Visiting the Medical College

We found out Tuesday night that we would have a lecture on Wenesday morning to make up for one that was cancelled earlier on in the week.  I was pretty excited because this lecture was prepared especially for us.  The only downside? It was at 8:30 AM!!

Oh well.  We were all up and ready and on time for the lecture.  It was actually the most relevant lecture to my major as it talked a lot about public health and the P.E. Health Educator debate.  Poland is going through the same ordeal that the U.S. is in regards to having certified school health educators teaching P.E.  Even though I am a community health educator, I still see the importance of this issue.  The lecture also touched on a few other key health issues like nutrition and fitness.  It was a lecture good enough to keep us all up at 9 AM! :)

After the lecture, we ventured off the the medical college.  It was a very pretty campus.  Unlike the technical university, this campus had more greenery and bright red brick buildings.  All of the buildings had a lot of windows which was really nice.  After a tour and a brief presentation, we went off to an active rehabilitation class.  Again, the name of the class was unfamiliar to us, so we didn't know what we would actually be doing.  

We ended up walking into a class full of wheelchairs and we were introduced to a woman who was wheelchair bound herself.  I am still not quite sure if she was a teacher or just a student/faculty member, but she taught us some of the most amazing skills.  Not only did we learn how to do exercises, tricks and help others in wheelchairs, but we also learned of the everyday difficulties first hand.  Some of us practiced falling over in wheelchairs, doing wheelies, and going up and down stairs.  It is truly amazing to see what strength it takes to live in a wheelchair.

After the exercises we were able to play wheelchair basketball.  I know I keep saying this about everything, but I honestly think this was my favorite activity.  It was so much fun!  I felt like I was really good at it, but looking back, I don't even think I made a shot!  The experience of playing a sport we all know but taking away your mobility is an interesting sensation.  The picture below is me trying to do a wheelie with a helper.  I am literally wearing the face of true terror!  The loss of balance was so scary!

 This was the woman that taught us all of the tricks.  There are also a few younger students that helped us.  In this picture, Sebastian is practicing falling over and getting back up in the wheelchair.

 This is one shot of wheelchair basketball.  The most challenging part was wheeling yourself and keeping hold of the ball at the same time!

 After our rehabilitation class, we were off to a lecture about the brain.  The professor was really funny and had pictures of the city incorporated into the powerpoint.  That really lightened the mood and kept our attention.  

Once the lecture was over, we left the medical college and grabbed some food.  We went back, changed our clothes, and left for the cycling trip!

We drove for a while, and we ended up in what seemed like the country of Poland.  The roads were dirt, it was mostly farmland, and the sound of animals was in the background. We were at our destination and there was one thing running through my head; "I can't ride a bike".  What was I to do? Well, a couple people insisted on teaching me, but that didn't go very well.  So instead, Bartek, a Polish student, and Daphyne walked with me on a trail.  It ended up that Bartek had a map, so Daphyne and I figured he had been on the trail before.  He suggested that we go look at a sand dune that was about 30 minutes away.  That was perfect since the tour was supposed to take an hour!  So we're walking....and walking...and it's been about half an hour.  So we ask Bartek about how much further it would be, and he just gave us this look.  He said, "Do you want to go back?", but by his tone we knew that he didn't know where we were either.  So we ended up walking back because we were worried that we might have taken a wrong turn along the way.  TURNS OUT that we were not even 5 minutes away from the sand dune!!!  But oh well!  It was so nice to enjoy the fresh air and have a nice walk.

 I mean, if I crop out the other two people it would look like I learned!

We all met up about an hour later and enjoyed two kinds of homemade pierogi.  They were both made by the woman who's land we were on for the tour.  Once again, the hospitality just came natural to them!  I can't think of anyone in Illinois that would just let a group of 10 foreigners come and wander on their land, let alone cook them one of the finest meals!