Travel Stories

Невыносимая справедливость Словении

Опубликовано Goran P.

Невыносимая справедливость Словении

As good as gold

Due to its size, Slovenia is often not on the travel radar for many people. This is quite a pity, given that the country boasts stunning mountains and ski resorts, beautiful rivers, vast underground caves, as well as cities filled with traditional Austro-Hungarian architecture and many other historical gems. But in the end, it is this hilarious story that might convince you to pay it a visit.

City of Maribor, filled with traditional Austro-Hungarian architecture and many other historical gems.

About a decade ago when I was living in the city of Maribor as an Erasmus exchange student, my life consisted of a simple and predictable routine. I'd wake up, walk from my dorm to the faculty, attend morning classes, then do some shopping or exercise before going to one of the numerous student restaurants for lunch or dinner.

One of the things that made my stay so unforgettable is the fact that Maribor had one of the best student nutritional programs in the world, where you could buy a set number of restaurant coupons at €1-4 each and use them to have high quality and very filling meals at almost all of the city's restaurants. Imagine having infinite access to dining out, buffets, Mediterranean, Balkan, Chinese, Mexican, Cuban and many other sorts of cuisines, all at what amounts to an 80% discount? For this reason, every student took care of their coupons as if they were gold, and if anyone had a surplus, they could easily make a big profit reselling them.

 

Disaster strikes

One of the Maribor days that I would never forget started pretty normally. After attending classes, I went to a mall on the other side of the Drava River to get some trinkets I needed. Sitting around the cool river in the spring and having coffee felt nice and relaxing and I spent a few hours there just relaxing and reading the local newspaper. Finally, it was time to go home to my dorm room, take a shower and prepare to go out for dinner. Mmmmm, dinner! Maybe Chinese this time...

It was just before entering my dorm building that disaster struck. Reaching into my pockets to sift through my thick deck of restaurant coupons and see which ones I had at my disposal tonight, I was stunned to come up absolutely nothing. My heart started pounding wildly as I froze in place, looking as sad as if I had just lost a family member. I searched the pockets again, finding nothing at all. I had just bought the coupons for the entire month, meaning that I had just lost over €100 and a whole lot of good times eating out.

Before retracing my steps, I went to the dorm, grabbed a €100 bill in case I needed to eat out on my own money or call a taxi, and went out to search. I made my way to the riverside café, wandering around and looking beneath the tables while looking very shady. But nothing was there. The café staff hadn't seen anything. I went all the way back to the mall and visited every hallway and shop there that I had frequented earlier in the day. Still nothing!

 

Eureka!

Safe streets of Maribor with nice and considerate people.

Finally I found my stack of coupons lying on the sidewalk of front of the faculty. They had been lying there for almost 12 hours, in a very busy street in plain view, yet no one had taken anything. How could a city have such nice and considerate people that out of the thousand passer-bys not even one would take the opportunity to snatch that amount of money? And most of these people were students, so it’s not like they didn’t know what these things were for or how valuable they were.


Praising my good fortune and the stunning level of peace and honestly in Maribor that had saved my precious coupons, I wandered back towards the dorm, wanting to shower and then finally head out for dinner. I was feeling very jovial indeed and thinking of how fortunate I am to have found my precious property again.

 

Karma strikes back

Karma strikes back! When you’re doomed, there’s nothing you can do.

Already half-drunk on my good fortune and fantasies of a nice dinner ahead, I returned to the dorm. However, upon going to change my clothes I was unpleasantly surprised that my €100 bill that I had previously stashed in my pocket was nowhere to be found. I must have dropped it somewhere along the way while searching for the coupons. Now fully shattered and resigned to my fate, I decided not to push my luck anymore.


After all, as Slovene and many other people like to say:
“When you’re doomed, there’s nothing you can do.”


Be sure to visit Slovenia and experience its incredible vibe by yourself, including the nicest people that you’re ever going to meet. However, be sure to take a good money belt with you!

Image sources:

1. slovenia-convention.com

2. boomsbeat.com

3. novaenergija.net 

4. murraysreview.com

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