Artists.

Do you live in Croatia?

…you don’t sound like you live in Croatia. It is not that easy to immigrate, and cost of living is SKY HIGH right now. The vibe is not chill when you’re a foreigner dealing with the bureaucracy.

OP, if you’re confused, I suggest you look into the economic and political history of Switzerland.

If you pause and think objectively about what Switzerland is, you might find yourself with an interesting question. That is, how is it that a tiny alpine landlocked country, whose population has never been above about 9 million people, and has never been at the centre of a great empire as an Imperial power, ended up becoming the diplomatic and economic powerhouse it is today?

I mean, the US has a GDP per capita of 70kish - whereas in Switzerland, its 90kish. Not to mention Switzerland has topped the Global Economic Innovation index every year since 2015.

…so perhaps a ‘winner takes it all’/‘we’re all the main character’ culture is actually a little bit less profitable in big picture terms than a culture that values stability and cohesion?

Yea - it was the macho thing that surprised me too. I think in more ‘western’ cultures there’s like a conflation of ‘machoness’ with being sexually aggressive, but that idea is absent in Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian notions of masculinity.

If you think about it - its actually fairly logical - its less ‘masculine’ to be so desperate that you have to chase/beg/harrass women for attention, and using force against someone who is just physically smaller than you is quite pathetic.

Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia - I haven’t been to Montenegro myself, but I’d be surprised if the situation was radically different from the rest of former Yugoslavia there. Austria has borders with Slovenia & Croatia too and they’re pretty chill as well if you’re in the area for a while.

Croatia - it is ridiculously safe to walk around as a woman - even at night.

This is not a bad thing at all - but moving from the UK - it took me a while to adjust to not being in ‘hypervigilance’ mode when out and about by myself.

It perplexed me at first as to how this is a thing, but after being here a while I think it comes down to two major factors… the way masculinity is understood in the Balkans, and the way communities work.

On the masculinity front - sure the Balkans have their own particular brand of toxic masculinity - but boys are taught from an early age that it’s pathetic to harass/insult women, it just isn’t cool to make sexual comments or to push yourself on a woman if she turns you down in a bar or something. You just look ‘weak’ and lose status as a ‘man’ if you do. Especially if you lose your cool.

As for communities. There is very little ‘bystander’ effect when it comes to anyone acting like an asshole in public - whereas in the UK they teach you to shout ‘fire’ if you’re being attacked outside as that’s more likely to draw people towards you than if you call for help, in Croatia you can expect that if someone sees anyone looking remotely in distress, or hears a sound like there’s someone in distress nearby - they’re going to intervene. Coupled with the aforementioned view of harassing women as a sign of being pathetic - to the point where most Croats (and to be fair most Serbs & Bosnians too) would be so disgusted by such behaviour they’re likely to beat the shit out of a dude that attempts to do so - it’s a pretty effective deterrent. Plus if the perpetrator is known to the community then that’s like a fast-track route to being socially excluded - and it’s incredibly hard to live your life in this country without a solid community around you. This isn’t just regarding women though - in general anti-social behaviour of any kind isn’t tolerated - across all age groups.

Domestic violence rates are comparable to the rest of Europe, and men will still comment on women’s bodies in public - just not to the woman’s face, and they don’t generally ‘ogle’ women they find attractive the way men freely do in the UK - but yeah, like I say, it was weird to get used to being more relaxed in public/seeing other women so relaxed in public - walking home by themselves late at night and stuff.

I should also add that Balkan women are generally pretty badass and that’s a factor too - they don’t tend to take much shit. It’s not like it’s just men policing this - women will intervene as well and if you try to harass a Croatian woman you can expect to be chewed out pretty viciously on the spot.

Move to Spain. Less fascists & volcanoes.

I’m Irish/British - grew up mostly in the UK, but I always just say ‘Irish’ in Croatia. I’m all talked out about Brexit and I can’t be arsed to explain the politics of being ethnically Irish whilst growing up in the UK in the 90s…. (especially to people who were actively fighting a war in the 90s).

Plus Croats generally have a very positive view of Ireland/Irish people so it’s like an automatic ‘oh you’re fine’…. whereas Brits have the same reputation they have in tourist destinations all over Europe (drink too much, spend too little).