Erasmus Experience in Warsaw, Poland by Małgorzata

Why did you choose to go to Warsaw, Poland?

Why not? It's quite cheap and has a lot of things to offer. Plus it's trying to transformate and to develope so that you can enjoy its space all year long.

What is the student lifestyle like in Warsaw?

pubs, coffee places, galleries, theatre, concerts, parties

Would you recommend the city and the University of Warsaw to other students?

definately, but you have to know where to go to enjoy a nightlife. most of the places are off the touristic routes so it's good to have a buddy from esn and follow fb pages on which you can find info about what's going on in the city.

What is the food like?

tasty and quite cheap, especially in milk bars. you can also take advantage of lunch offer and test good restaurants

How much does it cost to live in Warsaw?

renting a room is aroud 700-900zł per month with bills included. it's better to look for 3-room apartments. popular website to search for accomodation is www.gumtree.pl or www.tablica.pl

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available in the University?

language is quite difficult at the beginning, but during the accomodation course at uni you can catch basic skills. you can also continue course at uni later on which is really usefull - people are nicer to you if you know a little bit of language plus it's harded to get lost in the city.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Warsaw?

there are a lot of pubs like Pawilony close to the plam tree by de gaulle roundabout, very popular places are Plan B and pub/club Powiększenie. You have also place called NA LATO, really good parties are at Cafe Kulturalna, Eufemia, Huśtawka, 1500m2 and Czarny Rynek, in Praga district are places at 11 Listopada Street called Chmury, Hydrozagadka, Skład Butelek. During the Summer all nightlife is moving by the river. Nice concerts are organized in BASEN, Palladium, Cafe Kulturalna, Pardon to tu, Stodoła. Still, to get to know what is happening you have to follow fanpages of those places on fb

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Warsaw?

the coolest milkbar is at Kurcza Street and it's called Bar Mleczny Bambino. Really cheap thai food is in place called Duża Micha. In Warsaw appeared lots of places with goog burgers (Warsaw Burger, Bobby Burger, Warburger) also the vegan one - Krovarzywa. wonderfull sadwiches with nice meat are in Love Meat place. Nice sea food in Kraken. the corner of Poznańska and Hoża street are full of new cool places in which at night you have parties. Nice place with over 40 regional beers from tap are in Piw Paf place.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

http://artmuseum.pl/pl
http://csw.art.pl/
http://www.zacheta.art.pl/

Is there any other advice that you could give to future students who are going to Warsaw?

more ando more designer things you can buy showing new trends like Warsaw Clothing
http://warsawclothing.com/about.html
http://www.shwrm.pl/
http://mustache.pl/
4 times a year are organized clothing and design markets announced on for example mustache fb page

The best wya to experience the city is not to stick all the time with the erasmus students. My Erasmus in Portugal was AMAZING  mostly because I found good Portuguese friends that showed me the City of Porto from they point of view which was way better then talking only to foreign student who was concetrated only in attending to erasmus events (which to be honest after a half of a month were extramely predicable and boring)