OT: The world through stereotypes

3 comments

• shailynn

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  8 years ago

  So Ive always wanted to go to a similar dirt poor Eastern European country like Kazakhstan which is where my grandfather is from.
  
  I met a guy who is from there and has lived here in the USA for about 20 years. He usually goes back once every year or two and gave me a 2 hour lecture about how I should never go there because it sucks and it's a waste of money.
  
  He said the infastructure is horrible and everything fell apart when Russia fell. Maybe that's because Putin is too busy stealing all the money for himself and his friends!
• NinaBambina

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  8 years ago

  I wouldn't consider Kazakhstan an Eastern European country, more like Eurasian.
  
  I agree the infrastructure is horrible but it does have some beautiful places as well. If I had a grandparent from there, I would probably visit at least once in my lifetime. Why not? You don't have to stay long. You could plan a Europe or Asia trip and spend a few days in Kazakhstan.
• shailynn

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  8 years ago

  Haha maybe you're right, I always considered anyone that was under the iron curtain to be Eastern European. I guess I can blame my public school education for that.
  
  The country is Bulgaria and I found a deal where I could fly into Sofia (the capital) and stay in what looked like a 4 star hotel for around a $1,000 for an entire week. This guy said it's too shitty, go to Italy, France, Switzerland, etc etc instead.
  
  He did say the beach and resort towns are decent but from Sofia it's a 5 hour drive because the roads are so screwed up. He said if the road was in the same shape as highways here in the USA, it would take under 2 hours. I said "that bad?" and he said "yep."