The first part of my study aboard trip would see me go to Poland. Krakow was the first stop on our journey. Sadly, the flight to Poland took its toll on me. I am usually able to overcome jet lag quite easily, but I must have caught something on the plane or at the airport, because I fell quite ill. Sadly, I was unable to go on the tour on the first day, which was a shame because I was excited particularly to visit Krakow. Fortunately, I recovered quickly from whatever I caught and was able to explore Krakow in the following days.

I was really interested in exploring Krakow and Warsaw. I knew that Krakow was relatively untouched compared to other Polish cities during the Second World War. Therefore, I was eager to explore the city and compare it to Warsaw when we eventually reached it. I wanted to observe the differences between these two cities. While Warsaw was destroyed completely during the war, it would be interesting to see the contrast between historic Krakow and the relatively new city of Warsaw.

Our second day in Krakow we traveled by bus to Auschwitz. It felt somewhat surreal to be going there after learning about it for so many years. I already had a good understanding of Auschwitz and Birkenau due to my extensive study of Holocaust history. I was familiar with the various memorials within the museum. I had seen photos of the collection of human hair and the personal luggage of people who would never be able to retrieve their belongings. I was aware of the immense size of the entire camp and the countless lives lost due to the Nazis’ atrocities. I felt like I was prepared for all of that. However, there was one section of the camp that affected me. The prison and firing squad site were hard for me to think about. One method of torture and execution the Nazis did was simply forcing someone to stand until they died. Seeing a small little cell where they committed these heinous crime made my stomach turn.

After the trip to Auschwitz, we spent an additional day in Krakow. It was truly amazing to witness the beauty of the old city. The marketplace was particularly impressive, and there were numerous outstanding restaurants to explore. Even though I wanted to stay longer in the city, our program required us to visit many important places, so we sadly had to leave after only three days.