Poland

I spent this past weekend in Poland. It was by far the most interesting trip I've taken since I've been here. We started the weekend by going to Auschwitz. After that trip I was convinced that would be easily the most memorable part of the trip. It would be impossible to explain or describe the feeling of walking through that camp, of standing in an actual gas chamber. I know I could not even begin to comprehend the scale of human suffering that place has seen. I honestly have no words to explain.

The next day while on a tour of the city of Krakow we got the news that the President of Poland had died in a plane crash. He was on his way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre where Soviet troops murdered thousands of the Polish Military and buried them in the Katyn woods. A country that was already joining together that day to remember those who died in Katyn were all of a sudden also mourning the death of their President. It was almost surreal to find ourselves all of a sudden in the midst of a national tragedy. Within hours every flag had a black strip attached or a black flag flying next to it. By that night there was a newspaper printed with information on the crash. Many people in my group attended a memorial mass that night and candles were everywhere. We saw more than one group walking down the street with a Polish flag draped in black in a silent march to pay tribute.

This trip was very different from any other I've taken thus far in my semester. It was a somber reminder of the darker moments in life. Though these darker moments should serve as a reminder to appreciate the lighter, more beautiful parts of life we often take for granted.