Who we are Poland

Who we are
Poland is a country In the central Europe where more than 38 million people live. All of Poles speak Polish language, an official language of Poland. But who we are? What is our national identity?
Generally Polish nation is known of ambitious, educated, polite and friendly people, but our mentality is changing all the time. There were many moments difficult for us which started the changes both in political system, social life and people’s lives. One of them was World War II and the year 1989 (the abolishment of communism). What can we say about a typical Pole? Well, it is not easy to describe him/her because we are not perfect, but no one is. Firstly, Poles are known of their hospitality. All strangers or foreigners are always invited to Polish homes. We are also regarded as good, ambitious and hardworking workers. A typical Polish man works a lot to give his family everything he can. In his free time he loves watching football or volleyball matches. More and more people start doing sports in their free time nowadays, but there are still a lot of coach potatoes.
On the other hand, a typical Polish woman is really beautiful and both takes care of her family and works. She also prepares delicious traditional food like dumplings, different types of soups, for example żurek. Both men and women are very religious and our customs and traditions are important for them.
Poles love travelling, both abroad and around our country. You can find everything in Poland: mountains in the south, wild beaches in the north, clean lakes and deep forests and world-class monuments. You can also visit Polish cities with a rich history like Warsaw, Cracow or Gdańsk, but small villages are nice too. What Poland is most famous for are its wonderful natural landscapes and nature.
All in all, we can say that we are Poles, the citizens of Poland and it doesn’t matter if we are staying in our country or abroad, whether we are tall or short, educated or not. We are proud of our country, traditions and history.

(a group work, one essay made out of all written by our students)



Who we are by Michał Wesołowski

Poland is a country in the central Europe where more than 38 million people live and it is a place where the community is different and its behavior sometimes does not make sense.
“Who we are?” It is a very good question to ask to ourselves. What is our national identity? Polish people are changing after their hard times between World War II and 1989 when the Polish political system changed. Due to that fact, it will be a long time to transform our way of living to reach the level of our western neighbours. What can we say about a typical Pole? Well, it is not easy to describe him/her because we are not perfect, but no one is. In the western Europe people think about Poles that we are good workers and we are very ambitious, but others think about Poles that we are drunkards, impolite and behind the times. It is a typical thing that a person who lives in a hard living conditions wants to do his best to change his level of existence for better. Everybody knows that life in Poland is not like in Africa but I think that people in Poland have in their minds that they have lots of work to do, to make Poland more beautiful and help in the development of their country and not to look back or on others.
To sum up, I will say that everybody wants to be the best and Poles have in their blood to show how great they are.


Who we are by Karolina Leonarcik

Being Polish doesn’t mean that we live in Poland. You can be Polish while living in every part of the world. So what does it mean?
For me, being Polish means that we maintain our traditions and customs. Nowadays, we get many celebrations from other countries, especially from the USA, but it is important not to lose our own.
Most of the Polish people are Catholics. As a result of this, Christmas are the most important holidays for us. Christmas Eve is the day, when we meet with our whole family and have dinner together. We start eating when the first star appears in the sky. Usually there are twelve dishes. We also put an empty plate on the table for the “stray wanderer”. On thre other two days we also meet our family, but we can spend them in the way we want to.
On the 1st November we celebrate All Saints Day. We go to the cementary and light candles on the graces. Only a few people make parties on Halloween which is the day before All Saints Day. It just doesn’t belong to our tradition.
Another reason to meet the whole family is Easter. During this holiday eggs are in almost every dish. We make Easter Eggs. Some people hide them and give prize to a child who finds most of them.
Of course, these are not all of Polish customs and celebrations. We have to remember that if we don’t want to lose our nationality, we have to remember about them.


Who we are by Robert Wolf

Poland is the nation of ambitious, proud, educated, intelligent, kind and friendly people. Also the country with beautiful sights, rich history and wonderful culture. However, we are seen in different ways by the people from abroad.
Poles are winners/ owners of many awards in many domains like movies, music, art, sports, etc. like Oscars, Video Music Awards, Grammy or others. Poland has many prominent artists and scientists. As sports fans we are very loyal and during important events like World Cup or Championship or Olympic Games we go with our teams and try to be with them.
We have also wonderful landscapes from mountains to the seaside. The best place to visit in the mountains is a town near the highest peak called Zakopane. In the seaside you can visit beautiful cities like Gdynia, Sopot or Gdańsk. What is also worth visiting are the lakes in the east of Poland. Don’t forget to see the oldest Polish cities such as Cracow, Warsaw and Gniezno, all of them were our capital cities.
All in all, I think Poland is well worth visiting. Breathtaking sights, kind people, interesting culture makes you spend your time in a very attractive way.

Who we are by Monika Janczak

Many nations and states have their special traditions, we Polish people aren’t worse. We have our traditional food, language, habits and sayings, too.
Poland is a beautiful, small country which is located in central Europe between the Baltic Sea, Germany, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia. Our flag consists of two colours white and red.
In Poland we have our special food like sausages or pierogi (dumplings), but also lots of celebrations, customs and traditions. You can also find here lots of monuments, museums with great exhibitions, castles. The best city in Poland is its capital, Warsaw. It’s a city with an interesting past. It was a seat of queens and kings and now all the politicians live here, together with the President Lech Kaczyński. You can find here everything you need.
I must say something about Polish people. We all are very curious of world, intelligent, hard working and have good manners. When we have holidays, we can have a rest in our mountains with wonderful views and national parks. We can also go to the seaside, which is called The Baltic Sea.
We invite all tourists from all over the world to visit Poland soon.