Last week I wrote about falling in love with my name over the course of the last few years. Having parents immigrate from Poland gave me some bad misconceptions about what the country looked like and the traditions, but now my views have changed for the better. It also made me a little bit, I guess you could say, embarrassed or hesitant to tell people my heritage, because I stood out and everyone I knew had parents and grandparents that had been born and raised in the US.
Growing up, my sister and I always saw Poland as a country that was mainly fields and farms, and where there were no cities, or civilizations, really. Another misconception we had was that it was still a country dictated by communism and that it wasn't a free and independent country. To this day, I still don't know why my parents didn't correct us, by telling us the beauty and history of Poland and showing us pictures of the landscape.
Boy were we wrong! Yes, Poland does have its rolling hills, plains, and farms, but it also has a lot of big cities. For example, the capital city of Warsaw has over 1.7 million people living there, with Krakow, another major city having over one million combined with all the surrounding areas that all basically connect as one. There's also an area that's called "Thousand Lakes" because there's so many lakes in one area that all connect out to the ocean, along with a couple mountain ranges in the south, where my mom's from.
These two major cities, along with many more smaller cities throughout the country, hold so much history. In Krakow alone, the Wawel Castle holds all the history and artifacts of the country from when it was founded in 96, all the way to recent history. Also, just walking along the streets and visiting the main square, in any town, offers visitors a history lesson. Two very interesting museums in Krakow, that really stand out that I was able to visit, are the underground city below the cloth hall and Oskar Schindler's Factory. Both of these places offer a walking tour that allow visitors to step back into different parts of the country's history and experience, at least to some degree, what life may have been like.
Of course, I didn't find any of this out until I actually traveled to Poland for the first time by myself when I was 14 and visited some family there,and take a road trip to the major cities. Ever since then I had always wanted to go back and be able to visit more. So when I had the opportunity to study the language at a summer school in Krakow, I took the opportunity. Being able to learn more about the culture during nightly events, and take day trips to surrounding attractions like the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the mountains, made me want to study there more, so when I didn't feel prepared to go to college as soon as I got out of high school, I jumped at this second chance to spend more time there.
Every time I go to visit, I fall in love with the country and traditions more. Now, I absolutely love my heritage, and want to spend as much time studying the language and visiting the country, as I can. I would love it if, I were able to pass on this language, traditions, and overall love for my Polish heritage on to my future children!
