Out of Routine or Poznań, you stole my heart! | EVS/ESC Review #7

This week was so rich and contained so many interesting things that I can hardly describe all of them! Almost all the week I spent in Poznań with The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program group, so let this week be named Out of Routine or Poznań, you stole my heart!

#1. The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program Meeting

Really rich days I spent in Poznań with 45 amazing guys from different countries (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine) who are participants of The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program. Every day, from Wednesday to Friday, we had several lectures, meetings with professors or alumni of the program, excursions, cultural evenings, etc. Due to the fact I am an EVS volunteer of the Leaders of Change Foundation which administers The Lane Kirkland Scholarship, I was able to attend all the events. There were as follows:
  • Lecture "Transformacja gospodarcza w Polsce po roku 1989 - konsekwencje i wyzwania regionalne" by professor Pawel Churskiy (Geography and Geology Department of Adam Mickevich University);
  • Lecture "Moje życie po Kirklandzie" by Mykhailo Kashyn - The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program alumnus;
  • Presentation of Polish NGO "Lepszy Świat" by Kamila Lenczewska.
  • Lecture "Rola kobiet w budowaniu  społeczeństwa obywatelskiego" by professor Anna Michalska (Humanities Department of Adam Mickevich University);
  • Lecture "Kirkland - to najperw jest ludzi, ludzi jaki obok nas" by Alona Revko - The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program alumnae;
  • Lecture "Kierunek Smart City" by Michał Łakomski, Plenipotentiary of the city of Poznań Mayor in Smart City Sphere;
  • Lecture "Poznański Czerwiec 1956 roku" by professor Stanisław Jakowiak.
Moreover, one of the evenings we spent at a concert by the Air Forces orchestra where music touched our souls! Also, we walked around the city and found out many interesting spots, visited Muzeum Bambrów Poznańskich and many more!

#2. Gingerbread houses, new people and new impressions. That's all about Poznań!

The city of Poznań is a very cosy and pretty one! They say, it looks pretty much the same as many German cities. Can neither support nor refuse this as I've never been to Germany. Yet 

However, the fact that the city is as if from the fairytale is the truth! All the houses are as if made of gingerbread and when you're walking around the city (not the old town) you feel so cute and childish! Also, Poznań turned out to be very friendly in all the aspects: here I met my old and new friends from the international programs I took part in (Познай Менск! and Study Tours to Poland) and spent a great time with them. 

As a part of the program, we visited the Muzeum Bambrów Poznańskich. Guess who was the person to wear the traditional women clothes?

There are 4 layers of clothes on me (my own isn't counted). And people wore like this every day! Well, though it takes much time to wear all that stuff, at least that looks pretty and it's really-really-really warm! But you look like a ball a little bit :)


Another museum to visit was the Muzeum Poznańskiego Czerwca.
Nowadays, we are visiting museums and could hardly imagine the atmosphere of those times; though, you can hear the true voices of people, read their letters, touch the old things and watch old movies. However, when you come to the museum you always know that history is located only here, and you can easily go out if you will. Unfortunately, for many people, there was no "way out". It was their everyday routine. It's hard...

#3. Mysterious Trip


I haven't seen many castles in my life but each of them is beautiful and mysterious.

This castle is the one in the city of Kórnik, not far away from Poznań. It was built back in the XV century and has a huge number of owners. I believe that such old buildings have their own souls too and they are able to choose their owners. That's why some families have these castles in possession for centuries and some only for several years. 

The White Lady in one of the photos is Teofilia Potulickaya. The brightest times of the castle relates to her ownership: the castle was repaired, the gardens near the building were filled with many fountains, there were many unique birds there, etc. 

According to the legend, at midnight the White Lady goes down from the portrait of hers, meets a horseman who comes up to the castle and together they start roaming the garden till the sunrise. However, with the first ray, they disappear.

#4. Christmas is coming

On Saturday, the Christmas fair was opened in Poznań and there was so cute atmosphere there! Lots of lights, Ferris wheel, candies, songs, Christmas trees and reindeer are everywhere! When you get to such places you realize that holidays are coming as well as the end of the year. So it's high time to think about where to spend Christmas, New Year, what to buy, where to buy and all other stuff like this :) Anyway, with all this holiday hurly-burly don't forget to enjoy this miracle time of the year! 

To my mind, it's also time to start wearing Santa's hat and make Jingle Bells as your default song, isn't it? :)

All the best from EVS/ESC-wolontariuszka Ira Konoplianko. 
Cześć!😉

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