Krakow

At the end of March the exchange trip to Poland took place. On one of the four days we visited the city of Krakow. It was a sunny and warm day in southern Poland. We reached the city with a small, comfortable minibus and parked it in one of the many side streets. I immediately noticed the large number of churches that seem to play a much bigger role in Poland. The streets were clean and gave a proper impression. We visited the famous Collegium Maius.

In this guided tour we were made familiar with the history and daily life of the university. The rooms were for their age, still in a very good shape and the guide was able to give us an interesting overview of the early atmosphere in these rooms. The whole interior of the building was very classy. The rooms were furnished with old, large bookshelves that contained many old books written by former scientists, mathematicians, geographers and other professors. This university was the home of many famous scientists. Despite its bad experiences at the time of National Socialism, the university is still well preserved and the visit is worthwhile.

After the tour we went to the large market square (Rynek Glowny). When we reached this, we were immediately overwhelmed by the large number of tourists. Even if there were many pigeons, the ground was very clean. The whole market was full of market stalls, which sold souvenirs from Poland. The yellow umbrellas of the stalls stood out against the masses of tourists. You were greeted warmly there and the sellers made good prices. This motivated us to buy a large number of souvenirs. Our luggage was filled with Polish flags and T-shirts.

Our group got about two hours of free time in which we could visit the city. On our way to Wawel Hill, we saw many shops and tried to resist the good prices. But in some stores we couldn't resist any longer and so we brought some T-shirts and flags. It was quite a long way up the hill but it was worthwhile, because the castle and cathedral on the hill are very impressive and you have got an incredible view over the city from there. We stayed up there for a while and saw the beautiful buildings. Then we took a walk around the walls of the castle and we finally took some pictures in front of the statue of the Dragon of Krakow.

After having had an ice cream, we headed to the bus that took us back to Rybnik.

Nathan Kuriewicz (9/5)