Do we really have to leave?

Sunday- February 26

Sunday morning rolled around all too quickly. Our alarms went off at 6:15 since our taxi was set to pick us up at 7:00 to take us to the airport.

The night prior we had asked the receptionist if we could have a taxi pick us up at our hostel, and she said she knew someone who could do it for 50 zloty, which is the average. She said a lot of taxi drivers will try to rip you off because they know we're not from around here.

I finally pulled myself out of bed at 6:30 to get everything ready. Jess was running late with getting her things ready when the receptionist came into our room at 6:55 saying our taxi was here. We all gathered our stuff and Kate ran into the bathroom to tell Jess to hurry up.

Yelena and I went down and Kate and Jess followed a few minutes later. The drive to the airport took about 15 minutes and when we had all gotten out of the car and the driver retrieved our bags from the trunk we asked him how much. He had to think about it and then said 94 zloty.

We stared at him in disbelief because our receptionist said it would only be 50. I didn't have enough money because I had put aside the amount I needed already, but thankfully Kate had enough to cover us and I paid her back later. It was ridiculous though because we knew we had been ripped off, but we were too tired to say anything and we had to catch our flight.

The airport was empty and was so much easier to get through than the one in Rome. We walked right up to the counter to get our tickets validated and then it took us maybe 10 minutes to get through security. At first we couldn't find the security because they had different ones everywhere for different airplane gates. The one in Rome was like the ones at home where you go through security and then you go find your gate. This one had you find where your gate was and then your went through security.

We were sitting and ready to go at 7:45 and then the waiting game started. I went and grabbed an orange juice and muffin to hold me over till Rome.

The line for the plane started at 8:15, so we piled into line and a woman came through to check our tickets and passports. We walked downstairs and outside to a shuttle which took us about five feet like the shuttle we took when we landed here. Although this time the shuttle stopped and its doors didn't open. We were so confused. There wasn't even a plane near us. Then we saw a plane driving toward us and figured it was ours. Once it stopped we thought we would get on then, but then people started piling out. It was a plane that had just landed. Yelena was about to lose it.

About 15 minutes of standing in a crowded shuttle later, we moved closer to the plane and then the doors still didn't open. We saw people start walking to the plane from the other shuttle and Yelena was getting antsier and antsier. It was quite entertaining.

Once the doors opened Yelena bolted out and all I saw was this tiny little girl running for the stairs. I followed and caught up with her. Trying to get on the stairs Yelena cut off a nun and I said, "Yelena!" and she said, "What? I want a seat." I thought it was hilarious.

We found out later we didn't need to rush because we found seats really easily and there was still a third shuttle that needed to come.

About an hour and a half after lift off we landed in Rome. Once the four of us were all in the airport we went to find the bus shuttle ticket stand. It was 10:50 and the next bus to Rome was 11:00. Perfect timing. I purchased a ticket €4 and then went outside to wait for the bus.

One of us — I can't remember who — made a comment on how we had taken every form of transportation but a boat today. We went from a taxi, to a car, to a bus, to a train.

The bus ride took longer than the one on the way there because there was a ton of traffic, which is expected in Rome.

We got to the Rome Termini train station at 11:30 and our train didn't leave until 2:45, so we went to go get food and find something to do for the remaining time.

We found this cafeteria style place inside of the termini. I got pasta, which was enough to hold me over until I got home. I only had €3 left because I wasn't thinking when budgeting my money and only thought of the train ticket, but Yelena was kind enough to spot me money.

Kate, Yelena and I sat in the cafeteria until it was time to leave because we were too tired to do anything, but Jess ventured outside and said she found a pretty park nearby.

We went to get on our train at 2:30 and found our seats. I was separated from the other three, but we were at least all in the same car.

When we got home I showered, unpacked, threw things in the wash and crashed on my bed and refused to do anything. Hence why it took me forever to blog about this weekend!

"Work will set you free"

Saturday- February 25

After the four of us were dressed and ready to go we went to the grocery store a few blocks down the road because we wanted to buy snacks for the day. The receptionist told us there is a small cafeteria at Auschwitz, but it's not a lot and recommended us bringing things. I grabbed a doughnut, orange juice, cookies, crackers and water. I wasn't 100 percent sure on what I was buying because it was all in Polish, but I just based my decision on the bags. 

After we walked back to the hostel we gathered our things and went down to the receptionist at 10 to wait for our shuttle bus. I got really nervous because I couldn't find my ticket anywhere in my room, but when I told the receptionist, she just wrote me a new one. It was obvious I had paid for it because we were in the books for four people from room five and I made it number four. It was a different receptionist from the night before, but she told us to wait in the office and the shuttle should be there by 10:35. I played on the computer for a little bit and then we decided to wait outside.

It at least wasn't misting and windy like it was the day before. Every time a coach bus would approach us we thought it was for us, but then it wouldn't slow down and would fly by us. At about 10:45 when we weren't paying attention this tiny van pulled up and stopped. There were probably already 10 people piled in this van and we all said, "this cannot be our shuttle."

Well, in fact it was. There were two other girls from our hostel who were going with us as well. Kate and Yelena sat next to each other and I squished my way to the back where a couple was sitting. There were two seats left in the back so I figured Jess and I could sit there. When I sat down and looked up Jess was two girls behind me and one of the girls from our hostel sat next to me. Her friend sat on her lap and Jess stood in the isle looking confused. 

The driver told her she had to sit up front with him and then he magically pulled out another seat for the girl sitting on her friend's lap to sit. After we were all situated we pulled away from our hostel and the driver put on a recording that thanked us for choosing this company and blah blah blah. The only part I remember is when it said it would take about and hour and a half to get to the camps. The girl next to me and I looked at each other and started laughing because we were all so squished and had a ways to go. 

We ended up making it in an hour and we all piled out of the car and the driver handed us pink tags we had to wear that said SeeKrakow, the company name. We met a camp worker who told us we had 20 minutes to go get something to eat or drink and then we would meet outside of the building where we currently were. 

When we walked inside I was appalled by how crowded it was. I had to push through a plethora of people to make my way from one side of the entry room to another. For some reason I didn't think there would be this many people, but it was also a Saturday so I guess it made sense. 

Yelena and I paid for a chocolate capoccino from a machine, that tasted horribly bitter in the beginning, but thankfully tasted better after a few sips. 

After about 20 minutes the four of us went back outside where there was a big group of people listening to two people talking. The woman told us we were going to be separated into touring groups based on the color of our tags we were given. Basically it was English or Spanish speaking tours. After the English speaking woman spoke, the Spanish guide did. I tried seeing if I could remember anything from high school, but he spoke so fast.

We all then migrated back into the building and formed a line to get headphones and headsets. Next, we went out through the back entrance which led us to the camp. We all waited outside for about 10 minutes and then the English speaking woman from before introduced us to our guide. 

About 20 of us started following our guide to the main gate of Auschwitz, which was intimidating because I've always seen it in textbooks and now I was seeing it in person. I have head the sign there today isn't the original one, but I'm not sure about it because our guide didn't say. 

The gloomy clouded sky also added to the feel of the camp. During our entire trip our guide gave us history on everything which was extremely helpful because some things I had forgotten about, and it added to the experience.

She then led us to building 4, which was called the extermination building. It wasn't where exterminations happened, but the camp now has exhibits in some of the buildings.  We walked through different rooms where there were old photographs, ashes and paper work. It was so sad to see these applications of people with all of their information. They were basically writing their death certificates without knowing it. 

In every room there were different photos of people being led to the gas chambers and people working. There was this photo which was taken illegaly by a prisner who's job was to take the dead bodies out after they were gassed. Our guide said the workers who had this job never survived because the Nazis would work them for four months and then kill them because they knew too much, and then they would bring in more workers. 

The photo is of the workers dumping the bodies.

In one room there was a glassed room filled with the bins that once had the pellets inside of it which were used to emit gas. 

When we walked into this one particular room I did not know what I was walking into. I saw a "no camera" sign, but it hit me as to why we weren't allowed to and my heart was suddenly in my throat and my stomach felt sick. There was an entire room filled with hair. Piles and piles of it. It really hit me hard that these were real people and when I saw strands of blonde hair all I thought to myself was that, "wow, if I was alive during this time, this could be me...it could be anyone."

The worst part of it was that I know that hair wasn't even a fourth of it and it still looked like an ungodly amount. Our guide told us that the hair was sold during this time to make mattresses...MATTRESSES. Who in their sick mind does that? There was another room window with braided ponytails. It looked like it was just cut off of someone. They also had bags filled with hair to show how it was shipped out. 

Another thing that got to me in this room were the baby shoes, clothes and toys. I cannot wrap my head around how someone could hurt a child, let alone murder them. They are so innocent and know next to nothing about life yet. 

In another room we walked down an isle and on both sides there were rooms filled with shoes. I've seen something just like it at the Holocaust Museum in D.C., which I've already been to twice. When you see this, you try to imagine people standing in their shoes and how many people would be standing in this room. It's heartbreaking and there were just so many and there are so many more in D.C. too.

Our guide told since the people truly believed they would be leaving, the brought all of their essentials like pots, pans, brushes, tupperware, etc. I mean, why would it even cross their minds that they would be murdered soon anyway? If I was told to pack up and go somewhere that wouldn't necessarily be my first thought.

The room that made me shift awkwardly was the suitcase room. There were piles of suitcases with individuals' names on them. It makes it a lot more personal when you read the names of the people.

-glasses-

-Jewish prayer shawls-

-leg braces-

-pots and pans-

-suitcases-

-Baby clothes-

After we left the execution building we were led down a dirt road to building 15. On our way we passed building 10 where Dr. Carl Clauberg conducted experiments on women. It was closed off to the public, so I wasn't able to go in, but I could sense the eeriness of the place just from the outside. Such a sick, twisted man. 

Our tour guide also led us to an alley. I wasn't paying attention to where we were and as I was looking around I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying into my headset. I looked straight ahead and saw a random cement wall with flowers in front of it. I immediately remembered black and white pictures of either this alley or similar ones and I had known it was somewhere where Jewish people were shot and killed. I asked Kate if that's what it was and she said yes. 

Our guide also said the Jews were hung by their arms by the wooden poles, and they hung there until they died. 

As we walked out of the alley we were led to building 15 where the torcher basement was. There were several different kinds of torcher rooms. I remember two which were suffocating and standing. The suffocating room occupied about nine people in a tiny room where they would stand in there until they died. Since there was no fresh air coming in, the good oxygen would run out and the people would suffocate. The standing room had little squares where four people would stand closely for two days. After two days they would be sent out to go work and then they would stand again for a day. Our guide said no one could survive not resting for that long of a time.

-standing room-

It was so dark and dense in that basement, I felt like I was in a horror film and someone or something was going to jump around a corner. It's surreal to think that this is what people went through and it was their own horror film. 

After leaving building 15 we walked to a place where Jews were hanged because their follow prisoners had either tried to escape or had successfully escaped. It was the Nazis' way of instilling even more fear into them. 

Next we walked where Rudolph Hoss was hanged after WWII. He was the director of all of the concentration camps and First Commander at Auschwitz. He and his wife lived on the camp grounds and had five children there. After WWII he was captured and brought back to Auschwitz where he was hanged for his crime. They felt he should die where we murdered so many other individuals. His wife was not charged for anything and she and her family moved to Germany. 

Our guide told us two years ago Hoss's grandson spoke at Auschwitz on televised TV. He applied to be a tour guide for the camp, but they denied his application because of who he was related to. The camp felt it would be unethical to have him leading people through the camp. 

We walked around a corner and were led to the gas chamber. Our guide had previously told us what the women and children had to do before they went into the chambers. They would undress outside and then walk into the entry room and then into the bigger room where they thought they would be showering. 

As I walked through the main door I imagined myself naked and walking into the main door and into the gas chamber. I felt so insecure because I could not imagine being naked in front of all these people I didn't know. When I walked into the gas chambered room I was told to look up at the ceiling where the gas came through and my breath was cut short. I was standing in a room where so many innocent women and children were murdered and were crying for their lives all stuffed in one room. The thought made me sick. I felt like I was in a sick, twisted movie. 

The next room was the cremator room where the bodies were soon turned into ashes. 

After the gas chamber we were led back to the entrance where we started and we were told we would have a short break and then we had to go find our shuttle in the parking lot.

We returned our headsets, sat for a little bit and then ventured out to find out shuttle. Luckily, we were the first people there so we had dibs on the seats and we were able to all sit near each other. 

After everyone was in it was about a five minute drive to Birkenau. When we pulled up I didn't realized we were there because there really wasn't a lot, just a lot of land and rubble. A lot of the buildings had been destroyed because of the bombings at the end of the war, so all I saw were a lot of random chimneys standing. 

Our tour started at the train tracks where we saw a car that was used to bring in the people to the camp. We stood where Nazis and doctors decided who was fit enough for work and who was to be sent immediately to the gas chambers. 

We were then led to where the railroad tracks ended. You could see into the forest where they used to come through, but they were cut off and are only within the camp. The memorial just beyond the tracks had stones with a saying on it in every language of the deceased people. The English stone was not added in until the 1990s because none of the diseased spoke it, but because most of the visitors of the camps were from America, they put one in. 

We then walked over to the gas chambers — well at least what remained of it. The long room on the right is the room where the women undressed and then the room on the left was the gas chamber. 

We were then led to the bunkers where the women and children slept. Each bunk had five women who slept in it and all they had was straw. I can never complain about not having sheets for a night again. Our guide told us also told us when women would have babies, they would be separated after the birth. The Jewish babies were killed and the babies of other religions were sent to Germany where they were raised without their birth mother. I've clearly never given birth, but I could not imagine carrying around a child for nine months and then be separated from it knowing it was murdered or sent away from me. 

I was okay walking through the bunks until I found a carving in a nook in a bunk. It had the Star of David and it said "We will never die" I read "children of" but I couldn't make out the third word. I just pictured a child or teenager laying up late at night carving that with a stone and the heart wrenching part was that I knew the person who wrote that probably died. They were real people and it is unbelievable some people think this act in history never happened. Just take this tour and if you have any doubts they will fade away. 

I ended my trip on top of the watch tower where I was able to overlook the camp like the picture above. I loved how the light peeked through the clouds over the train tracks. I took it as a sign that there was a glimmer of hope and eventually this cruel time period came to an end.

Afterwards we all gathered back in the shuttle and traveled back to our hostel in Krakow. We relaxed for a bit and then went out for dinner.

The day before Yelena had seen a Ukrainian restaurant that she wanted to go to because she was born in Ukraine and her mom makes this kind of food all of the time. 

When we walked into the restaurant we had to go down a flight of stairs and since it wasn't that busy we didn't know whether to seat ourselves or not again. So we sat down and then about 10 minutes later a waiter came with the menus. I had no idea what all of this food was on the menu but Yelena highly recommended a soup called Borsch and then I also got stuffed cabbage with tomato sauce. 

The soup was so incredibly delicious I just kept wanting more. The stuffed cabbage was good, but after the first was I was stuffed...no pun intended. 

After dinner we decided to go back to the cupcake joint just because it was so good from the day before. I ordered a coconut chocolate one, which was good, but not as good as my grasshopper one from the day before. 

For the rest of the night we walked around town through souvenir shops and then went home to relax for the night. It had been a long day so we were all in bed by 10. 

Adventures in Krakow

Friday- February 24

I didn't hear Yelena's alarm go off at 3:45, but thankfully she did. She told us all to wake up and start getting ready. I didn't crawl out of my top bunk until 4:00. I mozied — very slowly — to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. When I got back to the room, I got everything ready and at 4:15 we left the hostel. 

I felt bad because the owner woke up with us and it was so early. But he was very nice about it and said goodbye.

We walked to the Roma Termini, which was not even a five minute walk to catch the bus shuttle at 4:30, which we had paid for already. We walked up to the line to get on the bus and a worker there told us we needed to go check in inside. We all said "crap" because there were so many people lined up for this bus and we were on a tight schedule. 

When we went inside I walked up to the desk where a man summoned me over to him. He checked out printed out ticket for four, gave us four passes and told us to hurry outside because they were waiting for us. We walked back outside and the man who had told us to go inside told us to go up front. We didn't know if he was telling us to hop in line or just go to the front, but we went to the front and ended up cutting a ton of people. 

I didn't understand why the man inside told us they were waiting for us because the bus had just started loading.

Thank goodness we ended up cutting all of the people because the bus filled up really fast and the rest of the people had to wait for another bus to come, which came as we were pulling away. 

We arrived at Rome Ciampato Airport about 20 minutes later. They said the shuttles usually take about 30-40 minutes, but because there was no traffic we made it in excellent time. 

When we walked into the airport, it finally hit us as to why the airline wanted us there an hour and half before our plane took off. The line was super-duper long to just get your ticket and visa checked and check in a bag if you were. We hopped in line and it ended up moving quite quickly. It took about 20 to 30 minutes to get through and then we headed over to security where we waited for another 20 to 30 minutes. 

Good news: I didn't set any alarms off or have to get felt up while going through security! After gathering all of our things we went to find our gate and we hopped in line at 6:00. As we waited, there was an obnoxious group of Italians, who were probably our age. We thought, who is that awake this early in the morning?

Our gate finally opened and we hopped on a shuttle which took us to the airplane. On RyanAir, you don't have assigned seating, so everyone makes a mad dash for it. Yelena and Kate were determined to get good seats and seats sitting together so they bolted out of the shuttle as soon as the doors opened. Jess and I followed and we ended up being the one of the first people on the plane. 

It really is the funniest thing to watch because these shuttles just open their doors and blobs of people run out and try to squeeze onto these small boarding steps. 

When we landed in Krakow, Poland, it scared the heck out of me. I was half asleep and the plane bumped the ground pretty hard and then everyone started clapping. I was so scared I slept through something bad and we somehow safely landed. I soon learned that's what people do on planes here. When the pilot lands, everyone claps and then this funny music plays announcing our arrival. 

We then hopped on a shuttle waiting for us when we got off of the plane. Once everyone was off the plane, the shuttles took us to the airport, which was literally 20 feet away from where we were. The four of us looked at each other and said, "Really?! We couldn't have just walked that? Most pointless ride ever."

When we got to the entrance of the airport we exchanged some of our euros for zlotys. When I exchanged 50 euro I got 179 zloty back. I was shocked and so excited! Their currency is so much better than the euro because I gained money instead of losing it, like I do all the time here in Italy!

Then Yelena decided this sign said to catch the train into town was this certain way. So we left the airport and of course it was misting and windy. We walked for about 10 minutes down the road and we still saw no train. We said, "Yelena are you sure this is the right way?"

She said she saw a sign for a train, but Kate thought she saw something else, so we turned around where we saw a sign about shuttle information. We walked on this muddy driveway near this house and a woman came out and asked if she could help us. 

We told her our dilemma and she directed us to the train station. Yelena had ended up leading us in the right direction anyways. 

We walked about half a mile and saw the train. One pulled up to this deserted train stop, which looked like a city bus stop. The train said it was going to the airport, so we were very confused, since we didn't need to go back there. 

As we were walking away we saw a line of taxis and decided to ask one how much it would cost to take us to the city centre. We walked up to the black mercedes and he rolled down his window. He thankfully understood English and he said it would be 50 zloty, which is about 10 dollars. So we decided to do that and he put our bags in the trunk. When we got in I asked him how he was. He just stared at me and smiled, so I thought he didn't understand me, so I gave him the thumbs up and said "good?" and he just stared at me. Most awkward moment ever. 

After that the car was pretty quiet, so I just looked out at the scenery. It was dreary with the rain and overcast skies, but the countryside was very green and the houses were very different from the ones at home. 

When we got into the city, the taxi driver busted out maps at a red light and asked in perfect English, how long we were staying and started spurting out my language. I stared in disbelief because 10 minutes before he stared at me like I was a goof. I was not too happy because I had even given him a thumbs up sign. 

We finally arrived at Atlantis Hostel. We walked into the reception office where the receptionist gave us our keys and told us some useful information. We walked up a flight of stairs to a door that had rooms 1-9. We walked through into the hallway and went to find room 5. When we found it at the end of the hall, we walked in and were so happy with the place. It was ten times better than our last one and was so cute. 

After we got settled in we decided to go get food. It was only 10:30 but we hadn't eaten all morning. I had recommendations from my friend Carolyn who had gone two weeks ago, but we looked on the map and also asked the receptionist for good places. She recommended a place called Koko, which we went on the hunt for. 

We ended up going the wrong way about three times because we were looking at the map wrong, but it was okay because we found pretty buildings and on our correct route we found a beautiful castle. 

We finally found the restaurant, which was an excellent hole-in-the-wall place.  I ordered vegetable soup and some kind of breaded cheese with delicious colsla and french fries for only nine zloty!

After our delicious lunch, Yelena and I wanted to go find the Starbucks we had heard of because we hadn't had it since early January. We wanted a little taste of home. We ended up having a detour on the way because we saw this cupcake shop and we HAD to go in. We all asked if we were full from lunch and we all agreed we had room for cupcakes. 

It was the cutest place with cupcakes painted on the walls and comfortable seating areas. I had a Grasshopper cupcake which was mint chocolate chip with dark mint chocolate in the middle. I also ordered a medium cappoccino, which ended up being the size of a large! It was all delicious, but by the end I was ready to be rolled out. 

Yelena still wanted her Starbucks so we went on the adventure still to go find it. We ended up finding it in this giant mall. I've never seen such a big mall and it was so pretty!

She ended up paying 15 zloty which is equivalent to the same price as home, which bummed her out. I decided not getting any because I was too full. I figured I could wait another two months. 

After walking through the mall for a little bit, we started walking home, but then Jess wanted to try to find a museum. At this point I was starting to feel the tiredness of being awake for about 12 hours and for some reason I was starting to get body aches. We tried finding two museums, but both were under rennovation, so we went back to the hostel. 

When we got back, I began to feel worse. I thought maybe I was just tired, but I took Iviprophen just to be safe. 

We ran back out to another exchange place to get more money out because we had to pay for our hostel and pay for the Auschwitz tour, which was set up through our hostel as well. The exchange place ended up being better than the one at the airport because Kate exchanged 50 euro here and got 200 zloty back, about 20 more than I did at the airport. We were rather happy we got more!

When we got back to the hostel we relaxed for a bit and I started feeling better. We went out to dinner at a place called Chimera, a restaurant Carolyn highly recommended. It was a bit of a walk, but it was worth it. 

When we walked into the restaurant we didn't know whether we were supposed to seat ourselves or wait to be seated so I walked up to the buffet where there was a worker. I didn't know if they spoke English and I really should have just asked because I spoke slowly to her (for some odd reason) and asked if we could put two tables together and seat ourselves. I used my fingers showing how you put two tables together. During this she stared at me and after said "yes," with a smug look on her face. I don't blame her. I talked to her like she was dumb and in fact I was the dumb one.

I decided to order pierogies for dinner since I was in Poland. I don't eat them at home because I'm not a fan, but figured maybe my taste buds had changed since high school and boy did they! The pierogies were out of this world, stuffed with the best cheese. I also had these shredded carrots that had this amazing sweet sauce on them and beats or whatever the purple thing was! It was the best meal I had in Poland!

When we got back to the hostel we all decided to shower. It was good for the first five minutes until the water heater decided to stop working correctly. I could feel it slowly start getting colder so I hopped out before it got worst. Yelena was yelling in the bathroom saying it was freezing and Kate said she was standing in the corner of the shower because it was ice cold. Yelena wasn't able to get the conditioner out of her hair and Kate was in mid shampoo. I was glad I decided to get out when I did. 

We were all exhausted from being up since 3:45 that morning so we all crawled into bed by 11. I was out, but I woke up at 1:45 thinking it was time to get up. I did this every hour through the rest of the night and finally realized at 4:00 when I went to the bathroom that I had a fever. I had that body ache feeling and when I stood up my head felt like it was going to burst. 

The immediately thought to myself, "I don't care if I have a 110 degree fever, I'm going to Auschwitz!"

Even though I woke up every hour throughout the night, when I woke up at 8:45, I was covered in sweat. I still felt funny but I was so happy because I knew my fever had broke.