La tierra de los polacos

So fun fact...If a Spanish person were to read the title of this blog, they may believe that I would be talking about Cataluña because there is a derogatory joke which refers to those in Cataluña as "polacos." However, I am not the kind of person to throw around such pejorative reference. I went to the REAL land of the polacos. If you are still lost as to where I am referring, let me translate.
The land of the Polish.
I went to Poland!
My friend, Alexis and I stayed in Wroclaw. Coincidentally, a friend from Portland is from Wroclaw, so we didn't have to worry about figuring out our itinerary. She gave us plenty of suggestions!

just smelling the flowers...

Wish you were here

pretty money

 We loved the city itself. While there, we ate great food, tried authentic Polish beer and even discovered a free concert in a park. Everyone was super nice and most of them spoke English. The city of Wroclaw is also littered with small gnome statues...

It was a fun scavenger hunt to find them all!
The most impacting part of the trip was when we chose to visit Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was almost a 3 hour drive one way but we felt that since we were already in that part of the world, 3 hours didn't seem too bad.
It's always difficult to explain experiences like we had. We can't exactly saw we had a great time, it seems a little disrespectful. I can speak for myself when I say that I feel privileged to have seen Auschwitz to be able to carry that memory with me for the rest of my life.

The rocks are representative of prayers. It is a Jewish tradition.

What is left of a crematorium

"Work Makes Free"

A woman etched her "identity" into the wall...

While there, scenes from Elie Wiesel's Night were playing over and over in my head. It was an experience that I hope to never forget.

Overall, the trip was worth the short time spent. We loved Poland!

Now I am off to study which seems even harder to do when all from Portland are on summer vacation already. Also, my brother graduates this weekend from GU. So, Lewy congrats!!

Besitos.