Alright, integration camp was so much fun but I am pretty much dead after that. This is the amazing view from our hotel room. It would have been nice if all of Zakopane were like that but the actual town was so touristy, it hurt. Imagine a post-Communist snowy Disneyworld knock-off with a strange obsession with cheese and novelty hats. You have Zakopane. Friday was an interesting experience. We were supposed to meet at UEK at 1pm. However, any time there are Spanish people involved, being on time is not an option. Chelsea One came with her flatmates after everyone else had already loaded up on the bus. This was 50 minutes after we were supposed to be assembled and on the road. It was ridiculous but the real surprise was that they were ONLY 50 minutes late. Any time a Spaniard shows up less than an hour and a half after they are supposed to be somewhere, it's pretty much a miracle. We got on the road for about a 2 hour drive into the mountains but people apparently couldn't wait to start the festivities so some people were doing shots on the bus. It was actually really funny because of the 85 people on the trip, 41 were French so they all started singing dirty songs in French. Thibaut, being adorable, tried to explain the translation of the song in his limited English and his exact words were "Zis song, it means, um, put your...sex on my face." I know you don't want to hear this Mom but it was really funny to hear him try to think of the words to describe it. It made me giggle. That night, we had dinner at the hotel, it was pretty bad. Soup, really cheap wine, mashed potatoes from a box and this schnitzel knock-off type thingy. There was a party and dancing at the hotel which was very fun except for the fact that people were smoking while they were dancing and that got really old, really fast. I got a cigarette burn on my elbow and the cough that I have had for a week now just got worse. Having to yell to
have a conversation over the music didn't help either. Saturday was our big day. Half of the people went skiing on a very disappointing run from what I heard. It was all of this hype about Zakopane being the best place to ski in Poland but it was only one run. This does not speak highly of the skiing here but that hardly concerns me. I went with the sight seeing group to the actual town of Zakopane. First, we went to this special cathedral that started the unique Zakopane style of architecture. It was built to celebrate the Pope and to give thanks that he survived being shot. Did I mention how much they love JPII here? Here is one of the stained glass windows from the church depicting his shooting. Like I said, they are pretty intense. Then, we went to this ski jump that is supposed to be famous because that's where the world championships for ski jumping take place. I thought we were just getting out, looking around and getting back on the bus. I was wrong. So, instead of taking my entire bag, I only brought my camera. My bag contained my wallet, my hat, gloves, scarf and Burt's Bees. All of these things whould have been helpful due to the fact that it was wicked cold and windy and Zakopane has fully embraced capitalism to a sickening degree. I saw a massive St. Bernard and snapped a picture then the woman walking the dog tried to demand 5 zloty from me for taking the picture. I just used the fact that I don't speak Polish as an excuse an walked away. Most of the time we spent in the town was inside a cafe. It was too cold to justify seeing this really lame location. Anyway, we went back to the hotel (my bag was left completely intact, thank Science) and ate another really shitty dinner. Then, there was swimming which was actually really fun. Since I'm down about 10 kilos so far, my bathing suit was a lot more comfortable and I felt more confident. I still have a long way to go but the lifestyle here just lends itself to weight loss. Now that classes have started, I'm walking a minimum of one hour per day plus more if I go out and then all of the calories I burn while out dancing. I know alcohol contains a lot of calories but I don't know if it's the altitude or the higher quality of the vodka, but a little goes a long way. After swimming was international night. That was so much fun. Every country had to do something to represent their nationality. The Spanish did the Macarena and they won 3rd prize. The Mexicans brough girls up and sang to them which was quite funny. Germany did a waltz. The Italians made this tiny girl into a gondola by having her lay down on her stomach and do kind of a Superman thing to curve up at both ends and then the Italian guy used a broom as pole to push along while singing. As our representation, we taught everyone how to play FlipCup. Matt, the guy from North Carolina, is officially on my shit list because of this. He interrupted me while I was explaining the game and then said "I'm what you call an American frat star." That is his new name. Frat Star couldn't even chug the tiny amount of beer he put in his cup and then failed epically at flipping it so he ended up cheating by just putting his cup on the table upside down and telling the next guy on his team to go. I was pissed off at this in a big way. After the prizes were handed out and everyone sang Happy Birthday (in 3 different languages) to a Diego from Spain, the dancing went on. There was less smoking that night and at one point during the night I ended up with Jean-Christophe, a ridiculously tall Frenchman, on my shoulders. I was dancing and suddenly, Alexis comes up behind me with J-C on his shoulders and then puts his legs on my shoulders too. Alexis ducked out and then there was a French guy on top of me. It was interesting and many pictures were taken. Later in the night, Alexis and J-C called me over. They had their arms around each others' shoulders and kept saying "Shelsea, roogby!" I had no idea what they wanted but it looked kind of like the set up for a scrum. Turns out they wanted to have sort of a tug-o-war with me driving against the two of them. I held my own despite the huge amount of leverage that J-C had. Sunday was another few hours of sightseeing in Zakopane, again spent in a cafe. I did have some of the cheese called oscypek. It's actually really good. It's a salty white cheese that is smoked. You can also get oscypek na goraco which means they fry it on a griddle so it's warm and fantastic. That was very nice. The drive back was spent mostly sleeping but the traffic was insane because of all the people coming back from their weekend holidays.
Alright, integration camp was so much fun but I am pretty much dead after that. This is the amazing view from our hotel room. It would have been nice if all of Zakopane were like that but the actual town was so touristy, it hurt. Imagine a post-Communist snowy Disneyworld knock-off with a strange obsession with cheese and novelty hats. You have Zakopane. Friday was an interesting experience. We were supposed to meet at UEK at 1pm. However, any time there are Spanish people involved, being on time is not an option. Chelsea One came with her flatmates after everyone else had already loaded up on the bus. This was 50 minutes after we were supposed to be assembled and on the road. It was ridiculous but the real surprise was that they were ONLY 50 minutes late. Any time a Spaniard shows up less than an hour and a half after they are supposed to be somewhere, it's pretty much a miracle. We got on the road for about a 2 hour drive into the mountains but people apparently couldn't wait to start the festivities so some people were doing shots on the bus. It was actually really funny because of the 85 people on the trip, 41 were French so they all started singing dirty songs in French. Thibaut, being adorable, tried to explain the translation of the song in his limited English and his exact words were "Zis song, it means, um, put your...sex on my face." I know you don't want to hear this Mom but it was really funny to hear him try to think of the words to describe it. It made me giggle. That night, we had dinner at the hotel, it was pretty bad. Soup, really cheap wine, mashed potatoes from a box and this schnitzel knock-off type thingy. There was a party and dancing at the hotel which was very fun except for the fact that people were smoking while they were dancing and that got really old, really fast. I got a cigarette burn on my elbow and the cough that I have had for a week now just got worse. Having to yell to 
have a conversation over the music didn't help either. Saturday was our big day. Half of the people went skiing on a very disappointing run from what I heard. It was all of this hype about Zakopane being the best place to ski in Poland but it was only one run. This does not speak highly of the skiing here but that hardly concerns me. I went with the sight seeing group to the actual town of Zakopane. First, we went to this special cathedral that started the unique Zakopane style of architecture. It was built to celebrate the Pope and to give thanks that he survived being shot. Did I mention how much they love JPII here? Here is one of the stained glass windows from the church depicting his shooting. Like I said, they are pretty intense. Then, we went to this ski jump that is supposed to be famous because that's where the world championships for ski jumping take place. I thought we were just getting out, looking around and getting back on the bus. I was wrong. So, instead of taking my entire bag, I only brought my camera. My bag contained my wallet, my hat, gloves, scarf and Burt's Bees. All of these things whould have been helpful due to the fact that it was wicked cold and windy and Zakopane has fully embraced capitalism to a sickening degree. I saw a massive St. Bernard and snapped a picture then the woman walking the dog tried to demand 5 zloty from me for taking the picture. I just used the fact that I don't speak Polish as an excuse an walked away. Most of the time we spent in the town was inside a cafe. It was too cold to justify seeing this really lame location. Anyway, we went back to the hotel (my bag was left completely intact, thank Science) and ate another really shitty dinner. Then, there was swimming which was actually really fun. Since I'm down about 10 kilos so far, my bathing suit was a lot more comfortable and I felt more confident. I still have a long way to go but the lifestyle here just lends itself to weight loss. Now that classes have started, I'm walking a minimum of one hour per day plus more if I go out and then all of the calories I burn while out dancing. I know alcohol contains a lot of calories but I don't know if it's the altitude or the higher quality of the vodka, but a little goes a long way. After swimming was international night. That was so much fun. Every country had to do something to represent their nationality. The Spanish did the Macarena and they won 3rd prize. The Mexicans brough girls up and sang to them which was quite funny. Germany did a waltz. The Italians made this tiny girl into a gondola by having her lay down on her stomach and do kind of a Superman thing to curve up at both ends and then the Italian guy used a broom as pole to push along while singing. As our representation, we taught everyone how to play FlipCup. Matt, the guy from North Carolina, is officially on my shit list because of this. He interrupted me while I was explaining the game and then said "I'm what you call an American frat star." That is his new name. Frat Star couldn't even chug the tiny amount of beer he put in his cup and then failed epically at flipping it so he ended up cheating by just putting his cup on the table upside down and telling the next guy on his team to go. I was pissed off at this in a big way. After the prizes were handed out and everyone sang Happy Birthday (in 3 different languages) to a Diego from Spain, the dancing went on. There was less smoking that night and at one point during the night I ended up with Jean-Christophe, a ridiculously tall Frenchman, on my shoulders. I was dancing and suddenly, Alexis comes up behind me with J-C on his shoulders and then puts his legs on my shoulders too. Alexis ducked out and then there was a French guy on top of me. It was interesting and many pictures were taken. Later in the night, Alexis and J-C called me over. They had their arms around each others' shoulders and kept saying "Shelsea, roogby!" I had no idea what they wanted but it looked kind of like the set up for a scrum. Turns out they wanted to have sort of a tug-o-war with me driving against the two of them. I held my own despite the huge amount of leverage that J-C had. Sunday was another few hours of sightseeing in Zakopane, again spent in a cafe. I did have some of the cheese called oscypek. It's actually really good. It's a salty white cheese that is smoked. You can also get oscypek na goraco which means they fry it on a griddle so it's warm and fantastic. That was very nice. The drive back was spent mostly sleeping but the traffic was insane because of all the people coming back from their weekend holidays.
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