Amazing beaches (I sincerely believe Western Australia has the best beaches in the country, and are probably only ranked behind tropical paradises like Maldives and Fiji etc.), a relaxed lifestyle, great weather (I'm appreciating that more and more with every day I spend in England) and the fresh seafood is awesome.
Having traveled to places like Los Angeles, London and New York I'm also really appreciative to live in a country/state that doesn't suffer from over population.
I live in a cold and barren wasteland, build upon what's basically an enormous rockslide. i don't consider where i am from as a very important part of who i am. i am pretty unpatriotic.
everything is wrapped in gray
i'm focusing on your image
can you hear me in the void?
In all seriousness, I like my country quite a bit. It's nothing special, but it's home. I come from the far North East area of it, where the winters are long and super cold, and the summers are short but also scorching hot. There's a lot of evergreens, hills, and lakes, there aren't a lot of tourists and the areas outside of cities are quite densely forested, so there's a lot of wildlife roaming around. I think the area is pretty beautiful, really.
Geographically speaking, Poland is pretty diverse. Besides lakes, we also have mountains, and then there's the Baltic sea, so it's pretty nice.
Our folklore is also pretty diverse, with various areas having different customs that are cultivated. I'm not too in touch with it, but I did have classes about it in music school, and I do enjoy the color palette of our folk art.
And the dresses are nice. These are specifically from the Cracow area, but they're some of the most well known and best cultivated, so they are often used as a general representation of Polish folklore.
I enjoy the fact that I speak a language that is pretty complex, even if it isn't spoken anywhere else. I feel that gives me an edge somehow
When it comes to things I'm less wild about, Poles are pretty grumpy in general. Though my generation speaks English rather well and are more open to other countries, older people will still give you weird looks. No one ever talks to anyone on the street and the default facial expression is a scowl. And yet, if you visit a Pole at their home, you can be sure you will be treated great. We're also one of the least diverse and least progressive countries in Europe. Everyone is dark blonde with either green or gray eyes, basically, though of course there are a lot of exceptions, but darker skinned people are still stigmatize as people associate them with Gypsies, stealing, etc. And yeah, homophobia is socially acceptable here, but I have high hopes for future generations, really.
Added to that, we are one of the cloudiest countries, so if you ever visit, expect to not see the Sun for a couple of weeks. It's really normal here. And our cuisine is nothing to write home about. Potatoes and meat and sauerkraut, that's basically the gist of it, though there are some really nice dishes and at least a traditional Polish dinner always comes with vegetables on the side, so that's a plus.
Overall, though, while I wouldn't necessarily describe myself as a total patriot, I do enjoy being Polish and I am proud of some of the achievements we had - Marie Curie and Frederic Chopin were two great Poles that come to mind that have been pretty influential.
Good tea. Good football. Can't complain.
I live in Wales and it basically looks like what you'd imagine it looked like in Lord of the Rings, down to all the funny place names, bad weather and starving street urchins. There are castles absolutely everywhere and rugby union is a religion forced upon you from birth. We're also obsessed with singing. I joke a lot about how much I hate the place but really, sometimes I go out into the countryside and realise I do live in quite an incredible looking place.
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(SPOILER)but seriously don't come here
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This is exactly what my English culture teacher told us. She went to Wales once. Got robbed and stuck in the middle of the field, with nobody but sheep around for miles and miles.Originally Posted by Old Manus
Well that's the price you pay for Being In Wales While English
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Yes if I leave the house I'm a target of ridicule and muggings. I've learned to go out humming the Welsh National Anthem as I walk down the street, it acts like a confusion spell.
She was Polish, the subject was English culture (we actually covered most English-speaking countries, with focus on the UK and US) but I guess the argument still stands.
I'm not sure what the consequences are for Being In Wales While Polish. I'll have to check my handbook.
there was a picture here
This is a fun enough game to warrant its own thread. What happens to Australians that visit Wales?!
They lose by 169 runs.
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I didn't realise Wales was such a cricketing powerhouse, what with there 0 representative players on the English team roster. There's more New Zealand born players on your team than Welsh...
New Zealand
I work in the glorious city of Manchester and have lived in or around here for a long time. I'm much further out than I used to be now having moved to Wilmslow in Cheshire - the posh part. Instead of rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi in North Manchester I now rub shoulders with celebrities to which they generally reply "stop rubbing your shoulders against me, you freak."
People in the North of England are awesome, ridiculously funny and very friendly. We have an incredible musical heritage as well with some of the biggest bands of all time. Also, Manchester has two of the biggest football teams on the planet, though one is always going to be bigger than the other.
Red Dwarf was also filmed in Manchester which is the greatest television show ever made.
There's an important thing you should know about England: it isn't really one country. There's The North (cold winds, direwolves, economic deprivation, Winter Is Coming, etc.) and there's The South (ooh la di da look at me with my booming economy, let's focus all economic and infrastructure development on the parts of the country that's already wealthy rather than to the North where it's needed more that's a brilliant idea).
As a child of a northern mother (from north Cheshire) and a southern father (from deepest Hampshire), who grew up pretty much in the Midlands, I've been torn between two worlds. Ruby league or rugby union? Mushy peas or tartar sauce? Long "a" or short "a"? Coronation Street or Emmerdale? Labour or Conservative? THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!
I like Britain. Don't think I'd want to live anywhere else really. Maybe Canada or Australia.
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