Who in their right mind goes to Poland in February?

"You're going to want to put on something warmer than that...It's cold here." Marta, my Erasmus Student Network (ESN) mentor, grinned as I pulled my coat out of my overstuffed and extremely heavy backpack. With a windchill of -13 degrees celsius (which converts to an outside temperature of what feels like 8.5 degrees fahrenheit) the 10 minute wait for the behind-schedule bus left me wondering why I hadn't packed my hat in a more easily accessible place, why on earth I had cut all my hair off before leaving, and lastly, who in their right mind goes to Poland in February?

Upon entering the bus, the invasion of my personal space in the overcrowded mass transit was surprisingly welcome because the body heat de-thawed me pretty quickly. After some housing paperwork, language barriers, and a search for ethernet cables and hangers (both of which are quite difficult to describe with charades) I am settling into my "flat" and researching whether it is safe to drink tap water in Warsaw if you use a Brita filter the results of which are indeterminate. Some say people drop like flies from drinking the water, others say it is an urban legend created by bottled water corporations, and others say the issue is more with the taste of the water because the Polish have a taste for mineral water and carbonated water. Regardless, I am currently starring at a glass of water recently run through my brand-spanking-new Brita pitcher. Here's to hoping the skeptics are wrong!