Do you study medicine? Don't go to Warsaw

My name in Antonio and I study medicine. I don't usually write articles like this but I have been encouraged to tell my story about my Erasmus placement in Warsaw, where I studied medicine.

I do not recommend doing your Erasmus placement in Warsaw if you study medicine (I don't know about the other courses). My explanation is very simple: the department demands far too much from the students, so much more than in Spain. It doesn't make sense because Poland is famous for trying to make everything easier, but it seemed as if Warsaw was the exception to the rule. Here, all the medicine students are mixed (Erasmus and non-Erasmus) so you are expected to be at the same level as everyone else. This is very messed up, extremely so because as Erasmus, we have the right to party, meet people, travel etc. You have to have a lot of will power to do enough studying here and I personally don't think it is worth the effort.

Why? Well because there are lots of other places you can go, where you can actually go out and do other things apart from just study, and get a good grade. And I'm not exaggerating when I say everyone I know got a good grade from their Erasmus. And this is a real advantage for a medical student because I have been told by other medical students, who were on Erasmus, that they had loads of help and came back with really good grades. And where was this help in my department? Because all of those I knew in the rest of Poland, or either in other European cities which were similar to Warsaw (large and a good student life) really enjoyed their courses. I don't know exactly what the work placements are like in other cities (although my friends that went to Bialystok and Szeged said that they were great) but in Warsaw this isn't the case because of two simple reasons:

• The doctors don't speak English
• They give more attention to and spend more time helping the Polish students than anyone else

All this, as well as the fact that the exams are really complicated and you are expected to study a lot, makes your Erasmus experience, which should be unforgettable, a real shambles, when it could be a lot better in another city...

In short, my advice is not to overcomplicate things and avoid studying medicine in Warsaw, pick any other city in Poland or Hungary because it will be a lot more simple, you will learn a lot more and you will be able to enjoy your Erasmus by partying, and going on cultural visits and travelling.

P. S. I forgot to say that some subjects are in English but the teachers give you the notes in Polish which is useless and very frustrating...