Hello future Erasmus Students! My name is Ahmed and I’m not a terrorist (don’t be surprised, that was my joke :d).

I am from Syria and Erasmus program offered me an incredible opportunity to immerse myself in a new culture, make lifelong friends, broaden my horizons and marriage! Choosing Piła, Poland, as my destination was a decision I will forever cherish. This essay will recount the unforgettable memories and experiences that shaped my transformative journey during my time in Piła.

When I arrived at first I felt home! Amazing people all over the place and perfect Erasmus officers (special greeting to my coordinator and friend, the boss: Lukasz). The city all green and easy to move between places. Locals are welcoming and only young generation knows English. Even though there were some culture differences with mine, everything went just perfect due to mutual respect and acceptance between one another.

I am a civil engineer and I took 10 courses at Piła and did my summer training there, too. Teaching methods were perfect, both lectural and applied. My professors were so helpful, humble, they have great academic background, wonderful professors and their relations with students are personalized. They helped me improve my personal and academic growth.

During my both times in Piła, I was able to see and live the Polish culture. The city and university always held events to help students merge with the culture. I participated in all kind of cultural, sports, musical events. I even gave a speech to introduce my culture at high school for young Polish students. As for language, Polish is a bit hard and challenging, but you always welcome to see happy reactions of Polish people when you greet and thank them in Polish.

In Piła, I met people from different countries and had colleagues also from different countries, we all merged in big bowl named Erasmus in Piła. There is nothing more beautiful than having friends from different countries and cultures. After seven and half years after my journey in Piła, the best memory I had and you also is the first lecture you also gonna hear from your future friend, Lukasz: here, only religion is humanity, only nationality is humanity. I still live by these meaningful words!

Piła is a small city with lots of forests, its historical background is good and its location is perfect with trains to every city in Poland. I was able to visit lots of Polish cities and European countries and cities. Also, prepare yourself for voluntarily long walk challenges at forest with Erasmus officers and your colleagues.

Personally, my visits to Poland had a great contribute to my personal growth and development. I learned ice skating and lots of international games. My experiences taught me personally that there are another 8 billion people in the globe, everyone has different way of thinking and lifestyle.

Piła is the place you arrive laughing and leave in tears! I made their lifetime friendships from lots of countries and I don’t regret one second being there. However, I regret every second that I am not there!

Although my visa process during the pandemic, everything was so stressful. However, it is worth what I fighting for in the end. I am grateful for 4 months of exchange programs in Europe.

Erasmus plays one of the significant parts for me to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone. I got to explore other countries' education, food, cultures, and make friends with people from different nationalities. Not to mention I got two beautiful friendly roommates. One thing that I still remember from my Erasmus coordinator during my stay. We come from different places, we might have different skin tones, cultures, languages...etc. However, we all have one nationality, that is "HUMAN".

Besides all of these great memories, I also have the opportunity to immerse the world by travelling to other countries in the EU like Poland, Hugary, Germany, Holland, Swizerland, Czech Republic and Italy.All tastes occurred during my mobility period. We spend 10 hours riding on the wrong train, studying 10 minutes before the exam, lost the way, security at the airport call out and check us because of our Asian food, and meet crazy people that keep talking to us in a language you completely don't understand.

There are so many things which I can not describe all in one text. Just in short all of those moments shape us to be the next version of ourselves. Thank you to all the people who have been involved during my Erasmus journey. You guy helped me note down my journal with the amazing memories.

Hello everyone. I'm Paul (or Paweł if we use Polish version on name) and I from west part of Russia, currently I live in Penza region which is not far from Moscow.

My main current academic activity - studying and doing my PhD in Penza State University. Not so long ago, I did an internship at Akademia Nauk Stosowanych im Stanisława Staszica w Piłe (or just PUSS to keep it simple). PUSS university as you will notice or already noticed modern multirole center of higher education: there you find both technical and social sciences faculties, as well as medical. Library with books in several languages and rooms for preparing homework and projects placed in dedicated building... But main place for all international students is international office with super welcoming people. Whenever you go to study or get some practice - people who are really ready to help and support you, who create a friendly atmosphere which is really most valuable factor in helping you to make the  right choice about place to your international experience. And I can proudly say: the international office helps to feel at PUSS, as comfortable as at home university and maybe more. And even getting into the history of Poland classes, you will be amazed at how interesting facts and dates can be fascinating presented.

Piła is mid-size city in the center of west side of Poland. But do not think that this city is average or mid in everything. It has everything for having fun with your new friends from around the world, which you for sure will find in dormitory: malls, cosy coffee shops, farmer market with fresh and healthy food, night clubs, bars with cosy music and traditional drinks, also you will find even shop with board games and aqua park. For rest and quiet evening Piła has parks, island and river. And around the city placed seven forest lakes, the grove, the forest, of course paths in the thicket - everything that makes nature so beautiful is alive and juicy is really near to the city. This type of half-wild nature excellent described in the saga of the Witcher (written by a Polish writer - Andrzej Sapkowski, medieval Poland was taken as the prototype of the Witcher world). I was pleasured by visiting some famous Polish cities as Krakow, Poznań, Warszawa, Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz, Gdansk (this city I visited five times <3 ).

Studying abroad usually means good opportunities to see a lot of new places and countries; well in my case - I finally explored Scandinavians countries. But Berlin with 3 airports is only 3 hours by trains from Piła, so all of Europe countries and cities are easy reachable to you. Finally, I consider Poland to be a very hospitable country with amazing cuisine. Many dishes surprised me with their taste, so even ancient centuries-old recipes, sometimes odd recipes, delight food lovers. And I'm even ready to challenge you: I tried 8 different types of pierogi, but how many types will you try?

Learn what Alexandra has to say about her Erasmus experience in Piła, and join numerous students who already studied here.

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Just when i was thinking how in the world was i to see another countury, lern foreign culture, meet people and learn how diffrent people do things, the answer came to me with Erasmus programme introduction.

I’m Tuğrahan BABA, a student of english language teaching department of Mehmet Akif ERSOY University in Turkey. As a student working with foreign linguistics, going abroad was important to me. The way i see it, Erasmus was a golden oppurtunity for me to see new places, meet new people, learn about foreign culture and languages and pick new professors’ brains about teaching techniques and ideas. As soon as i had my family’s  support, i decided to sign up.

To be honest there were a lot of counturies on the list but, what influenced my desicion was what my professor told me about his erasmus experience in Poland. He strongly recommended me to choose Poland over the others. That is why i took a closer look at the universities in Poland and asked my coordinator about each and every one. She recommended Piła PWSZ university because we had good relationships with them and there were a lot of recorded mobility between our universities. That is how i decided to go to and ended up in Piła.

So far i really like it here except the weather and food. People are nice and open minded. The day I arrived to poland, i met a stranger by the name of Sacha on a train from Bydgoszcz to Piła. Him and his friend helped me to find the university and the dormitory. I was very surprised how hospitable and kind Polish people were, helping a stranger the way they did. My lecturers and coordinators turned out to be really cool people. I am very impressed by how much knowledge they posess and how well they adjust to every situation.

I still have several months to spend here in Piła and all i can say about it is that i am looking forward to enjoying every hour and day, learning and enjoying foreign culture and lifestyles with Erasmus.

Hi! My name is Elmina Čokrlija and I am coming from Montenegro. I am studying Economy and Finance in Turkey so it is not the first time for me to go abroad, but it is definitely new and great experience!

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” ‒ Flora Lewis This is the main reason why I decided to do Erasmus, I wanted to improve my English and to learn one more language (at least some of basic things). So I decided to go to Poland, country with interesting history and beautiful places to see. Also, Poland is located almost in the center of Europe so it is very easy to find cheap train or bus tickets to other countries. About Pila I can say that it is small but very peaceful city with beautiful nature and parks where you can have long walks with your friends or even go running.

During the Erasmus I have met different people from different countries. Also I had a chance to try their food, to share my experiences with them… We became a family by the time and that is the most precious thing for me! Because, every human being that we meet in our life teaches us something new and helps us to improve ourselves or even helps us to become a better person. We are spending a lot of time together in the kitchen, because we have to make food for ourselves. So my recommendation for you is to learn to cook before you go to Erasmus, or you will HAVE TO learn it here. :)

At the end I can say that Erasmus is a once in a lifetime opportunity, as this is one of the few moments in life when you're being offered the freedom to travel without being questioned about your reasons to do so and also be offered financial support. Also, Erasmus is much more than just studying abroad and discovering new people, it's about rediscovering a better version of yourself. So don’t think twice and go ahead, you won’t regret!

I am Nuri from Turkey and I was Erasmus here at PWSZ for 8 months and I dont regret.

I chose to come to Poland because I was impressed when I heard about Polish culture and its history. I am a person who loves to meet and experience new cultures so that Polish history and its culture were interesting and convinced me to do my Erasmus practice here. I came to Piła - a small but pretty nice and worth-seeing city with its beauiful landscape, located almost in the center of Europe and 3 hours away from Berlin, Germany.

Poland has been through a lot in the past, they had to face many problems as a nation. I always read about history and that is why I was in Poland, to get to know more about Polish history. Additionally Polish culture is far different than the Turkish and it is quite interesting for me. The food, everyday life, the way people treat each other and the way they live, very interesting and different than what I know from home, so it was like moving to a new world.

I worked in Poland, Piła I was working in International Relations Office at PWSZ which is a modern and distinctive university both with its look and people working in. I met nice and warm people working over there. I had unforgettable moments and one of the best experience in my life by working in such an atmosphere. The office I was working in was really well built, active and friendly with my workmates. I have perfect memories which I will cherish for the rest of my life thanks to Erasmus Programme.

As a conclusion, I strongly recommend you to visit Piła at least once in your life or choose such a nice university to be an Erasmus Student. The city is great to live in, and people are warm to each other. Even though Polish culture and traditions are different than in my country, I enjoyed my time in Piła and I would like to come back again in the future.