Dear Poland...

Dear Poland,

        it´s me, Em. I just want to thank you for everything. It took me just couple of days to fell in love with you. You are probably the longest relationship I´m ever gonna have with someone. You are for sure the nicest one. Since I first got off the train untill my final goodbye, you were my dearest friend, supportive, helpful, always nice to me, never judgemental.

        It was such a pleasure to get to know you a little bit better. Thank you for all the beautiful places I had chance to visit, for all people I had chance to meet, for all the strong friendships I´ve made. All this just because of you. You made me a better person. I just want to let you know, that you changed me in so many ways, you can not even imagine. I appreciate it and I´m grateful for it. Wish I didn´t have to write this letter, but I feel like It´s about time to say goodbye. Not for a long time, though. I will always visit you. I´m looking forward to see more of you, to meet new people and to see again the ones I´ve already met here and to finaly learn the magical language of yours.

        Am I making a big deal out of this? Maybe. But I can´t leave without saying goodbye to you. I don´t want to break up with you, I don´t even want to say any last words to you, so I´m just going to say: See ya. As I used to say every day to my erasmus friends. Because I was sure I´m gonna see them again the next day. I might not see you the next day in this case, but I´m sure as hell that I´m gonna see you in the future. So please, don´t forget me. I will miss you, but I will never forget you. Remember me as the Slovakian girl with big green eyes and hair always up in a messy bun, the burping one, the one that walks really fast. The one that was making jokes about your language, but wanted to learn it anyway - and kind of failed in this ;) I will remember you as a feeling. As a crazy place I got pretty drunk couple of times, as a place I´ve learned so much and laughed so hard I started to make weird noises.

I will remember you as something I can´t describe, but I can feel it.

     Because Poland is not just another country I visited. Poland is people. People I´ve learned to love. Poland is every single one of YOU - Erasmus 2014/University of Silesia

Dziękuję bardzo

                                                                                                                              Love always, Em

Almost the end?

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A je to tu. Koniec semestra sa nezávratne blíži a žalúdok sa mi začína sťahovať viac a viac. Tentoraz to však nie je kvôli skúškam či prešvihnutému počtu absencií. Čaká ma to aj tento rok, dokonca vo väčšej intenzite, v jazyku, ktorý sotva ovládam a v dvoch krajinách, ktoré sú môjmu srdcu najbližšie. To však nie je to, čo vháňa hrču do môjho krku a takmer slzy do mojich očí, keď sa pozriem na kalendár. 

Sedím, okno mám otvorené dokorán, nohy vyložené na parapete, slnko mi dopadá na tvár, letný vánok vháňa peľ a hmyz rôzneho druhu do mojej izby a ja sa cítim šťastnejšie než kedykoľvek predtým.
Prosím, zastavte čas!

Koniec sa však nenávratne blíži. Už len mesiac a vraciam sa späť domov z môjho študijného pobytu v Poľsku. Realita ma prefacká hneď ako vystúpim z vlaku v rodnom Ružomberku. Dorobiť skúšky! Nájsť si prácu! Pomáhať s domácimi prácami! Nemyslieť na to, že najkrajšie obdobie môjho mladého študentského života sa definitívne skončilo! Taký je plán.

Samozrejme, že sa teším. Rodina, priatelia, slovenské jedlo, hory a začínajúce sa leto. No viem, že ma budú sprevádzať myšlienky na skvelých ľudí, ktorých v budúcnosti stretnem len veľmi ťažko. A tu si to uvedomujú všetci. Keď spolu sedíme vonku, alebo niekde popíjame pivo, už to nie je len bezstarostný smiech. Každý už dobre vie, že si musí vážiť tie posledné chvíle, ktoré spolu trávime.

Nechcem, aby to vyznelo ako koniec sveta alebo niečo podobné. Jednoducho, takto sa teraz cítim.
Koniec koncov som vďačná a šťastná, že som tu mohla byť, spoznať neskutočných ľudí, navštíviť nádherné miesta... a samozrejme, aj škola bola v pohode. Ale buďme úprimní, pre edukatívne účely som tu určite nešla ;) ... Naučila som sa však omnoho viac ako mi ktorékoľvek vyučovanie mohlo kedy dať. Človek sa naučí nielen o iných, no predovšetkým o sebe.

Užívajme si dnešok, tešme sa na zajtrajšok!

Love, Em

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Here it is. The end of the semester is about to come and my stomach is starting to feel anxious more and more. This time, however, it is not about exams or about high number of classes I´ve missed. It´s waiting for me this year as well, even in higher intensity, in language I´m barely familiar with, in two countries that are closest to my heart. Still, this is not why I have this huge lump in my throat and almost tears in my eyes, when I look at the calendar.
Sitting with window wide open, legs high up in it, sun is shining, falling down on my face, summer breeze blowing in pollen and insect of many different kinds and I feel happier than ever.
Please, stop time!

But the end is almost here. Just a month and I will come back home from my study stay in Poland. Reality is about to slap me really hard once I get out of the train in my hometown - Ružomberok. Finish exams! Find a job! Helping with household! Not think about the fact, that the most wonderful time of my young life as a student is over! That's the plan.
Of course, I´m looking forward to see my family, friends, enjoy Slovak food, mountains and beginning summer. But I know that I will be accompanied by thoughts of great people that I´ve met here and It´s going to be very difficult to see them again. We all realize this here. When we sit outside together or drinking beer somewhere, it's not just a carefree laugh anymore. Everyone already knows that we have to cherish those last moments we spend together.

I don´t want it to sound like the end of the world or something... Simply, this is how I feel right now. After all, I´m really happy, that I had a chance to be here, meet great people, visit beautiful places... and of course, school was pretty good as well. But let´s be honest, I was not here for educational purposes, for sure ;) ... But I´ve learnd much more than any kind off class could ever get me. We don´t learn just about the others, but especially about ourselfs.

Enjoy today, look forward to tomorrow!

Love, Em