My experience in Poland (Poznan) as a student who recently moved from Syria

Remember that Poland has a much lower birthrate than your home country, so crowds in the street will seem older than you're used to. I notice the opposite when I'm in the Middle East - everyone looks young.

Also Polish governments are waging the war against Poles for much longer than one generation. It shows.

yeah I thought so too

I do that too xD :P


Wow, cool.


True.


That's some people, not many enough to make such an impression on dany. I think jon357 is correct, European societies in general are getting older. Plus many Poles emigrated abroad (older people are less likely to emigrate).

Anyway, welcome to Poland, dany! :D Keep us posted and good luck with everything :)

Uhh ha 100% human - just as I suspected.


If you travel to some of the smaller towns with populations between around 1000 - 5000, its common to see hardly anybody of typical working age. They're all over here in the UK.


I lived in Kuwait for a couple of years when i was growing up and i went to Egypt for holiday a few years ago so i have some idea. Its simply a normality there isnt it, everybody drives like a lunatic so you too drive like a lunatic. Adjust to the environment and all that.... they use horns as a "get the fcuk out of my way" code, bit of an issue of they're over taking a deaf person...

Poznan is really a fantastic city ,I visited yesterday lots of interesting sights :
like Park Cytadela ,I really liked the old tanks and planes ,for some reason it's forbidden to go near the planes ,I think I spotted a german me 262 nazi plane (the first jet plane ) ,but I couldn't get close . Most tanks were russian tanks ,one tank didn't have a sign ,so i'm not sure what it is ,I hope it was a german tiger tank (i'm a fan of WW2 weapons )

also visited fara Poznańska really nice cathedral .

I also visited Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul ,also awesome ,but there was something weird ,I saw people putting roses near a statue (just outside the basilica ) when I approached ,I recognized the pope john paul the second ,it seems that people really like him here .

We also waited near the old town hall till 12 o'clock ,I was waiting something spectacular to happen ,but to be honest ,I was disappointed :P seeing all these tourists waiting for something to happen ,when the town hall's clock reached 12 o'clock 2 mechanical goats came out and they headbutted each other ,It was symbolic I guess ,but not that spectacular .

I saw a person driving maniacally (even for syrian standards ) ,he was passing vehicles by driving on the sidewalks and was drifting .


exactly ,when I got my driver's license I was like " ok ,let me be an example and drive safely " but after driving for a while ,you just can't XD it's impossible


uh yeah I posted this to **** off people who are afraid that foreigners are "invading " poland .

Did you see the British and Russian War Cemeteries (by the steps up to the Cytadela from the city centre side)?. The difference between the two cemeteries really stands out.


Remember it's hundreds of years old - it was probably a technological miracle when it was new.


Normal for Poland.

You have to (really have to) get the bus out to Swarzędz to see the Outdoor Beekeeping Museum.

This is the place: muzeum-szreniawa.pl/?q=pl/node/80

Yeah, I saw it on Youtube and to be honest I didn't get it why it's supposed to be such a "tourist attraction" lol


Ah, OK.


Um... o_O No, it isn't.

yeah I did ,but didn't know this info ,thanks :)


really ? I thought it was new (because most of the old town of poznan is renovated )

Renovated doesn't mean new.

yep here it is ,the reputation of drunk people that i've heard of .. saw a drunk woman today with a dog ,she was crossing the road and was nearly hit by a car ,I entered biedronka and after I bought my stuff ,I saw her outside ,she was kicking her dog ,it was a disturbing sight ...

I was charged 0.5 zloty for buying a plastic bag at carrefour ,I'm actually happy because I read somewhere before on this forum that it's for the environment ,so i'll probably start bringing my bag :) .


well yeah ,but it's doesn't mean old either ,it's between the two . It depends on the renovation type actually .

From what I've read now on the net both the goats and the mechanism were exchanged (interchanged?) for new ones over the years, so obviously they aren't the original ones from 1551. So only the idea is hundreds of years old :)


And it's going to be worse, dany... Brace yourself, here's the whole truth about Polish seasons:
kwejk.pl/obrazek/1913048
xD

Drink some vodka, maybe then you'll survive (but not too much! lol) ;)

Ahh the old Biedronka, takes a bashing that shop but i used to shop there quite a bit.


I saw something similar to that in Poland, my wife was crying for ages afterwards.

Did you and your wife reprimand the person hurting the dog?

Danny, just curious. What city are you from in Syria? And how badly damaged is it? What does daily life look like there now?


Playing devil's advocate, it is your country. Do you not feel any need to help your side win the war?

oh I will :P it's my favorite alcohol drink :)


Damascus (the capital ) ,the outskirts are damaged (not all of them ,depends on the area of fighting ) but thankfully ,nothing ancient was damaged in damascus ,couldn't say the same about aleppo :(

Daily life is normal in damascus ,people keep living like there's nothing (even after a suicide bomb attack or random mortars hitting damascus ) ,streets used to be more crowded in the night (1-2 am ) ,now it's crowded until 8-9 pm lol in poland this is normal :P in syria it's not


What if both sides are wrong ? of course I see one side as a bigger threat to syria ,but they're both wrong ,I support diplomatic solutions .


oh trust me ,i've noticed -_- ,september is still hot back in syria ,and here it's cold ,well it's not irritating cold ,it's nice ,but it will get worse :/ we're still in september ..

Why?

Since you are a Polish citizen (regardless of your other citizenship) in Poland you are considered a Polish citizen and nothing other than a Polish citizen in the eyes of the government and the law.

because I need the syrian government to know that i'm living abroad (If I live abroad for 5 years ,I can pay a fee to not go to the military ) ,also I need to take a paper from the university (that i'm attending the university ) to the syrian embassy so that I can postpone my military service .

OK, then you'll do just fine in Poland lol ;)


Yeah, and they're not heating in my neighbourhood yet :/ Btw, dany, if they're not heating in your dormitory yet (and I don't know if you have any need for radiators in Syria :P, so a piece of advice, just in case), turn the radiators to the maximum heating power because when the heating period will start they will be filled with water and they have to be turned to the max.

Good thread, Dany.
Don't get bogged down by posters with their own agenda.
You have more readers here because of your fresh perspective on Poland.
Keep it going!

Agreed 100%


Let's hope they're well maintained in his building - I've lived in places where the system hasn't been flushed out for decades and the heat never reaches above the second floor!

Love this thread Dany!
I was once in your position and remember vividly to this day my experiences.
It's fun for me to re-live vicariously through you those moments
Please continue with your chronicle

Oh, yes, jon357, let's hope he won't be so unlucky as you were! We wouldn't like dany to freeze to death, would we :)

they're heating it pretty good . I get hot actually and open the windows a little bit .


lol we have cold winters and hot summers and warm springs ,you on the other hand :P *check the picture you posted here * :P


thank you :)


My dorms are modern and very well equipped ,and I live on the first floor anyway :P


ok ,thank you :)

So they started heating already, lucky you :) Then turn the heating down when it's too hot ;)


Well, I've been only to Europe so I don't know how it's like a bit more to the South :P So you have radiators in Syria? :P


;)

of course we do ,it rains a lot in the winter ,but we only have 1 week of snow per year (in damascus ) ,but yes it's cold ...

Yea I find this very strange. compared to drivers who obey to rules.

Ah, OK. One learns something new everyday ;)

Yeah for example in Guangdong, China it's normal to have just above 10C during winter and no central heating. Just people stay in jackets in school or offices.

Yeah, 10°C is survivable (we get around 8°C at night here in my city nowadays) but it's definitely not a comfortable temperature for my taste, since I'm such a zmarzluch :P I want my central heating... lol ;/