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Brittany McAnally and her family left California for Slovenia because of her husband's military job. She said kids have more freedom in Slovenia than in the US, and preschool was more nurturing. McAnally said she found returning to the US was a "reverse culture shock.

" This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Britanny McAnally, a freelancer based in Germany, about her experience living in Slovenia and the US. It has been edited for length and clarity. I was a stereotypical American.



I'd never left the US until I moved to Slovenia, and I didn't have a passport until I was 28. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee. I lived near Nashville with my husband and two children until we moved to Monterey, California, in 2015.

I'd never heard of Slovenia I had an adventurous side. I knew I wanted to see the world beyond the US. One day, my husband, who is in the military, came home and said: "We're moving to Slovenia," because of his job.

I didn't realize Slovenia was a country. At first, I thought he meant Slovakia. Even though Slovenia is between Italy and Croatia, it wasn't popular with American tourists at that time.

We moved to Ljubljana, the capital, with our two- and three-year-old sons in December 2016. I had a sheltered upbringing in a small town. When we first arrived, I was immediately surprised by how much English people spoke.

I thought people would only speak Slovene. I didn't realize many people speak English in European countries, as well as the.

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