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”
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