My Erasmus

Hello everyone! 
In this post I’m gonna tell you a bit about the best experience of my life: my Erasmus.

I had always been clear that I wanted to go on Erasmus, since I considered it a great opportunity that I didn’t want to miss. 

However, what was not so clear to me was the destination, because I was interested in many European countries. Finally, due to the economic level and despite the cold, my friend Yesi and I decided to apply for Poland. We don’t usually think about this country when we talk about Europe. Precisely, that also made us decide for it, since it was a totally new culture and we were curious to discover it.

I remember perfectly the day that we arrived in Warsaw. It was September and there was a very good weather in Galicia, but when we land there we found a grey city and very serious people in general, distant and even unpleasant. We thought, “what do we do now?”

The next day we went to Torun, our destination city, and we only hoped that the situation would improve. On the way to the hostel that we had booked (because we went to Poland without a rented apartment yet) we already noticed the beauty of this medieval city bathed by the Vistula river.

Toruń

Then, the good times started. Despite how different Poland is from us in lifestyle, personality and culture in general, we adapted there perfectly! I think that it was because when you go abroad you find all cool because is new for you!

In that five months we met people from many countries and there are people and moments that we will never forget! It didn’t matter the day to go to party at the Kredens, the typical Polish pub with little a little red light and wooden tables where we use to go at nights. The party there was great! I used to dance and talk to many people from different countries, and it was so fun! When reggaeton songs were playing, all of the Spanish people went crazy singing and dancing, and the rest accompanied us! Another good thing was that the alcohol was very cheap: for 1,50-2€ you could drink the best Polish vodka.

One thing that I realized is that people love Spain and the Spanish! They say we are the best country to live because of the beach, the party, the food and the warm weather.

This is a photo of the day we went to a traditional Polish wedding, played by a Spanish boy and a Turkish girl who fell in love during the Erasmus. It was so cute!

 

The night of the Polish wedding

Without a doubt, one of the best parts of Erasmus is travel.

I went to Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Stockholm, in addition to having visited the main cities of Poland. All the trips have their anecdotes, good but also some bad, such as missing the train back to Torun or having to share a room in hostels where there was always someone who snored.

It would be difficult to choose the trip that I liked the most, but I think I would choose the one to Stockholm because we went all together and also because there are things that surprised me a lot, like that the public transport works with garbage, instead of use fossil fuels. I think that it invites us to reflection on how backward Spain is in the environmental matter.

Stadion Station of metro.

The place that fascinated me most of all was Zakopane, on the Polish border with Slovakia. It is a small town located between mountains, and every small place of it makes you fall in love, with the wooden houses and the stalls everywhere. You can have incredible views if you take the cable car and look at Zakopane from the top of the mountains. If you want to go there, I recommend you going in the winter to appreciate all its beauty.

The most impressive thing there is to hike to the Morskie Oko ("Sea eye" in English), in the Tatra Nacional Park. It takes approximately 5 hours walking, but it is worth it. The cold and the tiredness are forgotten when you arrive at the Morskie Oko, the frozen lake between the snowy mountains that surround it.

Morskie Oko Lake

 

If you have lived the Erasmus, you already know that it is incredible and you wish that it could be lived again. Getting out of the comfort zone and living abroad has been wonderful, it has made me learn many things, and many of them without realizing it.

I hope I have brought you closer to my experience and that it has been entertaining for you!