Blogs from Upper Carniola, Slovenia, Europe - page 51

A word about my friends here in Slovenia I think is in order. I think that I have scarcely mentioned them since my arrival, but they have been an integral part of my cultural exposure and adaptation since I arrived here in Ljubljana. It really is amazing when I sit back and think about it now. This is because the international community here in Ljubljana numbers around 180 foreign students, which is not an incredible number; however, it is very well organized and tight knit. There are activities for us nearly every day of the week. A normal week might go like this: Monday, meeting at Parlament (a pub) at 21.00 where the schedule for the week is distributed and we have the opportunity to socialize with the other international students; Tuesday, some activity like a ... read more

One of the more interesting challenges that a person has to deal with when they arrive in a foreign country is logistics—the movement of yourself from one place to another. There a few factors that make this difficult: one, you usually know nothing about the city in which you have just arrived; two, the maps that you get at tourist offices are almost ALWAYS ridiculously inaccurate, hard to read, and maybe a little better than the map that you might have from the travel guidebook that you purchased before leaving; three, language makes any type of communication and understanding exponentially more difficult. Then if you’re attempting to use the public transportation; forget about it! You’re in for an adventure every time you step out the door. The product of this logistics nightmare usually means that your ... read more

First, The Traveler’s Manifesto for the next year and a half. Let’s lay out the initial plan and see what happens to the plan as it morphs and the world turns as I travel across its great expanse. For a quick summary, I’m currently in Ljubljana, Slovenia studying for the next 5 months. Thenceforth, I am planning on traveling to various countries in Eastern Europe namely Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, the Ukraine, and Estonia before moving into Asia. The first stop in Asia will be Russia likely followed by India, and then Nepal if the border has been reopened. From there I’d like to tour a little bit in Tibet followed by S. China, Mayanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. Then I’ll move onto the land ... read more

The bus is the best way to get to Bled apparently unless you have plenty of time then go by train. Not sure how that works but we got on the bus. I think costing 1000 SIT as everything seems to. It took between 1 and 2 hours to get there and when we arrived we headed straight to our apartment to dump our bags. We had an apartment for five as we like space, or some mates failed to come. This time we couldn’t allow others to share, as it wasn’t a hostel. The girl on reception at the sister hotel was hot, a definite 11/11 (new scale). We was going to stay in Bled for 5 days and that would be the end of our pre-booked accommodation, after that we need to book fast ... read more

As we let others stay in the room we waited until they were up and gone before getting up, still made it up for breakfast tho (see photo as evidence). The first night it was a Turk from Manchester and a Brit from London. The Turk did his naked exercises in the morning with lots of moans and grunts (no photo of this you just have to believe me, it wasn't pretty). Today we visited a castle. Ljubljana castle is situated on one side of the river up a hill (nice spot for a castle, may come across other good situations throughout our travels). Cost 1000 SIT for a walk up a tower. There was a restaurant and a monk selling wine. Not bad view tho. ... read more