My recent traveling experience was in Poland. I moved in there on March 29th, 2019, for a work purpose. I have decided to come to Poland after living in India. In fact, I always had a desire to work in Europe. So, I applied for job opportunities in Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland… and I get accepted for an offer in Poland.
When I first arrived, I was surprised that there were fewer foreigners of different skin colors. It was such a homogeneous population. Besides that, the place was beautiful. People were not so smiling in the streets but when you start talking to them, they easily reply to you. In my opinion, most of them are shy because they don’t speak English or think their English speaking skills are not good enough. Before coming here, I had a stereotype that Polish are very racists. However, I was surprised at the train stop. People were prompted to offer helps to carry out my luggage even though I did not ask. That melted my heart. The thing which captured the most of my attention was that once we arrived at the final destination, I noticed very few people on the street, most of the buildings were old, and there were no noises. And all of that scared me a lot.
We were in the wintertime when I arrived in Poland. As it was very cold outside, I went straight to the hotel to drop off my luggage, then to a shop to buy some coats to keep myself warm. After, this, I decided to visit a mall that was very beautiful. Speaking of surprise, I also recalled an event In a restaurant where they weighed my plate to reckon how much I would have to pay for my order. Later on, I went to visit the city. I was afraid to get lost because everything was written in Polish (😃I guess this is typical because of the language barrier).
The thing that surprised me the most was the weather. It was colder and I was not prepared for that as I came from a warmer country. All of this makes me realized that I was in a new country, a new continent: Europe😃, and I must find a way to adapt myself to my new environment. It was a mixed feeling of happiness and sadness because I was out of my comfort zone.
It surprised me to see the way locals were drinking in the pub drinking during winter. I felt a sense of peace and safety living in this country. I have even forgotten that I am a foreigner and the hardness of the language. Honestly, I found Polish to be a difficult language. I remember in the first months, a sentence in Polish seemed like one word. But trust me, it’s a beautiful language.
Credit: Samuel Soppo
