USA, Canada / Where on the net can I buy Polish language books/novels/math in the US? [26]

Based in PL empik.com and merlin.pl have great selections, low prices, and will ship to US - if your order is sizable it is definitely worth it, just do the math (for small orders I would use one of the domestic sellers mentioned above).

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


???


really? just because your sister pays what she does - how does that make my information "inaccurate"??? something tells me that logic is not exactly your strongest side... ;-)

madisonareaymca.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/fee-schedules-2011-2012.pdf?sfvrsn=6

note this is a YMCA center - and it does not get much cheaper than this. note if you are a serious professional, you will most likely need the preschool, 7AM to 6PM 5days a week - which currently is... $1,480 to $1,880/month (depends on age of child)


likewise - note I have not used a fancy facility; those could easily run in excess of $25,000/yr...


oh, i am sure in states such as KY, SC, TN, MS, etc they do. but that will certainly not be true in metropolitan areas.

News / Poland's universities go up in world rankings [23]


Certainly the Germans seem to agree:

dw.de/new-university-league-table-betrays-anglo-saxon-bias/a-4774241

Study / What is the best medical school in Poland? [33]

This has been discussed in here before in numerous threads - feel free to use the search field.

For a foreigner from far away, I would say generally the larger the city the safer the bet if you were concerned with "mixing in the crowd", variety/availability of "western" food items, entertainment, etc.


I would not necessarily agree with this, especially without any facts or statistics presented (although there are some issues with these programmes).
I personally know many alumni of these programmes, vast majority of whom successfully got into residencies in UK/Canada/US - the ones who did not were slackers and/or immature and not able to get high enough grades both in-house and on the USMLE Steps.

I would say, however, that these programmes from the start will generally be tougher on a foreigner due to the local language barrier and often cultural differences. The BIGGEST downside, however, is that these programmes tend to attract large numbers of spoiled, immature brats with poor grades (especially from the US), so the overall learning environment may not be most conducive (not to mention poor public perception - which I think is what the above posters have in mind). But as with almost anything else, you will undoubtedly also find dedicated, mature students being there for the right reasons. If you can afford it, I would say it is probably better to go elsewhere. The mature/dedicated/on the budget student will do well under any circumstances - including these, so in the end it is a personal choice.

USA, Canada / Admission to master programs at top-tier universities in the USA/UK/Canada/Australia [3]

as long as you get very good grades, are ranked in the top of your class, have great recommendations, do very well on the GRE/TOEFL/admissions essays I don't see why you wouldn't get a decent shot at it...

what area of studies were you considering?

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]




pardon???
600PLN=$190 @ current exchange rate of 1$=3.16PLN
=> $1,200/190=6.3 more in US than in PL
that's just for one child. can do the comparison for two, with 2nd child at 50% in PL?


sorry to disappoint you, this man happens to know how to count...

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


500-600PLN v $1,200. Also, in PL you will often pay 50% for a 2nd child...


but it comes at a price - typically less variety and job prospects, not to mention weaker education and cultural aspects...

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


I am sure you can find plenty of decent houses in PL for PLN350k - in smaller towns + villages. Property prices are mostly about location. You say PLN175k for your fancy new house-where would that be? In my area (commuting distance to NYC), in a neighbourhood with decent schools, you need to pay $500k MIN for any old house. (Add to that $8-12k property tax/yr).


True, no VAT, but we pay property and sales taxes instead (even on used cars)! If you care to look into things like childcare and summer camp/activities costs for children, they can easily be 5-8x those in PL.


That certainly seems to be true for majority of cases. But again, all depends on your particular circumstances, as there are many well to do folks in PL living a higher standard than most in US.

Travel / What's worth seeing in Poznań? [17]

Hi. That really boils down to what you like and dislike.
I would start here:

przewodnicy-poznan.com.pl/poznan-attractions-10/En/
inyourpocket.com/poland/poznan/sightseeing

My personal choice in the summertime would be to spend as much time outdoors as possible, and besides the must sees I would recommend visits to the Citadel Park and Park Sołacki (best by bike), and trams/bike rides/walks around the neighbourhoods of Jeżyce, Wilda, and £azarz (great architecture).

Life / Latin VS Polish cultures. [13]

From my experience with Latinos, I would say that on a social level they always appear more relaxed, like to joke much more, seem to be able to enjoy a laugh/dance/conversation and hence tend to be louder - all of that without the need of ingesting alcohol (never mind the need to get drunk) as is most often the case in our Polish tradition... Too many Poles get aggressive when drunk instead of enjoying themselves. Religion would probably be a binding theme. As would passion for football.

History / 70th Anniversary of Sikorskis Death (Newark) [30]


Agreed. Note Poznań was already in Poland at the outbreak of WWII.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]


There was something similar with regard to Lwów:
Jedna bomba wodorowa, i wrócimy znów do Lwowa
Choć zastaniem same zgliszcza, ale ziemia to ojczysta.
:-)

Life / TVP axes Dobranocka [21]

RIP... Nothing lasts forever - not even Dobranocka ;-)

Love / SINGLE SUCCESSFUL POLISH DOCTOR IN NY SEEKING ADVICE [28]


No offense, but why would you place nationality on equal footing with the virtues you were looking for in that someone you are attempting to find???

I don't remember seeing that much emphasis on national origin in this context outside the US... must be an American thing. ;-)

Travel / Crossing Kaliningrad in a Campervan (Baltic tour) [3]

I would avoid it like plague.

About 8 yrs ago now I had the pleasure of traveling from PL to the City of Kaliningrad and nearby seaside town of Svetlogorsk by coach. To put it mildly, it was not a pleasant experience (although I would not say it was totally not worth it - it was an experience not to be forgotten). If you are thinking of visiting the City of K. (a Soviet era dump) you will not miss much by skipping it. The pace at which the traffic was filtered at the border crossing was needlessly and painfully slow - as if we were entering from enemy territory. Cars, lorries, coaches and their passengers were searched scrupulously. The border guards seemed disdainful and treated us more like suspects rather than tourists. It seemed they were looking for anything to use to help them solicit a bribe. For instance, they picked on my passport because it had been hand printed and issued overseas. They took it away 'to check' and held it what seemed like ages. Then they even went as far as (and this is not a joke) trying to convince me that I was not a citizen of the country whose passport I was a holder! Luckily, with my limited Russian, I did not take their crop, told them off and refused to give in to their intimidation. But because of that, the coach (nearly full) was held up for 2 hours! This is the sort of (Soviet style) things you may need to be getting ready for if you are thinking about driving there in your private camper. I would say that knowing basic Russian is highly advisable. I can only hope that things have improved over the years; perhaps someone will have had a more recent experience to share. But Russia being Russia, I would not bet my money on the pace of change there... ;-)

Good luck with your trip.

Life / Living Costs and life in Poznan? [70]

You will find at least a couple of vegetarian, cheap but decent bars where mostly the students eat. But overall, PL is a meat lovers' country.

Life / Etiquette in a Store and Market Queues in Poland [146]

Sadly, I can only agree with the posters here. In addition to the frequent queue cutting, disorganisation, and lack of respect for others in public, my other top gripes would be:

- Lack of change when paying cash. I don't know why it is, but I cannot remember a day without this being an issue at least once. This simply does not happen in countries such as the UK/US.

- Blatant disregard for traffic rules such as speed limits, no passing zones, etc, and lack of courtesy combined with low level of safety awareness displayed by drivers. This obviously goes beyond plain irritation in situation when you feel your life is in jeopardy.

Not so sure that years of communism are to blame here. I observe the exact same behaviour on buses/subways daily in NYC in the 'less privileged' parts - lots of tired/indifferent stares.

Travel / Driving from London to Poland Poznan [7]

About 1,150km/10 hrs form Dunkirk to Poznan. We had always stayed in a local B&B midway in Germany (fairly inexpensive) and tried to do at least a couple of hours of sightseeing before continuing on the following day. If you are technically minded and not familiar with Germany, you will no doubt enjoy a closer encounter with the German approach to practical civil engineering solutions in general...

Might also be worth noting that if you are not familiar with the driving style in Poland you are forewarned that drivers there in general do not exhibit the same level of safety awareness as in the UK (speed limit and traffic signs/warnings are often ignored), so you might be in a bit of a shock at first if you have not experienced it ;-)

Good luck and enjoy the drive!

Travel / Driving from London to Poland Poznan [7]

I had always taken the Dover-Dunkerque ferry crossing (DFDS Seaways now), perhaps not the quickest, but probably still the cheapest, and very frequent. Then just follow your sat-nav through B/NL/D...

Law / Jobs and Economic Status in Poland [64]


The figure that is repeated in political discussions is +/- 2 million, i.e. those who reside/remain outside of PL, predominantly young people <40.
It could very well be that this figure includes those returning, as well as those leaving.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

Correct, I've forgotten about the VAT in EU. However, the difference is that it is already included in the price of most items/services, and here it is not. Also, businesses can easily deduct the VAT in PL from products such as fuel - I am not sure if that is the case here.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


That web calculator seems to be giving accurate enough results - most people in the lower tier will pay +/-25% in basic paycheck deductions. However, most employers do not offer free medical/dental insurance, and this could easily add $200-$1,000/month for a family depending on the employer and the level of coverage (most large employers will offer several options). In addition, most of the insurance companies will charge a small fee every time you go see a specialist (and when one buys medications) some have pretty high 'deductibles' for out-of-network specialists (sometimes even in-network). And there is the DOUBLE TAXATION (tax paid on top of your taxed income), for instance in the form of the omnipresent state tax (8.75% in NY, 7% in NJ) every time you buy an item (price says $0.99 - you pay $1.08 at the cashier) or use a service (basic supermarket food items are exempt), and property tax being very significant (2-54% of property value), or when one buys a USED car - never mind that it could have been sold and bought five times before you... So all in all, these taxes add up considerably...


That's 2-4%...

Law / U.S. Citizen Living In Poland - How To Get Non Immigrant Spousal Visa From Poland? [7]


Unfortunately, that's the law and there's little one can do to get around it - I understand your frustration.
In a way I see their point - they are just trying to cover their backs - tax payers' hard earned taxes ;-)...
However, have you checked whether the sponsor need to be a relative, i.e. will a friend's affidavit not suffice?

UK, Ireland / Scots better than Poles? [41]

Without a shadow of a doubt the Scots have made numerous groundbreaking contributions in all areas of life, science, and politics... for more details I would highly recommend this eye opening book:

How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman amazon.co.uk/How-Scots-Invented-Modern-World/dp/0609606352

Study / Primary/Secondary International Schools in Poznan [13]

Hi,

The two I know of are:

pbis.edu.pl
isop.pl/en

A 2011 thread: https://polishforums.com/study/international-schools-poznan-reviews-better-53352/

Life / Tomasz Lis radio show? [5]

He is also on the Poranek Radia TOK FM morning talk hosted by Jacek Żakowski on Fridays.
BTW You will find many other interesting recorded shows there under the Podcasty tab:

Study / I want to move Poland from Chicago area and study.. Job prospects, cost of food, healthcare, other expenses [24]


First of all, if you cannot afford it (i.e. no scholarship), why on earth would you want to spend a fortune for an undergrad degree??? That just seems unjustified... I would agree with DominicB above: definitely explore your community colleges. You need to be able to get good grades there, decide on your major and look for ways do some research/internship, etc. to beef up your skills/chances, then apply for a transfer and a scholarship at a decent state uni... there is no need to get in serious debt for decent education. I know people with degrees from respected unis who work crappy jobs with miserable earnings, as well as those with majors such as sociology/history from no-name unis who managed to become very successful... at the end of the day, it is what you are able to make out of any given opportunity - educational institutions being no different... don't get the hype get to you...

USA, Canada / General differences between Poland and the USA? [184]

Was the incarceration rate mentioned yet?

According to Wikipedia, the incarceration rate in the US is the highest in the world. As of 2009, the incarceration rate was 743 (per 100,000 of national population). Poland was ranked 60th with 220... This is surprising and not really what one would expect from the land of the free...

To put things in perspective, mother Russia had the second highest, at 577; not so free Cuba 7th with 510; merrie England & Wales placed 92nd at 154; Canada was 123rd at 117; and also not that free China had 170/121; New Zealand 71st; Venezuela 99th; Australia 113th, Sweden 177th, etc...

USA, Canada / Polish-American food as compared to food in Poland? [4]

There are some good Polish delis, bakeries, and eateries pretty much anyplace with significant Polish immigration. One can easily find pierogi and kielbasa in the trendy neighborhoods of Brooklyn these days...

In terms of taste & quality I like the locally made stuff better than the typical deli/supermarket food in PL, which I think has gone downhill dramatically over the years - probably due to the pressures of keeping costs down. Even bread is nothing like it used to be. One can still find quality stuff in Poland of course in places like Piotr & Paweł, but at a cost that is out of reach for the average Kowalski. I suspect the quality and taste of the food available here could be attributed to the fact that it may still be made the way it used to be made when the business owners left PL 50-40-30 yrs ago...

USA, Canada / Where could I go in Pittsburgh that has a high population of Polish-Americans? [39]

Hi, new member here, stumbled upon this thread now... wondering if you ever made the move to Pitts, Polka?