Austrian Pole or Polish Austrian?

Hej, I am Oliwia, an Austrian Pole or Polish Austrian.

You may ask yourself what?

Well, both of my parents are Polish. They are from a very tiny village in Malopolska near Krakow. So, by blood, I am fully Polish. However, I was born in Vienna, in Austria and I have spent my whole life there. I would even say my native language is German, even though my parents are not fluent in this language. We speak German most of the time but sometimes we switch to Polish.

Having this little „identity crisis”, I decided I should take a gap year before studying either Linguistics or Fine Arts and go to Poland after my graduation. So, I started working in a factory called „ADAMAH Biohof” near Vienna. After four months of work and a little winter break in Vienna, I packed my things and went abroad, to my hometown.

I remember sitting on the train on the way to my first workaway host which was in Jelenia Gora and feeling a certain sense of security when the conductor asked me in Polish to show him my ticket. I missed it, the Polish language, somehow.

So far, I have been to five places in Poland on this road trip. The first two hosts were in Jelenia Gora, getting to know two families. After that, I went to Wroclaw, the city I fell in love with. I met so many kind and nice people and I am even considering moving there for an Erasmus year or semester. In Krakow, the next city I visited, I met another very sweet French girl with whom I rented an Airbnb for four days. We have become very good friends these days. After Krakow I wanted to spend a week in a permaculture place, expanding my knowledge about agriculture, but I did not like it there. So I wrote to Kasia if I can come earlier to her place near Warszawa and she was so kind and took me in the following day.

Here, in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, I am experiencing how it is to be a teacher, and keeping in mind that I may study Linguistics and become a teacher, it is a good opportunity to see if I like it. And I do! I enjoy it very much here!

I could go on forever, talking about my art and my other interests but for now, that’s it!

Have a good day!