Are foreigners welcome in Poland?

It's about principle, Pawian. If poor Poles can beg on the streets of London, poor Romanians can beg on the streets of Warsaw.

You can't make a blank statement like "foreigners are welcome". Why do you think I keep saying some are and some aren't? Because it's the truth.

I can. I am welcoming to all foreigners. But it is natural that I prefer them to be hard-working responsible guys, not beggars.

i still think they are welcome by well educated people , but people like those who jumped my family they don't even know anything in their life beside bothering others and enjoying it !

Good attitude, Pawian. We all have preferences but we should all embrace 'fair's fair'.

I had lived in Poland for one year five years a go and have not recieved any racism towards myself (I am half iranian half polish with dark brown hair and olive skin). People were really friendly towards me and i didn't notice people staring at me too much. When they stare they are just really curious about where you from and such. I was living in Lomianki near Warsaw so maybe the people there are more open to different nationalities. Poles loved my wavy dark hair lol.

Poles are like chinese, they gossip in front of your face in Polish, cause they know you wont understand.

But you are ok as long as you are white. If you are darker, be extra carefull, if you are not beaten up, you will get started at a lot and people will giggle constantly, even in Warsaw.

still_wisher
In what part of Warsaw was it? dreadful, sorry and hope you are ok

Metro Slodowiec, Bielany . I don't live there we were doing a family visit ! thanks, my wife and I are fine but my wife has to stay for a while in bed just in case , also what amazed me more that yes police saved us but when they came and saw me already down and some ran away the rest said that i stole a chain for 5000 zł !! and they searched me like a criminal ! when i was trying to tell the officer that common !! for god sake are you blind !! im with my pregnent wife ,we have been beaten and they stole my watch and chain !!! the answer was ok now i heard 2 stories so i'll write them down after hospital if you want to take the issue to court so do it !! so i wasn't thinking at that time about anything beside checking on my pregnant wife and my broken body..

horrible story and I hope you both get well:).

I am very well welcome because I am slavophile.

Well. What an interesting thread. I must say I was very welcome in Poland when I visited this year, although, yes in the villiages people tend to stare, but on the whole if you have a go at the lingo then they are very happy to help. Polish men are very masculine, I like that. ;-)

You were welcomed with open legs, oops, I mean arms? My welcoming party was pretty impressive. I remember a guy called Jerzy, who I still know to this day, being such a cool guy and shouting me a couple of beers.

Lived in Poland for a few years and would go back.

I don't look Polish and I'm obviously a foreigner.

I never had any problems but I did get a lot of stares.

A couple of times I did run into a thug or two. I stared back and made it known that I'd be more than willing to step up to them and luckily for them things stopped there.

Hm, had that once over here. I was standing at a busstop and behind me there were two guys talking about me, making fun of me in Dutch. When the bus came, I just smiled at them and told them in Dutch: "be careful what you say in your own language. Somebody might understand what you're saying." They were embarrassed to bits and I had a good laugh about it in the bus :)

Edit: mfeva, they do that with me too. What I usually do if they do such a thing is: make comments about their b**bs and *ss or face (when they are female) or how stupid they look (when they are male) straight to their face in Dutch. Just tell them in Dutch that you think their b**bs are a bit small compared to their *ss and so on. Just talk to them like that in Dutch. It works :)

Edit2: but be careful to use Dutch words that mean the same, but can't be traced back to English. So instead using the word "titten" or "tieten", which can be traced back to "t*ts", use "memmen" as there is no way in cold hell they will be able to trace this back to "t*ts", even though it means the same :) For *ss you can pretty much use any Dutch word for the bodypart as nothing is easily traced back to English. But be careful too to make sure it can't be traced back to German either, some of those buggers can speak German, you know.

>^..^<

M-G (relentlessly handing out tips to mfeva)

I KNOW! they totally love to do that!


WTF! that is so freakin strange! lmao


from my experience, they dont care however long they want to stare at you - so freakin rude! they stare at you like, you're from another galaxy - not planet - galaxy. one time we went outside gdynia, in a small village, to visit my aunt in-law. we had a guest, a middle-aged woman - she was already sitting in front of me, about two feet away, AND SHE WAS STILL STARING AT ME! how rude is that??????

just curiosity but they don't notice that they went little far :)

So Polish are racist to blacks??? why would they be when theres none except tourists in Poland???

Spot the American who has never been to Poland.

Oh yes, they are. Face it. It's not only in Poland, but Poles abroad have sometimes (not all, have to admit that) the most hideous views on black ppl.

>^..^<

M-G (wonders: would Poles discriminate against felines too? If yes, they'd be in big trouble!)

At least not all!!! I like to think that I'm not one of those.

Examples of other things that people can invent to make themselves feel more important:

in Alabama no black teenager would ever come to my party or even visit me at home, or invite me. Black and White Americans only meet at ball games.

in Poland I know a girl who is OK with drunken dancing with the black friends - but when she received an offer to be together she didn't want to. She told him that she does not want a relationship - but she told me that it's because of him being black.

I'm disappointed at both.

still wisher - sorry.

I didn't say that, sweetie. In every country, among every ppl there are good ppl, there are bad ppl. Unfortunately bad ppl have more impact on society and views than good ppl do.

>^..^<

M-G (peace and goodwill - a racism-free world by 2011!)

It will take longer than that!

Gotta love the Swedes, their country is being over run with third worlders raping and pillaging, and still they are liberal to the core. The mind boggles.

As for the OP, you support Manchester United the franchise, you deserve abuse. ;)

The problem will go. He will become just himself... and the Dutch will show dignity. I hope the Poles show more kindness and love and compassion before that! Lets get to the point of Pride in love and justice first!

Lets open our arms to love and humanity!

One World, One Man!!!

Yes, I am going to move to Wroclaw after two weeks..

what is im Polish and I'm getting married to my african-american girlfriend. and we decide to have the wedding in Poland. is this a good or bad idea for her/our safety??

First off, this is my first post on here, so hello community
I am English with an english mother and turkish cypriot father so i obviously i stand out quite a bit when in poland.
On my visit to Poland to meet my gf family, i was welcomed with open arms, i have never experienced such hospitality, and this was in a small village outside of Poznan. After two days, most people in the village knew i was there, and my gf mum had requests for me to stay at their houses, even though they had never met me.

i thought Turkish hospitality was great but what i experienced in Poland was something else.

And I also found that when I attempted to speak the language, most people would have a lot of respect for me than if i was just plain ignorent and just spoke english. I even got on well with her grandmother :)

As for walking around the city of poznan, sometimes i would get some funny looks if i was speaking english, but i guess because poznan is quite a tourist area it is common for Polish to see foriegn people.

Hi, Jev. It's nice to have you with us. I hope you'll stick around and post a lot :)


Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you liked your stay in Poland
and enjoyed Polish hospitality.

How about Romanians? I would like to to for the 3rd semester of the Master programme in Warszaw, and if everything goes alright, for the PhD as well, since my research area is on Poland, but I am a little bit reluctant.

I knew a Romanian girl who was a student in Poland and although she was frustrated that Poles seem to think that all Romanians are gypsies she got her degree there and met the man who would become her husband.

I would go.

I think it is rare that foreigners are attacked in Poland but it does happen. It's a little like any big city, you have to take the good with the bad.