Showing posts with label Erasmus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erasmus. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
5:38 PM | 
Posted by
Ryś |
Over 30 Celsius degrees temperature, 100 % of moistness, almost zero visibility and permanent feeling, that something big is hanging over my head. Where have I recently been? Some equatorial jungle or maybe some sand-mud storm in Asia? None of them. This time my journey had very scientific overtone and was connected to my studies.
Many ask, what I am actually studying and when they hear - "geoengineering", they either try to nod with misunderstanding or congratulate me, assuring, that there will be always need of surveyors in geodesy. Actually the second try is more less accurate, because geoengineers or rather geotechnical engineers have to cooperate quite well with surveyors, however it is still far away from the right job, which I would be able to do after studies.
Geotechnicians are simply responsible for the field studies of rocks and soils, their movements and stability. Every time when you drive your car on motorways, in the tunnels or above the cliff, you can drive calmly unless it was checked by wrong person. However sometimes geotechnicians have to go underground, to the mines and caverns to find out and eventually solve the static problems, which can be hazardous for miners. So do we from time to time with various groups at university.
Last time – thanks to the invitation of the Hard Coal Mine "Piast" – we have gone down to one of the most interesting mines in Poland. You can ask, what can be interesting in that? For majority of people mine is associated with “Triple D” – dirt, dust and darkness. But to be fair, that is just a drop in the ocean of things, occurrences and effects appearing in miners’ working environment.
I must confess, that miners are probably the strongest people, I have ever met. Not only with their physical strength - all the time they have to carry heavy “escaping equipment”, which in case of danger should provide oxygen and save their lives – adding to that high temperatures, moisture and fumes coming from diesel machines – makes the environment very hard and tough. Puny wouldn’t manage to stay there 8 hours to say nothing of working and operating heavy machines. We were just walking about 6 kilometres in the mine for 3 hours and really some of us had enough of this. You have to know, that galleries, leading to the so-called “long wall” are one of the most unpleasant places where man can be. Only all the time changing airflows, moisture, uneven floor, deep ponds and darkness could be difficult for somebody but it gives just a foretaste of what is to come.
Usually in such conditions, man becomes tired and muddle-headed, but they can’t take the liberty of doing that. All the time they must pay very high attention to everything what they do and what happens around them. Small mistake or minute without thinking can end up tragically.
Miners show no fear underground, work hard and confident, but when you meet them after shift in some pub, few beers can sometimes stir up and release their emotions. Every morning when they meet in the elevator, which with speed of 6 m/s takes them underground, you can hear around very characteristic “Szczęść Boże” (God, give us luck). Miners are conscious, that every time when go down, they can die, but 99% of success is in their hands. They have to rely on their workmates, take responsibility not only for their own movements, but also for the others. There is no competition, who will work faster or more efficient, because the most important is safety. Therefore you can feel very strong bond between colleagues from shift, they have big respect to each other and they know that in case of any fatality their families won’t stay alone. And although for people who go there for the very first time, the enormous number of vulgarisms can disheartening – really sometimes the rain of swears and curses can bring you to the knees – miners are good friends, just in some unique way.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
On Thursday we went for 5 days trip to Slovakia. “To get to know Slovak underground constructions and enjoy the Slovak beer” :) Such instructions we received on first day and I must say that we were obeying them. Firstly Kosice and Jelsava and on next days Spiska Nova Ves (great food in orange restaurant on main street in the centre) and finally 3 days in Banska Stiavnica. In Slovak language “Banictvo” means Mining – and Banska Stiavnica is the heart, the mother and everything what important for Slovak mining. All the more we should be proud, that exactly there we have been introduced and accepted as miners during the traditional ceremony with Jump over the leather. Later on: excursions – one really good party (as you know I’m quite strict regarding to opinions about parties) and permanent translation from Slovak to English. Sometimes my Czech skills were not good enough (Slovak is a bit different) and then translation turned to “free-style interpretation” ;)
**the whole article find at: bartekrys.yoyo.pl
May began with the trip to my friends in Romania. Laura and Adriana Ionescu welcomed me cordially but this time (some of you may not know- I was there once already, 2 years ago) we didn’t explore Romanian caves, but restricted our ways to just to Satu-Mare and Maramures. Both in the past proclaimed for Transylvania, but know they are single states. Romania means nature, palinka (P.I. knows what I mean), heat, mix of cultures and guilelessness. I’ve spent there four days and really enjoyed this time. Apart from Carpathian Mountain, which I don’t have to introduce to anyone, I would like to recommend you to visit the village Sapanta – with probably the only one in Europe – the “Happy Cemetery”. (More details in album Romania). In the end of long weekend I had one more attraction – small flood in by backpack, what resulted in wet smelling with palinka documents. Aa! One more thing… the roaming in Romania doesn’t work well, that’s why don’t get frustrated too fast ;)
**the whole article find at: bartekrys.yoyo.pl
As they said in my favorite show from childhood: "Sesame Street is brought to you by", then I am saying.. “The great weekend is brought to you by letter B as Belgrade and number 10”. Yes we went to Belgrade – we means: Rys, Rambo and Tomek. The journey – not so short, but cheap – Miskolc (19:30)-Budapest(22:00)-Belgrade(6:40) – the roundtrip ticket costs about 38 Euro. But new stamps in passports are worth this price ;)
We came to Belgrade in the early morning – and although there was a possibility to sleep in the train – because just few people were going then – always when I fell asleep, either border control or ticket officer was waking me up and plucked me out from dreams… What I must admit now, to be consequent in further relation, although the night was very warm, the wagons had heating on.. many trials of turning that off came to naught.
We had this advantage, that weekend before Pieter and Johan went to the capital of Serbia, so we already knew the hostel where to spend the night. Actually this one (Green Studio Hostel –Karađorđeva str. 69) was excellent for a weekend trip. Located just near the train station, with nice rooms, free access to internet and friendly hosts for just €10 . As we came.. we went to recover in beds.
At about 11 am we went to the city. The first impression and memory from Belgrade was... the high temperature- relatively high to that what we got used to in colder Miskolc. 26 Celsius degrees and the blue sky... Perfect! We moved to the city centre – and here the first “obstacle” – the Marathon! All the capital full of runners, posters, spectators… it’s hard to believe that this city not so much time ago had tanks on the streets and citizens had to hide in cellars because of NATO attacks. The city is living! It is colorful, loud, crowded, but not like western plastic capitals, Belgrade has an atmosphere.. Slavic, Balkan.. unique.
Maybe one of the reasons, that my impression about Serbia is so good was that finally after 3 weeks of fighting with Hungarian language I could hear Slavic language and what’s more.. to understand that! :) People are very open and enthusiastic our Slavic roots make them more friendly. Of course you can notice that Balkan blood is more hot than relatively cold Polish or Lithuanian, but also that is kind of a myth.
What I would like to specially recommend to visit is : the Zemun district, the fortress and obligatory few churches – mainly Orthodox in the city. That Saturday in Orthodox church is analogue to Catholic Palms’ Sunday. Everywhere we looked, we were surrounded by people with small bells and wreaths. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get to know what’s the origin of that symbols.
The evening brought me an unwanted surprise – the earache.. the result of opening windows in hot train. I got some dews in chemistry, but the pain was so unpleasant that after 2am I came back to the hostel, while Rambo and Tomek had good time in one of Belgrade’s crowded clubs.
Sunday – the recovery day.. almost without any pain (the Serbian mixtures make miracles :P ) but already with otitis… That day we went to Zemun - small, nice district on North - perfect for Sunday’s walk, jogging, rest… whatever you like. Sunday was hotter than yesterday so without any doubts we spend half of the day enjoying the sunshine, I mean - lying on bench or grass and watching... nature :) Late afternoon when our mind convinced the will to do something more, we moved back to the centre, to see skipped day before the “Belgrade’s Montmartre” . Skadarlija makes for bohemian quarter of Belgrade. Although short and curved, the street includes well-known restaurants, a hotel, of course art and antique galleries, and souvenir shops... Honestly speaking - sipping coffee in one of local gardens, listening to Serbian or gypsy music.. that’s one of the most remarkable attractions of Belgrade.
Food – of course you can look for something in one of many expensive restaurants ( It’s not a surprise that the prices in Belgrade are similar to these which you can find in other European capitals), but the food which for sure you have to taste is Pljeskavica (probably I made several mistakes writing this word) but also lots of other grilled types of meat. Pljeskavica - it’s a kind of – here I don’t want to use this ugly word, but – hamburger. However well-known hamburger in comparison to pljeskavica is like comparing Daewoo to Maybach… Both can move, just you never know how far you can go with the first one. Different types of meat… but real meat – not some artificial stuff sold in the E.U. - fresh bread or kind of cake, fresh vegetables and unforgettable Balkan spices ! I really advice to visit one of such “kiosks” with grilled meat – the Miki’s place – on Brankova street. The big Pljeskavica costs there 120 dinars and if you would like to have fun, you can take few steps more and enter McDonalds, where for tiny plastic hamburger you pay about 150 dinars.
It was very convenient to come to Serbia on weekend – the train from Wien (Budapest) comes early on Saturday, and train back leaves at 10pm on Sunday. It was a good weekend.
Hvala Srbija! :)
**the whole article find at: bartekrys.yoyo.pl
We went to Budapest on last Saturday (5.04). We left Miskolc early in the morning, to be in Budapest at least before noon. Well known Keleti station welcomed us at about 10:30, after half an hour of walk we found “our” hostel. Fortunately we booked one room few days before, fortunately because we met lots of boys and girls looking for place for the weekend. But our hopes cooled down quickly, because it was said that we still have to walk to the 2nd building of the Budapest Museum Hostel. We finally dropped stuff in the room, repacked bags and went to the city. In the train we agreed the plan for Saturday and decided to go just to Buda .
Our hostel was located quite close to the centre, so all the way around Budapest we took on foot. The first stop on the way to Buda was the trade hall. Taken like from pre-war album, building was full of colorful stalls and products, which seemed to scream “buy me, you won’t regret!”.Selling counters full of salami, paprika, products from all the regions… few raws further handmade beautiful dolls and table-cloths lots of sellers, lots of customers, lots of forints, very Budapestian :) With new – of course we weren’t assertive – purchase we moved further on to Buda. First stop – Castle in the rock. Everything was ok.. until I heard Poles, behaving like a herd of buffalo – later I got to know that this church, well actually a chapel had significant place in Polish history. The more we moved, the more hung(a)ry we were… but wonderful views of Budapest’s panorama was giving us more power. It was artificial feeling as we could get to know later. Next steps were taken to the castle, Fishers bastille and on.. I must admit that we were there on Saturday and all the time we were meeting just married couples walking, taking pictures in the Old Town. Willy-nilly we were recorded on few wedding video-tapes…
Tired – as later counted we walked several kilometers during that weekend – we decided to go to some of the famous baths… And here I would put a curtain of silence.. because as we got to know we have chosen, the wrong one.. very wrong.. bleh.. :P
In the evening we went to eat some traditional Hungarian meal – we agreed to take famous Pörkölt and we didn’t regret. After such a source of energy, legs lead us to Moulin Rouge club – really good décor – but the music… oj.. good that later in the other room the console was taken by Spanish DJ.. ;)
Sunday’s morning wasn’t painful. Well maybe because of that it began at 11 am ;) With big plans… and little pressure of time – we had to live in the evening – we moved on to Pest. Firstly to the synagogue- the biggest in Europe. Actually it was my first visit in synagogue… and probably the last one. Not because it wasn’t interesting.. but the Jewish lobbing really discourages to visit such places.
To have a contrast, we went to St.Istvan (Stephan) Basilic – huge temple, able to welcome 8,500 participants during the service. Beautiful baroque-décor made really big impression. Next few hours we wasted on trying to get to Parilament (all tickets were already distributed – E.U. citizens can enter for free) and to House of Terror – we were warned that it can be already closed. We didn’t think to long – and willing to wash off bad impression of the first bath, we went to the most famous – Gelert Bath. Shown in several films, complex of pools, saunas and thermal basins let us finally relax…
Travelling with Hungarian student’s card is really cheap, for roundtrip to Budapest we paid in total 2,300 HUF, while one night in hostel cost 2,500 Forints. What’s more, I advice everyone who’s going to Budapest, to book the hostel in advance. The city is very popular and although in internet you can find tens of hostels, during the weekend it’s almost impossible to find free place.
the whole article find at: bartekrys.yoyo.pl
Gulyasz, Budapest, Tokaji, not property pronounced egeszsegedre… that’s what majority of people think when they hear truly sound Magyar – Hungary. Honestly speaking my knowledge about this devided by Donau country was not better than average… But that’s why it’s worth to travel, meet new culture, live among the other people. My Hungarian part of EGEC – at once the last stage of EGEC, takes place mainly in Miskolc. The 130,000 postindustrial city which hosts one of the best Hungarian universities – Miskolci Egyetem.
When first time I looked at the schedule prepared for us by Miskolc professors, I couldn’t belive… The week full of activities – on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday lectures since 8am till 6pm, on Thursday and Friday – scientific excursions which always take all the day. Quite disappointed by organized courses in Germany, I was coming to Hungary with hopes that life will verify the theory and we will have some free time in Miskolc. So it happened - actually professors are very kind, so our timetable is quite flexible now. We shortened the breaks between classes, so now we are finishing even at 3-4pm. What’s more the excursion – although we had just two of them which cannot testify for all the time – are quite interesting and even if they take all the day, there is always some time for rest.
Miskolc in majority of guides is described as a dynamic, postindustrial city with beautiful center. And as one of our professors was saying ”right now… I would like to tell you – Wrong!”No because of accident, Miskolc is called “steel city” – several years ago local smelters and all economy was cumulated around heavy industry – mainly artillery. Hence this city has no center.. is no dynamic and in my opinion it’s even dying. Well of course, if you count opening new Lidl as a parameter which let you say that city is dynamic, then ok… But the truth is completely different. More and more people are leaving this city. The Miskolci Egyetem – part of the city where the campus is located is the only living part of this zone. Actually students who are leaving in dorms belonging to the campus look at this place as self-sufficient. Very rarely you can meet a group of students in the central part of the city, because in fact that one has no much to offer. Yesterday – exceptionally – we had free Thursday, so I decided to take a tour in the city-museums and galleries, which I saw from outside on the first day sight-seeing. I am conscious that if I would have any Hungarian language skills, maybe I would have other impression, but the first museum which I visited was very much advertised, but actually there was nothing what could pay my attention. I went out disappointed, but luckily entrance fee was only 300 forints (€1,16) so I didn’t regret too long ;) My second step was taken in the direction of the center – and here I must stop for a minute and explain you one thing. So-called center is actually spread along the longest street in Europe (6.3km) – which begins as Szechenyi street. There is no main square, as Rynek in Polish cities. Of course it’s possible to find interesting looking buildings, but always the good impression is taken out because of the surrounding. Almost near every nice monument, church, house – there are an old shabby, concrete blocks-of flats or chimneys. You can notice that someone, somehow wanted to rescue the old town, giving people a permission to buy old building, but only if they will renovate them. But it drove to terrible effect of colorful cocktail of buildings facades, which instead of encouraging to visit them, outright frighten away tourists and potential investors.
But Miskolc has also a second face – more natural, more friendly – places where the touch of urban revolution didn’t come yet, but everything is maintained in good condition exactly in that way how it should be. I am talking about Miskolc Tapolca – with very nice SPA and baths – and of course famous Diósgyőr with medival castle and Lillafüred – another holiday resort in Bukk mountains. Soon I will examine both of this places and tell you all the truth, but so far we are delighting by Hungarian wines – during the first excursion to Tokaji mountains, we were invited for degustation of Tokaji wine – in very special place, because in the geodetic central point of Europe ( I know there are at least dozen of such spread in whole Europe, but still they are proud of that). The result of 2 hours of degustation couldn’t be different – all of us continued trip with much better moods and with liquid luggage – each of us bought at least 5 litters of Tokaji.:)
Tomorrow we’re going for 2 days to Budapest – we are already holding Hungarian students’ id, so the trip will be relatively cheap… I will tell you, when I will be back.
Jó szerencset!
the whole article find at: bartekrys.yoyo.pl
Today we visited the EDEN Project in St Austell, Cornwall. What’s that? From the professional point of view, great way of post-mining land reclamation. From company’s side “Educational charity, international visitor destination, social enterprise and the Project which let them believe that the future could be rosy”. And finally in my opinion it’s really great place, where in one moment you can feel equatorial climate, but just taking few steps more you are already in South Africa or Asia. Basically it’s a complex of big greenhouses, were scientists and volunteers gathered plants, devices and many other things which let them create the view, the atmosphere of various places on Earth. Generally there are three big sections – The Rainforest Biome , Mediterranean Biome and Outdoor Biome. Following by the paths I visited e.g. Malaysian gardens, West and South Africa Tropics, I have seen .. feel the conditions which are needed for grow of such goods as Cola, Cocoa and Sugar, Mangoes, Bananas, Cofee, Peppers and many different plants. But EDEN Project isn’t just greenhouses and plants, that’s also exhibitions, workshops and sport activities, like... ice-skating. Of course I wouldn’t forget myself if I wouldn’t try this. And I can’t regret.. one hour of skating is really that what I wanted .
the whole article find at: bartekrys.yoyo.pl
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