EN
The main aim of the article is to present how many “Erasmus” students and from which countries were learning Polish as a foreign language at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (UWM) in years 2005–2012. The reason for analysing this subject are the two anniversaries of Erasmus programme: 25th anniversary in Europe (in 2012) and the 15th anniversary in Poland (in 2013). The archival materials of the Centre of Polish Culture and Language for Foreigners UWM in Olsztyn show how many foreign students, from which countries and at which level learned Polish and what their opinions about the Polish courses and Polish language were. The article also presents the symbols, heroes, habits and traditions of Polish culture experienced by Erasmus students. For these young foreigners, Poland is not the country which started the process of change in modern Europe with the defeat of communism, it is just a country which is one of the new members of the European Union – without the religious and historical contexts and connotations which were very obvious at the turn of the 21st century.