Rebecca and I woke up at the crack of dawn to ride a bus across the foggy landscape of Poland to reach Auschwitz. Getting up early turned out to be a wise decision as it allowed us to bypass a large number of tourists so we could experience certain exhibits by ourselves. Visiting the camp put the scale of the extermination and the terror into perspective, even more so once we visited the vast expanse of Birkenau.
Returning to Krakow we arranged to meet up with a Polish friend from Youth for Europe who loves in the city. He took us to the decidedly cool parts of the town and he had a real knack for suggesting some great bars. We ended up getting a few drinks and even playing a few board games with him. Sadly he won't be free during this years Youth for Europe but I feel like we already made up for all the lost time.
Funny to think that on the same day I visit a site of such devastation for the Jewish population I also bore witness to Israel hosting the Eurovision song contest. Seeing that cemented the feeling of good triumphing over evil from the camps, what better celebration of diversity and worldliness is there outside of Eurovision?
The contest also served as a good opportunity to get back in touch with a fellow Eurovision fan I met at university. For the past few years we catch up while passing judgement on the songs and dress sense of the show. Always nice to catch up with her and old friend in general.
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