My story of emigration began almost five years ago, when I met Paweł. I lived in Gdańsk at that time and one December evening, the fate made our paths meet in Tri-City. When it turned out that Paweł lived permanently in England, and our acquaintance quickly turned into a serious feeling, my whole life has changed completely. For nearly two years we had a typical long distance relationship, spending a fortune on plane tickets and plying between Poland and England.
I remember our longing and the deepening feeling of suspension between two worlds and the moment in which for the first time I thought to change everything. It was the most spontaneous and totally emotional decision that I’ve ever made in my life. Out of us two it was me who had less to lose – there was virtually nothing more apart from friends and acquaintances that kept me in Tri-City. I quitted my job without regret, my family accepted my decision to leave the family with understanding, although there were those who reminded me as I used to swear that I would never ever leave Poland … Well, as you can see the old saying „never say never” in this case came true, and I felt that it was the time to start a new stage of my life.
Simply England
My journey was actually more like moving – a trip in a car packed up to the roof through whole Europe was quite an exciting event for me at the time, and from the very beginning I had quite positive feelings. I was open and ready for new experiences, though by nature I am rather pessimistic and I don’t like changes. I knew that I would have the roof over my head as well as support, so I did not have any concerns on the material level. Of course, I was aware that if I found a job quickly, it would allow me not only to be financial independent, which I was accustomed to living in Poland, but above all it would break the cultural and linguistic barrier and make friends in the new environment. From the beginning, I assumed that I needed a little time to acclimate and I did not want to do anything at a push. The mandatory issue was to arrange all kinds of formalities – a bank account, telephone, registration in the offices, which was a good language training in the new reality. I remember my first contact with the real language, when I realized that I didn’t understand half of what Englishmen were saying to me, though in my own opinion after several years of learning English in Poland I could speak without any problem. It turned out, however, that there is nothing better that a course with native speakers – so far, although I’ve been here three years, I’m still learning and at every step it turns out that there are still 1000 new phrases that I hear for the first time in my life. After all, I think that I passed this crash course in slang and colloquial language with a good result – today I feel confident and not nervous as in the beginning.
I found the first job after half a year, so my acclimatization process was quite long and slow. Due to the change of the culture and environment I knew that in order to start functioning in the new reality I would have to start from the position much lower than the one which I had in Poland, but the option to work in the kitchen, doing the dishes was unacceptable for me. In this way I started my English career in one of the biggest clothing chain stores. I treated it as a mental and physical test, and after a few months I managed to get promoted – I was employed in the office at an administrative position. Because in my first job there was a lot of young people, at the beginning I did not have, unfortunately, the best opinion about Englishmen and their diligence. I also remember that actually no one tried to establish contact with me, so I felt quite alienated. The first acquaintances I made only with other immigrants – from India, Asia, Italy, who proved to be more open and honest in relationships than the British. Besides, there is nothing better to create a sense of solidarity as commenting on, not quite understandable for us, the British culture and lifestyle. All the time I’m trying to develop and pursue my professional career so that I can learn as much as possible, and to show that the education received in Poland didn’t go to waste. In England studies are paid, which is why most people end their education at college and start working at the age of 18-19, sometimes earlier. For this reason, the more important thing here is experience and what kind of person you are, not the number of held degrees.
After all, I still believe that my chance is still in front of me and thanks to the perseverance I can reach my goal. There is no denying that in the UK the spectrum of career opportunities is huge and in my opinion it is not only easier to get a job here than in Poland, but also there are no problems to change profession. All you need is appropriate courses and certificates gained from local institutions and, of course, good English, without which you can’t achieve much. I can definitely say that after three years of emigration my confidence as an employee grew, I am more open and it is easier for me to believe in my own abilities. I have not met here with job insecurity and with problems that every day give Poles sleepless nights, and which in some way related also to me when I lived and worked in Gdańsk. It is not only about financial considerations, even though work at a medium level allows to maintain a very good standard of living, but about evaluation systems of employees, social packages, functioning of companies and a whole bunch of other things that I didn’t experience in Poland. Despite the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, I have reservations about diligence of the English, Poles, as the majority of immigrants are five times more efficient and reliable, generally I assess the United Kingdom positively.
Everything all right
After three years in England, my attitude to homeland has become definitely more sentimental. I think that anyone who does not have problems with defining their identity, do not deny longing for the home country, because it always is and will be somewhere deep down in all of us. Now, certainly, I appreciate more the traditions and customs cultivated, for example, on the occasion of Christmas, because I know that it all adds up to my Polish identity and defines me as a person. I believe that immigration has a positive effect on us, because it allows us to appreciate things we hadn’t noticed before, to risk, to take the chance. From the perspective of time and experience I am proud of the values passed to me by my parents and the famous Polish hospitality, the excellent cuisine, the beautiful Polish countryside, which I miss so much on the island. In the sentimental dimension I pay less attention to the shortcomings of Poles, although there is no denying that discontent, complaining and general dissatisfaction with life hit me every time I come to Poland. Although here in England sometimes I have enough of exaggerated politeness and questions if everything is all right and how I am (especially when, for example, I just have a flu, but in accordance with the generally accepted custom, I must answer: „I’m fine, thank you”), it is here in Poland where I feel that in spite of myself and our national characteristics I’m super-nice and smile to everyone. The results are surprising, but sometimes it happens that people, unused to kindness, become even more suspicious and unkind.
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