Dzien Dobry!

Okay, so I've been in Warsaw for about a month now, so this blog is a catch up of my experiences thus far. As we are now in October the weather is getting noticeably colder, in the summer it can get very hot; now though is the time for hat, scarf, gloves and a few layers of clothing.

Moving around Warsaw is amazingly easy and I have to say cheap, its not a huge city and most things are within walking distance of where I live. My university student card also doubles as a top-up card for use of public transport, which is remarkably efficient. It cost me 133PLN (about £23) to top-up my card for 90 days use of the underground metro, trams and buses within the city limits of Warsaw, this is amazing compared to UK prices and my taxi trips into Manchester from Salford. I use the metro almost every day, it is modern, clean and simple as there is only one North- South line. The longest I've had to wait is about 8 minutes for the train to come!



During my first week my girlfriend flew out to see me and we explored the city together, mainly the tourist spots such as Old Town and the Palace of Culture and Science. The Old Town isn’t actually that old as Warsaw was bombed heavily in World War Two leaving only 15% of the original buildings standing. Old Town was built in the late 1940s and 1950s to resemble how it was before the war and has a more European feel about it than the rest of the city, which is influenced, heavily by communist architecture as most buildings are large, tall and made of grey concrete. The Palace of Culture and Science was the second tallest building in Europe when it was completed in 1955 and at 750 feet high remains the tallest building in Poland. For a small amount of money you can travel, in the fastest elevators in Europe, to the viewing gallery at the top, which provide spectacular views of the city. The building was a gift from Soviet Russia to the people of Poland and was probably designed to be as dominant as possible. It houses a wide variety of things inside, from businesses to museums, art galleries, the government debating hall, a cinema, swimming pool and space for concerts. It is the venue for the three-day jazz event held in June each year. Jazz music in very popular here.


My University site is only one stop on the metro from where I live and is also an impressive building with a square dome on the top. I have been told and assured that it is the best university in Poland for Economics, finance and business and has an impressive collection of top teaching and research professors. It was once called the ‘Central School for Statistics and Planning’ but has now reverted back to the name of The Warsaw School of Economics although it is known as ‘SGH’ in Polish. At the other end of the metro line is a new Tesco supermarket so at least I can buy most of the things that I am used to. The main difference in the food between here and the UK is the different cuts of meat and the amount of fat that most of it contains, and I can't get decent bacon!!! In Warsaw itself are many International / British stores such as H&M, Marks and Spencer, KFC, MacDonalds etc not forgetting the Hard Rock Café!



One of my university courses is Polish for foreigners, which aims to provide visiting students with a basic level of spoken and written Polish. I am finding this very hard because the language is completely different to anything I have experienced before and I am finding it hard to get into the right study technique to learn languages as I stopped my German studies more than 4 years ago! . . . but I will persist and hopefully pick some more up.

So until Blog number 3, all for now, “Do widzenia”

The Story So Far... 1-Arriving in Warsaw

Hi, My name is Alex and im an Economics student at University of Salford, im currently doing my second year of studies at Warsaw School of Economics (Szkoła Główna Handlowa in Polish refered to by everyone in Warsaw as SGH. Ive been here for just over two weeks now and thought id start off my blog by filling in the gaps about what ive been up to over the past couple of weeks.

I arrived in Warsaw on the 20th September flying from Liverpool Airport to Warsaw Airport. I manged to get some cheap flights from the low-cost carrier Wizzair, but i did not realise, as you can see in the picture, that i would be getting aboard the brightest plane i have ever seen!! it burns one's retinas especialy as the flight was 8a.m. which of course meant a bleary eyed start to the day waking up at 5a.m.

Upon arriving in Warsaw i was met at the airport by my landlords, this was the part of the day i was fearing the most has i had arranged my accomodation privately (the University dorms are a dive!) mostly by email, as i was lucky that my father knew someone in Warsaw through his work and she was able to put me in touch with some of her friends who own property, but i still didnt know if they were going to turn up or not! I was glad they did and my flat is everything i could ask for, living room/bedroom, large kitchen (well everythings big to me i lived in Eddie Colman Court in Salford last year and got used to it) and hallway with wardrobe and a bathroom. Location wise im 2 minuets walk from the Metro and one stop south take me to SGH and one stop north in the centre, one minuets walk in either direction takes me to a corner shop and if it all goes wrong down the street is the British Embassy, so i cant fault anything with my place!


After unpacking and getting settled i took a walk around the city thats home for the next 10 months, i decided not to take the metro and walk to the centre to establish landmarks and so fond myself in the centre where i walked to one of the newest shopping malls in Warsaw, opened in november last year, it houses pretty much everything, even Marks and Spencers! Also Warsaw's if not Poland's only Burger King, i got my shopping done in the supermarket below and the th essentials (bread, milk, mince, pasta sauce, Beer and Vodka). Most things are really cheap, good vodka is only about £3.50-4 for half litre! Polish speciality vodka is called Żubrówka, its vokda with a blade of two of Bison grass in the bottle turning the vodka a pale shade of green and adding flavour, best drank with apple juice in a drink called Sharlotka, it actualy tastes like apple pie!! Honest give it a try!
I stayed home that eveing and had quite an early night i was really tired from the travelling and in preporation for my girlfriend, Sarah, coming to visit the next day, explained in Part Two....