Szczecin- a city made in a French way with German order and Polish spirit

Being one of the biggest cities in Poland, Szczecin is the second Polish city that I’ve been after Wroclaw but they are totally different. I can not say what were my feelings at the first moment but I didn’t feel like in an unknown city. After that I realized that behind the landscape there is something more…

Infrastructure and landscape

When I arrived at the station in the city I didn’t notice a big difference in the city compared to the big cities in Bulgaria. I mean that the spirit of post-socialist countries is still sensible and here. The buildings at the central part are old style with a lot of pretty ornaments and solid, massive structures. The cathedrals are also very impressive with their number and architecture. I learned that Szczecin was planned to be build like Paris and it can be easily noticed by the orientation of the boulevards. You can hardly be lost even without a map in your hands.

Culture shock

I am used to see how in Bulgaria just a few of the people obey the rules and it is a little chaos- people driving like crazy, everybody crossing the streets wherever they want, drivers and bicycle riders in a battle for the road and so on. Here in Szczecin things are much more different- people wait for the green light to cross, drivers don’t mess with bicycles because riders have alleys and everything looks so simple and good structured.

Other advantage is on every bus and tram station you have the graphic of the public transport and in every single moment you know how much you have to wait. And after that when you get in the public transport you notice the GPS map with all the stations on it and your current position on it. It was such a relief for me, because usually in my city I am never sure when and if the bus will come at all. It was not a long time ago when the city was still a territory of Germany and these German habits make you feel safety and relaxed.

People, pierogi and beer

On the street, at the tram, at the supermarket, in the park…pretty girls, well dressed people and a lot of seniors. Most of them seem to be kind and actually what I noticed- it is so. If you make them understand what you need, no matter in Polish or English language, they will probably help you. For me it is not that hard to communicate because it occurred that Polish is very close to Bulgarian language and most of the words are the same but with a bit different pronunciation. Traditional Polish kitchen is also quite similar to the Bulgarian and of course very tasty as well. The ways of preparation of the different dishes and the products are close to this one in my country. But what was a big surprise for me- Poland, the country of vodka is a place where not many people drink that specific for here drink. It is mostly preferred the beer. You can find so many brands and varieties here that one month would not be enough to try all of them.

It is just less than two weeks but I feel like I was living here since a long time and I enjoy it a lot. I hope that for the time that I will be in Szczecin, I will spend precious moments with colorful people that I will remember for my whole life. The best is yet to come!

Krasimir Rusev 

Krasimir is one of 10 European Volunteers and is taking part in a MULTI KULTI project co-financed by Erasmus+ Youth Programme.  

Erasmus vs Volunteering: Liverpool VS Szczecin

“Patience and Tolerance are the key”

Hello everyone! My name is Javier, but everybody call me Soto, I'm 23 years old and I am the typical spanish who has been in an Erasmus program just with spanish people. This is the second time in my life I'm living out of my home, the first time was in Liverpool from nine wonderful months, and now, during one month and a half, it's time to give a chance to Szczecin.

I've been living here just one week and a half, but you don't need more time to realise of the big difference between be in an Erasmus program and be in a volunteering.

First of all, and although it can seem stupid to say, being in a volunteering is not being in an Erasmus program. I say this because before to arrive to Szczecin I thought that this it would be more or less like Liverpool, but fortunately or unfortunately this has nothing to do with it. There my life was about be with Spanish people and parties, here my life is surrounded by a mix of Italian, French, Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish people and less party (if you compare it with Erasmus), that for now is not bad.

Then in addition, during my stay in Liverpool I was living in a student flat in where I had my own room and my own bathroom, here I share my flat with an Italian punk (Noodle Guy for the rest of superheroes) and I share bathroom with two French guys and a couple of Polish. At first, also because I didn't know my roommate, I felt the urgent need to have my own personal space, but little by little I have grown accustomed to the presence of "intruders" in my territory and I think I can survive.

Third difference: language. Have you ever tried to learn Polish? (very typical...) Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you didn't choose the easiest one. Before coming I knew more or less that the Polish language was hard, but until I arrived I did not realize that the structure of my jaw is not made to speak Polish. And then moreover there is the issue that English is not abundant here (but still it is better than the level of Spain...), so if you find some Polish that can help you, you better invite him/her to drink a beer if you see him/her in a party later (Tyskie is pretty good).

And finally, the difference of differences, in this case comparing Poland with the rest of the world: the zebra crossings. Not a single time on your life you will see a Polish crossing a pedestrian crossing with the light on red, NEVER! May already be at 5 in the morning in a small suburb where almost nobody lives that if the traffic light is on red the Polish patiently will wait for the green light.

Well, that's it for now, as Erasmus similarities to mention the joy of making great friends in a short space of time and my return to Skype (once a week with Mommy and Daddy because if not they bother with me... ñiñiñiñiñi)

I hope you have found this article at least enjoyable, because for me it has been a pleasure.

Take care,

Javier

Javier is one of 10 European Volunteers and is taking part in a MULTI KULTI project co-financed by Erasmus+ Youth Programme. 

10 days in Szczecin

This article is based on my impression about the first 10 days that I’ve been here in Szczecin, on which I’ve already could make an idea about its people, customs and culture.
 

Only one month before coming I had notice about what EVS was and I decided to sign into all the short term projects that exist for this summer. From some of them I received emails saying that were complete and from others nothing, so I’ve given it up. But suddenly… I saw one message in my mail: “I am happy to inform you that it would a pleasure for us to host you as a EVS Volunteers during our project "Multi Kulti" :) I hope you are ready to join and we will see each other in 10 days!” 10 DAYS? It seemed completely crazy, all my plans of the summer changed in just one moment… and that’s when started the adventure.
 

Szczecin. I had to search in google translator how to pronounce the name of this city just for be able to answer to all of them that ask me: oh, Poland, and which city? S…z…c…z…ecin. The beginning of my trip was a bit accidently (my DNI was expired so I lost my flight) but as soon I arrived all started to be great.

VOLUNTEERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Firstly I thought that it was to be difficult to communicate between us (Spanish, Italian, French, Bulgarian, Rumanian and Polish people) by using a foreign language for all of us and with our respective accents, but it didn’t. Since the first day that we started the workshops the members of the association made us feeling like at home, they said that all that were there it was as our like theirs during this project, and gave us totally freedom for eat there, use all the materials, rooms… so I can say that polish people are very hospitable!

Volunteers soon started to take a lot of confidence between us, we’ve just arrived and we only have been 10 days together but it seems like we’ve known for a long time. I suppose that the fact of living all together in a student dormitory and do the same activities in a foreign country make us join fast.

MULTI KULTI ACTIVITIES

On the beginning of this week we started the activities of Multi Kulti project with children. They are great, they don’t speak English but it makes this more interesting: we communicate each other by gests and the volunteers from Poland help us to translate the games and activities. It’s easy to see that they are excited of being with people from different countries, they have fun teaching us words in polish that we have to repeat, they bring us bracelets, they want us to write dedications in their notebooks and paint their autographs in our arms… they are really nice! And they also are excited to show us their own culture, language and games.

CULTURE: PEOPLE, MANNERS, SCHEDULE AND FOOD

People in general are very nice, they try to help you in all that they can and are open to foreign people, although there are not too much people that speak English here, so sometimes I’ve been hours in the supermarket trying to find products that I don’t even know if exist in Poland and trying to decipher the tags in polish…!

What really struck me during these days are the good manners that polish people have. I still can’t understand why people wait to the traffic lights turned green to cross (why? If there aren’t cars coming??) Or understand why everybody pays the ticket of the tram despite there isn’t anybody who asks you for them, thing that in Spain probably the most part wouldn’t do… (So at least that the association gave us monthly tickets, just for avoid problems because I know how we are…)

About the schedule of life I can’t talk a lot because we have our own timetable and we have lunch at 16, 16:30… but it mustn’t be the most common here, taking into account that at 4am the sun rises. The sun rises at 4am… and there aren’t blinds! I think this is the only thing that I really don’t like about here, in my country and also in some countries of other volunteers we are used to sleep in total darkness, so we have to be imaginative and we are using towels, cartons, blankets… for be able to sleep!

I still have to try typical dishes from here because at the moment I’ve only tried “gulash” that came accompanied by the famous “ogorki”. It wasn’t bad at all… but I had in mind a completely different thing when I ordered this from the restaurant (gulas in Spain is a kind of seafood) and it was a total surprise when I saw I kind of lentils with meat and accompanied by gherkins (hot gherkins). So I have to continue testing polish food to be able to talk about it.

In conclusion my experience in Szczecin until now is being really great, so I recommend to anybody who is thinking of join in an EVS project or not that should do it! You won’t regret it because is an experience where you can bring a lot but take much much more ;) 

Cristina Vera, Szczecin, 23-07-2014 

Cristina is one of 10 European Volunteers and is taking part in a MULTI KULTI project co-financed by Erasmus+ Youth Programme.