Really Budget Airlines

I thought I would blog a little about another unique experience we had, traveling on a really budget airline.

Now what is a really budget airline? It is one that takes Southwest Air’s basic model, and really expands (or contracts) it.

The one we flew on was Ryanair. On Ryanair, their average ticket price is $20 to $40, and that is to fly across Europe. Now $20 is not some special promotion fare, that is the usual fare. It is even much cheaper than trains. But believe it or not, Ryanair is one of the most profitable airlines. It is a very interesting business model.

Now for $20 to $40 (plus tax), all you basically get is safe transportation between point A and point B. Anything else (and I mean anything else, costs you). They are a fully a-la-cart airline.

Here are some of the things you get or don’t get for that $20 flight.

-First and most importantly is baggage. You are allowed one free 18 pound bag to carry on board with you. If you have a purse, laptop bag, newspaper or anything else, it has to be in that single carry-on bag (so you don’t get your bag plus your purse). They are militant about it. They weigh and measure suspicious bags as you age getting on. If you are caught with more than one bag OR exceed the weight/dimension, they check it for you and charge you a very high check in fee.

-If you do need to check a bag, like all airlines anymore, they charge you a hefty fee. But their fee for a checked bag is about twice as high as what is now normal. So you are greatly encouraged to not check a bag. Then Ryanair has to hire less baggage handlers.

-They charge you more to use certain credit cards. You get charged nothing if you pay with their Ryanair Visa.

-If you want to get on the plane in the first boarding group, you pay an additional “priority fee”. Otherwise, you go to the end of the line, regardless of when you checked-in. If you have small children or difficulty getting on the plane, you are encouraged to purchase a propriety ticket.

-They do not have airport check-in at most airports or even kiosks. It has to be done on-line and printed at home (saves on ticket people and buying kiosks). Sometimes they even charge you to check-in electronically.

-The planes do not typically pull up to the terminal or use jetways (as I assume parking a plane at the terminal cost the airline more money). Instead, you walk down the stairs, go outside and walk across the tarmac and up some stairs directly onto the plane. The reverse occurs when you land.

-The plane’s seats do not recline (that way they do not break).

-There is no pouch in the back of the seat (too much to clean).

-As soon as the cabin instructions are given by the flight attendants, they turn into sales people. They walk up and down the aisle the entire trip selling perfume, smokeless electronic cigarettes, lottery tickets (yes, lottery tickets), rental car deals, food, and anything else you can imagine. As we are landing, they leave their sales job and turn back into flight attendants. This is hilarious.

-They only fly and book direct flights. Meaning, you cannot book a connecting flight together (they have no hub system). So, if they do not go directly to a city you want, you have to buy a second ticket, many times on a different airline, and handle your own baggage.

-They tend to fly into the older airports that are not used as much (like Southwest uses Love Field and Midway). However, some with airports (like Frankfurt-Hahn) it takes a two hour bus ride to get into the city. Similar with Paris and London, you are not flying into Heathrow or DeGaulle. It can be quite a trip to get into the main city from the airport.

-They do not fly every route, everyday. In fact, most routes are only flown three or four days a week, one time that day. So, if you want to return on a Sunday- they might only fly on Saturdays and Tuesdays, and a single flight time to chose. When we came back from Dublin- I wanted to come home Sunday. But all they had was a Saturday at 5 p.m. route. This way their planes are full by not having too many routes too often.

-If the airport raises their landing fees- then they stop flying there and start flying somewhere else. They tend to pit small city against small city in the same region.

-Absolutely no food or drink (even water) is given for free. All is available, but at a cost.

-Punctuality is very important. They put you on the plane early, and shut the door 20 minutes before the flight is schedule to leave. They frequently pull away 10 minutes before they are scheduled to assure punctuality. So unless you are early- you are late. No running down the aisle to catch the flight at the last minute.

-The CEO of Ryan was recently interviewed. He is looking at two new cost savings measures. First, he thinks bathrooms take up too much space on an airplane (most airplanes have one in the front and two in the back). He wants to remove the back two bathrooms to allow for more seats. Then charge to use the front one. This charge will minimize people who want to use it.

Secondly, are seats. He likes the bus idea, where there are some seats and some people stand and hold on to rails. He is interested in adding some handles, and charging less for those standing positions (or charging more to get a seat- depending on how you look at it).

-Does all this work- yes! We took 3 Ryanair flights over 10 days. With six people, that is 18 legs. I paid $650 for all 18 tickets, or about $35 a ticket (and we were flying from East/Central Europe to very Western Europe).

-That said, we all packed very lightly, three outfits per person (we wore one of those, so two packed outfits). No purses, or even my coveted red backpack. No food or drinks purchased, and we stood at the end of the lines and never sat next to each other on the plane. We also had to pick the places and dates of our vacation around the airline schedule- not the other way around.

So, if you are a real minimalist- then these budget airlines are a real bargain. Given all the above- Ryanair is the fasting growing airline in Europe. They are also not the only one- many with the same business model are appearing (EasyJet, Wizz).

Now my question is (or one that people will be asking)- you do give up a lot of service for a $35 flight. However, with all the American airline companies starting to charge for everything, too (last week it was announced there will be a charge for blankets)- people will ask why they still pay $400 for the flight.

(PS- I just looked at taking the family back to Germany. The ticket prices from Gdansk to Frankfurt-Hahn are $6.53 a ticket (yes, 6 bucks)- NO additional fees or taxes. So, is that worth a couple hour bus ride......).

Something Else.....

As we have been on holiday for nine days, and combined with traveling all over Europe since September, you start to take the sites for granted. We were at a point of saying “Oh look, another thousand year old building, with tremendous historical significance. Ok, let’s move on.”

So, we really needed something else, a zoo. We traveled outside the city to the 170 year old Dublin zoo (which would still qualify as a very old historical structure in the US). It was a nice day (low 40s), and pretty sunny. The zoo was not crowded and we were able to get around to things quickly. The zoo is newly renovated and done quite well. They have natural habitats for the animals, which gets you very close- I still think back to the KC Zoo as a kid and those horrible cages with rusting sharp curved bars.

They have two nice sections, one on primates and one on African animals. The kids really enjoyed watching the monkeys play (not realizing I see the exact same behavior everyday). One chimp in particular made sure we were well entertained. Then off to the big African animals, tigers, elephants, etc. It was a wide open space and and everyone could express themselves how they wanted without harm. Keep in mind we have been in museums, where a single spin of a coat could destroy a priceless artifact. So we really needed the change of pace. We spent a good three hours at the zoo.

We then arrived back home- I made sure we walked past the Molly Malone statue, and into Temple Bar. Temple Bar is the cultural eating and drinking area of Dublin. We found a “traditional” (read “for tourist”) Irish restaurant and had a very good dinner. Irish stews, Stews made with Guinness, Fish and Chips (with mushy peas) and of course, an order of chicken nuggets. Washed down with a good Irish cream ale: Kilkenny. They played Irish folk music overhead. Expensive meal, but worth the experience.

On Friday, we had planned something else very different. Many of you know that I spent about a year researching the Gartland ancestry. The US branch of the Gartlands started when my Great Grandfather, Lawrence Gartland, moved from County Wicklow, Ireland in 1880. I have his records of journey and naturalization as a US citizen. He settled in St. Louis in the 1880s as a gravedigger and lived until the 1950s. He left Country Wicklow at or around the same time as his sister to find work, but without his parents (he was 20 at the time). It is commonly believed that his father was named Myles Gartland, who lived in and never left County Wicklow. I have not yet found information on that generation. Most Gartland men are either named Lawrence or Myles. My son is at least the fifth Myles Gartland in the family tree. My father is the third Myles and I am the fourth that I have found so far.

Anyway, I just have documented that Lawrence was from County Wicklow, which is the county directly south of Dublin. So we hopped on a train and rode directly down the Irish Sea coast to County Wicklow. I had nothing in particular to look at other than being in County Wicklow, the Gartland’s ancestral lands. It felt nice to be in a homeland.

Of surprise to us was the sea. Dublin is near the sea, but the main source of water you see is the River Liffey. Of course, Ireland is an island and surrounded by sea. On it’s eastern banks is the Irish Sea. It has tall and rocky cliffs with the water breaking along. Truly a lovely scene. The train rode right along the seaside, sometime just feet from the edge of the cliffs.

On our train trip back- I had run out of gas, as had Ben and Natalie. So much in nine days. Lisa and the smaller kids had other ideas. They wanted to see an English speaking movie. So, half of us went back to the flat and half went to see a movie. We all got what we wanted.

Edinburgh Scotland and Dublin Ireland were great. I think however both Lisa and I give the edge to Edinburgh.

So, holiday is over and we are back to Poland, where we hope Spring starts soon!

Beer, Whiskey and the Easter Rising

We have continued to have lots of togetherness over the past eight days. We are still having a great time. But arguments between the kids break out more frequently.  And as all parents know, whatever comes into a kid's head, immediately comes right out of their mouth (no filter). This times four kids brings me to our first topic of the day: booze.

Dubliners (and the Irish) have been known to taste a drop or two. Two of the creators of this magnificent liquid are right here in Dublin: Guinness Beer and Jameson Whiskey only about a mile apart.

We started our day at Guinness. The St. James Gate Brew House is where that dark stout beer got its start over 250 years ago. It is a rather standard tour. Recall that booze is one of my two research areas. I have been on a hundred tours of different breweries and distilleries. This was not only my first trip to Guinness, but the first time my family was able to see what magic occurs when you put water, barley, hops and yeast together.

Guinness was really the first major beer to be exported, as historically most beer was made and consumed locally. Guinness got this chance by the luck of Britain being an empire. Where the troops went around the world to colonize, Guinness followed. Nice to have the world’s most powerful military as your advertising company. At the end of the tour you get a nice sample of the beer in their 360 degree view of the city bar, high up on top of the old brewery. Actually my favorite part of the tour was not the beer, but the floor they had for advertising. In the 19th and 20th century they  used unique and popular advertisements that are still iconic all over many parts the world.

After a few hours of Guinness, we went to the Dublin City Hall and the Dublin Castle, which are next to each other. The Dublin Castle is famous as the English seat of power from 1170 to 1922. It is not one of the English’s most elegant castles, but it certainly protected them over their centuries of Irish rule.

The second buildings was the old City Hall. This had a great exhibit of the City of Dublin from the Viking age to present. It was nicely done. What I found most interesting was the part on the Easter Rising of 1916.

As I mentioned, the English had ruled Ireland for 800 years, and some of the Irish were getting tired of it. In 1916 on Easter Monday, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), basically a guerrilla army, attacked the British at their castle. In the area of City Hall and surrounding streets were the war zones. Actually the British won this battle decisively, and the IRA leaders hung. However, over the next few years, on these same streets, the IRA, under the leadership of Michael Collins, kept after the British until they surrendered. The entire area we were in had been demolished by street fighting over the years. In the surrender, the Irish got lower Ireland back, but not Northern Ireland (that is still under English rule today). The IRA stayed active in that fight though the 1980s. So I found lots of this more modern Irish history fascinating. I also downloaded the movie Michael Collins (Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts) to see how Hollywood depicts it.

After a good guerrilla war, it was back to booze. Ben and I went to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Again, more than a few Irishman (and women) have taken a wee drop over the centuries. There is a great old quote, "If it wasn't for whiskey and red headed women, the Irish would rule the world!"

So, Jameson is the best selling Irish Whiskey of them all. This was a very good tour, better than most booze tours I have taken. They really explain well how whiskey is made, but also what is different about Irish Whiskey (distilled three times for one thing, which makes it smoother). The best part of the tour was the end. Again, they are really proud of their Irish Whiskey. They give you a small shot of American Whiskey (Jack Daniels), a small shot of Scotch Whisky (Johnny Walker Black) and then a shot of Jameson Wiskey. Then they take you through each one explaining the differences in tastes and how they were made differently (JD for example is a lot more rough, as it is distilled only once). Poor Ben just got juice.

So after  hours of booze and guerrilla war, I ended the day by seeing Molly Malone again, and meeting back up with the rest of the family.

Great day in Dublin.

Vikings, St. Patrick and Dublin Tarts

After several great days in Edinburgh, we took the 40 minute flight over the Irish Sea into Dublin.

We have been gone for about a week and have had lots of togetherness.

We have a nice two bedroom flat in a south suburb of Dublin. We have to take the bus about 15 minutes to get to the City Centre. The apartment is nice. It is owned by a Irish woman who lives in NY. The apartment is decorated very young and hip, too hip for people from Kansas. I can’t understand how half of the fixtures work.

On our first day we traveled to Dubliniva- the ancient part of the city. We learned (and I did not know) that Dublin was founded by Vikings. Prior to that, it was a small village inhabited by a few Celts, but it was the Vikings that invaded and changed into one of their major port cities. In fact, most of the modern cities on the eastern coast of Ireland were established by the Vikings.

We also saw medieval Dublin. The Vikings stayed about 200 years, then Dublin evolved into an Irish/English city. The English showed up soon after the Vikings left (1150) to take over Dublin (as they had a great tendency to do back in those days). The English stayed until 1922. We saw exhibits on trade and even the plague. Half of the population of Dublin died from the plague.

We also visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This is a special 900 year old Cathedral. It sits on the place where St. Patrick baptized the pagans. St. Patrick’s is a great example of 12th Century architecture, very heavy vaults, etc.

As with Edinburgh, Dublin has its share of great literary figures. Buried inside St. Patrick's is Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels). I was introduced to Swift back in my required English lit class (which I ended up enjoying). Most people think that Gulliver’s Travels as a childrens' story. In fact, it is a satire on what was going on in Irish and English politics of the day, and is rather naughty in some places. Swift was the “Dean” of St. Patrick’s Cathedral for about 30 years, and this is where he wrote most of his major works.

While walking the streets of Dublin near the City Centre- you see a statue of the famed Molly Malone. Molly Malone is a famous folk song and is the anthem of Dublin. It is about a young woman who sells mussels and cockles from her cart and dies of a fever at a young age.

As I said, it is a famous anthem here (look it up on Youtube and see if you heard it). As it is so famous, travelers always thought she was a real woman, and wanted information about where she lived. So in the 1990s, the city commissioned a statue of her to place in the heart of the city. What was funny is the statue itself. Although there is no mention of this in the song, they made the woman very attractive, very, very busty and wearing quite a low cut blouse. The statute’s nickname is “tart with the cart.” I have found myself drawn to the this work of art frequently. In fact, I made it the meeting point for where we meet when we go off and do our own things (I always try to get there a little early).

The weather has been ok here. Dublin is known for its rain. In fact our first day, we had to wait for 15 minutes for it to stop hailing. Dublin never changes temperature more than 10 degrees Celsius between January and July. The hottest day in recorded history for Dublin was 87 degrees F. On the other end, it snowed here (and stuck to the ground) in December. That was the first time that occurred in Dublin since 1982.

Big Game, Royalty and Graves

Well it was the “Big Game”. Of course, I am not speaking of the Superbowl, that is not even mentioned over here. In fact, in the sport’s section of the national newspaper the Superbowl was not even referenced until page 13.

Instead, the big game is France vs Scotland in the Rugby Cup of Six Nations. It has been talked about all week. As we walked the streets on Sunday morning, the streets were packed with both Frenchman and Scots in their national colors, headed to the game, which was being held in Edinburgh. Most of the revelers had been hitting the Scotch since quite early in the morning. All the Scot’s fans were wearing their kilts, and the French had painted their faces (and bodies) with the French flag. We saw a french woman (at least 70) with her face painted. We also found another group of very, very inebriated French dressed as chickens. Lisa asked why they were dressed as chickens. They corrected her, and said they were “cocks,” the French team’s mascot. There were at least 50 cocks walking down the street together. (btw- the French won). Still no mention of the Superbowl.

Over the last couple of days we have seen many other of the sites of this great city.

We started with Holyrood Palace. This is the official residence of the Royal family, and has been for centuries. Not only did Mary, Queen of Scots live here, but this is also the place where Queen Elizabeth II still stays when she visits the capital city. She was here over the summer.

Next to the Holyrood Palace is the new Scottish Parliament. Parliament in Scotland was dissolved in 1707, as the United Kingdom was officially formed. All official UK government business was done in London. Ever since, the Scots wanted their own say in government. It was not until 1999, (over 200 years later) that the Scots were allowed to reopen their own Parliament, with limited powers.

Walking through the Royal mile you pass several old graveyards. Each has at least one person of fame buried there. We saw the grave of Adam Smith and also the grave of philosopher David Hume (basically it was a Western Civ class of graves). Also, I never had any clue how many great thinkers/writers were from or lived in Edinburgh. Walter Scott is the big name here for his writing. He has a gigantic monument at the center of town. Ben became interested when we visited the Writers Museum. He bought a copy of Ivanhoe.

You then have Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island), writer Robert Burns, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Adam Smith, David Hume, Alexander Graham Bell, James Watt (stream power engine that started the industrial revolution), Tony Blair, up to JK Rowling. And they have Scotch! Not bad for a capital city of 500,000.

We went to a very cheesy exhibit on the Loch Ness Monster. It was pretty badly done, but the kids seemed to like it. I was hoping it would be a little more fun (where was my Scotch?). The Loch Ness is just north of Edinburgh in the Highlands.

We visited a couple of the National Museums (art and history). The history museum was ok, just very confusing to follow. It however had great artifacts from the history of Scotland. Secondly, we went to the National Art Museum. It was a medium sized gallery full of some famous non-Scottish masters such as Di Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Boticelli, Cezanne, Monet, etc. First time my kids had ever seen any works from some of the most well known artists in history.  

We attended our first English spoken Mass since we arrived. It was at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary’s. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland (no, he is just not a golf course), so this cathedral had a couple of relics of his (a shoulder bone, etc).

Finally, we visited another old site that had two items of interest. It is a church (Greyfriars Kirk) where a document ( The National Covenant) was issued and basically outlawed Catholicism (at the height of the reformation 1638). Also, there sits a grave with a unique legend. When merchant John Gray died, he had a two year old dog who followed the funeral procession into the cemetery. The dog, Greykirk Bobby, was so distraught that his master died that he laid on the grave for 14 years. Then he died at the age of 16. Bobby is now buried next to his master and a plaque which talks about the importance of loyalty and dedication (fun story and legend).

We all loved our four days in Scotland. It is a place we could really get used to. Lisa loves how everyone says “Cheers” as you depart. The people were very nice and of course it has a great familiarity with the things we are used to at home.

Off to Dublin for the second half of our holiday. As Ben mentioned to us today, we are headed for our seventh non-US country since September (my 8eighth).

Harry Potter, Braveheart, Scotch and the Invisible Hand

Hello from Scotland! We made our grand voyage on Thursday.

Now, one does not usually opt to tour Scotland in February, but we wanted a long period of time in the UK and Ireland, and this is my semester break. So here we are. Actually, it is about 20 degrees warmer here than in Gdansk.

We chose to stay in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. It is an ancient city with a great deal of history.

Now you may have already read a little about this from Lisa’s blog. This is a sore point with me. She (Lisa) quickly takes all the good photos and best stories then posts them on her blog, leaving me to either repeat everything or only tell the boring stuff on my blog. I call her the Blog Squasher!

So, on the first night, the kids and the Blog Squasher and I met up with my friend Cara’s cousin, Lauren. She is a doctoral student at University of Edinburgh and has lived in Scotland for five years. We had a great night and really enjoyed meeting her. She also gave us some great pointers on what to see and not see in the city.

Our first stop the next day was (of course) an old church. It was St. Giles. Now St. Giles is popular as the church of John Knox. We in Kansas City know of John Knox as a place where the "old people" live. In fact, he was a man too (not just an old folk’s home). He brought the reformation to Scotland and happily chased out all us indulging Catholics. He was powerful enough to even have the major influence over the Royal family’s own religion (a queen basically lost her head over it). In addition, he is the founder of the Presbyterians. So, we were in his church. Is a magnificent structure right on the Royal mile in the middle of Edinburgh. It is very ornate and been a major part of Scottish history of over 400 years.

Of course, since we had been gone from our apartment for a whole hour, the kids were hungry. We had planned to eat lunch at a small cafe that has been made famous by author JK Rowling. Ben, Natalie and the Lisa are all big fans of her and the Harry Potter books. The cafe is called the Elephant House and it is where Rowling sat and wrote parts of the first couple of Harry Potter books. Of course, the cafe has done everything it can to cash in on her fame. We walked around the cafe, and they even had drawings (no pictures) of places she sat while she wrote, and the window she would have looked out of (which by the way is a great view of the Royal Castle). I guess all that atmosphere found its way into her stories. The kids were thrilled with being there. I have not read the books nor seen the movies (my important author is in the next paragraph), but I was very happy to see the rest of the family enjoying the cafe.

Now, speaking of important authors- also along the same road as St. Giles, the Royal Castle and the Elephant House is a statue of one of Edinburgh’s famous citizen’s: Adam Smith. For those who never sat in an economics class, Adam is the father of our discipline. He is basically the founder and philosopher of free market capitalism. Keep in mind, there really was not capitalism as we know it today before Adam and his ideas. He has been loved or loathed ever since. So, he being the reason I have something teach, and hence have gainful employment, I had my picture taken with him. Oddly, you notice his hands are quite visible (econ joke).

Ok, back to lunch. The Elephant House really was not a place to eat a full lunch. It was really more of a cafe (to maybe sit and write something). The kids had not eaten in almost two hours, so we had to find a place. To our delight we found a good tavern called Deacon Brodie. They had traditional Scottish fare, including haggis. We learned the tavern was named after the Edinburgh man who inspired the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The book was written by another famous person from Edinburgh, Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island). Ole Deacon Brodie was hung just a few yards away from where his tavern now stands.

Now that everyone was fed, we made it to our major attraction of the day, the Royal Castle. We spent several hours there both inside and outside. The Royal Honors (royal crown, sword and scepter) are housed there and on display. This is also the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots lived, as well as her son King James (of both Jamestown the the King James Bible fame) was born. For most of Scotland’s history, the kings have lived at this castle. However, It has been in England’s hands a couple of times. On the front the castle is a statue of William “Braveheart” Wallace (aka Mel Gibson) who fought in his kilt to get the castle back from the dreaded English. We got a picture of Ben with the Braveheart/Wallace statue (he really looks nothing like Mel Gibson up close).

Finally, who can go to Scotland without exploring their greatest export, Scotch? Ben and I went to the Scotch Experience. It is basically the Epcot of Whisky. You start off by riding in a mechanical barrel with a virtual distiller who takes you through the process of how Scotch is made. Then you go into a room where someone shows why there is so much difference in Scotches. There are four geographical regions where Scotch has to be made; highlands, lowlands, spey and islay. Actually, unless it is made in one of those four places, it can’t be called “scotch.“ Each region gives scotch a distinctive flavor due to its water, altitude, climate, and grains. This part was rather well done and interesting.

Then off to the tasting room, where you get to choose a Scotch from one of the geographical regions to try. I chose a highland variety and tried to properly swish, smell and taste the flavors. The next stop is the world’s largest collection of Scotches, thousands of unopened bottles of every brand and age conceivable. Of course, the last stop is a shop where you can purchase. To be fair, I bought one from each geographical region.

We got home and Lisa made a great dinner in our nice apartment. Wonderful first couple of days.

Finals, Cold and the UK

Welcome to finals time in Poland (and most other universities in Europe). Whereas US colleges start in August and end their term in December, many European institutions do not begin until October and end in February. Actually, many of my colleagues and students here think we are nuts for starting so early, as August and September are prime holiday times. Why waste them being in school? Good point.

As noted in previous blogs, I am teaching four classes this term. I have already given three finals and have one more to go. Then comes the fun part of grading.

Grading is also different here. They (as in most of Europe) uses a numerical scale 2 to 5. A “2” is not passing. A “5+” is the best you can get. It is similar to our system of As. Bs. and Cs, they just use 5s, 4s and 3s.

The other strange thing for me is the lack of student confidentiality. In the States, grades are closely guarded. It is a sacred relationship between the professor and student. I even can’t discuss grades with my student’s parents. It is as strict as the priest/confessional relationship (there is even a federal law about it called FERPA). We might hurt a student’s feelings if their grade was distributed to the rest of the class....

Here everything is open. You literally post on your door all the student’s names and their grades, for all the world to see.

I had a very hard time doing this with the first exam. I have had FERPA drilled into my head for so many years. So, I wanted to distribute the grades individually. All my students protested, as they insisted they saw their grade as well as their classmate’s grade (and no feelings seemed to be hurt). So, when in Rome (or Poland.....). I now just email out a spreadsheet to the entire class with everyone’s marks on them. And everyone seems happy. In the States, I would be fired.

Another difference is that student’s carry around with them a special book that has all their classes and grades recorded. It is called an Indeks (Index). They receive it upon entering the University and once they complete a class, they have to go to the professor to fill out that class’s page and their grade. It is almost like a passport of grades. You need to show the Index to move on in your studies and to graduate.

As Lisa noted in her blog, January was slow. It was rather cold outside, so we were forced to hibernate. The cold is not so bad when you have a car. But when you rely on public transportation, getting out can be miserable. In fact, on many a morning I refused to walk, wait for a train and walk some more to work. So I took cabs (life’s too short when you are a wimp).

Our house had been a little cold with some drafts. I just mentioned it to our landlord, thinking they might want to add some more weather proofing in the spring (the house is rather new). Within 15 minutes of our conversation, the entire family was at our house working away in subzero weather. Amazing people. The drafts immediately disappeared. Our landlords are very, very good people.

This weekend we decided to get out. This region has so much to offer. There is still much we have not seen. We decided to take a tram down to the National Art Gallery in Old Town Gdansk. It is a gorgeous building that was a Franciscan Monastery in the 16th Century. It is a medium sized museum full of local art as well as a great collection of Dutch artists. It was nice enough to walk around for an hour or so, but no so big that the kids got bored.

On Sunday, using the same idea of getting out, we decided to go to Mass at the Cathedral, which is several miles from our house. Everyone had told us how gorgeous the Cathedral was. We took the tram 25 minutes and followed my map to the big church and attended Mass. Only after Mass was completely over did we discover we were NOT at the Cathedral; but just at a regular Catholic church. The Cathedral was two more blocks down. Keep in mind almost every church in Poland is old and ornate and Catholic. So telling the difference is sometimes hard. We will have to make it to the actual Cathedral at some other time.

Finally, we are getting ready for our between-semester break. We get about 10 days off before the second semester begins. As we have such a long time, we decided to make another big trip. This one to the UK (via airplane). We will be in Edinburgh, Scotland for 1/2 the time, then fly over to Dublin, Ireland for the second half of the trip. We are flying over on the super-discount airline: Ryanair.

We will have lots of blogs from the UK.