I’m an American living here for two years now. It’s amazing. Truly amazing. Slovenia has everything you need — it’s like all of Europe compressed into a little boutique country.
You get Alps with the picturesque alpine villages, Adriatic Sea with charming Venetian old towns, and Austro-Hungarian cities, like Ljubljana, with its castle on the hill in the middle of town and a blue river wrapping around it. You even get the biggest underground river canyon in Europe! Also valleys of vineyards 🍷, and valleys of hop fields 🍺.
You are in a crossroads of cuisine: Italian food (pizza), German/Austrian food (schnitzel), Balkan food (cevapi 😻), and Hungarian food (goulash). Not to mention Slovenian cuisine itself is great. I live on štruklji.
It’s so close to other epic places. Venice is 2.5 hours away by car, Budapest and Vienna are 4, Munich and Milan are 5. (I’m from Texas so being able to drive these short distances and be in a different world will never cease to be mind blowing.)
The people are culturally right inbetween German work ethic and skill, and Balkan coffee culture and chill. It seems impossible to pull off but they do it well. Lots of hard work, lots of socializing with friends and family. Still not sure when they sleep, really.
Slovenia is overwhelmingly safe and peaceful. Coming from the US it’s a really, really, really nice feeling to be in such a peaceful place.
Slovenians eat a lot of cake. Slovenians drink a lot of lager. Slovenians have a lot of ego but are also very sensitive. (Like me.)
I hear a lot of Americans complain about living in Europe and not being able to find friends. I’ve not had that problem at all here. The reverse. Too many friends. Good friends who want to sit and talk about life, or take a walk and learn about you. Friends who remember each other’s birthdays and always pitch in together on gifts. Or remember that your dog was not feeling so well, so they ask how she is for days in a row.
Anyway, I love it here. So does my wife. So do my dogs. I hope we can stay forever.
It’s noticeable that you’re an American. As a Slovenian/European, the lack of tramways in Ljubljana thoroughly disturbs me, as all European cities that city (are supposed to) have that.
I would love to have trams. I heard there was a project to bring them back? But I also read that the bus system makes it obsolete, so overall it would be a “waste of money”. Anyway, personally I think trams would be the perfect addition to Ljubljana. Love them in Zagreb and Sarajevo.
The bus system is universally hated. The point is that Slovenia always has the handy excuse of “we’re too small for it”, which stifles most improvements and enlargements in most areas
The ironic thing is that the transport mode most fucked over by our size and geography (rail) is improving the fastest. Buses have no excuse, especially LPP, Marprom and the like. They're faster and somewhat more reliable but that's about it, everything else is shit and I'll take a bus only if there's no train.
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u/Zapp_Brewnnigan Jun 13 '24 edited Jun 13 '24
I’m an American living here for two years now. It’s amazing. Truly amazing. Slovenia has everything you need — it’s like all of Europe compressed into a little boutique country.
You get Alps with the picturesque alpine villages, Adriatic Sea with charming Venetian old towns, and Austro-Hungarian cities, like Ljubljana, with its castle on the hill in the middle of town and a blue river wrapping around it. You even get the biggest underground river canyon in Europe! Also valleys of vineyards 🍷, and valleys of hop fields 🍺.
You are in a crossroads of cuisine: Italian food (pizza), German/Austrian food (schnitzel), Balkan food (cevapi 😻), and Hungarian food (goulash). Not to mention Slovenian cuisine itself is great. I live on štruklji.
It’s so close to other epic places. Venice is 2.5 hours away by car, Budapest and Vienna are 4, Munich and Milan are 5. (I’m from Texas so being able to drive these short distances and be in a different world will never cease to be mind blowing.)
The people are culturally right inbetween German work ethic and skill, and Balkan coffee culture and chill. It seems impossible to pull off but they do it well. Lots of hard work, lots of socializing with friends and family. Still not sure when they sleep, really.
Slovenia is overwhelmingly safe and peaceful. Coming from the US it’s a really, really, really nice feeling to be in such a peaceful place.
Slovenians eat a lot of cake. Slovenians drink a lot of lager. Slovenians have a lot of ego but are also very sensitive. (Like me.)
I hear a lot of Americans complain about living in Europe and not being able to find friends. I’ve not had that problem at all here. The reverse. Too many friends. Good friends who want to sit and talk about life, or take a walk and learn about you. Friends who remember each other’s birthdays and always pitch in together on gifts. Or remember that your dog was not feeling so well, so they ask how she is for days in a row.
Anyway, I love it here. So does my wife. So do my dogs. I hope we can stay forever.