asmith474, these 5.5 months should start at the moment you are enrolled into the course, I mean registered by the school as a student. It is definetely not related to the session in Lodz. Check it with Bartholini
Why it is 5.5 months? Because the course contains, if I remember well, 650 hours of self-study that takes about 5.5 months of normal studies.
And these 650 hours are an EASA requirement, so, normally, it shouldn't be shorter in another EASA country