2nd March 2013 – my journey to Poland started with the boarding in the plane... Looking at my family for the last minutes before the boarding, I started to feel big emotions inside which made me feel like I don’t want to get in that plane... but I’ve said to myself that this is the plane which will take me to Poland, to be a volunteer during one year.

Even the way to Poland was so long because of the long stopover in Munich (approximately 10 hours), at the landing in Warsaw I felt a lot of enthusiasm and energy. After I picked up my luggage that I had carefully arranged my  stuff for the next year, I was greeted with a lot of joy and enthusiasm by Renata Niedzelska, the director of Gminno Parkowe Centrum Kultury i Ekologii w Plichtowie, and also by other people with whom I will spend my time for the next year. They were waiting for me with a big poster and a Polish mascot.

The warmth which I was greeted in this day made me feel like I came back home after a long holiday adroad. I’m sure that this feeling which I’ve felt at my arrivel in Poland will not disappear.

Immediately after the warm „Welcome to Poland”, we started our journey to Lodz, where I will live in this period. The weather was similar to that form Romania, sunny, warm, maybe the wind was blowing a bit more than in Romania, but everything was perfect, so I didn’t need any kind of acclimatization. About Lodz I will tell you more with another opporunity.

Seven days passed since my arrival here inPoland. Other days will pass as quickly as these days passed, but more important at this time is ti discover more about this country in which I will spend a part of my life.

Eating habits are much different from those of Romanians. Initially, I though that the Romanians eat a lot of meat, and even I knew that the Poles eats more than them, my expectations were exceeded. Thanks to the way that hypermarkets are organized and what I could find on the shelf, I was able to make a big picture how Poles eating habits are like. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the cereals which I used to eat every day, or something similar. As my menthor told me before my arrival here: „very good that you’re not a vegetarian”.

About culinary recipies I can say that dishes are delicious. I had the opportunity to try a variety of them.

I’ve started to adapt at the conditions from here. I can say that there are many similarities between Poland and Romania, people are very hospitable, full of energy and they like to gather all together to talk as much as possible, discussions which seems that never ends. So I don’t feel like a man from Mars visiting a different planet. I am convinced that this period ahead will be very interesting.

I can’t wait to discover what it means to live in Poland and to be a Pole. By the way... many persons of those whom I spoke with, told me that I am a Pole, even some Poles said that. This makes me think that they already accepted me like one of them, and I am sure that I will adapt more easily than I thought before my arrival here in Poland.