Summer Language in Lublin, Poland

For those of you who might enjoy reading this blog, I am writing again now that I have moved to Europe for a year. I had a really busy and stressful school year. I finished all of my Ph.D. coursework and passed my comprehensive exams and proposal defense, so now I am technically no longer a "student." Of course, I haven't written my dissertation yet, so I'm a Ph.D. candidate. I received two nice fellowships to fund my year in Europe while I collect materials for my dissertation. Another bit of information, I recently got engaged to my girlfriend of two years, Sylvia. She is from Slovakia and so we both moved to Slovakia together for the next year. We'll be getting married in January in her hometown. So in other words, my year abroad isn't strictly research related.

After three weeks in Slovakia, I traveled to Lublin, Poland, a large city in Eastern Poland near the Belarus and Ukraine borders. Many years ago, when Poland extended much father to the East in what is now Ukraine, Lublin was very central in Poland, but not it is considered the extreme East. Lublin has played an important role in Poland's history. It was the site of the Union of Lublin, which joined Poland with Lithuania in the commonwealth. It also had an important role during World War II. Hitler had planned for Lublin to be the location of German administration in the East. It was central to the execution of Operation Reinhardt, which was the main plan to exterminate Jews during the War. On the outskirts of town is Majdanek Concentration Camp, one of the most notorious concentration and death camps of the Third Reich. I'll write more about my visit there in a later post.

I am currently four weeks into a six week long Polish language course. I have about 3 1/2 hours of Polish language each day. I am studying and staying at the Katolicki Uniwersystet Lubelski Jana Pawla II. The Catholic University of Lublin was the only private university and the only Catholic university to remain in operation during the communist period in Eastern Europe. It is also famous for its faculty, of which Karol Wojtyla was a member for nearly 25 years before being elected Pope. My qualifying exam was conducted in the pope's former favorite classroom, which was a bit intimidating for me. The inner courtyard of the main university building was also the most memorable site of the Pope's 1987 visit to Poland. Our dormitory is approximately half way between Lublin's old town and the main university building. It makes for a few nice walks each day. In the evenings, we usually gather a group of people to go for a drink or some food on one of the outdoor patios in the old town. I'll be writing more about some specific topics and trips we have taken in the next posts. Sylvia and I will be writing a lot together this year, throughout the year...so we look forward to sharing all of our experiences.

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