Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


Thing is, I can understand someone new to the city ranting about this - but his rant is ridiculous because it's easy to organise a monthly pass - or to download the mobile ticket app. The fact that he can't (heck, the fact that he couldn't even find online guides to Poznan) says that he really isn't as intelligent as he likes to think he is.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


USD :/

(thanks for pointing that out!)


It's pretty much the option of choice for "stupid North Americans who have parents able to buy them a medical degree", or who could get a student loan.

What gets me is their arrogance - the guy posting here is a great example, they often behave like Poznan owes them something.


They actually get good conditions (compared to the Polish students) - but effectively, as told to me by several lecturers there - a 5 for a NA student is equal to a 3 for a Polish student. The expectations are lower, and the conditions are better - because they pay a lot of money for it by Polish standards. The lecturers are also under heavy pressure to pass the students regardless (especially in oral exams) because - their money pays for a lot.

The place is a joke for non-Polish students. Polish students on the other place - the place is fine.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


Yes, but they're not everywhere (yet). They're at all the major interchanges, and in many other locations - but not universal.

Poznan also has mobile phone tickets - I don't buy normal tickets, I just put 100zl on an online account and use my phone to buy tickets. Job done, and it takes a couple of minutes to register and download the relevant application. Anyone who is actually intelligent can figure this out pretty quickly.


Really? I know one place where I always buy tickets from in Wroclaw, but it's a kiosk.


I despise the system here (I'm in Wroclaw) for that reason :/

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]

Terrifying, isn't it?

That's why they come though - 17k PLN a year buys you a medical degree.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


I think you're absolutely spot on. It's nothing to do with the buttons, and everything to do with the person.

Funny thing is, he could criticise Poznan for many things that are actually valid - but it just shows that he has no idea what's actually going on in the city if he chooses to focus on such insignificant issues.

And anyway, if it's so bad - Poznan has an airport that's 7km away from the centre. I'll even buy him a ticket - even on Sunday.


Honestly, in most parts of the city, you can buy tickets easily. I suspect it's more related to the fact that he's been here for ages and still can't buy tickets from the shop.

History / Lithuanians hate Poles? [156]


Lithuania is a foreign country. Poles don't speak Lithuanian, they don't know much about Lithuania and generally speaking, their knowledge stops at "Lithuania, my home country". It may have been one country in the past, but it hasn't been for over 200 years.

And anyway, if Poles there are too stupid to learn Lithuanian, they should stop whining and start sending their children to school.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


No, actually - your posts are an excellent example of the arrogance of North American students in Poznan. They *****, complain and whine about absolutely everything - yet - when you suggest to them that they should just leave if it's so bad - they get even more arrogant. The fact that the majority of them are only there because they couldn't get into medical school in their own country only adds to it - they know they're stuck here because they simply weren't good enough.

The medical school here is infamous in North America for "accepting anyone with the cash".

Your attitude towards Poland is pretty obvious from this post. Again - par for the course with North American students. Put it this way, I'd rather have a Polish doctor than some dumb NA student who bought his medical degree from the same place.


You do realise that they'll tell you what you want to hear, simply because you're a cash cow for the hospitals and universities?

The system works in Europe without any problems at all. If you can't cross the road properly, then I suggest stopping drinking.


Again - arrogance. The fact that you couldn't get into Canadian medical school says it all - you just came here to buy an education. And that's why you hate the city - because every day, you're reminded that the only reason you're here rather than in some nice Canadian city is because you failed. Exactly the same reason why most of the NA students whine, ***** and complain so much - they know, deep down, that they're failures.


You are? So - why are you criticising a system which is found throughout Europe and works for everyone? Even countries with a high emphasis on road safety have the system!


Actually, it does make them less valid, because it's an excellent example of the attitude that you and your ilk have. It's nothing but whine, ***** and moan - oh, and drink. The fact that I had to intervene to stop a bunch of drunken jackasses in the BP petrol station from abusing the cashier a while ago was the icing on the cake.


You'd find those same "serious issues" in any place you lived in - because the serious issue is with you, not with the city.


As I say - not good enough to get in, so you came here to a university that's regarded as a joke in NA. I know several doctors who teach there, and all of them say the same thing - that the standards for Polish students are dramatically higher than the ones for you.


I totally apologise - no American would ever be dumb enough to mix up "your' and "you're".


I bet any money that if the system allowed you to buy tickets from the driver, he'd be complaining about the trams/buses being held up.

Ah, Canadians, such fun!

(incidentally, met plenty of drunk American medical students who go wild when they discover that they can drink beer at 18 as opposed to 21)

UK, Ireland / Polish and English law on child access? [14]


Golden rule not only in the UK, but also in Poland.

I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen people online say how they were giving money in cash, and how the court didn't recognise it.

History / Lithuanians hate Poles? [156]

It's meaningless.

I'm almost certain that you'd see exactly the same results if you asked Poles about Russians living next door.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]

I think we're seeing a perfect example of the "I pay, therefore I am" arrogance that many foreign medical students (except Norwegians and Asians, funnily enough) display in Poland.


I'm really struggling not to write what I'm thinking here. Generally though - the arrogance of the student is in exact reverse proportion to the ability of the student to get into medical school in their own country.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


Oh yes. The fact that it allows in almost anyone to study medicine provided they pay the fees is a great example of what's wrong with it. The same university also barely bothers to disguise the fact that people on the English-language courses have a far less demanding course than those on the equal Polish language course. And of course, we don't bother to talk about the sheer arrogance of many of the American students there.


Erm... I can see that you're not particularly well travelled. Pressing a button is normal in the world. Whether the buttons actually do anything is a different story, but there is clear scientific research showing why buttons = good. Apparently there is a strong "reassurance" factor with pushing the button.


Again - obvious that you're not well travelled. This is the normal way for European traffic lights to operate. This isn't America.


Better to have several months of pain, than to spread the pain for years. I hate it too, but when everything is finished, it's finished. And normally, it only adds about 10 minutes to the commute if you actually know the city.


Yes, we are particularly rude to dumb American medical students who are effectively buying their medicine degree. Much of it is due to the arrogance, false self confidence and shocking lack of knowledge that they exhibit. I've seen one clown in late May struggle to buy beer from Piotr i Pawel - LATE MAY.


Again, totally normal in much of Europe. Anyway, if you arrive at Dworzec Glowny or Dworzec PKS - there are plenty of places to buy tickets. Actually - on a Sunday, you can buy tickets pretty much everywhere. It's not our fault if you ask for a ticket after being here for months.


I think it's called "going to a poor EU country to receive medical education because you were too stupid to get it in the US".

Mods - I apologise for the harsh tone of this post, but these American medical students in Poznan really are dumb as ****. Most of them *****, complain and whine about Poznan - and I even know one case where one of them tried to get daddy to bribe a professor at the university because the professor dared to fail him. I've seen a hell of a lot of bad behaviour from them - and even the Asian community in the university has little to do with them. I'm friends with a few of the Asians, great chaps - and they ridicule the Americans for being morons who don't even bother to learn some of the language.

I've got no ******* time for any of them.

Travel / Whats your favourite Polish city and why? [132]


I'm desperately seeking a place where I can sunbathe in winter. Where can I find such a place in Poland?

News / How Polish diaspora see future of Poland? as ethnic Polish state or just Polish in origin? [120]


No point - the tin foil hat tells him the truth and that's that.

News / How Polish diaspora see future of Poland? as ethnic Polish state or just Polish in origin? [120]

"we Poles"....hahahaha.

When you contribute to Poland and actually do something to help this country, perhaps you can call yourself Polish then. Till then, you're just another foreigner.

News / How Polish diaspora see future of Poland? as ethnic Polish state or just Polish in origin? [120]


And this is exactly why they haven't got a clue. I suspect they don't even know the Polish words in question, let alone the definition.


"I, MediaWatch, proudly declare my intention to defend Poland on the internet from people living in Poland. Such people are an insult to Busia Sofia and her golumpkies, and I shall do my best to make Poland seem like a backwards, racist country like it was when Busia Sofia left".


My, that shows how little you know about Poland.

Nowhere in Poland is it taught that the country was "occupied" after the partitions - it was partitioned, it's as simple as that. Occupation refers to WW2 and to the PRL era, not the partitioned era.

Seeing as you claim to know Polish - why is it pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozbiory_Polski and not Okupacja?

Of course - if you claim that it was an occupation, then you directly support the theory of Czech ultra nationalists, who will have you believe that Poland occupied Czechoslovakia. Yet again - proof that you haven't got a clue.

Law / inFakt all-inclusive service in Poland [5]

149zl brutto or netto?

My accountant cost me 100zl+VAT - and that's with unlimited access (ie, I can drop in and ask her questions whenever I want). That includes all the paperwork - same as this. Okay, I don't have online access - but I can just drop in and get whatever records I want.


The biggest problem for me would be the lack of individuality - you don't know who is preparing the accounts.

News / How Polish diaspora see future of Poland? as ethnic Polish state or just Polish in origin? [120]


I get the impression that the Polish-Americans see enemies where Poland doesn't. Another great sign of how they're totally out of touch with (as they say) - "Polish reality".


Remember, he defends Poland on the internet. Poland doesn't want/need defending, but he doesn't let that little matter stop him.

It's funny, but it seems to me that much of the III RP's policies are in deliberate contrast to the failings of the II RP - even PiS and Kaczynski have been savvy enough to suck up to a major world power to ensure protection.

And yes, they haven't got a clue about Poland. Sometimes, I wonder by their lack of knowledge of Polish and Poland - that they might actually be anti-Polish types. It would certainly explain the clueless ranting.

Real Estate / ADVICE please: Rightful owner of property in Poland? Property Value? [32]


If it's where I think it is - then it's nowhere near worth $50,000. It does depend on the quality of the land, but I can't see it being worth that much. It's nowhere near a major city, it's just rural farmland - which is plentiful.

The law has apparently changed and it can be done through a will - but it would only be recognised if the mother went to a notary and dealt with it in Poland - and followed the correct processes. But this would still raise the question of the inheritance after the father - all in all, seems horribly complicated for the sake of $7000 maximum (and I don't think it's going to be worth anything near that).

Real Estate / ADVICE please: Rightful owner of property in Poland? Property Value? [32]

Explore ways to lose lots of money over a tiny piece of land in Poland? ;)

Real Estate / ADVICE please: Rightful owner of property in Poland? Property Value? [32]

Honestly speaking, it's probably not worth the hassle for the sake of 10 acres in Poland. It's nothing - 10 acres is 4 hectares, which for farmland, probably won't fetch that much money unless it's in a prime location. Then you'll have to divide it between 7 - which is going to leave you with a tiny piece of land.

Also consider the relative in this - what if they don't want to give up the land?

As I understand it, you'll have to go through the proper processes for both your father and then your mother - which will take a long, long time. You'll almost certainly need the help of a Polish lawyer (unless you have someone in your family living in Poland that can do this - but again, issue of trust) - which will probably cost you more than you stand to gain from the land.

I just can't see it being worthwhile to chase up for the sake of 4 hectares. It'll leave you with what, around 0.6ha each - which is likely to be worth not much more than 10,000zl.

Law / Poland's Zloty 43% undervalued [30]


France has unemployment of 9.5% and climbing, Spain's employment was over 20% at one point, the list goes on...

Don't believe all the hype about "poor Babcia" - indeed, many of the genuinely poor ones are poor because they gave up working in order to look after children/grandchildren. I've read some very sad stories about how the children used their mother to look after the kids, then when the kids grew up and Babcia was getting old and sick - they abandoned her.

Strangely enough though - many of the poorest ones are the ones sitting in flats worth the most money. I have a friend who lives in an old Kamienica in Poznan in the very heart of the city. Most of her neighbours are very old, and they won't pay to renovate the kamienica - they don't have money to do so. Many of them are also very very poor - yet when she called a meeting and suggested that they should sell their places if they can't afford to renovate it, she was met with a firm "no way".

Yet - they could sell up, move to small, modern block with a lift and have more than enough money left over for the rest of their days. They won't do it - and it's the cause of some of the housing shortage in cities in Poland. The flats we're talking about are over 80sqm each - and worth over half a million zloty.


It's a hangover from the bad old days of the early 90's when anyone sensible put their car in a guarded car park. It's also very affordable - I pay 115zl a month to have a guaranteed, guarded parking space. Given that car ownership is rising fast in Poland, paying 115zl a month to be able to slot straight into a space no matter the time of day is worth it.

(plenty of unguarded car parks around, but without guaranteed spaces).


Not really, it's more because it's cheap to have. You can get a "guard" for 10zl an hour - I used to hire one occasionally for some work.

As I said, it's a hangover from the days when you wanted stuff guarded. People can afford it, so why the hell not?

Law / Why is US $ getting so high or Polish zloty falling? [60]


Yawn. The Polish State is the biggest shareholder and is perfectly entitled to act in accordance with Poland's best interests.

KGHM's share price was artificially high due to the fact that the Government was taking dividends from the shareholding (instead of imposing taxes) - now that KGHM (and others) are being taxed fairly, the shares will be at a more realistic level.

As the Government said - it was senseless taking only a percentage of the dividends rather than taxing the entire output. It was effectively a transfer of cash to foreigners - which is why this measure was taken.


Nah, you'll stay in your village and rot while the rest of us get rich.

Law / Poland's Zloty 43% undervalued [30]

The problem is that much of the income goes unreported - I could tell you about countless language schools where they fiddle the books, for instance. You'll often find that people are willing to do jobs "under the table" for a fair price too - and they actually bother to turn up, too.

For instance - someone in their 50's/60's who took early retirement will often be living in a mortgage-free flat. So - let's say they get a pension of around 1000-1200zl, which isn't unrealistic. Then they work full time in a guarded car park or similar, where they get around 7-10zl an hour. That gives them about 2200zl a month. The husband will still be working, and if he has a trade, it's not unrealistic to suggest that he can be taking home 3000zl a month (with the under the table jobs too) - that gives them over 5000zl a month with only the bills to pay.

Officially, they survive on maybe 3000zl at the most a month. Unofficially, far more.

Or another example - language teachers. They might work 18 classes a week (45 minutes each) in school - but then they'll have private classes on top. A good teacher will be able to pick up an extra 20 hours, often completely "off the record" - so while their income might be as little as 1500zl a month on paper, the extras will give them a considerable amount of cash.

Law / Poland's Zloty 43% undervalued [30]

I think the reason is because it is undervalued - much of it doesn't seem to be based on market fundamentals, but rather just investors running scared. The other central European currencies took similar dives - investors were even running away from the Czech Koruna, which was always seen as being stable.

The current level is just ridiculous - if you go to Germany, you can see how utterly undervalued the zloty actually is.

Real Estate / ADVICE please: Rightful owner of property in Poland? Property Value? [32]


Honestly, unless the land is worth a considerable amount of money (ie, your share being worth a good amount of money) - it's going to be a bit of a nightmare to deal with.


Pretty much.

The problem is that it needs to be done properly. If the transfer wasn't done properly when your father died, it'll be a hell of a problem to deal with.

My advice is for you and the other siblings to get a good Polish lawyer who can deal with things - preferably one local to where the land is.

Work / Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland [263]


I would assume that it's almost impossible to do where schooling is concerned?

Public schools won't lift a finger to help and private ones are - well - expensive.

Law / Starting a daycare in Poland, possible? [15]


This insanity is spreading in Poland - I had one psychopath phone me for a native speaker for his 18 month old!

Life / Racism & study with part time jobs in Warsaw ? [53]

About normal in rural towns everywhere.

Personally, I'm disgusted with badly educated village peasants.

News / Amnesty to Illegal immigrants in Poland [102]


In Poland, where a lack of "matura" almost certainly kills off any chances of ever getting employed - that says everything about the family. Especially nowadays, where the matura is handed out like sweets - no matura, no job. It says a lot about their economic situation if they were willing to pull the kids out of school just to earn a few extra zloty.

And you're actually trusting the opinion of these people? When do they actually visit the big city?


Very typical for that part of the world. Badly educated, poor peasants who often complain about others but do nothing to improve their own situation.


And yet he feels the need to comment on illegal immigrants?


No offence, but it's not hard to see why your mom and her sisters fled abroad. They would have rotted away in such a village.


We don't actually need more badly educated children who don't leave their village. In fact, such people tend to be a burden on the State, as they use, use, use and take, take, take while contributing next to nothing economically.


I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of Poles I know would quite happily criticise such "pathological" families. And 100% of them would criticise the decision to take kids out of school just to earn a few extra zloty.

Strange how me and Harry were bang on the money though, eh?

Work / Hospitality/Tourism Poland Job Seeker [4]

Ultimately, you'll be under-qualified in Poland. There are hundreds of people graduating every year with better qualifications than you - with the added ability to speak 100% fluent Polish. I've been involved in hiring people recently for some hospitality/tourism jobs - and we wouldn't consider anyone without complete fluent Polish unless they were an exceptional candidate. From what you describe - you aren't exceptional.


Not enough. If you want to get a job on the same basis as a Polish person, you'll need to have similar qualifications - which means a bachelors degree as a bare minimum, with most employers looking for a Masters for this sort of job. They simply won't care less that you come from a different educational system - you need to have the same as Polish people have.

I know this from recently recruiting some people - we threw out any CV's where the candidate didn't have a Masters degree as a bare minimum. And this was for a basic hospitality/receptionist job! It might seem crazy, but with 200 CV's to go through - there was no need to hire anyone without one.