We'll it's been a week since I've been back, so even though I'm busy (Came back straight into three tests, one tomorrow and two huuuge ones next week ) I think I'd better right it down now while I still remember things from it.

Why can’t I just copy things from the real journal they gave us in class? We'll, I did have it with me in Poland but we had to get up at 6:30 and we usually got back to the hotel at around 10-11 at night so unless I would've written on the bus (And even if I did, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to understand something I wrote on a moving bus, my handwriting is bad enough already) I had no time at all to actually write myself a journal, only a few S.M.S about what I did that day, so I'll be using those as mu memory joggers.

Well, first of all I was really lucky and had a good group of friends going with me, and Basement Kitteh (A.K.A Valeria) as my hotel roommate, so even thought we talk about lotsa depressing things I did have some lulz from time to time

First day
Well, I had to be at the airport at about 4:30 in the morning, so we woke up early and drove to the airport and... I forgot my sandwiches for the first day of the trip at home I ended up buying a few pretty good sandwiches there, and because the whole group woke up so early we all had MacDonald’s as "lunch" at about 7 in the morning was kind of nice, or at least I remember it fondly after having only airplane food and instant noodles/soups for the rest of the week (oh, and candy of course, I brought about half a candy store with me, most of it survived the trip). Plane ride was okay; Basement Kitteh and I talk lots of lolrubbish (As we did the rest of the trip) and kept people awake. When we got to Poland, it was all rainy and foggy, and wasn't so cold as they made us think (... or so I thought at the time). After waiting around a bit we got on the bus (Was a awesome bus, with a TV and little trays on the back of the seats ) and drove a few hours to the Lodz ghetto, we saw a few of the trains there, and one of the schools that was with us did a nice ceremony but it was bad timing, we were all pretty tired from the trip, and on the way to the hotel (About four hours) we watched Schindler's List, or at least slept through it, bad timing for a movie as well.
We got to the hotel, had a instant soup (Something hot at last! We were all grateful for that) and yucky airplane food (Okay, airplane food was better than that actually, but you get the idea) which I didn't touch, and then we went straight to our rooms to go to sleep, it was about 11.

Second day
Well, the night before I was told I'm responsible for waking up the whole class at 6:30, what joy , so I set my alarm to about 6 (Basement Kitteh did too).
Surprise surprise, neither alarms worked and I was woken up at 6:30, got changed faster then superman and had to go around banging on doors to wake people up.
Breakfast at that place was okay, I usually had bread and jam and made a few sandwiches for later (Only ever ate them on one day, but still made them just in case). Later that day we went around the Jewish area in Krakow (The town we were staying in) don't remember much from there, but after that we had about two free hours in a market place there so I bought some pretty thing-y-ies and me and Valeria went on a "date" to a Mexican restaurant.
Now, we called it a date 'cause the place was like this huge cave with candles on the tables and stuff, very romantic . But Valeria is Vegan, so when her order came with cheese over it, that wasn't written in the menu, we had to complain and I guess the workers got a bit angry at her because her food was about five times spicier then mine .
After that we went to the salt mines, at first we went down about 55 flights of stairs, and we saw some amazing salt statues and there were at least three churches in there! I saw a lot of churches in Poland, but the ones in the salt mines still amaze me.

Third day
Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Auschwitz is quite a small place really, with lots of brick buildings... it's hard to imagine what went on there only 60 years ago... and there are people living right on the edge of the camp, and in the place there are all kinds of book stores, snack stores and you could even buy postcards of the place (What the hell do you write on the back of those? "wish you were here"??) but I must say the coffee/hot chocolate machine was a godsend because it was really really freezing that day.
Birkenau is only a short drive from Auschwitz, and is called Auschwitz 2, but it's completely different, while Auschwitz is small Birkenau is HUGE. You don't believe how big it is, and how green, our guide said that back then there wasn't any grass there, because the intimates would eat it.
We were asked to bring names of family members who died in the holocaust and we read those names out there, that was nearly the only time I cried during the whole trip. After that it was our schools turn to do the ceremony, and even thought we were freezing (was about three degrees at the time) I really think we did it well.

Fourth day
We went to Majdanek. While Auscwitz was a kind of holocaust disneyland, Majdanek wasn't. It was real. And even thought I later found out they used a soundtrack, and the kids there weren't really singing, I cried at the ceremony there.
After that we had a three hour drive to Warsaw, the hotel we had there was awesome! And Warsaw is a really pretty city... very modern but it has such lovely buildings, my friends said Krakow reminded them a lot or Russia with all the buildings and such and that Polish is kinda close to Russian and most Polish people speak that language as well.
Also I found Advocaat filled chocolate bars that day! They were awesome.

Fifth day
It was Friday, so first of all we went to Januz Korshak Orphanage, it was quite a pretty place. Then we went to some Chasids house and there was lots of singing and jumping around then the Jewish cemetery and it was back to the hotel to get changes and we then went to the only active Temple in Warsaw to pray a bit and then had our yucky instant soup and airplane food (Seriously, those instant things get old fast. I can no longer even LOOK at them, but they were the only hot thing we could make on the bus so...). That was the only day we had free time, so Basement Kitteh and I watched some Polish movie and loltranslated it. Ended up about mermaids and people being too dramatic.

Sixth day
lots and lots and LOTS of walking around Warsaw. We went to where the ghetto wall was, and walk along a road with all kinds of stones representing different aspects of bravery during the holocaust.
Best part of the day was the free hour we got in the old city, the real old city in Warsaw was ruined by bombs, but they rebuilt it exactly the same and it such a beautiful place! Bought some things over there too, then went for a second "date" in a tea shop Valeria and I found, awesome place with the best hot chocolate I ever had! Seriously! Best.ever.

Seventh day
We went to Treblinka extermination camp. There isn't really any of the place left, just forest, but there's still a lot of feeling there.
Then we went to the village of Tikochin. First we went to the temple they had there, and had fun with our guide teaching us about all kinds of jobs they use to have there.
Then suddenly he told us to be quiet, not to say a word.


We went on the bus to a forest, and walked through it, it was getting darker, and colder.
The other groups were walking in silence as well.
Then we got to this area, surrounded by a fence, and candles.
When the Nazis came they took the Jews there, made them dig and then shot them.
A mass grave.
We each got a name to read out, and the guide talked to us about that time.
It was shocking... such a beautiful place, all of Poland is really beautiful... it's hard to think you were actually in the place where it happened.

The next day we took a plane back to Israel.
I didn't learn so much about the Holocaust from this trip, most of the facts I already knew.
What got me there was actually how my group got united, we felt proud singing the Tikvah after every day and in the camps, or where ever we went that day, something I don't think many people feel here.

In short, I'm glad I went, but I'm much happier to be home

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On a different note, I know you're probable all busy, and I think I will be too with preparing for winter exams, but it could be fun to meet up over Hunnakah, should we try planning something?

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