On our first day in Poland, we went to Wrocław. Wrocław is an important culture and history centre in Poland. It’s the historical capital of the region of Silesia, which made it the fourth city in Poland by its population (675 000 hab). The city has its own airport, the Wrocław-Nicolas-Copernic Airport (5th airport in the country by its number of passengers). Wrocław is the third largest educational centre of Poland, with 135,000 students in 30 colleges. The city is full of buildings from different ages (Wrocław Town Hall, Wrocław cathedral…).
We went to Hydropolis. Inside, we got a tour of the museum, starting off with a film explaining all there is to know about water in the universe. The most important fact to remember is the water theory on earth, the most popular being that, there has always been water on earth, but the water particles used to be in the centre of the Earth, and with time the water particles went back to the surface and formed one big ocean that covered the whole planet.

Then, the guide presented us the Bathyscaphe, an engine to explore the deep sea.

Next were the sea creatures located under 3000m, a place where the light cannot reach us, therefore a place greatly unexplored. Some fish, to be able to reproduce, developed bioluminescence (light emitted by the fish itself). Some others found different reproductive methods than the one we know, like that male fish that is way smaller than the female one, that bites the female and merges in its skin. It then becomes like a parasite. Some other fish have teeth so long it reaches their eyes and cannot close their mouths, and some tiny fish eat dead whales. All of those different particularities show the differences between the species that we do not know that well.

The third room was on the impact of plastic on the lives of animals. The more plastic there is in the ocean, the less fish there’ll be. As plastic bags resemble jellyfish, a lot of sharks eat them and die because they think they’re full but they actually got no nutrients as they only ate plastic. To reduce our plastic consumption, we should drink tap water, instead of bottled water.

The fourth room was a rest room on Amazonia and we talked about illnesses and solutions for fish.

The 5th room was a room about water in the human body. For example, men have more water in their body than women because they have more muscles, and women have more fat tissues. With age, the amount of water in our body decreases. Adults have around 54% of water in their Bodies

The 6th room was on ships. The bigger passenger ship was the “Allure of the Sea” and the biggest ship ever built was the “Knock Nevis”.

The last room was on Diver suits, the first one ever built being in 1797.

After the museum we did experiments to find fat, proteins, glucose and starch in food.

First we tried to find fat in cheese so we added some water, oil and sudan and then we warmed up that solution. It resulted in some orange fat.
After that we tried to find if the fat in the lards is saturated or not, so we added oil and potassium permanganate to the lards. Because of it, the solution was discolored.
We also tried to find proteins in eggs so we mixed it with alcohol and Haynes’ reagent and the egg reacted as if it was cooked, that meant there were proteins in there.
After that we heated a mixture of chopped apple, water, and Haynes’ reagent, which turned orange as glucose was present.
We also mixed Lugol’s solution to starch and potato, producing a dark blue color, which meant there was starch-iodine.
Finally we saw the effects of the vitamin on starch by mixing iodine and vitamin C, and we could see that the more vitamin C is present, the less solution is needed to decolorize the starch.

Then finally, we visited the city of Wrocław.

So on Friday 7th, we started the day with a presentation about the Karol-Marcinkowski High School in Poznań. The teachers (Miss Klinger and Miss Zmaczynska) and the director welcomed us warmly. Then Miss Góra gave us a little Polish lesson so that we could communicate a little with the Poles. Then we attended normal classes such as German, history, English, Spanish, and chemistry, by group.

Then we visited the National Museum of Poznań. It is a public cultural institution and one of the largest museums in Poland. It houses a rich collection of Polish paintings from the sixteenth century to today, and a collection of foreign paintings (Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and German). We started with a guided tour of the classical art gallery where we were explained that the history of Poland emerged from the paintings thanks to the evolution of eras and techniques. Then we made a second visit on Polish modern art where we were able to see the importance of the messages of female artists and their fight through art.

To end this day we attended a concert organized by high school students honoring women because it was Women’s Day. The singers were very talented and impressive, they clearly put women in the spotlight with the choice of their songs.

First, we went to Biskupin, where we visited an old village, one of the places where Poland history started. The village was very old, with wood houses, defense walls, and a special atmosphere that make us feel like we were in the past. It was very interesting to see how people lived many centuries ago.

After, we went to Torun. First, we walked a little in the city, looking at the nice buildings and the small streets. We saw the house where Nicolaus Copernicus was born, it was impressive because he is a very important person in scientific history. Near there, we also saw a statue about the city origins, which made us understand more who he was. The city looks very old and beautiful, with a medieval style.

Next, we went to the planetarium, it was really funny. The show was very immersive, and we learnt many things about space, planets and the stars. It was amazing to see how big the universe is.

After, we had one hour free time. In group C, we went to eat a kebab, it was very good.
When eating, we also spoke with some Polish people. They were very nice, and it was interesting to exchange some words with them and know more about there culture and life.
Finally, we came back to Poznan after this long but very exciting day full of discoveries !