I loved Warsaw, it’s a really tough call whether I enjoyed living there or in Prague more. A lot of expats and foreigners are rightfully charmed by Krakow but Warsaw is just much more livable and real. I enjoyed living with Poles, I found them generous, funny, big-hearted, and romantic.
I think Polish and Slovak women are the most beautiful in the world. Sort of a cultural anecdote— I knew one of the people from the H&M department store who opened the first branch in Warsaw. They followed the template they had used in Moscow for inventory, etc. Hard to believe but Russia was once seen as at least an equal target for expansion as Poland.
They opened and their numbers weren’t as good as they hoped. They brought in some Polish women and quickly realized they needed to lower hemlines a bit, bring in more earth tones, scale back the glitter makeup. Not to say that Polish women don’t turn heads and dress sexy but it’s just more restrained than the “East Euro” image.
I knew very few single guys who didn’t marry a Polish wife and the relationships usually worked out really well.