Kraków

AUSCHWITZ CAMP I

 Cyclone B. cannisters 

List of Inmates

AUSCHWITZ CAMP II 

 Taken in the women's barracks

SCHINDLER'S MUSEUM

 Words of victims

 Schindler's desk

SALT MINES

As much as I love history, I didn't choose to study it for my final years of school. Partly because I'm not very good with dates ( I mean I have forgotten my own birthday three times) and partly because I generally have a head like a sieve. However when the history teacher announced plans for a trip to Kraków, I couldn't see a reason not to tag along (other than the fact that I was pretty broke). It'd be time I get to spend with friends, and a highlight of our final year of school. Furthermore it'd be one more country to add to my travel list!!

But we've been back now for 2 months and I can't put a lid on the massive wanderlust hole that it's opened inside me. There's a humbling beauty in delving into a city's history, such as that of Kraków's that leaves you questioning your own knowledge of the world around you. I know people who've been in Ireland all their lives, don't own passports and have no desire to ever leave Ireland. Now while I do not judge these people, I have to be honest, I find it difficult to understand their reasons. I'm constantly wishing to wake up somewhere new. New cities,  new faces, new accents, new sounds, new, new, new.

I remember sitting in a very hot Kraków police station surrounded by officers, not understanding a single word anyone was saying and feeling completely beside myself. On the one hand I wasn't entirely happy that my purse had been pick pocketed and that being the reason I was there in the first place but on the other hand I oddly appreciated?...enjoyed?... the experience. Does that even make sense? Who loses all their valuables in a foreign country and is actually grateful for it?  

Thankfully I had generous and wonderful teachers who supported me for the rest of the trip and made contact with the authorities and came with me to their head office for a statement. My English teacher even rooted through some trash cans with me, t'was a real bonding experience for us!

But it was the fact that it happened, in a country I've never been to, where I do not understand or speak the language that made it more significant as an experience. I can probably live without having to go through that again, and I have definitely learned my lesson now but I crave the sense of adventure and bemusement I felt, especially when all the people in the office I was being questioned in started spontaneously dancing to Shawn Mendes' Stitches on the radio because it was the office favorite. Like what!??

Come July 13th I will be boarding a plane to Ghana, West Africa where I will spend three weeks with my family whom I have not seen in about 4 years. I am beyond ecstatic! However I don't think I'll be able to hold myself back after this trip. Is there such a thing as a travel bug? Because I think I've caught it, big time!!

What are some of the places you've been or want to go? And any recommendations? Love to know!

Till next time my pretties xxx