A Batson's Education: Arriving in Białystok

TL;DR or Quick Summary

I arrived in Białystok, where I will be teaching at the University of Białystok (UwB) for the next nine months.
I met my mentor, who works at UwB in the same department. She is fantastically nice and is excited to have me here.
My apartment is great and very green. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a "kitchen," and a laundry machine.
Białystok is very walk-able and has a lot more green spaces than I was expecting.
Once the semester starts, and I get into my routine, I think I will be very happy here.
I am very excited to start teaching, but also nervous about fitting in with the Polish system.

View from ~~a parking lot~~ the Białystok bus station

First Impressions

As my bus rolled into the city, I was surprised by how quickly the city sprung out of the countryside. One moment there were farms and small homes and the next there were car dealerships, stores, and tall apartment buildings. It looked very much like other European cities. My mentor was waiting for me at the station, which was great because I didn't have to carry my bags alone anymore!

As we drove through the city to my apartment, she went through a list of what we needed to do to get ready for the semester, meetings we needed to attend, and things that last year's Fulbrighters did. Although it was a lot of information, I was glad to hear all of it because I could finally see things taking shape.

Home sweet home

My apartment complex looks like a fun mix of a castle and a prison, but is actually very nice. There is a grocery store right next door, a bus stop around the corner, and a bike rental stand nearby; it is in a pretty convenient location. Last year, Białystok had two Fulbright Grantees, so the apartment they set me up with has two bedrooms. The walls are a mix of green, yellow, and white which gives the apartment a very particular feeling. I am hoping to get some posters and rugs to give it a warmer feeling.

The larger of the two bedrooms.

One bed room is much bigger than the other; I made the bigger bedroom mine to sleep in while the other is currently serving as an office, dining room, and storage closet. The beds are fairly comfortable, but a little too small for me (I'm not shocked either). Luckily, there are not big pieces of furniture that I will need to buy. The two Fulbright scholars from last year were nice enough to leave kitchen essentials so I did not have to go out and buy everything. My one big purchase will be a toaster oven so that I can bake cookies if the need arises.

Exploring Białystok

Neighborhood near my apartment

My first full day in Białystok, I pretty much walked everywhere. The city is small enough that I could walk to all of the main points fairly easily. Leaving my apartment, I walked through a neighborhood of older apartment buildings. Despite their origins as tall grey concrete slabs, they were now painted many different colors. I liked all of the different colors, but I was told that there is now a semi-serious campaign to stop the 'pastel-ization' of Białystok.

Between the buildings were courtyards, football (soccer) fields, basketball courts, and even some gardens. Shops (like a fish monger) were interspersed throughout the first floors of buildings and fresh fruit stands dotted the street. There were plenty of cars on the road, but there were also many people walking or cycling. After the neighborhood, I somewhat accidentally ended up in a heavily wooded area. I blindly followed a path through the woods and was lucky that I was still heading the right direction.

City park with tons of roller skaters

I learned that Białystok is one of the few cities where you can walk from the center of the city to the outskirts only walking through parks and crossing one street. Although it would have been a chilly day in Texas, there were plenty of Poles out and about. Families with strollers were everywhere. I was surprised to find that there was a free zoo in the middle of one park. It was small, but did a great job of showing off Poland's native animals including ducks, chickens, bears, wolves, and the European Bison, the Zubr.

European Bison, the Zubr

Besides the zoo, there were green spaces to picnic and play, benches, fountains, and tables; in the summer time (it's now officially fall here) the park is probably packed everyday. Coffee and ice cream carts were everywhere. Poles seem to have a very strong love affair with ice cream; they eat it even when wearing heavy jackets and scarves. One Pole that I talked too exclaimed, "of course we eat it when it's cold. It's much healthier for you that way!"

Finally out of the parks, I go to the city center. It was rebuilt after the war, but the center still had a distinct old charm to it. The square around town hall was lined with patios for pubs and restaurants. There was a city ordinance that required all businesses around the town hall to serve some alcohol; this made the square a very popular place. I was pleasantly surprised to discover several coffee shops around the city center that would be good to do some work in. There were also pubs that served local micro-brews and probably five sushi restaurants, but nothing resembling Tex-Mex. :(

Białystok Town Square

Although I did not talk to many people, most were talking, laughing, and smiling. My first impression is that Białystok is a small vibrant city. I am looking forward to exploring it more over my time here.

Getting Ready to Teach

Early in the week the Philology department at UwB had it's start of the year meeting. Although most of the meeting was in Polish, I am glad that I attended. My mentor was helpful and introduced me to everyone I would be working with. She also translated any important parts of the meeting. She showed me around the building, helped me get a library card, a student card (yay discounts!), and introduced me to people who would make my life easier. I met a couple of of native English speakers in the department, but nearly everyone that I talked to was fluent in English.

Scheduling Classes

My schedule has changed since I first received my class list. I will only be teaching five classes (instead of nine as I thought earlier); four classes are academic writing and the other is integrated skills. I was very relieved to start off my first semester with fewer classes.

The university does not actually finalize the course schedule for the semester until this meeting so that professors can voice any objections. This means that students (and professors) do not know their schedule until classes are about to start. I can't imagine not knowing my schedule until the week before classes start. At UwB, the administration schedules all of the classes on a cork board with pins and sticky notes! It is a very elaborate system, but it works!

All of my classes are 90 minute long and meet once a week. Fortunately and unfortunately, there are several holidays throughout the semester; so there will be some times when I don't see a class for two weeks. But these holidays will give me an opportunity to travel. Since the majority of my classes focus on writing, most of my lesson planning has involved looking for and creating writing exercises. All of my students will have to keep a weekly journal to practice informal writing in English. Each week we will focus on a different formal writing topics.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good about my classes. I just don't know exactly what level I should expect my students to be on (which is a problem with any and all classes). Since I am working with students who have all chosen English as a specialization, I am not overly concerned with communicating with my students; I am more unsure about their ability to formally write in English. Another concern is the difference between Polish and American higher education systems. Although similar in the grand scale, there are a plethora of differences that reveal themselves once you start planning a class.

In their past courses, Polish students are used to being more passive in class; the professor is the one who does all of the talking and explaining, while the students listen and take notes. I want my students to collaborate, discuss, and present material during class. I'm sure that we will be able to get there, but I'm not sure how long it will take.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading! Bonus pictures below!