Back to Tallinn

July 19 2009

Today we moved from Pärnu back to Tallinn. Goodbye sunshiney beaches!!! :(  I can’t believe we’ve only got 3 nights left in this country. The hotel we’re staying at now is not nearly as nice as I was hoping. Their website was totally misleading. Unfortunately we don’t even have internet so when I post this, it will be thanks to the wi-fi at a nearby McD’s. The rooms have no kitchenettes so for lunch we ate all of the food that would have needed to be refrigerated (leftover stuff from Pärnu). After that, we went into town to find internet and something to do. Since it’s Sunday, most things were closed except for a bookstore. I managed to find some books to keep me busy and help me not think about how much I miss the internet. Thankfully I’m rather fond of reading so I bought One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (that one’s in honor of you darling), and I also managed to find a copy of The Little Prince in Spanish!!! (El Principito…that one is also in honor of mi amor). So those books plus my French book, should keep me busy until it’s time to leave.

At this point in the trip I think everyone is VERY ready to go home and be as far away from each other as possible. It isn’t that we don’t like each other, it’s just that spending every single day together for hours on end during 3 weeks, well, it’s enough to drive any sweet person to snide side comments. Dinner together tonight was probably a bad idea as we were all very grouchy but we managed to keep things civilized.

On the walk home it poured rain on us. You would think this would add to my grumpiness but it was really exactly what I needed. Everyone needs to walk through the pouring rain without an umbrella once in a while. I think it’s good for your soul. All I can hope at this point is that we make it through these next few days without saying things we might come to regret. I just keep reminding myself that I only have to deal with these people for 3 weeks and then, if I really feel like it, I never have to spend time with them again. So I’ve done my best to let things go, and encourage others to do the same. There’s no point in making things even worse by laying into someone about the way they chew or other stupid things like that. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses such philosophies of patience.

Tallinn somehow has a way of putting everyone into a bad mood…seriously. Maybe it’s a poorly planned city or the air pressure is different here. Who knows? All I can do is try my best to stay positive, and enjoy the rest of my stay here.

Beach Day 2

July 18 2009

Second free day. Yay!! Guess what we did? Yup, went to the beach again, and improved my tan some more. I didn’t stay quite as long as the day before but it was still fantastic; the sun just as bright, the water just as warm.

Later in the day we had a group dinner at a medievalish looking restaurant since it was our last day with Matt. I had a fantastic meal of pork roast with a port wine sauce, some vegetables, and a potato/spinach puree which was super delicious and I’ll have to make at home. The food I’ve had seems to be getting better but mostly, I think I’m getting really good at picking items on the menu that sound like flavor combinations I’ll enjoy (no more random pickles or pickled herring in things!).

After dinner I didn’t feel much like going out again so I just spent a nice evening in, conversing with the roomie. I’m just not really the type of person who enjoys going out two nights in a row.

I guess I’m kind of boring sometimes but, meh, I don’t really care. I enjoy my style.

Beach Day 1

July 17 2009

Friday was our first of two free days in Pärnu so of course, we went to the beach!! My day started out beautifully by skipping breakfast and sleeping in, then heading to the beach around 1pm and staying until 6pm. We were accompanied for part of the time by some the Estonian guys we had met the night before. One of them had brought their guitar along so it was a fun experience laying on the shores of the Baltic, listening to Estonian songs on the guitar (along with some Lady Gaga…).

Now many of you readers back at home may be wondering how cold the water is, being so far north. The Baltic Sea (at least in the little bay at Pärnu) is amazingly warm; probably far warmer than I’ve ever felt Lake Michigan be. Also, it stays shallow forever. You have to walk out in the water for probably a quarter of a mile before it’s over your waist. I don’t even know how far you’d have to go for it to be over your head. I imagine that contributes a lot to the warmness. Luckily, we had great weather and sunshine all day so I could work on my tan.

After the beach and dinner, we went to a place called the Bravo Club which was a decent place. Typical European club with creepy men standing at the edges of the dance floor, trying to decide who will be next to experience their expert dance moves. Did I ever mention that European men (at least most of them) CANNOT dance? I mean, I’m not saying American guys are any better, actually American guys don’t even attempt to dance but in a way I guess I prefer that to some random hotshot thinking he’s all smooth trying to sneak up behind me and dance with me. Ugh, I just don’t like dancing with guys anyway…they just mess up my groove. I like the Latin and ballroom dances of course but when I’m dancing to hip-hop or techno, I really prefer to do my own thing.

Anyway it was a fantastic free day. The beach and dancing can always brighten my mood, no matter how many overly flirtatious and unattractive men there are in the world.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

July 16 2009

On Thursday we had a lecture about God know’s what, and a lovely tour of the city dump and recycling center. I would have to say that it was the most painful 2 hours of my lectured life thus far. I’m not even sure what this guy was talking about but the title was something about urban development in Estonia. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what was going on so we all got to gripe about it afterward together.

Our tour of the recycling center was better. It’s great how well they recycle everything here. Their goal is to be like Germany where nearly everything is recyclable and there’s hardly any waste. I suppose things like that are easier on a smaller scale. I would love it so much if the States made recycling mandatory or at least more accessible. It’s rare to see public recycling bins except for paper bins in most offices and university buildings. I don’t even know how to recycle in Houghton. I think you have to take it to a special place that I don’t know how to get to. The Estonian landfill however, was very much like any landfill in the US, except a billion times smaller but still smelly and really gross, covered with dirt and seagulls.

At night, Brittany, Amber and I went to have a drink and watch a local rock band play at a café. We of course were joined by three random Estonian guys, one who ended up being the son of the lead band member and has a band of his own. As usual, we were all pretty creeped out (since up to then, we had not had good luck with random guys talking to us at bars and clubs) but they turned out to be pretty normal and not too creepy. I managed to get a good deal of information out of them about Estonian culture. For example, male homosexuality is very unaccepted here. I was somewhat not surprised to learn that but it still makes me sad that there are still people in this world who will act violently towards someone just because of their sexual preference.

Anyway, after the café we attended a jazz concert at the local high priced venue for classy events.  My dad would have loved it. It was the kind of jazz you hear on NPR in the middle of the night when no one is listening. Not really my style but to each his own. Nevertheless it was fun to watch Estonians play American improvisational jazz at this beautiful villa. With something like that, it kind of doesn’t matter if you don’t like what’s being performed. I enjoyed the atmosphere so much it really didn’t matter.

Vipers and Giant Sponges

July 15, 2009

I’m pretty sure the hugest bug in the world bit me today. It felt like someone stabbed me in the back of the leg. We had a little excursion to the Sooma nature reserve to see the bogs and go canoeing. The canoe trip was great. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy doing that. I think we went 7km or something like that. Once we made it to our destination we hiked out to see the bogs, which actually form hills. It’s so crazy looking. It’s kind of like a giant sponge attached to the earth. Usually when I think of bogs, I guess I kind of think of swamps, which are in low grounds but that certainly wasn’t the case for these. It was also interesting to learn that these bog-hills are growing every year, just absorbing more and more water I guess (they seriously are like giant sponges). Nothing really lived there, just some insects, small lizards and apparently vipers, as in the venomous snake kind of viper (yipes!).  I actually thought for a moment that that’s what bit me (yes, it was that painful). It didn’t help that at that moment I was running because the mosquitoes were so ridiculously bad, and I heard a big splash in the water next to me right after it happened. I don’t feel like I’ve been poisoned and my leg hasn’t fallen off yet so I’m assuming it was just a very large, hungry, evil fly.

There were also these really cool little lakes or ponds in the bog, which people enjoy swimming in. They’re really really deep and dark looking, and they don’t get deep gradually; there are just sudden deep pools in some spots. But they had little docks and ladders off of some of them for swimming. The water was a really interesting color. It looked a lot like Coke. It was a really cool area to see though, and I’m glad we got to do that. I’d much rather go on an adventure than sit in a 3 hour lecture.

After our hike into the bog, we sat by the river and ate the most delicious meal I’ve had in this country. There was a soup that reminded me of Italian Wedding Soup, some kind of sweet barley bread, pirukas (little meat and rice filled rolls), cake, and something sort of like kinderbeer. It was absolutely delicious. I’m sure my ravenous hunger after skipping breakfast, canoeing a few miles, and then hiking a mile or so also helped.

Now all I want to do for the rest of the day is shower and sleep forever.

I'm going to live in a spa someday.

July 14 2009

On Tuesday we had our tour of Pärnu, and a company visit to Tervise Paradiis, which is this ginormous spa and hotel. The tour of the city was nice. Pärnu is a small and very old city. We saw where Estonia’s independence was first declared in 1918, some old haunted music school, the old city gates, and some other 14^th century buildings that have managed to survive.

The ghost story about the old music and dance school is great. Apparently one night, a very young, talented violin player was practicing all by himself, late at night in the building. Suddenly he could hear an entire orchestra accompanying him but no one was there. He got frightened and of course ran out but the ghost orchestra continued to play throughout the entire night, and it was heard by all the nearby inhabitants of the town. The story goes that perhaps someday another very talented musician will again be able to experience the ghost orchestra’s accompaniment. If  I were a student there, I would be sure to avoid playing alone at night.

The tour to the spa was pretty interesting. They offer all kinds of different therapeutic treatments. One of them, called a Salt Treatment, consisted of sitting in a room entirely surrounded by salt. You just sit there, in a beach chair, relaxing in the salty atmosphere. The oddest treatment they had (in my opinion) was the one they called a “shower”. This consisted of the client standing against a wall, holding onto a railing, while being sprayed from about 10 feet away with powerful jets of water. I thought that sounded more like torture than a relaxing spa treatment but hey, whatever floats your boat.

After our tour we were able to use the pool facilities, which included Estonia’s largest water park. The water slides were pretty fun, and they also had different temperature pools, saunas, steam rooms, and a platform to jump off of. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped from that high before and it was pretty intimidating (yes, I’m a huge girl and I screamed on the way down). I really wanted to get a massage while I was there but they were pretty full up and the services closed before our tour was over. Oh well, I suppose being in a beach resort town in Europe will have to suffice for my well-being. Life is so difficult sometimes.

At night I relaxed with the girls and indulged in some guilty pleasures of Cabernet Sauvignon, Camembert cheese, good bread, and Nutella. So yeah, it was a pretty fantastic day.  

Rain hates umbrellas

July 13 2009

The week here started rainy. Well, at least I thought it was going to be rainy. We were supposed to have our city tour on Monday but it was raining so much that we changed it to Tuesday and had a lecture on human rights instead. I still went to buy an umbrella though after breakfast because I didn’t want to be totally soaked. But of course, the moment I came out of the store with my newly purchased umbrella, the sun decided to start peeping through the clouds and 5 minutes later voilá, no rain.

So we went to our lecture, which was quite interesting. In a way, I think I actually learned more about Europe’s many different courts and legal systems instead of human rights issues. It seems that, as with any organization, there’s a lot of politics and bureaucracy involved in such things. It’s a wonder that people ever want to take their case to court when it takes so much effort.

After the lecture we had a company tour of Ruuki products. They make various steel products, mainly construction oriented things. It was kind of neat to walk around on the floor during their work day. It surprised me how few people really need to work to make that place run. Apparently, during an average shift, there are about 40 people working on the factory floor, running the machines and what not. But so much of it is automated now, it seems that most of the workers are there just to supervise and make sure everything is working properly. I can definitely see how a lot of lower paying jobs will no longer exist in the future thanks to these developments. I think there will always be some human supervision in such places though. As efficient as machines can be, they still aren’t without error.

Other than those things, I didn’t do much on Monday. Well, I suppose I did go shopping and bought a few things. My heart really isn’t in it anymore though. I just can’t think of anything else I need to buy. Maybe just one more pair of shoes?