A Trip to the Countryside; by Theresa

     ”What?” I exclaimed.  “Send me to the countryside?  But why?  I don’t want to leave Warsaw, Poland.”

     ”Marie, you have been so sad and depressed since your mother died in 1878. I think it would be best if you went to the countryside for a year to live with your relatives,” my father said in a calm, mellow voice.

     I sadly packed all the belongings I would need.  I didn’t want to leave my friends, even though I hated Poland because of all the Russian soldiers taking over.  Maybe going to the countryside wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

     After spending a few days in the countryside, I began to feel free.  No soldiers told me what to do.  There were no soldiers at all!   

      I happily walked over to the kitchen and sat down to the sweet smell of waffles.  I loved coming downstairs to breakfast and not having to work like I had to back at home.  Again, I saw one of my uncles start to drink a whole jug of milk!  He does it at every meal.  Maybe I can put a little water in the jug - a little more each time and see if he notices.  I’ll start the next day. 

    It has been a few days and he hasn’t noticed yet.  “Ha, ha, ha ,ha!” I burst out laughing. 

    “What’s so funny? Hey, did you put water in this?” he questioned suspiciously. 

    ”Maaaay-be,” I replied.  “Yes,” I admitted laughing. 

     Then he said, “I’ll get you for that!” But I knew he was joking. 

    He also is a neat freak, so I decided to turn his room upside-down.  I’ll hang all his items on his ceiling, I thought.  I eventually did! 

    “What in the world! My room is upside-down!” he said when he walked into his room.  “Marie!” he said again in a playful voice.  I walked over to him, knowing he would laugh. 

     “Yes?” I said. 

     “Did you hang all my stuff?” he asked laughing. 

      “Yes, I did,” I replied, laughing back.

    It felt liberating to take a year off.  I thought of my dad’s special words.  It was relaxing not having to do math or science or anything else but have fun.  I loved riding the horses and feeling the wind blow in my face.  The horse’s neck felt soft and comforting.  Instead of studying science and doing experiments, I had free time to draw in my sketchbook.  I loved being able to read books other than textbooks about physics and chemistry.

    Leaving the countryside, I felt great about the life ahead of me  I knew now that I could discover something.  I felt confident about my scientific future. 

    I look back to this story and remember how different I felt after spending time in the country with my laid-back relatives.  I look back to all the pranks I played, even though they all had a little bit of experimentation in them.  After going to the countryside, I was able to return to Warsaw, Poland refreshed and renewed. 

  

     AUTHOR’S NOTE

 

Marie Curie was a famous scientist who studied physics and chemistry.  She was the only person who received two Noble Prizes in two different types of science (physics and chemistry). She was born in Warsaw, Poland as Marya Sklodowska.  In this story, I wanted to get across Marie’s sadness before she went to the countryside, compared to the joy in her after she came back.  Later she went to Paris and met Pierre Curie, a scientist who she eventually married.  Marie and Pierre Curie proved radioactivity exists.   Pierre died in a horse-drawn cart accident in 1906.  Marie died from her own experiments in 1934 at the age of 67.