My Place On Earth

Today I'm going to tell you a little bit about my family and my roots. Both my Mom's and my Dad's grandparents after the World War II decided to settle in Lower Silesia, the land that was reclaimed by Poland after the war, in exchange of some teritories in the East that were attached to the Soviet Union.

Both of my parents were born and raised in the same small village right next to the city of Wrocław, called Długołęka (the name could be translated to English as "long meadow"). What's more, they were both born in the same year so starting from nursery school they went to the same class. They even danced together a traditional Polish dance "krakowiak" during one of the performances in the nursery school. (Pesonally I think that's adorable!).

They were each other's high school sweet-hearts and after getting married they decided they wanted to stay in Długołęka. They built a house there in which we all live right now. And by "us all" I mean my whole, crazy but yet really lovable family of seven: my parents, my four siblings and I. 

In our day-to-day lifes we are usually busy with our own stuff but at least once a week, on Sundays we get together and have a nice dinner prepared by my Mom who is a very talented cook. Then we just spend time together. Usually we will go cycling, go for a walk or just stay home and do some crosswords. 

I'm really grateful to my parents for deciding to stay in the countryside instead of moving to the city center. When I walk the streets of my village I know almost every person I come across and, since I'm already the fourth generation living here both from my Mom's and my Dad's side, I would say a quarter of these people I meet in the streets are related to me in some way. I feel really good and comfortable in such a community.

And although we don't live in Wrocław it's still really not that far (like a 20-minute drive from the city center) so we can still go to a movie theatre or to see a concert and enjoy this so-called "city life". I went to school in Wrocław since junior high and I got my bachelor degree here. Most of my friends and family live here. In my opinion it's one of the most developed and welcoming cities not only in Poland but in Europe. 

At the moment I'm living in Poznań and I like that but at the same time I'm really homesick and I come back home as often as possible, usually every other weekend. As soon as I get my master degree I'm going to come back to my land, Lower Silesia, and honestly, I can't imagine settling anywhere else for the rest of my life. I've had a few experiences of living elswhere; one year in Kraków, then almost five months in Italy and now in Poznań but eventually I only feel at home in Lower Silesia. The reason for that, I think, is the fact that my family's roots are so deep there that I just couldn't fight with that even if I tried. The good news is I have no intention of fighting my roots, I want to be a local patriot and promote my region everywhere I go and that was the main goal of this post so I hope you enjoyed it and I encouraged you to visit Lower Silesia next time you'll have the opportunity:)

The view of Wrocław with the highest building in Poland, Sky Tower and mount Ślęża in the background.
Author: mbanaszk, Source: pl.fotolia.com