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Serbia offers a 180 degrees different culture than most of what you experienced in US plus is very dynamic, cheap and great for young people. Couple of a links

Serbia offers a 180 degrees different culture than most of what you experienced in US plus is very dynamic, cheap and great for young people. Couple of a links to get you started: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/serbia-best-places-to-visit/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/serbia-best-places-to... https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170822-belgrades-floating-river-clubs https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170822-belgrades-floati... https://theculturetrip.com/europe/serbia/articles/an-expats-guide-to-living-in-serbia/ https://theculturetrip.com/europe/serbia/articles/an-expats-... https://www.quora.com/What-is-life-like-for-American-expats-in-Belgrade-Serbia https://www.quora.com/What-is-life-like-for-American-expats-... https://www.quora.com/Why-are-so-many-foreigners-moving-to-Belgrade-Serbia https://www.quora.com/Why-are-so-many-foreigners-moving-to-B... https://yankee-in-belgrade.blogspot.com https://yankee-in-belgrade.blogspot.com

wil421 5y ago
180 degrees from what culture? I’ve been to Belgrade a few times for work and worked with lots of Serbians for a number of years. They are more like the conservatives in the US. People move to Belgrade because it’s cheap and the food is awesome. I’ve partied at the Splavs and had a great time. Random people were much more friendlier than Germans (the Serbs told me they were robots). There are some resentments by the Serbs against Americans and NATO bombings. It did come up while I was there.
- dbancajas 5y ago
  So if you're non caucasian it's a big NO?
  - wil421 5y ago
    Lol. All I can say is that if you’re Muslim or of African decent it’s not gonna be the same as a Caucasian. Many do not believe in political correctness. Not that Europe abides by that like the US does but also not something you’d see in the UK, France, or Germany. Even Indian coworkers had "issues" there. I have childhood friends who came to the US during the Yugoslav wars in the 90s. When I mentioned them my coworkers they would quickly point out the last name was Muslim and not Serbian. Also they would point out the one or two Albanians that worked with us.
    - freediver 5y ago
      I would disagree. What is important to know is that in this region of the world discrimination (if at all present) is in general not based on the race/color of the skin - and this is in general true for the rest of Europe too. In Europe, discrimination, when it happens, is usually based on national or religious differences. All wars Europeans ever fought were over national or religious reasons. In Serbia generally racial discrimination is not present, nor is a topic of any conversation in media or society (certainly not to any extent like in US). There was a war between serbs and bosnian muslims and serbs and kosovo muslims (note national/religious connotation) some 20 years ago, and some people may have 'hard feelings' about it, but in general that's the end of it. Still, being a Muslim in Serbia is IMO a 'better' experience than being one in USA (maybe also because 5% of population of Serbia is Muslim vs ~1% in USA).
      - 7steps2much 5y ago
        Fellow European here, I have to somewhat disagree. While it is true that discrimination is not as heavily based on skin colour as it is in places like the US I believe it plays a bigger role than you make it out to be. Discrimination based on nationality is a thing, but it is very much something that varies a lot in Europe. To generalise it as one of the top reasons for discrimination isn't quite right in my opinion. That said, it's the type of discrimination that is the most prevalent, simply because that's what most people deal with. However, I think that in day to day life skin colour may be more noticeable than other types of discrimination, simply because it is easier to make out. While in some places discrimination of certain nationalities or religions is certainly common place and as such might seem like it is the predominant form of discrimination, discrimination based on skin colour is also present. Maybe to a lesser degree, but it is present everywhere. The simple truth is that the "better" experience will be the one Caucasians get.
        freediver 5y ago
        This is why I used 'in general' so many times in my comment :) Perhaps we can agree that in Europe, national/religious discrimination is probably an order of magnitude more prevalent than any other form of discrimination. From my experience and in practical terms, I would even put social/economic/education based discrimination before skin color based one.
- freediver 5y ago
  I meant culture of living. Things like cities with lots of parks and pedestrian zones, more walking/less dependency on cars, hidden coffee shops between old buildings, ability to live decently on a very small budget, free education and healthcare, generally easier to make friends, specially if you are a foreigner - things like that. I would not necessarily compare Serbians to conservatives in US (we are both generalizing now). What you may have experienced in general is 'caution' because that region of the world experienced wars every 30 years on average for the last 1000 years (unlike US). So it's not like its resisting change, but the progress was hindered so many times, having to rebuild everything from scratch. And it is hard to be 'liberal' in an environment where in some places you do not have basic infrastructure. Political 'progressive' thinking usually comes after you solved basic needs. That's just my assessment.
  - wil421 5y ago
    The reason I made the comparison to conservatives is because my coworker over there did an exchange program in High School and he thought the South had similar viewpoints to Serbians. I do agree with him about both being conservatives.
    - freediver 5y ago
      Yes I would agree that political views are in general more conservative but for historical reasons I described, not because it is someone's choice (plus strong influence of church 'helps').
  - salex89 5y ago
    I'm sorry, but as a Serb from Serbia, I cannot agree with the first part of your answer. Belgrade is not a pedestrian friendly city by no means, and you are dependent on cars more then in an average European city. I've spent some time in multiple, smaller and bigger, and those are not features I would associate with Belgrade.
    - freediver 5y ago
      I was comparing it to USA.
gaoshan 5y ago
Have you actually lived in the US so that you personally know of this 180 degrees of difference? If so, which parts of the US? I ask because the differences between New York City, Tallahassee, Chicago, Columbus, Nashville, Kansas City, Austin, Taos, San Francisco, Boise, Hattiesburg, Denver, Portland, Bar Harbor, etc. are so wildly stark as to be like different countries on many levels (and I say this as someone who has lived in a number of countries from the US to Europe to Asia, and in a number of States as well)
- shrimpx 5y ago
  Really? American culture, architecture, and infrastructure is pretty uniform. I've been to all those places except Bar Harbor and I'd agree maybe Taos/Northern NM stands out due to deep and influential indigenous history. But even there you have to kind of seek out those differences because in town it's stores, restaurants, food, music, etc., that you can largely find anywhere else in the US.
  - javajosh 5y ago
    That may be true in suburbia strip-mall hell. But the cities are much older, and more distinct. No-one would ever mistake New Orleans for Los Angeles. (Although you could be forgiven for mistaking Berlin in the summer for LA).
    - Jensson 5y ago
      I can't tell the difference between New Orleans or Los Angeles if you look at the places where people live. Both are typical American with exposed power line poles, big roads everywhere and just single family homes. A few landmarks might be different but if you go a mile from the city centre then it is all the same. Berlin isn't anything like that, you'd never mistake it for an American city.

wil421 5y ago

180 degrees from what culture? I’ve been to Belgrade a few times for work and worked with lots of Serbians for a number of years. They are more like the conservatives in the US. People move to Belgrade because it’s cheap and the food is awesome. I’ve partied at the Splavs and had a great time. Random people were much more friendlier than Germans (the Serbs told me they were robots). There are some resentments by the Serbs against Americans and NATO bombings. It did come up while I was there.

dbancajas 5y ago
So if you're non caucasian it's a big NO?
- wil421 5y ago
  Lol. All I can say is that if you’re Muslim or of African decent it’s not gonna be the same as a Caucasian. Many do not believe in political correctness. Not that Europe abides by that like the US does but also not something you’d see in the UK, France, or Germany. Even Indian coworkers had "issues" there. I have childhood friends who came to the US during the Yugoslav wars in the 90s. When I mentioned them my coworkers they would quickly point out the last name was Muslim and not Serbian. Also they would point out the one or two Albanians that worked with us.
  - freediver 5y ago
    I would disagree. What is important to know is that in this region of the world discrimination (if at all present) is in general not based on the race/color of the skin - and this is in general true for the rest of Europe too. In Europe, discrimination, when it happens, is usually based on national or religious differences. All wars Europeans ever fought were over national or religious reasons. In Serbia generally racial discrimination is not present, nor is a topic of any conversation in media or society (certainly not to any extent like in US). There was a war between serbs and bosnian muslims and serbs and kosovo muslims (note national/religious connotation) some 20 years ago, and some people may have 'hard feelings' about it, but in general that's the end of it. Still, being a Muslim in Serbia is IMO a 'better' experience than being one in USA (maybe also because 5% of population of Serbia is Muslim vs ~1% in USA).
    - 7steps2much 5y ago
      Fellow European here, I have to somewhat disagree. While it is true that discrimination is not as heavily based on skin colour as it is in places like the US I believe it plays a bigger role than you make it out to be. Discrimination based on nationality is a thing, but it is very much something that varies a lot in Europe. To generalise it as one of the top reasons for discrimination isn't quite right in my opinion. That said, it's the type of discrimination that is the most prevalent, simply because that's what most people deal with. However, I think that in day to day life skin colour may be more noticeable than other types of discrimination, simply because it is easier to make out. While in some places discrimination of certain nationalities or religions is certainly common place and as such might seem like it is the predominant form of discrimination, discrimination based on skin colour is also present. Maybe to a lesser degree, but it is present everywhere. The simple truth is that the "better" experience will be the one Caucasians get.
      - freediver 5y ago
        This is why I used 'in general' so many times in my comment :) Perhaps we can agree that in Europe, national/religious discrimination is probably an order of magnitude more prevalent than any other form of discrimination. From my experience and in practical terms, I would even put social/economic/education based discrimination before skin color based one.
freediver 5y ago
I meant culture of living. Things like cities with lots of parks and pedestrian zones, more walking/less dependency on cars, hidden coffee shops between old buildings, ability to live decently on a very small budget, free education and healthcare, generally easier to make friends, specially if you are a foreigner - things like that. I would not necessarily compare Serbians to conservatives in US (we are both generalizing now). What you may have experienced in general is 'caution' because that region of the world experienced wars every 30 years on average for the last 1000 years (unlike US). So it's not like its resisting change, but the progress was hindered so many times, having to rebuild everything from scratch. And it is hard to be 'liberal' in an environment where in some places you do not have basic infrastructure. Political 'progressive' thinking usually comes after you solved basic needs. That's just my assessment.
- wil421 5y ago
  The reason I made the comparison to conservatives is because my coworker over there did an exchange program in High School and he thought the South had similar viewpoints to Serbians. I do agree with him about both being conservatives.
  - freediver 5y ago
    Yes I would agree that political views are in general more conservative but for historical reasons I described, not because it is someone's choice (plus strong influence of church 'helps').
- salex89 5y ago
  I'm sorry, but as a Serb from Serbia, I cannot agree with the first part of your answer. Belgrade is not a pedestrian friendly city by no means, and you are dependent on cars more then in an average European city. I've spent some time in multiple, smaller and bigger, and those are not features I would associate with Belgrade.
  - freediver 5y ago
    I was comparing it to USA.

gaoshan 5y ago

Have you actually lived in the US so that you personally know of this 180 degrees of difference? If so, which parts of the US? I ask because the differences between New York City, Tallahassee, Chicago, Columbus, Nashville, Kansas City, Austin, Taos, San Francisco, Boise, Hattiesburg, Denver, Portland, Bar Harbor, etc. are so wildly stark as to be like different countries on many levels (and I say this as someone who has lived in a number of countries from the US to Europe to Asia, and in a number of States as well)

shrimpx 5y ago
Really? American culture, architecture, and infrastructure is pretty uniform. I've been to all those places except Bar Harbor and I'd agree maybe Taos/Northern NM stands out due to deep and influential indigenous history. But even there you have to kind of seek out those differences because in town it's stores, restaurants, food, music, etc., that you can largely find anywhere else in the US.
- javajosh 5y ago
  That may be true in suburbia strip-mall hell. But the cities are much older, and more distinct. No-one would ever mistake New Orleans for Los Angeles. (Although you could be forgiven for mistaking Berlin in the summer for LA).
  - Jensson 5y ago
    I can't tell the difference between New Orleans or Los Angeles if you look at the places where people live. Both are typical American with exposed power line poles, big roads everywhere and just single family homes. A few landmarks might be different but if you go a mile from the city centre then it is all the same. Berlin isn't anything like that, you'd never mistake it for an American city.