Slovenians know that most foreigners don't know where Slovenia is and many mix it up with Slovakiathe former Yugoslav country celebrates 10 years of independence. Last week their nation, which didn't exist as a state until June 25th 1991, played host to the leaders of two of the world's most powerful nations: President Vladimir Putin and President George W. Bush.
Perhaps more importantly, Slovenia is edging closer to qualification in next year's World Cup - which would no doubt send its population into the same hysteria as when it qualified for last year's European Championships.
Such honours are important to a country of a similar size to Munster, with a population of about two million, With some of the most picturesque scenery in Europe, such as Lake Bled and the capital Ljubljana, dubbed "little Prague", Slovenia is an undiscovered jewel. When talking to foreigners about house prices in Ljubljana or plane flights to the US, Slovenians still quote German marks rather than their national currency, the tolar.
Much has changed in the five years since I spent nine months teaching English in Ljubljana. Gone are most of the beaten up Yugo and Volkswagon cars that choked up Ljubljana's air. Just as in the Republic, there is a fever for new cars - and shiny, fast Italian and German cars are everywhere.
While some of the old-fashioned shops with unimaginative window displays harking back to the stoic, communist era remain, most have been bought out by big Western designer names. Five years ago, a Benetton outlet on the main street was where the youth of Ljubljana would come with money saved up to buy modern clothes. Now Calvin Klein, Fendi and Sisley are just some of the shoppers can choose from.
Although Slovenians, influenced by Italian youth culture, always had a sophisticated, cafe-going culture, In the past, changing money in the former communist state could take hours. Hundreds of customers would crowd into small banks and queue at several different counters with different pieces of paper from the previous bank clerk - all to carry out one simple transaction. Now banking takes a few minutes inside newly designed banks with glass windows and marble floors.
But some of the changes run deeper than Countries have been kept waiting for EU entry in a manner which frustrates them. Poland, the Czech Republic and Cyprus, for example, all have EU countries clamouring for their membership, for political reasons. Though among the most economically advanced of the candidate countries, Slovenia has no nation committed to lobbying for its entry.
For Italy, Slovenia's membership would mean easier trade links with the east, but, Slovenians now know the EU will not be the benefactor they had once thought. Sectors such as banking and farming will lose out on entry to the EU there is also the fear that - as a small country in its infant stages of statehood - Slovenia's identity will be lost in the EU.
The possibility that Brussels would become the new Belgrade is alive in people's minds. "People are asking: 'Who are we and will we lose when we join?"' says Sever.
A struggle with a Slovenian national identity has resulted in a strong Catholic church. A referendum last Sunday on whether single women should be allowed artificial insemination is one symptom of this - 72 per cent of those who took part voted to overturn the two-month-old law which had expanded access to in-vitro fertilisation.
Young people remain committed to the EU idea. "I'd say about 80 per cent of young people want to join the EU because of the opportunity to travel and go abroad," says student activist, Maja Potocnik.
However, many feel the longer EU membership is stalled, the lower public support for entry will be. The latest opinion poll put support for membership at just more than 50 per cent. The Irish No vote to the Nice treaty seemed to be interpreted by ordinary people as a no to small states such as Slovenia, and the subtleties of Irish concerns about neutrality tended not to be recognised.
In Ljubljana, English-speakers no longer attract the astonishment they did five years ago. Though Irish people look physically similar to Slovenians, I was more of a novelty in Slovenia than I was in Japan, where I later went to live. Tourism is on the increase and more foreigners, sent by foreign companies, are living here. At street corners, people shout into mobile phones in Italian and English.
But, as in the Republic, Slovenians are having a hard time dealing with asylum seekers. Last year, more than 9,000 people from places such as Iran, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Romania, and other parts of the former Yugoslavia claimed asylum. A few years go, the number of asylum seekers was in the hundreds and now Slovenia has one of the highest numbers of asylum seekers in Europe per head of the population.
There has been some xenophobic reaction to the increased numbers of asylum seekers, not helped by laws which try to stop so-called bogus applications, says Anita Longo, who works with asylum seekers through Amnesty.
Though the numbers of asylum applicants may seem high "the figures mean nothing, as we don't give asylum." Many people frustrated with the system leave Slovenia for other parts of Europe, she says. Amnesty International in Slovenia says only 14 people have been given refugee status in the 10 years since independence, although 70,000 Bosnians were given temporary protection during the war in Bosnia. Large numbers of people are also brought through Slovenia by traffickers, as it is one of the main land routes from the former Yugoslavia and Italy.
While all these changes are taking place, one thing seems to have remained the same: the shadow of Yugoslavia is never far away.
Although Slovenia is being recognised for its progression into democracy and the open market, politicians still feel they must explain the reason they sought independence 10 years ago.
At a recent press conference in Ljubljana, Slovenian President Milan Kuean made references to ongoing problems in the Balkans. He indicated that Slovenia might still feel concerned about having escaped from the Balkan fire which engulfed its former countrymen.
"Slovenians never said we couldn't live together with others. All we stated was that we cannot live in an undemocratic, totalitarian and hegemonistic regime, as was being set up in Yugoslavia, because it was smothering our national identity and was taking away from our future," he said.
Slovenia left the Balkan conflict relatively unscathed, after a war lasting only 10 days. Sharing borders with two strong European nations, Italy and Austria, Slovenia (which was the first part of Yugoslavia to break away) saw the Serbian army withdraw from its territory and focus its attention on Croatia and Bosnia. Although the war, which went on for four years and which later spread to Kosovo and is still continuing in Macedonia did not physically affect Slovenia, it tainted it.
Tourism suffered and the term "former Yugoslavia" always had to be explained in the context of what was happening in countries south of its borders. In 1999, when the air strikes began in Kosovo, an Irish karate team was prevented from travelling to a tournament in Ljubljana although the violence was about 1,000 miles Mladina editor, Jani Sever, however, says it is a positive thing that Slovenia still remembers Yugoslavia and focuses on what is happening there, as much can be gained from the experience of the conflict. "Europe is still not learning from Yugoslavia - Yugoslavia is the reality of the European Union," he says.
World Cup qualification would be good for this small country. Not only would it mean a greater chance to be placed on the global map and help people to distinguish it from Slovakia, it would also be good to show a different side of former Yugoslavia. Some two-thirds of the national team have origins in other parts of former Yugoslavia. Though the Slovenians may not have been able to remain within the artificial state that was Yugoslavia, they can certainly play football with their descendants.
Slovenia Tourist Board: www.slovenia-tourism.si