What I like in Poland? 2.Manners!

Now I will continue my series about things that I like in Poland. Generally all Polish people have very good manners. Everybody is telling you good morning or good evening. Neighbors, shop staff, everybody you know, strangers if they will ask your help, everybody! And it is not only to say good morning, but the way of speaking is very polite in general: to say thank you many times for example. Polish language is more formal than English or Finnish, they are using Mr and Mrs while talking. I know that also in Finland people are greeting each other, but there is a huge difference for example how people greet the shop staff or their neighbors.

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If all the seats in tram are taken and an older person comes to the tram, he will have a seat for sure as the younger ones are giving their seats. Seats are not only given for older persons but also for adults with small kids, pregnant women, to people who have some kind of injury and so on..... I know this happens in Finland too, but here it is more visible as it happens almost during every tram ride (specially during traffic hours).

In Poland if somebody sneezes, everybody is saying "bless you". Teacher is saying it to the students during classes, of course your friends are using it and I have even heard it in public place where somebody is just yelling it, it seems to be somehow automatic for everybody. People are also using it in Finland but it is not automatic for almost anybody.

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Men are holding the doors for women and carrying everything (sometimes it is too much: I don't understand why a guy needs to carry small purse for the woman :D). But if we are talking about shopping bags or bigger bags, men are carrying those. For me this carrying is weird as I feel bad if I'm not carrying almost anything and my boyfriend is carrying everything, it could be more equal. But I think that guys want to do it cause all the other guys are doing it so that they wouldn't look like assholes if they wouldn't do it.

-Camilla

What I like in Poland? 1.Pharmacy!

I decided to start a series of posts where I will tell you about the things that I like in Poland. Maybe later I will do the same about things that I don't like ;) I wanted to start with Pharmacy as I have quite resent experience.

In Poland some of the Pharmacy's are open 24/7 and you can buy basic medicine also from shops and kiosks. If you will get a headache in the middle of the night and you don't have any painkillers, it is not a problem. In Finland Pharmacy's are not generally open 24/7 and you can not buy any medicine from normal shops. While living in Finland I needed to carry medicine that I thought I would need and buy everything beforehand. That was ok, as I didn't know any other possibility. But now I need to admit that the Polish policy is good for me and I got used to it.

After the last winter semester we went for a small holiday to the Czech Republic (or Czechia :D) and I got a headache around 8pm in the evening. I forgot to take painkillers with us from Poland but we were thinking that is not a problem as painkillers are available everywhere. It was a problem! Painkillers were not sold in any regular shops and all the Pharmacy's were closed. We were trying to find something for over an hour and asking people if they know any place where we could buy painkillers. Eventually I was asking from some other tourists if they would have any painkillers and if I could buy one from them. These lovely French girls helped me out and the evening was saved! This experience got me really to appreciate the Polish way! But now on I will for sure remember to take painkillers with me everywhere!

Pictures from Prague :)

-Camilla

National identity while abroad!

I have been thinking lately about my identity and how it has changed after I moved to Poland. While living in Finland I didn't think about my national identity as it was something automatic. Of course I have always been proud of the success of Finns. In ice-hockey, Eurovision, Finnish companies that are doing great in the international field and many more (unfortunately not football :(). I'm still proud of all the success and happy how good picture people have about Finland in general. But now everything related to Finland is more dear to me. I consider Wroclaw as my home and it is so dear to me, but it is not Finland.

Here everything related to Finland came luxury for me. Probably you noticed that I became so happy about Finnish rye bread :D  When here in the city happens anything related to Finland, I want to be there to watch football, volleyball, movies, concerts... anything!

After I moved here I became the Finnish girl. That is my identity, that is what people remember about me even if they don't remember my name. I'm proud to be the Finnish girl but it changed my identity as it changed how people see me. In Finland my identity was different as it was not so closely related to my nationality. Of course I'm so much more than just a Finn, I'm a student, I'm a girlfriend, I'm a daughter..... Now my nationality has just taken the leading role.

Before moving to Poland I wanted to think that there is an European identity. Probably there is in some level but the national identity comes first. Always! As even within the Europe people think in so different manners. I don't know if European Union integration is able to change the way of thinking for more pro European.

-The Finnish girl

International and European law!

Finally it is time to tell more about my studies. This is my second year in the University of Wroclaw studying international and European law. After the third year I will be Bachelor of Laws and I will continue my studies in the field. International and European law may seem to be something not understandable if you don't know what does it mean, so maybe it is better to open what does it mean and what do we actually study. We study public and private international law, for example right now we are having classes about dispute settlement. From European Union law we are right now having classes about judicial protection. Our classes are not only concentrated to international law, but also to national laws by comparing them. (I should be preparing for my part of criminal law presentation that is comparative work while I'm writing this... :D) Generally when we are talking about specific national law it is easier for the professors to talk about Poland as an example from continental law countries.

What I was expecting from my studies?
I was expecting that I would get everything that I will need for international legal career. I didn't want  to study any specific national law as I don't know from where I fill find myself after 10 years or so. I was expecting that we should learn some legal acts by heart but luckily we don't need to remember a specific number of a certain article. We need to remember the content in general and we need to know how to interpret it. In general my expectations about the studies are met and I feel that it gives me a great future.

What do I think about my study group?
Before I met my group I was hoping that there would be a lot foreign students that I wouldn't be the only one speaking only English. In the end, I'm the only foreign student from European Union. Rest of the foreign students come for example from India or Azerbaijan. I feel more connected with the Polish students and after the beginning I haven't felt outside as they are always speaking English with me. I also learn more and more Polish so it is not a problem if somebody is sometimes speaking Polish.
Our group is very small. Together we have about 30 students but there might be some classes that only 5 students show up. We are not having our classes in these huge lecture halls but in smaller class rooms and sometimes even in the professors office if there is only few people coming. In the beginning I was hoping that our group would be bigger but now I love it that we are able to have closer relations with the professors when there is only few of us (compared to 100 students in a lecture hall). It is easy to ask questions and present opinions.

What is the level of English?
Many people have asked me how well the professors are speaking English. In general I'm satisfied but some of the professors can not speak English in the level that I was hoping. In our faculty it is not such a big problem but for example in my language classes I was disappointed when my class is supposed to be in English but then the English is only rarely used. Also in the physical education the teachers were not speaking English at all. The majority of other stuff in the University other than professors are not speaking English, that is why we have for example in the student office a couple of named persons to take care of our things. Still I feel better if my Polish friends will company me to the student office as I never know when the English speaking once are there.

What has been weird in the University?
There are some things that have been weird for me in the University probably because I have never before studied in the University and because the Polish education system is new to me. What surprised me is, that we needed to have obligatory physical education. I have never heard in Finland that something like this would be obligatory in the University level. Other thing is that our classes have been very late during this semester. For example on Mondays I start at 1pm and finish at 8:30pm. Our studies shouldn't be evening studies but still our schedule seems so.

The weather is so great now that I didn't want to spend the day inside doing my school stuff. Solution, I brought everything to our balcony and now I'm here! :D

-Camilla

Great weekend!

This weekend was perfect, I had time to meet my friends and also enjoy the perfect weather. Saturday was the international jazz day and we had a jazz parade here in Wroclaw. The parade was nice and relaxing, it was great to listen to good music, enjoy the atmosphere and good weather. I was not prepared for such a nice weather and I burned my nose in the spring sun. From now on I need to remember to be better prepared; water and sun cream will follow me everywhere!
Here are some pictures from the parade :)

On the way home I saw the jazz boat in the river

This Sunday the world record in the number of people playing guitars at the same time was done in Wroclaw. (They broke the record from last year from the same event that is organized here every year). We went to the city just before the record to see what is going on and enjoy the atmosphere. We didn't stay for the record itself as we needed to get to our place to prepare for the vappu party. Here are a couple of pictures from rynek before it was full of people with guitars :D

Saturday evening we had a nice barbecue in our back yard. It was great to be able to eat outside and just eat the grill food, it has been too long from the last time :D I also prepared this Finnish sima drink and some doughnuts. Here are some pictures about the outcome of my baking :P

I just wanted to have the balloons, a must for Vappu! :D

-Camilla