Witaj! I’ve already been in Lublin, Poland, for a week now, where I’m taking intensive language classes at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). I spend almost forty hours a week in class. Even though I’m in the most advanced class because I did really well on the entrance grammar exam, I feel like I really can’t speak very well. But my reading skills are better than I first thought, since I haven’t had much problem reading the newspaper.

It’s so nice and strange to be back in Lublin after three years. When I was here before, it was winter and there was nothing but snow on the sidewalks and grey clouds in the sky. But now the sidewalks are lined with cafes and are crowded with people shopping, browsing and wandering around Old Town. I feel at home here, in a very weird sort of way. And I’m surrounded by other expats, lost souls and intellectuals who have found their way to Poland this summer to study the lingua franca of Central Europe.