Your experience of culture shock in Slovenia

Slovenia is a great country to visit for a weekend.

The beautiful Soca river and scenic countryside make it an interesting place to visit. Working there is another story.

Be prepared to pay, pay, pay. Every little thing costs money. You need to pay for health insurance, an accountant, and rent EVERY MONTH!

My total was about 800 euros per month. Health insurance was 300, rent 300 and accountant 100 plus other misc. items.

How the heck I had to pay an accountant 100 euros per month was insane to me. You can get cheaper ones, but be prepared for a nightmare of paperwork you'll have to do. The amount of paperwork needed to stay in the country is an all out crime.

Everything from an FBI criminal background check with the appropriate apostille to the confusing bureaucracy which will leave your head spinning once you've gone to 5 different departments all telling you they aren't who you're looking for. Stamp here and a stamp there, pay here, pay there, wait here, stamp here, pay here, stamp, pay, wait, stamp, pay. After a while you start thinking to yourself, “Is this place worth it?”

Then six months later you'll be hit with some surprise tax or form that needs to be filled out, so you go to your accountant, pay, wait, stamp. By then, it's been almost a year and you can start all over again.

Registering a car is a whole other story with a similar plot. “Why in the name of all that is good am I here?” you ask yourself.

The people are nice, but to be honest, they're boring. They can be full of themselves as they were the “princess of the ball” of Yugoslavia and I think they think they're something extra special.

After having spent time in Poland, UK, Czech Republic, and Thailand, I can assure you, the only culture shock you'll experience is just how dull their lives are.

They brag how they can speak 6 languages, but what can you expect from a country that is literally the size of a few counties in the US?

They have 500 different dialects all claiming to be so masterfully different from each other, but in my opinion, it was the same thing with different slang. I'm not bitter, just felt I should share the facts and prevent someone else from choosing this mediocre, overly bureaucratic place.

Go to Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, or even Serbia and have an experience of a lifetime.

I'm sure the bureaucratic b.s. is the same, but you'll be in a country where there's something interesting happening.

Slovenia is a place where you'd go if you were 65 years old and retired.