"Anxious Excited...Definitely!"

Well friends!  It has come to the week of my leaving for Poland and what a week it has been!  (and yes, it is only Monday, it feels slightly later in the week :)  I have been busy trying to split my time between both my Nursing career, which officially begins in August as well as prepare for my Poland trip!  I am balancing those things that I will be missing at home this summer but truly could not be MORE EXCITED to have this opportunity and be actually going!

The longest trip that I have ever taken was in high school where I went to Scotland and London for 3 weeks before my senior year.  I loved that trip and fell in love with going to Europe!  However, the idea of leaving the country and actually living in a space, rather than simply visiting was not something that fully hit me until this past Sunday!  I will be in Poland for SIX weeks!  Wow!  And while it sounds like a long time now, I am sure that it will fly by when I am actually there!

While over in Poland, I will be doing a couple of things.  The first of which, I will be interning at the Jewish Historical Institute.  This was one of the placement options that I had put on my application, so I was very excited to learn that this would be where I would be for my summer adventure!  After skyping with Aleksandra at ZIH (Jewish Historical Institute), she explained a little about what I would be doing.  She explained that during the summer, there are many families that visit the Institute that bring a picture or their family name and are looking for information from their past, essentially a way or connection to their past, but yet is a important part of their story.  I will have the opportunity to sit in these interviews, help in the interviewing process and then research these connections to help these men and women write their stories.  I could not be more excited for this!

In addition, I hope to travel to places within and outside of Poland while I am there and to truly make the most of my time there!  To everyone who has helped me to get to this point and encouraged me along this journey- thank you so much!!! I cannot wait to finally be in Poland and keep you all up to date throughout this adventure!