Good Morning - Dzien Dobry - Buongiorno

Week 1- Cultural Observations – 26^th February 2011

As I sat on the plane, all alone, I was very excited but exceedingly aware that I was going to an unfamiliar country, where I knew nobody, to live for four months. Although now it seems like a terrifying thought, my first week in Poznan couldn’t have gone better. I could write a book with my thoughts and experiences after only one week but I will try and keep it brief. Bear with me!

I arrived in Poznan at around 8.30pm on Saturday night. After grabbing my bags I made my way out of the airport. I was met by a guy called Rafał, another student at my University, who had come to collect me. He was very friendly, and spoke very good English, but had several problems with my accent (and I didn’t even think I had one). Due to the fact that I did not know anyone in my halls of residence and it was getting late he suggested that I come and stay at his house so that I wasn’t alone on my first night here.  I really appreciated this as he was the only person that I knew in Poland and he, his friends and his family immediately made me feel welcome in Poznań. I chatted with his friends until the wee hours of the morning before catching some sleep.

Zbyszko - Halls of Residence

Just like people from Northern Ireland I have found the Polish people to be very friendly and welcoming. The polish people have all been so willing to converse to me, find out about me and offer me assistance if I ever require it. It is extremely encouraging to know that there is always someone that I can approach if I am experiencing any difficulties. Rafał’s family were no different. The next morning I was awoken by homemade pancakes, a lovely gesture from Rafał’s family to me, a complete stranger. After breakfast Rafał showed me to my halls of residence. I was pleasantly surprised. My room is very modern and quite spacious. The kitchen is not in great condition though, and is lacking many necessities. As this was the case I thought I should go shopping. Rafał pointed me in the direction of the shops and I set off on the tram. It was great to find a 24hour Tesco so close at hand. I did a lot of shopping and then headed back to my halls to get some sleep.



My Italian Roommate Matteo

 Just as I was dosing off I heard keys rattling in my door. It was my new roommate. His name is Matteo and he is from Italy. At first I did not know what to think of Matteo. He is incredibly friendly and very funny. Over the past week we have become very good friends and I have spent a lot of time with him exploring the city, cooking meals and enjoying the Erasmus parties. Although we have become so friendly there is a notable language barrier. His English is not great and he is finding it difficult to understand my accent but apart from that we have become very close, spending many hours just chatting (although

that’s mainly due to a lot of repeating and flicking through his Italian-English dictionary).





A Familiar Sight

When I first landed in Poznań the first thing I noticed was the snow lying outside and the tremendously cold temperature. I have been here a week today and the warmest temperature that I have seen is -4⁰C and the coldest being -22⁰C, with the temperature during the day being around the -10⁰C mark. It’s amusing to consider that some of my friends from Stranmillis are currently experiencing temperatures 50⁰C warmer than here in their countries on the other side of the world.


The most noticeable thing that I have observed since arriving in Poznań is the linguistic diversity. There are so many people, from numerous different countries, that all speak completely different languages. This week, understandably, I have had the opportunity to talk with many native polish citizens both in Polish and in English. In Poland in the past the Russian language was seen as very important and was a main area in the polish curriculum. Now there is a greater focus on the English language. As this is the case in Poland you tend to find that the younger generation will all have Basic English skills whereas the older generation are usually unable to communicate with English speakers. Obviously the polish language is a huge part of the polish culture. This week I started my first polish class. Before I came to Poznań I spent about 15-20 hours learning the Polish language and found it to be a challenging language. Although this is the case, since arriving in Poland I have been able to develop my linguistic skills dramatically due to firsthand experiences. Conversations with locals and friends, my polish language classes and even just reading labels in shops, and signs in the street have been so positively invaluable even just after one week. Therefore I am determined to make the most of this firsthand experience and work hard to develop my Polish language. Hopefully before long I will have the skills to have general conversations with people that do not speak English. I feel it is a little unreasonable for me to come to this country but expect people to always talk to me in English. During the past week I have really fallen in love with foreign languages and Matteo has agreed to teach me Italian and in return I will help him to develop his English. Obviously as I am just doing this for fun my focus will be on the Polish language but I hope it will not be too difficult to do both if I put in the effort.




All in all I have had a fantastic first week in Poznań. I am very happy with my classes, my accommodation and my roommate and I am really enjoying getting to know more about the Polish culture. I have also made some very good friends that I am looking forward to getting to know better. I even got to teach some of them how to play ‘Jungle Speed’ last night. It’s great to see it’s not just people from Northern Ireland love it. My only complaint is that I have gone for over a week without playing volleyball in a country where it is such a popular sport. Hopefully this week will be a different story! I will keep you posted.

Until next time,

Jeff