Poland

Me and 10 other people from the college decided to have a memorable Spring break in Poland March 30 - April 3. It all actually started when I was still back in Finland, getting ready to leave for Hungary again. My dad began to tell me how I must go to Auschwitz this semester, since Hungary is so close to Poland and it would be easy to take a train there and back. I told him that the idea is marvelous, but I couldn't afford it. My mom stepped into the conversation and also agreed with my dad, how great an experience it would be, and my dad got so excited about it that he promised to pay for the trip, as long as I just went. Of course I couldn't let such an offer to pass by, and as the spring break was coming up, I began to ask around if someone would like to join me. The result was four girls and five guys, plus me. 

 

All of us, plus Imre
(c) Clemens

Day 1

We got a permission to skip Koinonia on Thursday, March 30, so we could take the 4.34pm train from Vajta to Budapest. Don and Imre were a huge blessing us, driving us to the nearby train station. I am also thankful for the kitchen crew who generously provided quite a massive amount of snacks for the trip.

At the Vajta train station John got to practice his Hungarian as he bought the tickets for all of us (and we paid him back of course). The ticket guy seemed very sweet For some reason he kept coming back to John several times after he had already given him the tickets, because he wanted to see them again and again. As we got on the train, he had a wide smile on his face and waved us goodbye. Hopefully it meant that he really liked us, and not that he was overly happy to finally get rid of us...

   

John and I, Vajta train station
(c) Clemens





Selah and Mike
(c) Clemens



 

(c) Clemens

In Budapest we bought our tickets to Krakow, Poland. It was very frustrating, because they were asking twice the amount of money from us than it had said online. The reason, they said, was that we should've bought the tickets before 3pm to get them for cheaper. After me and Jen bargaining with the guy, and the rest of the group praying to God to solve the problem, he was willing to sell them for cheaper. For a reason unknown to me he couldn't sell us couchette tickets, but only seat tickets. We were told that if we wanted to sleep on the couchettes we would have to pay more on the train. We agreed, for we were just happy that God had worked everything out so we could by the tickets and get to go to Poland.

Another problem arose as we got to the train. Only the couchette part of the train would go straight to Krakow, and if we were anywhere else we would have to switch trains somewhere in the middle of the night. Since we were taking an over-night train, it didn't sound appealing. Even more so, the journey would be hours longer if we would have to go by two trains. I had already informed our hostel the earlier time for us to arrive there, and didn't know what would happen if we wouldn't get there at that time. Now, the problem was that we would have to pay 10 euros more. No forints, no dollars, but euros. But we were in Hungary, and the currency in Hungary is forint! Why would we, as a group, have 110 euros with us altogether?

Once again we prayed. Since I had chosen the trains and the hostel, I felt like a failure, and that I had let the rest of the group down. But really, God was just testing if we would depend on our own plans, or if we would trust in Him taking care of us. All the sudden Clemens turns around and says, "I have 60 euros." It pretty much shocked all of us, and gave us new hope. Everyone started going through their money bags, and as we put all of our money together, we had 100 euros altogether. Only one more 10 euros was missing. I was invited in the office inside the train by myself to discuss the situation with the conductor, who seemed to be getting pretty impatient with us and our massive collection of coins. The others were once again praying outside, and the man finally agreed to receive the remaining fee in forints. Thus God had worked out our way again, one step closer to Krakow!
  

Jennifer and Madison
(c) Clemens

Couchette

Day 2

In the morning John and Clemens read the map for us as we walked to the hostel. The hostel was called Goodbye Lenin. It was designed to show "the absurdity of duly passed years of Polish socialism through colorful glasses", like their web pages puts it. It gave us "the opportunity to experience some particular characteristic elements of that era, purely those at which we can commonly laugh today." Here are some pictures, taken by Clemens:



The same day we headed to the most famous concentration camp from WW II, Auschwitz. We bought a ticket that included everything we needed to get there and back to the hostel. We were picked up by nice cars, in which we could watch an interesting documentary of the camp, preparing our minds for what we were about to see ourselves. Once we arrived, we joined a group with a tour guide, and were each given headsets from which we could hear the guide even if we were far away from her.

The experience was mind-blowing. I have read numerous books of people who lived in these kinds of concentration camps, but to comprehend that now I was actually there were it all took place, was almost impossible to me. I just couldn't believe what I saw, and my imagination actually had to strive to make a picture of the Nazis and the prisoners walking the same paths I was now walking on, the same hallways and the same rooms. Here are some photos, taken by Clemens:

After Auschwitz I we went to see Auschwitz II, more commonly known as Birkenau. It was actually a little bit more what I had imagined Auschwitz to be like before going there. Majority of it was in ruins, but some buildings were still in a good shape, and everything in them was authentic. I'll just let the pictures speak, for I don't even have words to describe the conditions in which the prisoners had to live in. Photos, once again, by Clemens:

Toilets

The ruins of a gas chamber

That night back in the hostel we discussed the day as a group. It was cool to hear what everyone had thought about and felt like in the concentration camps. We also worshipped God by singing, and prayed together before going to bed.

Day 3

On Saturday morning we went to a nice coffee shop located in the Jewish square. Soon after that we split into smaller groups and spent the day shopping and sightseeing. I had sushi three times that day in the same restaurant, which made me feel like I would be in heaven. It was delicious!

The café

Krakow

Me, Mike, Clemens, and Andrew

The best sushi ever

Clemens, Andrew, Mike and I went inside a Catholic church, and go to go underneath it to see some coffins made of stone (or something similar to that), in which laid some great Catholic men from 300 hundred years ago. The notes on the wall said that the church is praying for their beautification, whatever that means... People also left their prayers written in notes underneath the coffins, which broke my heart.

In the evening we headed back to Budapest by train. Once again we had to pray to get the tickets for cheaper than we were first told, and after a quick prayer the lady agreed to cut the price in half. Straight connection to our destination, in couchettes. God is good.

Day 4

Half of our group continued their journey straight to Vajta after arriving in Budapest, and half of us went to the church service in Calvary Chapel Budapest. It was incredibly nice to be there again; I don't get to go there too often even though it's relatively close to the Bible college.

After the service Joe led us to a huge mall, where we had lunch. They also had Starbucks there, and obviously we couldn't leave the mall without stopping in. I even ran to some Finns in the line, getting coffee (if you are ever looking for a Finn, a coffee shop should be your first place to check out). They told me that they had an ice hockey tournament a couple of days ago, and asked me where I was from since I had an accent. And yes, I was speaking Finnish.

Resting in Starbucks, Budapest

Eventually we made our way to the train station again, and bought tickets to go back to Vajta. When we switched trains in Sarbogard, we ended up in the same train with Nicole and Wesley, who were getting back from Bosnia. A perfect end for an awesome trip.