Study / The costs involved for studying at Polish Universities. Is education in Poland free? [10]


The Polish system doesn't work like that. You can't pick and choose classes - you have to do what they decide for you. Perhaps you might have a limited choice, but in general, everyone studies the same. And in the Polish way of doing things, the most difficult classes are often in the first year of studies.

Study / The costs involved for studying at Polish Universities. Is education in Poland free? [10]


No, the courses are often completely different, and it's unlikely that most Polish professors would accept the English courses as being equal, especially at the same university.

Life / Poland: The land of -isms [63]

The real issue to me is the acceptance of racism by a cross section of society - everyone deplores racist idiots starting trouble, but the vast majority of people here tend to turn a blind eye at best to racist comments.

Having said that, I don't believe that there is anything comparable to the problems that - for example - the Met had with institutional racism.

Life / Poland: The land of -isms [63]


She is. She's leaving.


I think it's obvious you've never been there.


That's exactly my experience. It's very much a minority of idiots who have a far worse bark than their bite. The bad old days of the early 90's have gone, thankfully.

I do believe there's an issue with racism being culturally accepted here, but I don't believe that Poland is such a terrible place for racist incidents.

Study / The costs involved for studying at Polish Universities. Is education in Poland free? [10]


Considerably so. They are a cash cow for the university, nothing more.


Why would they give scholarships to students who are studying in English and paying for it? It wouldn't make any sense.


Why would they care less, as long as people like you keep attending?


Means nothing here. Polish students couldn't care less if there are people from all over the world attending or not. In fact, in most universities, they hate those on English language programmes because the English language programmes are notoriously easy compared to the Polish ones.


Yes. Jagellonian is 351-400th for the Polish programmes, not the English ones.

English language studies are mostly a complete joke in Poland, existing solely so that foreigners can buy a degree at a low cost.

Life / Poland: The land of -isms [63]


The problem is that your experience seems to be rather embellished compared to the experiences of many foreigners here. I know quite a few who have an excellent command of Polish, and they don't seem to suffer anywhere near as much as you have. Isolated idiotic incidents, yes - but nothing more than a Pole would get in the UK. Poznan is quite a multicultural place, and unless you go wandering around £azarz or Wilda late at night, it seems pretty unlikely that people would draw attention to themselves in such a way.

Having said there, there are certainly some pubs that you wouldn't go to - but nor would a normal Pole.

Are you certain that this isn't because of a difficult employment situation? You certainly wouldn't be the first or the last to focus on "how terrible Poland is" because you couldn't find satisfaction employment-wise.

Life / Poland: The land of -isms [63]

So you weren't actually refused service, you were simply abused by two random guys. That's a slight difference, and casts doubt on the rest of your story.

How have you found the employment situation?

Life / Poland: The land of -isms [63]


If it's true, then I know several people who would love to hear from you. They would be especially interested in any establishment repeating such things, and they have the power to get the establishment into very hot water with people that matter.

However, I find it impossible to believe that you were asked to leave somewhere because of the colour of your skin, unless you purposely went somewhere that no non-Pole would ever dream of visiting anyway and where someone from even a different city would get a lot of criticism and abuse.

Sorry, but I know plenty of foreigners here, and I've never once heard anyone being refused service on the basis of the colour of their skin.

Life / Poland: The land of -isms [63]


Likewise, especially as the OP appears to live in Poznan.

Study / The costs involved for studying at Polish Universities. Is education in Poland free? [10]


No, unless you find a bank willing to loan you the cash on a commercial basis. There won't be any scholarships available for these courses.


In general, no.


Very. English language courses at Polish universities are poor.

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


It was allegedly started as a citizen initative, but there were no real grounds for such action. She hasn't been the best President of Warsaw ever, but quite a few of the problems were caused by the previous administration.

I read a very interesting article by someone in the SLD that pointed out that PiS - again - cooperated with Ruch Palikota and that this cooperation was incredibly distasteful to many voters - even those that wanted HGW out. SLD voters in particular were rather unhappy with it - hence they stayed away, particularly once it became obvious that the refendum had become a "vote for PiS" rather than "remove the President".


PiS are already suffering badly financially - and I'm willing to bet they spent more than 400k on this. If it wasn't for that SKOK bank, PiS would be really in trouble.

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


Which says that the voters of Ursynów wanted nothing to do with this referendum. The only interesting thing was the vote in Srodmiescie - has Warsaw also got the problem of a significant amount of working classes living there?


What makes that even more hilarious is that they themselves were the ones encouraging the city workers to vote!

As for the reference to "Belarusian tactics", they should be ashamed of themselves. They lost fair and square - but well, given that Jaroslaw Kaczynski believes that he has the sole right to rule and to decide who else rules, no wonder he's making such accusations.


Kaminski certainly knows a thing or two about using such tactics to eliminate political rivals.


Good, I hope he keeps up with the hinting. The more he shows his bitter, angry side, the better.

What's interesting about this election is that it shows that the PiS vote has hardly moved since 2010 in Warsaw. Instead of ranting about Belarusian tactics, he might want to ask himself what he's going to do about their utter inability to increase their vote...

Real Estate / How the Poland property market became a HUGE bubble [35]


What's interesting with this is that many people prefer to live with their parents rather than getting onto the property market with a smaller property than is desirable - I know several people who are waiting until they have enough money for a house or a big flat rather than trading their way up.

Strange mentality to me.

Real Estate / How the Poland property market became a HUGE bubble [35]


That's why the Swiss had to spend a considerable amount of money pegging the Franc to the Euro because their exports were being destroyed by the strength of the Franc, wasn't it?

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


No, in a democracy, this provision prevents the President of the city from being recalled if less than 3/5ths of the original electorate don't turn up. The whole point is to prevent abuse of the democratic process.


It certainly isn't - how could a President of a city be recalled with the support of barely 25% of the voters?


That idea has been in place for years.


If the rules had been different (no minimum turnout) - then she still would have won.

She won the referendum fair and square.

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


There's certainly something wrong with a system that allows a President of a city to be booted out of office if 14.5%+1 agree. It's not democratic in the slightest.

Anyway, it's not that they didn't give enough of a ****. They did - and they stayed away because it made no sense to take part in the referendum. Abstaining from the vote was the wisest option here, and it has shown.


Actually, those that cared - like Harry - stayed away. It was obvious that most of Warsaw was happy with her, and they showed it by not taking part in the referendum.

Just read an interesting observation :

It seems that in 2010, 22% of Warsaw voted against HGW. Now, in this referendum, 25% have voted against - which means that PiS are really struggling to increase their share of the vote. It's the same nationally - PiS are simply not making any gains.

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


Usually a very good sign of prosperity and wealth. From what I know, there's still a shortage of quality office accommodation in Warsaw.


Except it wasn't a majority - something like 160,000 people signed it. And for this referendum to be valid, it only required 29% of registered voters in Warsaw to vote - which doesn't sound very democratic at all.

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


Certainly it would make a lot of sense for anyone signing the recall signature to have to pay a special stamp tax. The amount of signatures that were declared invalid were staggering, after all.


Same as in every capital city. But this referendum was never about HGW and all about PiS.

For what it's worth, I see how Warsaw has developed over the last few years - HGW has achieved a lot there, even if it's not perfect.


I don't think recall elections are democratic, to be honest.

News / Referendum to remove Gronkiewicz-Waltz fails in Warsaw - turnout not high enough [37]


Absolutely. Warsaw is the centre of Polish life, and it needs to be run by a stable President who doesn't attract headlines for the wrong reasons. It also - as a major financial hub in this part of the world - does not need the instability that her recall would cause. Better for everyone that she stays in office until next year.


Certainly almost 75% have made it clear that they're satisified.

Law / Advice on declaring Freelance income from the UK in Poland [15]

It is fairly straightforward once you decide on these things.

For what it's worth, you can deduct a hell of a lot of things, so you would be highly unlikely to even go near the 32% bracket.

Law / Changing contract without consultation? Advice on EU/Polish employment law needed. [5]


Unlikely, as the contract wasn't signed by both parties. A verbal agreement is just that, and they (although acting unethically) are quite within their rights to do it. Of course, there may be something in Polish law that can make it binding, but in general, it's her fault for moving before contracts were signed. I'm surprised she uprooted without a contract signed and sealed, to be honest - I wouldn't do it!

Can you tell us if it's a public or private university? The private ones are really struggling at the minute - and it would be very odd for a public one to offer a good position to someone from outside.

Law / Advice on declaring Freelance income from the UK in Poland [15]


As I recall, it's not so straight forward - some tax schemes can only be used by some groups of people. For instance, the "freelancer" tax rate isn't available to all freelancers, but rather those who practice certain professions.

You'd be best consulting an accountant and seeing what they say.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]


I guess I've heard the same story too many times.


That's the thing though - you're even admitting to having crossed your fingers. Were you able to check the property regularly during renovation?


Well, if it's a total wreck - the logic will be that the renovated property will also be good for other people to stay in.


Is that really the deal, though? Like others have said on this thread - probably Cousin Tomek will turn up needing a place to live, or perhaps Brother Zbigniew will return from Germany - and the family will see this nice house sitting empty most of the year. The daughter (living abroad anyway) will be pressured to agree, and the OP - not having much choice - will agree. And then the arguments will start, especially when Tomek or Zibby start treating it as their own.

On paper, it's a great deal - but given Polish village mentality and the much, much, much stronger family bonds here?

The real problem for me is if it's on the family land, then without access from the main road (or access rights) - the family can easily turn the screw whenever they want.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]


No surprise there.

It's fine and well if there's no family involved - for instance, the only granddaughter is getting gifted a house. But with brothers and probably other grandchildren in the way, I'd be shocked if there wasn't a problem. I imagine Cousin Tomek (who needs a place to live) would have no qualms about convincing Babcia to give the house to him instead once it's nicely renovated.

Travel / Are there any travel agencies in Poland that offer Disneyland Paris packages? [10]


Having been there myself (as a teenager on a school trip, which led to vast amounts of mischief making...) - I strongly agree with this. It's not a place for a 3 year old - it's too big and overwhelming. I was quite amazed at the scale of the place - but that was as a know-it-all teenager. It would be best to leave it until the kid has started school - they will be just as impressed, but they're also not so likely to be intimidated by the sheer scale of it.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]

It's only my observation, but it seems to me that this "gift" is actually being intended in a rather different way. What Polish family is going to sit and look after a nicely renovated house for 48 weeks a year when Cousin Tomek who just got married needs a place to stay so he doesn't have to live with his parents? It seems far too suspicious (given the Polish mentality) for a daughter to be gifted a house when the brothers are going without - unless of course, they see a chance for the house to be nicely renovated.

It's frequently said by people that Polish people think in a different way - and certainly the mentality in villages is far more family orientated than in the UK. I'd almost certainly place bets on a random relative turning up once the place is renovated.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]


Are you certain? A renovated house on the parents property may become very attractive for a brother who hasn't been around for a while. He may suddenly remember that he actually wanted to live there - and the parents (especially in a society like Poland where old attitudes die hard) might take pity on him as he would live there and "help' the parents. Or they may propose that he stays there when you're not using it - which is fine and well until you discover that he's treating the place like his own.

What we're trying to tell you is that if you don't have ownership of the property along with something that secures your interest in the property - then you're open to all sorts of tricks and games.


Are they proposing to transfer the title of the property to you, along with an access corridor to the house?

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]


The problem is that he wouldn't be on site, so he would be trusting a professional blindly. But absolutely, knowledge of local conditions would be a must.


Probably because we live here and see the gulf between the people that live in urban areas versus those who are part of village life.


Ouch - you want to invest money into something that isn't even yours legally? That seems like a recipe for disaster, especially given inheritance laws...


I wouldn't put a penny into the property until it's clear that you have joint ownership of the property. If it's your money, then I'd be also making sure that a small, yet important piece of land is only in your name to prevent any abusive situations emerging. I'm also not convinced that she would actually get the property to herself, especially if the brothers realise that there's a nicely renovated house to get their hands on.


It's not her that I'd worry about, it's the family. They will see her earning GBP and think "hmm, how can we get some of that?". It's the village mentality, unfortunately. There's a good reason why educated people don't tend to return to the villages they come from, after all.


Especially a property that appears to be entirely dependent on the mother-in-law's house. Let's say he sinks 200,000zl into the property - what's it going to be worth if the media connections have been severed and access to the property denied?

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]

And I would go further and say that the wisest option would be to find someone that isn't from Poland to do the job.


I'd go further and say that if he is to sink cash into it, then he absolutely needs to make sure that he has some sort of guarantee there. I'd be looking at something along the lines of having the sole ownership of the garden next to the property or similar - something that will make sure that they won't try any funny business. Wouldn't be the first time that some seemingly genuine people screwed over their own family...


Brutal, but I doubt many people would disagree with you on here.

The risk for me is pretty simple here - he wants to put money into something that he has no experience of, in an environment where screwing the rich foreigner may mean not having to worry about heating bills for a few years. For people in such an environment, could you blame them?


At the end of the day, is it worth falling out with the in-laws because of a renovation project?

Something also seems fishy to me - why would a Polish family give something to a daughter when such society has always valued the men more than the women?

Seems to me that they might know that the property is worthless and that they're hoping that he will spend the cash on it so they don't get forced to take it down.