Sopot Never Sleeps

I feel like most people don’t think of Poland as… well, actually, I’m not sure people really think of Poland all that often at all. That could be partially because it has struggled to be its own independent country. But either way, it was an awesome stop! The first day, I had a “field lab” (mandatory field trip associated with a specific class I’m taking) so I headed to Stutthof Concentration Camp with my Political Tyranny, Violence, and Genocide class. After visiting Dachau with my mom earlier last month, I thought I would be prepared for what I was going to see; I wasn’t. I don’t think anyone is ever prepared for things like that.

To make things more interesting, that class I’m taking has been focusing on the Holocaust for the last week or so. The class is really bringing up the question of blame. What caused such a terrible event? How on earth could normal people turn into such demented torturers? It’s easy to point fingers at Hitler. That part is obvious. But how many people called the Gestapo on their neighbors? The brothers? Their friends? How could someone convince themselves that certain beliefs stripped people of their humanity? How could someone kill innocent, tortured, starving people daily and, to make it worse, how could they be so proud of this? How could they send pictures of these killings home to their families, a trophy that should turn their stomach. My classmates have brought up the concern more than once; what if that evil is in us all? My great grandfather was an SS officer. Does that mean that somewhere, I’m harboring that kind of evil? Of course, everyone is going to say no, they could never imagine being so sadistic. But I doubt that any of those officers, who shot men for sport, had planned on doing so. I highly doubt that, in 1915, they had known that they would be swept up and involved in one of the most tragic events in our world’s history. What made those people different than you or I? Of course, my classmates and I agree that we would never, could never, commit such disgusting crimes. But it really makes you wonder how society can be so sick. What kind of society or culture forms people like that? We watched a video at the camp which depicted the former camp administration, men and women that killed prisoners by the hour, on trial. None of them admitted guilt. Even in the face of survivors, who attested to the torture they endured, their faces remained emotionless. They were walked through the camp, the place where they committed unthinkable violence, and their faces remain empty. How is it that thousands upon thousands of people could act like that? And worse, many more allowed them to get away with it. How is it that this world allowed such disgusting crimes to be committed? Because of these people, there are children without any parents, and parents without their children. Because of these people, my professor will never meet his sister; someone who shared his blood. Imagine that. There is absolutely no reason that anything like this should ever happen again, and yet it has! But because it’s not happening in Western Europe, so many people live their lives unaware. I never learned about Cambodia in school. Or Darfur. Why is it that these tragedies aren’t talked about?

There’s really no point to that rambling. No end goal, no final thought. This blog tends to turn into a journal here and there. I hope no one minds.

Well, anyway, after the concentration camp we went to the European Solidarity Museum, which opened just 4 days ago. It was amazing. There was also an area where visitors could write a note and place it on the wall, and a surprisingly larger amount of references to Ukraine could be found there. Lots of people in Poland support Ukraine and urge Ukraine to continue the fight, which I found interesting. Then we headed back to the ship and decompressed. We all spoke to my professor and expressed essentially what I wrote above and tried to work out what we were experiencing. By the end, our entire class looked like it had been hit by a bus. That night, my roommate and I tried to go out on the town with everyone else. I think it was due to the earlier events of the day, but neither of us could get our spirits lifted enough to enjoy it, so we headed back to the ship early. While lots of people got totally smashed, neither of us feel like we missed out. The concentration camp was something that needed to be visited an there was just no way we were in the right mindset to drink our livers to failure after that.

The next day we went to a little town called Sopot, where there was some sort of festival going on. It’s a little beach, resort town where Rhianna visits (apparently) and it was pretty much everything I wanted. There was even a beach!! The weather was perfect, so we wandered the streets, wandered the pier, and spent a disgusting amount of time people watching. I loved it. We got pizza and ice cream and crepes and kept saying things like “wait, guys, holy shit. WE’RE IN POLAND.” because it still doesn’t seem real. Apparently the nightlife in Sopot is top notch, but my roommate and I settled for a bottle or two of wine and just giggled our butts off in a small polish town on the coast of the Baltic sea. That wasn’t technically on my bucket list, but I’m going to add it now and scratch it right off.

Now we’re on the ship, headed to Rostock, Germany! We’ll actually be there in just a few hours, then get off tomorrow morning where my friends and I will snag a bus to Berlin for the night. After a few weeks break from my month of solid travel, I’m definitely ready to get back to the buses and trains and hostels. As much as I love the ship, there’s something so exciting about the anticipation of somewhere new. There really is something beautiful down every road here. I’m starting to think that the U.S. has so much more to offer than I had seen. I think going back, I’ll have a greater appreciation for it. While Chicago might not have the same history that I can find here, I think there’s still something there, and I’ve just been too busy to sit down and take a look.

So many other musings going on my brain, but I won’t clutter this blog with my life dilemmas. So far, this experience is rocking my world. The plan I thought I had has been turned upside down. In one sense, it’s frustrating to not know what I want to do. On the other, though, it’s exciting. The things I’ve learned that made my mind spin are all things that I needed to learn. And, more importantly, things that DePaul wouldn’t, and couldn’t have taught me. So, here I am again. Sitting on the top deck of a giant ship, sunbathing and reading an Economics textbook, thinking about how incredibly lucky I am to have this opportunity. Even if no one reads this blogs anymore, I think writing it helps me take a step back anyway. Definitely helps me take a minute and think about what exactly I’m doing here. It’s pretty damn awesome.

Bye for now! See you after Germany!

Also, if you want to see pictures from my travels (it’s realllllly hard to get them posted through the ship’s email), they usually get posted to my Facebook before they can make it to the blog (way easier to load a ton at once on there.) The album doesn’t have any strict privacy settings on it, I don’t think. So feel free to take a look! Not sure of the exact web address, though. I’m hoping to post a link here pretty soon!! As always, emails are appreciated! adriana.kille.fa14!

#Poland #Sopot