Job Discussion Forums

joeuconn · Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 16 Location: Boston, MA

Hello All,

I've recently received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to pursue two years of graduate study overseas. At this time I'm considering a number of cities in Central & Eastern Europe, including Ljubljana, Vilnius, Tallinn and St. Petersburg. I ALSO PLAN ON TEACHING ENGLISH in my chosen destination. If anyone has been to any of these cities I'd love to hear which you'd prefer, keeping in mind that I'll be living (as opposed to vacationing) in one of these cities for quite some time.

FYI - After graduating from college (UCONN) I taught English in Krakow, Poland for one year and had a great time.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Joe

CaPow · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 17 Location: Budapest

I lived in St. Petersburg for a year and it's an amazing town, although I do have a slight preference for Moscow. Wink

If you choose to go to Russia you should really make the effort to learn Russian, as it can be a difficult country to navigate. For art, culture, sports, night life, etc. St. Petersburg has so much to offer. You'll never get bored! But Russia can be a pretty crazy place so make sure you bring your sense of adventure.
Tallinn, on the other hand, could feel rather small. It's nice and pretty, but I think you'd get bored after two years.

EricBartholemew · Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 20

If the Baltic States, Riga is the most cosmopolitan - Tallinn is lovely, but not that large, and Estonia wonderful but limited in terms of things to do and places to go, I'd say. Avoid Vilnius - very pleasant for a visit (if you have somewhere to stay: hotels appear to be a cartel), but small-town.

Ljublijana is gorgeous - as is Slovenia to the NW - in fact, all Slovenia is lovely, with easy access to the surrounding countries (Croatia, CH, Austria, Italy).

I loved Krakow - would suggest Czech Rep or Slovakia - but why not try sthg a bit further afield / different ?

Or Denmark ? Spain (Madrid, Barcelona) ?

Lunkey · Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Santiago

how easy though is it to get a job teaching english in ljubljana, or slovenia in general? do you need to speak slovenian?

EricBartholemew · Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 20

I spent a few weeks cycling through Slovenia - got by using mostly English, supplemented very occasionally by German. A few words of Slovenian are useful, and the friendly thing to use, but English is fine Smile

As for getting jobs there, I don't know - but I'd recommend it as a place to spend time ! I'd buy a flat there if I had the money !