My last week in Lublin begins. Today I’ve been doing touristy things such as taking lots of photos and exploring dark passageways in walls of the Old Town and walking through the most incredible Byzantine chapel at the castle. I still need to run to the train station and take some shots. And then I’m meeting some friends from the language program for pizza at Pizza Venezia, the best pizzeria in Lublin. Tomorrow I’m off to Majdanek, the second largest Nazi concentration camp (after the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex), on the outskirts of town. I’m really looking forward to leaving language school next Saturday. My experience with my classes has been very disappointing. I’m not satisfied with either my grammar or my conversation courses. Everything else about this summer has been incredibly good, except the fact that I’m almost out of money. Saturday I’ll go to Warsaw for a few days and then take a night train or bus (depending on which is cheaper) to Amsterdam. I fly from Amsterdam to Dallas on the 18th.

Immediately upon arrival I have to find employment and finishing writing an article for publication. I can’t wait to see my kitties and Stephen in our apartment in Dallas. I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR, HOWEVER, THAT THIS WILL BE MY ABSOLUTE LAST SUMMER IN TEXAS. Of course, next summer I’ll probably spend in some place hotter and more humid.