Ok so these are my favorite lands in Europe. Thing is I only know English and some Spanish. I'm a speaker of a Slavic language so I understand some spoken Polish but the written one's very hard. Greek is even harder but the rents are low. Spain has too high rents for the wages. I grew up watching German TV and like Bavaria. But learning German takes time. On the other hand many Spaniards, Greeks not to mention Poles go to Germany.
Living and working in a country means unconditionally, irrefutably, knowing the language of that country in order to communicate with her inhabitants! English won't help too much in Poland, Spanish not at all. When I lived and worked in Spain for several months, without Spanish, I couldn't have survived, even for a day!
English proved of even more limited usefulness than in Poland. Germany? Without a serious working knowledge of the local language, one can be literally bamboozled to death, especially in the big towns, where you start to speak in your basic English, at their suave insistence of course, only to learn that they perhaps miscommunicated your message into German, presuming you didn't understand, thus can merrily put one over on you so that YOU seem the fool and not they: In the best case scenario,
they actually DIDN'T understand your English, but typically were just too damned arrogant to admit it:-)
No sh** with Poland. Just heard that Poland severely punished French energy company Anzi to pay 40,3 mil eur because company failed to complete documentation for Nord stream 2.
See, Poland do have backbone.
source, of course > b92/biz/vesti/svet.php?yyyy=2019&mm=11&dd=08&nav_id=1614678
Ok France and Greece are out. Poland as well as most cities are drab and ugly. Apart from Krakow and Torun I don't find Warsaw a match for Rome, Athens or even Sofia. And Tricity is a far cry from beautiful Rimini or say Varna. Too bad as I like other aspects of Polish culture and the women. But most cities look drab (it's the same in most of Central Europe save for Hungary where cities are very colorful).
Krakow is still considered by many to be the crowning jewel among Polish cities. Although I've not yet been, had I had more time way back during my first visit to Poland, I'd have done much better to have seen the Sukiennica, Wawel and the Old Town, than Szczecin:-)
Krakow is still considered by many to be the crowning jewel among Polish cities.
It is. But it is extremely "touristy" now, can be relatively expensive and smog ridden in winter. But yes, it is a lovely city which you should find the time to visit. I am sure you would love the old Jewish quarter.Very nice. I recommend late spring or early summer.
Touristy probably for a very good reason; there's a lot of cultural richness to experience which is therefore good for the Polish tourist trade! Lord only knows it needs it, in addition to a good stiff dose of some skillful public relations:-)
I wouldn't say Sofia is a hole - I visited a few times for work and really liked it. In terms of beauty however it is certainly no better than Krakow - both are similar, an interesting Centre full of quirky cafes and interesting sites but ringed by some horrible commie era housing.
^I said it's better than Warsaw, which is not hard as Warsaw was destroyed completely and rebuilt haphazardly. Comparing capital with capital. ;) I think Gorzow Wlkp. is a hidden star as it looks as colourful as a Balkan city. Same for Lublin - it has an Eastern-looking castle and is very very green. Krakow is great as well. Unfortunately places like Katowice, Łódz, and even Tricity look uninspiring. I expect at least Sopot to be WOW but I prefer Sozopol.
OK, Spain is too hot in summer, France and Germany have been overtaken by Muslims. That leaves the choice to Greece and Poland only. And at that, I'd prefer Athens and Warsawa, Lublin, Rzeszow and Ruse, Varna and Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria.
Muslims have been integrated into German society for a while now, if not always successfully. If you're referring to the Turks, I couldn't disagree more - look at Cem Ozdemir, long-term Turkish-German parliamentarian et al if you need proof. The Syrians are a different story though, I'll admit, and it's going to be an uphill battle, that's for sure.
Whatever the reason, we all remember certain bombings. Btw after living in places that were awful for me and it turned out there's a method that proves they would be unsuitable for me, I will follow that system of finding suitable places for living, working and traveling for vacation. I already know Athens and many places in Greece are positive one, but perhaps it's too hot in summer and better for vacations. For Poland, it's mostly the Southeastern parts - Lubielske and Podkarpackie, so not sure if there are jos there but I like the area. Further east Lvov is good but not in the EU and poor economy but further south a good place would be Bucharest. Same goes for Rousse (aka Ruse) and Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. I tell you, this system totally works, it's proven in my case.
Zamosc, Rzeszow, Przemysl, and Chelm look like the best ones for me. Good luck finding a job there though!
OP was me. I liked Spain and France because they're popular to like. In reality I've always been more drawn to Poland, Hungary, Scandinavia and Italy.
How do you chose a country/city for relocation? Money? Wrong! Ease of language? Slightly better but again not the most important! The best way is asking yourself "Will I feel incomplete if I never meet anyone from there, never make friends from there and never even go there?"
My gut told me I'll miss out on so much if I never visit only 2 foreign countries. So I like Denmark, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Hungary but they're not musts for me. I don't feel like I will miss much if I never make friends from there or marry into the cultures (I have a friend in Hungary but I digress). The ones that my gut says are countries I have to make connections to in order to feel complete are Poland and Sweden!
Btw, hence my perfect partner/wife would be a Swedish/Polish mix. Good luck to me finding someone like that!
Dear Zlatko, when I read your posts, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am happy you consider Poland as one of your emigration destinations. We certainly need such intelligent, open-minded, versatile people to come here and add to bigger diversity.
On the other hand, I regret that Bulgaria will lose such a person as you. If more Bulgarians follow your example, who will stay in your country? Only the elderly?
Yes, I know you hate your corrupt government. But it is not the reason to emigrate. Our Polish PiS government is also fully corrupt, with authoritiarian inclinations, refusing to abide to the rule of law. Yet, I would never leave my country. We need to stand up and fight for better future.
In your case, it is your own future. In my case, it is my kids and grandkids` future. We shall win and overcome scum politicians who rule our countries. Don`t lose hope.
Yeah I know PiS are corrupt. But it's not just that. I no longer can stand temps of above 25 C much and we often have 30+ C in summer. There aren't many jobs that will give me a summer vacation of 2-3 months so I can go to literally cooler places in Northern Europe or spend all my time inside on AC turned on 21-23 C. 25 is my max temp I can stand now. I also dislike minus 23 C but somehow it's easier to cope with cold (more clothes, hot tea, getting a car). A car helps in heat as well but even the hot concrete on the car park makes me feel terrible and even with just a T shirt I sweat and get a headache. And as I said there's a feeling I have to experience those two countries as a local. Slovakia was close but not quite the same as Polska...no two countries are the same.
Oh and a row house in Sofia costs more than one in a similar osiedle in Warszawa, yet we have lower salaries. That's really nuts!
France has also stolen a lot of Slavs and pass them as her own - Maria Klodowska, Chopin, Alexandre Minkowski, Rose Laurens (born Rose Podwojny) all are Polish or have Polish roots. Most of influential French people are of foreign extraction - whether Polish, Italian (Napoleon, Dalida), or Spanish (Louis De Fines), Armenian, etc.
