There are so many hours in a day

This week I've been thinking a lot of how my daily routine at home compares with the one here. It seems that during the school semester at UNCG, I hardly have time to breathe. With every day scheduled down to the last minute of study, I run from class to activity, from meeting to meeting. Although it's quite overwhelming and exhausting sometimes, I enjoy the busy life pace. My typical day in Tartu, however, is a little slower. Each class only meets once a week, so actual classroom time is cut down considerably. The work load is also very different. With classes at home, I'm used to having several assignments given and due everyday. In contrast, my lecturers here assign papers with aloof topics and vague due dates. I have a good amount of work and reading to do, but nothing pressing to be done. The Estonian students are incredibly disciplined, with any assigned work always done and the up most respect given to every lecturer. So maybe I don't feel so much pressure directly from my lecturers because it's expected that I don't need it to be motivated.
It's possible that the slow and easy pace is unique to Tartu. I finally had the chance to visit Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia, this past weekend. Tallinn is certainly bigger than Tartu and felt much busier. But still, in comparison to other cities, Tallinn could be considered a little bit slower too. I enjoyed my visit there. I got to see the Estonian Parliament building, the president's house, and many medieval themed shops and costumes in Old Town. One if the biggest things that stuck out to me was how closely we could get to the President's house, and without being monitored. I was just in D.C. over Christmas break, and could not even take a picture of the White House without feeling the security guard's stare. Of course, I must recognize that even though Tartu is certainly a calm town, this is only the observation of my small bubble here.
It also hit me this week how much the U.S. has infiltrated seemingly everything. My teachers continually reference U.S. history. And just today in a t-shirt print shop I saw several design options that promoted America somehow. It always takes me off guard when I see or hear these things, because at first it seems natural to here about the U.S., but then I suddenly realize that I am not in America, and quite far from it.