Moving to Wroclaw from California, need tips

I just found yesterday that I am being drop shipped to Wroclaw to manage an operation our company has there. I arrive in two weeks so don't have much time to prepare. I would welcome any tips you care to share.

Thanks

Wow, you're going to have a lot of fun! lol Do you know a little Polish? Do you have hard head to drink lots of Polish vodka? Are you going to live in a hotel or an apartment?

I don't know a word of Polish, so that should be challenging (I have been through this before elsewhere, you just deal with it and learn it) for the first month or so. I have been told my head is normal, but perhaps a shot or two of vodka will change all that.

I would rather have a furnished apartment in a nice area with interesting and varied things to be able to walk to. Any ideas about a specific area? Is the inter city or downtown clean, safe, and an interesting place to live?

yeah, if you don't know even basic Polish it will be challenging. but when you smile everyone will like you (since it's still rare for Poles to receive a smile so they like people who smile . I've heard the prices in Wroclaw are now soaring so dont' expect anything inexpensive there. Downtown is nice and clean but the other parts aren't so nice.

Biz
How old are you?

biz,
Wroclaw is going through a regeneration of sorts: new roads, refurfishment of the river banks etc. In places it really does look beautiful while in others it's less interesting. Coming from California it will be somewhat of a culture shock for you, but I'm sure that you'll soon get used to it if you are well travelled.
According to the Mayor, who was speaking on TV recently, we have 100,000 students in Wroclaw. That's 1 in 7 of the population and most of them speak English.
The city itself is German built, so if you've been to Germany the town centre would be typical.
Transport is by tram, bus, taxi, car or on foot.
The weather is changing at the moment and in one month it will be cold. Possibly as low as nine degrees below. So bring a coat.
There are a few posters from Wroclaw on this Forum so if you need to know more one of us might have an answer.

Thanks for the tips so far. Glad to hear that the town center is clean, I will look for a domicile in that area. Also good news about the number of students, generally that adds a vibrancy to any city. Prices in Wroclaw cannot be as high as they are in California, so anything looks reasonable by comparison (except maybe London). The cold weather will be more of a shock than the culture, where I live it never gets below 35C.

Having reviewed the airline schedules from Wroclaw it seems somewhat limited. Are there any other airports with an hour or two that I should be looking at as well?

Maybe krakow Balice.

If you ski or snowboard this is also a good location.

Regarding airports. Berlin, Germany is 4 1/2 hours away by car. Warsaw is 5 hours away.

Do you want local flights or inter-continental ? Long distant flights usually have a change in either Warsaw, Germany or the UK.

I find it the cheapest flying into Frankfurt first. Poznan has a tiny airport and the price isn't too bad.

hi Biz,

Aussie guy living here in Wroclaw, let me know if you need any help with anything.

Thanks. I will take you up on your generous offer. I get to Wroclaw tomorrow for the first time. so after a few days to sort out things, I will be in touch (and take you up on the beers offer in your other posting).

If you wanted to see a bit of Wroclaw, here's a link to a short guide movie.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8743428455104639224&q=wroclaw& hl=en

Thanks bossie.

You're welcome.

If you need further help, I'm sure one of us will be able to help, just let us know, on forum or through email.

that's a very good link.

Have you settled in now? Indeed are you still here?

Aussie Guy,
We're moving to Wroclaw soon. I'll be flying ahead of the spouse and kids to get things settled. Are there easy places to procure a local cellular phone? Also, what's the best way to find a good realtor? I want to buy a home in the outskirts of Wroclaw in a small village. I need an English speaker, but also a seasoned realtor. My plans are to just fly in and rent a car, buy a local phone, stay in a cheap hotel until I get it together for the rest of the family. Got better ideas for me?

oh, and can I setup a local Wroclaw bank account BEFORE I get there?

movinhome if you have credit card is no problem to use it in Polish banks restaurant and so on. you can also take polish monay from "bankomat" from all banks VISA and MasterCard are both avalible and currency rate between banks are better than in currency office.

how far frrom Wrocław you want to buy your house??

local phone (mobile??) is no problem you have to choise 5

Orange
Plus
Era
Heyah
Play

just orange.pl or plus.pl or ere.pl and you will get some more info probabluy there is also english version

to rent car in Wroclaw will be also no problem i sopous. big city.

take care

Anyone visits the Masurian Lakes? I'm American and live currently in Mikolajki so if you need any help let me know.

G'day movin, good to see another Aussie moving to Wroclaw, you shouldn't have to many problems, as horun said, you can buy a prepaid card for a start, if you have your own phone, rental cars are no problem either, have you looked at some accom. for your stay, heaps of cheap but good hotels, do you know Wroclaw, what side of town you after. Does your wife speak Polish, if so, there are heaps of search sites for realty. Any questions, email or ask away.

You are all great for all of the quick responses! Thanks a bunch. Ok, I don't know the Wroclaw area very well, yet. (1)So, if I want to stay in someplace inexpensive, but nice and clean,....west of the city....where should I stay?

(2) Also, we speak the slightest bit of Polish, but seem to be able to easily navigate the wgn.pl website and have seen several homes that fit our needs. While we have emailed various agents, we're not getting responses...so we assume that language is an issue. Do you think it's possible to find a realtor with experience who also speaks English? I hate to assume such things....as I'll bet the best in the business all speak Polish and maybe German, French, etc....but are not catering to Americans. We like the areas of Boleslawiec and Jelenia Gora. Anyone in those towns?

(3)What the political climate like for Americans in the area? Not sure with the trouble in Iraq if Americans are favored at the moment...can anyone expand? And, how are the locals feeling about foreigners buying homes in Poland? Is it frowned upon socially?

(4) School systems...anyone know about the schools? The kids are in preschool now and are in a Polish language immersion program...do foreigners qualify for public school? We know of the international schools, but we rather prefer to assimilate.

Thanks again

(4) I think the best way will be international school for the start there is also polish language and some kids of reach polish people going there

(3)Don't wory about that In Poland we still like Americans, some people are only agaist Bush politic....

(2) from Wrocław to Jelenia Góra is about 120 km and in Wrocław evry morning there are traffic jam....
to Bolesławiec is also about 125 km...

(1) Try to find somethink about Strzelin, Bialy Kosciol, Katy Wrocłaeskie this is about 50 kim from wrocław and area is also nice or write PW to user Wrocław he should know better

Its not that easy for foreigners to buy a house or land in Poland, you need a offical letter or proof or ties with Poland i beleive.

> Maybe krakow Balice.
>
> If you ski or snowboard this is also a good location.

Are there skiing centers near Wroclaw? Any web-link to those, how big mountains you have in there?

Hi my name is Chuck. I have recently moved from Phoenix, Arizona to a mountain top village Michalowice. I have started a event organization and management business in music theater and art. We will launch our first music show in December 2007. So far I am loving it although I must admit the weather and the language does pose a chalenge sometimes. I would like to meet new people and network so feel free to write my email id is noczesc.cc@gmail.com.

Hi, how do you like Michalowice? It's nice there, been there couple of times.
Welcome to the forum.