My exchange destination was Slovenia, of which I had almost no prior knowledge until very close to my departure. Going to a country I knew little of was an exciting prospect, and I knew just enough to not consider it a bad place to end up. At the end of my studies here, I can only thank myself for making this choice, although I’m sure many other countries are also full of opportunities and experiences waiting to be collected.
When I started my Erasmus journey, I thought living abroad would be something completely different from living at home in Finland. Slovenia however turned out to feel quite similar. The city of Maribor is very clean, and the atmosphere similar to many Finnish cities. One time during a trip to Ljubljana, us Finnish guys noted that if you were knocked out and transported from Helsinki to Ljubljana, you might not notice much difference besides everyone speaking a completely foreign language.
During my exchange, I’ve gathered so many experiences and met dozens of different people, all the while trying out new activities and even getting back to the gym routine I had dropped a few years back. The studies have been difficult in some part, mostly due to the fact they still do programming exams on paper (keep that in mind when going for an exchange). Otherwise there was a manageable amount of work to do, and the schedule was filled with free-time activities arranged for exchange students, especially during the first month.
The location is great, one hour from Austrian border and close to a number of other countries you might want to visit. The tap water is also exquisite. So far I have traveled to a few neighbouring countries to see and experience the world, and I also got a custom tour from a local friend whose hometown we visited, detailing the history, strategic importance and notable locations in the town. There were also many experiences I never expected to happen, such as myself hiking up a 1km+ tall hill (which I thought was a mountain) along with 9 other people of 6 different nationalitites. Speaking of which, hiking is something easy to start in Maribor, as it is surrounded by beautiful hilly landscape and great weather in the spring.
Of course I can’t end the post without mentioning the Slovenian student food coupon system. Every month each student gets coupons for each weekday of the month, which you can then spend in a variety of restaurants and grills in Slovenia, up to two a day with a minimum of 4 hours between usage. The coupons carry over to the next month, though they will be cancelled immediately upon the end of your Erasmus end date. With these coupons a student can eat cheaply and well, in some cases 4€ was enough to eat a lunch and pack the rest for another meal at home.
Overall the exchange has definitely been worth it. I would highly recommend anyone interested to go for it, and Maribor is the perfect city to head to!
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