Read Day Eight here

I spent a week completing a cultural exchange programme facilitated by the company Angloville, where I provided conversation practice to Polish adults near Bialystok.

This was it. My final day in Poland. I couldn’t believe that it came round so quickly. Only a week ago, I was landing in Warsaw with no idea what to expect. I didn’t know that I would be making new friends, playing an excessive amount of chess and drinking an even more excessive amount of vodka. But it really was good fun. It was an excellent experience. I enjoyed it thoroughly. But before I get too cheesy, let’s talk about my final day in Poland.

As seemed to be the case in Poland, I woke up at five AM, but unlike at Lipowy Most, I there were no snorers in my hostel – unlike me of course. That was something at least. I checked out of the hostel at nine as I had no intention of climbing up those eight flights of stairs ever again.

Remember that railway museum that I saw on day two? It was only five minutes from the hostel, so I visited it. It was only eighteen zloty. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much, but it was very good. It had obviously been targeted around kids, so I was far too old to be there. There were plenty of games and interactive exhibits like an option to make brass rubbings or a train set that could be operated by pedal power. There were two bikes that you and your friends could cycle on to send the train around the tracks. It also didn’t help that most of the exhibits were in Polish and not English.

But it was a sweet place. You also had a coin-operated train-set, which just swallowed up my money and didn’t work. Whatever. There was also a section where you could dress-up, as well as a train ticket that you could stamp with four different designs. In another room, they had a trainer stimulator. And outside, they had a miniature Christmas themed train that you could ride on. You also even walk into a real-life train carriage.

Most bizarrely, there were four people dressed up as a polar bear, Father Christmas, Mother Winter and Olaf the Snowman from Frozen being filmed by a camera crew. Why? Not a clue. As a whole, I really enjoyed the museum.

I stayed here until half ten where it was time for brunch. As I had plenty of time to kill before my flight, I returned to the milk bar that I had visited earlier and ordered scrambled-eggs, bacon and salad. I have found that the English proficiency in Poland has varied a lot. When Lydia and I bought our ice creams in the shopping centre, their English was really good, as they were used to tourists. It was not the case in the milk bars. When I spoke in English, I just received a blank stare, so I just showed them a picture on my phone of what I wanted.

And that’s what I received. They even upsold me some bread and butter. But even with that, the meal was less than £4. Over half the price of what it would be in London. I’ve since discovered that this milk bar is part of a chain, so if you’re ever in Warswava then keep an eye out for the: Mleczarnia milk bars. Don’t ask me how to say that.

I also found out that the milk bar served sausages made out of water which Monika explained are sausages that are boiled instead of fried. At half eleven, it was time to head to the airport. Considering my flight was at half three, I knew this would be way too early, but it’s better being too early than too late. Top tip! If you are going to check-in online, tick the boy that says passport and not ID card – otherwise you have to check in at the airport. Urr…it happened to a friend of mine.

Another top tip. Make sure your boarding pass doesn’t get stuck to the photo page of your passport as this will just annoy the grumpy Polish border guard. This also happened to my friend. But as Kat has said, the Slavs don’t care if they’re rude or blunt. They’ll tell it like it is and they don’t care if they’re grumpy old gits. In fairness, being a border guard would be a crappy job so I get why he was so angry. I would be too.

The plus side about getting to the airport so early was that I had enough time to look around the duty-free. I was tempted by the whisky, but I think that I prefer the idea of drinking whisky rather than actually drinking it. Maybe I just haven’t found a good whisky yet. I also saw the most horrific anti-smoking ad ever.

The downside of arriving so early at the airport is that I was three hours early for a flight that was delayed by two hours. Another top tip! If you’re going to fly home from Poland, don’t do it on a day where there is a storm going on in London. Otherwise you’ll suffer severe delays.

Plus there will also be heavy turbulence when you’re landing. When we landed, half the plane burst out in applause. Initially, I was a judgemental dickhead about it, but I get it. It was a rough landing. Anyway, I landed at Heathrow at 7.40 and that brought my trip to Poland to a close. I had a great time and I definitely want to do another Angloville programme. They do programmes in other Polish cities like Krakow and Wroclaw, as well as in the US, Malta and Italy.

Personally, I have my eye on the Baltic Tour where you spend a week visiting Helsinki, Stockholm, Riga, Tallin and Vilnius. That programme starts a couple days after my thirtieth birthday. What better way to spend my thirtieth? And that’s all folks! My final day in Poland: a day of delayed flights, unsmiling border guards and the most persuasive anti-smoking ad known to man.