Off so soon and this time to somewhere I’d never thought I’d go. Poland is honestly a place that, maybe wrongfully, people just leave off the tourist destination list. Perhaps the stigma of “war-torn” still hangs over the country smack in the middle of Europe; perhaps the lack of an Eiffel Tour, Big Ben, Colosseum, etc. hasn’t earned a pin in the map; perhaps the Slavic language (opposed to Romance or Germanic) is intimidating. the fact is that I’ve never been to Poland and I’m so glad we made the trip!
Warsaw is beautiful and the architecture feels as quintessential a European town as any I’ve seen. The monuments and bold facades along the criss-crossed streets were clean and inviting. The shops were unique and trendy and many people spoke English. It felt as though Polish culture had rolled with the punches and came out stronger and more amicable than ever. I really enjoy Warsaw.
So come show-time, we find ourselves in a huge venue and an eager crowd. Before we went on, our group had a meeting
to clear the air from the complicated situation in Milan with driving vans and communication. I really believe the success of groups comes from getting rid of passive aggression and laying all your skeletons on the table…to mix metaphors. Without burdening this post with details, I’ve learned a few things:
- Be yourself. The rest of the world can deal with it. Besides, bending your personality to appease groups or individuals means that you attract groups and individuals for the wrong reasons (and potentially turn away those who might actually appreciate you for who you are).
- Be honest. Completely. Never leave out details that are important and find ways to communicate the truth without laying blame, alienating, or encouraging resentment.
- Love yourself. I spent a lot of my life not liking things about myself, for one reason or another. Truth is that you are your best ally and can get your best impression.
- Be compassionate. That means understand and encourage. It also means that you have to deal with other people’s actions that offend you appropriately. Don’t express anger, explain it.
- Work hard and be nice. This is self explanatory.
Ok, enough about me, more about amazing Warsaw. We got cheap beer. We got delicious burritos. We had all kinds of Polish food at the show. All in all it was a place to recharge. Oh, and the people are beautiful 🙂 So many good looking Poles! I know that somewhere in my family line, we can trace some ancestry back to Poland, and I’m proud to call this place a little bit of my roots.
We had an extra night in Poland before jet-setting for Russia at the crack of dawn, so sadly we left the hotel at 4am -_- wishing we could stay much longer. <3