Sapphire

On Saturday, July 7th, I received news that my friend in Poland would no longer be attending the same school that I will be attending. Well, actually she didn't have time to confirm that because I was on my way out the door to work, so I cut the conversation short. However, I deduced some information from our very brief conversation that she'd be attending school in Warsaw and that she had found a new roommate.

My friend and her friend, along with one another woman in England spent a good amount of time scouring Warsaw with schools that would suit my needs, which are: decently priced, intensive, and will help me master the Polish language. For the most part, every school in Poland has failed these requirements, even though my standards are not at all far fetched. Anyhow, there has been one school that has proven to be the exception – Uniwersytet Łódzki (University of Łódź, or UŁ), which has a department called The School of Polish for Foreigners.

The School of Polish for Foreigners has a nine month program for € 3,000, which places the student in the classroom for roughly 900 hours. If you take this course, you'll be granted admission to any Polish institution of higher learning, if I understand the information correctly. I really wanted to take that course, however, I ended up deciding on the five month course (500 classroom hours), which costs € 1,650 plus a € 30 registration fee. On a side note, why is it that I can do roughly 45 credit hours worth of work, which is nearly the equivalent to an associates degree, and will not be permitted to transfer any amount of credit to an American school?

I don't get the guaranteed admission to a Polish college or university, which may or may not come back to haunt me, but I do have other benefits. First off, I'll probably have begun to developed a semi-fluency in Polish. Plus, I'll have four months remaining on my visa, which I could use to enroll in the Goethe Institut in Warsaw and possibly hire a private tutor to improve my Polish. (I may hire a tutor to improve my English too – I have a tendency to abuse the comma.)

Back to the point, my friend will no longer be living in Łódź or attending University of Łódź. This put me in a predicament, which basically boils down to not living with her or living with her, but not getting the education I need and desire. Well, I've decided to spring for a different idea – live with her and do a four - six hour commute five days a week, for five months. I'll end up commuting for a whopping 400, 500, or possibly 600 hours for the entirety of my enrollment at UŁ, which is roughly equivalent to the hours I'll be in class.

Now, I've got my future roommates thinking I'm "EXTREMELY" insane (emphasis not added) for even considering commuting, but I would rather be with them, than be on my own. Plus, I'll have Saturdays and Sundays to do whatever I'd like and recover. Plus, I'll only need to put up with the hassle for five months. After that, I'm free to relax for four months and chill out everyday. As a bonus, I'll be living in the most up-and-coming European capital with the best nightlife options I've experienced anywhere. I just may be extremely insane for doing a four - 6 hour commute, but at least I'll be living with one of my best friends and getting invaluable experience.