Apology and Explanation of Lateness

I would first like to apologize for my late blog entry. There are many reasons this has happened, and each has contributed to it's lateness.

Let me start off by saying: I couldn't have imagined a city like Krakow in my wildest dreams. Almost nothing is the same. Krakow has already taken me so far out of my comfort zone and so far away from my previous interpretation of the surroundings in which I have lived in before, that I cannot unseen what I have already witnessed. In this blog post I will explain why I am so late with my blog posts. I will then make separate blog posts pertaining to key events that have already happened on experience here. This way there will be no searching this one article for my first two weeks, which were saturated with good and bad experiences.

As to my knowledge, the Atlantis DeSIRE^2 project is ongoing within ERAU and UCF but finished in AGH (where I currently attend) after Kamil and Jake went there. I expressed my interest in the program to Poland in September of last year, not knowing that the exchange program to Poland was essentially expired. Not fully understanding all of the effort that had to be done on my part, I began to look for and choose classes that I would be able to take in AGH and find it's ERAU equivalent. That was the majority of what I did, not much else. Fast forward to November and I recall saying that things are being taken care of in AGH at that time. I had not heard from Dr. Kornecki (with whom had been working with me on my situation) for the rest of that semester and had lost almost all hope that I would be able to go the following semester. I can recall going home and telling everyone that I might go that I was no longer eligible, because everything was too late. It was a depressing winter break, and really could not wait to go back to school after little more than a week.

The next semester rolls around, and I get back to my apartment in Florida. Without internet (because I refused to pay $50 for 10Mbs connection) I relied on school to get any information on classes and emails. We began classes on Wednesday of whatever week we started, and I received an email from Dr. Kornecki saying something similar to: I have not heard from you for so long, and as I currently understand, you are not interested in going to Poland. I have never responded to an email so quickly; I quickly jumped at the offer saying that I was still willing but confused as to what had to be done. 

Without a guaranteed chance of going I put much more effort into trying to make this happen than school. After a couple weeks, I already felt behind in my studies; I had to commit to something. I committed to the exchange program. After the bilateral agreement between AGH and ERAU was signed to extend the program, it all came down to the VISA to Poland. In order to get a VISA, I needed a signed acceptance letter from the AGH. 

This is where things got really interesting, two weeks before I left: I get the acceptance letter (a week later than I had anticipated) in .pdf I print it and immediately overnight it to DC for an express VISA processing. I call a couple days later to check on the processing of the VISA; I was not aware that I had to send a return envelope.  I return to the mail center and overnight an overnight envelope to DC and proceed to wait. When I get confirmation of my VISA being approved on the Friday before I leave, I book my flight for the next Thursday the 28th of February. Because the package was being overnighted I would not get it until Saturday, at the mail center at school, which to my disappointment was closed on Saturday, and Monday because of holiday. Thinking to myself, there is no way, I will be able to make it home to New York if I leave Tuesday afternoon and not miss my flight. So on that Friday, I speak with the mail center and they tell me I can just pick up the mail on Saturday at the UPS on Bill France. Sweet no problem, because it will be overnighted on Friday night I could just pick it up on Saturday. Except, it is scheduled to be delivered on Monday, and is therefore bound in a container, which cannot be opened, until the day it can be shipped. This leaves me with another problem: I know I have to get back home soon with time to pack, and buy a camera and laptop before I leave (which will be to Toronto because it's the closest major airport to me and also the cheapest alternative). I beg FedEx to reroute the package to my home in New York. They deny saying I'm not the original sender of the package. I call customer service and after an hour and a half, they work out something to make it happen. As soon as I get wind of that at 1:00 PM I immediately start packing everything (it was a very short, but long day). I thought I'd be done at 5:00 PM at the latest so I could turn in my keys to my apartment complex. I had to do it that day, because they were closed the next day. I never realized how many cupboards I had. I was packing and moving furniture I couldn't carry to other people's houses until 10:00 PM. After packing, I only able to see about 120 degrees; the rear view mirror, and full right side of my car (including the mirror) was blocked by stuff. I had also bought a storage that day, to keep all of the stuff that my friends wouldn't take. I never thought I could fit so much in a 5ftx3ft space, which included: a mattress, bed frame, 8 tires, 2 chairs and some other smaller things. I took two hours to spend precious time with my ex-girlfriend who is still a good friend, and a friend who I've had since my first semester on campus who I very much look up to. 

I hit the road at midnight Saturday into Sunday morning with a full tank of gas and a full car. Knowing I couldn't see out of my right side, I tried for as much time as I could to stay in the right lane (like everyone should), but kept pace because I knew that only going 3 miles per hour less was going to mean another hour onto my trip. I will make a time table as to what happened when on the drive:

0000 - Leave Daytona on no sleep to go back home to NY

0115 - Enter Jacksonville

~0200 - Enter Georgia

five minutes later - spot the only highway patrol office on my ENTIRE 1280 mile journey (I see 3 highway patrol units in NY the day after I come back within 20 minutes...)

0330 - Realize I will fall asleep if I stay on the road

0530 - wake up and continue on

~0700 - watch the sunrise and call my parents to tell them I'm leaving my apartment on monday when the VISA comes in

0730 - Call sister, telling her that I will update her every so often as to where I am and to not spill the beans to my parents

0800 - NC

0830 - Stop to eat and move some stuff around so I can see out of my right rearview mirror

(it was about 40 degrees the whole trip except for PA then it dropped)

1230 - message family in Virginia to see if I could stop by 

1430 - head off I-95 toward their house

1500 - finally realize it's going to add at least 2 hours to my trip (don't care at that point)

1630 - Arrive to a fantastic dinner and conversation with family I'm really close with at heart, but never see.

1800 - Power Nap (feels so good) 

1830 - Leave (now adding 3 hours to my trip) and arrive in PA shortly after

1930 until 0100 - PA attacks Paul in Hyundai Sonata with "Snow storm with Massive Hills" and also GPS attacks with reroute around backed up I-81. It is super effective against the Sonata's highly pressurized tires (for MPGs), manual transmission, sluggish 4 cylinder engine, super weighed down chassis, and exhausted driver. Paul drops down to second gear just in order to get over the hills without lugging the engine, and achieves a 30 MPH average through PA. Within the battle Paul calls his friend Will from his freshman year at ERAU to prevent loss of sanity.

I hate PA now, I don't know of anything that could get me to live there; driving at night on fresh snow, when I couldn't see any road lines, not knowing the limits of my tires, on narrow highways, and already tired. Never again, but I kept going because I knew I needed to get home.

0110 - Stop at a small area for trucks to stop knowing that I would soon fall asleep. I text a friend I had met my Sophomore year who now lives in Texas. We talk on the phone as she keeps me awake until I get home at 0230 exhausted, on an empty tank, with my parents not expecting me for another 2 days. She kept me awake, and probably prevented me from having an accident and I'm very thankful.

Come home to a locked door (not usual), and ring the doorbell and call my father, he lets me in with a big surprise, is very happy, and the rest is history.

My 1420 mile trip took me 26 hours with 2.5 hours of rest. It was a new record for my travels, despite the inclement weather.

I felt like that travel log (sort of ) had to be posted because it will be something I will always look back to and remember. Even though it was something I really do dislike, the trip as a whole is something I'll never regret or forget.

More will come on my situation with the drive and flight from Toronto, Canada into Poland soon, so stay tuned :)