5 reasons to chose Poland for your Erasmus semester
While trying to chose a destination to do an Erasmus semester or year, you may come across tough choices in comparing the different countries. Here are some reasons to chose Poland for your incredible and unforgetable experience out of your home country.
1 : high level and prestigeous universities : Indeed, Poland has a very high level of Education, one of the best universities in Europe such as Kozminski University for finance or Politechnika Warszawska for ingeeniering studies.
Warsaw is the capital city of Poland but unfortunately not the most touristic city of the country. After the second world war, the city was entirely destroyed and then reborned from its ashes like a phoenix. Thanks to its long and turbulent history the city created itself a unique personality through its cultural and economical booming growth.
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The old town : The old town built around its castle square ‘Plac Zamkowy’ is a place not to miss. It has been destroyed entirely during the WWII and than rebuilt identical in the late 50’s. Visitors can have long walks in its colorful narrow streets and enjoy nice restaurants and cafes.
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The Palace of Culture : The building which is called ‘ The present of Staline’ is one of the highest building in Europe with its 43 floors. Visitors can enjoy an amazing terasse at the top of the building from which there is an incredible view on Warsaw. In the palace there are also museums, theater, universities, cafes, bars, restaurants.
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Park Łazienki : One of the largest park in Warsaw which makes the city of of the greenest capital city in Europe. In the middle of the park, visitors can discover beautiful Royal Palace and its greenhouse as well as the botanic garden belonging to the botanic university of Warsaw. During the spring-summer period, are also organized in the middle of the park free Chopin concerts with very talented pianists from all over the world.
4. Muzeum Narodowy : Appart from being the largest fine art museum in Warsaw, this museum has an incredible art collection of polish and international artists and organizes exclusive exhibitions on a regular basis. On tuesday the entrance is free of charge.
5. Muzeum POLIN : This museum is a unique, special and overwhelming place which has been built in the middle of former Jewish guetto in Muranów area. Its main goal is to describe how, throughout long polish history, the jewish culture and minority has had a major impact in shaping today’s polish identity. Indeed, in the late 20’s, together with New-York, Warsaw had the wold’s largest jewish population in the world. POLIN’s aim is also to describe visitors Jewish life during the WWII period and the creation and fall of Warsaw’s guetto sadly know all over the world
6. The museum of life in the PRL period : This very tiny museum located in the heart of Warsaw on Plac Konstytucji is showing visitors how life looked like during the almost 50 years of communism which ended in the late 90’s. Describing every aspects of life during the PRL period, visitors can discover how everyday life looked like back then.
7. Praga North district : Although the area located on the right side of the river Vistula still doesn’t have the best reputation, it is nevertheless a very interesting and booming area often compared to Friedrichshain district in Berlin. Indeed, the area is the only one in Warsaw which was not totally destroyed during the second world war and thanks to it this area has still a very nice architecture from pre-war Warsaw and is often used for shoting films such as ‘the pianist’ of Roman polanski. In the area, visitors can also find a lots of alternative boutiques, cafes and restaurants, between others around ‘Ulica Ząbkowska’.
8. Vistula beach : Definitely the favourite place to be for Warsawers in spring-summer period. The area is located all along the right side of the river. It is a mostly sanded area with cafes, bars, restaurants and even a swiming pool. This resort in the summer period can be really crod.
9. Opera Narodowy : The largest concert hall in Europe is the place to be for classical music and balet lovers, but not only. Indeed, the opera house is a place vivitors need to go at least once for a show to feel the city unique artistic vibration.
10. Milk-bars : Aftet walking all around the city, visitors may be hungry and want to try polish cuisine. The milk bars ‘bar mleczny’ is the best place to try any kind of polish food of good quality for low budget. Polish ‘pierogi’, ‘żurek’, ‘gołąbki’ or ”bigos’ have definitely to be tried. Mils bars are located almost everywhere arounf the city and are an heritage of the communist period, still very popular among Warsawers.
To conclude, these 10 places are of course not the only places to see in Warsaw but there are hundreds of them that you may come across with by walking around the city. However, they are the ones not to miss if you come to Warsaw and want to have an incredible and unique experience with polish culture and feel and understand Warsaw’s very special history and vibration.
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