We might as well learn some geography

[McDuffies]

I realise how little I know about America. To us, it's just one (well, two) big ass country, and we often forget how diverse that country is. I noticed that I don't know placement of most of states, what major cities are in which state (well, I know some of it. Chicago is in Illinois, right?), or what is specific about each state. So in this thread everyone should say where they're from, what's specific about where they're from, what is the area known for, and perhaps even some broad stereotypes attached to the area.
This might as well go for people from other countries too.

[Brockway]

Texas is huge and looks like every other state. Its kind of amazing when you're driving across the country and thinking, "Wow, this place looks exactly like east/west/south Texas." Its actually farther to drive across Texas east to west than it is to drive from New Orleans to the Canadian border.

Major cities are Dallas, Houston, and Austin. The rest of the state is pretty rural outside of the major metro areas.

The chief export of Texas is Texans. As my dad says, its a great place to be from, but not to be stuck in. A girl I know who was with her dad stationed in Japan was in withdrawal being out in the country here.

[MixedMyth]

I....am loathe to say where I'm from. But that's for personal reasons. Suffice to say that I've lived in the Midwest a lot. However! If you want to learn about the states, there is no better way to do so than this.

Although...yeah, unless you come from a large country yourself, it can be hard to grasp just how big either the US or Canada is. I was on a long distance bus once with this Chinese tourist who kept asking if every river we passed was the Mississippi. It was pretty unmistakable when we finally crossed it. Pretty sure that made him happy.

Well, this is my personal summary of the states, loaded with opinions-
First there's the Northeast. Northeasterners have a reputation for being brash and confrontational...think stereotypical New Yorker from cheesy movies. Northeast has New York City, of course. It's got very mountainous terrain and lots of woodlands. The winters are very cold, and get more harsh the more north you go. Maine winters are particularly bad. However, because of all the trees it is absolutely beautiful in the fall. Lots of autumn color.

as you get more south things warm up. a lot of people consider virginia and west virginia to be part of the South, even though they're fairly north. I've never been to either, though I hear there's some beautiful places to hike. North and South Carolina are deefinately the South. Great weather, though! Lovely wetlands, warm 70 degree sea water with nice beaches. Here's a point- when it comes to US accents, the greatest difference is between an urbanite and someone from a rural community. So you may hear the 'tv' American accent in a lot of places in the south if you stick to the cities.

Florida is part of the South, but it's also its own thing. It's a tourist heaven. It's got Disney World, NASA, alligators, and more pretty swamps filled with alligators. A lot of people go there after they retire. However, and several other states are veeery prone to hurricanes during the late summer and fall.

The state of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are the quentisential Deep South. By and large, they are extremely conservative and a lot of people still associate them with racial tension. That said, so long as you don't get into politics you can still have a blast. People tend to be warm and friendly and the climate is wonderful for growing things. They get really fierce lightning storms during the summer, though. New Orleans is of special note. Most people know of Katrina, of course, but it really does have its own culture. A mix of Haitian, American, and French cultures. It's sort of the US center of Mardi Gras (Carnival)...a lot of other cities celebrate it, but none as much as New Orleans. It's also got a great mistique about it, with a strange mix of gothic and southern architecture.

The Midwest is technically any state between the Eastern sea board and the Rockies. But there's a lot of differences between them. More southern midwestern states tend to be very divided between southern and northern American cultures. This goes back to the civil war, really. Missouri, for example, was caught in the middle and is still very much like that today. The climate of the southern midwest has snowy winters, but they're kind of half hearted. They're still fairly warm. the middle Midwest is excellent crop land, some of the best in the world, and that's where all the grain crops are grown. Tends to be pretty boring, but pleasant in a pastoral kind of way. Very flat, too, with some rolling hills and river valleys. It has hard winters and humid, hot summers. The people are usually very polite. The upper midwest, however, has many more trees and lakes. This includes Minnesotta, Wisconsin, and maybe Michigan. The winters are hard, cold, and have lots of snow. People are pretty laid back, and some still dig a bit of a Norwegian accent. Or Canadian.

Further west you get the Rockies and states like Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. These are sprarsly populated states, by and large, with great skiing resorts and wilderness areas. Lots of national parks. On the other side of the Rockies is desert. Lots of it. This is the part you pray to god that your car's AC doesn't break during. It's flat, boring, dusty, and hot. Although it does have Vegas. Then you come to some more mountains, on the other side of which is California proper. California is highly populated. Southern Cali is awefully desert-like. Northern Cali is paradise...with hippies. Seriously, though, excellent climate. Very cold sea water, though. North of California is Oregon and the state of Washington. On one side of the mountains, they are desert. On the other side they are rainy evergreen forests. In fact, Washington sports temperate rain forests.

The Soutwest includes states like Arizona, Texas, New Mexico...and maybe Oklahoma? Politically conservative, but with some great sights. The deserts can be beautiful...and there's always the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, etc. Texas tends to be the most outspoken of htese states. People tend to regard Texas in teh same way that other countries regarded the US during the Bush years. Oh yeah, Oklahoma and much of the southern and midwestern US get some nasty tornadoes during spring and summer.

There's Alaska and Hawaii...but I haven't been to either, so I can't say much about them.

But say, it's not like most of us Americans know a lot about Serbia...you should tell us about your country!

Edit: Just a word on cultural divirsity. There is a lot of homogeneity in the US, but there's also a lot of regional differences...which can be due to political views and religious persuasion, but which also have a lot to do with regional cultural makeup and history. For example, the mid and upper midwest had a lot of Dutch, German, and Norwegian immigrants and some of that has stuck around in the form of little cultural attaches. There have been various waves of immigrants over the years, each one leaving its mark in some way. These include Irish settlers during the Civil War, Amish communities seeking religious freedom, African immigrants who came during the slavery years, Chinese immigrants who were either conned/pressed into coming during the gold rush or who came willingly for a new life, Jewish immigrants throughout history, Cuban immigrants seeking asylum, central and south american immigrants looking for a better life...the list goes on and on.

[McDuffies]

Austin.

Oh yeah, Butthole Surfers, Daniel Johnston and Richard Linklater... the town has a rep that is hard to connect with reportedly so conservative states. Butthole Surfers don't look like cowboys at all!

Although...yeah, unless you come from a large country yourself, it can be hard to grasp just how big either the US or Canada is. I was on a long distance bus once with this Chinese tourist who kept asking if every river we passed was the Mississippi. It was pretty unmistakable when we finally crossed it. Pretty sure that made him happy.

No kidding, it would take me less to get to Spain than you to California.

Well, this is my personal summary of the states, loaded with opinions-
First there's the Northeast. Northeasterners have a reputation for being brash and confrontational...think stereotypical New Yorker from cheesy movies. Northeast has New York City, of course. It's got very mountainous terrain and lots of woodlands. The winters are very cold, and get more harsh the more north you go. Maine winters are particularly bad. However, because of all the trees it is absolutely beautiful in the fall. Lots of autumn color.

There's, like, a bunch of tiny states there... like, I didn't even know New Jersey was a separate state. I guess that means they're heavily populated?

This is the part you pray to god that your car's AC doesn't break during. It's flat, boring, dusty, and hot.

Cause there's a lot of road gangs and guys who'll lure you into stopping for them then kill you, right? I saw it in the movies so it must be true!
So anyways all those hippies that were heading for San Francisco had to go through entire desert in their trashy vans? Dangerous!

North of California is Oregon

Decemberists!

and the state of Washington. On one side of the mountains, they are desert. On the other side they are rainy evergreen forests. In fact, Washington sports temperate rain forests.

I think that this is the state that is mentioned the least often. I don't know if most of non-Americans even know it exists.

But say, it's not like most of us Americans know a lot about Serbia...you should tell us about your country!

Sure, one of these days.

Edit: Just a word on cultural divirsity. There is a lot of homogeneity in the US, but there's also a lot of regional differences...which can be due to political views and religious persuasion, but which also have a lot to do with regional cultural makeup and history. For example, the mid and upper midwest had a lot of Dutch, German, and Norwegian immigrants and some of that has stuck around in the form of little cultural attaches. There have been various waves of immigrants over the years, each one leaving its mark in some way. These include Irish settlers during the Civil War, Amish communities seeking religious freedom, African immigrants who came during the slavery years, Chinese immigrants who were either conned/pressed into coming during the gold rush or who came willingly for a new life, Jewish immigrants throughout history, Cuban immigrants seeking asylum, central and south american immigrants looking for a better life...the list goes on and on.

I think that the reason why many forget about USA's cultural diversity is that it's still very centralized in many ways. For one there is one language, but also many cultural or industrial branches seem to have one big center and then everything else gravitates towards it.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

There's, like, a bunch of tiny states there... like, I didn't even know New Jersey was a separate state. I guess that means they're heavily populated?

Most densely populated state in the union. I'll see if I can write up a nice summary of Jersey sometime tomorrow.

McDuffies, tell us of Serbia!

[VinnieD]

I live in Mississippi myself.

The parts you've heard are that it's Hot and humid. That part is pretty true. We have fair if short winters though. It rains quite a lot and you'll be surprised when most people aren't phased by mentions of thunderstorms and tornadoes. Snow however is a strange thing to us and no one dares drive on the stuff. Another thing to expect is pine trees and lots of them. If you like green, this is the place to be, as it's green year-round and there's not a direction you can look and not spot a pine tree. Even in the middle of major cities there are trees. A satellite view of my hometown for instance will show you more trees than street or buildings. In terms of climate, you'll find it's mostly the same all over, but culturally things are different from region to region.

While people are conservative around here, racism isn't really the issue it once was, though it still sadly pops up in some of the more out of the way places. You'll see a strange shift between small town people, and small to mid city people. Since I live in Hattiesburg, which is a hub of transit, the city's inhabitants see a number of different types of people, and by default are pretty tolerant. Black and white as well as hispanic, asian, and middle eastern people are a common sight on a daily basis here. With politeness and courtesy being a common element of the culture, most people are fairly considerate toward one another. Not that racism doesn't exist, but it's something that most people here try to put behind them, and depending on what part of the stat you live in, it's outright necessary because of the sheer number of different people you run into on a day to day basis.

In terms of the food, yes we're a state that loves to eat, and it shows. When someone visits, it's common courtesy to ask them if they want something to eat. You'll find a number of unique dishes that stem from the depression era such as red beans and rice, Mustard Greens, and okra, as well as deep frying being common due to the climate. Since Deep frying is a faster method of cooking it became popular in the south, due to having to spend less time in a hot kitchen. Though air conditioning has long since solved that problem, it's still something that's ingrained in the culture.



I've traveled around other southern states and in my general opinion, found a friendly reception in most. I didn't care for the western end of Texas in terms of climate (really there's nothing there and it's much to dry), but was impressed by the more modern cities in east Texas though as I understand there's a higher crime rate there. Louisiana is a unique experience all its own, especially New Orleans, which has a rich and diverse culture, and as an artist I can appreciate its unique architecture and all around spirit.

Floridians are pleasant folks as well. I can't say I ever much encountered any people in Arkansas. There's beautiful scenery there, but not much of anyone living there. I know one person from there, and as he's told me, most communities tend to be isolated.

[Phact0rri]

I think that the reason why many forget about USA's cultural diversity is that it's still very centralized in many ways. For one there is one language, but also many cultural or industrial branches seem to have one big center and then everything else gravitates towards it.

one language? ha. actually on my way to work everyday, I pass through at least three areas where the predominate language is not English. Though I do realize California, in some ways is an entity in and of itself, Los Angeles to a larger degree, either has a large culture or no culture depending on who you ask.

but I think we should talk about europe too. Speaking of the Balkans I tend to not put much separation in terms of culture. Even though I do know there's a lot of difference or there wouldn't be so much separation and fighting and stuff.

[Levi-chan]

I've lived in Hawaii for a while (three years total, I think?). You either love it or utterly hate it.

A large amount of the population is of East Asian origin. Chinese, Japanese and Filipino communities fill the city areas, and the rural areas (and islands that are NOT Honolulu) are filled with people of Hawaiian origin and people from the main states (they call it "The Mainland"). There's a wild cross of Asian cultures that you will see a lot during festivals - the Chinese New Year being a really big one. One of the main indicators of this is the Bento Box. You can buy a combination box with gyoza, chow mein, Jamaican jerk and hamburgers. Really. It's bloody amazing.

The "feel" of the place is pretty laid back - sometimes a bit too much. There's an expression they use: "Hawaiian Time". It basically means that if someone says that shit has to happen at 1PM, it will happen at 3PM. And that's if you're lucky.

The traffic? Dreadful. If you're in the city centers, it's more practical to just walk.

And speaking of walking, the beaches! I've moved three times while in that state, and everytime, I've been able to walk to the beach. It's really awesome. You can wake up early, feel like surfing for a few hours, turn up, and still have time to go back home and get ready for work.

And speaking of the beaches, the women! Good lord, the beautiful women. I can't count the times I've just laid down at the Waikiki beach in the afternoon, watching the sunset while beautiful women of all races and colours walk by. Car radios blaring reggae, the smell of pork on charcoal barbecues, while choking down some scotch and watching the day slow down and my wife walk out of the surf, her body silhouetted against the orange setting sun. Then someone makes a bonfire, and we can just curl up until it gets too cold.

[Dr Legostar]

I was born and raised in Iowa. Iowa is known for corn and soybeans and has I think 6 pigs for every person in the state. Is it any wonder I love pork?

Iowa is pretty flat but not nearly so much as Kansas or Nebraska and while there's a lot of farmland there are some nice wooded areas if you look for them. It is also excruciatingly boring most of the time.

I've spent the better part of the last 7 years in Kentucky (one of those years was in Canada, but I came back to Kentucky).

Kentucky is an interesting state. If you ask people from the Midwest they'll tell you Kentucky is the South, if you go to the South they'll tell you Kentucky is the Midwest. It's a bit in the middle of that. It's a rather conservative place, unless you're in Louisville or Lexington (check the liberal vs conservative spread during the last election, the only two counties that came in for Obama were Jefferson (Louisville) and Fayette (Lexington)). It's a really lovely place though, reminds me a lot of some parts of Serbia (Fruska Gora, yes I know that's only relevant to McDuffies, but he's the one who asked).

Kentucky is known for several things, Bourbon (Whiskey that's made in Kentucky, if it's not made in Kentucky, it ain't Bourbon), Horse Racing (The Kentucky Derby's kinda a big deal), and then of course there's KFC (My brother-in-law's girlfriend is from Corbin, Kentucky, where the first KFC still stands. We even have a bust of the Colonel in the state capital).

Kentucky isn't too far north and west of the Smokey Mountains, and the drive down into Tennessee is very lovely. Cincinnati sits on the northern border of Kentucky, to the point where the Cincinnati airport is actually IN Kentucky. So we've got that going on.

Oh and for those of you using Lexmark computers or printers, Lexmark is right next to Lexington Kentucky. There's also a Toyota plant in the area, but Derenge can tell you about that, if he ever shows up again.

And then I almost forgot Eastern Kentucky happens to be the poorest part of the entire united states. The area of the Appalachian Mountains which goes into West Virginia and that general vicinity is home to some fairly horrible poverty and prescription drug abuse. So, yeah.

[McDuffies]

Most densely populated state in the union. I'll see if I can write up a nice summary of Jersey sometime tomorrow.

Movies make it look like it's some crappy Ney York suburb.

It's a really lovely place though, reminds me a lot of some parts of Serbia (Fruska Gora, yes I know that's only relevant to McDuffies, but he's the one who asked).

So, a poor excuse for a mountain, eh? I always assert to Vojvodinians that it's not really a montain if you can get to the top and back in less than an hour of driving.

[Dr Legostar]

It's a really lovely place though, reminds me a lot of some parts of Serbia (Fruska Gora, yes I know that's only relevant to McDuffies, but he's the one who asked).

So, a poor excuse for a mountain, eh? I always assert to Vojvodinians that it's not really a montain if you can get to the top and back in less than an hour of driving.

yeah, pretty much exactly that. I think the type of landscape is called Karst, or something like that.

[McDuffies]

McDuffies, tell us of Serbia!

Well, southeast of Europe is occupied by Balkan peninsula (down where Greece is) and Serbia is smack in the middle of peninsula, north of Greece and south of Hungary.

It's a continental country, mostly hills and mountains except for the northern area. There's also a lot of woods. Until 50ies is was largely rural country, when it was hurriedly urbanized. It's very centralized, more than half of population is living in capitol, Belgrade, which is the only real metropolis (3 to 4 million people, I think). There's maybe one or two larger towns besides Belgrade, the rest of cities are slowly dying out. We also have a very large immigration, wherever you live, there's probably a Serb living within a mile from you, two if you're in Canada or Australia. It is said that second largest Serbian population (after Belgrade) is living in Chicago.
Climate is continental, with some elements of mediteranian, in that it's warmer than in central-european countries.

We're largely Orthodox Christian, which tricks us into believing that we have some kind of spiritual connection to Russia. Russia doesn't reciprocate.
It's a conservative country with a lot of remainings of old-fashioned patriarchal upbringing. We're desperately unorganized people, our trains are always late, we're always late, and our clerks tend to take a lunch break whenever they feel like. There's overal lack of sense of responsibility. Foreigners find that delightfully anarchic.
We're fun-loving people, and passionate about it. We drink a lot. There's a sort of reoccuring effect, when bands from west play here, they find our audience much more loose and responsive. I thought that this was a publicity croc until my sister testified that audience in west Europe really is stiff compared to what we're used to. If you visit friends in Serbia, they'll probably think that night in the city and drink binge is the best way to represent Serbia. We talk a lot. We like to buy rounds for entire table, and get mad when someone else wants to. This leads to arguements over who's gonna buy the next round.
We're probably excessively patriotic, which makes us think that in international scope we're much more important than we really are.
There's a lot of Turkish influence, coming from 5 centuries under Otoman empire. It's exemplified in dictionary (surprising number of words we share with turkish language), architecture, culture and genetics (Slovens are supposed to be ginger or blonde, with blue eyes and pale tan; we're largely dark haired and eyed, and dark tan is not uncommon).
I think that our mentality is mix of all the worst parts of sloven and mediteranian mentality. We're fairly stubborn. We're in general fairly spiritual.

Food? We eat a lot of meat, specially pork (that's why Lego really loves pork), greasy and roasted on open fire. We also have assortment of bean, pea and cabbage stews. We eat enormous quantities of bread. We don't care much for spices, unless it's grinded paprika.
Probably the most distinctive national meal are our pies; unlike western pies which have one crust, we have layers upon layers of thin crusts, and they can be main course or a desert. There's plenty of other meals specific for the region.

History? Our national roots come from the medieval serbian empire that covered good part of Balkan peninsula, and our following resistance to advances of Otoman Empire. We regained freedom in mid-19 cenruty.
Up until WWII we were an independent kingdom. Yugoslavia was created between two world wars, and Serbs were the largest (and probably most influential) entity in it. Yugoslavian version of communist regime was the mildest existing (although still somewhat repressive). This relative freedom was due to distancing from USSR soon after WWII and getting closer to NATO states. Thanks to that we had a rich, western-influenced culture, and of course we were never occupied by USSR like most of east-European countries were.
'Course, Yugoslavia was gone in 1991-2 and up until 2000 we were repressed and isolated from the rest of the world, so that's taken us several decades aback. Last year we were accepted within shengen countries, which means no more lengthy and selective procedures whenever we want to go abroad, which is the actual end to serbian isolation.

Region north of Danube, Vojvodina is specific in many ways. For one, it's never been a part of Otoman empire, so it has Austro-Hungarian influences instead. It's the richest region, with the most developed economy, so naturally it's also the most libertarian region. Unlike the rest of Serbia, it's as flat as a pancake.

We have a nice tradition of rock music, and even nicer tradition of art cinema. Stereotypically, we had high quotient of sex and nudity in our cinema. Cause we're macho men and like looking at naked women. Most of our culture from 20th century is coloured by communist enviroment, often in form of passive resistance. Emir Kusturica would like you to think that all Serbs are whimsical, fairy-tale creatures who know how to fly, but we actually aren't.

[Dr Legostar]

Emir Kusturica would like you to think that all Serbs are whimsical, fairy-tale creatures who know how to fly, but we actually aren't.

We're... we're not?

[Laemkral]

We're fun-loving people, and passionate about it. We drink a lot. There's a sort of reoccuring effect, when bands from west play here, they find our audience much more loose and responsive. I thought that this was a publicity croc until my sister testified that audience in west Europe really is stiff compared to what we're used to. If you visit friends in Serbia, they'll probably think that night in the city and drink binge is the best way to represent Serbia. We talk a lot. We like to buy rounds for entire table, and get mad when someone else wants to. This leads to arguements over who's gonna buy the next round.

We have a nice tradition of rock music, and even nicer tradition of art cinema. Stereotypically, we had high quotient of sex and nudity in our cinema. Cause we're macho men and like looking at naked women. Most of our culture from 20th century is coloured by communist enviroment, often in form of passive resistance. Emir Kusturica would like you to think that all Serbs are whimsical, fairy-tale creatures who know how to fly, but we actually aren't.

I've decided where I want to go after London and Spain and Greece and Italy. Serbia. Before I leave Europe, I'm going to party with McDuffies.

Alright, time for the lowdown on California.

California became a state in 1850, just a year after the Gold Rush of '48-'49 filled it up with prospectors and others seeking fortune. It had previously been a territory of Mexico before being ceded in '48. Like Texas, many locals wanted it to become its own country. Unlike Texas, we had gold in them thar hills.

Much of California can be broken into Northern and Southern because the two regions offer very distinct lifestyles and cultures, and this is seen in good natured rivalry between NorCal and SoCal youths and young adults with too much time on their hands. The state is itself considered to be "liberal", owing in part due to NorCal's history of association with free thinking and hippie-liberal individuals in such locals as Berkeley, San Francisco, and the rest of the Bay Area. However, the populace of California is relatively split between Democrat and Republican, particularly on state government but leaning towards Democrat on federal elections. It has been the home of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, the former's Presidential library being 15 minutes from my mom's house.

Californian food is Mexican food, Asian food, and classic American. San Francisco once served as the Ellis Island of the West Coast, and the constant immigration into the state (legal and illegal) has led to a massive diversification of cuisine. Fusion is the order of the day in more upscale neighborhoods, while highly ethnic communities continue to offer "purer" forms of cuisine for those searching for the perfect burrito or lemon chicken. Seafood is also very popular due to the large coastal communities, and fresh seafood can be had almost anywhere you go.

Gentrification has helped rebuild much of the downtown communities of California that have suffered from urban blight, but there still continues to be a visible difference between the urban community and the suburban community. The cost of living in California, statewide, is among the highest in the nation. Also, Hollywood is very much a dump and has been for decades. Here, Rodeo drive and all its glitz are just blocks away from pawn shops, cheap porn stores, and bail bondsmen with gated storefronts tagged by the local gangs.

The people are laid back while retaining personal passion. They care very deeply, but only about certain things, otherwise it's all good. The typical outsider view of a Californian is the beach bum surfer, with long curly golden hair, tanned muscular body, and a marijuana induced smile. Quite often, they're not too far off. Except the hair looks that way thanks to a $40 hair cut, the tan is spray on or from a tanning bed, and the marijuana smile was whitened by the dentist. Plastic looks are the other stereotype and this is VERY true. Religions come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors.

That's really about all I've got, seeing as I've not actually lived there for over two years now.

[KODAMA]

Hey there forums, I'm from NY state.
Not to be confused with NYC. That's the dirty, filthy place.

We're known for apples and way to many deer.
If you hit one, don't feel bad. Just call a trooper to move it off the lane.

Also, we think New Jersey sucks. I'm not sure why. I hear their drivers are bad.

Our state governor is blind and black.
It's not really his fault but we get taxed loads but we're still mad broke.

[McDuffies]

yeah, pretty much exactly that. I think the type of landscape is called Karst, or something like that.

Karst is more like carbonate, blocky, layered mountains that are typical of Bosnia. I thought that Fruska Gora is a different type.

but I think we should talk about europe too. Speaking of the Balkans I tend to not put much separation in terms of culture. Even though I do know there's a lot of difference or there wouldn't be so much separation and fighting and stuff.

I don't know, I think that differences are mostly in details which will, normally, escape foreigner's eye. Like, types of music can be very different to me, but they'll all have distinct east-european vibe and will sound similar to foreigners.
Also if there's diversity, it's in regions that don't always match state borders. Northern serbian culture, for instance, has a lot of similarity with northern croatian and hungarian regions, while far west of Serbia has more in common with Bosnia than with far east, where dialect is similar to bulgarian language. They are small states with overlaping cultures, reliant on each other, and you'll often have troubles determining where some, I dunno, song or national meal originates from. You prolly won't be able to determine for sure even where Tesla is from.

A quick walkthrough:
West Balkan is pretty much consisting from ex Yugoslavian states, plus Albania.
Far western upper corner of Balkan is Slovenia. It's a small state populated by hard-working blonde people who managed to minimize the war damage and join EU pretty quickly (so far the only ex-Yu state that is in EU), being close to central Europe surely helped. They're mountainy, perpetually-skiing state that has a lot in common with some regions of Austria. Slovenian language is considerably different from serbian, I can't understand it very much.

Croatia... there's a lot to say about rivalry between Serbia and Croatia. Basically both nations believe that they should be the most influential and forward nations in west Balkans, and that all surrounding nations should be looking up to them. This, of course, happens to neither of us. Another part of rivalrly comes from the fact that they're Catholics and we are Orthodox, which is what much of animosity and in 90ies was built upon.
Croatia is arch-shaped around Bosnia, and as far as diversity goes, lower part of the arch on sea coast is considerably different from upper, Panonian part of the arch. Central area around Zagreb is, again, a different story, as is Dubrovnik, an ancient trading center of the region in medieval times. They're probably in mentality similar to us, although it's said that they believe that we're much more backward than them. But that depends on the area, as I hear that we're well liked in parts that are further from us, not so much in parts closer to us. The main difference is Austro-hungarian influence instead of our, Turkish.
However most of animosity is on the surface. I can testify that countercultures of Serbia and Croatia have always been connected and reliant upon each other. The fact that I mostly read croatian comic issues (better selection) and that you can find them in comic shops here, speaks for itself. Croatian tv shows are regularly shown on our tv. Also, zagreb always had a good rock, as did a few other cities.

As some might know, I consider Bosnia my second homeland. I am half-Bosnian (bosnian Serb, to be precise) and spent my childhood there. Bosnia is a rather nice country with abundance of mountains, but when you climb on top of the mountain, you usually meet great sights, chilly weather and cities scarcely arranged on the hills.
Bosna (full name Bosnia and Herzegovina, after it's two regions back in Yugoslavia) is populated by three nations: Bosniaks (bosnian moslems), Serbs and Croatians. It has an exit on mediteranian sea, a whole few miles of it.
Bosnians are stereotypically believed to be the nicest, warmest people in region, which I think is mostly true. In jokes, they are represented as very dumb. People from capitol Sarajevo have a specific sence of humor, popular accent, and a particular brand of folk-infused rock music that was enormously popular in Yugoslavia.
Bosniaks in particular are fine folks, unfortunately squeezed between two other megalomaniacal nations. My opinion is that after the war, they were the quickest to reach towards other nations to initiate reconciling, but politics and big interests got mixed up. Not having their separate national state, I think that Bosniaks were always aware just how strong connections between nations here have to be. Unfortunately, Bosnia is nowadays the poorest, most politically unstable country in Europe, with largest social gap (well, not counting Kosovo). Very unstable region where Powers That Be and awfully corrupted political leaders never allowed real reconciliation between nations.

East of Bosnia and Croatia are we. South, wedged between Bosnia and Serbia is Montenegro. It's a small state, largely dependent on it's seaside tourism. Montenegrians are in jokes stereotypically represented as lazy and unrealistically self-confident.
There's a joke where Montenegrians want to declare a war on USA because they heard that every country that has lost war to USA is now a powerful and rich global force. Then someone asks "but what if we win?"
A big part of their population believes that Montenegrins are actually serbian sub-section. Whether this is true or not, being small, they're very reliant on Serbia and large population of Montenegrins lives here. What defined Montenegro is their geography of very steep mountains; they descend from warrior tribes scarced around mountains, and lot of that tribal spirit is still present; they've never been neither under Otoman empire or Austro-Hungaria, because of their inacessible terrain and tribal warrior spirit.

South of Serbia is Albania and Macedonia. Macedonia is a lovely, hilly country with great folk music in 7/8 timing (*looks at Phact*) and great wines. Unfortunately it's also poor, poorer even than us. They're definitely the nation that yearns the most after Yugoslavia. Like Slovenians, they speak different language, but I can understand lots of it as it's similar to southern dialects of serbian, alas with different sentence construction and a lot of words that in Serbian are considered archaisms. They're another small nation that is very reliant of their neighbours, particularly us.
Macedonians claim ancient greek state of Macedonia and it's famous leader Alexander the Great (and conservely Cleopatra, I guess) as their cultural heritage. But actually, it's not, as today's Macedonians descend from slavic tribe that took name after the region that they moved in. This causes a lot of friction with Greece which reportedly puts a veto on accepting Macedonians into various international institutions.
Macedonians, like us, use cyrillic alphabet along with latinic, unlike other states where cyrillic isn't used.

Albania is the only west-Balkan country that wasn't in Yugoslavia and also isn't slavic. For most of 20th century it was under the most repressive communist regime next to China, and is still suffering consequences of long cultural isolation and destructive economical policy. But I hear they're working on it.

Between Albania and Serbia is Kosovo, either a former or current far southern serbian area, depending on who you ask. It's now mostly populated with Albanian people, with considerable serbian minority in north. As you might know, Serbia refuses Kosovo independence, altough it has no control over it's institutions whatsoever. But even without that, status of Kosovo is iffy, as it isn't really a self-sufficient state. Some believe that it will eventually either join Albania or re-join Serbia or, I dunno, became USA's military base or something. Anyways it's something of a wasteland, without much culture or economy to speak of, all of it being ruined by decades of violent conflicts and terror.

Eastern Balkan is mostly occupied by Bulgaria. We used to look down at bulgarians back in Yugoslavian time, as it was suffering under powerty and USSR's puppet regime, but now tables have kind of turned. Possibly, I'm not sure, Bulgaria is a member of EU, but reportedly they still have lower standard of living than us. I don't know much of Bulgarian culture, I hear that it's been poorer than ours (for instance, no tv production until 90ies). At times Bulgarians were considered Yugoslavia's closest partner being both slavic, Orthodox-christian and using cyrillic alphabet (even considered becaming a part of Yugoslavian union once in history); at other times we were in war with them, usually over Macedonia. East and south Serbians very easily understand bulgarian language. I don't get a word of it.
Oh and their type of vocal harmonizing in folk music is very popular here, thanks to Goran Bregovic.

Greece is occupying south of peninsula. I don't think that there's much of acient helenic left in them, I think that Otoman influences are nowadays much stronger. I mean, one would expect a strikingly different culture, their being predominantly helenic and our slavic, but asides from those strange letters they use, it's not. It's said that in major cities like Atina and Solun everyone speaks serbian as for a long time they've been our fancy place for seaside vacation.

Hungaria and Romania don't geografically belong to Balkan, being north of Danube, but I've seen them often lumped in the group because of cultural similarities.

Hungary is north of us, continental state often considered a part of central Europe. They belong to ugro-finic group of nations together with Finnish, making their language drastically different from all surrounding languages. With Slovenians, they're prolly most progressive of all nations I named, despite another USSR-puppet ex-regime, it's probably due to closeless to central europe, and due to agriculture - their land is flat as a pancake and very fertile.
As you imagine, boring for sight-seeing, but that's why their capitol Budapest is said to be one of prettiest towns in Europe. This is partly due to their great moment of history, when they became one of two constitutive nations in great Austro-hungarian empire, and during that time Budapest doubled as capitol with Vienna.
We tend to like Hungarian tamboura-driven folk music. They also have some good directors, particularly known for veeery slooow-moving films. Our stereotype of Hungarians is that their women are very promiscuous.

Romania is north of Bulgaria, largest country of all mentioned, another ex-USSR colony with one of more famous tyranical regimes behind them. They're nominally romanian nation, that is, close in language and heritage to Italians and French, but what with all the mixing here, that's somewhat dubious. They're best known for Transylvania and Dracula, although it's said that vampires were originally serbian myth before Bram Stoker placed them in Romania.

Emir Kusturica would like you to think that all Serbs are whimsical, fairy-tale creatures who know how to fly, but we actually aren't.

We're... we're not?

According to Makavejev we're sex-crazed ideologists. That's closer, I think.

I've decided where I want to go after London and Spain and Greece and Italy. Serbia. Before I leave Europe, I'm going to party with McDuffies.

That would be fun! Someone would probably try to teach you a few swears, claiming that they actually mean "good day".

[MixedMyth]

Northern Cali actually reminded me a lot of Spain. Golden hills, great weather. Okay, except maybe that northern Cali also has evergreen forests. Oh man, I love the sequoias. Those are some BIG trees.

A word on languages in the US. Largely, we do tend to assimilate the cultures of immigrants rather than melding with them, but this isn't always true. Up until the early 1900s it was quite common to hear German, for example, in small midwestern towns...but then WWI happened and it became rather unpopular. I know of one state that actually BANNED speaking in other languages. I'm pretty sure that would not have held up in court, however, and is vastly unconstitutional. The US does not technically have an official state language. And with the recent massive waves of hispanic immigrants, more and more signs are in both spanish and english. And there are still a lot of tightly knit communities that speak their own languages, especially districts in cities, refugee communities, and the Amish. However, we really do need to start teaching secondary languages in grade school. The reason why people think Americans only speak English is because we don't start in on languages until high school, which is waaay too late to become proficient unless you make it your focus.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

However, we really do need to start teaching secondary languages in grade school. The reason why people think Americans only speak English is because we don't start in on languages until high school, which is waaay too late to become proficient unless you make it your focus.

Agreed. In my hometown, each of the four elementary school districts got taught a different language starting in third grade when I was there and then gradually getting younger- we learned French, another school was taught Mandarin and the other two both got Spanish I guess. But then you get to middle school and they start teaching you stuff from the beginning all over again. I guess that's because we're a small district and they wouldn't have enough kids in each class to justify making different levels of the language, and they wanted kids to have the opportunity to start over with a new language if they wanted to change from what they'd been learning in elementary school.

But our language learning (at least in our town) was very unstructured and pretty unreliable. I've learned more in the two semesters I've taken French at college than I learned probably all throughout high school French, and I definitely don't feel fluent even with that. I'm pretty sure that if I went to France and tried to interact with anyone they'd spot me as a dumb American right away and not want to have anything more to do with me, and I wouldn't even really blame them

[Yeahduff]

and the state of Washington. On one side of the mountains, they are desert. On the other side they are rainy evergreen forests. In fact, Washington sports temperate rain forests.

I think that this is the state that is mentioned the least often. I don't know if most of non-Americans even know it exists.

Nah, you've heard of Seattle, right? Least known state here and abroad has to be Delaware.

[Dr Legostar]

and the state of Washington. On one side of the mountains, they are desert. On the other side they are rainy evergreen forests. In fact, Washington sports temperate rain forests.

I think that this is the state that is mentioned the least often. I don't know if most of non-Americans even know it exists.

Nah, you've heard of Seattle, right? Least known state here and abroad has to be Delaware.

oddly, according to google analytics Delaware is the state my site gets the least hits from.