Back to Central, January 2017

I visited Central for about two hours this afternoon. My primary purpose there was to deliver some Christmas cards I hadn't been able to give at the end of last year but I was also visiting to catch a little with some of the people there whom I know. This was mostly the receptionists and library staff, but also my teachers and the canteen workers.

The library staff said they'd been talking about me that morning, as they had been discussing some pictures of mine. Last year, I had given them some of my Poland image for use in the Holocaust memorial they would setting up this year.

It was only a short visit back to Central but I was able to fit a lot into that two hours - far more than I expected - and it was a worthwhile use of time; it was good to see former familiar faces again.

Seeing relatives

For the first time since the day I returned to Nottingham in September, I had an in-person conversation with relatives - my grandparents! In the late afternoon, I travelled to their house on the bus (which coincided with my bus friend being on board, which was a bonus) and spent the evening and dinner with them. In addition to seeing them, I had a few items from theirs that I wanted to collect.

This past month is so far the longest I've spent without seeing any relatives. Before October 2016, the last time I went without seeing any was the time I spent in Poland back in February.

Now only a week to go

As of today, it is only a week to go before I move into my accommodation at Nottingham Trent University. The university's welcome week begins the follow Monday, when course inductions and events for new students start, and then my classes themselves begin the week after that.

This new move will mark the first time I've ever lived away from family and the first time I've spent a significant amount of time away from any relative. When I went to Poland, that in itself was the first time I spent a night or more away from family and the first time I went a day without any sort of communication to or from them. At the very least, this experience at university will be interesting.

A visit from the East of England

My East of England aunt, uncle and one cousin are here for the night; my other cousin from there and his girlfriend were also here but they recently left to return to their city. For the evening, my aunt and uncle showed us some of their pictures from their visit to Aisa, which they undertook last month and into part of April. I still have to show my grandparents what I took in Poland.

Approving some comments

As of this writing, I have eight comments waiting to be approved. I am not ignoring them; rather, since the Poland trip I have been working on an assignment that is due tomorrow. Once I have completed and submitted this assignment, I will approve all comments and give them each a proper response rather than one-liners. Thanks for waiting!

Zloty 50 note

While in Poland, the currency I used there was the zloty. Here is as example of a 50 zloty note...

...from its front...

...and from its back. One British pound is worth about five zloty, so the above note was worth ten pounds. Ten pounds goes further in Poland than in the United Kingdom because prices are cheaper there; however, it's only cheaper for people who visit the country and have currency worth more than the zloty. On Polish wages, prices are about the same as they are here.

I have several Polish coins, which I'll post here soon. I took the above photographs while I was still in Poland.

Above Britain

On the flight to Poland, I considered myself fortunate to have a window seat. In the parts of the flight when it was still daylight, I observed the landscape, such as this view of a British town:

Given that this was taken high up in the air, through a window and with my phone, I am impressed that this photograph turned out so well. The only downside is that I do not know what town this is, as there was no accessible wifi and my phone was in "airplane mode", thus unable to access mobile data, so I couldn't pinpoint on a map where my plane's location was.

Return from Poland

Yesterday at night, we flew back to the United Kingdom from Poland; it was past 11:00 when we returned and I waited until 12:10 for my Skylink bus back to Nottingham. My aunt picked me up once I was back.

The Poland trip was highly beneficial for several reason: (1) I had the chance to experience Auschwitz-Birkenau. (2) I listened to a talk from a Holocaust survivor who was present in the room with me. (3) I experienced another country and (4) I met people from other classes while bonding with some members of my own class some more.

While I intend to post some pictures of the sites on my blog at a later date, I'm not sure how much I'll go into my feelings about all the historical aspects of the trip. The Holocaust is a heavy topic.

Finally, I am sorry for my delay in approving and replying to comments that people have posted while I was away; typing on my phone is hard and so I kept to writing short posts.

Holocaust survivor and return from Poland

This morning, we all walked up to the Galicia Jewish museum, where we had a speech from and met a Holocaust survivor. Again, I'll cover this in as later post, although encountering a Holocaust survivor was also something I didn't envision ever doing, either. As for now, some of us walked around Krakow for a few hours and now we're in our hotel lobby before our coach taking us back to the airport arrives.

Auschwitz and Birkenau

The class trip took us to the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. I will admit, these are not places I ever envisioned myself visiting and it was strange going to them but you know what, it was worth it. I might write more in another post, as it's hard typing up a blog post using my phone.

In Poland

I have arrived safely in Poland and am in the city of Krakow. I had had a good flight, several good bus rides and a good meal. Now I'm off to bed. Oh, and Blogger switched to the Polish language - I had to restore it to English so I could navigate!

Poland

Tomorrow, I'm flying out with several of my classmates to Poland. It is a trip to Auschwitz, organised by my Sociology teacher and is open to anybody taking an Access or Pre-Access course at my college. We return late on Thursday evening.

This will be my first time outside the United Kingdom since I moved here, my first time flying without family and my first time outside the airport of a country that doesn't speak English as its dominant language (I've been to the Netherlands but only to Schipol).

No class today

It was bizarre not having to go into class today, given that Sociology finished a week ago. The last occasion when I didn't have to attend a lesson on a Thursday during term time was in the Poland visit week, when our Sociology teacher was leading that trip.

I can't say I like the feeling; no, not at all, because it's another reminder that my course is coming to an end. Plus, as I've stated numerous times, I enjoy being in college; I've never been a fan of the "days off" and not going in on a day when I feel I should be there just doesn't seem right.

The nights out (2)

I'll soon be heading out for my second night out in a row. I shall be going, with my college friends, to a new buffet restaurant for dinner. If the charity night and the class trip to Poland aren't counted, this will be the first time we've been out together since just before Christmas. I'm looking forward to it!

I was treated to a pleasant surprise on my way home after last night: the card payment scanner on the bus I rode back was broken. As a result, the driver told me to just "take a seat" and, thus, my return journey was free!

Second class

My second class at college occurred this afternoon; the lesson was Sociology, which I will have every Thursday. The first half of the lesson was another induction, which my teacher was trying to avoid because the Sociology exam will be in May rather than June; it was also about the two field trips that students on my course will be able to take.

The first trip will be to London and will be in mid-October; the trip involves visiting some of the museums there, such as the Imperial War Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The second trip is a visit to Auschwitz in Poland. There are some fees involved for both trips: I will be able to pay the fare for London but it is not financially possible for me to visit Poland, so I have to rule the latter trip out.

The second part of the lesson involved the class being split into groups and debating how to build a new society on an island if the rest of humanity were to be destroyed. There were no right or wrong answers; however, our teacher did present arguments against anything that we thought would help build and maintain this fictional new society (she did say that she would play devil's advocate), and she pointed out aspects that me missed, such as the construction of toilet facilities. The entire class enjoyed the debate.

As for the teacher herself, I liked her. She was effective at getting her points across and she knew how to appropriately add humour. I had an idea of what to expect from her because she helped me with one of my forms on enrolment day.

Tomorrow's subject is English! I've been good at that subject in the past and I'm hoping that'll hold true for tomorrow and every English class I have afterwards.