Trzemeszno - Poland 2004

Following without willing Murphy's rule that says that "The most walked roads go nowhere", we started our way to a destination about which nowadays you don't hear many Romanians that are going to: Trzemeszno - Poland. After a relatively short preparing (a week), we were on our way to a town which name we weren't even able to pronounce and the only thing about it that we knew was it's location on the map.

The trip has proven to be even more interesting than I've expected. We crossed Hungary and Slovacia which impressed me with their landscapes that couldn't be put on paper only by a painter, landscapes drowned in the autumn rain, which didn't hezitate to appear even from the first day.

Sleepy and a little tired we arrived in Poland in the morning, and even here the same as the other two countries before it, gains the traveler's view with the huge cathedral of the forest, dressed in a cosmic colour, given by the amount of dead leaves that were staying almost to fall from the trees branches; yellow, red, orange, brown, gold and a little green, this was the palette of colours that the third daughter of the year used on the northern lands. It was like the powers of the underworld had awakened everywhere and caught the mountains in a burning fire. The hymn of unbroken silence was rising all around us, that until we got to the first Polish town. Houses built after the modern architecture, in pastel colours, some of then even with two floors, churches with towers that were rising proudly to the sky, banks with many floors and from place to place you could find parks with lakes in which the fish were swimming freely and the swands were floating with grace. These parks were like some oasises of peace and quiet and the time here seemed to stop unlike the rest of the town where the people pass in a hurry, the cars are caught in ugly conglomerations and most of the walls are covered with posters and graffiti.

After we got caught in a real labirint, we got t the destination. Our first stop was at school, where we met our hosts and the other students of the high school, more or less of our age. Even from the begging, they all proved to be opened and caring. They welcomed us with their famous tea "good for all" which we are about to receive every day. Also very efficient we were quickly aware of the children we were going to stay as fast as you say "jeden" ("one" in polish), therefor I got home to Justyna's, the girl I was going to stay to for the following 4 days.

The hosting family welcomed me with lots of warmth and considering the fact that the girl's parents didn't know any English, at the beginning we would understand one another throughout signs and through Justyna. I said at the beginning because I've learnt some Polish words like greetings (good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night, good bye, see you, hello, hi...) or polite phrases (thank you, you're welcome, I am sorry, my apologize...), words often met (dog, coffee, tea, cat, brother, sister, friend, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, class mate) and I also found out how to ask for help, how to ask someone to leave or to shut up, to motivate my refusal or my deaparture, to tell someone my name or to say that I am tired and lots others. Justyna's mother familiarized me with the traditional plates until I left and she had even given me some recipes.

We visited Poznan and Gniezno, where I've been impressed by the historycal centers of the two cities, which look a little like the old center of Braşov. In Gniezno we've seen the Catholic Cathedral and in Poznan the city hall with clock, which at 12 o'clock was a real tourist attraction because two gates would open and two goats would come out and fight. We've also visited the "White Lady's" Castle where we had the privilege to assist at a rare book exhibition, from the beginning of times, in some of them we could even find our three humble little states Transylvania, Romania and Moldavia, and after that Dobrogea.

At the talking sessions organized at the school and the ones not organized I've discovered and found out new things, like the schooling system of the students from Polish, Bulgarian, and French schools, which is very different of ours, starting from the grading system and ending with the exams. We found out what kind of music the children from other parts of Europe listen to and how they spend their spare time. I found out what they think, want and expect from life the corespondents of our generation from other countries.

And like a short description, the Polish are wise people, caring, and which never brake their 2 rules: "Guest in our house, god in our house" and "Never look back". The French are literate, convinced patriots, that care a lot about their national values and really good art critics.

I met mentalities different than mine and I discovered that when you look from a different angle, new horizons reveal, that the world is not limited only at my country, my town ant that's it. You have to see beyond the horizon line, you have to believe that the Earth is round and that the circle closes only when you returned from the place you left and looking back you achieved something...new friends and knowledge.

Suciu Gabriela, National College "Lucian Blaga" Sebes, Romania