Slovenia is quite the place. With The Alps to the North and the Mediterranean to the South, even the climate is wacky. Long, freezing-cold winters, followed by unbearably hot summers, anybody? No, I don’t mean to scare you away. Slovenia will feel different than anything you have experienced before, though. So here are a few […]
For outsiders, the Balkans are about as confusing as advanced calculus, what women truly want, and particle physics taken together. For a region, mostly remembered for the heartbreaking wars that tore it not 30 years ago, it’s good that foreigners are even trying to figure Bosnian culture out. But fear not, this is thankfully a peaceful […]
So you have that Prague trip booked and now you are feeling adventurous and smart at the same time — you want to learn Czech. Good for you! There are not a lot of casual Czech learners and in general, the language gets an undeserved reputation for being too hard and not too useful. True, […]
| Russia
1. Russia is huge. In fact, it is the largest country in the world, covering 6,592,800 square miles. With that size, it’s natural that you come across with all sorts of Russian people, without actually being able to distinguish common characteristics. So, more than an introduction, this is actually fact 1 on Russian culture. Respect […]
Riga is not Talinn. Meaning that unlike the Estonian capital, Riga is not as crowded, but not meaning that it isn’t every bit as charming. You could say that this Baltic capital is unfairly underrated. With less than a million people living there, it remains cozy, but it’s still very diverse, lively and young. And […]
| Language
One of the greatest challenges travelers to Poland face is simply navigating basic signs around the cities. As someone who spent the a good chunk of time living in Poland, I’ll be the first to tell you that not being able to read is a huge pain. Then I decided to learn Polish—well, at least a little bit. […]
| Austria
Austria is one of the most beautiful places in Eastern/Central Europe. Let’s call it Eastern Europe for the simple sake of being able to share some of these gorgeous photos of Austria. Austria is a great gateway to many of the Eastern European countries. It’s close to both Budapest and Prague, and is generally an […]
| Hungary
Budapest is somewhat of a hidden gem for travelers. It doesn’t welcome as many tourists as Paris or Rome, but it does offer just as much. Not only is it amazingly beautiful, but it has a rich history, exciting nightlife and an array of great spots to enjoy and explore. Not to mention how much flavourful local […]
| Finland
It’s no secret that if you’re traveling to Finland you don’t need to speak Finnish. People in Finland, young and old, speak English very well. That begs the question, “Why would I learn Finnish then?” For starters both Finnish and Swedish are both the official languages of Finland. That means almost all the signs you see […]
Hungary, a country smack dab in the middle of Europe. Surrounded by countries like Ukraine, Serbia, Romania and Austria. The influence of these neighboring countries on the Hungarian culture is abundantly clear when you visit Budapest. Logically you might think this influence would extend to their language as well. That is far from the case—you’re […]