Travel / Lots of vacation pictures from Poland! [29]

Hi, the restaurant in the aeroplane- where was that exactly? Do you know what it was called?

UK, Ireland / Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland [35]

Thread attached on merging:
Survey on Polish migrants to the UK, Ireland and Sweden

Hi all Polishforum and other folks of the UK, Ireland and Sweden!

As by popular demand (or maybe just one) this is your chance to give an opinion on what you think of Polish migrant workers to your country.

Could you please spend a couple of minutes completing my questionnaire- there are only 10 questions most of which are multiple choice. The results will be used as part of my MA thesis and importantly participation is completely anonymous. The link is provided below.

surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=b6opuCCz9aRjTRzqqBVRtA_3d_3d

If you could spread this link around to friends, family, work colleagues, employers etc in these countries it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

Love / Attending a Polish wedding on my own (I'm English) [25]

Well I've never been to a Polish wedding so you're welcome to take me...

UK, Ireland / Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland [35]


That's unfair, there are also half-naked, if not fully naked, men puking and copulating in the streets.

Binge drinking is nothing to do with the low cost of alcohol, the Swedes are exactly the same and you need to take out a mortgage to have a drink in Sweden.

UK, Ireland / Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland [35]

Ok, maybe the word "clash" is a bit strong but the cultural differences are certainly different in relation to behaviour.

As I mentioned previously, I'm British born and raised of Polish background. I grew up observing all the important Polish festivities, I know the language, I'd visited Poland a number of times and just grew up knowing some of the quirks of being Polish. However, my Polish upbringing didn't actually prepare me for living in Poland.

I've been here for 10 months and I have only managed to make one Polish friend in Poland and not for the lack of trying. There is no social culture here, people don't mingle in bars or clubs with strangers, there aren't many amateur sports teams for adults or activites where adults can meet others, for example through volunteering. Everyone is very much tied to their family and to friends they have had since childhood. Essentially this is because most Poles have lived in the same neighbourhoods all their lives and aren't used to moving around, the majority of students here opt to go to university in their city or in the city nearest to where they live. Unlike in Britian where the majority move away to university and a small number choose to live at home. As I mentioned previously, communism forced people to be distrust of others. Unfortunately, this is still noticeable in the young generations of Poles who have now lived the most part of their life in a democratic society.

A good example, I recently went to the Heineken Opener Festival and knowing that there would be loads of people from Warsaw there I thought it would be a great place to try to make new friends my age. How wrong I was. My friend and I tried talking to so many people but nobody would let us talk to them, people actually ran away! After three days we managed to get a couple of Polish guys to speak to us and even then that was outside the grounds on the way out. The reason they let us speak to them? Because they had lived in England for a couple of years and they had learnt that to Brits this is a normal part of being out in public. Now they're back living in Poland they're more open to socialising with strangers and say that where they had never previously noticed this public hostility, it was very apparent to them now.

Being British born, I've never experienced what it's like to live in an oppressed nation, I only know what it's like to live in a liberal society where I'm pretty much free to do what I like.

UK, Ireland / Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland [35]

Ah but it depends on what you consider to be culture. The way you behave, the things you think these are also culturally based, the little things and actions that the majority accept as normal in order to get along with others on a day to day basis. For example, standing on the left going up an escalator, eating on the street, greeting strangers, queuing these are also considered to be cultural.

Music, cinema, dancing, these are all leisure activities essentially invented to entertain us in our leisurely time.

When you've lived in a number of different countries, as I have, you really notice how as a foreigner you stand out because you don't automatically do the same things the locals do. You really notice the cultural differences even when you thought you didn't have any.

UK, Ireland / Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland [35]

Mister H, I understand what you're saying since it seems a lot of research is about the new wave of Polish migrants to the UK, economic effects etc etc and of course I'm no different in this. However, my particular research is concerned with trust amongst Poles post 2004 EU accession - trust being somewhat lacking amongst the Polish populace, a remnant of Poland's communist past which is still apparent and I'm interested to see if these have altered since Poland's accession to the European Community four years on.

Believe me, I've spent months and months looking at different research reports and the Brits are more than represented in their views :-) I'm British-Polish and for me its quite interesting how much Polish and British cultures clash, something I've come to realise now living I'm living in Poland for the first time.

UK, Ireland / Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland [35]

Perhaps "noimmigration" by your very apparent lack of understanding between the very simple and yet oh so vast concepts of immigration and emigration are better underqualified than me to clean the toilets that you wash yourself in.

Now, perhaps, you can take your copy of the Daily Mail, BNP newsletter and a dictionary and do everyone a service by increasing your vocubulary ever so slightly?

You are, no less, an oxygen thief.