5 Things about SLOVENIA that SHOCKED ME 

That's interesting. Every Slovene thinks public transportation is bad here. Especially train travel times when comparing to Germany or Japan.

Well actually something that shocked me when I was in USA, was that americans so rarely travel outside the States. Like the outside world doesn't even exist. That's why I was really surprised that you noticed the same thing here - I am pretty sure most of the Slovenians have seen at least a few European countries, especially younger generations. Traveling has been gaining popularity a lot in the last ten years, especially since plane tickets got so cheap. I feel like everybody travels here. On the other hand - it is true about going for summer vacay to the same spot in Croatia every year, it really is a strange Slovenian habit, haha

i very like hearing things from foreighners about our beautiful country.SUPER SI MARIAH

as far as i know, slovenians love to travel, unless you were referring to the older population, i guess they really don't travel as much.

As someone who works in tourism I can assure you slovenians do travel a lot :) But its true there are still comunities where its popular to do that once a year to croatia trip - historicaly that was a thing because of the circumstances and it remained a habit in many families.

A few shocking facts I've experienced in USA were: - PORTION SIZES!!! (omg how big can they be!) - ice instead of a drink (still don't get it) - being asked how i am EVERY SINGLE TIME in a store

Last year I was in Utah. Things that surprised me: 1. Only big cars everywhere 2. Shitty coffee in a five star hotel 3. Big shopping center that was always almost empty 4. People walking around in shorts (temperatures were way below 0°C) 5. No coffee shop was opened before 9.00

Aww, that kid high-fiving Lea was so cute. x3 I think the thing about people not owning cars (and preferring public transport) only goes for bigger towns (like Ljubljana). Everywhere else people own cars and rely on them a lot. Btw, you talking about us driving in any kind of weather reminded me of a time back when I just got my driver's license (last year of high school). I've only had it about a month or so and there was a lot of snowfall, but I just went "Eeh, I'll just drive to school anyway" despite the fact that I was new-ish to driving, had a really crappy car, had no experience with driving on snow before, AND there was quite a bit of snow on the road. xD

About no tiping tho. I'm a waitress. And I love getting a tip. We just don't expect it that much so we aren't sadenned by no tip lol

Slovenia looks beautiful!! My family is from there and I hope I get to go there someday. I have lived in the U.S my entire life (42 years) and I am still shocked by some of the things people do here. It snows where I live every year and people still can't drive in it. It's like a new thing for them every year, I don't get it.

When I was in USA I was shocked how obsessed you guys were with germs 😂 I think it's such an American thing to have a hand sanitizer always with you. I still find it strange haha

If you think slovenia has good public transport, take a train from koper to ljubljana.

We Slovenians especially younger generation travels a lot. We are very well travelled nation. Older generations didn’t travel for language reasons. How ever, most of my family traveled a lot. The truth is that in former Yugoslavia people did shopping trips to near Austrian or itakian shopping places. Regarding germs, all of europeans are like that. In my book Americans have way too big gremo phobia. I love your videos.

The no tipping thing is true,you don’t have to tip,but as a waitress it does brighten my day a lilttle because a tip to me means that I did a good job and the the guest was satisfied?(i don’t know how else to word it) with my work :P

thank you so much, I really like your video!!

ooo to z vinom pa zna prit prav! :D

Public transportation only works in LJ and MB, most people outside city center own at least one or two cars. I think we are very obsessed with them and their maintenance.

When you started drinking wine I expected you are going to say that the 5th thing that shocked you was that drinking alcohol in public is allowed. Because in the States you have open container laws that forbid drinking in public.

Just one friendly advice ! Tell your husband to avoid opening wine bottles like that. I used the same technique more than 20 times perfectly, then one night bottle crashed in my hand, very complicated cut, ended up with operation 6 months after the accident. Then 3 months of rehabilitation, one year after that, my thumb still not perfect (lack of motion), and ther will never be...

Super ste... uzitki v sloveniji so 1👍....I 'm very hapy then l look jang people in slovenia...see you in california...🙂🙃

Pozdravljeni, Za Lukota; to z vinom nisem vedel da se da na ta način odpreti buteljko. Res priročno. Zdaj nekaj vem.

When I got to Chicago (stayed there for 2 months), I was shocked by strangers constantly talking to me in public. Like, on a bus, or while waiting for green light at the crosswalk. At first I thought I was just running into weirdos, but it turned out that most of Chicagoans were like that. And I loved it in the end. I wish Slovenia was more like that. I even eavesdropped on two Chicagoans sitting at Odprta kuhinja in Ljubljana and had no guts to say hello, because that would be so inappropriate over there. I miss Chicago, really.

What shocked me in the States when I visited, were several things: - Almost every beverage had ice in it. - In CA moreso than in WA and OR, women mostly drove expensive cars, whereas men usually drove pickups or "normal" priced cars. - roads are so straight and wide, that it would be hard for europeans to drive there at the speedlimits... we're used of narrower roads and higher speeds, that we still consider safe. I guess. - I couldn't wrap my head around the "when you pay in the restaurant, you have to leave" and the waiter came as soon or even before we were done with food or drinks, as if the restaurant was there only to squeeze every penny out of customers, rather than really serve them (I would understand if there was a lot of reservations or the place was full... but not even that... ) - inefficiency of the use of material when building houses or almost anything. I've studied enough of architecture to know, that torsion-box style building with studs is much more wasteful in terms of how much wood gets used and hence also how long lasting the building will be, than timber-framed buildings here, or brick buildings for that matter... And also what was interesting was, when I was told, that what is built now, is expected to last around 50 years, but not much more. Granted, sometimes in Europe we overdimension things, but at the same time they are built to last. Though when we were going there with a local youth ministry, we were told to never consider things as weird, merely different. ;)

Haha. So true about travelimg. Every year to the same place. Most often to Croatia.

Ok shocking in Slovenia :( not shocking , but found interesting ) 1. Stop lights go green/ yellow/ red / yellow/ green.. wanting they are about to go green! 2. How MANY Slovenians speak English ... and so well ! 3. The trash cans where ever I went were all sorted for recycling 4. I’ve been placed in Slovenia some of the people I’ve met have never been .. and they have lived there .. kinda the same thing you mentioned about not traveling around country 5. Ice cream or gelato even when freezing cold in winter.. everyone still walks around center eating Keep up the good work !!

Your facts about Slovenia that you re describing are so wrooong.

Im from Slovenia and moved to Sweden 7years ago nad i can tell how much i miss driving in Slovenia. Here 90% is stressless and think "i have all time in the world" while driving 50% undet the speed limit. Specially in rain or snow.

As far as I know Slovenes travel like no other nation. Our people are everywhere

I'm Slovenian and a lot of people go to places far away not just for sumer

As far as I know we love to travel even if is just one day trip we are exited abot it :) maybe older generation are a bit more careful with they money... But young people love love love to travel. And when i say young i mean up to 40 :)

About the germs... It's a well known fact how much money pharmaceutical companies make by selling completely unnecessary products and how many kinds of pills americans actually use. And about travelling... It is not that expensive, but the salaries are low... They are kinda good in slovenia, but they are really bad in other countries of ex yugoslavia

Just came back from Philadelphia ...Traffic lights are on the opposite side of the road so you can just look straight - not on right/up like we need to if you are first in a row. And you can turn right on red light( most of the time). That was pretty suprising and I loved it. Lep pozdrav iz Celja. ❤ 🤗

I like mini Mariah toddling around making friends, so cute. It's not that Slovenes don't like to travel, they are careful with their money. That's how they were raised. I was... regarding germs, you're 100% right. They have much higher tolerance. They don't wash, scrub and disinfect like Americans who are always sick on the way to or from the doctor. Many Slovenians chose not to have cars because cars are expensive and public transportation very good. No tipping is nothing new. If Americans paid their servers living wage there would also be no need for tipping. One thing in common between Slovenians and Americans is their love for alcohol and quick buzz.

Aaaaaaaa how cute.... And yes i live in slovenia Edit: SLOVENIA IS THE BEST PEOPLE.. YES WE ARE THE BEST (Aaaaaaaa thank you so much, you made my day😀)

Haha, I have totally opposite experience/view when it comes to public transportation. I think what you are mentioning applies only to people in Ljubljana. People outside of Ljubljana all have their own car! In my home country though, it is totally normal not to own a car, especially when you live in a city/town. It's because buses and trams go every 5 minutes and it's easy to get around by using them. Of course, it depends on the person and lifestyle. There are families with two cars but also families with only one car. We also walk much more then Slovenes (it's totally normal that people walk 25-30mins to work and back). I've never had my own car and when I say it to a Slovene they think that I am crazy! :)

Slovinian trees are the best! You can even open vines on them!😅

I went to California about a month ago. And wherever we decided to go out for lunch, it was tough to find a restaurant, because our options were hamburgers or pizzas, or really nice restaurants but they were all so expensive. So we ate junk food almost everyday. Because there were no "normal" restaurant's. Never the less I loved California, and I literally cried when we were bording on a plane to go back home to Slovenia😁

I learned that way of opening a wine bottle in Radovljica near Bled.

Your choice of music is always so funny

Slovenians travel a lot though...

1. yep, sounds about right :D 2. most of us after the breakdown of yugoslavia, were not well off and relied on grandparents to a degree. which means, if grandma and grandpa had a trailer or a camper or something somewhere, you go there, because as kids, we didnt care and loved being at the sea for the entire summer. now if you didnt even have that, you would stay in the country, simply because omney is tight or you were one of those slovenians, that get a huge house, and car and nothing else, just because you want to show up the neighbours. as a young adult myself, I to would preffer a week of vacation at a place I am used to, just so I can relax in a environment which I know, but as I am working, my vacation time is very limited, so my prefferences are adjusting. also, while in sschool, you travel to nearby countrys like austria, italy, croatia... and its no that special for us, honestly. we are used to traveling and the novelty wears out fast. 3. no room for cars and really no real reason to have one. I dont even have a driveres license, but am working on it, but I love that I dont have to think about parking, costs with cars and so on, as public transportation can literary get you anywhere in good time. yes, there are times when you need or would be good to have a car, but compared to daily life, its just not the case. most of my 22-30 year old friends dont have a car, because eather no parking, costs or need. 4. here if you tip, its because you got good service, got a few cents extra or you worked in the industry and understand how hard it is to put up with people 5.yeah, the parking can get weird, because not enough parking. driving comes with the territory =) now the way luka opened the bottle, I wish I knew that while in college :D

I am Slovenian, i traveled to 115 countries worldwide and saw other Slovenians traveling in at least 80 of those countries. Further, in 2 million strong Slovenia there are 1 million registered cars (official statistic). There must be a kind of an epistemological schasm between your perception of Slovenia and the field reality here. Otherwise good HD quailty of the shots ;)

Drinking wine on the bay of Ljubljanica river.....memories memories :P Driving in the snow? Not a problem....if you have good tires :P Germs....what`s that :P People use public transportation and don`t have a car....only in the city. Other than that you must have a car because you can`t go anywhere if you don`t have one.

Damn. Really shocking to see old my school again. Haha. love your videos. 😜

I am from California to, and I stay here in krsko Slovenian with my future husband, and the first thing that disturbed me was the community bowl of food on the table lol😂😂😂 Family who have colds are dipping their forks into community bowls of food together... Then everyone wares slippers in their homes.. Don't want to get a Slovenian draft, lol😂 Then the whole tipping the waiters in restuaunts was and still is a big struggle for me. And WHERE IS THE ICE??? Lol😂😂😂😂 You are so right on Everything you talk about... Slovenians go to the same place every year for vacations... But we did go to the plstonija caves and it was magnificent. Truly Chocolate is way better here. My future husbands family says American chocolate is to sweet. I Agree with them lol🍫💯😉 Love your channel and I have subbed to you. Thank you for all of your great videos 😁🤗😉

First to comment ;-) Oh how lovely you all are. 😍 But just one thing Mariah...(please, don't get me wrong) but what kind of people have you been hanging with in your 6 years in Slovenija? Seniors 80+ ? This is related to Slovenes and travel. I am from Primorska region and...almost everybody aged less than 60 has travelled most of the "to go" places in Europe. We LOVE to travel. Almost all of my classmates in primary school, high school and at the university have travelled the World to some extent...some even studied some time abroad (Erasmus project etc.). And also in the most adventurous ways. My cousin (who climbs and hikes mountains a lot around the World) has always told me that he met slovenian tourists everywhere...in the high mountains of Peru...climbing vulcanoes in Indonesia, mounteneering in Pakistan...hiking in the middle of China high mountain region...eveywhere in the most forgotten angle of Earth (like there was 500 million of us, not only 2). And I shall say many, many of my friends are "globe-trotters". Me myself have travelled almost all of EU countries before I was 20. I know northern Italy (just for example) like the palm of my hand...So I am really surprised about your observation that we never travel. I honestly don't know any Slovenes who haven't been in many different places around Europe in their life. So...this one was a little bit cringy for me. 😆 And than still..why do we vacation on the same spot evey summer? Mostly Croatia? Well because it is probaby the place where those people find peace and quiet the most and the croatian sea is an unbeliveble treasure gem. That doesn't mean people don't travel places...the rest of the year. We travel a lot more than you think. 😉

We have GOOOD public transport?? Not outside of Ljubljana imo. As for germs - yea, my doctor always used to ask my mom if i got enough vitamin S (svinarija) :P

(007) : "Stirred, NOT SHAKEN".

That mess of wires and cables behind you in the kitchen looks potentially shocking.

I am 15 live in Slovenia and have been to the netherlands, france, spain, italy, croatia, serbia, bosnia, macedonia, austria and germany so i think that the traveling thing is targeted more tho the older generations. (but yea still good job with the videos)

born here, am shocked all the time.

OMG, Slovenes don't travel? You are living in a weird bubble Mariah.

I absolutely don't agree that Slovenians don't travel. Most everyone I know spends weekends on a trip somewhere, wether it's Italy, Austria or Croatia. Especially if they live close to the border. And Ljubljana residents are especially known for weekend hopping to the coast just to have a drink somewhere by the sea. So, no, I don't agree with that statement at all.

Being Russian in the USA I was surprised to notice 1) Americans rarely use trains for travel 2) they buy a lot and more often like 12 rolls of toilet paper vs. 4 for small household 3) think that all foreign countries should speak English and are very surprised to find out it’s not the case

you should tip tho! it is not as common but it is a nice gesture and a lot of people still do it

Bravo MARIAH the 2 : 34 Šššššššššššš was good!

hey! I really like your positive energy and lifeviews in your vlogs! on the tipping thing. yes it is not obligatory to tip. and mostly waiters won't get mad if you don't tip them. allthough if they were really trying to serve you well, they ( or should I say we) get a bit dissapointed when we don't get a tip. especially if the number on the bill is like 49,3 and you don't give the full 50. and you make a waiter happy by tipping which makes it easier to keep up the smile and positive energy while working.. Its like saying thank you, I appriciate your service. for some waiters the daily tip is what feeds them in the week before payday. so: it's not a necessity but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it :)

you can meet slovens in the most remote parts of the planet, i can guarantee you that. so, don't take that street talk slovenians just to croatia and back thing.. hell, we went to white house, where no foreigner went before.

Zanimivo, nisem vedela, da Slovenci ne potujemo.....Je pa res, da imajo ljudje z majhnimi otroki krajše destinacije.

Unlike in the USA where waiters and waitresses get paid an absolute minimium wage and the tips are crucial to their survival, they actually get paid a halfway decent wage here, so tipping isn't a life or death matter to them... Although people still do give tips if they are very pleased with the service they get. As for not budging out of your comfort zone, that's a typical Ljubljana thing (sorry, žabarji, but it's true. I used to be one of you and like that, too :) ). And most Slovenes do travel quite a bit when they're young. It's just the older more rural population that doesn't.

I am sure the percentage of slovenes that travel abroad is WAY higher than the same for United States ppl, i live in CO now and i've heard so many americans sayin they don't go outside the US because they're scared because of some CNN or FOX report on traveling

Mariah:many people dont have cars Surroundings of Novo Mesto :3 to 5 cars per house 🤔

Slovenes travel more than anyone I know. At least my family friends circle is that way. Maybe you're in zapečkarji circle

Oh, I recognize this grey floor with black stripes!! Spent 8 loong years there, about 25 years ago! Huh.. memories..

Germs, true, Not travelling ... many people love to travel, but this really depends on people, age and so on. Before we got independent we really weren't travelling far. Not even to neighboring cities in Slovenia. We travelled to the same place a few times when going on vacation and we were going to Austria for shopping and that was it. The younger generations travel much more, but of course not all. It's really a shame that we have places like Viena, Budapest, Prague, Venice within some hours of driving with a car and we don't visit them. I once met an American family in Venice (I was there at least 8 times, it's 3 and a half hours drive away from my home) and they told me that they were saving money for years to finally come to visit it. It really turned a switch in me. There are so many people outside of Europe who wants to come to Europe, but we have everything within a 2 hours flight for bargain. Cars - We have 541 cars per 1000 population, which is very high, but of course in the States you have about 838. And still I think in Slovenia everybody has a car. And public transportation is very bad in comparison to other countries I've been to (30 so far). We're used to ask someone to bring us somewhere. Tipping - we round up sometimes :) I didn't know about opening the wine bottles :) Parking - you never went to Serbia, Ukraine ... We'll that's a mess :) I consider that parking in Slovenia isn't so chaotic or more chaotic than in our northern neighbour countries.

I saw the parking thing in Germany many years before going to Slo :)

About travelling I have two things to say: 1. There are 2 UNESCO sites and multitude of nice spots 20minutes or less from my home 2. We don't have enough money to travel around as much as we'd want :(

hahaha yes the tree opener done that som many times haha :P

About cars, Slovenceljni are crazy about cars, they take big loans just to have better car then their neighbour

What a good-looking couple and baby!

What about slippers? :)

3:38 tho😂😂

Why would I travel, everything I need is here:-)

Omg no plastic 😱😱😱 specially never drink wine in plastic 😱😱😱😱😱

Zeljko je najbols!

Where in SoCal were you from? I'm also a SoCal dude.

ohh thats actually wine from my hometown :D

He was not kidding about the alcohol. :D

To je moja Osnovna Šola 😂. ❤

5 things that shocked me the first time I went to the US: 1) FOOD - sweet bread, sweet yoghurt, sweet oats, swert pizza crust OMG ... Couldn't buy stuff without sugar and after 5 days I just stopped eating (for a while). 2) LACK OF ANY KNOWLEDGE OF ANYTHING - I found it amazing how a common person doesn't know anything about anything (history, geography, science, healthy lifestyle ...). What on Earth do you people do in your schools??? 3) GHOST TOWNS - places with only a University campus, a residential area and 1 single street that they call downtown. 4) STOPPING AT STOP SIGNS - even if you can see miles into both directions and there's nobody, people will still stop. It's an auto-pilot mode that takes over. 5) TV - to keep things simple: tv only exists to make people stupid enough so that they go and buy stupid products. In a sistematic manner.

Lepa gospa! Jo bi rad spoznal, Aleš.

Were u in Novo mesto in this video?

It's still nice to tip

Travwling to places far away? What are you rich?

We travel alot! But that' because we have a camper.

When we were young we all ate dirt and nobody cared. for traveling...well you have to understand that 80% of people have 500-600€ / month and they usualy have to pay rent for apartment, pay bills, pay for school and food so not many € left for traveling especially if you have family, it cost a lot... And i could go on and on, but that is it..

Slovenes do love to travel. However, they don't always travel in Slovenia. They were born there so they don't care? For somebody coming in as a tourist, it's DISNEYLAND! I've seen more of Slovenia than many Slovenes I know but only because I go there for vacation sometimes. I don't travel where I live as much as I leave my home and go anywhere else.

Hahaha every year the same place hahahah :D good one

this might be a silly question, but, what is it that You find most attractive in slovene man?

i mean the travveling part is true we only travel 1 time a year on vecation so lol

I have always wondered whats up with americans and driving... Slovenia and Europe in general has better drivers for sure! And you should come and visit us in Maribor sometime in the future. It would make a nice video for sure!

Mariah Slovenci are traveling! I dont think you know the whole country 😂

Shock No.6: V Sloveniji govorimo Slovensko.

5'.05'' thats not Slovenian language !

SLOVENIJA ❤️🇸🇮

Of course we're good at driving in bed weather, we're all professional rally drivers.

It's my school!

Im from slovenia and i dint even know that this is so schoking.🤓😑

Some corrections I may add: 1. TIPPING!!!! I worked in a pub for 5y. TIPPING is not included in the bill. So if you liked the service TIPP GOOD DEAMIT!!! 2. We like traveling! But the monthly pays aren't so high, so we can't go in all the historical/cultural EU centers every month. 3. About the cars. You mantened that is hard for us to move bioned 20min of drive (with a public transport in Ljubljana is OK) I can understand. But please go and take a look how many cars per cepita we have!!! I guess that you only know Slovenians who do not commute. Get your fects right and the vlog will be cool. Regards.

Soory the second thing waswrong we travle alveys i em slovinan ps you can tip but not ewrewhear