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:

To the Dedicated

Wow. If you're reading this, you must really be interested in Estonia. Because after ANOTHER monumental failure at updating daily, here is a huge post covering the last few days. I am sorry, but I'm not going to make any promises this time, due to my apparent inability to do anything about them. But I will write these as if I had no idea what would happen the next day. oooo, exciting!



Wednesday



Well, my professor cancelled the law course, so that he could go to the Law Conference in St Petersburg that I was unable to go to. Kind of jealous, not going to lie. But whatever.



I woke up and went on a run. UGH. The sun has been melting the snow nicely, but not the ice. It's still not warm enough to really get the ice going away. So my path is an utter HELL right now. It's slippery and awful. UGH. Freaking terrible. I was slipping everywhere and hardly able to move anywhere. I was just stuck. It was terrible. Really non-enjoyable run.



But today was nice because of the Casino Royale Poker Tournament. Now, I only learned how to play poker the summer after my freshman year of college. So it's been a good 2 years since I played, really. It cost $18 for the ticket in the door and to participate in the tournament. So it wasn't too expensive, but it was more than being free, of course. And you could only get in if you were dressed nicely. And considering I'd only had one previous chance to wear anything nice, I decided that it would be a good night to bust out the coat I got right before I came to Estonia. I was very excited.



Well, we got there at 8PM when the thing started... but the poker tournament didn't start until 9PM. And then we were the first ones there to boot. So we just awkwardly sat around in somewhat formal dress... But then they handed out some free sparkling wine, and that helped a little...



And honestly I was getting a little nervous about the whole deal. Cuz poker is like a competition as to who is coolest, manliness, etc. And my cool is not a reserved cool... So I was basically seeing all the players enter in practical tuxes, and I look like a hip professor. But hey, that fits me. hahaha. And I wasn't gonna drop money on a suit I didn't need, when I look good in my coat as is.



But I actually really enjoyed playing more than I thought I would. We decided to split into 2 tables, and I sat a table in which I knew the most people. But I was really nervous, because I didn't know the value of the chips, and we were going to switch dealer, so I was just nervous about messing up. But luckily everyone else was equally confused, so I just pretended that I too would have otherwise known what was going on, if it had been more simply explained. hahaha.



So we went through the first two hands, and I was kind of thinking... eh... BUT - they brought out champagne flutes for all the players and poured us champagne. The awesomeness of the moment didn't escape me. I would not get champagne poured for me back in the States, cuz I'm 20. But here, I paid good money to play, so where's my champagne? hahaha.



And then people started raising bets like crazy and the game got a lot more "interesting". And the champagne and the suits... it really was a ton of fun compared to the poker games I played two years ago just based on the environment alone.



Although, there were only 3 hands in which the players revealed their cards. Every other hand was a test of balls and betting. So it kind of lost the anxiety about the magic of the cards, but it was just a different game I was used to. And I won a HUGE hand by betting intelligently, so whatever.



Eventually, I got tired and tried to call some hands, and twice they beat me by one card. Then Mark, the British guy (who eventually won the entire tournament) got me out by luck of the cards. *shakes fist* But it was fun. And a British guy won, so the Casino Royale Event ended like it should have. hahaha



Then it was 3 people's birthday, and they rented Zavood (the most popular bar in Tartu) from 9 to midnight. So we dropped by there, and everyone was there, and it was a lot of fun. But then I went to bed early.



Thursday



The war between Spring and Winter intensified today. I got up with a mission: Russian Language Exam. One of three exams. It had to go well. I opened the blinds to my window so light would pour in over my studies. This occured for 20 minutes.



Then BLAM!!! Someone turned the blizzard on. SNOW CAME POURING FROM THE SKY. These "snowflakes" were literally an inch wide. Visibility was maybe 200 meters from my room, and worse on the ground. It was crazy!! Then it stopped. And the sun came out. And then it snowed lightly. Then BLIZZARD once again. We got about 3 inches in 1.5 hours.



I wish I could have gone outside and played, but I had to study! The test didn't cover a whole lot of different materials, but there was plenty of room for error. So I crammed vocabulary, and I studied. But then I had to stop to go run.



Luckily, the war ended when I started, and only at one point on the way back did the snow and wind turn against me, but it wasn't nearly as bad as earlier in the day. The snow did make getting traction a little easier, so the run was better, but I still need the ice to get the crap away. It's killing my runs and training. My body was doing well, but it's been almost two months. It's getting exhausted.



But I finished the run, showered, then hurried to my Russian exam. She reviews us a little, and then hands it out. It was only a couple of pages, and it wasn't too difficult. I finished it, looked around, and was the only one done. So I just stood up, turned it in and left. I was the first one done! So maybe brownie points? I mean, I know I missed a few exercises, which really pisses me off. But then I remembered that in Estonia a 90 is an A, unlike Rhodes, where that would be an A-. An A-minus is a good grade here!! yay!! hahaha. We'll see....



Then in the evening, all the normal Americans came over to my place and we just hung out. But Genevieve brought her roommate, Olsesea, over and I loved it!! Olsesea is from Transniestria, a breakaway republic in Moldova. But her point of view and personal story is really different, and I really enjoyed listening to her. She is an amazing person, and it was just a lot of fun.



Friday

Got up late today, and we decided last night that we would head to the Art Museum, because it's free on the last Friday of every month. It's a really pretty building on the town square that's built to lean to the left (when looking at the front). So it's their leaning "tower of Pisa" that houses the art museum. Very fitting, actually.

And I LOVE that museum!! The first exhibit was of an Estonian sculptor who was really important to founding Estonia's official art landscape. His wood sculptures were arguably his best, and it was interesting that the majority of his art was ancient Greek in body definition and movement.

But the two stories above it!!! They were paintings done from 1940 to 1968 showing the Soviet Occupation. WOW. Cuz these paintings were relatively positive in their outlook towards the future of Communism. Mostly they were based on Futurism - technology driven societies of massive machine production. But the vastly different styles, interpretations, it made me drool. I LOVED this exhibit. A LOT.

Then we walked to a Russian Orthodox church that we hadn't visited yet, because it is pretty tucked away from everything else. It's gorgeous!! It was certainly run down a little bit, but I really enjoyed it. It had some architectural elements I had never seen before. It had really interesting columns on its entrance, and it actually has 8 crosses - a HIGHLY unusual number of crosses. They're arranged to where you only see 7 at any angle, so it's "acceptable" - but I still found it very interesting.

But there was a really awesome rope playground in the church's front yard, so of course we played. It was sooo fun!! I LOVE rope playgrounds, and it was just delightful. And we started to walk back to Tartu town square...

But along the way we spotted a tower with a bronze finish, so we had to investigate. We found a HUGE church!! I was so excited, because I had seen this at night when we arrived in Tartu on the bus from Helsinki. It was soo cool! It was a Lutheran church made of brick, but I really enjoyed the style of the church. And this was the first church in Tartu that allowed us inside to take pictures! It was really simple, but I enjoyed it.

Then I hurried back to start my run. But as I got into the elevator, Asia (Poland), stepped in as well. She then informed me that I had neglected to fully complete the first and longest section on my Russian exam. You were supposed to translate the questions AND answer them. I only translated them. Once I found this out, my life "crumbled" as Kelsey put it. Ugh. I was totally defeated. I thought that I had eeked out an A with my previous mistakes, but now I have no idea.

So I wrote a note to my professor in Russian, because she does not speak English. I was really proud of my note, because it was simple but heartfelt. I sent it to my Russian professor back home, and she said it had errors, but she could understand it. So who knows, maybe pity will kick in! But I hope I can do something about that exam. Otherwise, I'm going to be crushed. We'll see... But I just went to bed at this point and called an end to the day. Woot.

I will update after Sunday, cuz nothing has happened today (Saturday). Thank you for being dedicated.

Doctors and Ethics

So, I got up at noon for my doctor's appointment at 2:30pm. I was going to do my Russian language homework, but I couldn't find anything that showed what the homework was. So I had an extra 2 hours in my day, apparently.

I went to the doctor's office and waited. This is the part I hate most about doctor's offices, actually. As a patient, I very much enjoy when they're friendly and not rushed. But as a patient-in-waiting, it can get tiresome. Although, there was a documentary about a Russian beach side town and how it was essentially the worst place for civilization. Wish I could have understood a word of it, but they kept going to shots of this camel and it made me so sad...

Doctor's office was fine, and there were hardly any physical examinations, which I found odd. It was mostly a questionnaire. No scoliosis test, ear, or eye exams. He just looked in my mouth once. Then he measured by neck, chest, and torso. Took my blood pressure, but that was it. I personally found it a little odd considering the amount of tests I go through every year at Rhodes to make sure my joints are in good shape. But whatever.

Then I went to go get my blood drawn, and this is the first time I've ever had blood removed from my body that I can remember. Wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, although being able to feel the tiny needle in my blood vein wasn't too much fun. hahaha. But I'm worried about the results, because they're for HIV and false positives are SO common. I haven't done anything to get HIV, so the last thing I could use in this whole process of trying to get residency is having a freaking false positive. That would just be fantastic.

Then I went to Russian, which was enjoyable. My mind clicked on Russian and I was asking questions to the professor in Russian, and I just enjoyed myself that day. Weee!

Then I went to the Sports Hall for my weekly workout with Coach Lemberg. He wasn't there when I arrived, so I did my warm-up running and stretching. Then I called him, and he was in Tallinn. I'm not on one of his mailing lists, and I don't see him every day, so this is why I was unaware. So I just did the workout by myself, and I nailed it. It felt so good to run off time again. And my body did really well, despite trying to give me signs earlier in the day that it shouldn't do a workout. Pfff. Outta my way weak mind, the body and legs are coming through! Afterwards I stayed with Genevieve and Kelsey to do some moderate ab work. I need to do TONS more, cuz I'm not even sore this morning. But it was a nice THREE hours at the Sports Hall. Ugh.

But as the title of this post suggested, I did have an ethical debate today. I received word that there is a World Cup Qualifying match between Armenia and Estonia next week in Tallinn. But the match starts at 6PM on Wednesday. I have my law course on Wednesdays from 2-4PM. This is the same class I missed on accident before heading to Helsinki (SO ANGRY ABOUT IT STILL!!!), and we don't have many lectures left in that course... So do I go or not?

Well, I decided that I'm going to the football match. It's a cultural experience!! Seeing Estonia's national team play football!! Against Armenia?! It just sounds like too much fun. So I'm going. I'm missing the lecture that covers my paper topic... but I have good friends in that class. And honestly, his lectures blow most of the time. Although this last class was interesting... But he cancelled class for this week, and so I'm not feeling the vibe of hard work in that class... hahaha. But yay! I'm going to go to an awesome football match!!! I'm excited!!!

In the Balance

So life has been a balancing act today...

I got up at 11AM in order to eat some breakfast before my doctor's appointment at 12:30PM. This appointment is supposed to let the ERGO health insurance company know my risk type. After several weeks of paperful bureaucracy, they will let me purchase a form of insurance from them so I can get my residency. I don't like that a health insurance company has my legality in this country by the balls...

But I look up where this place is online, and I'm fairly certain is very close to where the ERGO office was - the shopping center of town. So I give myself 20 minutes to get over there, considering I'm not sure exactly where this place is. But it's in Turu 2 (building #2 on Turu st), and office 17 has my doctor. I start walking. I get to the shopping center. Where the hell are these offices? Where the HELL IS THIS BUILDING?!?!

Every building usually has its number on it somewhere. Except these buildings are huge shopping malls, so finding the number can be difficult. And this area of town is not numbered in a senseful manner. RIDICULOUS. So I can't find a damn thing. I ask multiple people, they have no idea where Turu 2 is.

I call the office, and the secretary answers in Estonian and obviously doesn't speak English, as she connects me to a line then after it rings for about 45 seconds tells me something in Estonian and hangs up. I assume it was something very polite like, "Sorry, he's not available try again in an hour or so." Instead it sounds like a "F*** you, Colin Johnson!" But I call back for the 4th time, and try in Russian. She tells me its in Tasku on the 4th floor.

Tasku is a shopping mall... why are doctors in a shopping mall? Whatever. I walk there. I go up to the 4th floor. There's a cinema... I go into Hotel Dorpat's conference rooms on the 4th floor thinking there are offices somewhere. Finally I find a human being and they say it's behind the cinema. Behind the cinema?

If you walk to the left of the ticket office, past the sushi restaurant, then go down a narrow hallway, you come to a medical center. There's over 60 doctors offices back there. SWEET JEEBIES!! I have searched for 40 minutes for a HUGE medical center (and I think one of the only ones in Tartu) that's behind a cinema and there's NO ADVERTISING WHATSOEVER FOR THIS PLACE!!! UGH!!!

So I'm 20 minutes late for my appointment. I go and knock on the door of the doctor's office, which is right in the waiting room, so all the Estonians are watching this peculiar, long-haired American knock on a doctor's door. I talk to the secretary. This doctor doesn't work Monday mornings. He'll be in within an hour - AKA: when I have class. I wait. He shows up. He says there was an error and he asked the insurance company to contact me. They didn't. So now I'm meeting him tomorrow afternoon. Nice doctor. Insurance company continues to be the carrier of my legal balls.

Then I went to class. Not interesting. Got into a heated argument between the one Russian in the class and the reasons for agricultural failure in the USSR. Wow. Useless. Ugh. This class might be the end of me, honestly. I just hope it gets better... fast.

But summer and winter continue to battle it out. It was sunny this morning, then the clouds took over, it snowed lightly a little, but the sun came back out. So I got to run with the sun. And the sun helped to make the snow way tougher, so my run was actually enjoyable today!! And the ice is slick, which means it's melting! Yay!

FALSE. Weather forecasts say it'll drop to -13C over the weekend (8F). Unfortunately, this week I am running more kilometers/miles than I ever have before in my life. And I get to do it in the coldest weather of my life. WHAT?!?! Come on weather!!! Please!!! Have mercy/pity/class/love/heart!!!

Then I said goodbye to Palo, a grad student from Slovakia who has finished his research... while being sick with pneumonia for 5 weeks. He's kind of amazing, really. And then I cooked myself some spaghetti, and I'm officially amazing at it now. It was soooo good tonight. Mmmm...

That's been my day. Ugh. Not good, not bad. In the balance...