ok bit of a long shot: I've got my year abroad next yr as part of my course, trying to work out where to go. atm ekaterinburg or irkutsk are top of the list in russia, don't know anything about serbia/macedonia/croatia/bosnia. any experiences/suggestions what i could do out there?

choices atm are between working in a school/orphanage or going to uni. would like to do something a bit more off the beaten track heh

Avoid Bosnia, you will NOT like it.
Croatia, on the other hand is excellent.

mm croatia did seem the most tempting out of the 4. where did you go?

i went to Moscow and St petersberg, although it was Leningrad when i went….in 1982!

would've been awesome back then! a full 13 years before mcdonals hit the country

feb though and -17, but yea was fun,food queues and all! great people though

Slovenia is ace… a bit like all of Europe, but crammed into a tiny space… I've never been to the other places, but I really like slovenia and its close enough to visit other balkan countries?

yeah it gets a bit chilly in the winter it seems. i feel i've gotta do a russian winter at some point tho so i'm thinking first half of the year sep-feb there and the second half of the year thawing out in croatia n the like.

Meehaja-slovenia would be nice but i speak 0 slovene 🙁 i'm taking russian and serbo-croat at uni so i've got the option of going to those places next year

Jeremy, what would you study if you went to uni? Anything Sciencey?

Ned, no it would be russian/serbian language, don't get on with sciences. my fear of going to uni there is that i'll be with foreign students speaking english the whole time (most people's best 2nd language is english) which is not so good for lang learning.
ideally i'd like some sort of employment but virtually impossible to find from abroad.

Been to Russia in January…brrrr. Minus 14 in Moscow, bit warmer in St Petersburg.

Amazing place, but the Russian's have rather 'different' manners to us. Basically I found them rude as hell, but realised that's just their cultural norm!

Food is crap….

I'm not selling it here am I?

🙂

Found Moscow very much like Europe. The Ukraine was much more like what I thought Russia would be – full of gangsters, prostitutes, strip joints, sleaze etc.

I like croatia.

I havent been to Russia for years, when I first met Mrs S.
Mrs S went to Russia in the early 90s as part of her masters degree. She stayed for 7 years, based in Moscow but travelling around on business even out to Siberia.

It was quite the frontier country back then and has changed quite a bit since. But I think she would still recommend it.

Croatia has sun, pretty women, lovely food, and an amazing coastline though so…. 🙂

Dodgy as you like, but Russia (with zero Russian language and just a 'letter of invitation' gained through an agent) was a great experience.

Entering through the Estonian border on a twilight summer night was like something from a 70s Cold War Thriller.

Passing the various powerplants and 'facilities' in the forest, surrounded by tower blocks and drunks lying on the ground, along a pot-holed road on the bus was fairly surreal.

I spent the whole time looking over my shoulder, was pick-pocketed and witnessed violent crime but I'm glad I went!

ps. US dollars seemed to lubricate administration.

I've done a bit of work in Russia in southern Siberia, near to Novosibirsk and in the Altai. I found it a fascinating country, and when you get to know people they can be very friendly and keen to show you around the land and culture. It might be a bit tough at the start, but I'm sure you wouldn't regret it, I would love to do some more work there at some point.

Worked in Belgrade, Serbia a couple of years ago. Great city I thought. Certain parts of the city were still a bomb site though. That in itself was quite an experience (for me at least); to drive down streets that NATO flattened. Just to see the destruction and aftermath. Quite frightening really.

The Serbs were a friendly bunch though. Very laid back approach to life. Seemed more intent on having BBQs and cruising down the river o their boats than actually doing any work, which was nice!

Irkutsk is siberia. V isolated and hefty cold about 7 months of the year. But a cool city and v beautiful women….

Given the choice I'd go for Slovenia. Fantastic country.

I wouldnt hold your breath on finding gainful employment in Bosnia. Really a very poor quasi-country still teetering on the edge of breakdown. Croatia/Slovenia must be pretty Westernised by now, the safe option.

I've been to Belgrade which was ace. It's a lovely city with a strange blend of beautiful old buildings, nasty 70s style blocks and bombed buildings they haven't got round to either demolishing or rebuilding yet. The people were very friendly and I felt it was a very optimistic place- they want to put all the problems of the last few years behind them and move forward. Most people spoke very good English too.

I didn't like Bulgaria at all so glad to see that's not on your list. The corruption and sleaze is everywhere which is fine if that's what you want. I have heard that Croatia has very scenic countryside and I think the biking is pretty good too.

I might be heading to Macedonia shortly which could be interesting.

I think you'll find these places are all quite different. The Balkan countries are pretty cool – Croatia is getting to the level that it isn't that different to Italy or Spain. Bosnia was noticably poorer, at least when I went there a couple of years ago. Montenegro is also great. From what I hear, Russia is a slightly tougher place to travel, there more personal safety issues and more corruption – my only experience has been in Moscow though.

Been to Opatija although wouldn't recommend (too many fat germans)
Brac and the islands are **** ace.
Get to Plitvice national park;
http://images.google.co.uk/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=plitvice&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=LjkES5GuIMTc-Qbrn8HKCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQsAQwAA
Avoid Bosnia, some of the countryside is pretty but it is still very full of landmines.

Macedonia is ace. Still relatively free of tourists and it is still unusual to hear another English voice outside of Skopje, the capital. Ohrid is probably the most developed 'tourist' town and would be my choice of place to stay (I have an apartment there, which helps!) Lake Ohrid is glorious and there's stunning mountain scenery all over the place. However, it is a poor country with high unemployment. Very laid back though and everything is cheap and the people are generally very friendly.

Drove down to MK on honeymoon 3 years ago (got married there too, but that's a whole different story) and can offer the following observations on the other bits of the former Yugoslavia we passed through:

Slovenia – expensive, picturesque Alpine scenery, full of UK mountain bikers and Macedonian construction workers. Relatively 'westernised'
Croatia – brand new, straight, long, flat motorways, minimal traffic and only one traffic cop car. Main hazard is crazy Bosnians driving flat out in clapped out MK2 Astras. Didn't get to see much else.
Serbia – Belgrade is great. Rush hour in Belgrade is mental. The rest of Serbia currently makes Macedonia look posh. People generally pretty friendly.

Hey Dudie, is there anything in the way of cheap skiing holidays out there? (away from the nasty euro?)
EDIT; Maybe I should have said "howdy" dudie

The closer you are to the Adriatic the more european you are. Go inland and it is like going back in time.

Mentality is stupidly macho. That goes for both.

Russia is just a mind ****, sleazy corrupt drunken biggoted and that is the good parts. The bonus is stupidly hot women.

Hey Dudie, is there anything in the way of cheap skiing holidays out there?

Howdy! There is a ski resort on the mountain of Popova Shapka, in the Shar Planina mountains – about an hour's drive from Skopje. I'm no skier, but as far as I am aware, this was very popular back in the day but slipped into disuse during the Balkan troubles and is now open again, but a little lacking in mod cons and in need of investment. I've never seen organised ski holidays advertised but it should be possible to hire a guide with a 4×4 from a travel agent in Skopje to take you up there and show you what's what. The nearest town to the mountain is Tetovo, which is predominantly Albanian these days. Macedonians and Albanians aren't the best of friends and I believe that this is one of the reasons that Popova Shapka hasn't been returned to its former glory.

I think the Bradt guide to Macedonia has some info on skiing. Unfortunately I can't check as my copy is currently in my flat in Ohrid 😕

By the way – although the currency is the denar, Euros are accepted pretty much everywhere. We tend to take pound notes and get them changed in one of the many little exchange offices scattered around the towns. You tend to get pretty much the commercial rate – far better than an rate you'd get in the UK.