Useful Information

Article index

  1. University and Faculty
  2. Studies
  3. Students' Life
  4. Sport and Entertainment
  5. Useful Information
  6. Formalities
  7. Appendix

 

City Transportation

To get from one place to another in Warsaw, you don’t need to take a taxi. Use the city transport (buses, tramways, underground) – it is not only cheaper but it will take you any place you want. Timetables are on every stop and in the Internet. Just visit the website http://www.ztm.waw.pl. Information about ticket prices is available on http://www.ztm.waw.pl/taryfa.php.  

Just remember: 1-46 are tramways, 100-525 are day buses, 601-614 are night buses, 700-805 are suburbia lines and E-1 – E-5 are the express bus lines.

 

Money

Currency

The currency in Poland is 1 zloty (PLN). We distinguish coins and notes of different denominations.

  • Denominations of coins: 5, 2, 1 zloty and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, 1 groszy
  • for 1 zloty we need two coins in denominations of 50 groszy, five coins of 20 groszy etc.
  • Denominations of notes: 200, 100, 50, 20 and 10 zlotych
  • One Euro is about 4 PLN 1 EUR = 3.97 PLN (2 November 2006)

Taxes

The most popular tax in Poland is Value Added Tax – VAT. In most cases VAT is 22% of a product’s value. There are reduced rates of  7% and 3% for certain products and services. 7% VAT is for foodstuffs, tourist services (e.g. your hotel and restaurant bills), transportation services (e.g. bus tickets), newspapers and magazines.

Some products and services are exempt from VAT tax:

  • health services (staying in hospital, medical treatment)
  • diary products
  • banking services
  • insurance services
  • mail and stamps
  • education

In Poland we can distinguish other kind of taxes:

  • gift tax
  • agriculture tax – it is introduced in places like spa region etc. The cost is about 1 to 4 PLN per day and depends on localization and climatic value
  • property tax

Bank account

Student who takes up studies abroad must have an account in the bank where he or she receives the money and scholarship.

In Poland foreign student can open a bank account. The bank requires the identification document and certificate about being a student of a certain university. The procedure of opening account lasts a couple of days.

Sometimes the bank does not want to open an account for a foreigner because of his or her low credibility. In such situation a student should ask for help his or her caretaker at the faculty (the university usually helps in opening a bank account.

The best way to avoid any problems with opening a bank account in Poland is to have an account in your home country.

The banks in Poland are open form Monday to Friday from 8:00 or 9:00 to 16:00.

 

Other Information

Climate in Poland

Poland lies in the zone of temperate climate with features both of maritime and continental climate. Winters may be mild or very cold, while summer is sometimes cold and rainy and sometimes hot and dry. The best time to tour is summer. Spring begins in March when temperatures vary from -1C to +20C until the end of May. July is the warmest month. During summer temperatures reach from +21C to +32C. Autumn begins with September. Days are getting colder. December is the beginning of winter with snowfalls when temperatures can even be -20C. In high parts of mountains the snow stays unmelted until May.

Telephones

  • Local phone calls

There are phone cards of one telecommunication operator available in Poland. You can buy it in kiosks, shops, post offices. They last for 10, 15, 20 units. You can use them for local and country phone calls.

  • International phone calls

At every post office you can buy a special phone card that enables you to call abroad. Using such cards helps you save even 70% costs of your calling home (it depends on a country). Prices are available at every post office and in Internet. Here are some names of international phone cards:  ‘Telepin’– www.Telepin.pl , ‘Telegrosik’ – www.telegrosik.pl , ‘Swiat-TELE2’– www.tele2.pl. Use the card that is the cheapest for calling your country. Using the cards is very easy: dial the number of card’s operator (given on each card), dial the code and then 00 + area code to the country + area code to the city + number of a person you want to call. Some call centres that offer cheap calls to different countries were also opened in last months.

  • Mobile phones

The biggest mobile phones operators in Poland are: ORANGE, ERA GSM and PLUS GSM. They offer telephones for standing charges and for pre-paid cards. Orange offers cards ‘POP’ and ‘GO’, Era – ‘TAK-TAK’ and ‘HEYAH’, while Plus GSM – ‘SIMPLUS’ and ‘SAMI SWOI’. To get a telephone with standing charges a person needs to complete many formalities. Therefore it is easier for foreigners to buy a pre-paid card. Starter card costs from 5 to 40 PLN and is available in every operator’s office. Telephones cost from 200 PLN to 600 PLN. If you want to re-charge your card you need to buy a pre-paid card in any kiosk and dial the code.

Tourist information IT

In every big city there is tourist information where you can find information about monuments and places worth seeing. You can get maps, postcards and guides there. Usually people working in tourist information speak two or three languages. Tourist information is located at airports, railway stations, near main squares or streets. You can also try to find PTTK office where you can get more information about the place you’re staying.

Travelling around the country

You can travel in many ways: by train (PKP), by state bus (PKS) or private bus. All the information about the timetables and tickets are available at the PKP and PKS stations or in Internet:

Polish students are entitled to a 37% discount for travelling around the country (they need to have a valid student card). For Inter City trains it is 33% off. Foreign students are entitled to the discount as well. They must have valid ISIC card ( Remember: Euro<26 card does not entitle to this discount). 

Calendar for every year 

  • 01.01 – New Year’s Day (day off)
  • 06.01 – Epiphany
  • 21.01 – Grandmother’s Day
  • 22.01 – Grandfather’s Day
  • 14.02 – Valentine’s Day
  • 08.03 – Women’s Day
  • 01.05 – Labour’s Day (day off)
  • 03.05 – National Holiday of May 3rd (day off)
  • 15.05 – Pentecost
  • 26.05 – Mother’s Day, Boze Cialo (day off)
  • 01.06 – Children’s Day
  • 23.06 – Father’s Day
  • 15.08 – Assumption of Virgin Mary (day off)
  • 01.10 – Beginning of academic year
  • 14.10 – Teacher’s Day
  • 31.10 – Eve of All Saints Day
  • 01.11 – All Saints Day (day off)
  • 02.11 – All Soul’s Day
  • 11.11 – Independence Day (day off)
  • 30.11 – St Andrew’s Day
  • 06.12 – Santa Claus’s Day – gift shower
  • 24.12 – Christmas Eve
  • 25.12 – Christmas Day (day off)
  • 26.12 – Boxing Day (day off)
  • 31.12 – New Year’s Eve