Being a Woman These Days is Double-Painful

Boys, friends, parties - we know teenage life is no joke. How was it in 1840s Poland? In this episode let’s delve into the writings of Celina Dominikowska, a dramatic Polish teen.
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the original diary manuscript in Polish:
polona.pl/item...

[@brookswift]

"My youthful hopes have diminished" Such a mood

[@SchlichteToven]

Exactly what I feel now at 39 years old with multiple chronic health problems when everyone I know seems to be travelling multiple times a year/have 2.4 kids and seem to be happy about it.

[@SizzlingSocks]

thats a mood

[@romanaromy1537]

"Maybe we will have fun, but it's more likely we won't." .. what a mood, girl!

[@maryanntheconqueror]

I just love how this is violently swinging back and forth between "everyone is fighting and places are being burnt down and my value as a woman holds nothing I am very scared" to "she's nice but she's UGLY so I DON'T WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH HER!! 😠"

[@leonasindlerova1727]

"Those are 19th century friends!" killed me :DDDD

[@maidende8280]

Human nature doesn’t change…

[@skeinofadifferentcolor2090]

Seriously though! Like this could have been my diary from the things that I was going through at her age. 😂😂😂

[@raraavis7782]

It would be so amazing, if we had diaries from all kinds of people, all the way back through human history. It makes me so mad, that all that history is just lost to us. I wanna know, what people thought and felt thousands of years back, damn it!

[@leonasindlerova1727]

@raraavis7782 I wouldn't say history is necessary lost to us. Nowadays a lot more diaries are getting digitalized so it isn't only for a few chosen ones who got access to private archives to read in them. And not all of them are just records of boring day to day life either. For example Pillow Book is really fun one. But yeah, those written by normal people who weren't rich are really rare.

[@maidende8280]

@@raraavis7782 Libraries burning makes me want to weep. Like the Library of Alexandria 😭

[@thesun7787]

It's kinda nice how she describes her experience with teaching. Like that scene after her nameday: "but everytime I run out of patience, I remember that I'm using my time wisely." or something like that. This teenage girl gossips and spills the tea about her peers, but at the same time you can just picture her sitting there teaching a little girl how to read. It’s a different side of her showing through. :)

[@skaldkonur9978]

Damn, this was so far the best textory in my opinion. So juicy. so dramatic. So relatable. Thank you kindly for doing the hard work of translating, research etc. I love also that this one plays in Poland. We hear a lot from England, French etc. But other Countries tend to be overlooked completely. So, yeah, great job!

[@I_am_Lauren]

I hope someone reads my diary like this in 100 years!

[@barbaraszpunar6909]

Totaly Agree

[@raraavis7782]

Agreed. What a fun and interesting look into that young lady's life!

[@emisformaker]

The cracking the code bit reminded me of helping my grandmother 'translate' some recipes her mother had written down. My great grandmother was from Ukraine and only had a 3rd grade education. She did learn to speak English, but not to write it, so she wrote her recipes in English words using Cyrillic letters.

[@kohakuaiko]

Oof, and I thought my grandmother's handwriting was indecifrabile

[@emisformaker]

@@kohakuaiko I'm lucky I decided to take a Russian 101 in university because I'd already taken years of French, and it was the closest I could get to Ukrainian. Handily, I can also sound out many English borrow words on Greek signs as well.

[@t.a.yeah.]

I sometimes write spanish in cyrilic letters as a code. xD I'm from Germany and I think noone I know could decode this, haha. (When I just take a note and don't want to lock it up, for example.) Ла хенте сиемре ес игуал, ме паресе. Хаха!

[@kohakuaiko]

@@t.a.yeah. If I was better with Cyrillic I could actually read it. At best I can "pick it out".

[@sophisticatedPJs]

the first entry sounds almost IDENTICAL to vents I've read (and made in the past) on discord. damn.

[@ampersignia]

"But everytime I run out of patience, I remember that I'm using my time wisely" That is so cute. I think I could definitely adopt this attitude when I'm frustrated with my work or learning a new skill.

[@Lauren-kn9qe]

It’s so interesting to hear texts from this time and place - my Ukrainian ancestors emigrated from Galicia in the early 1900s but we have almost no information about what their lives were like before, and know nothing of their parents. And that’s just on one side of my family, my other side is also Ukrainian but we know even less about them! So many Polish and Ukrainian records have been destroyed throughout the many conflicts in Eastern Europe, it’s a real shame. So much history and culture erased!

[@filippozaccaria6944]

Humans being humans will always be the best entertainment

[@ragingveela]

I gasped when it turned out beloved (I don't know how to spell her name) was just trying to get close to her brother and exchanged bestie rings with her sworn enemy!!! incredible. loved this so much ❤

[@ivakuchciak]

Otylka, which is more friendly version/diminutive of Otelia

[@darthbee18]

Celina: "How would I like to move between the virgin woods of the New World...and the world is not rumbling with a threatening storm" Someone near the Texas-Mexico border in 1846: "...mmm yeah, about that... 👀👀" 😅😅😩😭💀

[@jamestolson2804]

in less that 20 years the Civil War

[@inspiredby624]

I didn't think I was gonna start my day with 19th century friendship drama but I'm so glad I did.

[@mon4711]

Why is this so relatable though? As a woman living in a hard country, feeling stuck...

[@emmelinesprig489]

Dang the human experience truly is universal. We have different flavors of culture and environment, but we all just crave connection and contribution. Thank you for doing this work! Incredible project 👏😎

[@valeriyav2149]

living in Ukraine and listening to it, Celina couldn't be more relatable 😅

[@anastasialudwika]

Absolutely!😅

[@panqueque445]

This girl needed a Twitter account

[@DrAnarchy69]

1:56 thank you for mentioning this. When you said Poland in the 1840s my historian brain was like “which Poland, there were 3 of them!”

[@CAD65mil]

14th was my bday and I found out I am exactly like a teenage polish woman from the 1840s 😂. Loving the podcast

happy birthday! 🎉

[@wherefancytakesme]

I write embarrassing things in code sometimes too! The having children thing reminded me of my favourite book (19/20th century) where the 11yo MC writes in her diary how she was asked by her aunt what she was thinking about earlier, and not knowing it's considered inappropriate she said, "I am picking names for my children. I mean to have ten."

[@maidende8280]

Literally me but 6 sets of twins.

[@darkstarr984]

That’s adorable. I picked soooo many names. And mostly gravitated towards ones starting with C.

[@maidende8280]

@@darkstarr984 Same, they all had middle names. 6 boys & 6 girls. I’m fond of A in names.

[@bellablue5285]

That second entry kinda just demonstrates that people dont change much - back then folks had diaries, today folks have social media. And whoa nelly the tea 😂🍵👀

[@mariejustme]

I loved this so much. I was fascinated by the personal letters of a young Polish girl. I love history but don’t get the opportunity to hear personal accounts of life very often-especially, from young women. While it started a bit dark with the peasant uprising, depression, and her passing before Polish independence, her mood swings seemed fully recorded for posterity in such a delightful way. I hope you do more letters like this. I could listen to you read them all day. Thanks!😊

[@tukanica6903]

One day: Why I would fear a carnage. My life is meaningless anyway. The next day: Teaching peasant kids brings me so much joy. Life is beautiful! This sounds like my thoughts. Life is bad. Next day: life is beautiful!

[@patriciahammondsongs]

These are so good. This content is golden; making these sources accessible to us (and the work involved!) is such a great gift. Basically this is like what Eileen Power did in the 1920s, bringing us real voices from the past. So many memeable quotes too.

[@biancageminrodrigues7083]

"Why no one loves me?" *proceeds to badmouth everyone she knows* lol

[@juliastrzyga2274]

Amazing work translating it! "XIX century friendship" made me laugh. :)

[@nibbleniks2320]

Is it possible for you to get a grant to translate these diaries and publish them? It is the type of cultural, social history we often hear is missing. One diary I recently read was that of Benjamin Newton, early 19th century. Fascinating reading. A thought! Love the segment.

It’s copyright-free as Celina has passed more than 70 years ago, so I might just do that in my spare time one day 🤠

[@roisinhackett4320]

Brilliant Karolina! You need to translate more of Celina's diary. It was so relatable, but from a different time period. I love it.

[@aliceanne3952]

Oh what a gift it would be Karolinka jakbyś siebie nagrała czytającą cały pamiętnik po polsku. Czemusz ta piękna kaligrafia musi być tak trudna do przeczytania 😭

[@barbaraszpunar6909]

Ale zajebisty odcinek! Uwielbiam takie pamiętnikowe historie ❤ no i fajnie że polski akcent ❤

[@jcasillas78]

We need "These Are 19th Century Friends" merch

[@EmpressoftheLoneIslands]

I can’t believe how much I’ve become addicted to listening to these.

[@idasnderstruphorskjr-bro4160]

I love the historical AITA!

[@maidende8280]

AITA?

[@kohakuaiko]

Am I The A-hole

[@maidende8280]

@@kohakuaiko thank you!

[@J_Gamble]

Love this glimpse into her 19c life. Also, thank you for this introduction to the "Springtime of Nations." I feel like our nation and so many others are going backwards now. The "Winter of Nations." Peace to you from the US

[@SchlichteToven]

Imagine what an amazing historical analysis it would make if you also had the diaries of the girls she talks about in her diary, and could compare impressions!

[@jamestolson2804]

Thanks! I'm entertained and enjoy your channel. I'm at the stage of life it's easier to make money than find enjoyment👏

thank you so much! glad you found it here 🤠

[@deszeldra]

I’m also loving the little insights into Polish culture here!

[@deszeldra]

Would also love to see you not spread the popular prejudice against mathematics: I couldn’t help you with Polish words written in the Cyrillic alphabet but calculating ages would be easy, and I’m sure I’m not the only one!

[@K.M.-nm8ji]

Some real pandemic isolation feelings in this one! Great series, love it.

[@mariellouise1]

She expresses herself well and knows herself and her moods.

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. ❤❤❤

[@mycattypedthis2827]

it’s fascinating to discover that people weren’t that different 200, 500 years ago from today 😂 it’s always petty drama, intense teenage homoerotic friendships, ennui of living a life of comfort (i’m sure peasants and serfs weren’t as bored out of their minds bc they had to work the fields every day, cook, herd animals etc) and general feeling of anxiety about current political situation and future 😅

[@krism.9363]

So interesting. It’s great you were able to translate this for us! Great job! ❤

[@Essie-vs3rr]

Yay a new episode! Made my day! Thanks Karolina~

[@I_am_Lauren]

The teenage, hormonal gossip is killing me!!!

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

How is that is quite an intro to a video?Because if you're in to Controversy in general then this gets you a hooked

[@fikanera838]

A fascinating insight! Hope there will be more like this!

[@kathysharp7551]

Name day. I googled that. So glad to learn something new about other cultures. Thanks for another great video 💛

[@rusty852]

This episode was absolutely hilarious and really transported me, keep going!

[@skeinofadifferentcolor2090]

I was listening to this while driving, and it had me laughing, crying, relating to her, horrified, depressed, and cringe all in the same span of this video! 😂😂😂

[@TammaPlus]

Love the podcast Karolina!! Can't wait for more episodes

[@astrasillage]

This was so interesting! Looking forward to more. :)

[@rachelbennett9150]

People are people, and have always been people. 😂

[@Sophie_Cleverly]

I love this podcast so much. It really makes me feel connected to people from the past. And even though this one makes me feel sad that we still live with wars, at the same time it makes me feel optimistic. She felt hopeless back then, but so much change was coming. It gives me hope that there may still be good things in store for the world. (And also, I laughed at the shade haha)

[@nyves104]

I love seeing proof that humans have always been humans 💜💜💜💜

[@Nadia1989]

22:09 my mother has friends in Spain and they always text her on her name day. I've also seen calendars with saint's days for sale in religious shops. 28:04 maybe she doesn't mention her crushes because she fears someone will find her diary..? 29:48 the good ol' language switch. My English textbooks were full of scribbles and doodles because no one would touch them 32:20 Otylka careta y soreta

[@VictoriaForSale]

I looked if I find any German translations (Poland is close to the German area I live and sometimes we are lucky to find German translation of books that doesn't exist In English) but sadly even that doesn't exist. Your reading parts of her diary made me want to read more of it... It's sad I can't. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@susandreyer9019]

Thanks for your efforts, this is interesting.

[@sickydemon]

This is so relatable ♡

[@aliannne1099]

This was so fun!

[@AstroMartine]

hah, I wanna give this girl a hug. It's sad how relatable it still feels, as a woman.I really think we're not too far from the situation women were in back then.

[@maidende8280]

Modern women enslave themselves.

[@hippie_muffin]

Love it! Funny to hear the name of the villages and around Lviv when she describes their travels. 😅 zadworz I believe is Zadviriya now and Hlyniany is the same)

[@peglakanta]

I love this podcast Karolina!

[@florindalucero3236]

Same shit, different century 😔💔

[@gregoryduran]

Thank you for being fucking RAD

[@beingWantable]

This was fun! Where can we find here drawings/paintinge?

Here! polona.pl/preview/0a4be063-cc58-4059-87ea-02ff2d5b0356

[@beingWantable]

@ Thank you

[@classyhistoricalsewing]

this episode was amazing, if you are able to translate more pages I will be very grateful. It was so so interesting to hear how a teen in 1840 deal and feel about the same issues that we have today :) I wonder if she had internet if she would have felt less lonely in the winter

[@goromajima8309]

This podcast issss soooo good

[@annafirnen4815]

Poles complaining about bad roads since 1848, absolute classic.

[@neanahidden]

She would have totally had a Tumblr account in the early 2000

[@Artur_M.]

21:15 However, around 5 years later, a pharmacist from Lwów, Ignacy Łukasiewicz, will invent the kerosene lamp. Anyway, I love to see you include some Polish stuff in your content!

[@lafeministe24]

Just the first entry - I have a teenager and they would 100% agree with her.

[@Spontaniczne.improwizacje2]

Ale tutaj masz rozbudowane społeczeństwo. Gratulacje.

[@arcaine3907]

my grandma lived trough it and escaped with her mom and some of her siblings. A lot of women were rworded too

[@thatonedog819]

It makes me sad that there's not more of these yet... I binged like half of them at work today. What am I supposed to do after tomorrow?

[@Lili-xq9sn]

Aloha, I ❤your channel! Please show us her picture diary!

[@rolom3]

Omg I loooved this. I laughed out loud when she said the girl was too ugly so she could never love her 😂 12:46

[@maidende8280]

People are lying to themselves if they don’t admit looks matter in all kinds of relationships.

[@wonkyelsa]

​@@maidende8280 they dont in friendships.. not to me atleast.

[@maidende8280]

@@wonkyelsa They don’t matter as much as in romance but they do matter. Some faces/bodies are insufferable.

[@wonkyelsa]

@@maidende8280 I dont think ive ever seen a face that could be called insufferable. Most people look good to me. I dont think looks matter in friendship at all if the person was born the way they look. I can get not wanting to be friends with someone who is super modified with tattoos and piercings and stuff or are super obese and proud of it. But those choices as well are just reflections of what is inside and in friendships that is what matters most.

[@maidende8280]

@@wonkyelsa Choices (including looking slobby or being obese) definitely play into it. But primarily it comes down to respect. I can’t respect people whom I dislike looking at. I’ve not actually rejected someone based on appearance as a friend, because those insufferable looking people aren’t common & I’ve never met one I’d like even if they looked different. And I’ve had plenty of unattractive friends, so it’s not like I require beauty in my friends though it is essential to me that they care about being presentable. John Travolta has one of the insufferable faces. Even in photos. He just looks so smarmy. Makes me feel sick. Idk, maybe I’m picking up on an internal ugliness.

[@pvp6077]

Okay I should've just started writing as soon as I had a thought but: That opening? Girl knows that you gotta open a diary with style. Can't just start out with some basic nonsense you gotta wait till you've got something you need to write down, from your soul, before you can settle in to what you did this week. And that ending??? That's exactly what I've been saying about Cressida Cowper in Bridgerton not making any sense, like why make enemies of 2 different girls with a literal bevy of handsome young eligible bachelor brothers, one of whom was unmarried with a **title**??? You need to make **connections** to get married, not enemies! All she does for 2 seasons straight is bully and gossip amongst the girls and compete for men who are interested in someone else. There are so many hot young available guys in that universe, but you only see her go for strangers who've never seen how she acts in a ballroom literally every day of the week. One conversation with another person about her character would've driven Debling, the Prince, even that scam artist Featherington cousin right off in a heartbeat, had he any other options. She's wildin out in full view of the entire adult society from her first season out. Is that "looking for a husband" behaviour? "Beloved" Oltenkya (?) at least understood the assignment. Act polite as heck in front of the sister to make a good impression and don't turn into a backstabber till you have some other option available or it's useful to you. Just ghosting a girl, then exchanging friendship rings with a different girl, isn't half as crazy as ripping her gown at a party, like???? Imagine bringing _that_ into your house? Anyway now I've spent more time talking about Bridgerton than this awesome diary, but I gotta hear more. This girl is an absolute mood, and even when she's wrong I still relate from my own teen years. Like, I just bet Celina has been drawling on and on to anyone who'll listen about how mature and enlightened but also jaded and cynical she is now, to dislike these silly social affairs because "I'm actually doing something **Useful** and **Important** now, by educating these poor, ignorant peasants 😔🙏🏾" She's just Not Like Other Girls actually, and needs everyone to know it. Girl, we all been through that phase. It's a struggle.

[@Amira_Phoenix]

You made a good job translation-wise 👍

[@friendoffrancis]

Dude, this girl is living the plot of Northanger Abbey 😂

[@Hirnwichsen]

omg, as teen I never was that bitchy, but very much that dramatic - the silly memories popping up...

[@jana.thecat]

Her writing in polish but with Cyrillic alphabet is so funny to me because my friend and me used to do that in school too to talk shit about the lectures 😂 but we wrote in German with Cyrillic alphabet. Since she's Serbian and I'm Russian we don't understand each other's languages but we have the same alphabet 😂

[@marillenmadel9875]

I'm currently at the part where she describes ,,potential" friends and I feel called out (tbh I am 19 as of now) but everything up til now is like a polish 19th century version of my diary XD

[@marcherwitch9811]

omg executive dysfunction and definitely depression...

[@marcherwitch9811]

omg she's so autistic... i feel so much of this!

[@tearez13]

this reminds me sm of the "Dear America" and "The Royal Diaries" book series I read a lot of when I was in middle/highschool, which were written like diaries of actual historical figures. I'm curious, did you translate this yourself?

[@MiffoKarin]

This woman spilled SO MUCH TEA and I love it. Sweden also has name days, they're marked in calendars but they're not really celebrated much. My mother calls to congratulate me every year, which is the only time that I remember it exists. 😅

[@lokalnawrozka]

Polish bridgerton for real. But also i was her in my teens😅 so relatable. Drama queen

[@Jj-rq9sp]

Her 18 year old thoughts for the most are mature in comparison to today

[@alainastansfield5196]

Loved this one!

[@_.hala0923._]

What a mood haha ❤️

[@treehugger444]

My fav episode so far, love her sass!! :D

[@1202CH]

I love Textory 💜

[@nibbleniks2320]

Have you read "Marie and the Duke of H" by Doris Langley Moore. Moore is exceptional--and besides, she was a fashion historian--OBE no less. The story is based on the diary of Marie Bashkirtseff when she was 14. She lived to be 25. You might already know of Langley Moore because of your interest in fashion history. Thought I'd mention it. :)

[@I_am_Lauren]

I hope someone reads my journal like this in 100 years! haha

[@DiaryofaDitchWitch]

Wow, she's a shot straight out of history, isn't she? It would have been easier to make a move in so many other times and places, but she was stuck and by the sounds of it, suffering a touch of occasional cabin fever.

[@frankharr9466]

That was a lot of fun. Man, people do not change.

[@MoonBratStudio]

I feel like this could have been my own teenage diary. Hahahaha! People are always people, I guess. p.s. Maybe having kids was still her choice later on? Let's hope for her. Haha

[@sariahmarier42]

Freaking Wonderful!!! Love!

[@skygirl534]

Translating into English, bless

[@mina-ala]

So so good ❤