Expats in small towns in Poland?

Can a foreigner be something of a curiosity in a small town or village in Poland? People in my country living in towns and villages are friendlier than in big cities. They say bigger cities offer more jobs but really those jobs are unimportant, cog-in-the-wheel affairs.

In my home country in a tiny town I was one of the few poets and young people with an MBA and that lead to many opportunities - art readings and an executive position. Even in Bratislava I was constantly meeting friends while out and about while in Prague it was so impersonal and anonymous.

I know living abroad one requires learning the language but is it possible to feel more special or popular as an expat in Suwalki than in Warsaw?

Hey Michel,

Very good question to which there's no easy answer. First of all Poland actually has experienced such an influx of expats in recent years that it is not unknown even to people in smaller cities. Also in congruence what is happening is that a lot Polish people have had lots of travelling / living abroad experience in the last two decades.

So altogether what this means is that you would probably need to move somewhere like Swiętokrzyskie, Podlasie, Subcarpathian region etc to be "special" in that way.

However it depends on where you come from, what you bring to the table etc, you can be "special" and "popular" in Warsaw as well if you really bring a lot of interesting things with you and know where to look for people interested in them.

It could be interesting if you try a location like Olsztyn, Sandomierz, Zakopane, Nowy Targ, Chelm, Lublin, Legnica just to name a few. Ultimately it depends what you want to do and what you are looking for. For example some people will be happy in Lodz, some people will have a miserable time there but a new experience learning about themselves perhaps.

Or you could go full in and go to a really, really small town somewhere in the middle of Poland, like Rozprza, then you will definitely be noticed just being there

As an expat in Poland, it's advisable to check out many areas before settling down; I'd personally stay away from the big cities (unless your goal is only to make money). I'm not sure if being popular is a good measure of living abroad though.

In Germany, small towns are dying out. There is no public transport, the post office is closing, small hospitals and schools are being liquidated. Shops in the city center are going bankrupt. Only those that bring profit remain. For example, a center for asylum seekers converted from an old hotel.

They need more migrants......

Do you think small towns in Poland have better future than in Germany? That would be excellent news, even though I'm not sure what could be the reason (money, people?)

They're growing in facilities etc and perhaps they will have a better future. There is still a lack of infrastructure like good train services and planning laws are weak with horrible stuccoed bungalows built on the edges of towns which just grow and grow like boring suburbs and often built individually by the owner which usually looks worse, however once that's eventually sorted, I'd say yes, they can be a very nice place to live and are improving.