Arriving in Poland
Poland seems to be a boring, an old fashioned or just an unknown country for many people. Think again! Ones you have visited this wonderful country you will see this is not true at all. There many interesting and beautiful cities, which offer a lot of recreational opportunities and modern buildings. They have a very interesting history, which goes back many years. As I have Polish roots I knew what I could expect: a modern and fun destination for an exchange semester. Moreover, my goal was to improve my Polish language skills. By choosing Poznan as my exchange city, I made the right choice as I wanted to go to a big city with many recreational options.
As I started my Erasmus in the spring semester, I knew I would it would be cold there, however I did not expect it to be that cold in Poznan. In the beginning the city seemed to be grey, but as the first sunbeams embraced the spring and flowers started to bloom, the picture of the city changed. Poznan is a colorful and vibrant city, which does not allow you to get bored. Thus, I had no chance to feel homesick from the very beginning on. The BIG variety of shopping malls (e.g. Stary Browar or Malta), bars, clubs, restaurants, parks, lakes etc. ensure you a student life as it´s supposed to be.
Studying
My life here is different from what it was in Leeuwarden. The reason for that might be that I live in a a dormitory here. You don´t go out to meet your friends or go to party, but everything happens in the dormitory. This gives the option to stay in touch with friends for 24h. So, a positive aspect is that the dormitory is close to the University, only a ten minute walk to campus and 15 minutes in order to reach the city center.
As my chosen university is mainly offering Physical education studies the campus owns many sports facilities such as: a swimming pool, tennis court, running track and a gym.
In addition, the university is divided in two buildings: the main building, which accommodates lecture facilities and a canteen for sport students. The second is a new and very modern equipped building for Tourism and Recreation students. Besides that, the university campus dormitory also has lounge, which invites students to daily barbecues in front of the dormitory. However, not only do they organize barbecues to entertain the students, also events such as the ´Miss AWF` or special parties, for example Tram parties, are organized especially for students.