Ljubljana

Why Slovenia? An American in Ljubljana (Part II)

more than a year ago
Last time, we discussed why cobblestone, socialism, advertising and Rog's Pony bicycles all help to make Slovenia a better place to live than America. Here is some further evidence to support the same conclusion.

Slippers

Since your average tourist or business traveller is about as likely to see the inside of a local's house as they are to see a real dragon, most visitors unfortunately miss out on one of Slovenia's most charming traditions: slippers! Or more specifically, the pile of slippers that all Slovenes have next to their doors for guests to use. Cosy and comfortable, they make you feel at home. We still vividly remember my first slipper experience when we came to visit distant relatives in 2002.

Wedding convoys

For the record, we're personally opposed to weddings and sincerely hope that we never get forced into having to endure our own. But that being said, we always enjoy the incessant honking coming from convoys of flower and ribbon-adorned cars we hear every Saturday morning (except of course for when we're trying to sleep off a hangover).

Electrical plugs

These probably get overlooked as unnoticeable features of everyday life, but if you grow up in the States you don't realise how flimsy and cheap looking American-style electrical plugs are until you experience the European variety. Of course ours are less than half the voltage (which we assume is somehow more efficient), but on purely aesthetic grounds European plugs can't be beat. Although while we're on the subject we have to say that those British 3-prong monsters are absolutely ridiculous looking.

Accents

Other than the regional accents of some native-speakers - see anywhere in rural America or northern Britain for evidence - and speakers of most Asian languages, virtually every accent in English automatically makes a person more attractive and interesting - good for at least half a point on the classic 10-point attractiveness scale (which since we originally wrote this, has become an official unit of measure under the Trump administration). While the Slovene English accent isn't necessarily at the top of the list, it's a definite plus.

The Slovene version of this article appears in the 16 November 2009 issue of Ljubljana's City Magazine. You can read Part III here, and if you missed Part I it's here.

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