Kathryn Scarbinsky
2006 Scholarship Winner
Trip to Toruń 2010

A few days before my flight to Torun, I was starting to regret my decision to travel to Poland. I had never been to
Europe before, had never traveled alone, and only spoke an intermediate level of Polish. What was I thinking when
I agreed to travel to Eastern Europe on my own? Now in hindsight, I can't believe I ever once doubted my decision to go.
There is literally not one thing I would change about my trip. I grew as a person, a student, and as a Pole. To be able
to learn about my heritage and Polish language and culture, all while studying abroad in Poland was an absolute blessing.
Also, to not have to worry about financing this once in a life time trip is something that I will be eternally grateful
to PHSR for.

To be honest, the trip over was a little rough for me. I had never flown overseas before and was a little shell-shocked
when I arrived in Poland and had to figure out plane connections, taxis, and train schedules all on my own. The little
bit of Polish that I spoke quickly disappeared as soon as I became flustered. I was unable to find anyone at the train
station in Warszawa that spoke English and I became completely overwhelmed. I would recommend to future scholarship
recipients to either travel with a companion or be able to speak fluent Polish while navigating the train station in Warszawa.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long trip, I finally arrived at the dorms on Sunday. Once I arrived, everything
started to turn around. I met a lot of really nice, outgoing and helpful people. It was reassuring to see that other people
didn't speak fluent Polish and were in the same boat as me, in terms of not knowing anyone there. Everyone was incredibly
friendly and from that first night on, I had an absolute blast. The program put all of the Americans on the same floor,
which was very convenient and conducive to making friends. There were a couple international people on our floor as well,
but almost all of them spoke English and they turned out to be a lot of fun.

Classes started on Monday morning and went daily from 9-2. After taking a placement exam, I was put in the second level
class. We had 3 classes a day: grammar, communications, and phonetics. The material was not at all challenging; it was
a nice refresher of what I had learned of the Polish language in college. The professors were all very enthusiastic and
made learning as enjoyable as they could. At the end of the 2 weeks, they had us take a final exam. Again, this was not
challenging. Everything was very straightforward, and if you paid attention in class, then there were no surprises on
the final.

We were also given the opportunity to attend nightly seminars about religion, politics, and the history of Polish people.
These seminars were definitely drier subject wise than our regular classes, and with the stifling heat, it was a little
difficult to pay attention for 2 hours. Still, they were very informative and I came out knowing more than I went in with.

There were also several scheduled tours that we went on, from an hour long tour to the Pierniki Museum, to daylong trips
to Gdańsk and Poznań. The program definitely provided us with plenty of opportunities to immerse ourselves in Polish culture.

In the evenings, we had plenty of free time to shop, sight see, and of course nap. The old town of Toruń had a lot to offer:
it was safe and very close to our dorms. There were a large variety of restaurants in the town, the majority of which
served Polish cuisine. As someone unaccustomed to Eastern European cooking, it was a little bit of a challenge to find
foods that satisfied my discerning palette (yes, I'm a picky eater…). However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that in
Poland, it is perfectly acceptable to eat ice cream at all hours of the day, including in the morning. Toruń was
experiencing a heat wave while were there, so I was eating lody several times a day. Ice cream was so inexpensive. I
couldn't justify NOT eating ice cream after every meal!

Since it was in the mid-90s almost every day, the dorms were pretty uncomfortable temperature-wise, but we survived.
I ended up having a single room, which was nice. It was great to have some privacy and plenty of space to unpack
my ridiculous amounts of clothing.

I ended up taking the train back to Warszawa on Sunday afternoon, even though my flight wasn't until Monday morning.
I didn't want to chance having a delay and missing my flight. I had had such difficulty arriving in Toruń on the train
so for me it was much less stressful to head back a day early. The train ride was around 3 hours, without delays.
I ended up staying at a Holiday Inn in Warszawa; it was nice and again, very cheap. I would highly recommend for
future scholarship winners who are unfamiliar with the Polish train system to do the same.

Overall, this really was the experience of a lifetime. I can't believe I almost let this opportunity pass me by.
I made memories that I will have for the rest of my life. This trip definitely brought me closer to my Polish heritage.
I couldn't be prouder of my Polish roots, and am looking forward to one day returning to Poland again.   

Dziękuję PHSR!