Lulu does Poland, first installment

So this is my first blog, and although the formal backpacking superstars portion of europe is over, I feel obligated to document my week of Polish insanity.

So after leaving Joe, Kris and Inbal at the Madrid airport, waiting around and sleeping awkwardly in uncomfortable airport chairs for hours and hours on end, I arrived in Warsaw at around 7PM. Walking to passport control, I felt excited to be embarking on what I thought I would be completely surrounded by a foriegn language and culture. Looking down at my feet, when I saw the words "Please don't step beyond this line" I knew I was wrong... almost everyone in Poland speaks English, too.

I grabbed my pack from the baggage belt and no sooner had I walked through the sliding glass doors of the arrival's gate, when I saw Gosia bouncing and barreling through the crowd to attach me with a hug. She grabbed my pack from me and began running towards the bus, me trailing behind Gosia with a 16Kg backpack, an activity that would occupy the rest of my Polish trip.

After at riding on at least 4 buses, Gosia and I arrived at her brother's flat, in which she had been squatting for weeks. Walking in the door, desheveled from not having showered in 48 hours, I found myself in the middle of a Polish flat party. Gosia fussed over me, introducing me to everyone in the room, and although I couldn't remember people's names and we all had mutual pronunciation problems, they were extra sweet to me.

After showering, Gosia plopped me down next to two of her good friends who were excited to practice their English with me. We had such pleasant conversations when Gosia poked me and said "look around"... everyone at the Polish party was starring at us quite awkwardly, and I was later informed by Gosia that it was because they found me "exotic"... Then the drinking started, and I was soon forgotten about long enough to slip out of the house with Gosia for a drive around Warsaw at night.... so beautiful!!

The next day was full of sleeping for me, while Gosia prepared for the wedding of a close friend. In her email, she told me she had to "witness" this wedding, so I assumed it would be a simple ceremony at a city building... however, it turned out that she simply forgot the correct translation of "maid of honor". After I realized this, I knew I was in for a crazy experience.

Not fully realizing what exactly was going to happen, the day of the wedding Gosia was so busy that she sent me off with a two of her friends, designating them as my babysitters, Tomok and Hung. They were super sweet and took me to a museum, on a walk of Warsaw and then finally, to the wedding; a traditional Catholic Polish wedding in a gorgeous Cathedral in Old Town Warsaw... it was breath taking, except for the fact that I couldn't understand anything that was going on, but I had Hung with me, and when she lacked the words to describe to me where we had to go and why, she just grabbed me by the hand and led me there.

The ceremony was beautiful, but I was relieved when it ended thinking "ok, now Im off the hook, I can just sit back, eat and watch Polish people party"... then at the reception, Hung grabbed my hand and led me to the spot two seats away from the bride and groom who I had never met before, but who turned out to be so very welcoming.

"You're the States girl? The American friend of Gosia?" The groom asked me. "You drink...." he said. "Yes, I drink," I said, taking a spit of my champange." "No, not a question... You Drink!" He responded, and the whole table laughed in my direction, and then poured me multiple shots of Vodka and an unidentified Polish liquor that one man kept insisting was "Beetle's blood, traditional Polish beetle's blood". For the rest of the evening, I felt like Ian's mother in My Big Fat Greek wedding... and then we danced, drank and ate tons of delicious food until 7AM the following day.

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip... :) (I miss you guys)