Poland was indescribable. We saw so much, experienced so many different emotions, and had very long bus rides. It was a school trip so it was all planned out for us (yay! stress free!). We left on the buses at around 7pm on Thursday night. To start our trip off right we watched the movie 'Karol' which is about 4 hours long (the first part that is!). The movie was about Karol Wojtyla, or as many of us know him as John Paul II. It was a fantastic movie, for the first hour or so. Interesting fascinating and truly surprised me with how wonderful a person and how beautiful a life Karol Wojtyla was. However, I fell asleep.
We arrived in Częstochowa (pronounced Chest-a-hoe-vah) at 6am, and it was dark and cold and I was disoriented but we quickly ran (led by Sister Monica who really was running) to the Our Lady of . We smushed into the chapel area, pushed and shoved our way to the front and knelt down with hundreds of polish people to await the unveiling of the Black Madona. Each year millions of people travel to visit the painting of the Black Madonna, which is a shrine to Mary, Our Lady of Częstochowa The icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa has been intimately associated with Poland for the past six hundred years. Poland looks to her with great devotion because in their history her painting saved them from many near disasters Every morning at 6am they play trumpet and timpani and 'unveil' the icon. We got to witness it front row, and it was absolutely a beautiful experience. To see all the crutches on the walls, and the rosaries people had left behind to thank her for their healings was beautiful.
After the unvieling we got a great Polish breakfast! Real polish kabassa!!! I was happy. It was delicious. We then headed back to the shrine to explore and pray. We had mass in English and got to have it right in front of the Icon!
After Mass, I prayed the stations of the cross with my household sisters and many other students who wanted to join us, The stations that were located upstairs were some of the most interesting and meditative stations i have ever seen. I am tempted to say they are my favorite In the stations, while Jesus is still depicted, scenes from Poland's history are intertwined. It was a beautiful way to pray in Poland.
After the stations we 'walked' on our knees around the whole sanctuary and offered our petitions. Then it was time to switch gears and start shopping. Now one of my favorite things in Poland was Zloty. Zloty is the Polish currency..... and it is so wonderful. 1 US Dollar is close to 4 Zloty. So we had a blast spending money there! Everything is super cheap so it was souvenir and Christmas gift time! Before shopping though, we climbed the tower which is the tallest building there to get a great view of the city.
After a short time in Częstochowa it was time to make our way to Auschwitz concentration camp. I have studied the Holocaust for so long and have read so many books, seen so many movies, and now I finally had the opportunity to be there. Where it all happened. It was heart breaking, surreal, scary, and all sorts of other emotions. We had a somber tour throughout the entire camp, we saw the barracks the wall of death where prisoners of war were shot, the 'hospital' where countless experiments were made on prisoners. Innocent lives. It was hard to take it all in, but through the midst of great horror we saw St. Maximilliam Kolbe's cell and the spot where he gave his life for another prisoner. The most eerie thing about the whole visit was how beautiful the camp was. Green grass, trees with leaves changing into fall, sun shining, cool breeze.. Yet this was hell for millions of people. This picture I took is the chimney from the crematorium.
