How is it to be in Lodz, Poland when you are a Muslim wearing a head scarf?

So basically I am of Pakistani nationality but I am pursuing my studies in Turkey. Of all the destinations that I had as options for my Erasmus Exchange Semester, I found the University of Lodz to be the most suitable for me. But soon I started hearing stories about Polish racism, nationalism etc. I went through the posts of numerous Asians living in Poland and most of them were not encouraging. Still I decided to take this chance because I know how the internet can work sometimes. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone for a while.

It was 27th of September when I first stepped on the Polish land in Warsaw. I was quite lost; I booked a hostel online but didn’t have any clue how to get there. I was approached by an old lady (just to mention I didn’t even ask for help, maybe I was just looking lost). She asked me very sweetly and in perfect English “How can I help you lady? ” and in that small moment I realized that the things about Polish people are nothing but wrong stereotypes.

So that old woman didn’t know the area well, and asked for the help of a taxi driver standing nearby who explained to me which stop I should get off at and which bus to take etc. Another guy helped me find a place to buy the ticket. Once I was near, there was this young lady who opened the location on map and showed exactly where I needed to go. And that was my first day in Warsaw.

As I mentioned earlier, my university was in Lodz actually but due to the Light Move Festival, I couldn’t find a place to stay there. But once I arrived in Lodz everything went quite smoothly. I remember one Polish girl walked with me to my faculty as she noticed that my GPS was not working. I would also specially mention my Hungarian friend here with whom I met on Facebook. She helped me with everything: she even hosted me for two nights until I found my own apartment.

It happened once that I was standing so close to the tram line without realizing, and an old woman pulled me back to save me from an approaching tram. And then there was this old guy I went to for getting one of my favourite bags repaired, he did it right there in less than 5 minutes and didn’t even charge me money.

The attitude of my professors, class fellows and of people in general has always been very polite and encouraging towards me. I never felt that I was being treated differently. In fact I recently did a photo shoot for the official poster of the university depicting diversity and they all loved my scarf.

In short, if anyone is hesitating about coming to Lodz because of the stories in circulation, well my experience is in front of you. If it was about racism, I think I should have suffered the most. I am a Muslim, I wear a head scarf and from even meters away one can easily see that I am a South Asian. And I believe that coming to Lodz was the best decision I could have made regarding my Erasmus destination.

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