We’re 4 months away from our time being over in Poland. For now.

We made the move to Poland in April 2025, a year ago almost to the day, for a 5 month stay before Oliver, our then 5 year old son, would be starting grade 1 in Canada. In the end, we extended an extra year because 5 months was too short and we were enjoying Poland too much.

We came because we wanted a true taste of European living and we have not been disappointed. I’m Polish Canadian so Poland was the most obvious fit, especially when the confirmation of my Polish citizenship arrived 2 weeks before we left.

When it came to cities, our list was basically Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk. We wanted to have the infrastructure of the big city life so that we could be car free. I hate cars. English friendly was also important to us because Steph, my wife, only spoke English when we began planning the trip. All 3 cities had these going for them but the deciding factor was being close to family. I have lots of family in the south of Poland, which meant Krakow was the obvious choice (although we still think about Gdansk and being by the sea – a lifelong dream of ours).

Krakow is exactly the type of city we wanted to live in. The easy, gorgeous walking paths. The trams, the trains, the bike paths. The ease of getting around a city that’s built for people, not just cars.

All of it exactly what I’m looking for in a livable city.

We’ve been able to spend time with family that I’ve barely seen in the first 35 years of my life. We’ve gotten to know the country I’m from better than I ever thought would be possible. And it helped us grow as a family, dealing with new surroundings, friends and community while relying mostly only on each other.

Getting acclimated for the kids and Steph was a breeze. They just slipped right in and went to it. They didn’t miss anything about home it seemed (and to this day is what everyone is saying).

I, on the other hand, struggled more so. I tried to ‘fit in’ and ‘feel at home’ and force it when in reality, I just needed more time. Finally now – I’m not sure if, ironically, it’s because I know we’re going back to Edmonton – I’m comfortable with being here and feel at home.

Our time here has flown by and our vision for our future is slowly taking shape. And it just might be in Poland.

Ultimately, raising the kids in Poland makes more sense to us on every level.

It’s safer: we never feel like there’s a reason to be looking over our shoulder like we frequently do in Edmonton.

It’s more fun: we get to walk everywhere, playgrounds at every turn. We have access to trains to the mountains that we visit at least once a month. Cousins the kids get along with every time we visit.

It’s richer: more culture, more opportunities to see other cultures within Europe. Our flight to Budapest last month was 40 minutes…

So why are we going back when it’s so great here? Several reasons.

We want to give Edmonton one more fair shot considering we now have a good idea of what Poland looks like and can evaluate Edmonton with that different perspective.

We want to see how much having family close by will impact our day to day life. Especially if we try and take more advantage of grandparents babysitting while we have the chance. Something we definitely lack in Poland – albeit not really feeling the effects of it much.

But mainly, so that Steph can get another chunk of hours under her belt at work, we can save up that money so that when we come back to Poland, we have that much more runway financially to make it work.

We’ll see where we feel more comfortable. Where there are fewer downsides and more opportunities. Where we truly feel at home.

We’ve come to see that life is more malleable than it first appears. When we came for 5 months, it seemed so definitive and then one day, we decided to stay longer. We signed a lease, negotiated at work so I could continue working abroad and we were on our way.

We don’t have to look at going back to Edmonton as giving up on Poland. Or as a stop over before coming back to Poland. It’s another experiment with a hypothesis. The hypothesis being that we prefer it in Poland and we’re going to be coming back.

If it ends up so, great.

If not, we’ll have a damn good reason based on the results of the experiment and the lived experience in Poland.