For some Serbs starting a new life in Canada is their ultimate dream come true, for others moving back to Serbia is their ultimate dream come true. Ivan, a 39-year-old Serbian expat from Toronto, moved back home to restart his life in Belgrade. Ivan wrote an interesting blog post talking about how he is trying to adapt to his new life. “When I came back, at the beginning it was a bit odd. I had to remember the language, get to know my city again, still exploring it and it has very much to offer.” The next thing he wanted to do “is get back into Belgrade nightlife”, and hopefully, he found that one of his old school friends was running the Tube club, so he is “enjoying it like there is no tomorrow.” Apparently, it’s not so hard for a Serb to move back home.

A couple years back (1993), Marian Reid wrote a well-worth reading article for the Independent about traveling to Serbia “Don’t go to Serbia, said family, friends – and the Foreign Office. But Marian Reid was undeterred by war, sanctions, poisonous spiders, exhaustion and epic thunderstorms. She found generosity, shooting stars wild raspberries and a golden Danube.” It looks like that same sort of thing may be happening sixteen years later. Andrew Scott, an American student, traveled for one week to Serbia, and the stereotypes disappeared almost entirely:

“How do I even begin to describe a trip to you that changed my perception of a country, a region, the world? Traveling to Serbia was that trip for me. Taking the night train into Belgrade I didn’t know what to expect. Eight other American students and I traveled for one week during ACT’s fall break- with our friend, Igor, who is from Serbia. I was very apprehensive about traveling to Serbia, mostly due to the hearsay. Some stereotypes I heard were: that Serbia was a war-torn country, a deserted place, everyone is rude and dislikes Americans. To my discovery, it was entirely the opposite. Arriving in Belgrade at 6am, I found the city unique, vibrant, and unlike any place I have visited before. “

At the end of the post, Andrew Scott notes that Serbia has been his favorite experience so far studying abroad “I will be coming back. I feel very grateful for having the opportunity to see Serbia.” I’ve said it before, and it should be said again: don’t let ignorant people spoil your holiday, Serbia is a safe and vibrant country.

Groud Dalton Frank is a 19-years-old Guy From Trinidad And Tobago (a country in the southern Caribbean Sea) who fell in love with Serbia. In fact, he didn’t know much more about Serbia until he met some Serbs on a social networking website. He became curious about Serbian history and started to read about it. He’s even created his own website promoting tourism in Serbia. Now, Groud Dalton Frank wants to move to Serbia. He told me “I would rather live as a poor man in Serbia than a rich man in Sweden or America.” Not a bad idea after all! The problem is that he doesn’t have enough money to make his dreams come true. If anyone out there has any suggestions/advice/help connect with him on facebook (he plans to study Serbian Law in the University of Belgrade).

Over the last few years, Atsuko Kotaka, a Japanese artist graduated from Tokyo National University of the Arts, has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Serbia. The Tokyo Shimbun’s morning edition published (October 24, 2009) a short essay Kotaka wrote about Serbia. Kotala talks about the image of Serbia in Japan “In Japan when people talk about Serbia, mostly they talk through the images of war still now”. Then, Kotaka points out that Serbian working life sounds much more relaxed than Japanese:

“The speed of the passage of time in Serbia is much different from Japan. People of Serbia seem more relaxed and flexible. There is one phrase “videcemo” which I often hear in Serbia. It means” We will see (..someday)” . I often become anxious because always things go so slowly in Serbia. It doesn’t go smoothly, and takes quite long to finish, but it always work out in the end. People fundamentally don’t hurry. One day, I was almost late for appointment, so ran. Then my friend said “Why you came running? You don’t need to run if you are late.” Such leisurely mood makes me feel warm, some nostalgic-like and relieved.”

There are two key things to note in all of this. First, a Japanese loves Serbia (Kotaka is even learning Serbian in a school in Tokyo). Second, Serbs seem to be more relaxed than Japanese (this is not surprising at all).

Gerald McEachern writes columns for the St. Croix Courier (a weekly newspaper covering Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Washington County, and the State of Maine in the U.S). His columns are collected on this blog. McEachern recently wrote a blog post mentioning Serbia:

“California is definitely not Serbia.

To be fair, Serbia is doing just fine, despite its poor public image. It’s rated by the World Bank as a high middle-income nation, and is the only member of the EU with a free trade agreement with the Russian Federation. The city of Belgrade is apparently booming. And it shouldn’t be overlooked that
Serbia grows fully one-third of the world’s raspberries. So you might want to think of that when you’re spreading your jam on your morning toast.”

While I think the post is worth reading, and makes a ton of good points, there are a few problems with it. First, I don’t know many people who seriously think that Nicolae Ceausescu was a Serbian politician. Then, there’s the issue of EU membership. Serbia is not a member of the EU (Serbia will probably present its candidacy for European Union membership by the end of 2009). Oh, one other thing? McEachern talks about “Arnold Swartznegger”. Who’s that guy? A cousin of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger?

We’ve seen a bunch of stories lately about Americans enjoying Serbia. The latest example comes from an American girl studying in Greece, Samantha Carlson, who recently spent six days in Serbia, visiting Belgrade and Petrovac na Mlavi, a small town 130 kilometers far from Belgrade.

Serbia is not what she thought it was “Serbia was far from what I expected, but absolutely beautiful.” She liked Belgrade city “a lot of French architecture and beautiful parks” and discovered Serbian hospitality in Eastern Serbia “Petrovac Na Mlavi is where I spent the majority of my time in Serbia, which is a quaint small town of about 10,000 people. It was there that I was treated with such hospitality, far beyond words.” Yet another example showing how Serbia warmly welcomes Americans who know how to appreciate its hospitality.

Kevin Hicks, a manager at RBC Bank (USA), was in Europe for a month visiting Brussels, Copenhagen, Thessoliniki, Leipzig, Berlin, and Belgrade to learn more about issues facing Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe. Hicks wrote up a great article about why there are business opportunities in Serbia. First he talks about Belgrade. He liked the place:

“Looking back on it all, Belgrade was my favorite city. It’s not pretty. Communists don’t have inspirational architectural design. And the country is primarily agricultural. With mules. But it was still the best, the most visceral and real.”

Then he goes on to talk about business opportunities pointing out that Serbia has significant comparative advantages:

“Serbia is trying to position itself as a manufacturing center verses China, and I think it can succeed. Here are the parts of the puzzle: cheap transportation via rail/water into Europe. Educated workforce that all speak English. Cheap labor (median Serb income is ~$400/mth). Transparent court system for B2B issues. And the US Government is putting a lot of time and money into this country. It could be said that for all the problems USAID has world wide, they are absolutely succeeding in Serbia. Yeah, I was surprised, too.”

At the end of the post, Hicks notes that investors should put Serbia on their short list “For those looking for Opportunities, put this one on your radar.” Sounds like good advice for foreign investors to me!