Fast Week

Once again, another week has flown by since the last time I wrote anything. It has been a week filled with a lot of work, after my return from Rome, but also with a lot of interesting and unique opportunities.

This past weekend, George Weigel was in Poland to receive the “Gratia Artis” award from the Polish Minster of Culture, Minister Ujazdowski. He is only the second non-Pole to receive this medal, which is given for a unique and significant contribution to the preservation of Polish history and culture. Norman Davies, the British scholar who is a Polish historian (and happens to live next door), is the other non-Polish recipient of the award.

After receiving the award in Warsaw, Mr. Weigel came to Krakow in order to be present at the awards ceremony for the Papal Knowledge Contest, which was organized by the Tertio Millennio Institute, and whose aim was to continue the interest in the study of the life of John Paul II. High school students from all over Poland were able to partcipate, and the winning student received a trip to Rome for two people. Many of the finalists received books about the life of John Paul II, and George Weigel was there to also autograph the new Polish edition of Witness to Hope. I was very blessed to have been able to meet him and to spend some time with him, talking about the American Church, as well as about Polish history. Of course, he will be here again in the summer, as one of the lecturers of the annual “Summer Seminar Tertio Millennio,” organized for students from around the world. Its lectures and seminars focus on the role of a civil society in the modern world, and discuss the ideas in Centissimus Annus.

My classes have been going well, and I am realizing that I have a lot of work ahead, since final exams will begin to take place in the first weeks of June. Of course, May will be a very busy month, and the time for exams will come sooner than I expect. Next week is another week free from classes, since the first of May and the third of May are both national holidays. May 3rd celebrates the anniversary of the Polish Constitution of 1791, the second written constitution in the world, and the first in Europe. May 1st, though established as a holiday by the communists, has remained traditionally, and the two holidays have been connected by a day free from classes on the 2nd, creating the “longest weekend in Europe.” I am looking forward to traveling a little bit, with some Notre Dame friends, who will be coming to Warsaw and Krakow.
I am still adjusting to the system of education here. Whereas in Notre Dame, and most American universities, the student has tests and papers throughout the course of the semester, here, the final exam is the only determining factor of one’s final grade. Some of my exams will be oral finals, and some will be written. Though it provides greater freedom in planning out one’s own work, it is also a danger, of course, that one will procrastinate until the very end. We will see what the exams will be like, and how I will be able to talk about theology in Polish in front of my professor!

This weekend, I hope to be able to tour the Warsaw Uprising Museum in Warsaw, which is one of the newest and best museums in Central Europe. Though it may currently be under expansion, I would recommend to anybody that ever travels to Warsaw to see it. It tells the tragic story of how a city fought for its freedom, with the promise that it would receive western aid, only to be betrayed by the Red Army, and destroyed by the Germans. It is a story of great valor and heroism, as well as of tragedy and of disgust. If anybody would like to familiarize themselves more with the Uprising, Norman Davies recently published a book, Uprising ’44, which tells the story in much detail. I have yet to read it.

The weather here I Krakow seems to have jumped from winter to summer. This week, within the course of three warm days, all of the leaves have sprung forth on the trees and bushes, and all of the flowers have begun to bloom, creating a very green, fresh, and colorful environment. Though I am sure that we can still expect some rain and cold weather, the weather has been a temptation to do anything other studying. After the short, gray days of a Polish winter, the sunny and long days of a Slavic Summer are here. Only, I wish I had the time to be outside and enjoy it like I should! With the above-mentioned friends, though, we may be going to the mountains next week, in order to enjoy some free time and rest, for them, after their exams, for me, before my exams.

I do have a few more thoughts on an event going on in Krakow tomorrow, but I will gather those thoughts and write a separate entry…