Traveling to us this time
Perry and I originally came out to Europe because I was hired as a wedding photographer for some family friends! We got to fly to France to cover their wedding, and we decided to use the time afterwards to travel, (I intend to eventually share a blog post about the wedding experience). We spent a week in Paris and Bordeaux for the wedding, and after that we spent three weeks traveling through Europe. It gets exhausting though, because on average we were in a new city every three days, and two new countries every week. Yeah, countries are pretty close to each other here, but you get all your stuff packed and unpacked in each new place, get settled and unsettled, and after a while you crave a longer stay. When we got to Warsaw to start our position at the hostel, we really relished the opportunity to stop in one spot. My mom made the observation that we were experiencing travel in a new way, because people were now traveling TO US. It's been unique, and great so far. Its a different way of traveling and it has changed my outlook on how to continue my life. It's a mantra now. Instead of working for the weekend, I'd like to set up my life so I can work for THIS.
There's so much I want to share about this experience, such as encouragement to others who want to try it, the pros and cons of being an event coordinator, how our experience as Americans in Europe has been, and so on. I'd like to also talk about Warsaw and Poland, and the awesome staff who have graciously taken us into their family at the hostel here.
What I want to share right now, are some of the faces of the people who have become our friends, foes, and acquaintances over the last two weeks. Though we have been working here for a month, we stupidly didn't have our cameras until the last two weeks.
Every person we meet is so different. Some restore our faith in humanity and some destroy it, but there are common themes. Here are the top questions we get from most of the people we meet here.
1. (Upon hearing my accent) Wait, where are you from? OR Oh, so you're American?
2. (Upon hearing that I'm from California) WHY ARE YOU IN POLAND? (This is always said in shock)
3. Do you own a gun?
4. Do you like Donald Trump?
5. Is College like in the movies? (Europeans call it "University" or "Uni", and I've learned that to them, the word "College" indicates a party world, where as "uni" indicates sophistication.)
6. Wait, you don't surf but you're from California?
7. Are you dying from the cold here in Poland?
8. Can you speak Polish? Oh, you can't? Then how do you work here?
9. Are you in debt from university?
