“NA ZDRAVJE!” – LEARN EVERYTHING ABOUT SLOVENIA JUST DRINKING A GLASS OF HOT WINE WITH AEGEE-Ljubljana
I’m stunned by the sweet smell of hot wine, a glass of (Marko, what was the name of the alcoholics drink with the taste of honey?) in my hand, watching the lights of a magical city, while my new friends share the latest gossip with me. This is one of many moments of an unforgettable adventure – my first Winter University in Ljubljana.
Why you should be envious of us
Lucky me, I was one of the 30 people who had the opportunity, from 27th December to 2nd January, to discover everything I’d like to know about “Traditional Slovenian Drinks & Habits”: we learnt what Slovenian drinks are and how to dance like a Slovenian, how to speak like one and how to behave like one. Well, not exactly: we tried to implement all these teachings, but the one we were mostly good at was to drink after saying “NA ZDRAVJE” (it means cheers) . And to drink. And to drink again. And again. And to use everything as pretext for drinking. After few glasses of alcohol we were all happy, all friends, and all desirous to learn more about this cozy culture! By the way, we spent most of our time in Ljubljana, which is for me, personally, the most magical city I could imagine. Maybe thanks to the lights, to the colors and to the snow, it seemed to be in a winter fairytale. There were also some dragons all around the city, since the dragon is the symbol of Ljubljana. Yeah, we were definitively in a fairytale.
But would you like to know what was the best part of Ljubljana? The staff of AEGEE-Ljubljana: they were so brave to face the coldness for making us live a wonderful experience in their city (and trust me, it was really really cold!) and they planned the best schedule they could plan! City tour, ice skating, skiing/snowboarding, night walk with torches round the lake of Bled, wine cooking (and tasting), traditional dance lesson, exchange of gifts, massage workshop snow fight, count down in the main square of Ljubljana for admiring the fireworks exploding near the castle.. Oh My God, I feel nostalgic about all this!
And then of course you have to add all the classical AEGEE’s stuff: European Culture Night with an abundance of alcoholic drinks to choose from (Polish vodka, Dutch beer, Italian wine, etc.), parties, beautiful people, prittle-prattle in the gym where we slept, games, jokes, laughs, loads of funny activities…
My favorite part? It’s difficult to decide but I say the fist of January spent in a Sauna: after a night of delirium, a long sauna is the best way for regenerate yourself for being ready to face the rest of the new year, believe me!
Negative aspects? Just one: these 7 days passed by so fast, it was already time to say goodbye during a last karaoke and party in a disco under dancing skeletons . Everyone was sad, sad to go home, to leave behind new friends, to turn our backs on a wonderful event. But, in turn, we would be happy to think back on this winter fairytale. On these days full of amazing memories shared with an amazing group of people, made possible by amazing organizers. Thank you organizers!
Sara from AEGEE-Verona