Snowy Tallinn

Early Thursday evening we flew Czech Airlines to Tallinn, Estonia! We got into Tallinn rather late, so most stayed in.

Friday we got a city tour of the snowy Estonian capital. We had lunch in the medieval part of the city and then took a public bus to the Audentes University. Our first lecturer was the first truly passionate Euroskeptic voice we heard. At first I found it refreshing, but upon further reflection, I realized that using ‘stupid’ in your speech isn’t very academic. A lucky thirteen of us got to stay to hear the former Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis speak. He was pretty hard on Russia, but everything he said was a legitimate criticism. Some of the Russians in the audience didn’t think so. One young man got up in the middle of the lecture and stormed out, stomping up the stairs and slamming the door. A second young Russian asked some very rude questions. Boy did they piss me off. The rest of our group was supposed to have heard the second planned lecture of the trip, but it was postponed. That night we ate Indian. At the table next to us were a bunch of Brits celebrating a bachelor party. One of them came over and asked whether we were Americans or Canadians (they had placed a bet). This led to geography quizzes of the UK and the US and performances of our respective national anthems. They were really funny – Canadians, ha! After that we went to a bar where drinks were two for one. That helped make the dance floor more fun.

I watched kids sled down 80-degree angle hills, and I had a long, interesting conversation with an Estonian guy selling CDs.

On Saturday, our last full day in Tallinn, we had class with one of our professors, whom they flew up for the weekend. We discussed the lectures we’d listened to and then listened to one more (the postponed one). Then we visited the Museum of Occupation. Not my favorite museum, but it did provide an interesting insight into Soviet occupation. I spent the rest of the afternoon by myself, just taking in the bizarreness of being in Estonia. I watched kids sled down 80-degree angle hills, and I had a long, interesting conversation with an Estonian guy selling CDs. He had a lot of good stuff and let me sample it with his Discman. Dinner that night was delicious again and was paid for by the program.

We left the hotel at 5:00 Sunday morning. Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed forty minutes, and another surprise for us was the foot of snow in Freiburg. Over the last few days I’ve seen lots of ‘caution! roof avalanche’ signs, but the snow is slowly melting. Good thing, too, because I don’t want to come home looking like a snowman anymore.