What's in Estonia?: Estonia – Beyond the Concept of Wonderful

Okay, so I realize it’s been… literally months. And I apologize. Profusely. I’m sure that if anyone was checking this relatively regularly has stopped and now curses my name. But, I have finally made the time to at least post a few things.

So when I left you, I had just gotten through the week of awfulness. Yes, it was bad. I missed out on Student Days because of an infected abscess in my lower right wisdom tooth. I also missed out on a 10km race that was pretty baller – largest in Estonia. I mean, whatever, I’m not bitter still *grumbles*.

Unfortunately, the rest of my time in Estonia was not very exciting, as it quickly revolved around Russian language exams and writing my final papers for courses. The work load was ridiculous, but my motivation to do a lot constantly, certainly left me. Quickly. But I eventually got it all done. Weee!!! However, I do have some stories for sure!!

This summer (actually, as you’re reading this) I am going to be working in an internship in Russia, but I want to travel between my semester and the internship. Yet in order to travel to Russia, you must have a visa, and I am going to be invited by my internship group, so it can’t just be a tourist visa. And after quite some work (and $80 in fees), I got my invitation and traveled to Tallinn to go to the Russian embassy to apply for my visa.

Imagine walking into a place where time stops and unhappiness seeps from the wall like sap from a tree. This would be the Russian consulate. HUGE lines in a tiny place – I was sweating like crazy. I mean, I figured there’d be some Russians who’d need to extend visas, but I thought I’d be in a different line and get out just fine. Ugh. So after 2.5 hours of waiting, I was told to come back after the lunch break in order to meet with the consulate official to see if I could get an expedited process (5 days). That would be perfect timing, so of course I agree.

I wait in line for another hour, then find out that the consular official didn’t come into work today (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!). So the fastest I can get my visa is 10 days… This kind of ruins things. I had already bought some trains and stuff to travel to Vilnius, Lithuania; Krakow, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; and London… Now it was all worthless. Poopies. But getting this visa is priority number one. I MUST GO TO RUSSIA. So I give the worker my passport, and I will return in 10 days.

Well, my travel partner (Kelsey) was quite pissed with this result, as I can understand. But we decided to make the best of it as we could. So we decided to plan a biking trip through southern Estonia. Our original plan was a little ambitious – nearly 500 kilometers in 3 days… and needless to say, we didn’t complete it. Hahaha. So after starting out in the rain and apparently following the rain clouds south, we arrived in Jogeva. Then we took a bus to Voru, had lunch, then biked to our farm house just between Voru and Rouge. Holy crap, the place was GORGEOUS – totally worth all the awful rain and everything. The man who owns it, just purchased 27 hectares after the collapse, and cut down the forest to make this beautiful little pasture and built 7 buildings to be used as a hotel/retreat. It’s amazing – pictures are below.

We then just biked around Rouge – supposedly the most scenic village in Estonia – and Voru. Vorumaa county is the basically the “hill country” of Estonia and has the highest point in the Baltics. Gorgeous. Seriously, I’m so glad I didn’t go to Krakow or Budapest. It would have been awesome, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much as the relaxing scenic forests of southern Estonia. So amazing.

After the trip, I packed up my life, and we went to Tallinn to pick up my visa. ALSO, I found out just days before leaving that there are Rhodes alumni in Tallinn!! The Geers have been living in Tallinn for nearly 2 years now, essentially working through the State Department with Estonia on a NATO project. So awesome. So I got to meet Mrs Geers and their children over a wonderful lunch. Fortunately, they were both I.S. majors and both speak Russian – so it was crazy how much in common we had. And it was also awesome timing, because they were planning a trip to southern Estonia, we were able to give them a pamphlet for the farm house we stayed in Rouge. Small world all over!

But I have left Estonia. So what do I think about it after the fact? Honestly, I think it might be the coolest place I’ve ever been in my life. It’s actually exactly how I want the world to be. Not overly populated, forests and greenery everywhere, and just pleasantness all around. Relaxed people, reserved, but endlessly warm and welcoming. So amazing. I would recommend traveling to Estonia in a heartbeat to experience a very relaxing vacation. It’s not a country where you just go to see big fountains and churches (these do exist, however). It’s a place where you go to just experience a different culture and simply relax.

And having traveled around Europe for a month, I can say this – Estonia is THE BEST country in the world for WiFi. There’s free public WiFi in every village over 2,000 people. As you’re driving, there’s signs that tell you there’s a WiFi spot in 200m. hahaha. It’s awesome. And in every major town/city/village there’s a tourist information center where the person working speaks at least English and Estonian, usually Russian and German as well. It’s AMAZING. I highly recommend Estonia to anyone. It’s awesome.

That being said, I miss Estonia, but here are some pictures from my final days. But as you’re looking at them, I have posted a YouTube video as well. In Europe, they have a contest, Eurovision, which is basically American Idol, but every country nominates one song and artist to compete. And so I’ve posted Estonia’s contestant – Urban Symphony – performing “Randajad”. It’s beautiful music, and the Estonian is incredibly clear, so you can really hear how the language is so rhythmic and amazing!!