Impressions from the business trip to Slovenia

Last week I had chance to visit Slovenia again. It was a two-days business trip this time. The trip was successful in business terms, but it was interesting to see Ljubljana again and compare it to my impressions from 2005, from more than five years ago.

Well, I must say that I feel quite the same about the country. It's a beautiful land with nice compact capital. Its people are hard-working yet also relaxed. Slovenian mentality in general is close to me.

As five years ago, I found quite many similarities between Estonia and Slovenia:

• Small country, small nation;
• Economically and socially most successful country of its kind (ex-USSR and ex-Yugoslavia respectively);
• Despite that success, people are complaining about the standards of leaving, preferring to compare themselves to Finland or Switzerland, rather than to the countries with similar history;
• Beautiful old town in the capital, surrounded by grey ugly buildings from Communist era (luckily, many of them have gotten a lift-up in the recent years).

These observations are quite superficial, as I have not spent too much time in Slovenia. One obvious difference is climate. While in Tallinn and Oslo it was between -2 and -5, snow laying down everywhere and me trying not to fall down on slippery roads, there was around +10 in Ljubljana, first flowers visible in parks and first days without the jacket experienced by me.
 

All in all, Slovenia is definitely one of few countries I could imagine myself living if I was to choose freely.