An Indirect Uni Experience

Walking into the noisy hall my senses are bombarded with students voices – low, high pitched, in the midst of laughter or a yell. Everyone is talking over one another, but being in Poland, this should not come as a surprise. The commotion is due to the fact that it's the end of the school year, for some it's the end of a chapter in their lives that they are to dearly miss.

My partner is one of these people, he has just spent the past three months working on his dissertation. After 95 pages, and many late nights, it's finally done. We arrive in hope and anticipation that he can finally submit the professionally bounded document, be given a date to defend it – answer questions in front of a board – and feel a sense of relief that it's finished, that soon he will have his diploma and he can move on.

If only it was that simple.

First he has to stand in line, three actually, each crowded with thirty plus students there for the same thing. It's hot outside and I can feel sweat running down my spine, there's no air conditioning and outside it's close to 30 degrees. The multitude of bodies standing side by side, in front or behind each other is only intensifying the heat. The queue continues, pretty boys try to push in, thinking they are too good to stand in line, but no one dares to tell them to head back in line, it reminds me of the tuck shop line (school canteen) back in secondary school with students waiting and pushing in for their pies and sausage rolls.

We progress to the window forty minutes later only to be informed that there's even more paperwork to complete, documents to sign and stamp. Red tape. There's plenty of it here. Everything works against the citizen, student, patient, parent, employer, pupil, teacher. No one has discovered that if you help someone out and make their life easier, you are in fact also helping yourself.

I like to think that things will change. That future students and citizens are going to have it easier. More sweat trickles down my thigh as I stand in the queue for the cashiers desk while my partner rushes to the library to sign off that there's no overdue books (if there he might not get his diploma), and to sign off his practicals, even though they have little relation to his degree. I've come across this before, where psych graduates are working in accounting and handyman as bakers. I suppose everyone here goes for whatever they can get.

Two hours later we're back at home, sending emails to satisfy the schools requirements in relation to even more documents. He will have to go back and go through it all again. Stand in the lines, chase up his grades, paperwork and anything else that he needs in order to fulfil expectations, requirements, and graduate.

Two days later it's all submitted. I breath easier. I swear I've been stressing and worrying more than he has. I'm proud of him. After months of hard work it's all done, and now we can both relax.

I've been thinking about going to do a Masters degree in Warsaw as they offer courses in English, my Polish is advanced but not advanced enough to complete two years of university and pass. This experience, however, is making me rethink the issue. Unless I can find a university that is computer orientated, has organisational skills and is with the times, I will bypass the idea and wait till I return to Australia.

An Aussie in Warsaw

Why would a 20 something year old from the sunny Gold Coast in Australia want to leave her fantastic job, a flat near the beach and great lifestyle for dreary, sad and 20 years behind Poland?

Firstly, let me make one thing clear. I am both an Aussie and a Pole, however I don't like to label myself as either or. I was born in Poland, and raised in Australia. But I feel at home wherever I choose to go or travel to. I still remember bawling my eyes out on the train platform with the news that I was leaving my grandparents behind and everything I'd ever known to go to a place I'd never heard of.

Sixteen years later I'm back. Not intentionally. Back in 2007 I came to Warsaw to visit my grandparents and get some paperwork sorted before moving on to live in London for awhile. Well no one was kind enough to inform me that due to the ridiculous amount of bureaucracy my stay would have to be extended.

Stuck. Unemployed. Low on money and with no ability to work legally and nothing to do but write. I think there was a time where I reached a really low point in my existence. I didn't know what to do.

Cheer myself up of course.

An opportunity arose for me to go on holiday to a popular seaside destination. No thinking needed there. I was off, with people I didn't know and the intention to have a fantastic time in order to leave my worries behind, at least for a week. Needless to say, halfway through my week away, I fell in love, and as they say the rest is history.

Two years later many things still drive me insane.

I'm a freelance writer, TEFL teacher, traveller, friend and a huge optimist. Throughout this blog I will attempt to include travel stories, experiences, jokes, photos, news and views on politics, on people, on just about anything I feel like. But be warned I tend to get opinionated, however I try to have your best interest at heart. A small incident brought me here, a chance encounter, and the a wonderful man who has taught me to love, to enjoy the smaller things in life, and to laugh every chance I get.

This blog has begun in the hopes of gaining an understanding of the Polish culture and coming to terms with the fact that I have decided to stay here indefinitely. I welcome you, and hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Please feel free to comment or debate if you disagree with my opinionated soul.