If you are then let me know. Depending on what area/state you're in I can set you up with a place to stay during your trip.

Sounds like a potential plot for a much needed spinoff, Hostel: USA

Good to know. My longtime desire is to visit New York.

Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas would be fine too, but New York is New York. The rest of the USA, I'm not interested.

You need to see the real US (Midwest and the South). I lived in the South for some time, great people (both white and black), the exact opposite of rednecks.

I'm sure those places are kind of interesting. We Europeans should firstly meet Europe. There are such great places all over Europe, such as in France (the whole France is marvellous, not just Paris), Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italia...

I'd like to see New York, LA, Las Vegas and Miami (Florida). Enough for the beginning.

Miami was awesome - I got sunburnt to a crisp in March.

Las Vegas, got bored after 1 day. No good if you don't like stage shows and you don't gamble. Maybe I'll go back if I can get my card counting skills back.

No interest in NY and LA.

I will probably visit the US soon. Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

That's in my neck of the woods? What are you coming to do?

Really? I am going to visit som relatives, probably going to stay at their place in Hartford, Connecticut.

@Becar Stari, are you old school Croatian diaspora in the US? Or more recent?

What do you define as recent vs. old school?

PS: If you plan on being in Western PA PM me.

By recent diaspora I am referring to the ones that came to the US as a result of the latest war. By old school I mean the ustashoid diaspora that came in the years after the WW2.

Old school. My parents came here in the early 80s and I was born in the early 80s. My mom originally came to the U.S. in the 60s as a child because her family had to flee the communists and my dad came in 80 because he got into some political trouble there as well. None of my family were Partizani in ww2 either.

I guess old "Ustashoid" is one way of putting it.

Not saying that's the case here, but I've found that's generally a bit of an exaggeration and a tall-tale to get some diaspora street cred. Often, when I start pressing for details, they turn very vague and generic in terms of their explanation. Or it turns out they are talking about some second cousin or mum's uncle - ie people not directly related to the "patriotic plight" which led to their exodus. There's no real shame in saying that there was no work for them (which could have been either a result of active or passive discrimination) and that's why they bailed out. Unless the person in question did some hard time in one of the KPDs, then it doesn't really count.

Virtually all emigrants from the communist time Yugoslavia were political emigrants. If you have no job, does it really matter if the reason is active or passive discrimination or no discrimination at all? Communism was the core reason, but it could manifest itself in many different forms - not having job being the most common.

I'm aware of what you're talking about but the claims here are well detailed. It's along story to lay out right now and I prefer to keep some of it private. Lack of work was certainly an issue which is why my uncle was a gastarbeiter that eventually ended up in the U.S. and was able to help move my dad here. My dida's story though, much more 'epic' than my dads. Don't worry, I'm not trying to buy 'street cred' here. lol

Where do you live? In PA?

Pittsburgh. I'm originally from San Pedro (Los Angeles), CA though.

Where are there large concentrations of Croats? I know there are a lot of Serbs in Chicago and Bosniaks in St.Louis.

Yes, you're right about Serbs. Their strongest concentrations tend to be Chicago, IL and Milwaukee, WI. Bosniaks are extremely numerous in St Louis, MO and even in other places like Utica, NY.

Croats have the largest traditional community in Pittsburgh, PA (where I am currently) but also Cleveland, OH; Chicago, IL, Astoria, NY; San Pedro(Los Angeles), CA, Reno and Las Vegas, NV. There's even a significant community in Aberdeen, WA and San Jose, CA, and New Orleans, LA and the Mississippi area.

Of all the Ex-Yu groups in the United States, Croats are the largest by 3x or 4x when compared to our homeland neighbors here. That's mostly due to immigration which started decades ago with several bursts of immigration. First wave was the 19th century industrial America. A lot of those Croats were from Dalmatia who were merchants and fishermen going all around the world. Quite a few of them decided to 'stay' in America once they got here. Another burst of immigration happened after WW1 and between the world wars, and another happened during and after WW2 up to the homeland war in the 90s. Ever since Croatian independence in the 90s Croatian immigration to America has virtually stopped and barely exists anymore. Our communities here tend to be older with some 90s war immigrants mixed in.

Becar: what made you come to this forum?

With 2-3 more active members who are native English speakers, we could debate all BH political topics in English.
That would be so helpful in improving English.

Lider, I think you've made a huge progress with your English in the last few years.

Just noting.

I hope it's not just that the subsequent versions of Google translate have gotten better?

I'm using GT for my Spanish. But soon I'll be a native Spanish speaker.

Bilingual forum. I like the idea. Becar Stari could improve his Croatian while the others could practice more their written English.

In that case, we should agree upon some guidelines. Perhaps Herzeg-Bosnia politics to be discussed in English, international politics in Croatian?

Otherwise, Becar will not improve his Croatian at all.

Thank you.

Tremendous progress. Tremendous.