I like ‘coming home’ to Radom.
Well, I am not from Radom and don’t consider it ‘home’ long-term (in fact, we will move to northwestern Poland in a few months), but I live here now and specifically like the feeling of arriving at the train station after having been away.
It is not the smallest train station I have been to, but it’s certainly not medium-sized or large.
And I like that. A lot.
Earlier this week, I had some administrative errands to run in Warsaw. So I commuted there in the morning by train. It’s a 1 – 1.5 hour ride depending on which train you take.
After my errands, I took a walk in Łazienki park and then had a delicious lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Warsaw before heading back to Radom.
En route to Warsaw, I got a text from an educator I know in Radom.
‘Annika, are you on the train?’
Yes, I was, and I invited him to come over and chat.
He came over before nearing his stop, and we got to chatting. He wanted to know how I was doing, how my kids and I were, etc. I explained that we would be leaving later this year, but that I did not regret our move there, and also hope to do some research with some of the community-engaged data I’ve been gathering.
He was rather flabbergasted. What could I possibly be interested in researching there?!
I launched into my explanation, which touched on issues of quality of life in urban areas broadly but also, increasingly and especially, in ‘ordinary’ cities.
I told him about my ‘Perceptions of Radom’ survey, also titled ‘Jak odbieram Radom?’ that I developed last year and that is available in Polish, thanks to the help of a local scholar.
I spoke about city stigmas as well (including Radom’s) and interest in unpacking those, and also the benefit of not having them bias your view of the potential of a place- personally as well as collectively.
After my explanation, he nodded, his eyes smiling. ‘I see your point, and this really fills you with passion!’
I always want to connect my research and advocacy back to the ‘average resident’ who is typically not an ‘urbanist’ and not brimming with excitement to talk ‘all things urban’ all the time.
But these are people who inhabit their cities, who pursue jobs there, invest in homes, raise families, as well as make decisions about staying – or going.
It was a very busy evening at the train station (the end of a long holiday weekend). But I still felt that drop of relaxation as I circled around on foot to the front of the train station after arriving back in town.
