A Joke from Doctor Josh.

so i've been working on my assignment number three all day. my friend, molly, and i were sitting on the computers typing up the problems and josh, one of our professors walks up behind us. normally, this would cause frustration because he sometimes complicates or deviates instructions from the other instructors or otherwise makes the work more confusing. he means well though, the material is inherently boring and confusing. instead, he asks us if we are doing alright and we said, "yeah, we're okay". he then he proceeds to tell us, " a skeleton walks into a bar and he asks for a pint of beer and a mop". we look at him, kind of confused, and then we get it. a joke! it was great. i can't wait to get this work done!

Lost in Warsaw.

So we set off in search of this communist themed restaurant without knowing that the route had not be planned ahead of time. It soon became clear that we were going to get lost both due to the fact that we are completely unfamiliar with most areas of the city, and that those who had come up with the idea of going to this out of the way location would not accept help in the way of navigation. An hour to an hour and a half later we finally arrived at the location and had a beer. It was a generally pleasant dinner with Molly, Jessica, Shannon, Kelly, and Nicki. It was especially nice because the group that went doesn't generally hang out with each other all the time. I had a roasted vegetable salad with goat cheese and boiled potatoes (because it's Poland), apparently my salad was pretty bourgsie, by the potatoes were for the proletariat. 

**take a look**

Work Work Work

The weekend was fun, but this week is pretty stressful. We are all hurrying to work on our research papers, which are due at the end of the trip (yikes). Mine is about the relationship between gender, employment, and self-confidence (so far). So mostly we've been spending our time in the computer lab. Tonight we are hoping to go to a restaurant that is Communist themed or something? Supposedly, there is a menu for the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. I wonder where vegetarians fall?

here is the website of the place

http://www.czerwonywieprz.pl/

Fun Weekend

Hello Everyone,
We went on another tour of a different part of Poland this weekend. We went to Lodz, which was a lot of fun. I was sure it was going to be exhausting (we don't get much down time to just sleep), but it was pretty worth it. We went dancing with our Polish friends, Piotr and Szimon (sorry if I spelled your names wrong, guys) the night before, so we were extra tired and not exactly enthusiastic to take the train to a new city. However, the train ride was relaxing and we made it to Lodz in no time. Lodz is the second largest city in Poland and once had a large textile industry. It is also home to one of the largest, if not the largest, Jewish cemetery in Europe. This cemetery was our first stop. It was beautiful. There were a mix of new and extremely old gravestones. The cemetery is still open to burials, so many parts of it were well kept. Other parts, however, were extremely overgrown and broken. It was almost as if the gravestones were part of the greenery in some places. The trees had completely taken them over with leaves, ivy, and moss making them green and organic looking. There is conflict among the Jewish community as to whether or not these areas should be cleaned up. The overgrowth is a clear indication of how Jewish life was completly eradicated as a result of the war. Following the visit to the cemetery we saw the Museum of Cinematography featuring great posters of Pola Negri and other famous movie stars. We went to a restaurant, Greenway, for lunch after that. Greenway is part of a chain of vegetarian restaurants in Poland. Lastly, we visited Manufactura, which was formerly a textile mill. Recently, though, it has been converted into a modern mall. There is a large sand pit for volleyball and a playground, as well as many stores and restaurants. The look of this place is very cool because there is a lot of glass and other modern architectural attributes overlayed onto this really old, brick textile mill. So, the weekend was pretty good, but I'm really exhausted. School and the work load from it have started to accelerate, which is becoming somewhat overwhelming- but there are only 11 days left.**Photos (thanks Molly): Lodz Train Station, Jewish Cemetery, Manufactura**