AIBU to think Albanians have a bad reputation

[kukeslala]

and why?

If you put 'Albanian strerotype' into google it throws up a lot of sites, some run by Serbs, Croats, Macedonians etc, some with personal experiences predominantly by western women who have travelled in the region.

I don't think I know any Albanians. All I know about Albania is that they once had a King Zog, Norman Wisdom is much revered, they grow lemons and olives, Top Gear drove through it and it had nice mountains and it's a dirt poor country.

One night, when we were walking past an East European nightclub in the industrial city in Eastern Australia where my university was, a man came running out with blood pouring from his back which showed up very clearly against his billowing white shirt. Another man ran after him shouting and he was holding a knife. A group of other men in turn followed him to restrain him.It turned out they were both Albanian and after that, I'd notice newspaper articles at fairly regulatly intervals saying that men of Albanian origin had got into a knife fight. They were nearly always quite handsome though.

sorry, on phone. regular intervals.

Hello there

We just wanted to remind you that while this is an interesting and enlightening thread, please be careful not to make negative generalisations about entire nations of people.

Albanians... They love to pretend they are Italians, said my Italian boss.
Met 1 albanian, he was a JWitness and he was nice. Do I have to think now all albanians are Jwitnesses and nice?

One of my dearest friends is Albanian, she came over to the UK to take her masters and PhD and would give you her last breath if you needed it. She lives and works in Albania and does despair at the corruption in HE but is fighting it along with many others....

It's systemic of such a drastic shift in the political environment and hopefully over time it will change... It is a shame that people judge based on a few but that applies across nations, for example my husband is from Northern Ireland..... Lots of old assumptions there

My sum knowledge - ex-King Leka married an australian making her the only aussie queen ever. Hoxha declared Albania the first ever atheist state and outlawed left-handedness apparently. Never heard anything about bad reputation.