the great European adventure: Nowy Sącz

Hello hello!

So this blog is about when I visited my dad's side of the family in Nowy Sącz, Poland. I got there on Sunday the 30th and returned Saturday the 5th.

me and my grandma. we both look great....

On the 30th, my dad's brother Jack, his wife Edyta, and their daughter (my cousin) Anna came to pick me up. On the way to their house, about an hour and a half drive, I mistakenly gave Anna my phone to play with. She proceeded to take about 150 pictures which are all blurry. She also took some break pictures of herself such as the one below, which makes me question whether or not she was dropped as a child. That night we didn't really do anything, and I went to sleep at 9pm (aka really really early) which for some reason became a weird trend for me...

yeah, that's gum on her eyelid.

my cousin Kinga who we saw on our way to their house

In Nowy Sącz, they have a dog and two cats. I'm all for animals, but the cats seriously made my life hell. I took at least 1 benadryl a day, most days two, but I still sneezed and sniffled horribly. The last few days the inside of my nose hurt from blowing my nose so much thatI thought I'd end up looking like Michael Jackson post-surgery...

Their dog Sonya being dead

cat whose name I honestly don't know. in my opinion it's face is really smushed haha

this cat's name is toffik. don't let him fool you, he's an asshole.

Sonya eating a whole chicken (its bones)

On New Years Eve, I went with my cousin Justyna (15 years old) to her friend Darek's house where he was having an "impreza", aka a party. A few of their other friends were there too and impressively, I knew all of them because I had met them over the summer. It was actually pretty nice because none of them were strangers so it was easier to talk to them. We didn't really take pictures, so all I have are some crappy ones that I took on my phone. It was a really fun time though and pretty different than the parties in America. Darek's parents were having people over downstairs (we were upstairs) and eventually most of the people came up to us because their party was boring (hah) so it ended up being old and young people. None of the parents cared that there were 15 year olds drinking though which idk I feel like in America parents would care a lot more. But then again, at 15 they're less than 3 years away from the drinking limit, which is like being 18 in America and drinking. Kinda, idk if that logic makes sense though.

one of my crappy 'sly' pictures

Our music was provided by the radio and once the song "Ona Tanczy Dla Mnie" came on, the dancing began. The genre of the song is "disco polo" which is super popular at Polish weddings. Personally I really like the song, but when I was telling my cousin from my mom's side about nye he groaned when I mentioned the song. Have a listen!

Once it hit midnight, we went outside to watch fireworks since they had bought over 100zloty (polish money) worth of them. It was really cool because you could see them being shot off from all over the city. I also without thinking about it sat on the ground to watch and got my pants allll dirty.

some of the fireworks

my super dirty pants (they got clean in the wash thank god)

We left around 3am to start walking home. That was seriously an adventure. It's pitch black out at night in Poland and we were climbing through icy hills and such. I almost slipped so many times. But eventually we made it back.

the road down the mountain one of the days it snowed a little

The next few days I was in Nowy Sacz were a lot more laid back. We didn't do much as my cousins went back to school on Wednesday. Most mornings I woke up at 8 or 9am even after going to sleep at like midnight. It was the weirdest thing to feel well rested when waking up at 8. When my cousins were at school I'd sit with my grandma for hours. Not gonna lie, it got really really boring. Also she doesn't understand the concept of being full or the fact that I can't eat 3 dinners in one sitting. I seriously think I gained 10 pounds though while being there. Also I probably ate more kielbasa in those 6 days than in the previous like 2 years. So much.

the great slippers my grandma gave me

my place at the table.

On Wednesday my cousin Anna and I (did I mention her name is Anna Maria Najduch as well? she just had to have my name...) went on a walk up the hill where she showed me her school and I got to see the city from a very high point.