What about Americans who "get involved in Poland etc etc
Same story, if they learn the language and how things work and get rid of the lingering desire to turn Poland into a copy of their home country they do fine. If they don't then they bumble along confused and angry until they get fed up and leave.
IME Americans have been generally a bit better at integrating themselves into Polish society than Brits... (say a standard deviation or so).
outside the main cities life is still very hand to mouth for many Poles
This is true of many countries in Europe and hardly anything special or unique to Poland.... if anything the rest of Europe is converging down to Polish levels (without any of the traditional protections that have existed and still exist in Poland).
theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/cash-credits-and-crisis-life-in-the-new-european-precariat