My craziest and strangest life experience – one year in Krakow. When I thought I had experienced everything what is possible to experience – Krakow blew out my mind.
Although, I expected a lot from the city; the main motive to come to Krakow was to discover new culture, new people, new way of studying and living, and if possible to take something out of it for myself. I got much more; I discovered the new world which consists of very different aspects, which are rarely seen in one place; Krakow is the city of fun; there are parties every day in the week and every hour in the day somebody is having a party. But in the same time, it is the city of culture with 28 branches of museums, 9 cultural centers, 7 theaters and more than 110 exhibitions per year ; Krakow is home to every kind of art from every corner of the world; from Egyptian Mummies to Leonardo and Rembrandt. Krakow is also the city of knowledge and education with 22 universities and 180 thousands of students; University of Economics teaches 23 000 people to become experts in different fields of economy and business. The most amazing thing about Krakow is its spirit and it’s people; the mixture of old and new, rustically and modern, inhabitants and foreigners; it is the city where one can easily come, but hardly leave.
The people I had met here; the Polish and the foreign students, are so different than me, but in same time so similar that I dare to call them family. Krakow is the place where you can relax your soul, but the richness of people and spirits force you to live very intensively in social, intellectual and emotional way. It is the place where you can learn, not just about the others, but it is also place where you can (re)discover yourself. Once you start to live in Krakow, there is not a problem to meet people and make new friends; the problem is the awareness of the fact that sooner or later you have to say goodbye, to some of them maybe forever. One or two semesters is not enough to end Krakow fairytale. Or I was just lucky to have the best generation ever. Or, it was just a dream…
PS. Special regards to our ESN menthors, guides, animators and above all – friends!
Damir, Croatia
