Romania
I've been to Romania several times (mostly Bucharest) and the last time (about 4 years ago) things had visibly and noticeably improved over previous times. Oddly places that might be of interest (like the site of Ceausescu's last speech a five minute walk from where I always stay) are kind of neglected.
I don't know how the country has dealt with covid though I've heard they haven't done a bad job in maintaining general healthcare (unlike Poland which has seen a mass shutdown).
Still, despite the improvement noticeably poorer than Poland with worse infrastructure (look at a ten story Romanian apartment building and then try to complain about Polish bloki... I dare you).
Service is.... mixed. On one trip twice cashiers tried to short change me but a couple of (polie!) words in Romanian and they immediately backed down and gave me the right change with apologies.
Overall though people are friendly and if you know a Romance language it's easy to pick up survival Romanian (and you might start understanding bits and pieces of conversations you overhear).
Romanian body language is very similar to Polish and many young women manage to combine Slavic and Romance looks in an... intriguing way.
Gypsies are a noticeable presence and they are usually up to activities that make a normal person feel worse for having them around....
Although I'm not a believer Poland was lucky to have the RC church during communism as it helped prevent some of the worst excesses in corruption, crime and violence that plagued more secular countries.
Romania in a few songs (a few years old)
Manele is the gypsy dominated Romanian equivalent of disco polo but often much more listenable...
This is a duet with the then queen of the genre (Denisa) and a very Indian looking guy, title: With closed eyes I'd also see
youtube.com/watch?v=bMt06xnqXbs
Lidia Buble (more conventional pop singer with a catchy number, title: I've also told the girls
youtube.com/watch?v=ccvs-fexwZM
What's up with a song that reminds me so much of early 1990s Poland that it's uncannny, title: Taxi
youtube.com/watch?v=irDhEwgRRMs
Romanian music is overall a lot more.... vital than Polish music partly because radio stations were/are? required to play a certain percent of local music and so they had an interest in supporting and helping musicians develop in ways that have never really happened in Poland...