Greetings from Katowice

What a delight it was to see snowy scenes from the sky as we landed at Krakow airport in Poland. I had anticipated cold weather so was surprised to find it wasn't quite as cold as I imagined when we stepped off the plane. From the sky, we could see frozen lakes but there wasn't freezing temperatures on the ground. I expect it will get colder though!

Our journey from Krakow to Katowice (where our study abroad placement is based) was a tale of two buses. They weren't expensive and it was lovely to see the countryside and city sites. Problems occurred when we actually arrived in Katowice. We relied on Google maps to direct us to the student dorms we had booked as accommodation. This probably wasn't the best idea and hauling heavy cases along some of the cobbled streets wasn't an easy ride!

Katowice

We found the Academy of Physical Education fairly easily but not the dorms. The Academy of Fine Arts, where we will be studying, does not have its own dorms so we were offered a room in an alternative university dorm. We were told they were within 300 metres of the University building we went to but it turned out they weren't. By chance, we ended up outside a blood bank and a man came out to greet us. He spoke very little English but tried to help us to get our bearings. Another man that worked there also helped and he even called his daughter so she could translate into English for us on the phone.

What happened next we didn't expect and we possibly shouldn't have gone along with... the men decided they would drive us to the dorms as they now knew where they were. It was lovely to not have to carry our heavy cases anymore but we were a little cautious to get in a van with a Polish man we had never met who could barely speak any English.
(Note to selves, learn Polish asap!)

We got to the dorms in one piece and were very grateful towards the Polish man. We checked in and went up to our twin room. I was pleasantly surprised, the room had been refurbished and is nice and light although this may be because there isn't any curtains!

Our room

I write this as our first night in Poland draws to a close. I look forward to the first briefing at the Academy of Fine Arts tomorrow and being able to explore Katowice in a lot more detail.

View from the dorm