I've lived in both, but like you, as an American. First, lemme tell you, these folks don't have the same relationship with their car that Americans do. At least, not the sub-30 years olds that I knew. They HAD cars, but they were far more likely to walk, or take the tram, or walk to the tram, etc. Especially when they planned on drinking. I didn't know anyone who drank and drove as a rule, like here in the states. The roads are NOT that great. And by that, I mean they pretty much suck. Potholes, poor signage, and a lack of circumventing routs in Wroclaw in particular. Shopping is a bit different. People seem to buy what they need for a day, maybe one or two days, at a time, not for a whole month like they do here (America). Not a lotta canned items, either. The taxes are included in the ticketed price of things, which was kinda cool. The chicks are overwhelming attractive and physically fit. Maybe from all that walking? Most of the youngish people I was kicking it with knew English. They at least had a working knowledge of it, if not fluency. I'll stop, just in case this is the kind of minutia you could do without. If not, I got plenty more.
My time was primarily spent in the southwestern part of the country, which has four distinct seasons, but the winters were particularly grueling. I mean, truly brutal. Then again, I'm from Alabama, so my perspective on brutal weather might be skewed. People there are friendly, but not as open as Americans. There's not a lot of "hi, how ya doing" to each other as they pass in the street, like we do, here. Good sense of humor, tho, very wry. And they might come across as somewhat cynical, but it appears as tho they truly want each other succeed, which isn't like American cynicism at all. Your dollar will go pretty far, there. About 3 and half zloty for every American dollar, which ain't half bad. They have KFC and Pizza Hut and McDonald's, aplenty; but are ya really gonna travel halfway across the globe to eat the same old crap? The malls are interesting, they have a little bit of everything, electronics stores, supermarkets, the whole nine yards. The shops are smaller, and instead of one security team for the whole mall, there's usually one security guy for each store, which is weird.
Food costs are less, because you're not going to be buying a lot of pre-packaged bullcrap. Although, I do have an unwavering fondness for Pudliszki's products. pudliszki.pl = YUM! Note; when eating out, you aren't going to get endless refills of soda, like you do in America. Tipping isn't as percentage-crucial as in the U.S., because the servers in Europe are usually paid a living wage, not $2.15 an hour, like in America. Housing is slightly less, then in an American city of comparable size. I paid 600 pln a month for a room in a flat in an old soviet district. Gasoline is much more expensive, but the cars are almost all smaller-engined, more fuel efficient models. Unless it's a very, very modern dwelling, you aren't going to find all the electrical appliances, like dishwashers and stuff that you find in America, galore. Most apartments use radiators, which run on natural gas, and that tends to be a cheaper energy source than electricity.
The one that first springs to mind; "Unquiet Days: At Home In Poland", by Thomas Swick. It's a memoir of an American's time spent in Poland during the emergent time of Solidarność. It's very good.
Poland: consume 77.47% less oil use 73.07% less electricity make 61.42% less money spend 86.32% less money on health care have 27.4% less babies experience 22.44% less of a class divide die 2.39 years sooner have 8.47% more chance of dying in infancy be 83.33% less likely to have HIV/AIDS work 7.96% more hours each year have 4.3% more chance at being employed
ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/PL
Consumer Prices in United States are 48.75% higher than in Poland Consumer Prices Including Rent in United States are 59.51% higher than in Poland Rent Prices in United States are 91.91% higher than in Poland Restaurant Prices in United States are 60.23% higher than in Poland Groceries Prices in United States are 79.89% higher than in Poland Local Purchasing Power in United States is 151.57% higher than in Poland
Haha I just wanted to see what people would come up with.
I think you need to be a bit more specific so we can help you!
I'm looking for anything, like what are the differences between the education systems (university). What about the differences in food? Differences in living? I want to know about whatever you think are differences that you think are important. Personally i'll go to Poland for senior year in college so 2 years so the education differences would be nice.
then the most important is that Poland is poorer, so infrastructure and houses are not so good quality, people go less to restaurants. 2nd most important difference is the same as USA vs Europe. Poland as European country has more expensive gasoline, less people commute to work by car and more people use public transport in the cities. Cities are designed for pedestrian not for cars. 3rd most important is that people are more closed. We don't speak to strangers, we don't say "How are you" every time we see acquaintance. But when you become part of group then we are honest in sense that we say what we think and don't keep political correctness. We also tend to complain about stuff for entertainment. 4th would be less foreigners and more homogenous race in Poland. We don't have many people from Africa or southern America. 5th would be lower tolerance of especially older people. ( don't tolerate different people, not Catholics, not straight )
I don't see any other important differences, but there must be some
We Americans are sedated- innudated- overated and heavily armed?
Seriously though... aside from the obvious multi ethnic population?
Infrastructure I would say is a big one. We had a very advanced and huge( for the time especially) roads and communication system put in "just in case of next war" to move equipment and units from East-West quickly. Engineers reshaped whole landscapes-removed mtns where they were in the way: added mtns when needed.
And the Interstate system gave birth to rapid expansion of corridor areas and a very mobile society.
Individualist tendencies written in the stone of our Constitution would be another large difference
For example. This video was made as a school project in a upper middle class predominately white high school. Rap culture is rotting American culture from the inside. 33 students were suspended, no prom, no walking at graduation
