So, have you ever felt like the world just kicked you in the crotch, spit acid into your eyes, laughed at you from distance, then gave you a lollipop? Cuz that's me right now.
Last night, I stayed up 'til 4AM to plan my first and only presentation in my Russian Law course. I plan on waking up at 11AM to run some errands before class. I wake up at noon. I can start hearing the laughter...
Whatever, plenty of time. I go to the ATM in town to withdraw a ton of kroons. I go and pick up the passport photos I had made. Apparently, I asked for twenty photos? I think there was a miscommunication, as I now have 20 passport photos of me with a Rudolph nose (it was really cold outside that day). So I look like a posterboy for a Kleenex soft tissues commercial. Lord... At least the Russian embassy will have a good laugh when they see those...
Then I get an ISIC card. This goes very well and very fast. I can now get discounts on my travels to Helsinki in 10 hours. Weee! Then I go to pay the last part of my tuition bill. Umm... they don't open til 1PM even though online it says Noon. Fine. I will go to my daily bakery stop and have some breakfast. This too goes well.
Then I go back and pay for my tuition. This act is completed relatively quickly. Yes, I have "lost" more money than I thought I would, but it is paid. I can now stay here rest assured. And if another "mysterious" bill comes around, I'm blowing something up. Something big...
But then I go to to try and get my student ID for the University from my dean's secretary. She is not there. Hmm, must be on lunch. Okay, well, I can go exchange some kroons for euros so I can buy things in FINLAND!! This is when the acid was thrown into my eyes.
Wait, kroons are worth how much to the euro? I just exchanged how much?! "AAAaaahhh, my eyes!!! Why would you do that?!" Good lore, Finland's expensive.... Screw this.
FALSE. I'm still going to Finland. But exchanging the money made me realize, wow, this costs money. Plans eventually turn into cash. Cash in euros is expensive. Whatever. At least I'm splitting the cost with 3 other people. Whew.
Okay, surely the secretary is back from lunch. This is an incorrect assumption. Apparently she's taken the day off. I almost curse her, but then I remember how amazingly sweet and INCREDIBLY efficient she is. I forgive her (as if that's my right) and move on. But I can definitely hear the laughter.
I walk back to the dorm, having accomplished all but one of my errands, and now I get to rehearse my presentation. I rehearse it twice, make some revisions.
*WHACK*
Me: "Huwgh!!" (someone's kicked me in the balls)
What time is it?! When is my class?! Son of a b*****!!! You have got to be f****** kidding me!! I'm gonna dropkick a b***** (referring to kicking myself)!!!
So, when on your schedule it's all in military time, sometimes you assume when your classes are. You glance at 14:00, and your eyes see 4:00pm. This is not true. 14:00 refers to 2PM. TWO FREAKING HOURS before your dumbass assumption. I have missed the first hour of my class. The professor has undoubtedly heard the other presentations, has noted my absence, put a zero next to my presentation grade (one of 2 grades in the class), and has begun lecturing.
If I sprint, like literally sprint, I could get to the building in 10 minutes. I would only be 75 minutes late... I wouldn't get to present, I'm sure, but I could at least catch the rest of the lecture and look pretty. But I can't sprint, I've already run today. My legs are tired. So I can get there in twenty or so minutes.
Well, I at least have to return the book I was supposed to present on. A girl in the class checked it out for me, due to my lack of a library card. I have to do that. Then I can wait outside the class and beg for mercy. First, write an email. I write the most beautiful "I'm-an-intelligent,-hard-working-idiot-who-wishes-to-prove-himself-by-not-misreading-his-calendar-again,-did-I-mention-I-was-a-good-student?" email ever.
I then walk (or hobble considering I was seemingly kicked in the balls by a kung fu master) to the Law building with the most pissed off face look ever. I may have actually looked Russian/Estonian for once this trip. Return the book, then set up station outside the classroom to talk to the professor. Several students stop him to talk to him about the course, blah blah blah. I then walk up.
He says, "Hey, what happened to you?" I tell him I can't tell time.
"Well, that's actually something I can see happening. You're forgiven." Well, then, what could I do to make it up to him, considering I messed up his lecture and didn't present?
"Let's just say that you haven't made a presentation yet. Sound good?"
This would be the lollipop. "HOLY CRAP, YES, that sounds WONDERFUL".
In real life I said, "That sounds beyond good. Thank you, and I promise - "
"Never again... at least for this class. Have a good weekend."
"Thank you professor!!!!"
Were there not social norms embedded into my brain, I would have kissed him on the mouth, started running down the street while stripping my clothes. I would then make snow angels and take a nap in a tree. It was a really good lollipop, okay?
Now, the other side of this is that if I go to the Conference in St Petersburg, it counts as my presentation grade. I will do both to be sure, but today was supposed to be the perfect way of totally sealing 40% of my grade away so that I could focus on my paper. Well, that's not happening. Yaaaayyyy (read as unenthusiastically as possible).
I did watch the Reader, however, and liked it. So maybe that is another good thing that came out of the last 24 hours. Good Lord, get me to Finland, and let me have a good time!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Yes, I Eat Pizza A Lot
So, it has been asked by several family members if I really do eat this much pizza. And the answer is yes. I eat a lot of pizza. It is the cheapest way to get a lot of carbs and "variety" in my diet. I never order the meat-lovers, but have instead gone towards to Supreme. Do I realize that this does not mean I'm eating healthily? Of course. So below are some pictures to prove how healthy I'm trying to be.
My typical sandwich lunch, but I eat everything you see in this picture... (10 small sandwiches)
Now, that being said. We move onward. Today (Monday) was a day in which I was going to get sooo much done. I have been in contact with this law conference in St Petersburg, and scrambling to get information to them in time so that I can get an invitation. If you're unaware, you cannot enter Russia without a visa, and you must have an invitation in order to receive one. So I got up early today to run the necessary errands.... And everything doesn't open until 10AM. This is a shame considering I got up at 9AM to run errands. So I walked around town and got breakfast... but there was a wind today, so it was bloody freezing (borrowing some Brit there). But I did manage to get all the "invitation" errands completed, but not all the "student" errands I needed to complete. Ugh. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Estonia's independence day (from 1918), and so everything connected with the university was closed today... without explanation or warning. AAAAHHH!!! Oh well.
Then I came back to the dorm and starting reading my articles for my EU/Russian relations course, because my group has a presentation next week. We met today, and I think we're gonna kick ass. Due to my extended absence this upcoming weekend, Lukas (Lithuania) and Sally (Georgia) will create the powerpoint, and I will do all the talking. Our topic is to elaborate on if Russia's international presence is only a result of economic factors. While not overly difficult, we want to be thorough and kick ass. Therefore, as a native English speaker, I can just rattle crap off faster, so I'll present. I really enjoy working with them, and I hope we keep this group for future presentations. But we shall see....
And then today was Ali Kash's (Turkey) birthday, and he is a really awesome guy with the coolest name ever. So he had a party in his apartment, and it was a nice, calm function. But I left with Genevieve, Kelsey, and Peter (USA) to go to the Gunpowder Cellar. We also had Sofia (Sweden) and Gergo (Hungary, and one of my flatmates) come with us. It was a very simple time, and we ordered a ton of bar food, which constitutes my least healthy meal to date. But I have wanted to come to the Gunpowder Cellar for some time, as it was commissioned by Catharine the Great to store gunpowder, and I think it's in the Guinness Book of World Records for tallest ceiling in bar (certainly for an underground bar). And, dare I say, I enjoyed their house beer more than Guinness. I know this is quite a claim, but I loved it. Wonderful house beer, only available in the Gunpowder. I think I may be in love... maybe.
But it really hit me double strong today that I'm in Estonia. Sitting in the Gunpowder Cellar, a place I've wanted to go to for some time now, and having Estonian karaoke in the background... it was perfect. And I'm officially going to go to Helsinki and St Petersburg... it just makes me soo happy. Giddy happy. Weeee!!!
I really hope the invitation/visa stuff works out alright, because I found I do in fact have to go Tallinn for the consulate, and I called them today... Wow. I wrote a small script and said it to the operator several times, changing things every once and a while... and all he said back was "I do not understand you." (in Russian, of course) So while I'm excited that I'll have excuses to travel to Tallinn, and a run-through at the embassy before it really matters for my internship in Russia, I am scared of the encounter. But this is where my American determination, lack of overall shyness, and willingness to butcher a foreign language will prevail. hahaha.
Flatmates: Gergo and Colin
View of Underground Cellar from 2nd Level
My typical sandwich lunch, but I eat everything you see in this picture... (10 small sandwiches)
My entire box of muesli cereal (either dried fruit or nut contents)
This is a new addition to my diet, and I loves it.
My latest weak spot: cinnamon apple yogurt... incredibly good!!!
Now, that being said. We move onward. Today (Monday) was a day in which I was going to get sooo much done. I have been in contact with this law conference in St Petersburg, and scrambling to get information to them in time so that I can get an invitation. If you're unaware, you cannot enter Russia without a visa, and you must have an invitation in order to receive one. So I got up early today to run the necessary errands.... And everything doesn't open until 10AM. This is a shame considering I got up at 9AM to run errands. So I walked around town and got breakfast... but there was a wind today, so it was bloody freezing (borrowing some Brit there). But I did manage to get all the "invitation" errands completed, but not all the "student" errands I needed to complete. Ugh. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Estonia's independence day (from 1918), and so everything connected with the university was closed today... without explanation or warning. AAAAHHH!!! Oh well.
Then I came back to the dorm and starting reading my articles for my EU/Russian relations course, because my group has a presentation next week. We met today, and I think we're gonna kick ass. Due to my extended absence this upcoming weekend, Lukas (Lithuania) and Sally (Georgia) will create the powerpoint, and I will do all the talking. Our topic is to elaborate on if Russia's international presence is only a result of economic factors. While not overly difficult, we want to be thorough and kick ass. Therefore, as a native English speaker, I can just rattle crap off faster, so I'll present. I really enjoy working with them, and I hope we keep this group for future presentations. But we shall see....
And then today was Ali Kash's (Turkey) birthday, and he is a really awesome guy with the coolest name ever. So he had a party in his apartment, and it was a nice, calm function. But I left with Genevieve, Kelsey, and Peter (USA) to go to the Gunpowder Cellar. We also had Sofia (Sweden) and Gergo (Hungary, and one of my flatmates) come with us. It was a very simple time, and we ordered a ton of bar food, which constitutes my least healthy meal to date. But I have wanted to come to the Gunpowder Cellar for some time, as it was commissioned by Catharine the Great to store gunpowder, and I think it's in the Guinness Book of World Records for tallest ceiling in bar (certainly for an underground bar). And, dare I say, I enjoyed their house beer more than Guinness. I know this is quite a claim, but I loved it. Wonderful house beer, only available in the Gunpowder. I think I may be in love... maybe.
But it really hit me double strong today that I'm in Estonia. Sitting in the Gunpowder Cellar, a place I've wanted to go to for some time now, and having Estonian karaoke in the background... it was perfect. And I'm officially going to go to Helsinki and St Petersburg... it just makes me soo happy. Giddy happy. Weeee!!!
I really hope the invitation/visa stuff works out alright, because I found I do in fact have to go Tallinn for the consulate, and I called them today... Wow. I wrote a small script and said it to the operator several times, changing things every once and a while... and all he said back was "I do not understand you." (in Russian, of course) So while I'm excited that I'll have excuses to travel to Tallinn, and a run-through at the embassy before it really matters for my internship in Russia, I am scared of the encounter. But this is where my American determination, lack of overall shyness, and willingness to butcher a foreign language will prevail. hahaha.
The bar food we ordered... SO GOOD
The American crew (future Helsinki travel crew)
[Peter, Kelsey, and Genevieve]
[Peter, Kelsey, and Genevieve]
Flatmates: Gergo and Colin
View of Underground Cellar from 2nd LevelView of Underground Cellar from Ground Floor
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Fun in the Void
Soooo... Things have been pretty "dull" around in the Raatuse dormitory this weekend. A big group went to Riga for the weekend, some went to Poland, others went to Tallinn. Basically, most of my international friends left. So I've been chilling with Genevieve (Texas), Peter (Tennessee), and Kelsey (North Carolina). So did this weekend feel pretty "American"? Yes. But oh well. It's been good.
Friday
Got up rather late (slept in like crazy), and then I decided to start doing some research.... Because when study abroaders see other people going places and doing things... you want to join in on the fun. So us four Americans decided that next weekend, we're going to go to Finland!!! Weee!! But we needed to come up with plans. So we all went our separate ways and began to plan our trip independently.
We reconvened at an Italian restaurant, and I got to order a deliciously large pizza! Mmmm... But over the dinner we agreed that trying to head to Lapland (extreme northern province of Finland) in order to see aurora bourealis was just too expensive, and we'd only be able to spend one night there... which was not worth the loads of money and slight chance we'd see any beauitful display of particle physics.
So we decided that 3 nights in Helsinki would be the best option. Yaaay!! I've heard Helsinki isn't all that awesome, but whatever. If you attack any city with excitement, it'll bounce back off something... even if its the concrete sidewalks (which could be monumentally covered in ice, who knows?).
But we stayed up waaaay too late talking and watching movies, so it was a sad day for productivity.
Saturday
My sleep schedule is beyond awful right now, though. I've been staying up 'til 4AM for the last couple of nights and waking up in the afternoon hours. This does not equal good. But today I got up, procrastinated for an hour, then went on my long-run for the week. It was a very pleasant run, almost hot (relatively). But I got to run back in this remote "neighborhood" and I found a SWEET playground in town as I was adding on some kilometers. So I am definitely going back there when it is warm. But on the run when I was in the remoteness, I took a turn and ended up in a huge pile of fluffy snow, and I just stopped. And I took off my glove and felt the snow. I really hadn't just picked up snow with my bare hands yet. And I remembered how much I love the stuff, and how delicate and wonderful it is. I love winter. The caveat here is that I've never experienced more than a foot of snow, so maybe that's why I still love it...
But I got back from my run and practically sprinted to Taverna, a pizza place we went to on Thursday night. The pizzas there are HUGE, and I love them. But this was a momentous moment, perhaps the most important, of the entire semester. Tonight it finally struck me that I'm in Estonia. I remember when it struck me in Russia and Belize last year. But it finally struck me today. I think it's taken so long, because I haven't felt alienated here. The Estonians, though quiet, are very nice and I certainly feel at home here. But since all my flatmates/roommates are gone this weekend, I think I just needed to feel alone and "special" to realize. But it was perfect. I had just ordered a pizza and paid with my Estonian bank card, I sat down with my tea and read from my law text "Russia and the Idea of Europe". It finally hit me, I'm in Estonia, I'm studying Russia, and I'm happy!!! And I think planning trips to Helsinki and trying to arrange attending a conference in St Petersburg helped to reinforce the idea that "I'm only a bus trip away from all these places!!!" A very good moment, indeed.
And then I got the call that tonight was CHILI NIGHT!! Peter had been talking about making chili one night, and the southwesterner in me was RIDICULOUSLY excited about the idea. So I went downstairs to Peter's apartment, and good lore (referring to great stories of olden times), there was soo much food!! So they had gone shopping while I was running and came back with many goodies. I was personally quite excited. They decided to make brownies, chili, and cornbread. Mmmm... But of course, the only thing we have to make this meal is a toaster oven and two electric stove stops.... none of these said appliances work well. So we made the chili in a big pan, the brownies in the toaster oven, and then we made the cornbread on the stove in a skillet. It all came out surprisingly well. The brownies... turned more into cake. We think that's how Estonians like it, because let's face it: Americans love sugar and rich chocolate waaay to much for our own good. haaha.
But the chili had really good spice to it, as did the cornbread. We later made chili-cheese fries, when we got hungry again. So we retained our American attitudes towards food quite well last night. hahaha. But to celebrate our southwestern evening, we watched Blazing Saddles. So wonderful.
But we also played several rounds of Spades throughout the evening. But like all good college kids, we decided that it should be a game with punishments and alcohol. On their shopping adventure, they had found chocolates with vodka centers. They purchased them while thinking,
"What could this possibly be?!" Well, they're chocolates on the outside, but they're totally hollow and have about 1/3 of a shot of vodka that just sits in the middle in liquid form. So you break the chocolate shell, then lemon-lime vodka pours out. It's surprisingly not that bad, but your body reacts poorly due to the taste of chocolate rapidly being overtaken by the taste of vodka. hahaha. But Spades went really well, at first Genevieve and I got to "celebrate" losing two rounds, then we turned to kick complete ass the next two, so we were spared further chocolate vodka candy. hahaha.
But it was a good night, and we ended by finally getting our accomodation arranged, after our first hostel was apparently full. There's a Bloc Party concert in Helsinki when we're there, and apparently that's what's sucking up all the hostels. But we found a hostel with a four-bedded private room for two nights, then we have to move to a hotel for our final night, but with travel and accomodation, it's less than $200. For three nights in a capital city in a country based off the euro, I'm quite pleased. hahaha.
But I'm anxious to hear from the Riga-travellers how it was, because they found great deals and are spending close to nothing to get there and stay for a weekend. So I'd like to know for my weekend trip to Riga sometime in the future. hahaha.
Today (Sunday) will be incredibly uneventful for sure, so don't expect another post for Sunday. So far I have a short run, a book for Law to read, and an article to read for Post-Soviet. Weee. It's not that much work at all, but I just have to do it. Awww man! hahaha.
Friday
Got up rather late (slept in like crazy), and then I decided to start doing some research.... Because when study abroaders see other people going places and doing things... you want to join in on the fun. So us four Americans decided that next weekend, we're going to go to Finland!!! Weee!! But we needed to come up with plans. So we all went our separate ways and began to plan our trip independently.
We reconvened at an Italian restaurant, and I got to order a deliciously large pizza! Mmmm... But over the dinner we agreed that trying to head to Lapland (extreme northern province of Finland) in order to see aurora bourealis was just too expensive, and we'd only be able to spend one night there... which was not worth the loads of money and slight chance we'd see any beauitful display of particle physics.
So we decided that 3 nights in Helsinki would be the best option. Yaaay!! I've heard Helsinki isn't all that awesome, but whatever. If you attack any city with excitement, it'll bounce back off something... even if its the concrete sidewalks (which could be monumentally covered in ice, who knows?).
But we stayed up waaaay too late talking and watching movies, so it was a sad day for productivity.
Saturday
My sleep schedule is beyond awful right now, though. I've been staying up 'til 4AM for the last couple of nights and waking up in the afternoon hours. This does not equal good. But today I got up, procrastinated for an hour, then went on my long-run for the week. It was a very pleasant run, almost hot (relatively). But I got to run back in this remote "neighborhood" and I found a SWEET playground in town as I was adding on some kilometers. So I am definitely going back there when it is warm. But on the run when I was in the remoteness, I took a turn and ended up in a huge pile of fluffy snow, and I just stopped. And I took off my glove and felt the snow. I really hadn't just picked up snow with my bare hands yet. And I remembered how much I love the stuff, and how delicate and wonderful it is. I love winter. The caveat here is that I've never experienced more than a foot of snow, so maybe that's why I still love it...
But I got back from my run and practically sprinted to Taverna, a pizza place we went to on Thursday night. The pizzas there are HUGE, and I love them. But this was a momentous moment, perhaps the most important, of the entire semester. Tonight it finally struck me that I'm in Estonia. I remember when it struck me in Russia and Belize last year. But it finally struck me today. I think it's taken so long, because I haven't felt alienated here. The Estonians, though quiet, are very nice and I certainly feel at home here. But since all my flatmates/roommates are gone this weekend, I think I just needed to feel alone and "special" to realize. But it was perfect. I had just ordered a pizza and paid with my Estonian bank card, I sat down with my tea and read from my law text "Russia and the Idea of Europe". It finally hit me, I'm in Estonia, I'm studying Russia, and I'm happy!!! And I think planning trips to Helsinki and trying to arrange attending a conference in St Petersburg helped to reinforce the idea that "I'm only a bus trip away from all these places!!!" A very good moment, indeed.
And then I got the call that tonight was CHILI NIGHT!! Peter had been talking about making chili one night, and the southwesterner in me was RIDICULOUSLY excited about the idea. So I went downstairs to Peter's apartment, and good lore (referring to great stories of olden times), there was soo much food!! So they had gone shopping while I was running and came back with many goodies. I was personally quite excited. They decided to make brownies, chili, and cornbread. Mmmm... But of course, the only thing we have to make this meal is a toaster oven and two electric stove stops.... none of these said appliances work well. So we made the chili in a big pan, the brownies in the toaster oven, and then we made the cornbread on the stove in a skillet. It all came out surprisingly well. The brownies... turned more into cake. We think that's how Estonians like it, because let's face it: Americans love sugar and rich chocolate waaay to much for our own good. haaha.
But the chili had really good spice to it, as did the cornbread. We later made chili-cheese fries, when we got hungry again. So we retained our American attitudes towards food quite well last night. hahaha. But to celebrate our southwestern evening, we watched Blazing Saddles. So wonderful.
But we also played several rounds of Spades throughout the evening. But like all good college kids, we decided that it should be a game with punishments and alcohol. On their shopping adventure, they had found chocolates with vodka centers. They purchased them while thinking,
"What could this possibly be?!" Well, they're chocolates on the outside, but they're totally hollow and have about 1/3 of a shot of vodka that just sits in the middle in liquid form. So you break the chocolate shell, then lemon-lime vodka pours out. It's surprisingly not that bad, but your body reacts poorly due to the taste of chocolate rapidly being overtaken by the taste of vodka. hahaha. But Spades went really well, at first Genevieve and I got to "celebrate" losing two rounds, then we turned to kick complete ass the next two, so we were spared further chocolate vodka candy. hahaha.
But it was a good night, and we ended by finally getting our accomodation arranged, after our first hostel was apparently full. There's a Bloc Party concert in Helsinki when we're there, and apparently that's what's sucking up all the hostels. But we found a hostel with a four-bedded private room for two nights, then we have to move to a hotel for our final night, but with travel and accomodation, it's less than $200. For three nights in a capital city in a country based off the euro, I'm quite pleased. hahaha.
But I'm anxious to hear from the Riga-travellers how it was, because they found great deals and are spending close to nothing to get there and stay for a weekend. So I'd like to know for my weekend trip to Riga sometime in the future. hahaha.
Today (Sunday) will be incredibly uneventful for sure, so don't expect another post for Sunday. So far I have a short run, a book for Law to read, and an article to read for Post-Soviet. Weee. It's not that much work at all, but I just have to do it. Awww man! hahaha.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Sarcasm? YES!
So I got up today and went for a run. There were tons of cute babies, but it's so cold here you can only see their face, which makes it more adorable. They are bundled up in adorable little-person suits, and then their carriages are completely covered (except for around the face) to keep the snow out. Hannibal Lecter would just look cuddly in these outfits. But anyway...
Did some Russian homework and relaxed, then went to Russian... at 6pm at night. Thursdays I have one class from 6pm to 8pm. Weee! hahaha. But I was standing there, and there were more people standing outside the classroom, and I didn't want a bigger class... But it was okay. They're all really nice, and there's a girl from Afghanistan in the class! This might seem like a random thing to put an exclamation mark after, but I find it quite amazing for obvious reasons (last 50 years of the country's history). Besides of all the places to meet an Afghan... Estonia? Moving along...
Sat down and someone I didn't know sat down and asked how the class was. And I said, well, it's not too hard. The pace is apparently pretty manageable, and this is a continuation course. But for a second semester course, they know an awful lot of Russian, so I think it'll pick up relatively quickly. He says that this may be too easy, due to the fact that he spent a year in Novosibirsk. And I said yeah....
But he didn't have the courage to just leave at that point, so he spent the rest of the time in class, and provided me with a great deal of laughter. We read a text describing a family (of course, in every language there's a wonderful family), but he noticed the "Soviet" tendencies behind it. A factory worker father, Russian language schoolteacher mother, oldest brother is doctor, younger son is going to build houses, youngest brother is playing soccer and hockey, and the daughter is a chemist. Bahaha. Basically, he and I were partners for all the exercises and we may or may not have made fun of this family for quite some time. He's British, so his sarcasm is beyond well-developed. It was quite enjoyable.
And supposedly in Estonia, sarcasm is the prefered method of humor. But it's in Estonian. I doubt they find foreigner sarcasm in English very funny. Besides, how can they like sarcasm if they don't speak? How will I ever know? So having a wildly sarcastic Brit in my class was a sigh of relief. He's a master's student writing his thesis on Russia media's rights affecting relations with EU. Interesting stuff.
But Dara (the new Brit) and I met up with some other international students for a dinner at a place I hadn't been to yet, but was rumored to have huge pizzas. OhmyGodIfoundmynewplaceforfood!!! It was soooo good. The pizza I had was thick and delicious and huge and for $8. I am set for life. And it's the restaurant right after the bridge, so it's a mere 6 minute walk if you got caught by every traffic light.
I wanted a more low-key night after Club Illusion the night before and running. So I got wind of some of the American students watching Hamlet 2, the movie of a drama teacher who writes his own play, including the song "Rock Me Sexy Jesus". It was funny, not as great as I had hoped, but I was certainly entertained.
Then we headed to Zavod. Now, this is an important lesson in the culture of Tartu. Zavod is THE pub/bar/place. Anyone in town will tell you to go here. What makes it great? It stays open the longest. So it's empty until midnight... then the crowd POURS in. Zavod is Russian for factory, and it really does seem like a factory just spewing out dozens of drunks. hahaha. But Zavod was wonderful, a true delight. It wasn't too crowded, but we left at 2:30. It still had a good 2.5 hours of bar time left, so I'm sure it became more ridiculous. Zavod, the holiest pub in Tartu.
Did some Russian homework and relaxed, then went to Russian... at 6pm at night. Thursdays I have one class from 6pm to 8pm. Weee! hahaha. But I was standing there, and there were more people standing outside the classroom, and I didn't want a bigger class... But it was okay. They're all really nice, and there's a girl from Afghanistan in the class! This might seem like a random thing to put an exclamation mark after, but I find it quite amazing for obvious reasons (last 50 years of the country's history). Besides of all the places to meet an Afghan... Estonia? Moving along...
Sat down and someone I didn't know sat down and asked how the class was. And I said, well, it's not too hard. The pace is apparently pretty manageable, and this is a continuation course. But for a second semester course, they know an awful lot of Russian, so I think it'll pick up relatively quickly. He says that this may be too easy, due to the fact that he spent a year in Novosibirsk. And I said yeah....
But he didn't have the courage to just leave at that point, so he spent the rest of the time in class, and provided me with a great deal of laughter. We read a text describing a family (of course, in every language there's a wonderful family), but he noticed the "Soviet" tendencies behind it. A factory worker father, Russian language schoolteacher mother, oldest brother is doctor, younger son is going to build houses, youngest brother is playing soccer and hockey, and the daughter is a chemist. Bahaha. Basically, he and I were partners for all the exercises and we may or may not have made fun of this family for quite some time. He's British, so his sarcasm is beyond well-developed. It was quite enjoyable.
And supposedly in Estonia, sarcasm is the prefered method of humor. But it's in Estonian. I doubt they find foreigner sarcasm in English very funny. Besides, how can they like sarcasm if they don't speak? How will I ever know? So having a wildly sarcastic Brit in my class was a sigh of relief. He's a master's student writing his thesis on Russia media's rights affecting relations with EU. Interesting stuff.
But Dara (the new Brit) and I met up with some other international students for a dinner at a place I hadn't been to yet, but was rumored to have huge pizzas. OhmyGodIfoundmynewplaceforfood!!! It was soooo good. The pizza I had was thick and delicious and huge and for $8. I am set for life. And it's the restaurant right after the bridge, so it's a mere 6 minute walk if you got caught by every traffic light.
I wanted a more low-key night after Club Illusion the night before and running. So I got wind of some of the American students watching Hamlet 2, the movie of a drama teacher who writes his own play, including the song "Rock Me Sexy Jesus". It was funny, not as great as I had hoped, but I was certainly entertained.
Then we headed to Zavod. Now, this is an important lesson in the culture of Tartu. Zavod is THE pub/bar/place. Anyone in town will tell you to go here. What makes it great? It stays open the longest. So it's empty until midnight... then the crowd POURS in. Zavod is Russian for factory, and it really does seem like a factory just spewing out dozens of drunks. hahaha. But Zavod was wonderful, a true delight. It wasn't too crowded, but we left at 2:30. It still had a good 2.5 hours of bar time left, so I'm sure it became more ridiculous. Zavod, the holiest pub in Tartu.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Laws of Wednesdays
So today (Wednesday) was a good day, although short of events. hahaha.
I got up late and headed to "The Theory of International Law and Human Rights in Russia". Now, I had been terrified of this course up until today, because the original syllabus online said our first assignment would be a 7-page paper over 1 of 3 materials... all of which were only available in Russian. And I had a slight problem/anxiety, because my Russian certainly doesn't allow me to read complicated, legal texts. haha. I don't know when I'll be able to do that... maybe when I'm 30.
But upon entering the class, there was a revised syllabus! Yay! No books only available in Russian!! Weeee!! But it was an interesting class... No heated debates (Yay!), but the professor spoke for almost 1.5 hours on the idea of international law and its history in Estonia. So it was different. But his command of English is quite good, and so I'm glad that in my most "obscure" class, the professor is very capable of English. But unfortunately for this class, my attention drifted, so I will have to prevent this in the future.... hahaha. I volunteered to give a presentation next class, so I have no idea how that will go. It's not a long reading, and I hope it's interesting or something. Otherwise, I may be screwed overall. hahaha.
But I'm hopeful, because he has invited us to a law conference in St Petersburg attended by Russian students. And I would very much like to go. I'm waiting word back from him as to information, but there may be a problem with arranging everything, as getting a tourist visa is rather complicated. And so time may be against me, in terms of receiving an invitiation, getting the visa, etc. But we will see. I would love to go back to St Petersburg, but at a convention. I just simply want to be back in the city, and not necessarily doing all the tourist stuff again. But we'll see.
In the evening, our hall in Raatuse (the dorm) threw a costume party. I didn't have time to go out and buy a costume... So I just put on some running tights, a white undershirt, then wore a pair of underwear I have that has a tuxedo print on the front. I claimed it was "semi-casual", but basically I just didn't care. It was whatever. hahaha. There were a ton of costumes, and it was fun. And afterwards, we went back to Club Illusion, a definite favorite place. Kema would be glad to know that Prince's "Kiss" was the first song when we walked through the door. hahaha. The music oscillated from good to awful back to good, but everyone was light-hearted about it, so it was still a lot of fun. International students get in for free on Wednesday nights, so this will become a regular event. So every Wednesday I'll go to Law, have some time, then go dancin'. Weee!
Well, now I must start my Russian language homework for my class at 6 pm... I don't know how I feel about that... but I certainly don't feel too good about my brain's capacity at such awkward hours. We'll see. hahaha.
I got up late and headed to "The Theory of International Law and Human Rights in Russia". Now, I had been terrified of this course up until today, because the original syllabus online said our first assignment would be a 7-page paper over 1 of 3 materials... all of which were only available in Russian. And I had a slight problem/anxiety, because my Russian certainly doesn't allow me to read complicated, legal texts. haha. I don't know when I'll be able to do that... maybe when I'm 30.
But upon entering the class, there was a revised syllabus! Yay! No books only available in Russian!! Weeee!! But it was an interesting class... No heated debates (Yay!), but the professor spoke for almost 1.5 hours on the idea of international law and its history in Estonia. So it was different. But his command of English is quite good, and so I'm glad that in my most "obscure" class, the professor is very capable of English. But unfortunately for this class, my attention drifted, so I will have to prevent this in the future.... hahaha. I volunteered to give a presentation next class, so I have no idea how that will go. It's not a long reading, and I hope it's interesting or something. Otherwise, I may be screwed overall. hahaha.
But I'm hopeful, because he has invited us to a law conference in St Petersburg attended by Russian students. And I would very much like to go. I'm waiting word back from him as to information, but there may be a problem with arranging everything, as getting a tourist visa is rather complicated. And so time may be against me, in terms of receiving an invitiation, getting the visa, etc. But we will see. I would love to go back to St Petersburg, but at a convention. I just simply want to be back in the city, and not necessarily doing all the tourist stuff again. But we'll see.
In the evening, our hall in Raatuse (the dorm) threw a costume party. I didn't have time to go out and buy a costume... So I just put on some running tights, a white undershirt, then wore a pair of underwear I have that has a tuxedo print on the front. I claimed it was "semi-casual", but basically I just didn't care. It was whatever. hahaha. There were a ton of costumes, and it was fun. And afterwards, we went back to Club Illusion, a definite favorite place. Kema would be glad to know that Prince's "Kiss" was the first song when we walked through the door. hahaha. The music oscillated from good to awful back to good, but everyone was light-hearted about it, so it was still a lot of fun. International students get in for free on Wednesday nights, so this will become a regular event. So every Wednesday I'll go to Law, have some time, then go dancin'. Weee!
Well, now I must start my Russian language homework for my class at 6 pm... I don't know how I feel about that... but I certainly don't feel too good about my brain's capacity at such awkward hours. We'll see. hahaha.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Delayed, I Know
So this is for Tuesday (2/17). I'm late in writing it, I know. But oh well.
Well, I got up nice and early for my morning classes in EU/Russian Relations course. I was excited, because this would be the first lecture, and I wanted to know how it would set the tone for the course. Well, it was a boring topic, EU foreign policy institutions, but it was necessary for understanding the rest of the semester. BUT we had a wonderful explosion in class when we started talking about enlargement policy, specifically towards Turkey. An unnamed person declared that Islam was the reason Turkey wasn't being admitted into the EU, and I'm sorry, but even I got upset at that.
Now granted, some things when concerning Islam are unsettling, like the recent meeting of 200 conversative clerics in Istanbul, and the statements that a third theatre of jihad in Palestine was legitimate. And so, yes, there's some hesitation on this point, I will agree. But the student claimed it was the EU not wanting to adopt Muslim values. I think it has more to do with the average standard of living for Turkish citizens, all 70 million of them. Or the insurgency in the east with the PKK. Or the huge tension between the Kurds and the Turks on cultural, educational, linguistic, and political rights. Or we could just fall back and blame Islam. But the class exploded, and I didn't enjoy it.
But we have to do presentations during the year over lecture materials and introduce discussion. So I volunteered to be in one of the first groups (best to go first, fewer expectations). And I'm really excited because Lukas (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Sally (Georgia) are going to be in my group. Lukas is a very intelligent political science guy, and Sally is a student of law (I think in her master's program...). So it'll be a good group, and I'm excited about it all. And we have two weeks to prepare a 15 minute presentation, and that will be beyond not difficult. Yay!
Then I went to my Intermediate Russian Language course. And the first day... was easy. I mean, not a breeze, but not a significant challenge either. But I'm at the level of the majority of the students in the class, and I'd rather cover ground I already know, then jump up and discover I'm behind. So I'm gonna stay in the class, but I know I'm gonna have to sit for hours a day and practice my Russian. I just have to if I'm going to learn this language, even a little. It doesn't matter how much I'm in class or what class I'm in if I'm not studying intensely.
Then I rushed to get to the Sports Hall for my second workout with Coach Lemberg. He's very happy I'm taking Russian language, and we had a good bonding session. He was talking about his younger athletes and the times they can run, it was nice. The workout was more of a test of endurance than speed, so it was difficult, but I certainly wasn't just running into a wall. I met a couple more of his runners, and the meeting was better this time. Much more conversation. They watched me run my first 3 intervals, which is awkward, but whatever. haha. Coach said he might try to get a breakfast together on Thursday for me to meet people. And apparently, most of the guys lives in the dormitory around the corner, so there's a chance I could possibly see them once and a while. And this, I would not mind. I want a team sooo badly. It's just hard being the only person that runs, and the only person that gets that I can't drink every night cuz I have to run. hahaha. Oh well.
But then I stayed up 'til 4am talking with Jack (UK), Davide (Germany), Toomas (roommate), Ania (Poland), Davide (Italy), Niels (Netherlands) and David (US) about politics. It was nice, but I got a little annoyed when Toomas and David went on a huge rant on US politics. That's just not fair. No one else really cares in Estonia, so don't go on about it. hahaha. But this is what happens when most people are political science oriented and then go to the same international program. hahaha. But now I'm getting ready for my first Law course.... and I'm terrified. But we'll see!
Well, I got up nice and early for my morning classes in EU/Russian Relations course. I was excited, because this would be the first lecture, and I wanted to know how it would set the tone for the course. Well, it was a boring topic, EU foreign policy institutions, but it was necessary for understanding the rest of the semester. BUT we had a wonderful explosion in class when we started talking about enlargement policy, specifically towards Turkey. An unnamed person declared that Islam was the reason Turkey wasn't being admitted into the EU, and I'm sorry, but even I got upset at that.
Now granted, some things when concerning Islam are unsettling, like the recent meeting of 200 conversative clerics in Istanbul, and the statements that a third theatre of jihad in Palestine was legitimate. And so, yes, there's some hesitation on this point, I will agree. But the student claimed it was the EU not wanting to adopt Muslim values. I think it has more to do with the average standard of living for Turkish citizens, all 70 million of them. Or the insurgency in the east with the PKK. Or the huge tension between the Kurds and the Turks on cultural, educational, linguistic, and political rights. Or we could just fall back and blame Islam. But the class exploded, and I didn't enjoy it.
But we have to do presentations during the year over lecture materials and introduce discussion. So I volunteered to be in one of the first groups (best to go first, fewer expectations). And I'm really excited because Lukas (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Sally (Georgia) are going to be in my group. Lukas is a very intelligent political science guy, and Sally is a student of law (I think in her master's program...). So it'll be a good group, and I'm excited about it all. And we have two weeks to prepare a 15 minute presentation, and that will be beyond not difficult. Yay!
Then I went to my Intermediate Russian Language course. And the first day... was easy. I mean, not a breeze, but not a significant challenge either. But I'm at the level of the majority of the students in the class, and I'd rather cover ground I already know, then jump up and discover I'm behind. So I'm gonna stay in the class, but I know I'm gonna have to sit for hours a day and practice my Russian. I just have to if I'm going to learn this language, even a little. It doesn't matter how much I'm in class or what class I'm in if I'm not studying intensely.
Then I rushed to get to the Sports Hall for my second workout with Coach Lemberg. He's very happy I'm taking Russian language, and we had a good bonding session. He was talking about his younger athletes and the times they can run, it was nice. The workout was more of a test of endurance than speed, so it was difficult, but I certainly wasn't just running into a wall. I met a couple more of his runners, and the meeting was better this time. Much more conversation. They watched me run my first 3 intervals, which is awkward, but whatever. haha. Coach said he might try to get a breakfast together on Thursday for me to meet people. And apparently, most of the guys lives in the dormitory around the corner, so there's a chance I could possibly see them once and a while. And this, I would not mind. I want a team sooo badly. It's just hard being the only person that runs, and the only person that gets that I can't drink every night cuz I have to run. hahaha. Oh well.
But then I stayed up 'til 4am talking with Jack (UK), Davide (Germany), Toomas (roommate), Ania (Poland), Davide (Italy), Niels (Netherlands) and David (US) about politics. It was nice, but I got a little annoyed when Toomas and David went on a huge rant on US politics. That's just not fair. No one else really cares in Estonia, so don't go on about it. hahaha. But this is what happens when most people are political science oriented and then go to the same international program. hahaha. But now I'm getting ready for my first Law course.... and I'm terrified. But we'll see!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Estonia Knows Students
Mondays, Mondays, Monday... R-O-C-K in Estonia.
"So, Colin, when is your earliest class on Mondays?"
"Good question. I would have to respond with 2PM. I'm a fan, not gonna lie."
"What the hell?! When is your earliest class in the week, buttface?!"
"Oh, on Tuesdays (like tomorrow) I have class at 10AM... So I still gets to sleep in. Oooo, yeah."
"How late do your classes go?"
"Well, I do have class twice a week from 4PM-6PM, but that's peak efficiency for college students."
Because I think Estonia gets students... well, international students. There are some 8AM classes for Estonian culture (not a culture I want to hear about at 8 in the morning, in my opinion). But for me, yep, they loves me. hahaha.
But today was packed. I got up at 11AM, and I should have gotten up earlier to avoid packing the day. But I got up, immediately went on my 8 mile run, got back, showered, shaved, then went to the bakery on the square and picked up some pastries. Now, when I say pastries, they're breakfast foods of a "bread" fashion. So I had two "pastries" with a beef and potato filling, and then one "chocolate-bun-thing" to get my sugar up after the run. Mmm...
And had my first "Soviet Experience and Post-Soviet Transformation in Russia". W-O-W. Taught by a historian, but damn, have we got some opinionated people in there. Loaded classroom, clap, clap, clap-clap-clap (old high school cheer sound effect there, if you didn't recognize). At least 1/4 of the class is Georgian, so they have a very bitter contemporary relationship with Russia, not to mention USSR days. Then there's this Ukrainian girl, who I honestly want to punch in the face. Every time she spoke it made it seem as if the Soviet experience was only brutal for Urkaine, so she would talk about the "political repression, especially in Ukraine". Kind of an ass thing to do with Georgians, Poles, and Russians in the classroom. I'm pretty sure the USSR wasn't really nice to anyone, especially in the Stalinist era. So get off the high-horse, nobody had a swell time. Ugh. BUT, we do have a Moldovan, particularly a Transdniestrian. Transdniestria is a breakaway republic on the eastern border of Moldova and on the western border of Ukraine. It's a strange little place, supposedly has a huge part in the manufacturing of illegal weapons, but is arguably the most Soviet-ish place on earth. So she's in the class to get another perpsective on the USSR, other than what's been taught in her schools.
So opinions are huge in the class, and for our first day we just did a "brainstorming" of the good and bad results of the USSR. So a lot was thrown out there, and much of it was "sensitive" in nature due to the emotional presentation. So if you didn't agree that it was a bad thing, you had another thing coming, because your country didn't suffer as much as mine. Whew. Almost fights in class. But the professor is a history professor and is very good at making sure that all sides are represented. He has a very good eye and ear for balance in the classroom, and I am excited about the possibilities of the course, at least for its entertainment/annoyance value.
Then I went to the "advanced" Russian course, and discovered within 15 seconds that I did not belong there... A shame, considering the class was 2 hours long, and I had to eeek through it without drawing attention. This wasn't too hard considering there were 35 people in the class, but damn. I understood the most important 15% of what was said. That being instructions for the class and directions on how to do the exercise. The other 85% - humor, elaboration, explanation, kindness - lost to me. Had no idea. So after a successful trip to the Migration Office, this class brought be straight back to "you have NO idea what you're doing in this language yet, duh!" Yet I had to go to the class to confirm it was too high level for me, and it was. hahaha. But I will go to the "intermediate" Russian class tomorrow, and probably stay there. I have many Russians/Poles to practice my Russian with, and I have people I can write to, so whatever. A lot of independent study will be necessary, but so far, none of my academic classes will be more challenging than Russian language, so it will be priority #1 academically.
Quite the day. Woot, wee, and whoppers. I hope yours was good too!
"So, Colin, when is your earliest class on Mondays?"
"Good question. I would have to respond with 2PM. I'm a fan, not gonna lie."
"What the hell?! When is your earliest class in the week, buttface?!"
"Oh, on Tuesdays (like tomorrow) I have class at 10AM... So I still gets to sleep in. Oooo, yeah."
"How late do your classes go?"
"Well, I do have class twice a week from 4PM-6PM, but that's peak efficiency for college students."
Because I think Estonia gets students... well, international students. There are some 8AM classes for Estonian culture (not a culture I want to hear about at 8 in the morning, in my opinion). But for me, yep, they loves me. hahaha.
But today was packed. I got up at 11AM, and I should have gotten up earlier to avoid packing the day. But I got up, immediately went on my 8 mile run, got back, showered, shaved, then went to the bakery on the square and picked up some pastries. Now, when I say pastries, they're breakfast foods of a "bread" fashion. So I had two "pastries" with a beef and potato filling, and then one "chocolate-bun-thing" to get my sugar up after the run. Mmm...
And had my first "Soviet Experience and Post-Soviet Transformation in Russia". W-O-W. Taught by a historian, but damn, have we got some opinionated people in there. Loaded classroom, clap, clap, clap-clap-clap (old high school cheer sound effect there, if you didn't recognize). At least 1/4 of the class is Georgian, so they have a very bitter contemporary relationship with Russia, not to mention USSR days. Then there's this Ukrainian girl, who I honestly want to punch in the face. Every time she spoke it made it seem as if the Soviet experience was only brutal for Urkaine, so she would talk about the "political repression, especially in Ukraine". Kind of an ass thing to do with Georgians, Poles, and Russians in the classroom. I'm pretty sure the USSR wasn't really nice to anyone, especially in the Stalinist era. So get off the high-horse, nobody had a swell time. Ugh. BUT, we do have a Moldovan, particularly a Transdniestrian. Transdniestria is a breakaway republic on the eastern border of Moldova and on the western border of Ukraine. It's a strange little place, supposedly has a huge part in the manufacturing of illegal weapons, but is arguably the most Soviet-ish place on earth. So she's in the class to get another perpsective on the USSR, other than what's been taught in her schools.
So opinions are huge in the class, and for our first day we just did a "brainstorming" of the good and bad results of the USSR. So a lot was thrown out there, and much of it was "sensitive" in nature due to the emotional presentation. So if you didn't agree that it was a bad thing, you had another thing coming, because your country didn't suffer as much as mine. Whew. Almost fights in class. But the professor is a history professor and is very good at making sure that all sides are represented. He has a very good eye and ear for balance in the classroom, and I am excited about the possibilities of the course, at least for its entertainment/annoyance value.
Then I went to the "advanced" Russian course, and discovered within 15 seconds that I did not belong there... A shame, considering the class was 2 hours long, and I had to eeek through it without drawing attention. This wasn't too hard considering there were 35 people in the class, but damn. I understood the most important 15% of what was said. That being instructions for the class and directions on how to do the exercise. The other 85% - humor, elaboration, explanation, kindness - lost to me. Had no idea. So after a successful trip to the Migration Office, this class brought be straight back to "you have NO idea what you're doing in this language yet, duh!" Yet I had to go to the class to confirm it was too high level for me, and it was. hahaha. But I will go to the "intermediate" Russian class tomorrow, and probably stay there. I have many Russians/Poles to practice my Russian with, and I have people I can write to, so whatever. A lot of independent study will be necessary, but so far, none of my academic classes will be more challenging than Russian language, so it will be priority #1 academically.
Quite the day. Woot, wee, and whoppers. I hope yours was good too!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sleepy Sundays
If you have not read about Valentine's Day, it's a far more exciting post and can be found below. That being said, enjoy a boring post from a nothingless Sunday...
So I slept in today.
Then I got up. I had lunch. Then I blogged, posted pictures, and blogged for the Admissions Website. Managed not to mention "pub" but once... and it had a "/restaurant" attached to it. Eh. Politically Correct all the time for the Admissions. hahaha.
Then I ran. It was a nice short day, weather was nice, and there were dogs out. Sadly, I didn't get to see the Tartu Maraton. It's an annual cross-country ski marathon. The short race is 31km, the long race is 63km... cross-country skiing. Ugh. Are you kidding me?! But some 4,000 people do it a year. I was hoping to see parts of it. But apparently, I missed the crowd 4 hours ago. And the more I think about it. I would have just seen a group of people go by on skis, I would have gotten less sleep, and then I'd be standing out in the 20 degree weather... I made the right choice.
Came back, and had dinner. Then I bought some ice cream and some chocolate-covered peanuts. Ice cream was goooood, and $0.60! The peanuts didn't taste good at first... then the bag was gone. hahaha. I'm limiting myself to one day a week of sweets, so I'm anticipating a slight overboard tendencies on Sunday. hahaha.
But that's been it for today. Boring? Of course. Will you get over it? You don't really have much of a choice. Sucka.
So I slept in today.
Then I got up. I had lunch. Then I blogged, posted pictures, and blogged for the Admissions Website. Managed not to mention "pub" but once... and it had a "/restaurant" attached to it. Eh. Politically Correct all the time for the Admissions. hahaha.
Then I ran. It was a nice short day, weather was nice, and there were dogs out. Sadly, I didn't get to see the Tartu Maraton. It's an annual cross-country ski marathon. The short race is 31km, the long race is 63km... cross-country skiing. Ugh. Are you kidding me?! But some 4,000 people do it a year. I was hoping to see parts of it. But apparently, I missed the crowd 4 hours ago. And the more I think about it. I would have just seen a group of people go by on skis, I would have gotten less sleep, and then I'd be standing out in the 20 degree weather... I made the right choice.
Came back, and had dinner. Then I bought some ice cream and some chocolate-covered peanuts. Ice cream was goooood, and $0.60! The peanuts didn't taste good at first... then the bag was gone. hahaha. I'm limiting myself to one day a week of sweets, so I'm anticipating a slight overboard tendencies on Sunday. hahaha.
But that's been it for today. Boring? Of course. Will you get over it? You don't really have much of a choice. Sucka.
Best Day So Far - Valentine's
So I got up to go on my long run of this week, which is reduced to 10 miles as I get adjusted. I wake up at 9, eventually get out the door at about 9:30. I get to the gym, start dressing... where are my running pants? I need them... Why? Because it's snowing outside and it's 27 degrees. Oh, COME ON!! Where are my pants?! Of course, they are back in my dorm room, a .6 mile walk... Let's go.
Begrudgingly I go back to the dorm room, and I just change there and start my run from Raatuse (the street the dorm's on). Run past the Sports Hall, across the river, and down along the river to get to this park that's 5k long, but it takes a little jog to get to it. But since it as been snowing the whole night... It was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous running through these huge snowflakes. The "park" is a trail that's maybe 6 feet wide, and it just goes through trees and across small bridges, I loved it!! At one point, you come to an open field, and I just looked out and it was just a totally empty plain of snow with an emotionless grey sky. It was beautiful.
Of course, I did get lost though, and added a good 2 miles onto my run, but it's good for me, right? And the trail comes to this part that a where a bridge used to be (collapsed in the winter) so you have to walk across the jagged fragments of frozen pond water. Yet, conveniently next to the jagged ice is a house with a backyard that comes right up the trial. And these people own a freaking werewolf. I'm serious. This German Shepard is why people thought there were werewolves. I actually thought about this point for a good portion of my run.
I get back from my run, and I hardly have time before our Valentine's Sledding Event, organized by Niels (Netherlands). So I have a pizza in the pub downstairs, and race back to get ready to sled. HOW FUN!!! On the other side of the river, beyond the town square there are the "hills of Tartu". Back there also is the Language Center and the Faculty of Law, so I have to walk back there several times a week (when classes are in full boom). But across from the Language Center is just a huge crater (a bowl would also be a good description). It's about 150-200 feet deep and really wide (several thousand feet). But this is sledding paradise. Why? Well, all the obvious reasons aside, this entire crater has a foundation of 3 inch ice covering the entire crater. It's ridiculously slick. AKA awesome. But there are two main sledding paths. A short one, that's very steep and bumpy. Or there's the LONG one. Well, it takes almost 20 seconds to get down, so that's pretty good for a sledding spot in a residential area.
But it was amazing. We had purchased "sleds" (plastic circles with handles) the day before with contributed funds, and Kelsey had some broken luggage from her flight over, so she cut the top of it off, and we used the top and the suitcase body as a sled too. Other vehicles were plastic bags, inflatable inner tubes, and good ol' fashioned butts. We went down that hill in every way imaginable: backwards, forwards, on our chests, two person bobsled, 8 person train, two 10-person trains put together (last one was huge and surprisingly fast). The champion of the crater would undoubtedly have to Slava (Lithuania), who is also training/studying to be a gymnastics coach (undoubtedly the most fit person I've met in many years, and every guy in the program wants Slava to train him... to look better. hahaha). But Slava went down standing up, down in a "plank" stance, even down the hill doing push-ups as he went. Crazy amazing. There are pictures and a video below!
After that, I went and had a pizza in the pub (a normal part of my routine now, because you can get a huge pizza for $5.70, can't beat that). But then I reunited with people upstairs, and we had some chocolate truffles, potato wedges, and some drinks for Valentine's Day. Then we watched Love Actually (a wonderful film!). A great way to celebrate Valentine's.
After the film, we headed to a free jazz concert, but we were late and all the tables were taken. So then we started picking what pubs we wanted to go to... but the Gunpowder Cellar was rented for a "men's auction", and none of the guys wanted to either watch men be bet on or be somehow dragged into the auction ourselves (drunk people yelling at you in a totally foreign tongue is the worst kind of peer pressure). Headed to Wilde Pub, and awkwardly stood there trying to see open seats, of which there were none. Then headed to Big Bend Pub, and finally there was a table open for all 12 of us... but there was an Estonian band BLARING Estonian music. Eventually it became entertaining as they started playing "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and the "Numa Numa song" in Estonian. Then we headed to another pub, Ilegard, which may be my favorite thus far. And then I called it an evening.
But it was the best day so far of the trip for me. Because I felt productive from the run, but then we did a huge group activity during the day, and just kept up the socializing up for the entire day. It felt like a real Saturday - nothing but good times. Yaay! Okay, picture/video time!
Begrudgingly I go back to the dorm room, and I just change there and start my run from Raatuse (the street the dorm's on). Run past the Sports Hall, across the river, and down along the river to get to this park that's 5k long, but it takes a little jog to get to it. But since it as been snowing the whole night... It was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous running through these huge snowflakes. The "park" is a trail that's maybe 6 feet wide, and it just goes through trees and across small bridges, I loved it!! At one point, you come to an open field, and I just looked out and it was just a totally empty plain of snow with an emotionless grey sky. It was beautiful.
Of course, I did get lost though, and added a good 2 miles onto my run, but it's good for me, right? And the trail comes to this part that a where a bridge used to be (collapsed in the winter) so you have to walk across the jagged fragments of frozen pond water. Yet, conveniently next to the jagged ice is a house with a backyard that comes right up the trial. And these people own a freaking werewolf. I'm serious. This German Shepard is why people thought there were werewolves. I actually thought about this point for a good portion of my run.
I get back from my run, and I hardly have time before our Valentine's Sledding Event, organized by Niels (Netherlands). So I have a pizza in the pub downstairs, and race back to get ready to sled. HOW FUN!!! On the other side of the river, beyond the town square there are the "hills of Tartu". Back there also is the Language Center and the Faculty of Law, so I have to walk back there several times a week (when classes are in full boom). But across from the Language Center is just a huge crater (a bowl would also be a good description). It's about 150-200 feet deep and really wide (several thousand feet). But this is sledding paradise. Why? Well, all the obvious reasons aside, this entire crater has a foundation of 3 inch ice covering the entire crater. It's ridiculously slick. AKA awesome. But there are two main sledding paths. A short one, that's very steep and bumpy. Or there's the LONG one. Well, it takes almost 20 seconds to get down, so that's pretty good for a sledding spot in a residential area.
But it was amazing. We had purchased "sleds" (plastic circles with handles) the day before with contributed funds, and Kelsey had some broken luggage from her flight over, so she cut the top of it off, and we used the top and the suitcase body as a sled too. Other vehicles were plastic bags, inflatable inner tubes, and good ol' fashioned butts. We went down that hill in every way imaginable: backwards, forwards, on our chests, two person bobsled, 8 person train, two 10-person trains put together (last one was huge and surprisingly fast). The champion of the crater would undoubtedly have to Slava (Lithuania), who is also training/studying to be a gymnastics coach (undoubtedly the most fit person I've met in many years, and every guy in the program wants Slava to train him... to look better. hahaha). But Slava went down standing up, down in a "plank" stance, even down the hill doing push-ups as he went. Crazy amazing. There are pictures and a video below!
After that, I went and had a pizza in the pub (a normal part of my routine now, because you can get a huge pizza for $5.70, can't beat that). But then I reunited with people upstairs, and we had some chocolate truffles, potato wedges, and some drinks for Valentine's Day. Then we watched Love Actually (a wonderful film!). A great way to celebrate Valentine's.
After the film, we headed to a free jazz concert, but we were late and all the tables were taken. So then we started picking what pubs we wanted to go to... but the Gunpowder Cellar was rented for a "men's auction", and none of the guys wanted to either watch men be bet on or be somehow dragged into the auction ourselves (drunk people yelling at you in a totally foreign tongue is the worst kind of peer pressure). Headed to Wilde Pub, and awkwardly stood there trying to see open seats, of which there were none. Then headed to Big Bend Pub, and finally there was a table open for all 12 of us... but there was an Estonian band BLARING Estonian music. Eventually it became entertaining as they started playing "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and the "Numa Numa song" in Estonian. Then we headed to another pub, Ilegard, which may be my favorite thus far. And then I called it an evening.
But it was the best day so far of the trip for me. Because I felt productive from the run, but then we did a huge group activity during the day, and just kept up the socializing up for the entire day. It felt like a real Saturday - nothing but good times. Yaay! Okay, picture/video time!
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Day That Barely Happened
Warning: This post is written at 9 pm on Friday night, or 1pm central time. If you want to read about Thursday (2/13) it is the post before. This concerns Friday the 13th!!!!
___________________________________________________________________
Sooo.... Yeah. hahaha. Today has been a slow day, which is nice. It has allowed me to catch up on my natural sleep/writing schedule. But I will inevitably get off track again, I'm sure. hahaha.
But yeah, so I got in late from the ESN party last night, and so I went to bed. Got up at 10:30 to head to a meeting of the Russian language faculty and information on the trip to St Petersburg. So I stopped by this pastry shop on the town square, which has become my breakfast destination now. I used to get an omelet at the pub downstairs, but now i can get pastries for $0.70. Mmmm, morning delight... So I picked up a couple, determined to not get lost and be early, which is supposedly on-time for Estonians.
Well, I get there waay to early. So I end up walking around to take up time, so I wasn't lost, but I was using the same energy. Ugh. Whatever. hahaha. It was a beautiful morning, and I really enjoyed just walking around. And I found my house. Seriously, I want this house built wherever I end up. Saweet. I will take pictures of it next time I'm in that neighborhood. Anyway.
Meeting occurs, and they don't tell us anything new. We got all the same information at Orientation. Although, I did get to speak with my Russian professor, and I'm going to sample the two Russian courses for international students to see which one I fit into, and if I need a special fit, I will check out the Russian courses for Estonian students. Eeek! But based off course descriptions, I think I will be in the 'advanced' course. But we will see. That course is more individual work, but that's what a language course is. So whatever. That's for next week to decide. Yay!
Then I went with Maaike (Netherlands) and Vittorio (Italy) to Crepps.... to have a crepe. Mmm crepes... ham, cheese, and mushroom on a salted crepe. Delicious addition to my pastries. BUT they made me tired. So I went back to my room and napped....
Overslept my alarm, and I missed the remaining daylight. So I couldn't do my run today. So in punishment, I am not going out tonight, in order to reinforce good habits. Luckily, tonight was cooking a big dinner on the hall. So I was given half a kilo of rice to cook... Then we had 1.5 kilos of rice, some excellently cooked meat (still not sure what kind... Estonian labeling gets in the way sometimes), and several salads. It was delicious!! So it may have worked out for the best that way... except for the missed run. That was not for the best. Dang it!
Oh well. I will get up early tomorrow morning and run, so I can make it for our Valentine's Day sledding event!! I'm excited. Weee!
Have a wonderful day.
___________________________________________________________________
Sooo.... Yeah. hahaha. Today has been a slow day, which is nice. It has allowed me to catch up on my natural sleep/writing schedule. But I will inevitably get off track again, I'm sure. hahaha.
But yeah, so I got in late from the ESN party last night, and so I went to bed. Got up at 10:30 to head to a meeting of the Russian language faculty and information on the trip to St Petersburg. So I stopped by this pastry shop on the town square, which has become my breakfast destination now. I used to get an omelet at the pub downstairs, but now i can get pastries for $0.70. Mmmm, morning delight... So I picked up a couple, determined to not get lost and be early, which is supposedly on-time for Estonians.
Well, I get there waay to early. So I end up walking around to take up time, so I wasn't lost, but I was using the same energy. Ugh. Whatever. hahaha. It was a beautiful morning, and I really enjoyed just walking around. And I found my house. Seriously, I want this house built wherever I end up. Saweet. I will take pictures of it next time I'm in that neighborhood. Anyway.
Meeting occurs, and they don't tell us anything new. We got all the same information at Orientation. Although, I did get to speak with my Russian professor, and I'm going to sample the two Russian courses for international students to see which one I fit into, and if I need a special fit, I will check out the Russian courses for Estonian students. Eeek! But based off course descriptions, I think I will be in the 'advanced' course. But we will see. That course is more individual work, but that's what a language course is. So whatever. That's for next week to decide. Yay!
Then I went with Maaike (Netherlands) and Vittorio (Italy) to Crepps.... to have a crepe. Mmm crepes... ham, cheese, and mushroom on a salted crepe. Delicious addition to my pastries. BUT they made me tired. So I went back to my room and napped....
Overslept my alarm, and I missed the remaining daylight. So I couldn't do my run today. So in punishment, I am not going out tonight, in order to reinforce good habits. Luckily, tonight was cooking a big dinner on the hall. So I was given half a kilo of rice to cook... Then we had 1.5 kilos of rice, some excellently cooked meat (still not sure what kind... Estonian labeling gets in the way sometimes), and several salads. It was delicious!! So it may have worked out for the best that way... except for the missed run. That was not for the best. Dang it!
Oh well. I will get up early tomorrow morning and run, so I can make it for our Valentine's Day sledding event!! I'm excited. Weee!
Have a wonderful day.
Residencies & Russian
So I will be altering my posting schedule sometime in the next few days. Because while you (in the States) may be reading this as a re-cap of what happened the day before, I am writing this when I am halfway through the next day. So it is difficult for me to keep track.
But today (Thursday) I slept in from my fun dancing at Club Illusion, which I still love. hahaha. But then I decided that I needed to get all my fancy paperwork in to file for residency in Estonia. So you know, I can stay here for many months and be a full-time student. Wee! So I ran all around town trying to get copies made of the forms (which would later be available for free at the migration office... ugh...) and walked to the other side of town where the Migration office is.
I am given a number and sit down with my migration officer.
"Tere (Estonian for hello), I'd like to-"
"I don't speak English. *Asks in German, if I speak German*
"Нет (Russian for no)." "Оо, ты говоришь по-русски?" (Oh, you speak Russian?)
"Я говору мало." (I speak a little.)
"Хорошо..." (Best translated as "Alriiiight...")
So she and I worked together for the next 40 minutes in the most broken Russian ever. She was AMAZING and making all of this bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo into the most stupid version of Russian ever spoken. hahaha. Now granted, the situation was not dire per se, but it is the first time that I have used my Russian to successfully get a very important and very necessary task completed by myself. I feel very proud. Wee! Professor Kostina would have been laughing the whole time, I'm sure, but I had the most serious face on as this kind officer took the time to explain to me what I needed to say and in what order to write a letter describing the "significant events" in my life (ridiculous, I might add).
But the information is submitted, that is all I can do. Wee! I will receive an email either telling me that some of the information is invalid and I must go back OR everything is perfect and I need to go back to pick up all my paperwork. One way or the other, I get to go back. Yay.
Then the Erasmus Student Network (ESN - Tartu) had a welcome party for all the international students. ESN is a huge social networking group across hundreds of universities over Europe, and it is a way for "students to help students" and just help facilitate trips and social functions. We like ESN a lot. And the party was good. The beer was wonderfully cheap, and I met a lot of international students. Although, I had mixed luck. Everyone my age I met seemed to be Italian, although I know there were a few people from Germany. And then I met a ton of Lithuanians in the Master's program, so I don't know if I'll be able to see them again. Sad day.
But upon walking back from the bar, it was snowing!! And it has continued to snow until about 1 pm on Friday. It was beautifully large snowflakes. *sigh* So nice... So here are some more photos of Tartu, but at night.
PS - This is a shameless plug, but read the following blog as well if you have time. It's written by my sister (alias kemawema) and my cousin (alias lindsaybobinsay).
http://ialsolikebrianjacques.wordpress.com/
But today (Thursday) I slept in from my fun dancing at Club Illusion, which I still love. hahaha. But then I decided that I needed to get all my fancy paperwork in to file for residency in Estonia. So you know, I can stay here for many months and be a full-time student. Wee! So I ran all around town trying to get copies made of the forms (which would later be available for free at the migration office... ugh...) and walked to the other side of town where the Migration office is.
I am given a number and sit down with my migration officer.
"Tere (Estonian for hello), I'd like to-"
"I don't speak English. *Asks in German, if I speak German*
"Нет (Russian for no)." "Оо, ты говоришь по-русски?" (Oh, you speak Russian?)
"Я говору мало." (I speak a little.)
"Хорошо..." (Best translated as "Alriiiight...")
So she and I worked together for the next 40 minutes in the most broken Russian ever. She was AMAZING and making all of this bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo into the most stupid version of Russian ever spoken. hahaha. Now granted, the situation was not dire per se, but it is the first time that I have used my Russian to successfully get a very important and very necessary task completed by myself. I feel very proud. Wee! Professor Kostina would have been laughing the whole time, I'm sure, but I had the most serious face on as this kind officer took the time to explain to me what I needed to say and in what order to write a letter describing the "significant events" in my life (ridiculous, I might add).
But the information is submitted, that is all I can do. Wee! I will receive an email either telling me that some of the information is invalid and I must go back OR everything is perfect and I need to go back to pick up all my paperwork. One way or the other, I get to go back. Yay.
Then the Erasmus Student Network (ESN - Tartu) had a welcome party for all the international students. ESN is a huge social networking group across hundreds of universities over Europe, and it is a way for "students to help students" and just help facilitate trips and social functions. We like ESN a lot. And the party was good. The beer was wonderfully cheap, and I met a lot of international students. Although, I had mixed luck. Everyone my age I met seemed to be Italian, although I know there were a few people from Germany. And then I met a ton of Lithuanians in the Master's program, so I don't know if I'll be able to see them again. Sad day.
But upon walking back from the bar, it was snowing!! And it has continued to snow until about 1 pm on Friday. It was beautifully large snowflakes. *sigh* So nice... So here are some more photos of Tartu, but at night.
PS - This is a shameless plug, but read the following blog as well if you have time. It's written by my sister (alias kemawema) and my cousin (alias lindsaybobinsay).
http://ialsolikebrianjacques.wordpress.com/
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Mixed Bag O' Stuff
So I am honestly having a hard time keeping track of my days now. Ugh… The winter is settling into my brain!!! But it’s coming to me now…
Well, I got up, and Toomas (roommate) and I went to the University Housing office to see if we could move to the 4th floor, where a majority of the international students live so we could have more socializing on a daily basis. Well, in a stunning show of ridiculously fast system management, we were told that we had been allowed a room switch and we had one hour to move. BAAAAH!!! So I shoved all my crap into bags and moved onto the fourth floor. My view is not so great…. but it will do. I like running into people I know, so I likes it. And my room is down the hall, so I have to walk past rooms and get to run into people… sigh… it’s nice.
But I had to SPRINT (meaning walk quickly to avoid slipping on the ice) to get to my class on Human Rights/International Law in Russia. And I knew it was WAY far from my dorm. And I walked CRAZY fast towards the law lecture hall… OR NOT!!! See, in like 70% of the city, there are no street signs. You have NO IDEA where you’re going if you’re new. But I know the place is beyond the two hills in Tartu. But I get lost. I walk around for a half hour and get there… Class has been cancelled. I have walked around for an hour altogether. I rubbed the skin off both achilles’ tendons, so I have some good blood going into my socks. UGH!!!! But I know how to get there now. Sweet mother!!
So then I walked back to my room and ate some lunch. Cleaned up my feet and went for a run. It was nice, but the cold is COLD!! Hahaha. I run through this park, but I have to run on the snow, because I would die within 5 seconds on the frozen paths. I would know, because I tried. And I literally almost fell into the partially frozen river. Life’s fun like that. So needless to say, I was tired, exhausted, and ready for sleepy weepy.
But then… I find out that I was accepted into the Buckman International Internship Program at Rhodes!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!!! This means that for my summer, I have an all-expenses paid internship in Russia!!! Hopefully (pending my admission into the internship) I will be in Velikiy Novgorod and work in an orphanage there. SOOOO EXCITED!!!! YAAAY!!! No words to express this joy, and I will write later about its developments. So after finding that out, I was on the prowl for release. Luckily, Wednesday night was free entrance before midnight at Club Illusion. This is my first club outing in Estonia.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E. So the venue is a converted Soviet theatre. So the lobby already has a coat room, a big desk for getting checked and what not, then you just walk onto the main audience seating, and there’s your bar and dance floor. The balcony seating is still there, it’s awesome!!! And they played ridiculously awesome songs, because it was “retro” night. So Annie Lennox’s “Walking On Broken Glass”; Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”; Joan Jett and Black Heart’s “I Love Rock ‘n Roll”; or Blackstreet’s “I Like the Way You Work It”. And it was so odd, because everyone knew the music: all the Estonians and all the international students. So it was almost like being in the US.
So it was a great day in the end. And here’s some pictures finally!! The freezing fog returned the night before, so I walked around for a half hour to grab some photos, and this is why I really had to scramble to pack, because I only had a half hour. Enjoy the first photoshoot.
PS - If you click on the photo, you get a massive version of it.
Well, I got up, and Toomas (roommate) and I went to the University Housing office to see if we could move to the 4th floor, where a majority of the international students live so we could have more socializing on a daily basis. Well, in a stunning show of ridiculously fast system management, we were told that we had been allowed a room switch and we had one hour to move. BAAAAH!!! So I shoved all my crap into bags and moved onto the fourth floor. My view is not so great…. but it will do. I like running into people I know, so I likes it. And my room is down the hall, so I have to walk past rooms and get to run into people… sigh… it’s nice.
But I had to SPRINT (meaning walk quickly to avoid slipping on the ice) to get to my class on Human Rights/International Law in Russia. And I knew it was WAY far from my dorm. And I walked CRAZY fast towards the law lecture hall… OR NOT!!! See, in like 70% of the city, there are no street signs. You have NO IDEA where you’re going if you’re new. But I know the place is beyond the two hills in Tartu. But I get lost. I walk around for a half hour and get there… Class has been cancelled. I have walked around for an hour altogether. I rubbed the skin off both achilles’ tendons, so I have some good blood going into my socks. UGH!!!! But I know how to get there now. Sweet mother!!
So then I walked back to my room and ate some lunch. Cleaned up my feet and went for a run. It was nice, but the cold is COLD!! Hahaha. I run through this park, but I have to run on the snow, because I would die within 5 seconds on the frozen paths. I would know, because I tried. And I literally almost fell into the partially frozen river. Life’s fun like that. So needless to say, I was tired, exhausted, and ready for sleepy weepy.
But then… I find out that I was accepted into the Buckman International Internship Program at Rhodes!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!!! This means that for my summer, I have an all-expenses paid internship in Russia!!! Hopefully (pending my admission into the internship) I will be in Velikiy Novgorod and work in an orphanage there. SOOOO EXCITED!!!! YAAAY!!! No words to express this joy, and I will write later about its developments. So after finding that out, I was on the prowl for release. Luckily, Wednesday night was free entrance before midnight at Club Illusion. This is my first club outing in Estonia.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E. So the venue is a converted Soviet theatre. So the lobby already has a coat room, a big desk for getting checked and what not, then you just walk onto the main audience seating, and there’s your bar and dance floor. The balcony seating is still there, it’s awesome!!! And they played ridiculously awesome songs, because it was “retro” night. So Annie Lennox’s “Walking On Broken Glass”; Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”; Joan Jett and Black Heart’s “I Love Rock ‘n Roll”; or Blackstreet’s “I Like the Way You Work It”. And it was so odd, because everyone knew the music: all the Estonians and all the international students. So it was almost like being in the US.
So it was a great day in the end. And here’s some pictures finally!! The freezing fog returned the night before, so I walked around for a half hour to grab some photos, and this is why I really had to scramble to pack, because I only had a half hour. Enjoy the first photoshoot.
PS - If you click on the photo, you get a massive version of it.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A Good First Day, Indeed
So today was GORGEOUS… and I didn’t bring my camera with me to class today. Sad day. Right now (8:30 pm) the weather was exactly as it was this morning when I went to school at 9 am (my time). It’s incredibly foggy, but it’s freezing fog. So if the fog has anything to condensate upon, it pretty much instantly frosts. So it’s beautiful. Just very delicate, very fine “snow” everywhere. So it was very bright, very nice. But it was probably best I didn’t have my camera as all the slush had frozen again, so it was kind of slippery today, more so than usual. Falling on top of my camera would not have been good.
And I know I haven’t posted any pictures of Tartu itself, but I will get around to it, I promise. But I just haven’t had the time to walk around with a camera, but if this “fog” sticks around for tomorrow, I will DEFINITELY take photos, because that would be perfect, to show the winter beauty of Tartu.
But today was my first official class in Estonia!! It was Contemporary Issues in EU/Russian Relations. The professor is Arunas Molis from Vilnius, Lithuania. He has worked with several think tanks for strategic studies, but more impressive was his post as Lieutenant Minister of Defense for Lithuania. While being second in command of Lithuania’s military certainly isn’t a “vast” command, it’s at least great experience in strategic issues for an academic.
But his class will be a LOT of class participation, and I am excited about that. I plan to try to find a group to work with composed of only international students. There’s a few Americans in the class, but I’d prefer to be without them, honestly. Hahaha. I want to meet other people from other places!! Hahaha.
And today was my first practice with Coach Lemberg. It wasn’t a necessarily hard workout, 5x1000m at 6:00 pace, but considering I haven’t run in exactly a week due to the traveling and ridiculous ice… My legs are sore. But I am in a comfortable chair in the pub beneath my dorm with a nice warm pizza to comfort me. Hahaha. But the workout went flawlessly… except he has already noted/hated my bad form, and I have daily exercises now to try and correct it. But I met a few of his runners, and they all speak Russian!! So maybe if I get to run more with the team, I will be able to practice my Russian!!!! Yay!!
But I understood correctly about the awesomeness of the indoor track. It has banked turns, so it’s really fun to accelerate off the curves on this track. And there’s a rabbit system, which I never knew existed. There’s a red light in the ground every 5 meters just along the inside of Lane 1. Then you use a computer to say how far, how fast you’re wanting to pace, and the light system keeps pace for you!! As long as your body is with the light, you’re even. It’s awesome!!!!! Definitely made today’s workout much easier.
After the workout, I had pizza in the downstairs pub (so good) and was invited to go out with Timofey and Ada (my flatmates). I had such a good time with them!! They are so wonderful, and they loved hearing about American drinking games. Apparently, we will have to coordinate a lesson. And we have decided that Tuesday nights must become a weekly thing, so I am excited! Yay! Haha.
I will post in a few hours about Wednesday, but I thought I’d better stay on track for now.
And I know I haven’t posted any pictures of Tartu itself, but I will get around to it, I promise. But I just haven’t had the time to walk around with a camera, but if this “fog” sticks around for tomorrow, I will DEFINITELY take photos, because that would be perfect, to show the winter beauty of Tartu.
But today was my first official class in Estonia!! It was Contemporary Issues in EU/Russian Relations. The professor is Arunas Molis from Vilnius, Lithuania. He has worked with several think tanks for strategic studies, but more impressive was his post as Lieutenant Minister of Defense for Lithuania. While being second in command of Lithuania’s military certainly isn’t a “vast” command, it’s at least great experience in strategic issues for an academic.
But his class will be a LOT of class participation, and I am excited about that. I plan to try to find a group to work with composed of only international students. There’s a few Americans in the class, but I’d prefer to be without them, honestly. Hahaha. I want to meet other people from other places!! Hahaha.
And today was my first practice with Coach Lemberg. It wasn’t a necessarily hard workout, 5x1000m at 6:00 pace, but considering I haven’t run in exactly a week due to the traveling and ridiculous ice… My legs are sore. But I am in a comfortable chair in the pub beneath my dorm with a nice warm pizza to comfort me. Hahaha. But the workout went flawlessly… except he has already noted/hated my bad form, and I have daily exercises now to try and correct it. But I met a few of his runners, and they all speak Russian!! So maybe if I get to run more with the team, I will be able to practice my Russian!!!! Yay!!
But I understood correctly about the awesomeness of the indoor track. It has banked turns, so it’s really fun to accelerate off the curves on this track. And there’s a rabbit system, which I never knew existed. There’s a red light in the ground every 5 meters just along the inside of Lane 1. Then you use a computer to say how far, how fast you’re wanting to pace, and the light system keeps pace for you!! As long as your body is with the light, you’re even. It’s awesome!!!!! Definitely made today’s workout much easier.
After the workout, I had pizza in the downstairs pub (so good) and was invited to go out with Timofey and Ada (my flatmates). I had such a good time with them!! They are so wonderful, and they loved hearing about American drinking games. Apparently, we will have to coordinate a lesson. And we have decided that Tuesday nights must become a weekly thing, so I am excited! Yay! Haha.
I will post in a few hours about Wednesday, but I thought I’d better stay on track for now.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Fun Day?
So today was beyond bizarre...
Didn't sleep well, so I was afraid for the day... But I had errands to run, so no time to think otherwise. First order of business, open a bank account. I went to open my account, and it took some time, but it was somewhat depressing sitting there. As I was filling out the information for my account, Katy Perry's "Hot & Cold" and t.A.T.u.'s "They're Not Gonna Get Us" was playing in the background. So it was just whining America pop in the background. I felt so bad as to what actually makes it across the Atlantic...
But then I head to class, but I arrive early. Estonians are very punctual, and I'm cool with that. So I show up 15 minutes early. Then it's 5 minutes past and there's only two other students alongside me. I then walk to the secretary's office, and my class has been cancelled. So my first day of school didn't exist. And I had a two hour hole in my day. And Tartu is a slow place, and I didn't have anything to do. hahaha.
So then I called Coach Lemberg and set up a meeting. He's an extremely nice man and very accommodation. The facilities at Tartu are AWESOME. I will have to post pictures eventually. But if I understood him correctly, the indoor track has a light system that helps you keep pace every 5 meters. That would be beyond awesome!!! But I could have misunderstood. Yet either way, tomorrow night I'm meeting him there, and we're going to get all my identification finalized and make me an athlete. Wee! And then I'm going to "run a few workouts" to let him get an idea of where I am. I have no idea what this means. And I haven't run in about 6 days, so I'm very worried... We'll see?
Then we went out to dinner to the Balkan place. Very disappointing. Food wasn't amazing (definitely not worth price for the amount/quality). And it was a ridiculous ordeal trying to get the ticket for a table of 19 paid for. Ridiculous. But a nice evening out, and I got to interact with the French members of the community, which I hadn't done yet. I enjoyed them a lot.
But now I sleep in anticipation of my first class in Estonia (please?) and a "meeting" with Lemberg and the attempt of finalizing all of my information with Annika. How exciting! haha.
Didn't sleep well, so I was afraid for the day... But I had errands to run, so no time to think otherwise. First order of business, open a bank account. I went to open my account, and it took some time, but it was somewhat depressing sitting there. As I was filling out the information for my account, Katy Perry's "Hot & Cold" and t.A.T.u.'s "They're Not Gonna Get Us" was playing in the background. So it was just whining America pop in the background. I felt so bad as to what actually makes it across the Atlantic...
But then I head to class, but I arrive early. Estonians are very punctual, and I'm cool with that. So I show up 15 minutes early. Then it's 5 minutes past and there's only two other students alongside me. I then walk to the secretary's office, and my class has been cancelled. So my first day of school didn't exist. And I had a two hour hole in my day. And Tartu is a slow place, and I didn't have anything to do. hahaha.
So then I called Coach Lemberg and set up a meeting. He's an extremely nice man and very accommodation. The facilities at Tartu are AWESOME. I will have to post pictures eventually. But if I understood him correctly, the indoor track has a light system that helps you keep pace every 5 meters. That would be beyond awesome!!! But I could have misunderstood. Yet either way, tomorrow night I'm meeting him there, and we're going to get all my identification finalized and make me an athlete. Wee! And then I'm going to "run a few workouts" to let him get an idea of where I am. I have no idea what this means. And I haven't run in about 6 days, so I'm very worried... We'll see?
Then we went out to dinner to the Balkan place. Very disappointing. Food wasn't amazing (definitely not worth price for the amount/quality). And it was a ridiculous ordeal trying to get the ticket for a table of 19 paid for. Ridiculous. But a nice evening out, and I got to interact with the French members of the community, which I hadn't done yet. I enjoyed them a lot.
But now I sleep in anticipation of my first class in Estonia (please?) and a "meeting" with Lemberg and the attempt of finalizing all of my information with Annika. How exciting! haha.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Estonia Evening
So last night was fun fun fun. I went to the Wilde Pub, dedicated to Oscar Wilde (pictures of the actual place will go up much later). I love that place, except that they didn't have Guinness. Sad day. But it was a great place to start the evening, because it was quiet enough that we could talk... and drink huge beers.
But then we just walked around Tartu trying to find places that didn't charge too high a fee to get inside. We ended up coming back to the Wilde, where I had a great conversation about the economy and racism. Really interesting talking to a Mexican, Brit, Pole, New Englander, and Italian about such things. Need I say that I LOVE IT HERE!!!!
Then today I slept a lot. But then my international student tutor, Elo, invited us over to her apartment. So we had traditional kama, which is a not-so-tasty traditional Estonian drink. It's supposed to start the morning right, so it consists of various crushed wheats and peas mixed into a cream with sugar. It is extremely granulated and doesn't really go down smoothly. But you could taste the healthiness, which we all needed to drink something healthy after the weekend.
But she cooked some apple cakes, an Estonian dessert, and brought us Estonian candies to sample. Then we had Siberian dumplings, which I love!!! But she baked them, rather than boiling them, and I think I prefer them baked. But it was wonderful. It was just a really nice, pleasant gathering.
And apparently Elo is essentially the only tutor that gives a crap. We had some of the roommates of our group members come, and they said that their tutor really didn't do anything for them. But Elo is so helpful and so nice. We've invited her over to our dormitory, and we're going to fix up some sort of dinner for her. But knowing us international kids... it may be a while. And that unfortunately runs against Estonian punctuality, which is almost as bad as German punctuality, apparently. But oh well, Elo doesn't mind. She says she's late to most things, so that works well for us.
But classes start tomorrow, so I have my first Soviet Experience and Post-Soviet Transformation in Russia class. And I'm really excited!! But apparently all but 1 of the courses I'm taking is taught at a Master's level. So that'll be fun... but I'm only taking 4 classes, so it shouldn't be that bad.
I hope all is well with you!
But then we just walked around Tartu trying to find places that didn't charge too high a fee to get inside. We ended up coming back to the Wilde, where I had a great conversation about the economy and racism. Really interesting talking to a Mexican, Brit, Pole, New Englander, and Italian about such things. Need I say that I LOVE IT HERE!!!!
Then today I slept a lot. But then my international student tutor, Elo, invited us over to her apartment. So we had traditional kama, which is a not-so-tasty traditional Estonian drink. It's supposed to start the morning right, so it consists of various crushed wheats and peas mixed into a cream with sugar. It is extremely granulated and doesn't really go down smoothly. But you could taste the healthiness, which we all needed to drink something healthy after the weekend.
But she cooked some apple cakes, an Estonian dessert, and brought us Estonian candies to sample. Then we had Siberian dumplings, which I love!!! But she baked them, rather than boiling them, and I think I prefer them baked. But it was wonderful. It was just a really nice, pleasant gathering.
And apparently Elo is essentially the only tutor that gives a crap. We had some of the roommates of our group members come, and they said that their tutor really didn't do anything for them. But Elo is so helpful and so nice. We've invited her over to our dormitory, and we're going to fix up some sort of dinner for her. But knowing us international kids... it may be a while. And that unfortunately runs against Estonian punctuality, which is almost as bad as German punctuality, apparently. But oh well, Elo doesn't mind. She says she's late to most things, so that works well for us.
But classes start tomorrow, so I have my first Soviet Experience and Post-Soviet Transformation in Russia class. And I'm really excited!! But apparently all but 1 of the courses I'm taking is taught at a Master's level. So that'll be fun... but I'm only taking 4 classes, so it shouldn't be that bad.
I hope all is well with you!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The First Few Days
So I have finally arrived in Estonia!!! WEEEE!!!! But not without some "fun".
Dad dropped me off at the DFW airport, and I walked up to the United desk and after a small process was informed that I could not fly to Estonia. ... "What?" ... "You don't have a visa, so you can't go." ... "Estonia doesn't require a visa to enter, and I'm filing for residency upon arrival." ... "Well, unless you have a return ticket, we cannot take you there. But we can fly you to Chicago, maybe they can help you there during your 4 hour layover." ... "Just get me to Chicago."
UGH. Called the Estonian consulate, and it was confirmed I was legally allowed to enter the country without a return ticket. Checked the information online at the cost of 8 dollars to confirm everything... then walked past the free internet station. Dammit! Got to Chicago, and Scandinavian Airlines took me to Estonia without a problem. So, United just has a policy and it's stupid. hahaha.
But if you ever get a chance to fly Scandinavian Air (SAS), DO IT!! There's a touchscreen computer on the back of every headrest where the passengers can choose what music stations they want to listen to, and you can even pick between 12 different movies!! And then the flight was really empty, so I got two chairs to myself. It was wonderful... except for the fact that I couldn't sleep.
Then I arrived in Tallinn with all my luggage (number one fear avoided, yes!), and hopped in a "taxi". My "taxi" was actually a student, Marko, whose father owned the taxi company, and by freak occurrences, I was picked up by an incredibly friendly and wonderful student. He was very talkative, all the way into Tartu (1.5 hour drive). And the Estonian countryside is sparse and covered in forests. So I love it. Over 50% of Estonia is forest, so I'm totally happy here. hahaha.
Moved into my room and met my suite mates, which I only have 3. My rooommate, Toomas (Thomas), is from New York and is fluent in Estonian thanks to his family lineage. He's already graduated with bachelor's in English, but is hanging out in Tartu just for fun. He's a quiet guy, and we're not alike whatsoever, but I think we'll get along marginally for 5 months. My suite mates are Timofey and Auda. Timofey is a visiting professor of comparitive politics, Russian by birth, British by education, and German by culture. Seriously, you could not meet a more German man if you tried. Auda is his girlfriend, and she is doing research on the social integration of Russians into Estonian society. So I have TONS in common with Auda and Timofey, but nothing with Toomas. Sad day... hahaha.
But Timofey made me soup for my first two meals here, so he's beyond nice, and I love it. My room has a good view of old wooden and brick houses with the pedestrian bridge and "snail tower" in the background (pictures soon?). The kitchen has hardly any cooking space (two electric stoves), so I'm thinking I will eat out most every meal, which is sad. But awesome. hahaha. There's Nepalese, Turkish, Balkan, Russian, Italian, and Estonian restaurants just to name a few. There's even a restaurant devoted to Oscar Wilde, and it has a bronze statue of him out front. Awesome food here.
But Orientation has been a whirlwind of confusion and ridiculous awesomeness. Over two days we were welcomed and had about 30 powerpoint presentations covering everything from residency and safety to sports and language classes. But the very first thing we were shown is the following youtube video (don't watch around "properly behaved persons") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFJmJupr1RI
And in such a style, our first official night in Tartu, the student network took us on a Pub Crawl. I got to meet and hang out with all the Russian girls: Jane, Kate, and Kate (American version of names). But have made best friends with a girl from Poland, Ania, and good friends with Lucas from Lithuania. So far the Poles and Russians are my favorite, but the Lithanians are really cool (but quiet) and the Americans are of course very easy to get along with. There's 3 Texans, 3 Nebraskans, Alaska, New York, Tennessee, and DC. So it's a varied crew, but surprisingly large this year.
I missed Mexican Fiesta night last night at the Groundpowder Cellar (where I've wanted to go for some time) because I was too tired to go out. And so I slept a lot today, and I should go out tonight. And then I will sleep much on Sunday. Weeeee!!
I'm still trying to find a steady power source (currently bumming power from my roommate's converter), but I got internet, so that's a nice development. Then I will attempt to open a bank account on Monday (please!) and get my residency crap figured out (CONFUSING!!!). But I'm sooo excited. It's been in the teens and 20s, so it's not really that cold. I only got cold when we were in the last 15 minutes of our 2 hour tour, and I feel that's acceptable.
But I will try to write more frequently and less huge later on, but I was just writing to catch up. I love it here, it's going to be wonderful. I have a cell phone that works and friends to call in the registry. I've found friends to travel with, and I'm so excited. WEEEE!!! hahaha. But now I think I will nap before dinner and LATE night outtings. : )
Hope everything is well with you, and I will write again somewhat soon.
Dad dropped me off at the DFW airport, and I walked up to the United desk and after a small process was informed that I could not fly to Estonia. ... "What?" ... "You don't have a visa, so you can't go." ... "Estonia doesn't require a visa to enter, and I'm filing for residency upon arrival." ... "Well, unless you have a return ticket, we cannot take you there. But we can fly you to Chicago, maybe they can help you there during your 4 hour layover." ... "Just get me to Chicago."
UGH. Called the Estonian consulate, and it was confirmed I was legally allowed to enter the country without a return ticket. Checked the information online at the cost of 8 dollars to confirm everything... then walked past the free internet station. Dammit! Got to Chicago, and Scandinavian Airlines took me to Estonia without a problem. So, United just has a policy and it's stupid. hahaha.
But if you ever get a chance to fly Scandinavian Air (SAS), DO IT!! There's a touchscreen computer on the back of every headrest where the passengers can choose what music stations they want to listen to, and you can even pick between 12 different movies!! And then the flight was really empty, so I got two chairs to myself. It was wonderful... except for the fact that I couldn't sleep.
Then I arrived in Tallinn with all my luggage (number one fear avoided, yes!), and hopped in a "taxi". My "taxi" was actually a student, Marko, whose father owned the taxi company, and by freak occurrences, I was picked up by an incredibly friendly and wonderful student. He was very talkative, all the way into Tartu (1.5 hour drive). And the Estonian countryside is sparse and covered in forests. So I love it. Over 50% of Estonia is forest, so I'm totally happy here. hahaha.
Moved into my room and met my suite mates, which I only have 3. My rooommate, Toomas (Thomas), is from New York and is fluent in Estonian thanks to his family lineage. He's already graduated with bachelor's in English, but is hanging out in Tartu just for fun. He's a quiet guy, and we're not alike whatsoever, but I think we'll get along marginally for 5 months. My suite mates are Timofey and Auda. Timofey is a visiting professor of comparitive politics, Russian by birth, British by education, and German by culture. Seriously, you could not meet a more German man if you tried. Auda is his girlfriend, and she is doing research on the social integration of Russians into Estonian society. So I have TONS in common with Auda and Timofey, but nothing with Toomas. Sad day... hahaha.
But Timofey made me soup for my first two meals here, so he's beyond nice, and I love it. My room has a good view of old wooden and brick houses with the pedestrian bridge and "snail tower" in the background (pictures soon?). The kitchen has hardly any cooking space (two electric stoves), so I'm thinking I will eat out most every meal, which is sad. But awesome. hahaha. There's Nepalese, Turkish, Balkan, Russian, Italian, and Estonian restaurants just to name a few. There's even a restaurant devoted to Oscar Wilde, and it has a bronze statue of him out front. Awesome food here.
But Orientation has been a whirlwind of confusion and ridiculous awesomeness. Over two days we were welcomed and had about 30 powerpoint presentations covering everything from residency and safety to sports and language classes. But the very first thing we were shown is the following youtube video (don't watch around "properly behaved persons") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFJmJupr1RI
And in such a style, our first official night in Tartu, the student network took us on a Pub Crawl. I got to meet and hang out with all the Russian girls: Jane, Kate, and Kate (American version of names). But have made best friends with a girl from Poland, Ania, and good friends with Lucas from Lithuania. So far the Poles and Russians are my favorite, but the Lithanians are really cool (but quiet) and the Americans are of course very easy to get along with. There's 3 Texans, 3 Nebraskans, Alaska, New York, Tennessee, and DC. So it's a varied crew, but surprisingly large this year.
I missed Mexican Fiesta night last night at the Groundpowder Cellar (where I've wanted to go for some time) because I was too tired to go out. And so I slept a lot today, and I should go out tonight. And then I will sleep much on Sunday. Weeeee!!
I'm still trying to find a steady power source (currently bumming power from my roommate's converter), but I got internet, so that's a nice development. Then I will attempt to open a bank account on Monday (please!) and get my residency crap figured out (CONFUSING!!!). But I'm sooo excited. It's been in the teens and 20s, so it's not really that cold. I only got cold when we were in the last 15 minutes of our 2 hour tour, and I feel that's acceptable.
But I will try to write more frequently and less huge later on, but I was just writing to catch up. I love it here, it's going to be wonderful. I have a cell phone that works and friends to call in the registry. I've found friends to travel with, and I'm so excited. WEEEE!!! hahaha. But now I think I will nap before dinner and LATE night outtings. : )
Hope everything is well with you, and I will write again somewhat soon.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Estonia: The Low Down
So, considering I'm not going to a familiar place at all... I thought I'd write a post to give a general idea of what things will be like and to entertain myself on this Sunday morning.
Estonia is a small country, halfway between the sizes of Maryland and West Virginia, located south of Finland and in between Russia and Latvia. The population is approximately 1.4 million, so imagine the greater Memphis area spread out across half of Maine. The economy is pretty diversified, but their greatest exports are usually in telecommunications and along Internet-based services along with a strong wood and wood products. They have strong trading ties with Finland, Sweden, and Germany. So Estonia made good trading partners after the USSR collapse, which has improved their economic outlook. They have been growing at 8% pretty regularly, but that has led to high inflation (hence their difficulty in adopting the euro).
The biggest political issues facing Estonia are maintaining and gaining greater prominence in NATO and EU. Estonia wishes to adopt the euro as soon as possible, so the global recession may be the testing ground for Estonia's economy to prove itself capable of maintaining the euro. They've been playing a large role, along with Sweden and Finland, in assisting Latvia in its economic fallout. Sadly for Estonia's NATO reputation, the Iraqi government did not recognize their troops, forcing all 34 to be removed. Yes, 34 troops. But at least they sent what they could (only have 1.4 million but a border with Russia, who they disagree with often).
Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, Estonia has had bid disagreements with its neighbor, Russia, since the break-up of the USSR. Estonia was among the first states to declare independence and has since attempted to de-Russify the country. Biggest problem is that approximately a third of its population is ethnically Russian, who were not recognized for citizenship automatically by the Estonian state. So there still exists ethnic tension within the country in many aspects of the state's affairs. Another recent episode has been Estonia's removal of a monument to the lives of Russian troops sacrificed in the liberation of Estonia from the Nazis. Estonia claims it was removing a monument of Soviet oppression, while Russia thought it was blatant disrespect for the service paid by Russian troops. So, they're not too friendly right now...
The city I'm living in is Tartu, a population of 100,000. One-fifth of that are college students, so it's a large university in a college town. It's gonna be a different environment, but I'm very excited. I don't know what classes I'm taking until registration is complete, so I just have to wait until then.... I share a bedroom with a roommate, but share my kitchen, living room, and bathroom with 4 other "suite-mates". So I live in apartments built for 6 people, and I have no idea who I'm living with. I hope some of them are Russian so I can practice. hahaha.
My absolute greatest apprehension is the training I will be doing in Estonia. Running has gone surprisingly well here in Aledo, but I'm incredibly anxious about training in Estonia, because I'll be training with Coach Lemberg. He is the coach of Estonia's 2008 Olympic 1500m and marathon runners, and I'm pretty sure I'll get to train with elements of their entire national team. This means I will get my butt kicked every day, but I need that. And I want that. I just have no idea how to train in snow (never done it). haha. But I'll get to compete a few times, and on February 15th there's a cross-country skiing marathon in town, so I might just do that... Why not? Oh, maybe because I've never done anything like it it, and it's 31 kilometers (just over 19 miles) on the shortest course... Unless I compete with the 11+ age category on the 6k. Yes... attack the younger ones... that's how I'll do it. hahaha.
Well, I'll try to update you on Orientation as it goes along, but I'm going to be busy on the upfront, so bear with me!
Estonia is a small country, halfway between the sizes of Maryland and West Virginia, located south of Finland and in between Russia and Latvia. The population is approximately 1.4 million, so imagine the greater Memphis area spread out across half of Maine. The economy is pretty diversified, but their greatest exports are usually in telecommunications and along Internet-based services along with a strong wood and wood products. They have strong trading ties with Finland, Sweden, and Germany. So Estonia made good trading partners after the USSR collapse, which has improved their economic outlook. They have been growing at 8% pretty regularly, but that has led to high inflation (hence their difficulty in adopting the euro).
The biggest political issues facing Estonia are maintaining and gaining greater prominence in NATO and EU. Estonia wishes to adopt the euro as soon as possible, so the global recession may be the testing ground for Estonia's economy to prove itself capable of maintaining the euro. They've been playing a large role, along with Sweden and Finland, in assisting Latvia in its economic fallout. Sadly for Estonia's NATO reputation, the Iraqi government did not recognize their troops, forcing all 34 to be removed. Yes, 34 troops. But at least they sent what they could (only have 1.4 million but a border with Russia, who they disagree with often).
Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, Estonia has had bid disagreements with its neighbor, Russia, since the break-up of the USSR. Estonia was among the first states to declare independence and has since attempted to de-Russify the country. Biggest problem is that approximately a third of its population is ethnically Russian, who were not recognized for citizenship automatically by the Estonian state. So there still exists ethnic tension within the country in many aspects of the state's affairs. Another recent episode has been Estonia's removal of a monument to the lives of Russian troops sacrificed in the liberation of Estonia from the Nazis. Estonia claims it was removing a monument of Soviet oppression, while Russia thought it was blatant disrespect for the service paid by Russian troops. So, they're not too friendly right now...
The city I'm living in is Tartu, a population of 100,000. One-fifth of that are college students, so it's a large university in a college town. It's gonna be a different environment, but I'm very excited. I don't know what classes I'm taking until registration is complete, so I just have to wait until then.... I share a bedroom with a roommate, but share my kitchen, living room, and bathroom with 4 other "suite-mates". So I live in apartments built for 6 people, and I have no idea who I'm living with. I hope some of them are Russian so I can practice. hahaha.
My absolute greatest apprehension is the training I will be doing in Estonia. Running has gone surprisingly well here in Aledo, but I'm incredibly anxious about training in Estonia, because I'll be training with Coach Lemberg. He is the coach of Estonia's 2008 Olympic 1500m and marathon runners, and I'm pretty sure I'll get to train with elements of their entire national team. This means I will get my butt kicked every day, but I need that. And I want that. I just have no idea how to train in snow (never done it). haha. But I'll get to compete a few times, and on February 15th there's a cross-country skiing marathon in town, so I might just do that... Why not? Oh, maybe because I've never done anything like it it, and it's 31 kilometers (just over 19 miles) on the shortest course... Unless I compete with the 11+ age category on the 6k. Yes... attack the younger ones... that's how I'll do it. hahaha.
Well, I'll try to update you on Orientation as it goes along, but I'm going to be busy on the upfront, so bear with me!
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