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Life Through A Lens

Saturday, April 28, 2012

T.I.P. #3 Polish Girls Speedwalk

I don't know if I am the only one that has noticed this, but the women of Poland all seem to be endowed with some sort of super power. Nothing else can explain how they can walk so fast without even seeming to make an effort. Take any random day when I am walking to school, or just strolling around in the city, and I hear a ballad of high heels approaching. The competitive side within me tells me to not let myself get overtaken by someone walking in such, albeit beautiful, painful and disabling contraptions , so I quicken my pace. I get all cocky like "yea, that will show them who is the faster one here, shawty please, I climbed Mt. Kenya, I know how to walk like a boss!!" As I strut my pedestrian skills I hear the ballad quicken its pace and the clicks of the heels come ever closer. "Whuuuut," I think to myself, "how the heck is she still keeping pace with me, I should be like miles ahead by now" I keep on  speeding forward, almost breaking into a little sweat, and then all of a sudden, like out of nowhere, she passes me. And then another passes me, then 3 then 4 then 5. Not only do they just pass me, which in itself sort of caught me by surprise, but they do it without seemingly putting any effort into it. They just like float forward like some sort of 22nd century hover craft, while I am mangling ahead all "Dirty Jobs Excavators Style". I don't really know what to make of this, but needless to say I have been thoroughly humbled, and no longer try to win a race I know I am destined to lose.

But I see the positive side in this, when they pass me, at least I get the chance to look at them ;)

Pz

Friday, April 27, 2012

Break Around the Corner

Almost There! After some grueling couple of weeks the much awaited May break has arrived. Last day of classes are today, and then I can look forward to a whole week of NO SCHOOL! Logically, most of my Swedish classmates are returning to the motherland, but not me, instead my family is coming over to see how I have it here, and to experience Poland (!) =) I must say I am excited, the weather promises to be quite stupendous, with temperatures said to go as high as 26 on Monday Olsztyn is going to be reaching Ibiza levels. I have heard that in Sweden it is not quite so warm, so I count myself a winner in this situation.
On a side note, check out the Arsenal vids I have syndicated (just learned how to do that yesterday!) at the bottom right here on my blog. RVP's speech at the PFA Awards shows his commitment to the club quite clearly I daresay.
Now I am off to an intense PE class, ciao bella.

Pz

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Lato!

Early summer, or mature spring in any case, found its way to Olsztyn today, with the sun piercing through the clouds and waking up the city. Old Town sprung to life with all restaurants serving food outside, street musicians playing everything from Gotye to old Polish folk music. The latter being played on something that looked like a box (see picture), I am not quite sure if I am meant to understand what it is, but it sounded decent in any case. The bikers dusted of their MCs, a fair number which were outside my window just a moment ago in fact, and drove through town, as if to drive away any little hint of cold weather. After the shock snowfall last month though, I think it is only going to get warmer and warmer from now on. Maybe time to go for a dip in the lake by the dorm soon =) Nah, not yet maybe... 
Anyway, enjoy your day guys, wherever you all are, and relax to this spring melody by the vastly underrated Ludovico Einaudi whilst sipping on some freshly made lemonade or something =)

Pz

Saturday, April 21, 2012

T.I.P. #2

                                 (Always watching, ready for whatever comes at her in the line of duty)
This Is Poland #2: Polish Library Guards
I don't know if this is the case in all of Poland, but here in Olsztyn the University Library holds a very big secret.  It must be something of tremendously epic proportions that they want to keep out of sight of the general public, perhaps a pot of gold, dusty Teutonic war documents, old rum cellars, who knows. Any one of these, however, would not quite suffice as explanation of the latest form of security personnel: The Library Guards.
These are not your Run of The Mill keepers-of-the-peace, no, they are like highly trained Ninja's, ready to pounce on anyone that would even as much as dare approach the first floor with his/her jacket still on or with a bag in their possession.Time after time I have seen some of my more confident colleagues attempt to beat the system, but they have been ushered to the lockers and told to de-clothe their jacket and leave the bag behind. Then there is the problem of getting a key to the lockers, because to do this one has to first leave ones jacket at the entrance, and in return one gets the key to a locker. This is all well in the winter time, but now as the sun has found Poland and jackets are a thing of the past, a dilemma ensues. Students are left with 2 choices: either bring a bulky jacket in the blistering heat, or go through the long process of getting a key by signing in with the Student ID number.
The reason for all of this, as stated, is hugely unclear, but makes every trip to the Library a new challenge, a new possibility to test the skills of the Super Ninja Library Guards.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Of Histology and The Fast and The Furious

                                                      (morning cocktail: coffee and histo)
Colloquiums, the ever looming midterms of Polish Med school. "Caution Colloquiums May Appear Farther Then They Are" should be the sticker attached to each of the courses containing a Colloquium. Histology Colloquium came and went, took the test today, and after a couple of days spent staring into microscopes trying to figure out if that's the brain or the guts, one can move on the more enjoyable vocations of life, like watching the Champions League. (Chelsea vs Barca tonight, expecting a thrilling game)
Enough about Histology though, and on to something vastly more exciting. Criminality. Olsztyn is usually quite a quiet town, but every now and then one can see the most interesting things. So it came as an enjoyable surprise when on Monday evening as I was waiting for the bus (at Plac Roosevelta, see my last blog post for another adventure I experienced here) a pimped out black sports car came roaring around the bend, going so fast it almost went on two wheels as it was turning. It then accelerated down the main street, letting of a huge POP sound as the exhaust turned to fire!(just like in the movies!) It quickly turned into the nearest petrol station just as around the bend came to the police car, sirens wailing, in hot pursuit of the escaping culprit. The police car was just about the miss the turn off for the petrol station, but the black sports car revved its engine, alerting the police to where it was. The police, falling for the trick, turned into the station, and as soon as they did the black car speed out of the petrol station and on to the main road again. It was ice cold criminal freaking stroke of pure genius. The elusive escapee then went against red light by the traffic stops near Osiedle Podgrodzie and vanished into the night. My friends and I all cheered the brilliance and quick-wittedness of the Masked Machine, making the cops sheepishly turn back and give up their pursuit á la Zoro and Captain Ramon style.

Just another day in Olsztyn folks.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Catching The Bus, Like a Boss

You know those epic commercials when the guy misses the bus at the bus station, but since he is such a boss (or wearing the sneakers that are trying to be sold) he manages to beat the bus to the next bus station? Well, yours truly just had one of those moments. Let me break it down to you all.
I was on my way back from church near Plac Roosevelta in the center of Olsztyn, and as I was passing McDonalds to head to the intersection,  I spotted bus 15 approaching from the city center. Now there are quite a few buses going from the center of town out to Kortowo, where I live, but one does not really memorize the bus timetable, so every now and then one has to wait for half an hour or so to get the next bus going in the right direction. I was feeling up for a challenge, so I hurried onto the intersection, planning to catch the bus at its next stop, the one in the area, Plac Roosevelta. As the bus stopped for red at the intersection I rushed ahead, crossed one road, and started sprinting to get to the bus station in time. However, the bus driver must have seen my desperate efforts, because he barely stopped at Plac Roosevelta and instead raced on ahead, to the next station, Osiedle Podgrodzie.
I was not to be beaten that easily, however, and with adrenaline pumping throughout my body I started flat out sprinting to catch up with the bus yet again. And to make matters worse, it was a straight distance, so no turns to slow the bus down or anything, it was just me against the machine. Pierna a Rueda. However, my fortune was about to change.
Just before Osiedle Podgrodzie there is a traffic light, and it turned red just as the bus approached it. At this point I was still huffing and puffing my way forward ca 300 meters behind the bus, but this slice of luck gave me the final kick I needed. I made my way past the bus, smiling at the onlooking passengers inside, and stopped to let the bus catch up to me at the bus stop. As the bus arrived, I lifted my head high, stood with my back erect and a cheeky smile on my lips, climbed unto my royal carriage and felt pretty much amazing.

or as they say in Poland, Tak Jak Boss.

(ok, so they don't really say that, but they should!)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Jogging Route


Managed to find a program that filmed what i saw on the screen, and then I traced out my jogging route on google earth. It is actually really cool. You can even see the buses waiting at the bus station! Its about 6km as it is basically around the lake twice and into the residential areas. Takes me about 30 min. Very nice run indeed.



Friday, April 13, 2012

T.I.P.#1

This is the first of many T.I.P. (This Is Poland) posts i will be posting on here, viewing culture clashes from a purely comical perspective. So yes, stereotypes will be widely used, but there is no ill intent and it is all for laughs, so its alright ;)

#1: Polish Gym Class
In most places in the world, P.E. or gym as some call it is considered to be pretty much the slacker class, the one class nobody really cares about. I mean, you go there, do the exercises whatever, and then spend all too much of your recess time in the shower so that you run late for the next class. It is a necessary evil in the eyes of not only most students, but also most teachers. I mean, at my highschool, the P.E. teachers were ironically the least fit of all the teachers, so they definitely just wanted to get the class over with, however much they tried to conceal that fact.
In Poland however... P.E. is insane! it is like a whole body workout! I was skeptical to the idea of P.E. at University level at first, due to my previous experiences with the subject, but over here in Olsztyn I was shown a whole new dimension, Next Level Gym-class if you will =) Sure, they still have all these weird exercises probably passed down from some old Prussian drill sergeant, but hey, they work! Coming back from Friday morning gym class is like coming back from a good shift in the weight room, endorphin flowing freely and everything looking up! I must say I quite like it. 

Pz

Heringsalat and other delightful surprises


I have never been a big fan of the "Sill" that is served at Christmas and Easter in sweden, but i bought this herring salad mix at lidl and i think i am a fan. Granted, the taste is not quite as sour as the taste of "sill", so maybe therein lies the reason for my fondness of it. On to other surprises, or maybe not quite so surprising after all, i have P.E. this lovely friday morning, and in fact the only real surprise there is whether we will play volleyball or football. Not complaining though, the P.E. warm-up over here is basically a whole body workout, so it is great when trying to get that "summer bod".
Neuranatomy and Pelvis and Perineum lecture are also on the schedule today, so this lovely friday is actually rather chill. But there lies the danger, it is the calm before the storm so to speak. Next week there are histology colloqiums, a Polish test, lots of anatomy to study...basically the schedule will be packed. I am hoping Arsenal will win on Monday to get that week of to a good start, but thats for next week.

Pz

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Days End

so after a long day of school and studying and randomly browsing the web (regrettably too much time was spent on the latter) I can go to bed. No worries though, did my good deeds for the day, helped some friends study for their abdomen mcq, managed not to fall asleep in Academic Skills (the power of coffee is immense) and I did not rush out of my room to go tell my lovely neighbours to shut the frick up! =) Now for bed, i think in the future i'll stick to morning blogs, just seem more refreshing than late night ramblings...

Pz.

What the heck.... i'll start a blog!

Ok, so I guess I will give this blogging business a try, I mean why not right?? =) Anyway, as I am getting used to the whole thing I will eventually find my little niché in the bloggiverse, but topics like Football (Arsenal in particular), medicine, third culture kid experiences, and everyday life challenges will definately appear time and time again. Pz out.