Due to high demand (like maybe two friends asked at some point if I'm still bloggin), I've resurrected the OC blog. Last I left off, I was about to trek around Torres del Paine National Park in southern Patagonia. Between December and March I hitch hiked, couch surfed, worked, bought a guitar, partied on warm beaches and rainy islands, and even manged to hike to the top of a volcano drunk from the night before. In short, I had a blast enjoying the summer months in Chile. But, it's always 'on to the next.' So now I'm hanging out in Europe enjoying possibly the coldest and rainiest summer I've had in a long while.
I participated in a summer conference on human rights with a group called Humanity in Action. HiA flew me out to DC in late May, where I caught up with old college friends and professors, and wandered around the campus of my alma mater (our hotel was next door to GW). The US fellows got to participate in a 3 day conference that included panels with various DC shakers and movers working in the field of human rights. We met with some folks at the State Department, got a brief tour of the Pentagon, and chatted with folks at the Council on Foreign Relations (where I ran into my house mentor from my senior year dorm). After a weekend of playing catch-up with old friends, and a few intense days in DC kicking off the program, it was off to Amsterdam.
As I sat at National Airport listening to two friends argue about the practicality of modern nation-states and international borders (the coming month would be filled with these over-my-head type conversations) a voice over the PA announced our flight to Paris was canceled. No explanation, no reasoning, no advice to stay put and wait for the next flight. Just...I had a flight to Europe, now I don't. Simple as that. So we spent a while running between several terminals and baggage claim, and finally all got seats on Air Canada, Paris via Toronto. After arriving in Paris, I grabbed a bite to eat with one of the fellows and boarded my train to Amsterdam. I'll explain what I was doing in Europe, in the first place.
The HiA summer program consists of month-long programs running simultaneously in five European cities -- Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, and Warsaw. Each city has a different layout, but each program has fellows from the US, the home country, and a few others (Ukrain, Turkey, or Bosnia) meeting with various speakers such as local politicians, journalists, Holocaust survivors, activists, refugees, etc. I was assigned to Amsterdam, where we looked at present-day human rights violations through the lens of the Holocaust. We had meetings at the Anne Frank House (where she hid during the war), traveled to The Hague to visit the criminal tribunal that prosecutes war criminals from the Bosnian war, visited local TV stations, and met with many cool ass people.
Most of us got bikes from our host families to use for the month. I lived in a newly built area about 30 minutes from city center by bike. Every day the commute included rides over really long, inclined bridges and almost always lots of rain. Our group consisted of about 20 fellows from Bosnia, Turkey, the Netherlands, and the US (though the American group was super diverse, with only 2 of the 8 of us actually born in the US). Needless to say, it was a real chill group full of super smart folks with common interests. After listening to speakers for 8 hours a day, the convos over beers at local pubs each afternoon were quite lively and thought-provoking. After an amazing month with the Dutch, we were flown to Sarajevo for an annual conference, and as a way to wrap up the summer programs.
The conference focused on post-war rebuilding and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I got to catch up with US fellows I met in DC and swap stories about our experiences in different cities, meet HiA fellows from past years, and network with lots of different people in the human rights field (which have already led to some connections in Warsaw). Sarajevo is an amazing city! While the country still has plenty of issues to work through, at local and national levels, there is plenty of natural beauty and good vibes across Bosnia. Sarajevo reminded me of Krakow: fairly small, lots of old interesting architecture, and a vivid night life with crowded small bars packed in various nooks and crannies of the city. Due to a long lay-over in Serbia on the way to Sarajevo, we also got to see Belgrade for a few hours. Belgrade, to me, was similar to Warsaw: a sprawling city, lots of worn-down communist-era apartment blocks, but with a beautiful old-town area with castles and a scenic view of the Danube cutting through the city. Thanks to the Slavic, former USSR connection, I just spent my time in Bosnia trying to communicate with locals in Polish, and succeeding about half the time.
After a month of intense HiA activity, full of soul searching and pondering my next professional moves, it was time to unwind a little with family in Poland. I arrived in Warsaw July 1st, in time to watch the Euro Cup finals. I've spent the last 3 weeks catching up with relatives and friends, and just getting to know the city. Though I've been here several times before (last time was when I studied abroad in 2009), I feel like I'm experiencing Poland in a different way this time around. Thanks to HiA (the Warsaw program had to run in July due to the Euro 2012 happening in June), traveling in South America, and other resources, I know have a good amount of friends here in Warsaw. So I don't just have to bounce from one aunt's house to some cousin's house, etc. I've been surprised by the amount of English I've heard around town when I go out to the pubs at night. Poland is finally beginning to feel like a part of western Europe now, rather than just the remnants of the Soviet Union. Between the Euro 2012 and a people from other parts of the EU migrating here for work and vacation, Poland feels much closer to its EU neighbors culturally. Then again, I'm sure part of it is my own perspective, which has changed quite a bit between 21 and 25 years old.
Hopefully I'll get some pictures and entertaining stories up on this blog in the next few weeks. I just wanted to get all caught up with what I've been up to since May. Now it's back to downloading hip hop mixtapes, trying to peacefully coexist with my father, and waiting for The Dark Knight Rises to come out in Poland...
-Paweł Escobarski
