Experience feedback in Poland: we tested Warsaw as a team, and even individually, we pushed to Krakow and Gdansk!
First trip in Poland
My first trip to Poland was in 2011 [it goes back up!] In Gdansk. I was leaving 4 months of training in Spain in Ibiza, I must admit that from the outset I have not really liked the change. You go from 38 degrees in the middle of October to a figure of insignificant degree, I have hurt my little heart. But, Gdansk is very colorful, very student and it is by the sea: I find that the atmosphere that reigns there is very different from that of Warsaw or Krakow. At the same time: do you have fun comparing Bayonne, Paris and Lyon? Nope. Gdansk, it moves a lot, and I found the people very welcoming.
Krakow, my second visit to Poland!
Already it will be very difficult for me to say bad things about Krakow: if Anissa falls on this block, she sends me a nuclear warhead. And, above all, the city is splendid! It is very touristy; let’s say it’s the city most similar to Western European culture. You will not be disoriented by the masses; the city has been renovated recently, and especially the old town, it’s hot. In short, let’s get down to business: Warsaw.
Warsaw: First International Horizons Trip
How do you choose your first move when you mount your box? Thanks to Skyscanner: the cheapest baby. So it’s a Paris Warsaw, 20 € A / R all stack, we take, for the month of November, just before the creation of International Horizons. None of us had visited the capital and we only want to send you where a member of the team has already been!
The flight naturally – as is customary – did not go well, we had a delay + turbulence, with a finish on a short track, a lot of wind. Not the ultimate dream! But a nice surprise. To set the context, we want to mount International Horizons to break the costs of the internship abroad, we have not yet found a bank that we trust, so the average level is quite limited: we choose the couchsurfing option!
Mistigri, the – small host of Warsaw
We are directly recovered by Mistigri (Baptiste), a Frenchman who is in Warsaw – and has since returned! – who offered us to host the first part on stay. So we leave home, a few stops from the hyper center of the Polish capital, in a small cozy apartment. First night, first dumpling: Mistigri decides to introduce us to Soplica vodka, a nutty taste. This vodka has two anecdotes: the first, I broke the table of Mistigri after a few drinks during a superb imitation of dinosaur for a Time’s Up! The second, the last wedding that I had the joy of doing, this summer even in Bordeaux, I found this vodka at the table: a scandal for my health, especially the next day when I do Bordeaux Nantes with a sun of lead.
Warsaw – The old town
Mistigri makes us visit the old city, and its surroundings, of Warsaw. The city is really beautiful: it’s beautiful. He tells us that it was razed during the war, then rebuilt identically: the project is excellently successful. The old town is very touristy, you find all the major international traditional brands, wifi, mostly European tourists, and a little Asian too.
The appointments in Warsaw
Because yes, do not forget, the goal was still the job. And there, some funny anecdotes. First trip, so we decided not to split the appointments, but to do together to maximize our speech. So the first meetings are with the French institutions on site, and it’s going very well!
The second day, we have an appointment that seems a little far on the map, but daï! Let’s go. We fool ourselves (and wallah that I exaggerate nothing!) 3 bus changes, we cross a forest (yes, we’re still in Warsaw, we’ll learn later that the city extends like 14 times Paris), and we finally arrives at the end of the end of Varosvie to meet two teachers two high schools general. And there, surprise “Meow” – this is what we call this teacher – we slap without complex: “we can not work with ERASMUS + so it was really for the pleasure of meeting French” LOLILOL.
Another highlight is Warsaw’s biggest high school. We are welcomed like kings. The director comes to open us, takes our coats, makes us visit the immeeeeeeeense establishment, taking care to introduce us to EVERYONE. I do not think I’ve ever shaved so many hands in a day. And, after a good hour of guided tour in the meanders of the high school – in Polish, English was not his forte – he takes us in front of the hall of ambassadors, we enter. A teacher, who speaks only Polish and Russian, takes us in front of all the class delegates of the school, a hundred high school students. A kind student, comes to make the translation: “Thank you for coming to lecture us on ERASMUS”: Ok. Mode Battle activated; we left for an hour of improvisation on ERASMUS, without support; best conf ‘ever. Casually, a pack of kids then contacted us again, we must not be so bad!
Warsaw that stinks
Because yes, there is a side not very very nice of Poland, and especially when it is the day of independence. Recall that women have fought very recently not to lose the right to abortion in Poland. So there, OKLM with Mistigri in Warsaw, he asks us to avoid talking the time we go through the crowd to go to a cafe, because in this day of independence foreigners are quite badly seen. Indeed, some were dressed as Nazis for this parade; neither one nor two, I am revolted and search on Google the demo against that one. So for the ‘Polish’ demonstration you have like 10,000 people marching past. We show up at the other demonstration: you have LGBT pro, people of sensitivities on the left, the unions, the European pro, we are … 500. Yes, the good atmosphere.
And, it did not fail, the evening we left bought vodka (must consume local!) And we took a pressure shot from a protester who said “do not forget you’re in Poland here, then you shut your mouth “. Yes, thanks bro ‘
Warsaw nighlife
The night Warsaw is very nice! There are a lot of bars and clubs, a little underground style. Naturally there is electro and big rock, hear ragga guys are not ready yet. The evenings are really cheap, and apart from independence night, we never felt insecure in Poland, people are rather welcoming. It’s also not Italian, Spanish or Romanian, but .. they are welcoming!
An evening when Marie was exhausted, I decided to go out alone; I met Ukrainians and Poles at a subway station: here I am in an apartment, in the residences of Warsaw (like Stalinist bars of buildings) to drink a few shots of vodka low-end, and of course, to try to speak Polish: impossible!
In short, we Warsaw, we advise you: it’s nice, it’s cheap. If you like electro, go out, visit: you have plenty to enjoy yourself 6 months in Poland, the country really has strong interests! For an internship in Poland, contact us baby.