Work has continued as normal, but today was the first group meeting that I’ve been around for and it was kind of fun to be a part of. The structure of meetings goes like this—someone in the research group presents about some of their research (usually in preparation to defending a thesis, finishing an internship, or because they just finished analyzing an interesting thing that could help others in the group); then someone else will present on a recent research publication they found that could be interesting to others in the biogroup. Following the presentations, the Professor opened conversation for other things that people thought should be discussed at this meeting or a future meeting to make them more helpful to those in the room. The result of this was that the people that suggested what else to talk about in the meeting were voluntold by the professor to give a presentation on that subject during the next meeting… a young person in the lab was also voluntold for updating the group website and increasing the social media (basically Facebook) reach and their page. haha, I’m glad I don’t know Polish so I wasn’t chosen as the youngest to update any social media! Thankfully though the professor of my lab is a big supporter of holding the weekly meetings in English because our group is multinational and we have people from other countries in Europe in addition to myself and we aren’t fluent in Polish, but most people have a very good understanding of English.
Tonight was also the first time our local Warsaw student AESTE committee organized a meeting. This was a pretty fun time. I met up early with two representatives from the committee and we went to dinner before meeting up with the entire group. We had dinner at “the best Chinese place”… not that I’m a Chinese food expert or anything, but unless I ordered the wrong dish, I really hope this isn’t the best Chinese food in Warsaw! Oy vey, not that it was really bad or anything, it was edible, but definitely not where I’d be going on Christmas for Chinese and a movie ;)
Apparently we started our night out by going to the cheapest bar in town where a ton of student go for decent drinks at a great price. College translation from a student of the university here in Warsaw “This is where the parties all start. Its a really great place to start if you just really want to have a great time and of course, get drunk.” After all, the bar is open 24/7 and the do have meals, including breakfast that can be ordered. One of the guys in our group ordered a traditional Polish dish that included raw meat that you mix with onion, peppers, and raw egg yoke and eat it on bread… So not only does this dish sound highly likely to make someone ill, I’m agreeing with the other people at the table and saying the dish sounds even sketchier getting it from a bar/dinner vs a nicer restaurant. After we left the bar, we stopped by a convenience shop and people picked up beers before heading to the Vistula River. Apparently it is illegal to drink in public spaces in Warsaw, with the ONE exception of this sandy beach along the river. So on our walk over there we got to enjoy this beautiful view of the sunsetting over the river and bridge. Hopefully we will have another night to enjoy the same and next time we will “do it right and bring a fire and cook some meat” (apparently the Polish REALLY love their meat)! When I asked if they had S’mores they looked at me with blank expressions and after I explained it, I was still greeted with confusion. Hopefully they will come to the US one day and realize how much they are missing out on, because for now they sadly are unaware.
The view from crossing the river
Like any night out with new friends, what’s a night without introductions and most importantly, mildly offensive stereotypes! ;) To explain, tonight was the first night that the IAESTE Student Committee officially brought together the interns in Warsaw to meet. (FYI IAESTE is the international program that connects students seeking internships abroad with opportunities to do so. To my understanding, each country has their own IAESTE group and then the cities that host interns often have their own student group for organizing accommodations, logistics during the internships, and are their as friends, mentors, and a support system to help us navigate Warsaw). Anyways, currently there are only three interns in Warsaw- myself, a guy from Ireland, and a guy from Columbia. So between all of us, we are a quite representative group—> we have the Pols that may or may not steal everything around, we have the Columbian drug smuggler, we have a drunk Irishman (no joke, he was gonna work in an Irish pub this summer in Paris..), and then we have the American that eats McDonalds for every meal! So here’s to a fun summer with this slightly crazy, but wonderfully fun bunch of people :)
Group Selfie with interns and Warsaw IAESTE Committee Representatives
The Iconic Clock Tower that was gifted by Soviet Union with original name: "Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science"
Love the pics! Sounds like you'll be able to learn a lot by hearing about the different kinds of research that are done!
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