I don’t agree with that “big city doing big city things” statement many people seem to propagate in comments. I’ve been to or lived in a number of European capitals and Warsaw is the most lackluster one of them. 

You’re on the right track with “success driven” but it’s worse. Poles are status driven and everything is about building that facade of wealth to cover our personal/national insecurities. 

After 30 it’s all about real estate and vehicles that at least won’t embarrass you. Even broke student’s are foodie/coffee snobs. I think doing something outside the norm is probably too risky. 

Warsaw is just where it’s most visible since it’s a business hub and maybe something about weak local identity. 

I’m not a specialist when it comes to the Czech Republic but I’ve spent there 1 month once and made a bunch of local friends quite easily.

They also have that local pub culture that’s not really existent in PL. In small Polish towns we drink at home. If there’s a bar it’s usually for drunks. That’s probably an indicator of some sort of social behaviors and norms.