Danish girl moving to Warsaw as an Erasmus-student - where should I live?

Hi everybody,

I'm a 20-something girl, who will be moving to Warsaw in february 2014 to study Political Science.

I'm looking for good advice to where I can rent a room in a nice flat.

As a Dane, I'm very fortunate to get study-support from the Danish government, when I travel abroad to study. Therefore it's actually not that important for me to live in a cheap flat in a cheap neighborhood. I'd rather spend more on a room, and live in a pleasant flat in the centre of the city near other young people, cafés, cinemas and places to hang out.

Where would you recommend me to live in Warsaw?

Thank you so very much.

Natalie

Which uni, which campus and how much time do you want to spend travelling each morning?

I'm going to study at UW at the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science :) And hmm.. Maybe 30-40 minutes travel each morning as a maximum?

Thanks for answering this thread so quickly!

Do you know which campus that is at? Do you have the address?

I am not sure of the address, but the webpage says:

Institute of Political Science
University of Warsaw
67 Nowy Świat Street,
00-927 Warsaw, Poland

Does this sound right?

Sounds like the main campus. In your place I'd be thinking about South Central Warsaw, the area around Plac Zbawiciela / Plac Konstytucji, as far north as aleje Jerozolimskie, as far south as plac Unii Lubelskiej, as far west as Niepodległości, as far east as the river. Lots of bars / cafes, young people, places to hang out. The buildings there are mostly 1950 to 1970.

You can easily rent a room online with:

lokalo.pl
airbnb.com
9flats.com

Cheaper would be through: gumtree.pl/fp-pokoje-do-wynajecia/mazowieckie-warszawa/c9000l3200001

but for that personal presence and knowledge of Polish is required most of the times.

Probably university can assist you.

Thank you so much, I've framed the area on google maps. Now I have an idea where to look.

Is it normal for students in Warsaw to live in the city-centre, or have the flat-prizes pushed the young in to the outskirts of the city like you see it in for example London?

Thanks, I will start looking right away.

You get both. Flat prices on the outskirts can be just as high as the centre because the buildings there are from the 1990s or later.

You should be able to get a decent one bedroom flat (i.e. bedroom and a separate living room) in that area for about 2000zl per month (maybe a little higher now that the area has become rather fashionable).

I am not from Warsaw, but I think that they live everywhere and in few per one apartment which is in the center rather than in the suburbs. Also Warsaw is many times smaller that London. There are also dormitories. If you could get place in renovated students dormitory then you would get the most from studying in Warsaw experience. But usually there is less spaces than demand, because they're cheap. Perhaps you can get priority as a foreign student.

Natalie, I take it however that you intend to learn at least the basics of Polish.

I haven't decided whether to take lessons in Polish or not although I'd like to. It depends on how many hours a day I will be at the University. However, my mother is Czech and I speak Czech close to fluently, so I'm pretty sure that I would be able to learn the basics of Polish within a few months. Furthermore I think that the University offers lessons in Polish to exchange-student.

Why do you ask?

Only curious, as it simply makes sense to me to try to learn the language of the country in which one wishes to live/work. Relying solely on English might not always be advisable:-)

Without a doubt. I know Ukrainians that have been here a year and speak Polish pretty much fluently.

I agree with you. Polish'll probably be a snap for her to pick up. Practically like a Dane moving to Sweden, etc..

It doesn't always make seance. If somebody changes country each 2 years for example. Learning a language is A LOOT of effort and time, which one can spend in much more pleasant way.

Being almost fluent in Polish is not something I dare to hope for, as I will only be living in Poland for about 6 months, but it sure would be nice :)

Thanks for being so helpful. Do you know any Warsaw blogs or websides, where I can get to know more about the spirit of the city?

wikitravel.org/en/Warsaw
and here is some blog directory: expat-blog.com/en/directory/europe/poland/warsaw/

The investment of time and effort is well worth it, Monitor, given that clarity in communication, and not MISScommunication, remain the final goal!

I'm just curious, but why Poland?

Completely free choice in most cases. Erasmus exists to allow students a chance to study abroad, funded by the European Union. Perhaps more than any other programme, Erasmus really breaks down national barriers in Europe.

People choose to go all over Europe - there are quite a few British students in France, many Polish students all over Europe, you can find many Portuguese/Spanish students in Poland and so on.

Poland has some of the finest universities in Europe.

My first choice was actually Berlin. My main foreign language in gymnasium (high school) was German, and a semester i Germany would be a good opportunity to freshen up my unfortunately now quite poor German-skills. But there was only one spot for a student from my university and I didn't get it.

My second choice was Warsaw. To be quite honest I don't know much about Warsaw or Polish culture because I've never been there and I don't know anyone from Poland. But I have a feeling that Poland is an exciting country to be in right now because of the changes that (I heard) are going on economically. The average Dane knows close to nothing about Poland (or the Czech Republic or other countries from Central-Europe) and I think that's a shame, because I feel that theres a lot to be discovered. Am I right? :)

Also, as I mentioned before, my mother is Czech, and I have a very close relationship to the CZ. I think and hope that I will recognize some of the things I like about the CZ in Warsaw (like the food ;) )

I think you've got it absolutely spot on.

Warsaw is almost certainly an exciting place to be at the minute :)

Berlin has been a popular destination for Poles (owing to its close proximity). I know a number of Polish students who are currently matriculating at the TU (Technische Universitaet) and whose German skills have naturally had to improve. Confess to not knowing many Danes studying in Poland, though a fair number of Norwegians:-)

A brief aside.

Umpteen years back, I was an exchange student in Kobenhavn. My friends all thought I was being a jerk learning Danish in order to prepare for my trip. "Everybody speaks English!", they kept telling me. Still, I persevered with my Danish.

Boy am I happy I did ^^

Held og lykke i Polen, Natnat!

Good! :)


I hope that København treated you well back then. And thanks - good job with the Danish!

If there are more cool websides about Warsaw or anything else you guys think I should know about, feel free to share.

Stick this site in your favorites: warsawfoodie.pl

Your spoken English isn't too bad either, Natnat!

Sorry 'bout that there. Didn't mean to appear condescending (nedlagende). It's only that in Denmark it seemed nearly everybody under thirty at the time wanted to chat with me in their "school" English, and while unfailingly polite to them, since all they wanted to do was practice, I grew a little tired of it after a while. I kept trying to tell them in their native language that I wanted to get to know them as Danes, not imitation Americans!

Loved Kobenhavn to pieces, but loved the west coast of Jutland even more:-)

Hello,

Please check my offer and contact me if you'd like to rent this room:
gumtree.pl/cp-pokoje-do-wynajecia/wawer/beatiful-room-in-a-large- flat-526139186

Best,
AN

ups, the link whas incomplete, please type ww

My friends used this website for accommodation in Warsaw : easyrenting.pl
They were satissfied, so If anyone will need it I'm puting info here :)