Invited to a friend's

---

August 2 - Today I left Krakow. A shame, because I really like the town, but I have a few more places I would like to go before I go home, and I am starting to feel in the mood to go home. I woke up around 8am and went down to search for a hostel in Wroclaw, that I would be going to on Tuesday. I booked one that sounded nice, and then had breakfast with a bunch of people at the hostel that I have met over the last couple of days. I had to leave to catch the 11:05am bus to the tram to make it to the hair stylist for my noon appointment. That's right - I had my hair cut in Krakao today. I have been wanting to have it cut for months, and it is expensive in Switzerland, plus I am afraid of not getting someone who speaks English. I have been looking around in Krakow, and there are many, many salons, but I am always too chicken to walk in to one. I asked Aga at the hostel about it and she said she would see about getting me an appointment with her girl. In the end, she was able to make the appointment for noon. Originally I wanted to be on a bus to Bielsko-Biala by 9:45am today, as Daria that I met in Torun invited me to come stay at her house for a couple of days. I was worried that I did not have a couple of days, because I am on a strict plan right now to make it all work in the time I have left, but I thought it was nice that she asked me to visit, so I decided to go for one night. The noon appointment made those plans a little more difficult, but I figured it was worth a nice haircut.

The girl who cut my hair was named Michelle, and she was from New Zealand. She moved to Krakow a year ago after falling in love with a young Polish guy she met in New Zealand when he was on holiday last year. We had a long chat as she cut my hair, and I think she did a really good job. The only issue we had was the time constraint for making the bus, so she wasn't able to blow dry it properly. Still, it looked quite good when she was done and then I had to make my way to the bus station, which was just two bus stops down and a walk through the train station. I made it to the bus with plenty of time. I was originally trying to get the bus at 1:35pm, but got one at 1:20pm. I think this bus must have been a slower bus though, because I arrived after 4pm and the original bus was meant to be there at 3:30pm. Either way, it sucked. It was hot outside, and even hotter in the bus itself. I sweat all the way to Bielsko and my hair definately did not look its best when I arrived. Bummer.

Daria met me at the bus station and we dumped my big pack in a locker at the nearby train station. The we set off to walk around the town. She showed me one of many city centers, as well as a cemetary and a closed up old factory that we walked around inside of. I was worried people were living there, but the only ones we saw were some kids up on the roof who left when we got there. We had some dinner and then ended up at the movies and again got our huge popcorn and coke thing. We saw the Sorcerer's Apprentice, which I enjoyed. It was a fun movie, exactly what I was in the mood for. I decided to leave my things overnight at the train station and just deal with what I had for the evening, since it would be easier not to carry my pack to her place. We got a bus back to her house and I got to meet her mom. Her mom is very nice, but told me I should really stay another night because there was a cultural event with many countries participating tomorrow night. I told her I already had a reservation at a hostel in Wroclaw, but she told me to try to cancel it. So I sent an email to the hostel to try to cancel my reservation. I even watched a couple episodes of the Daily Show before going to sleep at midnight. I am sleeping in the library, the only room on the third floor. I rather like it. And it is my first time having a room to myself since sleeping in Helsinki at the start of my trip. I could get used to this.

August 3 - I slept until almost 8am and then played on the internet for an hour. I am researching ways to get home next week. Plane or train, this is the question. Planes are so much faster, but less romantic, and I'd have to be sure of where I will be on a certain date. A train will take ages, with poor sleep on an overnight, but I need very little advance planning. We shall see how that works out. I had a skype call at 9am and then went downstairs around 9:30am. Daria and I had breakfast and then had a lazy beginning to the day. W"e even watched the Disney channel. There are so many more American tv channels/programs here than in Basel. Eventually we left to go to the nearby mountain. We took a bus for ten minutes or so to get there, and then took a gondolato get to the top of the mountain. Once we were at the top we started to hike.

We hiked to the station, a building with beer and ice ceam. We got an ice cream, sat and ate it, and then hiked some more. Before we could make it to the next peak, we heard thunder and decided to go back. The rain held off pretty well and when we reached the gondola there was a line. It is usually constantly moving, but due to weather conditions (I think), it was not going. But in a few minutes in started again and we did not have to wait long for our turn. While we were inside our gondola, it did start to rain a bit. Once we exited, it was really raining. We decided to wait it out as Daria said it would only rain for about twenty minutes. She was right - quick thunderstorm and then it was over. We walked back down and got straight on the bus back home.

At home we hung out for a bit, played with her two dogs, and then eventually her mom came home. She made pasta for lunch at 3pm, and while that was cooking, she and I ate a soup she prepared yesterday. It was a cold beet soup like borscht. Pretty good really. I have noticed that making soup from scratch is really commonplace in Europe, which fascinates me. I never really considered making soup in the US unless it was a special meal. I have no idea how to do it, but it seems so natural to everyone here.

We decided to leave for this cultural event Daria's mom had mentioned yesterday at 4:30pm. It took about an hour to get to Wisla, the town where it was being held. It is a popular ski town in the winter, like a small Aspen. I was worried about the weather, but it held out nicely. There were booths set up all over the place for souveneirs and food - the normal stuff. We ate a small piece of fried cheese with jam and then took seats in this outside amphitheater. We saw several groups perform traditional Polish music, songs, and dance, mostly from the area. It was quite fun to watch and it reminded me, as all cool dancing does, that I should have been a dancer. We watched for about two hours and then headed back home. It was hard for me to stay awake, in both directions actually, but I managed somehow.

At home Daria made some popcorn and left it for me and her mom while we watched an episode of True Blood, the last one I had seen before leaving for the summer break, to remind myself where I had left off. Daria is a season ahead of me and watched the new episode from Sunday night in her room while we watched the other in the living room. After the episode I was exhausted and headed up to bed. The internet is down here after the storm for some reason, so sadly, Jon Stewart is not an option tonight and I am three episodes behind.

Tomorrow they are going to drive me to another town where I can get the train to Prague. It seems strange to say goodbye to Poland when I have been here for so long compared to all of the other countries on this trip. But I am looking forward to seeing Prague, a city everyone loves.

---