai heat, this temperature at Poland, was AWESOME!
The Krakow Airport is a quaint little place. And no hassles like other airports I have been to. You get off your flight, you go to the baggage claim, you get your baggage, you leave. No worries. It was a bit freaky for me when I got out and I couldn’t see/recognize Monika and her boyfriend (‘The boyfriend’ is how he was introduced in three emails from IAESTE AGH. I later got to know his name was Martin) who were to pick me up. But soon, I saw a paper with my name on it and all was well.
I was told about how much fun I am going to have (again!) and how I might get to see either the English or the Italian or the Dutch football teams train in Krakow and again about how much fun I was to have (yes, that did get my already excited mood to a much higher level!). We did have a nice conversation about India, Poland, AGH and stuff. Seems like here, you can do a bachelor’s degree in 3.5 years and then a masters degree in 1.5 years. Cool, eh?! And it was really amusing to see their faces when I told them that places like Delhi go up to about 45 degrees in the summer!
Soon enough, we reached the Kapitol, a big-ass dorm where I was to stay. After doing some registration and after I was given a card, I was taken to my room. One of my roommates Blagoj (Yay! I finally can remember his name! :P ) from Macedonia had already arrived the day earlier. And my other roommate from Kazakhstan was to arrive the next day. The rooms are amazing. Shared bathrooms and all but still, way better than 9th block, I must say. :/
We went out for a stroll in the evening and that was when Blagoj told me that these guys here drink a LOT. Just this morning at 6:45am I saw a couple of students in front of the dorms sitting, drinking and chilling out on the lawn. Whoa, and they’ve got their exams going on now. God, these guys are so chilled out! Seems like I’ve got lots to learn here. :P
Another thing that surprised me…lots of sunlight! I was up at about 6:30 am this morning and it looked like it was about 10:30, 11. That bright! And the previous evening (at what I thought would be about 6:30pm) when my roommate suggested we go out for dinner. I thought for a moment that people in Europe ate their food early and as I was also hungry, I thought I’d join him. And then I checked the time. 9:15pm. Whoa!
Anyways, breakfast and then off to the Market Square now. Pics to come soon!
Signing off..
Yes, it has been some ages since I posted on my blog. It has been too long, in fact. Well, it has been some days since I had this idea in my mind, and it is finally time to start the implementation. Why not blog about my journey, my days in Europe (my first trip to the glorious continent, in fact).
To start the kind-of-travelogue, here I am at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. Waiting. Enjoying the free internet. Mumbai airport is brilliant, I must say. No other airport in India have I seen who offer free internet for 24 hours! (I might be mistaken, but my point being - Mumbai airport be awesome!)
It is almost 12:45 now and the wait (flight departs at 2:50 am) is kind of torturous. Argh. But the thoughts of all the fun at Cracow, the parties I’ve always heard about, the internship, the Euro cup spirit…that is all that I’ve been thinking about! And in accordance with a post on the IAESTE Krakow group on Facebook, it looks like we might get to watch some international footballing teams train! Sounds like some awesome fun, eh?!
Anyways, got to go now. (Pee break! :P )
Next post from Frankfurt Airport!
Signing off…
