Hello everyone!

You have likely been directed here by the GoGlobal Swansea team to read about my experiences.

Firstly I will introduce my self. I am Michael Winders and I study Economics and Business at Swansea University. I am a first year student and I am one of the first students to live on the new Bay Campus. This summer I will be heading to Kielce in southern Poland to teach English to students of a similar age of my own for 8 weeks. I will live out there and get involved in so many brilliant activities.

I found my placement my self through a non-for-profit organisation called AIESEC. AIESEC is a student run organisation run in over 126 countries world wide. It specialises in giving young people the opportunity to grow their leadership skills as well as help change the world for the better. They provide placements all year round with great opportunities for students. I will infact be running this organisation next year in Swansea.

If you are interested in joining pop me an email:

michael.winders@tiscali.co.uk

I found AIESEC through a friend who I met via a mutual friend and she introduced to me this organisation where she was a member. In Easter time I decided I would go out and visit her as well as my other friend for a holiday. Once I arrived in Poland I fell in love  and knew I had to return. Of course that is what I am doing. Not only to see my friends but also to learn how to live abroad while doing something which I found productive. I always wanted to do something with my summers for I know I would get bored sitting at my home town in Winchester; I wanted to do something new and have an experience. This blog will be a series of posts, likely each week followed with a YouTube video posted on my YouTube channel, showing you my experiences as well as my thoughts and feelings along the way.

 

So we begin!

The time is 00:35 in the morning of the 10/06 as I write this. You may wonder why I am up so late writing this blog entry! Well, my favourite Ice Hockey team are playing this evening and if they win, they will be league champions! As I wait for this great game I am preparing my slides for my teaching, for when I fly out on the 21st of June .. 11 DAYS time!

I am currently really looking forward to it, for I know I will have such an amazing time. I currently have no worries for I have done the journey before and so it is not very daunting for me. The only concerns I have is the living accommodation as well as how will I be able to communicate with people. Last time I was in Kielce,  I had my friend as a translator by my side all this time. I will not have this luxury this time! Even so my Polish is good enough to get around, Along with the classic finger pointing and gestures, I know I will be fine. As long as you approach the situation with a positive attitude and a friendly manner you can’t go much wrong.. Unless you have a Polish lady moan at you for having an English driving licence when buying alcohol, but that is another story!

I do have concerns about the accommodation for it is a massive unknown what the person I will be staying with will be like or even how the accommodation will be. In a way, I don’t know if I am mad, but I like the part of not knowing for it is an adventure, it is unique and I know it will be full of many memories. When I was over in Easter, my friend and I, visited Budapest and Krakow which was a life long dream for me to visit these places. I hope to visit Prague, Vienna and many other cities. We will see what happens!

I think I am approaching the whole experience in a very laid back way, I haven’t even booked my flight yet. So disorganised.. this is not like me.. But my excuse I have only been home for a week from university! It has all happened so quickly. I already love the food of Poland as well of so many other things. I am so excited to get stuck in to learn even more… and maybe .. just maybe.. be able to have a long conversation in polish by the end of the 8 week!  I’m sure you will see more for your self when you ready my later blog entries.

You may think that Poland is a strange country for someone to visit especially for someone like me, who would be considered to be an extrovert and shy.. I do all this for myself to push my self to achieve my goals as well as to do something beneficial for the future. It is a great opportunity and shows that who you know is more important than what you know. Poland would never be on the top of anyone’s list for a holiday as they would always find more exotic places to visit. To me that is what is so lovely about Poland. It is very unique and rural and different. Well we see what I think after 8 weeks won’t we!

Anyway this game is about to start so I better sign of and welcome you all once again to this blog. This is only the beginning of an amazing experience and I hope to encourage all of you to do something with your summer, or study abroad! Hopefully I can settle some of your nerves about going so far from home and proving to you that studying/working abroad is worth it! Join me on my journey and my experiences.

Trzymaj sie (take care),

Michael