Croatian here, although I was a child when Yugoslavia fell apart (born in 1982.), I remember many details about life back then - and in certain aspects, it was better.

I had no notion of Croatians, Serbians, Slovenians, Macedonians.. we were all Yugoslavian, with slightly different accents. To this day, I've friends in all ex-yugoslavian countries and the feeling I get about them is that of brotherhood, not friendship.

We could go to seaside at any point for free or enjoy national parks.

Nowadays, it's cheaper if I fly to Thailand for 2 weeks. It costs me less than a week at my own country's seaside. National parks are overcrowded and deteriorating, and rightist-nationalism ruins the interaction for people like us - who don't hate and just want to get along and enjoy life together.

There was plenty of food and I particularly remember comics, especially characters called Raja, Gaja and Vlaja :)

The only thing I feel sorry for is the animosity that was stirred up because of selfish reasons, the feeling of brotherhood and ability to enjoy the land's natural beauties was something special. I hope that one day we can have all the good back without the negatives.

Stay safe brothers and take care!

Unless i know you, you can add another to your sample. I’m exactly like your friend. I grew up in Yugoslavia and likewise, i find it hard to identify as (north) Macedonian. It was, at least for some of us a really great society to grow up in. I miss it many aspects of that life.