Erasmus in Radom

I am an Erasmus student at the Radom Academy of Economics. If you ask why I chose here, my department had an agreement with Poland only here and the other option was Romania. Therefore, when I have chosen Poland, this was the only choice. I wanted to write about my experience in here in order to help students who think about coming here.

When I arrived in Poland, I landed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport in the capital. After we pass the passport control, there is a bus and metro area at the point where we get the suitcases. You can reach the metro line directly without leaving the airport. Of course, I used this way. I travelled with my friend from the same school that I met in Ankara. There was no one who came to meet us. Thanks to the Polish girl who came to meet a friend I met on the plane, we learned how to get tickets and we took the subway with them. They landed a stop before us and we went down to Warsaw Central stop and bought a train ticket this time to go Radom.

NOTE: If you do not have a student card from the Polish school, you have to buy a normal ticket instead of a student one. Don't buy a student ticket. They do not accept student cards outside Poland. Keep in mind that you may face a fee otherwise :)

About two and a half to three hours later we reached Radom. When we left the train station there were bus stops right next to it and we proceeded there. Thanks to the people there, we got things done and finished the day.

Let me tell you a little bit about the city. Very small place. There's not much to see and have fun to visit. The buildings are old. City buses are advanced. It works with ticket system. I can't say I didn't feel like I came to a village with nothing.

On the first day we didn't know anywhere, so we had to get help by asking questions. The people we met were all very nice and helpful. People who leave their place of business to the exchange office, call a taxi and tell us the address... Of course these are my encounters. There are also those who say they are racist. I met two people who said I don't like Turks and when they asked why, they didn't know why.

There was a dormitory in which the school settled the Turks. It's name was something like Blodowska, if I remember correctly. It was a hostel away from the city where the infamous construction workers stayed. The fact that they only gave Turkish students so it felt a bit like a discrimination.

For 1-2 weeks in the city we tried to find another place. (they do not want to take us, saying we are full. They wanted 60 zloty for 1 night where the normal price is around 22 zloti) I went to a vacant dormitory after another hostel. We went to every dormitory during these 2 weeks. We went to a dormitory called Academica at least 3 times. At first they told us "there is no room available" but later they started saying "we have room but we do not accept Turks and Ukranians" After such a troubled process, when we settled in our dorm, time passed as we went the school. I think we were the ones who had the most difficulty. There have been no such problems in previous years.

If you want to pass the lessons easily and visit Europe, you can choose this school. A place where you won't have much trouble passing a course. Absence will not be a problem.

Compared to other European countries, the cheapest country is really Poland. Is it cheap? Not the cheap but the cheapest when you compare with other European countries.

The weather was cold on September 28th, the day I arrived. If you are coming in the fall semester, definitely bring winter clothes.

Don't forget to bring chilli pepper and cumin :)

2017-2018