Wsz asked me to write some words about the 1^st Polish UniLang Meeting... okay then. But warning... the text is written from Zaduma's perspective and doesn't necessarily agree with the opinion of the rest of the group.

Will there ever be a longer UniLang Meeting? Everything was because of Luís. He just woke up one day and decided to learn Polish, and some other day after waking up he decided to visit Poland and polish up his Polish: he came here for a summer trip, visited a lot of places and met a lot of UniLangers. I'd call the meeting "The S-Z Meeting", because we started in Warsaw, moved to Wroclaw, went on to Szczawnica and finished in Zakopane. ;-)

At the very beginning, Zaduma met Fenek (on 21st June, in Warsaw), then Fenek met Luís (about a month later, in Warsaw), then Luís met Zaduma (unexpectedly, on 27th July, in Warsaw), then Zaduma met Geoff (at 7 am on 30th July, Wroclaw), then wsz met Luís and Fenek (still 30th July, in Wroclaw), then Geoff and Zaduma met with Luís, Fenek, and wsz (sorry for that one and a half hour delay...), and then Kiesiu and Danek joined (on 1^st August, in Wroclaw, of course). Afterwards, Fenek, Luís, wsz, and Zaduma met once again (on 6/7th-8/9th August, in Szczawnica, which is Fenek's second home) in the Pieniny Mountains. When we met once again, it was just before wsz going to Zakopane, Luís just before leaving Poland and Zaduma just before going to Andalucia. And the highlight was the meeting of Luís and wsz on the highest point in Poland (10th-13th August, in Zakopane).

For me everything started with a sleepless night and at 4:30, while Geoff had a semi-sleepless night, and while the rest of the participants were still sleeping; I could see the sunrise over Wroclaw. ;-)

After a walk through the city I finally met Geoff; we left our bags and went on the bus to reach the mountains for hiking and to learn new English words like "bark" and "resin". At 5 pm the rest of the participants were already waiting at the "meeting place" while Geoff and I were having a nap in a bus from the mountains to Wroclaw.

Then finally the meeting, a dinner, a walk; then looking for a place to sleep. Unfortunately, there was no possibility of going out from the hostel for Fenek, Geoff and Zaduma. Since Luís and wsz didn't have to get to their hostels before 10 pm, they decided to have a walk late at night.

Morning... Zaduma chatted with a girl from Kyrgyzstan. Fenek chatted with a girl from Germany. Geoff chatted with boys from France. Who were wsz and Luís chatting with? Nobody knows... Breakfast was at the river side, feeding the pigeons. The smart birds only ate the crumbs from Zaduma's roll.

10 am... Meeting Place once again. Luís, Geoff, wsz, and Zaduma went sightseeing (it was when the famous "dictionary picture" was made) and we discussed the word "archbishopric"; everybody learnt new English words. ;-)

Fenek was still with the German girl. At 12 Fenek finally came, and Danek and Kiesiu joined the meeting. We went to the Japanese Garden, where Geoff officially read the letter from Lyle, and Fenek distributed the peacocks. Lunch in the milk bar... Danek said goodbye.

Before visiting Panorama Raclawica, we went to a park near it and read tongue twsters sitting on the grass. Pub. Made plans for the future meetings. :P

Said goodbye to Kiesiu and wsz. We changed the hostel (this time we could have a night walk, so we had one... a very long one! But once again without Fenek). Morning... Drizzle... Railway station... Ran to meet Luís... We had a two-second-long conversation. Breakfast... Goodbye to Geoff... Fenek and Zaduma took a last walk (to the zoo of course); read/ slept on the train to Warsaw.

Fenek learned how to count in Portuguese; Luís learned some new Polish words that start with "k" or "ch" and had a chance to see in which situations the native speakers use them; Geoff (thanks to Zaduma's dictionary) learned many new English words; Zaduma had a chance to compare Portuguese and Spanish vocabulary; and wsz (like the rest of the people) will never forget what "archbishopric" means. :D

But mainly we learnt about ourselves, I think.

For me, being Wroclaw was a time for contemplating the people, and Szczawnica - for contemplating the nature.

And can't wait to see all of you and more people at the 2nd Polish UniLang Meeting next year!!