Dear Students, If you are holding this book in your hand you are most probably considering coming to Wrocław to study. And we know you won’t regret it if you do make the choice to come. The city is one of the most interesting places in Poland with great culture, rich history, a good university and – last but not least –a fantas- tic student atmosphere. Keep your eyes wide open and be ready for surprises. The country and the city have changed a lot in recent years, but you will still feel here like you are riding a rollercoaster between the modern world, uniting Europe, and an old fashioned eastern province. In this guidebook we are going to prepare you for this experience. The Jungle Book started in 2003. The idea is based on the assumption that foreign students planning to go to Wroclaw need a practical, fresh, sometimes subjective guidebook to help them to enjoy their stay from the very begin- ning. That’s why it was developed with great backing from foreign students, whose remarks and commentaries about living in Wrocław, both enthusiastic and critical, have been integrated into the text. The current third edition of the Jungle Book is divided into three parts. At the beginning you will find some general information about the history and politics of Poland and a survival kit concerning living in the country generally, without any regional, specifically Wroclaw’s, context. In the following chapter we give you a set of information about the University of Wrocław and student issues. The last section, and the longest one, is an extensive practical guide- book for Wroclaw’s newcomer. In some passages it serves to make concrete some of the more general information from the first part. There is a long list of people who deserve our appreciation. We would like to thank the whole Erasmus Office for help in recherché of information, in par- ticular Urszula Broda, Ewa Solecka-Drew, Basia Skałacka and Kasia Krawczyk. We owe gratitude to Barbara Kaczmarek for a great job on the graphic site of the Jungle Book and Rafał Próchniak for his design ideas and preparing the website. Last but not least we are very indebted to our readers: Richard C.R. Drew and Simon Watmough. Simon, many thanks for your great adds and comments! We would be happy if after the time spent in Wrocław you could give us some advice, comments and proposals about what can be added or changed in subsequent editions of the book. Contact us over the website www.junglebook.uni.wroc.pl Have a nice stay in Wrocław, Sebastian Płóciennik and the 2wroclaw team, Dagmara Koczańska, Agata Nowak, Marek Pawlak, Kasia Szeliga POLAND KIT GENERAL INFORMATION ..................... 5 POLITICS AND ECONOMY ................. 7 VISA AND PERMITS .............................. 11 EU citizens .................................... 11 Non-EU citizens ............................ 12 JOB ....................................................... 13 MONEY ................................................ 14 COMMUNICATION ............... ............. 16 Mobile telephone ....................... 17 Stationary telephone and VoIP.. 17 Internet .......................................... 18 UNIVERSITY KIT Post ................................................ 18 History ............................................ 39 TRANSPORT .......................................... 19 Structure and Faculties ................ 40 Train ............................................... 19 STUDENTS ................................................ 41 Bus ................................................. 23 International Relations Office ...... 41 By air ............................................. 24 International cooperation and Car ................................................ 24 exchange programs ..................... 41 HEALTH CARE ...................................... 26 Scholarships .................................... 42 SAFETY .................................................. 27 Erasmus coordinators .................... 43 MEDIA .................................................. 28 STUDENT’S DOCUMENTS ........................ 44 Press .............................................. 28 Identity card .... .............................. 44 Radio ............................................ 30 Sudent’s record .............................. 44 Television ...................................... 30 ISIC ................................................... 44 WEATHER ............................................. 31 STUDIES ................................................... 45 HOW TO DEAL WITH POLES? ............. 32 Studying in English .......................... 45 To speak Polish? .......................... 32 Study like Polish students do ......... 45 Cuisine .......................................... 33 Learn Polish ..... .............................. 46 Facing a Slavic soul .................... 34 LIBRARIES .............................................. 46 TOURIST DESTINATION ......................... 37 AID OF VOUNTEERS .............................. 47 2 3 WROCŁAW KIT THE MEETING PLACE ............................. 49 Fast food kiosks ............................. 66 LEGALIZE YOUR STAY ............................ 53 Milky bars ........................................ 67 ACCOMODATION.................................. 53 Restaurants and bistro .................. 68 „Ołówek” dormitory ...................... 53 Coffee break ................................ 69 Renting a flat ................................ 55 Pubs and clubs ............................. 70 Hotels and hostels........................... 57 SPORT ................................................... 72 TRANSPORT.............................................. 58 Sport centers .................................. 72 City transport ................................. 59 Swimming pools ............................ 73 COMUNICATION ................................... 62 CINEMAS .............................................. 74 Internet .......................................... 62 THEATRES .............................................. 75 POST OFFICES.......................................... 62 FESTIVALS .............................................. 77 SAFETY...................................................... 63 MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES ................... 78 HEALTHCARE ........................................... 63 CURRENT EVENTS .................................. 80 SHOPPING AND SERVICES ..................... 64 PLACES OF WORSHIP ........................... 81 Shopping centers .......................... 64 ROAMING IN AND AROUND ................ 82 Market places ................................. 65 A Sunday afternoon’s walk .......... 82 Laundry service .............................. 65 In Lower Silesia .............................. 84 LUNCH TIME AND BEYOND ................... 66 2 3 * 4 POLAND KIT POLAND KIT 5 * Poland kit GOLDEN AGES, COLLAPSES AND WONDERS he Republic of Poland (Rzeczpo- One of the most important periods Tspolita Polska) is located in East- in Poland’s history was the conversion Central Europe. It extends over the to Christianity around 966. A few years plain between the Carpathian Moun- later the German Emperor Otto III vis- tains and the Baltic Sea for about 650 ited Poland, acknowledging the exist- km from south to north, and about ence of his eastern neighbor. However, 690 km at its widest from west to east. the next 300 years were difficult. Like It is quite big – in European terms, of many other countries in feudal Europe, course. With an area of about 312,000 Poland went through territorial splitting square km, the country ranks in sixth and internal crisis. Better times came place on the continent. It has a popu- in the 14th century, when King Kazimi- lation of 38,8 million. erz the Great „met Poland wooden, and Poland borders in the north along left it bricked”. After founding a union the Baltic Sea, in the north-east with with Lithuania in the next century, the Russia and Lithuania and in the east Polish state entered its golden period. with Belarus and Ukraine. In the A hundred years later, Res Publica south, the border follows the ranges became a regional power, reaching far of the Carpathian and Sudeten Moun- to the east and south almost to the tains, which separate Poland from Black Sea. It also developed an original Slovakia and the Czech Republic, constitutional system, with an elected while to the west, the border with king and a key role for the gentry’s Germany is defined by the rivers Nysa Parliament (Sejm). It was also a multi- and Odra. ethnic state, relatively free from reli- Over the past millennium, the name gious conflicts, unlike the western Poland has been applied to a shifting parts of Europe. Accordingly, many territorial base. At one point in the Jews and Protestants settled in mid-1500s, Poland was one of the larg- Poland. est states in Europe. At other times, Problems began with wars against there has been no Polish state at all. Its the Ottoman Empire, which dragged on current frontiers were drawn in 1945. for two hundred years. From the 17th Norman Davies, a British historian, century, Poland was also confronted called his history of Poland „God’s Play- with burdens of military expeditions in ground”. Not without good reason: Russia, the Swedish invasion (known as from the 10th century, when the Polish the „Swedish Flood”) and civil war with state was founded by Prince Mieszko, the Ukrainian Cossacks. This, connect- until today, Poland has experienced ed with a decline in the power of Polish both golden ages