Life / What would it be like to live in Lomza? [60]

osiol, I didn't know that ;) Well, that might get him in trouble ;)

andysterdam, that guy was right. Of course it depends on a teacher, you may punish them for cheating, but it's not like in the US for example, you won't be removed from school for cheating. You may not pass the exam, you risk that the teacher will make it hard for you next time, but still almost everybody cheats. It's not considered something very wrong, even many teachers pretend they don't see what's going on, if only students don't get it to obvious ;) I don't know how to explain it well, but it's like cheating was wrong, but not helping somebody is worse ;) So people help each other if only the exam is not about competition. I mean nobody will help you on the entrance exam, when you fight for a place in school of course. And the cheating is often just another way to complete the course etc. As that guy wrote, education here is often about learning many different facts, dates, etc. It's all hard to remember, just too many of that, so people cheat. They think "what's the difference, I won't need it later anyway. And if I do, I'll check in the book or Internet". I think there is less cheating involved when you have to think rather, than just remember some useless facts or numbers. They should change that, as it's no good. People know many things, but still can have absolutely no clue how to use them. And the fact that you can't decide what you want to learn only make things worse. You can be great at math, but you still need to learn a lot of history, biology, geography etc. It's impossible to be good at everything. And you only start to learn what you need (mostly) when you go studying at university level. So often cheating is the only way to get through all the stuff you don't need but must learn anyway. I think that many people (teachers too) realize that and that's why cheating is not considered an absolute evil ;)

Life / What would it be like to live in Lomza? [60]


I don't know what you mean...

andysterdam I see, that you'll be teaching english... I guess the first thing you will have to learn is the totally different approach to cheating on exams than in most countries ;)

Life / What would it be like to live in Lomza? [60]

If you want to buy a cheap car it's best to do it abroad, so maybe you will want to consider that... People here do it all the time, they buy cars from US or Germany etc. and after all the payments it's still cheaper. Used, few years old cars prices are usually somewhere between 10-20k zl. You can buy some cheap old one for as low as 3-4k or something good and almost new for over 20k.

New cars are much more expensive, prices starting from something like 40k for a cheap car and of course during the warranty period you need to use authorized service points, which cost much more.

Life / What would it be like to live in Lomza? [60]


Yes, that's true, it is one of the poorest regions, not the town itself, but the region. And the town isn't rich too.


Well, I don't know how often you visited and for how long... The cinema is better now, but still isn't as good as it should. But i can't agree about the "only attraction". And don't forget that having a car you can go to some fun places in a time shorter than needed to get from one part of Warsaw to another... :) Mazury - about 1 or 2 hours of driving (3-5 from Warsaw at least), if you want a good cinema or pool (and those in Lomza aren't enough) - Ostroleka 30 minutes of driving max... etc. I don't see a big problem. And belive me, while I was living in Warsaw I often had to plan the evening in advance (where do we meet, where do we go, how we get there, how long does it take, blah blah), while in Lomza I can visit a few clubs/pubs if I want, cause everything is so close :) Don't like it here? Let's go there...5-10 minutes - done, it's so simple :) So every place has it's advantages and disadvantages as well... And of course I can party all night in Lomza for almost the same money I would have to spend for a taxi and a ticket to a club in Warsaw ;) For let's say 50zl you have a taxi, 2 tickets to a club and 4-6 beers for example. What you get in Warsaw for that? A taxi? ;) I can tell you it's not THAT bad as you think... Of course you have more things to do in Warsaw, but look at those two... Lomza is about 80k people... What would you expect?

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


I don't say that any programmer can earn that much, but best of them do. Most of them earn something between 3-5k.

Life / What would it be like to live in Lomza? [60]

The College you are asking about is a new school, only a few years now, so it's hard to tell something about it. Not the greatest one for sure, but as far as i know they are trying... ;) I don't know if you will be happy with the job or not, depends on what are you going to do there, I think... I know some people working there on IT projects and some students, it looks ok for me, at least for a small town like Lomza. And I see, that they are paying quite good for a public college. But depending on where you'll rent some place, getting there can be a bit difficult, the bus connection is not so good, but as I said the town is not big, so it won't be a major problem.

Warsaw is better place to have fun, I think. Maybe it's not the greatest city, but there are lots of foreigners, people are used to that and I think it's easier to meet some friends or meet someone speaking english, since there are more students in the clubs. Also in Lomza people tend to spend time with their friends rather, than going out to meet someone new if they are not single, so it may be a bit hard in the beginning. But don't worry, I'm sure you will be fine here, the winters are boring, but in the summer it's ok :)

I'll try to find some links with informations about things you asked. For a start fitness club, quite good one.

intercosmetic.pl/index.php

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

What kind of IT person? Depending on what you do, you can make from 1500 (if you are unlucky enough) to something like 10 000zl (good programmer for example).


The "neighborhood thing" is almost non existent in most towns/cities in Poland. Sure, there are some areas you wouldn't want to visit/live or very rich ones, but besides that there is very little planning involved. Mostly it's a mix, where all live together. So you would rather need to check what's the condition of the particular building and maybe what time will you need to get to the city center in case of the big cities. The costs of buying are comparable to renting, a bit higher but still worth to do it if you earn enough. You would probably want to pay it off for something in between 15 and 30 years, as the payments are quite high. It's hard to say how much, cause prices are very different in each place.

The cars are pretty expensive, considering average wages, let's say the avg is something like 2000zl (depending on place and job), a new car would be like 40 000-70 000zl (nothing great), most people are buying used cars as they cost much less. Let's say you can get a few years old, comparable car for 15 000zl and many buy quite old, cheap ones for prices like 5000-10 000zl. Insurance also depends on the type and age of the car and your insurance history too. Be ready to pay something like 1500-2500zl a year.

Life / What would it be like to live in Lomza? [60]

Hi, I'm from Lomza so I think I may tell you a few things ;)
If you are looking for wild night life, forget about it ;) That's the first thing... There are few clubs and some pubs, but nothing big really. You can have some fun, but don't expect too much. We have a cinema, but it is not any good. In the summer it's not that bad, it will take you about an hour or two of driving to get to the lakes (Mazury).

And the money... 5000zl gross will give you 3500zl on your hand... And who's paying so well if I may ask? ;) It's hard to get that amount of money in this town, really. Living here is not as cheap as some may think, but renting some place to live is not expensive, so you will have some money to spend ;)

If you want to know something else I will try to help you.

I just saw that you will need to pay student loans, about 1000zl... So you will be left with something like 2500zl a month... Not so good, but you can live ok with that, but don't expect to become a rich man ;) It will be much better if your wife finds a job too.

You don't have to buy a car right away, but it would be mor comfortable for sure. Still you can use a bus or just walk to some places. The town isn't that big, so it's not a big problem. You won't be wasting much time for sure.

There are some restaurants here, fitness clubs too, live music can be hard to find, but from time to time it's possible, depends what kind of music you like. Poker nights? Don't think so... Darts too, it's rather a beer and talking or dancing ;) If you like bowling, it's here, but not very popular. I'm almost the same age as you and I wouldn't expect too meet lots of new friends at the clubs/pubs. Not so many people speak english good enough to freely communicate, but it's possible that you will be able to make some friends. I'd rather count on people from you workplace, to begin with something and clubs/pubs can be not that safe, ask someone about opinion before you decide to go somewhere. In some of them are mostly very young people (I'm suprised police don't do anything about 14 drinking in such places) and in some you can meet the local tough-guys looking for some "fun". If you choose the place wisely, you can still have fun and not worry about being beaten or robbed. And people should be friendly, most don't have anything against foreigners.