Our husband wanted to go to Europe in our family, and I, as a faithful wife, decided to support him in this. Slovenia was chosen almost by chance as one of the easiest countries to get a residence permit, plus the proximity to the sea, Italy, central Europe, the environmental situation and safety. The nature here is quite unique: the Alps, the Adriatic, thermal springs. In a word, a paradise!

My husband and I heard that you can move to study visa, and already in place to open a firm, and on this basis to get a residence permit. So we decided to act. Found a suitable university - stopped at the University of Maribor, and began to study.

At first we wanted to do everything on our own - we thought it would be no more difficult to get a study visa than a regular Schengen visa, but we quickly came across stories about bad experiences with such savings that abounded all over the Internet, and we decided not to take the risk. We invested in our future, and we did not want to save money on it. We decided to find a company that was based in Slovenia so we could be sure that they were competent in this area and knew the local law - my husband is a lawyer, so he did not consider any specialists outside the country.

We found, consulted, received a clear plan of action for both the study visa and the further registration of the company on the spot and began to prepare: collecting documents, translating, certifying, forwarding to consultants, in general, it went well and in about six months we flew to Slovenia.

We were moving from Moscow, so at first Slovenia seemed like a big village to me - everything was close, half an hour by car to Italy, the same to Croatia in the other direction, and a couple of hours to Austria and Hungary. In my home country it took me longer to get to the country house on Friday than it took me from Ljubljana to Vienna now! At first I even missed Moscow's hustle and bustle, the constant need to run somewhere and do something, but then I got used to it. Here everything is very calm, not slow, but calm, unhurried, as if time has frozen and there is no need to rush anywhere.

And when the time came to register a company they did it in a couple of days without any stress, everything here is very well arranged for entrepreneurs and doing business, there are no problems or bureaucratic complications.

I like the style of local women - very simple, no heels or makeup, no one is trying to look somehow special. The huge number of people with disabilities in super-modern electric wheelchairs, good food in the stores, fresh fruits and vegetables all year round, very careful driving. But prices for utilities do not please: here electricity, water and gas are expensive, so it is a bit cold in the houses in winter - not higher than +20C, but outside it is not superminus - in our region, for example, there is no minus temperature at all.

We live in a small but very picturesque village. It is almost unrealistic to buy real estate - the country is small and the government cares very much about the natives and their rights in this regard, plus real estate prices are exorbitant, even for me, a former Muscovite.

Compared to Moscow everything here in terms of services is, of course, slow. You need a plumber - he will come not the same day, but in a week, and so with almost all the masters, except for very emergencies, but the second year you get used to it and just set aside the waiting time. With doctors as well - medicine is not that bad, just slow, but all the necessary and urgent do. Teeth can be treated in private clinics, if it is absolutely urgent - it is not too expensive, approximately as in Moscow, give or take.

Another interesting thing about Slovenians is their love of coffee. I thought I drank a lot of it in Moscow, but compared to Slovenians I am not a caffeine drinker at all - they don't start the day without a cup of coffee, it is like a ritual: first coffee, then everything else.