Once my parents left, happy happy fun times of Europe ended and reality of Warsaw resumed. The daily grind, so to speak.
I had to teach the upcoming weekend. Between preparing for classes and tutoring, I did little else. Other than, of course: catching up on my e-mail correspondence, house hunt for Utah, and read. I do a lot of reading these days...
Class, as always, was an adventure. My weekend students are still showing up, unlike my weekday students. I think they'll be surprised when they realize that my speech about them all being adults means that they will suffer consequences from their actions. I don't have the time or energy to chase down my students when they can't show up to class. It's disrespectful to me and to their own attempts to get a degree.
School was fairly unexciting. I realized I had a free weekend the next weekend. So with some planning, I decided to explore some of Poland. This eventually caused me to book a trip on PolskiBus to see Zakopane. I think I'm pleased with this decision. After all - who doesn't like resort towns. I guess we'll see next week!
Monday I agreed to be part of the International Education Week at Warsaw University. I'm not sure what that all entailed, so I just showed up. Luckily I did because evidently I agreed to be on a panel about education in the US. I tell you this. Being put on a surprise panel is not very enjoyable. I didn't know what was going on or necessarily what I should say about anything. I hadn't had time to think. I didn't know what they were expecting from me. I even managed to fumble on my introductions. Whenever they asked a question, they would pass my the microphone if I had nothing to say, and they kept it away from me if I did have something to add. And trust me - there were times when the advice that the other panelists were giving was just flat out bad advice. Like, yes, state schools can be great. But if you're an international student trying to afford an education in the US, you can probably get more money out of private universities. Even though many of the people there wanted to visit the US for undergrad, the other panelists kept talking about grad school. They also didn't seem to appreciate that location and character of a campus can make just as much of a difference as the professors you have. Obviously you want to go to somewhere with a high academic reputation, but even if you go to the best school in the country, you could be miserable if you can't adapt to the social life. College in the US is about class - but it's also about more than learning. It's the difference between getting an education and getting a degree. No one else seemed to acknowledge that this was an issue. I could've gone to the exact same classes on a different campus than Notre Dame, and my education would be incredibly different. I needed the traditions and the social life and the opportunities for grant funding and the like that weren't necessarily accessible in other locations. Anyway, I didn't get a chance to talk about any of this, and I was frustrated at the end to see all the Polish students flocking to talk to the one Polish woman who kept saying things I disagreed with. Yet, she once had a Fulbright to Harvard. Therefore she must be the most knowledgeable person ever. Right?
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