Friday, May 14, 2010

Day 1: International Travel and Spatif

My journey to Poland began in Charlottesville, Virginia on Thursday, May 13 2010. I left the local airport there at roughly 2:30 pm, after saying good-bye to my parents and headed to Washington-Dulles Airport. From there, I flew overnight to Copenhagen, Denmark and finally after over 12 hours of traveling, wound up in Poland. After a long and weary flight to Gdansk, Poland, our group of 6 ISU students eventually made our way to an opening that was held at the local club "Spatif" for the Sopot Photography School (szkolafotografii.pl). This event was to celebrate the graduating class of 2010 at the school and was overall a laid back and social gathering. Various works by students were displayed while cigarette smoke hung in the air and the photography students shared beer with each other. Despite the welcoming nature of the locals, we found some difficulties at first adjusting to the new surroundings. 

The language barrier was definitely intimidating to us and it all seemed fairly overbearing. However, after a little time of adjusting to the environment, we made some new Polish friends who seemed more than eager to talk to us and get to know us foreigners better.

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