UEFA Champions League Trophy

This photo was taking by UniCredit Bank who was a main sponsor of the trophy's journey through Europe.  It was great because it was free to access online and download 3 days after it was taken instead of paying an exuberant amount like in America.

Free Week

After Prague, I have not done too much.  A lot of relaxing and sleeping in.  The sleeping in has kind of messed up my sleep schedule.  Last night my friend and I made a HUGE omelet consisting of 12 eggs, 2 onions, 1 pepper, cheese, 0.5 kg of ham, 2 tomatoes, and 5 small potatoes.  It was delicious, even at 4am.  We then watched Gran Tourino and eventually fell asleep.  Today we got tickets to Beardyman for only $13.33!  He is arguably the best beat boxer (one who makes music with his or her own mouth) in the world.  He has won titles yearly for a while now.  During his concerts, he records one sound and loops it so it plays back and he makes another.  Doing this repeatedly he creates an entire band full of sounds.  The concert is in Warsaw so we will take a 3 hour train ride for $30 (round trip).  I think Fil's cousin is going to join too so that will be fun.  I will update you with photos from Warsaw and the show.  Today's low is 32.  The coldest it has been since being here.  Boy did we feel it though.  Earlier in the day we agreed it was the coldest day yet and upon looking at the weather, we were correct.

Until next time

Praha

After precourse, students have a week and a half break from class, if you passed the physics exam.  Fil and I decided to head to Prague for a few days of this break.  We got a train ticket for 215am on Thursday.  Fil needed to do laundry before the trip so he washed his clothes but, like most places in Europe, was not able to machine dry them.  He called our friend Ania, lovely Polish girl, and she said she had a dryer.  Sadly she thought he meant a hair dryer.  She ended up coming to Fils house with her hair dryer and alcohol and proceeded to dry his clothes by hand.  She then ironed, folded, and packed them.  What a great woman! 

She doesn't like being photographed so she blocked her face. 

The train ticket was not very expensive.  It's interesting because the cheapest way to travel via train around here is to purchase a ticket to the last stop in Poland, then buy a ticket to continue on the Czech side, instead of an international ticket.  They let us purchase the whole ticket but you pay the Czech portion on the train when you enter their country.  You save quite a bit of money that way.  Following this, we needed to get currency to buy the second leg of the trip but the money exchange place was out of Koruna.  It was 845pm and the mall closes at 9, which is full of these exchange places.  Luckily we were able to find one that had the correct currency, phew.  Fil and I hopped on the train and were able to catch a few Z's until we had to switch trains.  We got woken up by a Czech lady who was asking for 200 Koruna for the last leg of the trip.  We gave handed her the 2000 Koruna bill we were given at the money exchange place and she said it was too much.  She, angrily told us to ask people if they can break it or else we will get kicked off the train.  Kicked off for having too much money!? Fil asked the Polish people if they had any money and they said no, unfortunately the train was very empty too.  I then asked the last two people on the train, who spoke English, if they had money and they did!  They were our last chance of staying on the train.  During this whole debacle, we met a Sudan medical student who we ended up hanging out with in Prague when we arrived there.   

Our humble abode

The lush countryside 

Our friends from the Train

The hostel was amazing.  I have never stayed in a hostel and this one makes me want to never stay in anything other than that.  It was $75 for a 2 bed suite for 2 nights.  

After getting situated we walked around the city.  The old town square was a 10-15 minute walk down the street from our hostel, not bad.  What a beautiful city!  Breathtaking.  

Great scenery, including a nice passerby

Entering the old town square you go through this square and through this amazing structure

On the walk towards the square.  The entire city looks like this with its beautiful buildings.  Surreal.

A quick video of their Stary Rynek

Beautiful!

We ate at a the Prince Restaurant and got some delicious food and beverages right in the town center for $20.  Earlier in the day we got some subway thinking it was going to be quick and cheap, but it was more expensive than this wonderful dinner we just had!  

Sunset 

View across the river

At night the city somehow gets even more beautiful.

The clock tower.  A man leans out of the top and plays his horn at the top of each hour.  

A photo from the Prince Restaurant.  Sadly blurry as it was taking with my iPhone.  

That night we went out to a Hip Hop bar/club for a while then decided to leave and go to this other club that is the largest club in central Europe.  The hip hop club was south of town and we got lost walking back to the town square.  It was about 1am and we walked about 5 miles in the wrong direction.  With some help from the locals we were able to find out way back.  Garmin was acting up a little and wasn't too much help.  I found that it takes a little to accurately show what direction you are pointing.  After making it back into town with sore feet we went to the other HUGE club.  It is a very popular spot for tourists, unfortunately because we wanted more of a local place.  The club was 5 full stories, multiple bars on each, different DJs playing different music genres, crazy fog, light up floors, etc.  We stayed there for a while and had a great time.  On the walk home we actually saw the sun rise, which was a nice treat.  

On Friday we met  an Englishmen and a guy from Atlanta who lived in Germany.  They had the room next to ours that night.  We took them around the city and took a bunch of pictures.  Prague is so elegant throughout the entire city.  There is the Old Praha on the south side of the river then the new side on the north side of the river and the architecture is stunning.  

When night came we went out to a different club that was on top of this building on the main street of Prague.  It was a great place with tons of people dancing and having a good time.  We had bottle service and met this group of girls, one of which was from San Diego and went to San Diego State.  Small world.  We went with them on their last top of a pub crawl.  It was a crazy bar, 8 stories underground in rock.  It reminded me of an ant farm with its many levels.  After staying up again until about 8, we had to get a couple hours of sleep then check out as we only had the hostel for those 2 nights.  

We weren't ready to go back.  

Today the Champions League Futbol trophy was in Prague and we go to take a picture with it!  

Fil and I eating sausages and having a beer.

We also stumbled upon a Prague Futbol Secondary League field.  The grass was perfect. 

There was a concert by this world renowned DJ we wanted to check out.  Our plan was to get a train ticket in the early morning so we can go see the show then leave there and go straight to the station.  The Czech lady in the train station told us the trip back was going to be $150 each!  The trip there cost $20!  We went to an internet cafe and did some research ourselves and found proper tickets, again purchasing only domestic tickets instead of international.  Fil thinks the computers at places like this has a magic button that says, "Screw the foreigners" and a simple push of that will increase the price tenfold.  The other lady was nice and very helpful and we got the ticket to the border for around $10.  

Now time to get a ticket to the show!  Sadly they stop selling tickets online or something at a certain time so we were a little late and weren't able to get them.  We decided to walk towards the venue and see if there were any tickets available.  The venue, Tesla, is located above old Praha, across the river, not a close walk but we wanted to explore the city more.  Then the rain came.  It wasn't a driving rain, yet it was persistent the entire time and we were soaked to the bone. 

I actually liked the city the best during the rain because the city glowed even more!

My feet still hurt as they were in my waterlogged shoes all night.  We could have cabbed it but they are notorious for pushing the magic foreigner button on their meters.  We explored the other part of the city on the way to Tesla.  Unfortunately we weren't able to find it after an hour of walking and ended up walking in almost a circle.  By now we have seen every inch of the city and know it well!  We went back into the city and asked locals where the best place was to go at night.  Using their help, we went to another amazing club.  Prague supposedly has the best nightclubs in all of Europe.  During all of this, both our phones died along with our cameras and not having a room to stay, there was no chance of charging them.  At about 5am we had to leave and head towards the train station as our train was scheduled to leave at 615am.  Gathering our belongings from the locker, we headed to catch the train.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to sleep because we had to make 4 transfers and we had to phones to set alarms to wake us up when the arrival time approached.  We successfully made all the connections and arrived back in Poznan after the 10 hour journey.  Prague was the top place on my list of unseen places so now I can mark that one off!  What a great place and I am sure I will be there in the future.  

Fil getting on the single car train.  

After my return, I sat and watched football for a few hours before dozing off.  There is this great website that gives you access to every game with sound and in good quality.

I slept for 14 hours and somehow could have slept more.  Today I went to get my index and student ID card.

I have a week off from class so a lot of relaxing will be taking place!

Tuesday

A lovely Tuesday.  Although I am still feeling slightly under the weather, I took the infamous physics test and passed.  It was a proper test sitting with a seat in between with various versions of the test.  The whole point of precourse was to pass this physics test and get 5 extra points for biophysics which we will take later in the year.  This was the first time students had the chance to pass the test for those extra points.  If you don't pass, you are recommended a week course of about 3 hours of physics a day then another chance to pass the test for those points.  Only a third of the students passed so it felt really good to do so.

After this test, and also getting another 88% on my Polish test, my friend and I met with this lovely Polish girl who he met the other day at the club chokolate.  Her friend came not long after and we had a couple drinks at a place called Sharks that is in the Rynek.  It's a 4 story bar/desert place and has great views of the Stary Rynek.  Following some socializing, although their English was slightly better than my Polish so not too much socializing for me but more learning to say things, we went back to their house to watch some movies.  We ended up watching 2 movies and were served tea and a common but delicious traditional Polish dish.  It was some kind of meat with rice wrapped in cabbage, VERY good!  They were wonderful hosts and we had a great time with them.  We ended up not sleeping that night and decided to go home when they fell asleep so today will consist of a lot of rest and relaxation.  Since precourse is done for me I have nothing to do finally!  My friend and I are planning on taking a train to Prague tomorrow evening.  I think the fare is roughly 100zl so $30 which is a great deal and the ride is only about 6 hours.  We should do some final planning on that later today but that's the idea.  I'm really excited to go there as that is the one place I want to go the most in the world with Maccu Piccu a close second.

I have noticed I have learned quite a bit of Polish since I am with a lot of Polish speakers.  I've been here exactly one month and I have made some good progress.  I can understand much more than before and speak basic things.  Bedtime for me!

Piatec

Piatec (Friday) It's pronounced Piantec because typically there is a squiggle under the 'a' which adds an 'n' sound to the word.  

Class all yesterday, tests on monday and tuesday so studying a lot this weekend.  Last night went to a different Italian restaurant, not the typical one close by and it was very good.  After a workout I went to a friends and studied a bit then we went to a Swiss friend of ours birthday party.  She had some absenth for us to drink, which was a nice treat so we had a few shots of that.   Went then went to Chokolate one of the favorite clubs for medical students at Poznan and had a great time as usual.  I wore my Lakers jersey last night and there were a few Celtics fans at the club.  

I am not sure if you guys caught top plays on Sportscenter but Lech Poznan had the ESPN top play of the week.  The Lech team is the local Futbol Club, who won the league title last year.   The play was was an amazing goal against the Juventus team in the 92nd minute.  It was shot from far outside the box and went off the cross bar and in to tie the game.  Juventus has always been a great team and little Poznan tied them 3-3!!  Pretty cool Sportscenter recognized the goal.  My roommate went back to Virginia for a couple weeks so he won't have to go back in Christmas when flights would be more expensive.  It will be kind of nice having the place to myself.  More studying today.

American Shirt

 Forgot to upload the shirt I my amazing grandpa gave me, thanks Grandpa Bill!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday

I slept in a little today and missed my first class to get some extra rest in hopes I feel better when I woke up.  It worked!  I feel a little better today, stomach feeling better and throat not so sore.  I had inorganic chemistry and physics today.  Following class I located a nearby copy center.  I have to copy my visa and health insurance and present them to the Dean's office.  I only had 100zl so the guy let me have the 2 copies for free as it was only 20gr (synonymous to 20 cents).  After that mission in the heavy rain, I made it home and got a little food and looked over some physics.  My buddy came over and we went to the gym.  We went the previous day for a trial run and returned today to get a monthly pass equivalent to $40.  It will be nice to get the blood flowing and relieve some stress there.  I was going to wear my "Freedom is not Free" shirt that I got from my wonderful grandpa but I decided the humongous Polish men tossing tons of weight around might not take to kindly to that.  I will wear it here one day gramps!  Following this, feeling energized, I got a little more studying done and talking to one of my great friends on skype who I haven't seen in over a year.  A great end to a good day.  

Wednesday

Had typical class today, went to a friend's place who gave me a ton of books from their previous year followed by a workout at the gym.  Came home and was able to find the Chelsea FC game on so I'm stoked!!  Had to refill my phone as sometimes when I am hooked to wi-fi it switches to the EDGE network and decides to charge me 10zl to download emails or something.  I have began to switch to my airplane mode so incase the wi-fi doesn't work and the signal is lost, it won't switch to EDGE, it will simply not work.  

Physics time, lovely!

Sunday Funday

Sunday my friend and I walked down to the Stary Browar.  It's one of the biggest malls in Europe.  I literally get lost in it often and luckily I normally go with people who are familiar so I don't get lost.  On the walk down in this cobblestone street surrounded by tall buildings my friend and I heard this very loud engine so we stopped and were wondering its origin.  Right around the long corner in front of us came blasting a brand new 2011 Lamborghini completely sideways.  He drifted around that corner and as he neared us, corrected his angle then drifted the other way on the cobblestone entering the other turn.  It was VERY awesome!

At the mall, we met with my friend's cousin (the one who is in the last year of his Polish medical school) and his girlfriend for some food.  Sadly I had to have someone order for me as they didn't speak any English.

Walking to the Browar


Following this food, Tom (the cousin) drove us to the new stadium.  The Poznan Lech futbol club won the league last year and this year they are opening up this new amazing stadium.  It is probably primarily for the European Cup in 2012 but the Lech get to benefit from it.  It is supposed to be ready in 1 week but it looks more like 2 months away.  Definitely breathtaking, I cannot wait to watch them play!

The season begins shortly so hopefully they can meet the deadline.  Unfortunately I'm not feeling too well so I'm going to eat this whole chicken I bought and get some rest.

Do Widzenia

Medieval Festival

Friday was comprised of class then studying.  We have a chemistry 'test' on Monday, which doesn't really count but it will still be good to know the information as it will be helpful during the year.  I have taken organic chemistry before so it's easier for me than others I am sure.  Following ~4 hours of studying my friend and I met up with the second years I met prior to arriving here.  They have only been here for 2 days so it was nice meeting up with them.  We went to this bar called Tapas down in the Stary Rynek.  It was their Norwegian friend's birthday and they rented out the bar.  Of course there was quite a bit of vodka available so needlesstosay people were having a good time.

The view from my friend's balcony with the sun out!

Today my friend and I walked to the Rynek to get some food.  It's only about a 20 minute walk from his place to the town square.  Today it was about 73 degrees F!  I had to take off my sweatshirt for the first time since being here.  When we pass by this fountain, almost every time, we say how Poland is so awesome and we can't believe that we actually live here.  Behind us is this Opera house and down the street is our majestic biophysics building and another few minutes down the road is the enchanting Stary Rynek.  On the other side of the fountain is the square where the Polish people rebelled for the first time against communism.

We hear some great violin music before we get to the Rynek and we were wondering of its origin.  Surprisingly the entire square was one huge medieval festival.  They had a stage with a band playing, merchants around the perimeter, and food and drink.  It was quite a site to see.  The merchants' items ranged from swords to pottery.  My friend and I grabbed some beer from a very small brewery that brought a few kegs and walked around.  Two beers were 12zl so about $2 apiece. 

My friend got 3 Pink Floyd vinyls: The Wall, Dark Side of the moon, and I am not sure of the third.  He only paid about 60zl for it so $20!  What a deal!  I purchased a knife.  I have never had a real knife and I found one that was a special Cold Steel fire fighters edition worth about $100 in the states.  I got it for 30zl or $10.  They had huge swords and real armor for sale, sadly I did not have enough zls for a new outfit.  

The middle armor was worn by the Polish way back when.  They were the most extreme and fear fighters in Polish history.  When on horseback the feathered wings would catch the wind and clap like real wings.  The noise they created was synonymous with their brutality and when the invaders from the north would hear it they would stop in their tracks and retreat. 

We left the Rynek after getting some pancake type bread filled with mexican type food and another with strawberries and bananas.  We went back to his apartment to study for a few more hours.  We ended up coming back to the Rynek for a late dinner, around 11pm.  We went to this place called Seaux and I ordered some beef fajitas.  Very delicious, unfortunately benign on the spices.  The place had very ambiance and we were even able to catch a Spanish Premier League match.  

In town is a Marriott Hotel that plays college football games so I am hoping they play NFL games.  We might explore that tomorrow after we study.  Bed time.

Laundry Day

Finally did laundry.  I stuffed all my clothes needing to be washed (all but 1 pair of boxers and 3 pairs of socks) into my backpack and went to my friends place who has a washing machine.  It is only a washing machine.  I was intrigued that the washing machine is kind of a dryer type of action but with soap.  It just tumbles one direction and then tumbles the other after a few seconds.  I believe the washing machines here are not really supposed to 'clean' the clothes, but make them smell better.  After they were tumbled 'clean' I had to stuff them back into my backpack wet and take them home in the taxi with me.  Of course the 1 drier for the bottom two floors was occupied so I found some spots around the room and bathroom to hang them.  Hopefully they dry...

Here are my clothes hanging on this heater we have in the bathroom.  Tonight for dinner I decided to get some McDonalds.  I wanted to try it here because I heard it was better than in the states.  It was typical McDonalds.  

One thing I noticed is that everyone is Poland in great shape.  From you children to mothers with 2 kids, they all are fit.  It is really amazing.  While in McDonalds, I saw the most overweight people since I've been here and they were all in one place!  I mean they weren't obese, but definitely as a whole slightly overweight.  Look what McDonalds is doing to us!  

Today I had classes as usual and decided to take a photo of the Dental Building.  They have a huge clinic in it and an orthodontist museum.  The building actually won an award for its design.  

 Wow Mr. Sun is out!!!

Czesc!

It is very modern.  Sometimes during class, a message pops up on the projector (from the projector and not the computer feed) saying in Polish that the amount of oxygen in the room has decreased and to open up the doors.  The message literally blocks almost the whole screen so the professor opens up the door and O2 floods in and before long the message disappears until the concentration decreases.  Here is a photograph from one of the lecture rooms.  Can you see one of the messages on the back of the chair?  Answer will be at the end of this post. 

Between classes I went to the P i P with a friend who needed to get more minutes for his phone.  It's actually quite cool, you tell them you want 50 or however many zloty and they print out a receipt with a number and code on it.  You simply call, put the code in, and you have more minutes.  During this visit I saw a music legend who is hiding out in Poland.

Jerry Garcia!!!  Most thought he was dead but who knew he was relaxing in this lovely country!  Can't blame him.

Time to study more and maybe take some breaks to blow on my clothes to get them to dry quicker.  More class tomorrow.  

David Haselhoff rulz!  

Poniedziałek

Monday's classes went well.  Many people left the last class early.  It's already a small class so there were about 6 of the 20 there.  The teacher is quite attractive so thats an additional incentive to stick around.  Today when I was walking back from class it was 49 degrees Fahrenheit and drizzling.  It will be tough when it's 0 degrees Fahrenheit and snowy.

After class I skyped with my lovely mother, wonderful to see her.  Then I went to the grocery store P i P.  I got some good items (mother would be proud).  In the stores here you pack your own groceries and I left the cherry tomatoes that I purchased by accident.  There is this stick that they divide the counter up between the person who just paid and who is packing and the person who is paying for their groceries.  I think she slid the stick over and pushed them under the bags.  I did get star shaped pasta, which has always been my favorite since I was a little kid.

I came home and Dennis and I cooked our dinner.  We hard boiled some eggs, cooked the pasta, and cooked some potatoes.

Yummy!  The black thing you see in there is some of Dennis' 'hot sauce.'  I was reluctant to try this because it has ground up fish in it.  I said what the hell and ate some.  Surprisingly, it is really good.  Not as fishy as I thought and it is pretty hot so it's right up my alley.  I put only a little on my dinner incase the small first bite wasn't a large enough sample size to judge the true taste.  He has a huge tub of this homemade sauce.  He also wants to make his favorite peanut butter soup soon.  Sounds interesting but I'll try just about anything.  After I finish this I'll probably do some studying and hopefully get some rest. Last night was probably the worst night of sleep I had for some reason, but I'm hoping tonight will be better.  This next photo is behind the Polish language class.  You can see it out the window and I finally checked it out today.  The real art is about twice the length of this but it is actually pretty cool.  Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather in the US.  

Do widzenia

G'day

Yesterday after a much needed nap and some important studying, Fil and I walked down to the Stary Rynek.  He wanted to take some photos.  Unfortunately I left my camera at my place beside my keys.  Luckily my roommate doesn't leave the room much so later in the night I was able to get back in.  I took some photos with my phone, not the best quality but decent nonetheless.  We walked around and decided to get some food at one of the restaurants in the Rynek.

Wow look at that blue sky!  It is pretty gloomy normally but yesterday was clear with crisp air.  In the 50s.  There was a friendly match between Poland and Ukraine on.

As you can see on the right of the photo the game was playing at the restaurant on the outside patio.  It was pretty cold, I wonder what they do when it is 0 degrees Fahrenheit...  We got some delicious food.  I ordered Argentinean steak infused with bacon, salad with bell peppers, and friend potatoes (French fries).  It was 36 zl.  That is equivalent to $12 USD.  What a deal! 

Sadly Ukraine scored in stoppage time to tie the game at jeden to jeden (1 to 1).  During this, we saw a bum get kicked in the face by 2 older people for stealing his scarf.  It was kind of funny, this guy kept yelling stuff at people who were not there, schizophrenic? I think yes.  Fil and I kept wondering if some guy was going to think that he said it to him personally and do something about it.  In Poland there are numerous badasses walking around so you have to be somewhat careful.  Less than 20 yards away the bum got kicked in the face and spat on numerous times for sealing this man's scarf!  Ha guess he deserved it.  After the lovely meal, we went back to Fil's place and then met up with others from the 4 year Polish medical program.  We went back to the Stary Rynek.  We met up with some of our friends and had some drinks and explored the square.  There are MANY great places there to enjoy.  We went to another restaurant and got more food, which again was very cheap but very good.  We ended up making our way to this club Chocolate.  We've been numerous times but it is one of the best.  There were a bunch of people from our program there.  Clubs in Poland don't close.  Many of them have a sign on the outside Hours: 10am-?.  I met this very nice Polish girl at Chocolate but she spoke next to no English and I spoke next to no Polish.  Very funny conversation we had.  It was a hybrid of sign language and Polenglish.  Another interesting thing about Poland is that you are not supposed to tip.  I just learned that yesterday, I have been tipping people like in the states but no one expects it here.  

Here it was nearing 5am when we decide to make our way back to the dorms.  Luckily Dennis let me in because I forgot my key!

This is our toilet paper aka holy sand paper.  Must be careful using this.  In Poland you can find EVERY color of toilet paper possible in the store.  I must get to some studying today and resting up for class this week.  

<3

The Weekend

I'm glad this week is over.  The classes weren't too difficult but long throughout the day.  It will be nice to attend classes for roughly 4-5 hours a day instead of double that.  The weather has been decent.  Not too much rain and the sun actually came out yesterday for a while.  I think I have an apartment lined up for next year with a friend of mine.  His parents are successful doctors in the NY area and are Polish.  It's very nice having him to translate and order things for me when there is the language barrier.  The apartment his parents purchased is near downtown and is being built right now.  I think it is going to be a 3 br for only the two of us so far.  He wants to get a vehicle too, which would be very convenient.  Yesterday I started with a little sore throat and now I have a runny nose unfortunately.  Hopefully it will pass soon.  I did some physics studying today but might take a nap soon.  My apologies for the lack of pictures the last few days but class is not worthy of a photo.  I attempted to do laundry today.  By attempt I mean walk up to the laundry machines then leave because they were all full.  Full from probably the night before because I strategically went early this morning to beat the weekend rush.  I saw a classmate in there and we both were trying to figure out how to turn on the washing machine, unsuccessfully.  They are fairly modern, with both washers and dryers but they have strange dials on them that are of an unknown purpose.  There is a 3 page instruction manual on the wall that one day I will read when it is my turn to do laundry.  Last night I probably had the best meal yet.  It was tomato soup, salad (full of organic vegetables) and chicken.  By my friend Fil's place there are many places like these.  Where I live there are not too many food establishments except for a cheap and, in my opinion, delicious Italian place.  Not too sure what I will do tonight but hopefully have a little fun then do some more studying tomorrow.  I have a quiz on chemistry on Monday, which is not recorded or anything so it is mostly for us to see where we are.  My number here is 514 071 599.  Not sure of the country code but I'm sure Google knows.  Call or text me if you want, all incoming messages and calls are free for me.  Until next time!

Nice Tuesday

Tuesday after class I went with a friend back to his apartment.  He has a nice place between school and downtown, not more than 15 minute walk near a lot of food and other interesting places.  We got a few beers and basically relaxed.  His cousin came over who is in his 6th and final year in Med school at Poznan.  He is doing the Polish version.  In Poland, there is only a 6 year program.  Some of his other friends came over so there were around 10 of us.  It was great meeting older people in the same program.  This one guy who I call the professor because he was going to teach anatomy but his english is not good enough to conduct classes unfortunately.  He is, from what a hear, a genius.  Everyone who came over brought bottles of vodka with them, very typical here.  We finished all the bottles in quick fashion.  After that we decided to go out so we went to some place by the Stary Rynek and that was very fun.  We continued to drink there and once it died down the professor, his friend, and I went to find a different club. Since it was Tuesday, there was not very many club options so we ended up going back to the professor's dorm room.  He lives in the large dorm very close to my room.  We continued to drink there, vodka of course, until the sun came up.  We had great conversation regarding medicine.  We finally finished shooting vodka at 745 am and I literally ran home to grab my things and made it to my class at 8am.  I attended all my classes today and I have biology later.  Impressive!  In Poland what some people do is hit the unopened vodka bottle on their palm, elbow, and then forehead in one quick swoop to knock out the impurities or demons in the bottle before you drink it.

This is the professor doing this nifty trick.  As you could imagine, I am extremely tired from getting no sleep and am not really looking forward to my next class but the night was definitely worth it.  Good times in Poland, now to study and eat a little bit of food.  Dobry Wiezcor.