Moving to Warsaw for graduate school- need advice on relocation

I've been awarded a Fulbright fellowship to obtain a MA degree in International Relations at the University of Warsaw. I will be moving there probably some time in September. At this point I don't speak a word of Polish but I do plan on learning it. My wife and three-year-old son will be accompanying me. Where would be a good neighborhood for the three of us to live? Finances will be fairly tight for us, so I need something fairly inexpensive but still a safe neighborhood with access to public transit so I can get to school with a reasonable commute. I am wanting to avoid buying a car if possible and I've heard that Warsaw has a decent metro system.

I am sure I will have more questions once the dust settles. I just found out this week that my grant got approved.

Look in the district of Ursynow, it is well connected to the metro. Also good for shops, cafes, cinema etc. There has been a lot of new building their, it is occupied by families and it feels safe.

Expect to spend 2000 pln (500 euro) per month (+ bills) for a decent 1 or 2 bedroom apartment

try searching gumtree.pl or these forums for accomodation.

Good advice Mark 76,
Ursynow, is quite inexpensive, there are some better areas in Ursynow- Kabaty and Natolin lots of young families amd close to the forest. Warsaw is a very safe city. Here is a link for your wife so she can talk with other mothers mumsandtots. THere are quite few people on this forum from Warsaw, so you will generally get good feedback.

I would like to try to fit in as well as I can; I don't want to be instantly recognized as a foreigner walking in the street. How should I dress for this purpose? Also, would wearing a beard make me look more or less foreign?

Also, can anyone recommend any children's television programs that I could find online to help my three-year-old son pick up a bit of Polish? He loves watching Dora the Explorer and has learned a lot of Spanish from that.

Do you mean growing one...or one stuck on with glue....?

If anything, the opposite. Especially if you're wearing a false beard. You could try dressing as a nun.


Warsaw is a cosmopolitan city, especially in the areas near the metro. It has a low crime rate, so you shouldn't worry.


You don't say what country you're from, but the clothes here come from the same sort of chain stores that are all over the western world.

I am from the United States. I grew a beard for a while here and I was just wondering what the fashion was as far as that goes in Poland.

A few more questions:

How does the cost of landline phones compare to mobile phones in Poland?

Can I get prescriptions filled in Poland with a prescription written by an US doctor?

A friend of mine wore a false beard on one of our visits to Poland , before i moved here....

After three days she took it off due to the number of nasty comments she got , and the staring....!

I doubt that very much, it will cost you 70-100 PLN per Doctors visit and they will write the prescription for you. Better to get as many of your prescription Meds as possible and bring them here. Over the counter Meds is not a problem.

Also, I've heard that electronics are more expensive in Poland than the US. Are they expensive enough that it makes sense for us to ship a desktop computer from here or is the difference in cost less expensive that the shipping? Are there any customs complications with doing that?