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Maja D themes (22 and only moved for uni) (Identity (expressed that…
Maja D themes (22 and only moved for uni)
Migration transition
future aspirations are affecting decision as to whether she will stay in the UK or not 6:13
'overwhelmed' '- 'the first few months were absolutely overwhelming but I survived (laughs)'
language
living with international students also helped - 'it was a bit helpful that most of my... i was living in an accommodation in Leeds that was half half international students and British students, it wasn't just all British people there. when I wasn't just surrounded by British people I could see that other people had problems with languages and there wasn't just one
proper
accent' 8:05
appreciates multiculturalism - when asked about migration she said she wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet so many different people if it wasn't for migration 2:15
confidence in herself allowed her to explore the English language more easily
integration
being sociable helped her most
'the only thing I truly needed was time to calm down and realised this is just another place and people here are normal like everywhere'
says her experience as a Polish person in the UK might be different because she's at university
'I have no idea what it would be like if I just went to the countryside or like London, one of those working streets if i was like 'Oh I'm Polish' what would they say?' 13:50
'I haven't had any negativity yet so hopefully that won't change' 14:39
Identity
expressed that culture is a very important part of identity
'Even if you're not born in Poland and you are interested in the culture and you learn about the learn and try at least to learn the language and try to go into the culture deeply I guess that's the most important part. I mean if you say 'I feel Polish' who am I to say you're not? It's not for me to judge who is Polish and who isn't' 16:19
she didn't think her Polish status changed the way people saw her as an individual due to the multiculturalism she's surrounded in
'I'm mostly around language students so there's quite a mix from different countries ' 20:40
when talking about travelling 'so many places I left a part of me'
'Poland is nice as an idea but I absolutely hate how right wing it is - racist, homophobic. I like the small things, the culture I guess, music, movies but the big things are horrible and contrasting. I'm trying to find this angle where I actually belong.'
when talking about personal values: 'Learning is important - education I absolutely believe is one of the most important ones.' 25:50
'In Poland there is this push t go to university ... also my family, my parents, aunts they're all doctors, professors so I feel like okay I have to do that as well, go along with it.' 27:05
'I'm very left wing or something like that which comes from my (inaudible) we found out he's very left wing which is a mismatch with Poland I guess so that's why I have a problem with Poland.' 26:35
The West and the Rest
sees British education as superior to Poland's 2:26
she said you get your value of money - they're expensive but 'in the end they're better'
see sees everyone in Poland going to university as a negative thing - rejection of collectivist/communist values 3:10
British education is more supportive 'here, people are actually listened to because they're customers in a way. They're paying for it' (neoliberalism)
sees English as valuable
'people know that Poland exists but I also can't say it's a very important country in the end. I think now lots of people know it's the racist one because lots of things happening there .. it's not the country that people are most interested in' 11:24
'I actually believe that we are really racist. I mean I can't say that there's any country that's properly not racist because it's everywhere but somehow we manage to make this culture where everyone is Polish, absolutely everyone so it's now terrifying for anyone who's never left Poland to meet someone who's not. I guess maybe we just build a lot of our identity on
just
being Polish and our history so now it's all mixing up with globalisation so everyone's like so 'what are we gonna be if we're all mixed up?' so maybe that's what's the problem. I can't say I understand because I absolutely don't agree with that.' 12:16
'It probably comes from history. We had so many years when there was no Poland so we kind of had to nurture this in us 'We're Polish'. Our country doesn't exist but we're here and of course if this kind of thing is nurtured for 100-200 years they're not gonna go away the moment we get our country back for 20 years.' 12:50
Polish community
'Polish culture in the end is not as interesting to people. there's lots of stuff that I've got from 20 years of life that no one knows and no one is interesting in learning which I understand. Poland is not the most interesting country I guess. If you want to do languages - maybe not interesting but more profitable I guess in the end' 10:21 (west and the rest also)
the Polish community tends to stick together and by doing this they hinder their integration process as they don't learn the language etc
'I was staying with a daughter of my mum's friend and I remember basically she lived here for years -3, 4, 5? and she can't speak any English because she was just in the Polish community, Polish shops, she worked at a school as a cleaner and she only knows 'thank you' 'goodbye' 13:10
she expressed she did not agree with the Polish community acting this way - 'You come here, you work here, you should integrate a bit more. I'm not saying don't talk to Polish people but do try and learn English and actually... Don't make it another Poland. I just don't like the that we're coming here and we're not trying to assimilate with people here, especially since this is one of the complaints that Polish people in Poland have about other immigrants.'
states that this may be the reason there is 'negativity' towards the Polish community from the British public 13:50
stereotypes
concerns prior to moving about the stereotypes of the Polish community and was worried she would not integrate well because of this
'when I was in high school Polish people thought that other countries think that we are thieves all the time. there was a big thing. so I was actually worried that when I was trying to make friends it'd be like 'oh she's the Polish girl, don't trust her'
reality was different 'it absolutely never happened' 6:46
'Jokes about Polish people come here just to grab social they do pop up' 14:15
'The stereotypes are not as strong I guess. At this point there's so many Polish people in the UK I think everyone knows at least one Polish person so depending on who they know their ideas are going to be very different I guess.' 17:30
'try and talk to us' when expressing how to tackle Polish stereotypes 18:45
Class
Both parents are in medicine, one is a dentist, the other a doctor
'we're not like poor or anything but I guess the same level of expertise here gives you like a huge house whereas in Poland we have a flat so that difference made me really consider whether I really want to... where I want to be.'
Education
quite independent but parents have been very supportive
'They're absolutely paying for everything, which is a lot, so there's that but in the end I always had a lot of choice. They would never be like 'that's it, you have to go there' or 'that's not going to be good for your future, you shouldn't do that'. So all the steps from middle school were my choices but always it was like 'oh, I'm not sure what to do' so they would sit with me and and helped me figure out what to do.'
'I figure if I want to do languages I should as well go for a hard because I can utilise the help at uni because if I went for German or French I can learn this anywhere in Europe, everyone is able to do this .. I can't learn Chinese that easily myself so I figured that would be useful.'