I spent over 4 months living in Serbia, with a short vacation spent in FYROM. Serbia was everything I dreamed it would be, and so I'm thankful I saw the place before it joined the EU and everything goes to shit for a westerner, speaking relatively. Girls were slightly cold, but mysterious, food was delicious, quality of women was amazing, everyone was perplexed as to why an american had selected their country for living, and then were even more confused when I started chatting about Serbian history. I digress, I have seen Eastern Europe, and I love it, and I will be back, with future trips to be taken throughout the Balkans and even further east, russia ukraine, etc. The beauty of being young, is that you can travel anywhere and have a relatively good time without caring about creature comforts, etc, as long as there's beer and women, right? I'm not getting any younger, so one place that has always beckoned to me has been the Scandinavian countries (and I don't know if I'm using the proper definitions here), but the countries that appeal to me are in this order: Sweden, Norway, and Finland. I had some close friends that spent their summers there as Germans because they loved all the sun they got in Sweden, the berry foraging, the beaches, and the open nature of the people. (Also, maybe they were into the nudism, I don't know because they never mentioned it). They had a little cottage that they stayed in, which is like apparently pretty common.
I've always wanted to observe the Scandinavian welfare system up close, and see the so-called jante law in effect. But more important reasons for me to visit would be the blonde women, and all that feminism stuff, which apparently makes the women super approachable, and also allows them to approach you! My feeling is that Scandinavia is on the opposite end of what eastern europe is, but maybe in a good way: high levels of trust, numerous blonde women, openness to hooking up, etc. I'm really into metal, so I've heard it's big up there, and I've also heard they all have really good aesthetic sensibilities, so I'd love to see some of their designs in action. I had a past encounter with a swedish girl when travelling--so i don't know if this experience is an aberration so to speak, but-- i was impressed by how open, friendly and worldly the girl was. Are Scandinavian girls like that, or maybe only when travelling? I also read a few books by karl ove knausgaard, and having read them, I have to tell you that the whole region now fascinates me for some reason... Maybe because they're all basically monoethnic states, with weird behavior....? Don't know how to say it, but from my readings appear that people in the region repress a lot of their feelings for some reason... And then go on big drinking benders, and never act like it happened...
Immediate downsides I can see on visiting will be cost (heard norway is a rip-off), restricted access to alcohol, and maybe a wariness to foreigners (no novelty value?). I've also heard that a lot of clubs have rather high age limits for some reason. Would somewhere like Stockholm or Gothenburg be a good place to visit? I do have an interest in Norway because they're non-EU, which is bit interesting. Finland sounds interesting but I heard they're really shy/quiet... I'm assuming summer is the time to visit. If I brought a bunch of duty free alcohol in, cooked my own food at an airbnb, and lined up some intresting cultural, leisure activity (like sitting at the beach or park) I think it could be quite a nice trip...
I've always wanted to observe the Scandinavian welfare system up close, and see the so-called jante law in effect. But more important reasons for me to visit would be the blonde women, and all that feminism stuff, which apparently makes the women super approachable, and also allows them to approach you! My feeling is that Scandinavia is on the opposite end of what eastern europe is, but maybe in a good way: high levels of trust, numerous blonde women, openness to hooking up, etc. I'm really into metal, so I've heard it's big up there, and I've also heard they all have really good aesthetic sensibilities, so I'd love to see some of their designs in action. I had a past encounter with a swedish girl when travelling--so i don't know if this experience is an aberration so to speak, but-- i was impressed by how open, friendly and worldly the girl was. Are Scandinavian girls like that, or maybe only when travelling? I also read a few books by karl ove knausgaard, and having read them, I have to tell you that the whole region now fascinates me for some reason... Maybe because they're all basically monoethnic states, with weird behavior....? Don't know how to say it, but from my readings appear that people in the region repress a lot of their feelings for some reason... And then go on big drinking benders, and never act like it happened...
Immediate downsides I can see on visiting will be cost (heard norway is a rip-off), restricted access to alcohol, and maybe a wariness to foreigners (no novelty value?). I've also heard that a lot of clubs have rather high age limits for some reason. Would somewhere like Stockholm or Gothenburg be a good place to visit? I do have an interest in Norway because they're non-EU, which is bit interesting. Finland sounds interesting but I heard they're really shy/quiet... I'm assuming summer is the time to visit. If I brought a bunch of duty free alcohol in, cooked my own food at an airbnb, and lined up some intresting cultural, leisure activity (like sitting at the beach or park) I think it could be quite a nice trip...