So as the apartment I had planned to stay in fell through, I got help from a generous family friend to reserve a room in a dormitory about 25 minutes out of the city. I'm glad to have some space in the more rural area, as already I am tired of the hustle and bustle of a big city. I wonder if living in a big city will grow on me, but so far it's not as wonderful as I thought, as I can't seem to be calm when in the downtown like I can in more rural areas.

The room is on the first floor of a new(ish) building, right by the entrance, so not the most quiet place for sure, but I don't think the door-key-lady/person will allow too much nonsense from passers-through, so it'll be fine, especially for the dirt-cheap price I'm paying per month. The bed is bigger than mine at home, and the sheets were comically starched, so I had to basically peel them apart. At least that means they are actually clean! I heard from some people this weekend that the other dormitories I was trying to find are much worse, and I saw some, built of old Russian lumber from 60 years ago. They are not nice. Let's just put it that way.

On the way back from an interesting but odd first encounter at the Gallery (maybe I'll come back to this in a different post), I stopped at a mall one stop from the dormitory. Aside from not understand the cashier asking if I had a membership card and me not having the exact change (for those who don't know, this is a good way to make enemies in Poland), things went alright. I must have looked confused as I made my way to the butter all the old ladies were fawning over, because one started muttering to me the best one is the Polish butter, especially because the one on sale had ridiculous expiration dates. So I bought the one she recommended.

I do need to buy a cooking pot, though, as I only have a tea kettle. I'm sure glad I bought enough breakfast to cover dinner, so tomorrow I will eat light and go buy a bakery on the way to my meeting. So tonight it's buttered roll with ham, coffee, and black current juice. I may attempt an odd boiling of dumpling-thingies, but I don't want to be responsible for any major accidents in my first night (or ever).

I don't think I will watch much of the television, as it makes a ringing that I can only tolerate for a few minutes. Any suggestions from the technologically savvy or any of my multiple engineer-friends? Perhaps I will just purchase a Polish tv series and work my way through the dvds. I'm also stealing someone's wifi at the moment. I will have to look around for a more polite alternative. However, seeing as my room is likely below a kitchen in which people move chairs around, often, I have no qualms if the wifi (pronounced veefee, here) belongs to one of those hooligans!


I still have no clue where the laundry room is, but hand washing might suffice on this trip. I also need a few hangers, a human sized towel, and a good knife (for cutting/cooking... don't worry, I feel safe here).