<p>like in title , im just curious</p>
<p>cold 10chars</p>
<p>I actually just got back from Poland. I was in Poland and Israel for the March of the Living. We were in Warsaw, Krakow and a couple other places. We went to most of the major concentration camps.</p>
<p>I met a ton of Polish kids. Def. kool people. I enjoyed my time, but for the most part, Poland is a dump.</p>
<p>I tried Polish food today at a cultural event at school.
The potato cake was really good.</p>
<p>A family member (and all of my great grandparents, excluding one), is from Poland. (I live in a very Polish American town… VERY). I’ve personally never been to Poland, but, from family members who have, it has been repeatedly said that, well, Poland is a dump. Warsaw was described as “blocky,” still dominated by Soviet era, state-owned, dumpy skyscrapers.</p>
<p>Krakow, however, seemed nicer. It seemed to retain more of Poland from its better times. In fact, aren’t the hearts of Copernicus and Chopin located somewhere there?</p>
<p>Polish food is, in my opinion, delicious. Non-Eastern European people, however, never seem to be particularly fond of things like kapusta, bigos, pierogis, and kielbasa.</p>
<p>This is indeed a very random thread.</p>
<p>Krakow was much nicer than Warsaw. Still though, Poland was a dump.</p>
<p>I have never been to Poland myself, but my dad did, and he told me that while the Poles themselves were friendly and very gracious, that their society was still struggling to throw off remnants of Soviet influence, and that the place had a bit of a “dull” feel to it.</p>
<p>I like the Polish for their solidarity movement and breaking away from a system that didn’t work for them!</p>
<p>More importantly, Polish is similar to the word polish (as in, nail polish) and Polish people are called Poles (like, flag pole). Also, it’s awesome because there’s an element called Polonium (Po).</p>
<p>“Using some rope and polish, the Polish Poles raised a pole made of Polonium-208, cleaned it and hung the flag of Poland on it.”</p>
<p>Poland is an okay country, but certainly a great visit though I’ve never been. It’s starting to come around economically, but it needs some good leadership to let it bop with the big boys. Also, the fact that many Poles are leaving for greener pastures in Germany, France and the UK is a bit disconcerning.</p>
<p>i actually was there two summers ago. poland is a great country with a great history. i loved the houses which were narrow, several stories tall and painted in very interesting combinations of colors. then there were beautiful cities, beautiful farmland and a lot of other things to appreciate</p>
<p>Beautiful? Great? Are you sure this is the same Poland we’re talking about? Far from it for both of those…</p>
<p>I’m sure it is alright. I have no bad or good opinion about it.</p>
<p>lol wow guys. Poland’s the most culturally, financial, and beautiful country ever since to rise back to it toes after the fall of communism in europe… now i doubt you ever been there. No ****, some places are dump, half of the U.s, hell, even every country are too. You obviously don’t know how to travel and use common sense if you think Poland’s a dump…seriously.</p>
<p>3 rebuttals to the above claim about post-Soviet states:</p>
<p>Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.</p>
<p>heve you ever been in Poland ?!? i think that the answer is obvious…peace</p>
<p>i lived in poland… and @ chocoman where did you find that lituania is more advanced then poland? back it up please.</p>
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<p>Ummmm yes…I have been there and just got back on the 26th…As for ‘not knowing how to travel’, travel is my life. My dad basically travels for a living. I think I have a pretty good idea thank you very much.</p>
<p>STORY TIME!</p>
<p>I was out with my buddy drinking a few weeks ago and we came across a woman in the bar. She had a cool accent, so my friend, drunk beyond all *****, says to her: “Hey, that’s a cool accent, where are you from?”</p>
<p>She says, “I’m from Poland”
He says, “Wanna hear a Polish joke?”
She says, “Okay.”</p>
<p>He says, “Why couldn’t the Polack tie his shoes?”
She says, “I dunno, why?”
He says, “Because he’s *****in’ dumb because he’s Polish HAR HAR HAR!!!”</p>
<p>I nearly ****ed myself laughing.</p>
<p>I was addressing the fact that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have come further since Communism than Poland. </p>
<p>Here’s their ranks on a list of GDP per Capita: Estonia is 42, Lithuania is 50, Lativa is 51, and Poland is 52. Pretty close.</p>
<p>On the Human Development Index they all fall similarly: Poland is 37, Estonia is 40, Lithuania is 41 and Latvia is 45. </p>
<p>But here’s GDP growth RATE which is the real question being addressed in asking which has come furthest:</p>
<p>Estonia grew 11% in 2006
Latvia grew 12%
Lithuania grew 7.2%
Poland grew a respectable 5.3%
for comparison the US grew 3.3% and the European Union 2.9%</p>
<p>For the most part numbers come from wikipedia.</p>
<p>While Development and Income are equal, growth pushes the others ahead.</p>
<p>Where did you go?</p>