SUMMER COURSE 2015 BIOhemian Rhapsody 17. - 24. 7. 2015 CONTENT 3 WELCOME TO SLOVENIA 4 WHAT TO BRING AND DO BEFOREHAND 5 FACTS ABOUT SLOVENIA 6 A BRIEF HISTORY OF SLOVENIA 7 A BRIEF HISTORY OF LJUBLJANA 7 TIME 7 CLIMATE 8 THE ANTHEM 8 MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL HOLIDAYS 9 LANGUAGE 11 SLOVENIAN CUISINE 12 MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND 13 HOW TO GET TO LJUBLJANA 14 MEETING POINT 15 CONTACTS BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 2 WELCOME TO SLOVENIA We are glad to be able to welcome you to Slovenia. We hope you will enjoy some of the best days of your lives here. We can assure you that our LBG (Local BEST Group) members are working full time and a bit more to provide you with anything you might need. Should you have any special requests please let us know in advance so we can try to make them happen. BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 3 WHAT TO BRING AND DO BEFOREHAND First, let us tell you about some things you need to bring/do/take care of before you join us: 1. Inform the organizers about your: - arrival/departure time and place, - special food requirements and - your T-shirt size. 2. Take care of both medical and travel insurance. Check if your country has any kind of agreement with Slovenia. 3. Check if you need visa for our country. And don't forget your passport! Even if you're from Schengen country, you are required to carry a valid personal ID. And please, take good care of your documents and have a copy of them in case you lose them. It will be helpful at the embassy. 4. Personal hygiene items like a toothbrush, a towel or two and the like are advised. 5. Sleeping bag for our weekend trips. 6. Bathing suit: we might drop by in a pool, river, lake or sea - or even all of them! It is best to be prepared. 7. Student ID: A Student ID is always useful to have, especially if you plan on more elaborate exploration of our country. 8. Bring something typical from your country. We're going to arrange an international evening where you present us your culture and cuisine. This might be some food, some typical drinks from your country, some typical music... 9. Medications (if you need any). 10. Music instrument. They are always welcome (if you know how to play them of course). 11. Pocket money: You do not need to bring it, you will be just all right anyway, but it is sometimes nice to be able to buy an ice cream, a beer or a souvenir. There is a price guide in the following pages. 12. A BIG SMILE! Well, that's it for now. If there should be any changes we will notify you as soon as possible. We can't wait to meet you! BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 4 FACTS ABOUT SLOVENIA It's a small Central European country on the sunny side of the Alps, squeezed between the mountains in the north and the Adriatic Sea in the south. There are lowlands in the east, stretching on through Hungary. Southern neighbour is Croatia, western Italy and northern Austria. Mountains and hills for all you mountain climbers, wild forests, beautiful rivers and lakes for fishing, canoeing, rafting, waterfalls, caves, plains and of course the sea - you name it, we've got it all: on only 20,273 km2. Well, we have only 46.6 kilometres of sea coast – that's about an inch per inhabitant. Map of our beautiful country. The shape is a source of countless jokes, because it looks like a chicken. We're sure you can find Lju bljana in the centre of the country. BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 5 A BRIEF HISTORY OF SLOVENIA The first evidence of human settlement in present -day Slovenia stretches back 250,000 years. Numerous excavations show the area was already settled in early Stone Age. The Celts established a kingdom around 4th century BC. Around the birth of Christ, the Romans conquered the region. Invasions by Hunic and Germanic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries AD were followed by Slavic settlers in the late 6th century AD. These people were ancestors of modern Slovenes. In 745, the first Slovene state, Caranthania, came under Frankish empire, converted to Christianity and gradually lost the independence. The state was the first to introduce a constitutional model of government, where the government answers to the people and not the other way around, and was unique in this regard until the American Revolution a thousand years later. Around the year 1000, the Freising manuscripts, the first writing in Slovene language, were written. In the 14th century, the Habsburg family received the feudal ownership of Slovene lands, and retained it until the dissolution of their empire in 1918. The Reformation brought the first book in Slovene, Cathecismus, which was printed in 1550, and in 1584 the Bible was translated. After the first wo rld war most of Slovenia joined with Croatia and Serbia in creating a kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovene renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. The country was overrun by Axis forces in 1941, but a strong partisan movement surfaced. In 1945, the People's Republic of Yugoslavia was established, which was renamed Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963. While it was a communist state, it was the most open and the least repressive in Europe. This contributed in relative economic success, especially in Slovenia, whose GDP was 230% of Yugoslav average by 1980. Economic and national differences resulted in country falling apart in 1991. Slovenia declared independence on 25th of June 1991, after over 85% of the people voted in favour of secession. A brief ten day war ensued, in which well-organized militia and police commando units secured independence. Slovenia was officially recognized by the UN in 1992, joined the EU and NATO in 2004, and adopted the Euro and joined Schengen area in 2007. More about past and present: http://www.slovenia.si/ http://www.thezaurus.com/ BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 6 A BRIEF HISTORY OF LJUBLJANA The first permanent settlers in the area of Ljubljana were pile-dwellers or lake-dwellers and later Illyrians and Celts. The ancestor of modern Ljubljana was the Roman city Emona, established in the 1st century AD. The name of Ljubljana first appeared in 1144, under the German name Luwigana. A year later, an early version of the Slovene name was mentioned. Through the Middle Ages, it steadily gained importance as the economic and cultural centre of Slovenia. In 1809, it was named a capital of the Illyrian provinces, a Napoleonic construct to secure support of his struggle against other European powers. It has remained a national capital ever since, becoming a full fledged national capital in 1991. TIME Slovenia uses the Central European Time, CET, which is GMT+1. Daylight saving time is observed. CLIMATE Climate in Slovenia is temperate with average temperatures -2°C in January and 21°C in July (but lately it's much hotter in the summer). The rain typically falls around 5-10 days per month. During summer months, heat storms are frequent, the autumn is traditionally rainy. BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 7 THE ANTHEM Zdravljica (A Toast). It was written in 1847 by our great poet France Prešeren and it is something special among the anthems. Instead of glorifying greatness of our nation and historic victories it rather celebrates freedom and friendship between nations. Listen to: http://freeweb.siol.net/vargazon/zdravljica-vok.mp3 MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL HOLIDAYS 1st and 2nd January: New Year 8th February: Prešeren's Day, Slovenian Cultural Holiday Easter Sunday and Monday 27th April: Day of Uprising against Occupation 1st and 2nd May: Labour Day 25th June: National Day 15th August: Assumption Day 31st October: Reformation Day 1st November All Souls' Day 25th December: Christmas 26th December: Independence Day BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 8 LANGUAGE Slovene (which apart from singular and plural employs dual number, a very rare phenomenon in linguistics). Slovene has a well-earned reputation for its great diversity, much like our country. We have around 40 distinct dialects in 7 major dialect groups... and we don't always understand them all! GETTING AROUND... Though most people in Slovenia can speak or at least understand English, you might still find yourself in a situation in which you will have to use Slovene or you would like to impress your hosts. So here are some useful phrases: Hello. Živjo. Good afternoon. Dober dan. Excuse me. Oprostite. Thank you. Hvala. I am… Jaz sem… How are you? Kako si? Where is…? Kje je…? Left, right, straight Levo, desno, naravnost What's the time? Koliko je ura? one, two, three, four, five ena, dva, tri, štiri, pet six, seven, eight, nine, ten šest, sedem, osem, devet, deset Yes, no Da, ne Cheers Na zdravje Ordering in a bar or store: One beer, please! Eno pivo prosim! Wine. Vino! Coffee, please! Kavo prosim! This is how the dual works – it's not a monster, more like an imaginary friend: A friend Prijatelj. Two friends (as in we are friends) Prijatelja. Three friends (as in we are friends) Prijatelji. BEST Ljubljana Summer course 2015 9 Other vital phrases: I like you! Všeč si mi! You look great! Čudovito izgledaš. Would you like to see my stamp collection? Ti pokažem svojo zbirko znamk? Let's use a condom. Uporabiva kondom. (Mostly dual form :P) For more Slovenian phrases try to use Google translator or, for a bit more precise translation, e-mail them to us and we'll be happy to translate them for you.