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I've been abroad and compared to it Bulgaria does feel like a frontier, like a good place for a certain type of nonconformist, especially in terms of career and

I've been abroad and compared to it Bulgaria does feel like a frontier, like a good place for a certain type of nonconformist, especially in terms of career and business. There is no playbook and beaten road for a lot of things. If you try to have your career go the same way as you would expect in Western Europe/USA - go to the best school, get the best internship in the best company and be rewarded for following the rules you'll be infinitely disappointed in this country. There is no shortage of people who feel unrewarded and unappreciated for their qualifications and credentials. But if you try to make your own way - getting a skill by practicing yourself and searching out people who need that skill it might work surprisingly well and take you far. Btw if you enjoy the linked writing you should check out Time Shelter, it won the Booker prize recently.

svilen_dobrev 3y ago
as someone who has done similar thing (~10y older than OP) - go to oz to see how it is, then one day, return back, to see how it is .. and stay since .. yeah, Time Shelter is quite a thing. Although at the end it went rather close-to-real and too dark. Which after all, might as well be. And while i'm not that pessimistic.. the Hydra heads can be seen+felt all around.. covered in various puff.. just watch carefully..
AtlasBarfed 3y ago
It's not hard to find the frontier. Just go to the cold areas, but that's not what this really is about, it's just finding cheap cool hipster enclaves. I assure the readers that there is ample frontiers in northern canada
- thriftwy 3y ago
  Frontier is not just a place which is cold and desperate. Frontier is an opposite of that - a place which is undeveloped yet it is at the beginning of strong growth curve. A place where it is dangerous and you will have to break your back, but the payout is nice and allows you to climb societal ladder fast. Vorkuta is an opposite of frontier despite being the reference cold area.
  - int_19h 3y ago
    That sounds like a no true Scotsman's frontier to me. There's nothing about "beginning of a strong growth curve" in historical or colloquial definition of frontier, nor did most people coming there settle there for that reason. Most frontiers do not guarantee a nice payout even if you break your back. It's just that the ones that do are the ones we write books and make movies about.
mrtksn 3y ago
I think I wrote about it here before, Bulgaria feels like the freest place I've ever been. Having left the country at age of 14, lived in Turkey, Germany, Belgium and UK I still feel the best when in Bulgaria. This is because, when I step on the motherland soil I don't feel like I have mission or that I'm part of a large community. Instead, it feels like it just exists on its own and its up to me to figure out what what I want to do. I can see that things are happening, people are up to something but I don't feel the flow - if you know what I mean. Especially in Turkey, being a collectivist society, is very limiting because it makes me feel like I must have an explanation for everything I do. It's like everyone has a well defined persona and everything is done in certain informal way and you don't have even the slightest wiggle room. Things change for you only as much as you can change your persona. For example, if you manage to get into a good school you suddenly enter in a new space with a different wiggle room. You don't feel the world much, all you can operate in is the society and you can't get out of it. Germany, I find it interesting. It made feel like entering a well oiled machine and there's a strong flow but also opportunities. You are still free, it's not like Turkey but unlike Bulgaria you need to pay close attention on how stuff works and do it that way. UK, feels closer to Turkey in many ways - it feels like you have a mission and place in the society. The wiggle room is much better than Turkey though, and unlike Germany you are allowed to mess with how stuff works and propose changes. It's more goal oriented than process oriented in that regard but you definitely feel boundaries of your place in the society. Also, in UK I felt like at the edge of the civilisation and I was allowed to reason why things are done the way they are done(in contrast with Turkey, where it's extremely energy consuming to question anything). Belgium was a bit like Bulgaria: You don't feel like you have a mission but unlike Bulgaria it felt like a lot is going on but the flows are rigid and hard to get into the stream.

svilen_dobrev 3y ago

as someone who has done similar thing (~10y older than OP) - go to oz to see how it is, then one day, return back, to see how it is .. and stay since .. yeah, Time Shelter is quite a thing. Although at the end it went rather close-to-real and too dark. Which after all, might as well be. And while i'm not that pessimistic.. the Hydra heads can be seen+felt all around.. covered in various puff.. just watch carefully..

AtlasBarfed 3y ago

It's not hard to find the frontier. Just go to the cold areas, but that's not what this really is about, it's just finding cheap cool hipster enclaves. I assure the readers that there is ample frontiers in northern canada

thriftwy 3y ago
Frontier is not just a place which is cold and desperate. Frontier is an opposite of that - a place which is undeveloped yet it is at the beginning of strong growth curve. A place where it is dangerous and you will have to break your back, but the payout is nice and allows you to climb societal ladder fast. Vorkuta is an opposite of frontier despite being the reference cold area.
- int_19h 3y ago
  That sounds like a no true Scotsman's frontier to me. There's nothing about "beginning of a strong growth curve" in historical or colloquial definition of frontier, nor did most people coming there settle there for that reason. Most frontiers do not guarantee a nice payout even if you break your back. It's just that the ones that do are the ones we write books and make movies about.

mrtksn 3y ago

I think I wrote about it here before, Bulgaria feels like the freest place I've ever been. Having left the country at age of 14, lived in Turkey, Germany, Belgium and UK I still feel the best when in Bulgaria. This is because, when I step on the motherland soil I don't feel like I have mission or that I'm part of a large community. Instead, it feels like it just exists on its own and its up to me to figure out what what I want to do. I can see that things are happening, people are up to something but I don't feel the flow - if you know what I mean. Especially in Turkey, being a collectivist society, is very limiting because it makes me feel like I must have an explanation for everything I do. It's like everyone has a well defined persona and everything is done in certain informal way and you don't have even the slightest wiggle room. Things change for you only as much as you can change your persona. For example, if you manage to get into a good school you suddenly enter in a new space with a different wiggle room. You don't feel the world much, all you can operate in is the society and you can't get out of it. Germany, I find it interesting. It made feel like entering a well oiled machine and there's a strong flow but also opportunities. You are still free, it's not like Turkey but unlike Bulgaria you need to pay close attention on how stuff works and do it that way. UK, feels closer to Turkey in many ways - it feels like you have a mission and place in the society. The wiggle room is much better than Turkey though, and unlike Germany you are allowed to mess with how stuff works and propose changes. It's more goal oriented than process oriented in that regard but you definitely feel boundaries of your place in the society. Also, in UK I felt like at the edge of the civilisation and I was allowed to reason why things are done the way they are done(in contrast with Turkey, where it's extremely energy consuming to question anything). Belgium was a bit like Bulgaria: You don't feel like you have a mission but unlike Bulgaria it felt like a lot is going on but the flows are rigid and hard to get into the stream.