Would anybody mind telling me a little about Eastern Europe?

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Fex

Correction. Romania IS part of the European Union. Why do people talk sh*t... ? I'll never understand it....

Anyway - Romania is the only Latin based language in Eastern Europe. We were conquered by the Romans and our language is a lot like Italian. Romanian is a romance language along with Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese.

Bulgaria uses a different alphabet - Cyrillic, like the Russians. Former Yugoslavian countries use the same alphabet as English, but they are all Slavic languages.

I doubt you'll see much violence in Yugoslavia today. In fact, I will star this in the hope that some of my contacts like Goxy and her friends will see it and answer for their part.

Now, we don't eat a lot of yogurt. You are confusing us with the Turks - bad idea, lol, given our history. We still have a saying to this day, like if your room is a mess, your mom will say: "What happened? Did the Turks pass through here?" They were known to leave only disaster behind. While Romanians today have no issue with the Turks and they go on vacation in Turkey, we still have some pride in history and knowing the difference between one nation and another. Just a heads up and no offense. In fact all the "Balkan" countries have that issue since all were occupied by the Ottoman Empire at some point.

Yes, we have Gypsies or Roma. Who - in Eastern Europe doesn't? They originated in India, and their skin will be a little darker, but many have married Romanian people and sometimes it's hard to say whether one is a Gypsy or not. Either way - some are nice and some are not - just like any other race. Some have integrated into society and some still live like Borat - see movie, it was filmed in a Gypsy Romanian village, not in Kazakhstan.

Romania is not poor, not third world or anything like that. After a quarter century of communism things are slowly changing. Bucharest is over crowded, like any big city. There are some areas you absolutely need to avoid - see e-mail I sent you and check links. But, at night, Bucharest is alive. The best place for a guy like you is probably Cluj - university city, lots of foreigners and open minded Romanians. Timishoara, Sighisoara - also westernized more so than other places in our country. Moldavia (Moldova) has always been poor, more so than the rest of the country, but no less beautiful. Since you like Dracula so much, I recommend Transylvania - the places I mentioned above are in that region. Sighisoara was Vlad's birthplace but his castle is in Targovishte. Bran Castle is NOT his castle. It's crap for tourists. Either way, it is beautiful. Brashov is breathtaking, also lots of tourists and very westernized.

Check youtube for No Reservations Romania, but remember the Romanians were insulted by this. To see their reaction, see Anthony Bourdain's blog on Romania. HUGE reaction from out people. His worst show ever, and I like Tony. Also see www.eslcafe.com, look up international forums and see Romania. You will be able to see posts from English speaking people who live in Romania now. "Bebsi", in particular, is very smart. Do a search for his posts in Romania. He lives there and is Irish of origin, married to a Romanian woman.

Hot chicks galore in my country. It puts American women (me included) to shame. They take care of themselves and look f-ing great. Be careful also of venereal diseases. ALWAYS wear a condom if... you know. Romania was #1 in VDs a few years ago, but I hear Britain took that title now. Don't quote me on Britain though.

Thermal springs, yes, we have them - Herculane is the most popular, but we have a lot more. Also, if you don't mind watching war movies, see Cold Mountain; it was filmed in Transylvania. According to the director that's where he found the most pristine mountains in the world... His words, not mine. I know Coppola bought a village/town called Buftea for filming too. Romania is up and coming that way. Last but not least, please watch Transylvania 6500. A funny movie with Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) to see how we all feel about foreigners who think Dracula was a vampire. Just a reality check for you so people don't laugh too hard when you ask about Dracula. ;-)

If you got more questions, e-mail me your phone number. I have no problem talking to you. I already talk to half of GWS....

(I didn't mean you... I was talking about the blonde troll)

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-XHkod7gifr7UWW026zFGlXUA?l=66&u=70&mx=123&lmt=5

Scroll down to Romanian Women.

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Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia; Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia....

Rico

yogurt??!?
Anyway...
As far as I know, you should have no problem adapting in any of these countries. If you are willing to respect the people and their culture, of course...
You are going to be asked a lot of questions about your home country. And you are probably going to find enough people willing to show you their own.
Gymnastics are big indeed. So it's football (European football; what you call soccer in the US).
Caves...at least in Romania, there are quite a few in the mountains( bears' cave, the woman's cave, scarisoara etc- google if you are interested... they're worth a visit).
About the gypsies...there are quite a few; some are dangerous, but some are great people. You should of course be careful, but don't refuse any interaction with them based on the fact that they're gypsies...
Actually, you should be careful everywhere, but not any more careful than you'd be in the US.
About the "hot chicks"...I can't judge, but if you like the way Russians and Ukrainians look, people from Moldova (north-eastern Romania) look very similar.
Thermal springs....not in Romania...we have hot springs tough...Baile Felix or Baile Herculane, for example. I don't know about the other two countries.
Some links where you might find information on these countries (Wikipedia is a good start most of the time):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria
Also, you could try some travel sites (again, google).
Some things you might not find there (these apply mostly to Bulgaria and Romania, i'm not familiar enough with Slovenia):
-politics are bad
-infrastructure is bad (very bad)
-police is not always helpful (many ask for bribes...refuse; if you've done nothing wrong, they'll let you go)
-in Romania, try to avoid Bucharest:polluted, dirty, crowded...
-food might be different from what you're used to...
-stray dogs...they're everywhere; and they're dangerous. If you see more than 2 at one place, try to avoid them...actually, try to avoid them anyway, they carry all sorts of diseases.

Luli

No Peter, we are not very poor, actually we're starting to do better than western countries which were hit by the recession.

Bojan Jankovic

The effects of war in the Balkans can not really be seen anymore anywhere but maybe in Bosnia and some rural parts of Croatia. Serbia has numerous thermal springs (Sokobanja, Vrnjacka Banja, Niska Banja, etc.) and mountain resorts (Kopaonik, Zlatibor, Tara, etc.). Also in Serbia you have the party capital of Europe in Belgrade. Bulgaria is in bad shape (at least the capital Sofia is). Romania is doing better than Bulgaria, but Vlad was not a real Dracula so you might want to skip on that tour. Slovenia is also doing pretty good, and it has the famous Postojna Cave. A lot of Slovenian people go to Belgrade to party as often as they can. Croatia has the nicest sea coast in Europe, no doubt about it. I suggest visiting Plitvicka Jezera in Croatia as well. If you expect a boring time in a communist like setting, you are in for a surprise.

If you have to pick between the three go with Slovenia, and make regular trips to the Croatian sea and Belgrade in Serbia.

Mecavnik, Serbia
http://www.kustendorf.com/wsw/index_sr.html

Plitvicka Jezera, Croatia
http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/

Laughing Annabella

Part of my family is from Slovenia. These countries are now in the European Union and are very dynamic. They have a long and rich cultural history, and I think that there are many beautiful things to see there. People are usually very hospitable. They were closed to the world for so many years that now they just want to take advantage of their new freedom and openness. The food is great but....I hope you have a good appetite. People will love you if you love eating.

Fr. Al

The part of the Balkans you are talking about have a wide reputation as a resort area, not torn between different Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Uniates, and Muslim sectarians with ancient feuds like other areas in the region. Soviet domination is dead, although there are still Communists. There are rich archaeological sites and wonderful cultures to encounter. The foods show the effects of numerous interactions, as well as great agriculture. Go for it!, But watch your step.

Vlad Tepes stopped the Turks, and is revered as a hero of his people. Those were hard times, and his history is very bloody, but not vampiric.

eine kleine nukedmusik

Awesome area of the world. Avoid Croatia and Serbia (war). Lots of movies are filmed in Bulgaria. Beautiful country, and the women are second only to the Baltic states (not to be confuse with the Balkan states) for number of gorgeous women.

Manners are hugely important, depending on who you want to associate with.

Like mountains and caves? I think Bulgaria (I may be wrong, it may be Romania) has the largest underground salt caves in the world, still operating.

Initially, you may think everything is pretty provincial. Look a bit deeper, and you'll find people with a great deal of sophistication, education, and practicality.

Listen to Fex. She isn't talking out her butt.

I'm Court Jester Greci!

In very brief detail, and to a certain point, I particularly enjoyed: The absinthe was fantastic! That was in Budapest..at a cafe which honoured the political history of El Che! (Ernesto Guevara) One of the best looking men I've ever admired and perhaps..had I been older, would have lusted over!

ms.sophisticate

LOL. You are a bit confused about Eastern Europe. None of these countries had a misfortune to be a part of USSR ( Soviet Union ) at any time. Slovenia used to be a part of Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately for Slovenians it is no longer the case, and they are not doing very well on their own. It is basically farmer's land with a boring Bratislava as their capitol. Romania has suffered the most under the communist regime in Eastern European block. And it left its ugly mark on its survivors. It continues to be one of the darkest and saddest places I've ever had a misfortune to visit. Sorry to say. Now, Bulgaria is a sunny and happy place. Bulgarians remind me in many ways of Italians with their love of a great meal, wine and family. You will find wonderful food and wine in Bulgaria, but people of that great country will leave the greatest impression, I am sure of that. Now, it is impossible for anyone to say, where the most beautiful women of the world reside. In my humble opinion, there are many of beautiful, cute and average girls in every one of these countries. You would have the chance to make up your mind. BTW, traveling is so much fun in Europe: countries are not that large and transport is pretty cheap. Have fun!

13 months ttc

those are balkan states. i once really considered living there.. like at bulgaria or around there. they have their own government systems. they are not part of the european union like western european states are. they may... i don't know about their hot themal springs... lol...Czech Republic is part of eastern i believe.. and i'm part czechoslavac. they got polka dances.. also i'm part polish which they got that dance too. they are very simular. all nations are basically slovak. but romania is romantic language and greece=greek, lol of course. Varna, Bulgaria i thought would be a great place to visit/live in. they are around the inland seas... like the red sea, black sea, etc. they got major rivers like the one that flows through Budapest, Hungary. Polish have their own crusine. http://www.staypoland.com/poland-food.htm
and Czech food: http://www.livingprague.com/food.htm
hey, i'm hot... i give u email and send pics... rashada_alia@yahoo.com and yours? and yes, they got good soccer girls... like not girls who play soccer but girls who show as models for the sport... http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=czech%20girls&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=polish+girls
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=eastern+european+girlshttp://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=greek+girls
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=bulgarian+girlshttp://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=romanian+girls
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=slovenian+girls
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS303US303&q=hungarian+girls

benetton_ton_ton

my boi is from Slovakia and the Check Republik and he says is to heathen overthere. He now lives in NYC to avoid the drug and alcohol problems in his homeland.

oyston out!

They were part of the USSR and have being war ravaged. most are immigrating to the UK as it's very poor over in their homeland.

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