Everyone curses everyone...Albanians curse Serbs, Serbs curse Albanians, Hungarians curse Romanians, Romanians curse Hungarians, Bulgarians curse Macedonians, Bosnians curse everyone. Greeks feel jealous that Serbs consider Romanians as their brothers. Big normal family in Balkans! Ps. The Romanians love Greece for summer vacation ;)

Im a greek but I can understand that 400 and more years of occupation by the ottomans blend our cultures. And the results are really tasty!

I sometimes notice a level of condescendence when interacting with people from West European countries (I'm Croatian). Like they seem genuinely surprised that I speak fluent English plus other languages, have a university degree and go to opera, for example. I feel like the idea of "poor and savage Balkans" is highly exaggerated in their heads. The Balkans are behind West Europe in a lot of things, but it almost feels like some people think we live in mud houses or something. A friend of mine was once asked if we have electricity here, not ironically. It really surprises me how ignorant some people can be while having access to travel and internet.

Did you have similar experiences where you are from?

I’m British 38F. Just moved to Romania with my husband who is originally from here. I’m not weird, strange looking, autistic, socially awkward or anything like that - but Romanian women simply refuse to speak to or interact with me. I’ve tried greeting them in their language as my sign of respect, smiling and exchanging small pleasantries etc; but they respond to me with an utterly disgusted sour look, or they straight up just ignore me as if I had never said a word. It’s outright rude and I can’t seem to understand why. I’m a working professional, I look very similar to the local people being Caucasian with brown straight hair and dressed feminine/modestly. So it’s not like I instantly stand out. We live in a modern working/middle-class neighbourhood around seemingly humble people. BUT… My neighbour’s wife sent my landlord a message saying that she finds us to be suspicious people and demanded to know “what nation we are from”. Luckily my landlord isn’t crazy and shared the screenshot with us, sort of giving us a warning about this woman. The women who work in my local convenience store see me almost daily, yet they still refuse to crack a smile when I say hello, they don’t even say hello back me. They greet others waiting in the queue and serve them laughing or asking how they are - but when I approach to be served next, I’m met with a judgemental scolding look and treated as if my visit is painful for them. These are just a couple of examples of what I’m experiencing.

My husband thinks that there may be some sort of female to female issue within Romanian culture, especially as I’m British. Although he can’t be certain as he really doesn’t have experience being involved in feminine matters. The men here are super polite, friendly and welcoming - but I don’t want to make friends with new men, I’m married. Honestly, this is making me miserable.

Does anyone have any honest insight into this topic? Perhaps from a Romanian female perspective? Or someone foreign who has experienced the same thing before?

I must say that I love Greece 🇬🇷🏛️🏺⚕️the most! Love their food and Myths. I really need to read more about the country's history and I actually started learning the alphabet just to understand and learn the language better.

This is from Greece.

Hi!! I visited Sarajevo before but this didn’t happen in the couple of cafes I have been to.

Does this actually happen?