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!!

Estonia at sunset

Rouge from St Mary's belltower

A small pond in Rouge

The farmhouse outside of Voru

I Say "This Week", You Say "Sucks!!"

Okay, so this is going to be out of place chronologically... But in the name of humor, I feel like putting up some funny stories. These may not necessarily reflect reality in some cases, or even my true feelings. But all the same... This Week Sucks.

So we left for Norway on Wednesday (April 22). We arrived in Riga via a bus, and we just headed straight to the airport to be certain we would be fine with our flights. The sucking of this week started on Wednesday, April 22.

We were getting close to boarding time, and we were excited!! Norway!! We were going to canoe and hike in the fjords of NORWAY!!! We were gonna get our nature on - "Ladies and gentlemen, our flight from Riga to Bremen, Germany has been delayed. We will now be departing at 3:50PM. Thank you." This is our reaction: "(*#$^%@#!! #$*!@%!(@*)#*!!! Really?!?!" This new departure time is the departure time from our flight in Bremen, Germany to Haugesund, Norway. We have missed our flight to Norway.

We fly to Bremen, and we interrogate the workers to see if there's other flights we can make. This is not true. Our flight was the only flight that week. We have paid for bus tickets and a night in a VERY EXPENSIVE hotel for nothing. Chuck $70 in the wind for each of us. UGH.

So we headed to the Bremen train station, and without a group decision, we bought tickets to Berlin. I'll write a separate blog, one that is happier, about Berlin. It was DEATH getting there. My Hungarian roommate had only let me get 3 hours of sleep the night before with conversation, and then suddenly I was on trains until 2 in the morning the next day. I wanted to die. But Berlin was amazing, and I'm sooo happy we went there. I LOVE that city.

We returned from Berlin. A wonderful trip. And this week (the current week that is now ending at the time of this post) is Student Week in Tartu, when the students are given the keys to the city and rule for a week. It's a LONG tradition, and I've been looking forward to it for months.

On Monday, however, my back right wisdom tooth is a little sensitive. This happens to me after long trips and lack of sleep, so I didn't think about it. Then TUESDAY happened. My face is swollen. My right cheek is easily twice as thick, there's a sensitive bump on the jaw bone on the right side, and I'm having difficulty opening my mouth. Hmm... Time for a dentist, I think.

I schedule an appointment on Tuesday for Wednesday night, after my Law class. According to my schedule, I missed a Russian test on my trip to Berlin, so I needed to study to make up for it. I go to class... no test. Instead, our test is moved to Thursday and is considerably larger in the materials it covers. Um... In the middle of Student Week?! Really?!?! UGH!!!

Then I go to the dentist after my Law course. This week REALLY REALLY sucks at this point. NO ONE in the office spoke English, and after 4 office shuffles and really poor Russian on my part, I finally got to the dentist's office. I sit down in the chair, and luckily my dentist knows English. So I explain my symptoms, she says, "Yes." Then she leans me back, and says, "We're making injection."

I've never had a painful visit to a dentist's office. I've never had a cavity, root canal, or anything other than some picking with an iron hook. But when I saw that crooked needle, I kind of screamed on the inside. And she added the anesthesia, and it was painful, but it was immediate pain, so it wasn't that bad. And she and her colleague just spoke in Estonian as the drugs numbed my right gum. Then she started picking at the area to test the numbing. Suddenly a pair of scissors is in my mouth, and I can "hear" it make an incision.

My heart is sooo fast at this point. After the scissors, the assistant pulls out this glass jar and pulls out what appears to be green shoelace. They cut a small piece and they place it in the incision they've made (honestly, for 1 second, I swore they were gonna pull a leech out of the jar, don't ask me why). Then they put a cotton square, say, "Bite down," and then gave me a prescription. I go down, fill it, and after a horrible process understand the directions.

I was given antibiotics, not painkillers. I have an infection in my face, I understand this. But I had to go online to look up the antibiotics to read the warnings. I can't drink alcohol, as it causes a RAPID change in blood chemistry and can be fatal. Awesome. I can't drink during Student Week, THE celebration of the year. Then... the pain set in.

Holy crap, when the anesthesia wore off, HOLY CRAP. Pain. And not immediate, sharp pain. But constant, high level pain. Granted, there's several layers higher in the pain tree, I'm surely aware. But it was kind of ridiculous. WAAAAY more painful than before. Luckily, I packed Extra Strength Tylenol - WOOT. Saved my day. That and Kelsey volunteered to cook me some soup. Kelsey = my hero. hahaha.

So I wake up on Thursday. The pain is largely gone. Woot woot. But I have go to to the dentist office at 9AM for a check-up. I go, the process is MUCH easier this time around. I get seen by another dentist, and I go to find out what's up with my face now. I get more anesthesia. WAY MORE. My entire right face is numb. Then he pulls out a scalpel, and I FLIP on the inside. And he cuts out the shoestring. He said it was a "medicated cord" and that he would take it out. He failed to mention that he was going to put more medicated cord in... or that he was going to use the scalpel to enlarge the hole in my face. So suddenly, I have a huge hole in my mouth, filled by more shoestring.

But I ask more questions this time around, and I'm free to eat anything I want, but yes, I should avoid alcohol (avoid seemed a pretty light use of the word considering what I had read, but not everything on the Internet is true... regardless, I have not been drinking while on the antibiotics). I ask for painkiller prescription, because it hurt really bad last time. He agrees, I am happy.

I go back to my room to eat breakfast and have one of my antibiotic pills for the day. And the painkillers they prescribed, FAIL. Pain is kind of ridiculous. So I go against my usual judgement of taking pills, and I take Tylenol again. Relief. Love Extra Strength. hahaha. But I'm tired, so I lay down for a small nap.

Then I get up and start studying for my rather large Russian language exam. It was rather large, indeed. I had a lot more to study for than I thought. But I think it went well, although it was so hard not to smile and swallow. hahaha. I missed swallowing a lot at this point.

And so this continued. Thursday night was a cool night for Student Days, I'll post about that happiness later... But Friday (yesterday) was my 12km race in Viljandi, a running tradition in Estonia that's 80 years long. AND I CAN'T RUN IT. Considering my complete lack of significant food consumption starting on Wednesday, there's nothing for me to run on. I don't have the food for the energy, and my workout on Monday showed that my strength was low anyway. So I didn't run.

I just went to Viljandi and watched the race. It might have been the most beautiful day in Estonia and the hills in Viljandi are GORGEOUS. And the race had 3,340 runners... I wanted to RUN SO BADLY. But it would have just turned into a pitiful jog and nothing race-worthy. So I watched a race most bitterly. I felt like freshman year with my hip fractured all over again. I HATE watching races and being unable to compete. Ugh.

And there is nothing worse than cheering at the finish line amongst an Estonian crowd. It is the QUIETEST CROWD on the face of the planet. Now, I hope I've mentioned in earlier posts that Estonians are naturally/culturally geared towards silence in life. But even at this sporting event, there was nothing more than hand-clapping. Now all that have ever had me cheer for them at a running event, know that I like to CHEER. I like to get all up in your ears and make you hear my encouragement. Well... not at this race. It would have been MAJOR social embarrassment. Ugh. I couldn't even cheer. It was the worst crowd ever. Had I been racing, I would have hated finishing with that crowd cheering me on. Probably would have made me feel like finishing, considering I had just raced 12 kilometers to hardly get anything more than a clap. hahaha.

I suppose an interesting/agonizing highlight of this trip was learning a special thing about my coach. Coach Lemberg is somewhat of a legend in Estonia. I think it's mostly because he's Estonia's Olympic trainer, but I think it also has to do with the fact that he was a pretty good runner at one point. But everyone was asking to take pictures with him in Viljandi, it was interesting. The agonizing part? Coach LOVES the band "Smokie". We listened to Smokie's Greatest Hits over and over on our way to and from Viljandi. To give you an idea of the crappiest lyrics of my life, here is my favorite line:
"If love is what you want,
Love is what you've got.
Love like a rocket,
A rocket to your heart."
Another favorite:
"Open my heart,
Take a look at my soul."
HOLY CRAP, I wanted to build a shotgun and blow my brains out. Worst soundtrack for roadtripping ever. But I love Coach Lemberg, so I don't hold it against him... too badly.

This week sucks.

There were good things, though, and I'll post on those later. Just needed to send out the bitter pill, so that I can be upbeat afterwards. haha.

Not Sucking It Up

So, I am actually not behind on blogging, as you may think. It's been terribly unexciting lately. hahaha.

Friday (April 17) was a blah day. Totz blahz, if you will. Don't have class on Fridays, so instead, I spent a lot of day downloading articles for my papers here in Tartu. Very unexciting. I have a law paper that I have no idea what to write on. I can't read Russian law, and there's not a vast amount of true analysis in English. So I'm writing an IS paper instead of a law discourse. Hopefully that suffices. I'll be dealing with secession law in Russia anyway, so we'll see. And my paper for Soviet Transformation in Russia will be on the population decline. Yeah, I've researched this topic in depth before, but this will be more a historical paper than a contemporary analysis of policy. I should be able to eeek out the pages necessary...

Saturday (April 18th). Ew. Long run today. Ugh. The wind was CRAZY. In my face for 5 miles and gusting. I was about as not pleased as I could get. I was supposed to get more paper writing/research done, but instead I merely did nothing. It was a good decision. Time off is good, but I feel I'm taking too much time off as of late... eh. That's for the future me to worry about, I suppose.

Sunday (April 19th). I had a HOLY CRAP moment at 3AM on Saturday (I went nocturnal this weekend and my sleep schedule was tossed around like CRAZY). My old flatmate, Timofei, emailed me to tell me he was leaving on the 20th... MONDAY!!! CRAP!!! So today, I called him after my run, and we agreed to meet up for a dinner. Yaaaay, but sad day... I had told him I would be able to edit a paper he was writing with a colleague, but then I suddenly had 3 presentations, so I couldn't get to it in time. He said he had other papers he wanted me to look-at/edit, but we haven't discussed that in depth as of yet. But anyway. I went to Werner to get much needed caffeine (needed a LOT to get the engine running today), and then I met him and Ada for dinner.

And along with them were their "new" French flatmates - they moved into my old room from when I first arrived. Their names escape me right now. I didn't remember them when they told me either. I can be bad at names, but then when you say your name in your native accent/language and quickly, a name-fail-prone Texan isn't gonna get it. hahaha. We went to the Georgian restaurant, where I learned that I can still be ripped off for a meal, even in my 3rd month. Ugh. But the company was great!! I missed Ada and Timofei so much. I truly enjoy them!! They're so wonderful. But now Timofei's gone....

Monday 20th

Class was cancelled, so I slept in. Mmm... sleep. Then I got up and ran and the WIND WAS CRAZIER THAN BEFORE. Estonia's weather has found a new trick, and I hate it. Since the country is FLAT as a pancake (and just as populated... zing!), any strong wind from any direction has no major obstacles. Ugh. Awful. The run felt good, but crazy crazy windy. And I ran some errands for my trip to NORWAY!!!!! WEEEE!!! This was the extent of my day.

Tuesday, 21st (Today)

Went to my first class, where we discussed Energy Relations between EU/Russia. It was quite anti-climactic as we had brought this up nearly every class before, since it's THE biggest reason EU/Russia even have relations. Screw proximity, if it weren't for pipelines there wouldn't be a lot of talky talk. But the presentations were boring as poop, then switched to quite well-argued. So it was interesting indeed.

I went back to my room and started studying for my Russian test. I mean, it wasn't going to be difficult, but it certainly wasn't going to be a breeze either. Good thing I started studying, because I remembered half the things I also needed to study. So I got all good and studied up. Then I went and got my ERGO insurance faxed to somebody. Hopefully that somebody is Migration, and hopefully they'll give me a piece of paper and eventually an ID card that says I'm a resident for the remaining 6 weeks I'll be living here (more like 4 weeks by the time I get everything. Ugh). Then off to Russian. My professor left a note on the door - she's sick! I love Yelena, I don't want her to be sick. But she was anyway. Sad day.

So I went back to my room and watched 24. My roommate keeps me up to date with 24 and Lost via the wonderful Internet. 24 is really good for me, because it helps me remember how to defend myself from terrorists while abroad. And I learn how to use a "rugged" voice to get my way all the time. I think next episode will be a how-to in ass-kicking!

Then I ran my workout... It went well in the end, but my first 3k for time... didn't go too hot. Not so great... But then I kicked it into gear. But if I had been racing today, I would have died and sucked complete ass. Luckily, I wasn't racing today. Yay! That's for next week. AAAAHHH!!!! I'm going to get my ass handed to me, I think. Boo. hahaha.

But now I'm off to Norway!!! I'm so excited. Beyond excited. And I got 3 out of the 4 classes I wanted next semester at Rhodes, and I'm trying my hardest to get that 4th one. hahaha. We'll see... But I'll talk to you in a while, after I go to Riga, Lativa; Haugesund & Odda, Norway; and Bremen, Germany!!! WEEE!!!! 5 days of awesome.

Oh, most of the internationals are going on the school trip to St Petersburg this weekend, and I cannot wait to hear about their LOVE of that city upon their return. I miss St Pete. I'll be back in a few weeks!! Weee!!! Russia!! Fun! Yes, this is me giddy.

So that's Ada, me, and Timofei. I look like a giant, enthusiastic American next to them. I do love them so... My only photo with them.

The Grand Return from the Epic Fail

So I think my inability to post qualifies as one of the world’s greatest EPIC FAILS ever. I will attempt to catch up to the present in the most detailed, but least cumbersome fashion. Basically, this will be a trick to see how much I can remember…. Oh, FYI – I will not attempt to keep within the same verb tense. So I’m just gonna make every grammar-focused individual scream their head off.

All I can recall on the weekend of the 4th and 5th was my decision to go “black”. Meaning, I decided that it was time to put socializing aside and get down to some of my basic goals while I was here in Estonia: study Russian like crazy, prepare for the GRE, get graduate school application essays written, write my papers for my classes here, and begin my research for the papers my fellowships require for life at Rhodes. This idea has worked somewhat well… hahaha.

So I’ve been spending a LOT of time at Café Werner, a WONDERFUL café off town square with inexpensive coffee and GREAT quiches. It’s basically my form of Middle Ground (the 24 hour place in the library at Rhodes), although it does close rather early (11AM) on weekdays. But it’s a good place for me to go and focus.

Monday 6th

For my Soviet Experience class, we started finally reading about the transformation/transition. Up to this point, we’ve been reading history of Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, etc. UGH. But this new article was FASCINATING. My mind was literally exploding with new-found academic energy. I was finally reading something that challenged my concept of things, it was wonderful. The text didn’t significantly alter any train of though, but it discussed the linguistic structure of the Soviet government and how this affected the psychological perception of the citizens. FASCINATING. SO freaking good.

Sadly, in class, the presenters didn’t focus on this, and instead we had a big class discussion on Soviet nostalgia – a very boring topic for me, personally. But I understood, as the presenters were both from Georgia, and the linguistic/philosophical discussion in the book would be close to impossible for non-native speakers to easily interpret and present back to a class. So I emailed the professor to ask if I could present next week, and try to unearth these forgotten ideas in the text. He said yes, and I joined a group of two Georgians, Eka and Ani, for a presentation next Monday. Woot! I was excited.

Tuesday

Got to class in the morn’. And we had a class presentation/discussion on Russia/EU perceptions of “neighborhood policies”. Not overly exciting as I can remember… But after this presentation, Dr Molis told us that everyone had presented. Therefore, we shall stay in our previous groups and repeat the order of groups presenting. So my group of Lukas (Lithuania) and Salome (Georgia) were to present next week on the possibility of Russia and the EU ever cooperating on issues of external security. Hmm… 2 presentations…
Wednesday

Went to Law, and it was a fairly interesting class. Our readings were over human rights issues in the case of Chechnya, but our class for some reason revolved around Russia’s admittance into the Council of Europe. But there was a healthy class debate about it, so I found it at least interesting. I do enjoy this class. But then the professor asked for volunteers to present on the ICJ case between Georgia and Russia. And I was REALLY INTERESTED in this topic. So I volunteered to “represent” Russia. It was only after class that I realized that within 3 days, I had been assigned 3 presentations (one a day), and I was going to Tallinn for the next 4 days… Ooops…

Thursday

I did not go to Russian today… Instead I got on a bus at 11AM with “the Americans” and we went to Tallinn!!! None of us had really spent a good amount of time in Tallinn, mostly just passing through for flights from US and boats to Helsinki. Hahaha. So we figured it was time to give the capital of Estonia its fair time. Tallinn’s famous for its Old Town, as its one of the best preserved medieval sections of any city in Europe. All of the Baltics have Old Towns, and many cities across Europe do as well. But Tallinn’s is pretty bad ass.

We checked into our hostel, which wasn’t too impressive, but it had beds and showers, and that’s what we needed. So we walked around Tallinn, but Peter’s girlfriend, Brittany, was in Estonia for a few days (she’s studying abroad in Malta). So we had to do the stops at the biggest places first. So of course (you’ll find out why), we went to St Olaf’s first. Between the years of 1549 and 1625, St Olaf’s was the tallest building in the world, and before the construction of the Eiffel, it was the tallest building in Europe. It currently is now the third tallest church in Europe, after some in Germany and France, I think… But it’s a tall church. The majority of its height comes in the steeple (been struck by lightening 8 times, and has caused the church to burn down 3 times), but it’s tall. So we climbed up the RIDICULOUS staircase to the observation deck.

Let it be known, that this was not a deck. It was a steel cage that was two feet wide. And I have a very big fear of people dropping things from heights. I don’t necessarily have a fear of falling or heights, but when people hold cameras, hats, or something over the railing of a tall place, I imagine them dropping it and it causes me GREAT anxiety. But it was a very very windy day up to top the tower, and I hadn’t been in an exposed, “high” altitude setting in a long time. SO I think my anxiety of dropping things did have a fear of falling combined. I was paralyzed. It took me some time and a walk around the church (the windy side was awful), but then I pulled it together to get some pictures, they’re below.


We also walked to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Orthodox Russian, and there’s hundreds of Nevsky cathedrals in Russian Orthodox, so don’t get too confused) and this Nevsky Cathedral is honestly my favorite Orthodox church I have seen yet. Its very construction, the colors, the everything, is simply BEYOND gorgeous to me. It might be my favorite church in the whole world. I love that thing. Pictures below.

Then we walked around some more, but then said bye to Brittany, and then we cooked frozen pizzas in the oven in the hostel. Mmm… food. And we played cards, and tried to go to bed, until a seemingly homeless man somehow gained access past two locked doors (someone let him in, grrrr). So there was an awkward stand-off to keep him from getting on the actual floors where beds are located. The kitchen is on the 3rd floor, and our beds were on the 4th. So we were locked in the 3rd floor until he left the stairwell… We got to bed at 3 AM. UGH.

Friday

We decided that was museum day. So we tried to go to the Old Town Wall, because there’s a section that you can climb up and walk along the battlements and everything… CLOSED. It was Easter weekend, and we knew there’d be some problems, but Estonians are very unreligious, so we didn’t expect too many obstacles. FALSE.

We were rejected at every museum we stopped by. It was a day of rejection. It was so sad. But Kelsey’s flatmate, Aurora (France), came and stayed with us for the weekend, so that added some wonderful international flavor to the constant rejection. But Peter had to leave early to go back to Tartu to write a paper. We went to bed early, due to our exhaustion.

Saturday

We (Genevieve, Kelsey, Aurora, and I) rented bikes to go to the eastern coast of the capital. Mind you, we couldn’t do this with Peter, because he doesn’t know how to ride a bike. It boggles all of us A LOT that he doesn’t know how and has no interest to learn. But regardless, this biking idea was the best time in Tallinn.

Got to bike to a park along the coast, and it was gorgeous. It wasn’t fully green, but it was so pleasant. And on the playgrounds, they also have workout equipment so mothers/fathers can get a workout in while their child plays. Such a good idea!! It was a wonderfully huge and gorgeous park.

Then we headed to the Marjaamae Palace, which houses the Estonian National History Museum. AMAZING MUSUEM. It was one of the best I’ve been in my entire life. I’m sure if I spoke Estonian it would have been even more amazing, but even as an English speaker, they had enough translated, and it was beautifully designed and executed. Wonderful. We all left wishing we were Estonian. It’s such a beautiful country, with so many cool things in it. *sigh*

Then I got us lost on our way back to the city, but we made it. And then our second museum was CLOSED EARLY but they had no sign on it yesterday to indicate a late closing when we were rejected yesterday. So the Occupation Museum has made me an enemy…

Sunday

Really, we continued a major theme of this weekend in Tallinn and ate a LOT of food at a lot of different places. Aurora and Geneveive left early to make it to a concert in Tartu of Handel’s Messiah. Kelsey and I hung around Tallinn, then took a train (first class!!!) back to Tartu. It was only 20 kroons more than the bus ($1.80), but I got free tea, and a table to work/sleep on. So this is the way I will travel to and from Tallinn for my Russian embassy visits without a doubt. It was sooo lovely. Beyond lovely. I love that train. Hahaha. When we arrived back in Tartu, it was like seeing a totally different world. There was NO SNOW/ICE and NO standing puddles of water. SPRING IS HERE!!!! It's not quite here yet, but when it happens, oh the camera will fly out and record every minute of it. But then I met with Eka and Ani, and we arranged our presentation… kind of… Whatever.

But while in Tallinn and after the history museum, I decided I wanted to see more of Estonia. Tallinn’s GORGEOUS, but its Old Town is just too touristy for me. I wanted to see “real” Estonia after my weekend in Tallinn. So I started looking at weekend trips to Narva, Parnu/Saaremaa island, and Viljandi/Potsaama/Jogeva. We’ll see if these actually pan out…

Monday

We present. Ugh. Ani talked FOREVER on slides that weren’t really all that important. Eka’s section dealt a lot with foreign culture, and she did a great job (her English is superb), but it took still a LOT of time. Then I spoke about the linguistic aspect, etc, and it did take a while. All said and done, it was a 1.5 hour presentation. *gunblast* It was awful. I wanted to cry. I hate lengthy presentations. I mean, the information was good, but it was just too long. Way too long. So I don’t think we’re going to get a good grade. Whatevs. We’ll see. Then I met with Lukas and Salome for our presentation on Tuesday.

Tuesday

I found out that I’m the top student in my EU/RUSS relations course, so that put pep in my step for my presentation. We decided that I would speak for the group in order to save time and allow for the best communication (we all receive the same grade in this class’s structure anyway). It was a great class, a lot of controversy, and a lot of disagreement. Basically, Dr Molis gave both groups an equally difficult, uphill battle to present on… and so we got a little slaughtered by the Q&A. I mean, I felt like I wasn’t being skewered, but I felt like I sounded too much like a broken record. And I hate that!

Russian went really well today. Just a pleasant class in which I actually knew a little Russian. It was lovely. But then I had to prepare for my presentation in Law over the current ICJ case between Russia and Georgia. I know nothing about this. So I must do research…

So I stayed up uber late downstairs in the dorm. And I got slapped in the face by life/fate, whatever. Hahaha. I was working, and I was LOVING the topic, Russia’s legal mind is brilliant, and having a ball. Then there was knocking on the window. I look up, and there were 3 gorgeous Estonian girls asking me to go out with them. I opened the door, and they said that I looked so sad doing work, and that I should go out (they had been drinking a little, hence their forwardness). So I had to reject their invitation to get sleep and do well on my presentation. Stupid academic career. Hahaha.

Wednesday

Got up and presented. It actually went really well. In the actual case (still on-going), Georgia won the motion to have ICJ intervention by a vote of 8 to 7. Russia’s viewpoint and argumentation is SOLID, and managed to convince 7 of the 15 judges to its view. The opposing opinion judges wrote an amazing brief, and it was just mouth-watering for me. After two days of “defending” Russia, this time I felt I could almost actually do it.

So I represented Russia in the class and played “pro-Russia” during the discussion, as I had done my research to allow me to be biased. And it was at this point that I found out that my new flatmate, Tony (Georgia), it actually from South Ossetia… you know, where the war was. So when I commented that the presentation in class focused too much on the war, and it hurt Georgia’s overall case to bring up such a conflict in a straightforward legal battle… it kind of touched an emotional nerve. Wooopss…. I only found out his living scenario after I said these things. Luckily, we talked, and he knew I was playing pro-Russia and he agreed with my statements. But it was still slightly awkward… eeek.

But I had finished all three presentations successfully, and I could focus on my workout at 6PM, which I had moved from Tuesday so I could focus on my law presentation. It was my first workout on an outdoor stadium track since I arrived in Estonia. It felt sooo good to be back outside. Coach met up with me, and then said he had to go. Haha. So I ran the workout alone. No one on the track but me. And I NAILED that workout. I slaughtered it. It felt so good. Now granted, this VO2 workout wasn’t too fast, and I wasn’t working at times that were faster than last season’s. But I could feel my legs getting into speed and getting into work. And I liked it. A lot. It felt amazing.

Thursday

My Russian language class was cancelled for the Russian festival in Tartu. So I kind of did nothing for the majority of the day, and then I went to the festival with Genevieve, Kelsey, and Peter. FALSE. We were “casually” late by 40 minutes… and the location seemed to have ZERO evidence that there was ever a festival of any sort. It was kind of ridiculous. And it took over half an hour to walk to the place. Ugh. But we found a really beautiful hotel/café to stop in… it was too expensive. But I had borsch (amazing Russian soup), and then we went to a Chinese food place, and I got chicken that was waaay too sweet.

But that catches you up, mostly. I got my insurance purchased, so by May I will be an official resident in Estonia…. For my remaining 5 weeks. Kind of ridiculous in my opinion. Ugh. Oh well.

And as for planning my “Estonian countryside” trips… they probably won’t happen, which makes me sad. But I can’t rent a car, and I need one, because the bus times are so awful, it’s ridiculous. And I’m not up for 4 hour bus rides to stay in a town for 5 hours, only to 4 hour bus ride back. Ew. Gross.

And I’ve decided to enter Russia earlier than my program start, and I’m going to travel a little. I think my best friend, Sasha (lives in Russia), and I will travel to a city for a few days, so I can get adjusted to Russia with a friend, and not necessarily have to brave my internship and home family and adjustment all at once. I was thinking about going to Voronezh and Kursk, since I have friends here in Tartu that live in Voronezh. BUT – Voronezh is kind of an unpleasant city (from what I hear/Google Earth) and there’s a lot of crime against foreigners. So I think I’m going to go to Nizhny Novgorod instead, as there’s an overnight train, and its very “tourist” friendly. It’s basically the merchant town of Russia, so it’s GORGEOUS with lots of churches, and it’d be a much more pleasant place to be. But it’s not all set in stone yet. But I’m really excited by the idea of Nizhny. And I’m just so excited about everything. June will be a month of travel with friends and family, and July/August are Russia. WEEE!!

So obviously, my refocusing on goals has occurred, just not intensely as I originally planned. Eh. It’ll all happen in time…



I took a lot of pictures of Nevsky... over 50. So here's one over pretty houses.

Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church, with Parlaiment (pink building) in the background.

St Olaf's is the big, tall tower in the center. hahaha. The "observation deck" is just the strip of black rectangle at the base of the ridiculously huge spire.

Looking down at the Old Wall and Old Town from St Olaf's

From the top of St Olaf's - this is the "acropolis" - the hill in Tallinn.

The castle turret is part of their Parlaiment, and the building on the far right on the hill will be part of my ever-growing global real estate empire, by the way.

April is Here!!

Wednesday

Got up at 9 o'clock and had some breakfast. Mmm, it was good. Then I went walking around town trying to shop for my Estonia team gear. I wanted to get some facepaint, and I found some that might have worked at this store. When I bodypainted at Rhodes, I used water-based acrylic paint, which may not be the best, but it stands up to the sweat and weather pretty well. And I found some acryllic paint in this store, but the labeling was in Estonian. It has a word "Vesi......" and vesi is water, but that could have meant waterproof or water-based. I just didn't try. So no face paint.

But I did end up caving in, and I bought an Estonian national team jersey at a store. It'll go wonderfully with my St Petersburg Zenit jersey I got last year in Russia. That and I matched Auke and Maarten, the two Dutch boys in charge of putting it all together. We met at the bus station and got on the noon express bus. Now, I haven't been on the express bus before. Damn. Alison and Katie used it when they came to Tartu and they said was like an airplane... and it was. The driver talked to us about the ride and how long it would take (although it was in Estonian). There were TVs on the ceiling displaying scenes of nature and wildlife, and there was WiFi internet access, apparently. Crazy bus. I tried to sleep on the ride, so I wasn't very exciting...

Got to Tallinn and started walking from the bus station to Old Town in order to drop of Maarten, Auke, and Maaike's (all Dutch) bags at the boys' hostel (Maaike was staying with a friend). But at this point, we decided that Kelsey and I were honorary Dutch for the day, so we defected for one day to the Netherlands. Why not?

Had lunch at a nice pancake place, and ran into Asia (Poland) as she was shopping for her sister's wedding in two weeks. Asia is in my Russian language class and was the one that informed me of my error on the last exam. So we're not close, but we're good friends.

But Old Town is UNBELIEVABLE. It's wonderful. I'm going there for Easter weekend for several nights, and I can't wait. It's GORGEOUS. Fell in love immediately. So beautiful!! So pics of that will come eventually...

Then we headed to the game!!! Armenia vs Estonia for the World Cup Qualifying Match. This was the only World Cup match Estonia would play until August. And in August they're going to play Brazil, so this was probably the only chance to see Estonia win. They actually played in Armenia last week, and tied 2-2. So it at least seemed to promise an entertaining game.

The stadium was small - seats about 8,000 - and it's called A. LeCoq Stadium, sponsored by Estonia's largest beer company. BUT they do NOT serve alcoholic beverages in the stadium. Oxymoron?! We weren't aware of this until we purchased "beer" at the concession stand. What a jip. Total crap.

But we had FRONT ROW seats. I was on the front row at a World Cup match!! It was sooo awesome. Luckily, for the first half we had Estonia's goal in front of us (amazing saves by the goalie), and then for the second half we were in front of Armenia's goal.

The game was amazing play... Estonia wasn't spreading out at all, and wasn't really passing. It was a lot of balls in the air and "approximating" where a teammate could theoretically. Armenia I think played a cleaner game. But Estonia shot more on the goal, and they didn't fake any injuries (#9 on Armenia sucks about that).

But Estonia WON!!!! 1-0. And the goal happened in the 2nd half, so we were RIGHT THERE!!!! It was sooo coooool!!!! Yaaaay!!!

I ended buying an Estonian scarf as well, so now I have Estonian and Russian jerseys and scarfs. Woot!!! Then we headed to a bar for a little bit, and Kelsey and I left for the 11PM bus back to Tartu. We arrived in Tartu starving, so we actually went into the McDonald's and ordered food. I know, shame on me. But I was SOOO hungry. Needless to say, I was not hungry afterwards for some time.

Thursday

Somewhat of a blah day. Worked a little bit, studied some Russian, and eventually went to Russian at 6PM. Ugh. Got to class... POP QUIZ. 48 Russian product words... I did not know all of them. I mean, goose berries. Really? I didn't know carrots, and that is sad. But goose berries?! Oh well. We also had a quiz over our oral re-telling skills, and I aced it. So take that! The class was very small, but it was nice overall.

BUT afterwards, we had an International Food Festival on our floor in Raatuse. It was AMAZING. I honestly didn't think a lot of food would be cooked... FALSE. People cooked in their flats all day, and so doors were open and every other flat had some country's food in it. My favorites: Czech (potato dumplings were amazing), Georgian (eggplant dish - orgasmic), Turkish (due to ingredients, tasted a little like Tex-Mex), Russian (sweet pancakes with strawberry sauce... *drools*). Us Americans baked chocolate chip cookies and rice-crispy treats. And they were popular, let it be known. We made 4 batches of cookies, and not one plate lasted longer than 6 minutes.

But it was a great evening of food and mingling. Yay!!

Friday

While the day's not over (approx. 8pm), it is. Nothing more is going down today. hahaha. But the WEATHER!!!

It was HEAVENLY today. The sun was so warm, I could have sun-bathed... It was HIGH 40s and maybe even 50!!!! Sooo warm. My run was sooo pleasant today because of it. And I just started running in a direction, and ended up with some really nice views of Tartu and the countryside. It was actually quite nice. But without a doubt, the nicest day in Tartu yet. People were sitting on their balconies reading papers, the cafes had all their outside furniture set up. It was wonderful. May Spring's reign continue for many days.




Tallinn at dusk - one of the "entrances" into Old Town

Note! Men, the ground is slippery. Hold onto women's purses for balance.

The (real) Dutch are in blue (Maaike, Maarten, Auke)

FREAKING GREAT

So you might think, whoa. An ALL CAPS title, Colin? Could we be more sarcastic in text form? And my response would have to be yes. Because I'm not being sarcastic. Today was actually freaking great.

I got up at 9AM, but I didn't get a lot of sleep because I was sending out some much needed correspondence via my helpful electron friends. I went to the bakery, got my breakfast, and sat down outside my classroom and just enjoyed some food. Dr. Molis came in, I sat down, and kept eating my breakfast.

Then the two groups presented... They were somewhat good. But they started great discussions, so they win in my book. hahaha. Today was actually a good day of trading ideas, and almost a debate... sort of. It was at least engaging. And the professor's lecture afterwards (it was an extended class period) was really direct, which I find to be a lacking quality with my professors here. So I really enjoyed the simplicity and directness of his lecture. Props in the air to him.

Then I went back to my place and NAPPED!! I haven't napped much in Estonia, which my former roommates at Rhodes (Dan and Smith) would never believe. Back at Rhodes, if I have a break between classes, I nap. I'll lay down, even if it's a 25 minute break. Just get me horizontal. I can't explain it. But I really haven't napped much here, and it felt AMAZING. So wonderful.

Then I woke up and headed to my Russian class... to meet the impending doom of my exam. And I was late getting out of my apartment, so I power-walked it and walked past my professor in the hallway. I said, "Здравствуйте." (*zdrastvoostye* [a polite hello]), she responded in turn. So I thought, well, that's it, no mercy. Yay. FALSE.

After I sat in class alone, the rest of the students trickled in, and she came in with our exams in hand. I breathed in and out. She informed me that I hadn't finished the first exercise, and I should do so immediately. So I said, "ДА!" (*da* [yes]), and started answering the questions in Russian. She had graded everything else on the exam, so I just had to do these correctly... Oh crap, what's the genitive of that? Ooo, that's accusative... Oh, what's my faculty called here? But I finished it, and gave it to her...

If possible, always write meaningful, poorly written apologetic notes in Russian to your professors. It's apparently really cute. Because when she handed back her test, I noticed that she changed the point totals on a couple of my sections by a few points to give me exactly a 90. I got an A!! See kids. If you show up early, if you're in every class, if you participate, if you write cute emails earnestly, they do notice. Yay!! Made my day. I owe her big time.

Then I went to my workout with Coach Lemberg. He was beaming because one of his professional runners was back from South Africa and six weeks of training there. Bahaha. I walked from across town. I mean, it's the same thing to him, I'm sure. My workout was a speed workout, plain and simple. I haven't done a pure speed workout in about 3 months... and I didn't do one today either. UGH. Ate me up and spit me out. I was mangled by the end of it. We even had to cut it short. So my anaerobic capabilities are WAY beneath where they should be, but I have retained my ability to roll within my aerobic range. This means I might be good to race a 10k... but not a 1500m. And unfortunately, best as I can tell, the games in Latvia have only a 1500m race...

But I'm going to talk with coach about it. If they only have the 1500m, I'm not going to race. The competition is in 6 weeks, and I doubt I can shoot up and be in peak 1500m speed in that time. When there's still ice on the ground, I doubt it. And I'd be representing the University of Tartu and the country of Estonia when I raced. I don't want to go out there and just blow up in the 1500 and not do anything productive at all. But we'll see... I just really don't want to be that American that kind of spit on Estonia's desire to be a serious competitor. Just my thoughts. Obviously.

But overall today was grand! Weee!

Friendlies!!

So. Goodness.

I went to "make sauna" on Saturday with the Estonian runners, and as usual it was ridiculously hot. But I met, Aloh, their best middle distance runner, who is fresh from his months in the Estonian army (its a requirement for every male to serve 8-11 months). Mario, Rainier, and Ander was there as well. It was a good evening, much talk, and I was better hydrated, so I was able to stand 4 trips into the sauna this time. But yes, I still sweat TONS in the 170 degrees Fahrenheit. But it was good.

Then I caught up briefly with Genevieve, Peter, and Kelsey who were having dinner with Indrek and Christina - new Estonian friends. It was a pleasant conversation, but I had to go to bed earlier than normal, because I was exhausted - a theme of late for some reason.

Sunday

I got a call... early... 7AM. My good friend, Alison, was in Estonia!! Alison and I went on the Rhodes Maymester to St Petersburg, Russia last year. We also have worked Orientation for Rhodes together and had a few classes. Needless to say, I love spending time with Alison. But she's been spending this semester in Yaroslavl', Russia on an EXTREMELY intensive Russian language program. This week is her spring break, so she and her friend, Katie, decided that it was time to leave Russia (considering they got their re-entry visas finally). So they took a train to Tallinn, and then they bused down to Tartu...

...Except at 7AM they missed their bus. Daylight savings occurred in Europe on midnight on Sunday, and nobody told them (I totally forgot, as always with daylight savings). So they got on a bus an hour later and headed to Tartu. 730AM I get another call, this time from Kelsey. She and Peter remembered that it was daylight savings, and knew that I had forgotten and went to the train station to pick up the "Ruskies". But the "Ruskies" had missed the bus, although the gesture was not lost on me. I have such good friends here!

But Alison and Katie arrived just fine, and we went to Werner (my new favorite place) for some much-needed coffee and breakfast. We traded stories about study abroad, crazy host families, cultural differences, thoughts on home, everything. Then Peter, Kelsey, and Genevieve came to do their Sunday homework, so we chatted with them for a while. Then I took the Ruskies to the art museum (so worth a second trip) and a souvenir shop. Then we walked around town - Toome Hill, Town Hall Square, Main University Building, Great Cathedral "ruins", St John's, etc. Then we ducked into an Italian place for some much needed "heavily-flavored food". They loved it.

Luckily, Sunday night was also the night of a free choir concert at the University Main Building, featuring the University of Tartu Female and Mixed Choirs. SOOOOO good. It was a wonderful cultural experience for me and the Ruskies, and it was just wonderful. Singing is HUGE in Estonia, so of course, these choirs were amazing. But afterwards, we sprinted to the bus station and they headed back to Tallinn.

It was a packed, yet seemingly short, day. But Alison and Katie LOVED Estonia, and they loved Tallinn (luckily they had 2 days in Tallinn once they returned). So I was happy to hear such adoration - made me feel like I was living in the coolest place on earth. And I think I am. I mean, by the end of the semester, I will have travelled to every major city in Estonia and seen most of the country. I will have a great sense of this country, and I am happy about that. I do wish I was in Russia, totally immersed in the language. But hearing their difficulties with their host families and communicating, made me think twice about that and has restarted the nervousness about the Novgorod Internship. Eh, whatever.

Monday

Well, today I woke up and had breakfast (duh). Then I had a 4-hour lecture in my Soviet Experience course... WOW. Most of the class apparently forgot, so there were only 12 of us in the lecture... WOW. The first 2 hours were great, and we had a pretty good discussion concerning the Brezhnev era. I actually was quite entertained. But then we started talking about Gorbachev era... and that DRAGGED for 2 hours. Quite frustrating. But it was good class overall. I am excited that we're finally at this point, because now we get to discuss the Transformation of Russia!!! This class is taught my a history professor, so it's MUCH more historical than I would like, but now we'll be getting into more of the stuff that I drool over... hopefully.

The professor invited is to Maime (*mime*) for drinks after the lecture, but I had to go run. I would have very much liked to have gone... and Sascha (USA) went and told me that it was a lot of fun, even though there was just the prof and 2 students. I felt bad and sad...

But today on my run, I decided that I had enough of the ice trail. While I enjoy the trail very much, the slippery ice and terrible running conditions have started getting to me. I need a change. So I'm going to run on the sidewalks around town. I have avoided this, because my shins are susceptible to stress fractures due to my nearly flat footedness. But running on ice isn't much better for them, and I know I've lost some endurance-based speed on the ice, and I need to get it back. So I'm just increasing the anti-stress fracture routines, and I'm running on sidewalks.
Today I ran on the eastern half of the city that's north of the river (east of my dorm). I ran along a major road, so the exhaust wasn't pleasant... and some of the houses were burning something, so there was increased smoke from the nothingness along the river, but it was nice. I basically ran along the vast majority of the Soviet-era apartment complexes where most of Tartu's citizens live. I had seen them at night, but seeing them in person in the daytime was interesting. Most of them were similar to the complexes I lived in when I was in St Petersburg last year, although the buildings were much smaller. Obviously Tartu wasn't high on the construction list, unlike St Petersburg, but I at least had some experience to compare to.

Overall the run went well, but I am lacking overall "endurance speed", but I'll get it back after several days of sidewalk running. Wednesday I think I might run to the HUGE greenhouses east of the city. They give off an eerie orange glow at night, and in some spots in town make it look like the sun is perpetually setting. It'd be interesting to see these things... hahaha. We'll see. I get my Russian exam back tomorrow *EEEEK* (no response from my professor), and I have a 3-hour lecture in EU/Russian relations. Let's see how this goes.........

Oh, and Happy Re-United Americans after the Estonian choir concert!!





And my favorite paintings in the Art Museum: