5 Valuable Lessons I Learned From Studying Abroad in Poland

Let’s say that it was a humbling experience

Growing up, school wasn’t my specialty.

Before grades had any significance (in early elementary, for example), I excelled. I was right where I needed to be.

But throughout the years, school obviously got harder and I started getting lower grades.

This didn’t bother me as much as it did my parents, especially since religion was the only class I failed as a child.

Like how does a child fail religion? It makes me laugh now.

Anyway, I didn’t take school seriously until high school.

For some reason, that was the time when some miraculous switch had shifted in me and gifted me. I was the type of student who could study 15 minutes before a test and pass with an A, unlike other students who studied for 3 days and got a B.

This is how the rest of my high school experience went. I was treated well by teachers because of my intelligence. I got good grades.

Other than the social aspect of it, high school was smooth sailing.

That was until I hit university. I was humbled really quickly.

After high school, I decided that I wanted to study abroad in Poland. In one of the most academically rigorous schools there too.

With being in AP and honors classes all throughout high school, I accepted the challenge with full force and was ready.

This was two years ago. Now I’m entering my final year and let me tell you, I learned a lot.

A lot about the American education system compared to everywhere else, Poland, and myself. Here are some conclusions that I’ve come to.

1. The Polish education system is intense.

First of all, the infrastructure of the system here is entirely different.

A full-time college student in the USA has about 4–6 classes per semester.

In Poland, there are about 8–12 classes per semester (in my case, I had 14 last semester, but this was extreme).

Wanna know what this means?

8–12 final exams that are basically pass or fail due to the fact that we don’t have many assignments throughout the semester.

Now that sounds great. Not that many assignments mean more time to relax throughout the semester, right?

Wrong! Since we have so many classes here, although we aren’t given many assignments per subject, with all of our individual assignments for each class having a similar deadline, it’s built up.

2. The American education system is behind.

When it came to specific subjects in university, I noticed that I sucked compared to others.

Chemistry, for example, one of my favorite subjects in high school, sounded like rocket science to me at a university level.

Now, I thought that this class was just simply way too hard. I didn’t really realize back then that I was just behind compared to everyone else.

I later came to find out that my colleagues (they were from several different countries from all over the world) had chemistry every year in school starting from middle school.

I only was required to take one class ever in my life, and it only lasted 4 months.

No wonder I was behind! I was set up for failure.

Now just imagine how hard I had to study compared to others to catch up.

This is just one instance in which I realized that I, myself, wasn’t the problem, just the US educational system.

3. Other cultures do not question authority as much as in America.

This one took me a while to realize.

Throughout my study abroad experience, there were some scenarios where we students found flaws within our program.

We were not able to excel in some subjects because of them.

For me, the most natural thing to do in this scenario was to speak to the director of my program about this to see if there was anything that we could do about it.

I wanted to make a positive change for not only the students in my group but for future students as well.

This is when I realized that most people were scared to speak up with me.

They did not want to stir the pot, and I felt like it was our right as students to do just that.

I did not understand why the others were scared.

This is when I learned from some colleagues of mine that this sort of behavior had consequences in their countries. In their countries, the students were always wrong anyway and had no power to change anything.

They felt powerless compared to authority.

4. If I fail, it is not the end of the world.

This one is a hard pill to swallow for me at the moment.

With the pressure of having to pass so many exams within the time frame of one month on a vast number of subjects, it becomes overwhelming.

There’s a possibility that I might fail a class that I took last semester.

It’s taken me a while to accept this fact. The idea of having to retake a class that I’m not really interested in pains me.

The best way I can describe the fear of failing that I’ve experienced is like the movie Whiplash.

Imagine tearing yourself apart mentally in order to please a professor. I don’t recommend it.

However, I’ve accepted that whatever happens, it is not the end of the world if I fail, and I will be okay.

5. I don’t believe in memorization.

Now, let me rephrase this.

Memorization is crucial in fields like medicine where you must remember critical details to save lives.

But in many other subjects, it’s more important to understand how things work rather than just memorizing facts.

Unfortunately, in today’s education system, there’s a lot of emphasis on memorizing facts for exams, even if they aren’t very useful in the real world.

This is especially true in the Polish education system.

I’ve had semesters where I worked hard to memorize information for exams, only to forget most of it afterward because I didn’t really understand it.

Instead of teaching us to think critically and understand processes, schools often push us to memorize, even though professors deny it.

So, it feels like schools today focus more on memorization than actual learning, which doesn’t work for everyone. Luckily, I’m not aiming to become a doctor!

With all the ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. It has not only helped me grow as a person but also broadened my horizons.

If you or anyone you know is thinking about studying abroad, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go for it. You’ll be amazed by all the new things you’ll discover that you didn’t know before.