Welcome week

In order to quickly adapt to campus life, get to know your way around the city, and feel at home at Kazimierz Wielki University and among your fellow students, the International Relations Office offers to new Erasmus+ students introduction program called the Welcome Week.

Welcome Week is held twice a year:

  • for students arriving for the winter semester or full year, the Welcome Week takes place on the first week of the semester.
  • for students arriving for the summer semester, the Welcome Week takes place on the first week of the semester.

All incoming students receive detailed information about the schedule for the Welcome Week by email shortly before their arrival.

Buddy programme

Buddy programme is an initiative of the International Relations Office. It is addressed to Erasmus+/international and UKW students offering an opportunity to develop language and interpersonal skills, make new friends, enrich lives through cross-cultural experiences, and discover Bydgoszcz and Poland together. Buddy Programme is the system where new international students (known as “international buddies”) are paired with existing local students (known as “local buddies”) based on field of study, knowledge of foreign languages.

The main aims of the Buddy programme is to improve the integration of the Erasmus and UKW students, to internationalize UKW students by promoting intercultural exchange and open-mindedness and to raise awareness about the mobility opportunities available to students of Kazimierz WIelki University.

Language courses

Polish course is held during the semester. It covers 30 hours and a student receives 4 ECTS. The syllabus of the course includes: elements of Polish culture, pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary and phraseology, developing communication skills, writing and translating texts of everyday use.

The positive side of the Polish language is that it sounds as it appears. This is a great help once you know how to pronounce each letter/ combination of letters. Many letters represent the same sounds as they do in English.

Student stories

My first semester at the UKW as Erasmus+  student has been the happiest time in my life, I know it sounds kind of ‘hahaha you are lying’ but I am not. I want to start by saying that the most important thing to enjoy your Erasmus is not the place, it is not the people you meet there (both things are very important also), but it is your mindset, the ability to enjoy the things you get here, and if you do believe me, it can be one of the greatest times of your life. So, jumping to the UKW, I think the Erasmus program is kind of new here, but that is not bad because they really make an effort so you have good time here, specially Aleksandra Koperska, she really does a lot being the only one in charge of all Erasmus student, many times I have seen her being polite with students when they were not, trying to help everyone no matter she loses a lot of time doing that, and she planned many things for us to have fun all together, all those occasion were really lovely. On the other hand, the dorm, I love it, it has been renovated this year, so it looks very nice, the prices are a joke, and the fact that the kitchen is 1 for each floor is a perfect occasion for the people to meet each other. The laundry room is okay, but only okay if the people are responsible and clean their clothes fast because there are 2 washing machines and one drying machine for 50 people each floor. ‘ Most of the receptionists don´t speak English, this can sound scary but believe me that you learn to communicate with everyone here so don´t be afraid, I have never had any problem, it just that it takes a bit more time to speak with them. And finally Bydgoszcz, honestly, this city has many impressive places if you are willing to discover them, yes, you can see the tourist spots in two hours but that is not the most important thing when we are talking about living in this city. Bydgoszcz has many parks, coffee shops, supermarket, pubs, clubs, sport places. Also the city has very good public transport, and in general is very cheap city compared with other places in Poland. To end, I fully recommend you to come to Bydgoszcz to enjoy yourself.
Mario Martinez Dominguez, Universidad de Cadiz, Spain, 2022/23, Computer Science 

Erasmus is the best way to help you understand different cultures, break your prejudıces, be open-minded, see the world outside, get used to new things, rediscover yourself in every trıp, make beautıful relationships and friendships, see many places and try many things with limited opportunities in a short period of time. Indeed, I am grateful to  UKW Bydgoszcz for granting me this amazıng experience. It was a pleasure. The only bad thing I can say about Erasmus is that it ends.
John Oluwakorede Odekeye, Istanbul Esenyurt University, Turkey, 2022/23, Political Science and International Relations 

My name is Román. I'm from Ribadeo (Spain) and I was an Erasmus student at UKW in the winter semester 2022/2023. Bydgoszcz wasn't my desired destination, I chose it because I searched on the Internet images of the city and I liked it to be honest hahaha. But I don't regret for sure. I feel lucky to have crossed with such amazing people. I had the opportunity to know people from a lot of countries: Turkey, Greece, Nigeria, Portugal and obviously Poland, a very good country to visit and live your Erasmus experience. UKW also organizes groupal activities which help you to know each other with the other students and know more polish culture. The Erasmus+ advisor, Aleksandra, is so helpful and she will try to solve any problem. Only two words to sum up this experience: AWESOME and UNFORGETTABLE.
Roman Lopez Perez, Universidade de Corunã, Spain, 2022/23, Computer Science

 

First of all, I will talk about Poland and Bydgoszcz; I had a lot of prejudices before I came here; because, of course, I knew some cities in Poland, but I had never heard of Bydgoszcz in my life and it didn't look very interesting when I was looking at the map. But I spent the best days of my life here, and this has become my home. There is no place in the city that I have not gone; I did so many walks that I completely learned the whole city in 4 months. With it’s beautiful natural beauties, parks and beautiful architecture in every corner, Bydgoszcz is truly an unique city. Poland is also a very beautiful country, but sometimes it is difficult to understand its people, especially old people… When I first came, I thought the word “Przepraszam” (I’m sorry or Excuse me) was an insult because some Polish people use it so rudely and loudly, it took a while to learn the correct meaning. In addition, there is no need for old people to verbally ask you for the seat on a tram. If you make eye contact with them by chance, you will immediately get up from your seat because of fear. But despite everything, I love Poland very much, it has become a country where I have accumulated very valuable memories for me.

Erasmus+ added a lot to me, in the 4 months I spent here; I made very good friends from all nationalities, we taught each other new words and learned about each other's countries by talking about our cultures and dishes. The trips I took with the people I met here were the best trips of my life. For example, we organized a trip to Oslo with 1 Turkish, 1 Spanish, 2 Portuguese, 1 Italian and 1 Ukrainian friend, and I had excellent memories of time spent with these people. The parties we had, the games, even the conversations we had in a pub were so much fun, I will never forget those times of my life. I hope to see Bydgoszcz and the people I met here again.
Yasin Metehan Aydın, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Turkey, 2022/23, Political science

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.