Tips for studying abroad in Ljubljana – Study abroad in Ljubljana

1. Tips for studying abroad in Ljubljana – Study abroad in Ljubljana
2. How to get to Ljubljana – Getting to Ljubljana by plane, train, bus or car
3. Public transport in Ljubljana
4. Accommodation for students in Ljubljana & Cost of living
5. Save money in Ljubljana - Tips for living in Ljubljana on a student budget
6. Ljubljana neighbourhoods – The most important districts of Ljubljana
7. Ljubljana Nightlife – A guide to nightclubs and going out in Ljubljana’s
8. Where to eat in Ljubljana – Slovenian cuisine and gastronomy in Ljubljana
9. The best things to do in Ljubljana
10. Festivals in Ljubljana – Festivals and events in Ljubljana
11. Day trips from Ljubljana – Places to visit and Excursions around Ljubljana
12. Ljubljana in 3 days – what to see and do in 3 days

If you are from Western Europe, going East for an Erasmus might not come to your mind in the first place. The universities might promote countries they have agreements with for a long time already and where you can speak English/ Spanish or French not only at the campus but also on the streets. Furthermore Slovenia might not be on your screen as it is such a small country and not everyone talks about it. So going there will be something different as every country has its charm and originality and this one is so small but seems to have everything you need for an Erasmus.

Slovenia is located in southern Central Europe and it has borders with Italy (to the west), Austria (to the north), Hungary (to the northeast), Croatia (to the south and southeast) and the Adriatic Sea (to the southwest). The population of Slovenia is about 2.06 million people and Ljubljana (the capital, translated it means “the loved one”) inhabits 278 850 of them. Maribor’s population is about 95 430 people and in Celje it is about 38 080. Nowadays Slovenia is a parliamentary republic and member of the United Nations, the European Union and the NATO. It is one of the most water-rich countries in Europe and has significant karst underground watercourses. More than half of Slovenia is covered by forest. There are over 10 000 caves in the country, it has 46km of coastline and there are still over 400 Brown Bears (but I guess you won’t see any of them, just if you got lost in the forest somewhere, so do not worry). Hayracks are very traditional in Slovenia and if you drive around by bus or with a car, you will see many of them in the fields.

Things to prepare before going to Ljubljana

Money

Throughout of history Slovenia has been ruled by other Kingdoms and governments until 1991 actually. The country then finally managed to declare its independence within a 10 days war (the first war in Europe after World War II. ) and its currency was the Tolar until then (the word comes from the German word “Taler” which means a coin). Since 1st of May 2004 Slovenia is a member of the EU and the country decided to change to Euro on 01st January 2007. If you are from a European country then that also has the Euro, paying with money in Slovenia will be no problem. If you come from the Scandinavian countries in which use Crowns or from Poland with its Zloty, you might need to convert a little going shopping or to the cinema. For Norwegians it would mean that 1 NOK is 0,11€ and for Polish it means that 1zl is 0,24€. If you want to exchange money before coming to Slovenia you can do that although most of the banks offer Credit cards which you can use everywhere paying a small fee to the bank then at ATMs. Going to exchange offices will most probably more expensive, especially at the train stations or the airport, so the better option is to get the money straight out of the ATM and pay mostly by card.

Documents required

If your University proposed you as an Erasmus student and the University of Ljubljana accepted you, paperwork will be coming.

Of course, you have to prepare your Learning Agreement.

This is the paper in which one finds the courses you will take at the foreign university. In some cases your coordinator from your home university will send you a link from Ljubljana University of the course catalogue, so you can already see what they offer. It depends on your department if you have to take certain courses to fulfill your study profile or if you can choose freely in a certain field of study e. g. social work, linguistics or physic. The most important point is that you take as much courses as you fill a number of 30 ECTS because this is required in one term the get the scholarship of Erasmus.

This Learning Agreement “before departure” will be signed by your University and the University of Ljubljana. You should bring this document to the country as well as all other documents you might receive from your or the other University. Ljubljana University sends their students usually a “welcome package” in which they can get some information about the city already and needed documents they need to bring with them. During your stay the courses on your Learning Agreement might change a bit (or a lot), so being in contact about that with your coordinator and the international coordinator of Ljubljana University is very important. After your stay you need to get the signed and stamped Transcript of Record from University Ljubljana. By showing this one to your home university and writing an Erasmus experience report, you will get the last third of your Erasmus funding on your bank account.

• The other very important document is a valid health insurance for Slovenia. It depends on your health insurance if they cover the European Union as well for no matter how long, for a certain time of period (3 to 6 months) or not at all. You should take care about this issue some months before arrival as administration might be slow sometimes and if you have to get an extra insurance for abroad, you can compare to find the cheapest/ best option for your needs.
• You also might want to contract a travel insurance for your luggage if you have more than one suitcase you take with you or change flights to come to Ljubljana.
• The most important document is (of course) your passport. Member from the EU can take their ID Card and everything should be fine. Nevertheless I recommend to bring also the passport if you want to travel a bit in the Eastern European Countries. Most of the border controls accept an ID Card but due to the refugee crisis in 2015 and the unstable situation in Montnegro/ Kosovo, it is better to be sure instead of being stuck in a country because of strict border controls. For the other countries that are not EU-members but part of the Erasmus Agreement, a passport is fine. Make sure that it is valid the whole period of your stay to avoid unwanted surprises.

  Students from Turkey for example need to apply for a visa before getting to Slovenia. This can take some time as well as it includes running from one administration office to the other so you should do that in advance.

• I would also recommend to bring your vaccination card (if you have one) as you never know what might happen during your stay and in terms of sickness you might have to go to the medical center. It is always good to have her vaccination card with you then so the doctors know more about your health history (this might be especially helpful because of the language barrier).
• If you have an extra bank account for Slovenia or if you need something from your bank to bring with you so you are sure that there will be no problems with withdrawing money, bring it as well but be very careful with TANs and Pins. Try to encrypt them so that if you loose this paper no one else can easily get access to you account.
• Another if: If you want to rent a car in Slovenia to do some trips, a valid driving license might be helpful to bring as well. For the company that rents car to international students in Ljubljana the license from your country is enough, you don’t need to request for an international driving license.
• Last but not least copies are the most important to bring with you! Make several copies of your passport, ID Card, Learning Agreement (if you want to), Health Insurance card or paper, the vaccination card and your driving license. Maybe copies from the passports of your parents might be needed as well if the landlords asks for them. If you loose something or want to take something with you but not the original, the copies are a nice little helper in everyday life.

Language

In Slovenia the people speak Slovenian which is a Slavic language and belongs to the Indo-European language family. If you say now that the people from the neighbour countries would understand Slovenian or have many similarities because some of the Eastern languages are really similar, this is not so true. As Slovenia has been ruled by so many different cultures, the influences of the language are vast: from Slavic people from the Alps, the Romans, Czech and Slovak. It will definitely be easier for Croatians, Slovaks and people from Czech Republic to learn Slovenian and there are similar words in their languages and Slovenian.

For Foreigners from e. g. England, Finland, Germany or Spain it might be very difficult to get into contact with Slovenian as it does not show similarities in Grammar or Vocabularies to these languages. Ljubljana University offers an intensive language course each term before the courses start and many foreigner take it. Also during the term it is possible to do a course, only that places are limited and if you did not get informed by your coordinator or the University of Ljubljana about these language courses, the chance to get a spot might be to zero. So if you feel encouraged to learn Slovenian during your stay, inform yourself early about the options and try to get a place.

Most of the foreign students choose courses out of the catalogue that are in English. As the University of Ljubljana is ranked among the top 500 of the world’s best universities on the Shanghai, Times and Webometrics ranking lists, the University is prepared for exchange students and offer a lot of courses in English. To show some statistics: In 2016 about 40 000 students studied at Ljubljana University and 2,345 of them were foreign students.

As in the university surroundings English is a common language and especially the student generation can speak it mostly fluent, in everyday life English is not used regularly. Bus drivers, shop owners and sport instructor speak in Slovenian and their English skills are sometimes very little. But no worries, even if you do not understand what a sign or a person is saying, somehow you find your way through the language barrier (sign language and a smile can be quite helpful with that).

Here are some basics words and phrases you will definitely learn at some point during your stay:

Weather

Situated in Middle Europe, Slovenia is one of the countries in Europe in which you really feel the four seasons. Its borders with a lot of countries (as I already mentioned) and also to the Sea. Therefore you have a mountain region in the north, coast and beaches in the west and forests, lakes and river all over the country. Due to the different landscape, the climate is different as well. At the coast it is warmer than in the forest or mountains. The average temperature for the whole year is about 13,5 degrees at the coast and 7 degrees in the mountains. Because of the climate change unfortunately in some European countries it rains a lot, there is too much heat or extreme weather conditions take place like flooding, storms and hailstorms. Also the seasons seem to change as some countries experience a really long winter or a really long summer but spring and autumn seem to become shorter and shorter. When you are in Slovenia you have full seasons experience again. In Winter until end of March (if you are lucky) you can go skiing in the mountains and snow falls in January and February in Ljubljana. During Spring usually it often rains but the temperature can be already 25 degrees in May and if you have an umbrella, activities planned outside are no problem. In Summer it can get very hot (until 27 degrees) and it does not really rain anymore. In autumn the mist and some rain comes back again but also the leaves are very colorful and it is just beautiful to watch.

Clothing

It depends at what time of the year you will be in Ljubljana but be prepared for everything. A rain jacket and an umbrella is definitely needed to stay dry. Also good shoes might help. If you come in the Spring term, you basically need all kinds of clothes, from a warm winter jacket and boots, hat and scarfs to jeans, skirts, dresses, T-Shirt and very light cloths in Summertime. Also if you want to go hiking in the surroundings of Ljubljana, hiking shoes should be considered as well. But you can also buy them in shops when you are there, Lidl sometimes has good offers.

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