The Most Wonderful Place in the World

If you have not been to the Estonian countryside, stop what you are doing, buy a plane ticket to Estonia and a bus ticket to any city in the South and you will find happiness. This is what all fortune cookies should say because it's true.

During my last weekend in Estonia, my friend, Colin and I decided to bike to several towns in South. The tour included Polva, Rouge, Voru, and Otepaa. Ambitious, yes. Delusional, yes. Possible, no (at least not for us).

After four hours of biking in the pouring rain and gusty wind in the only part of the Estonia that had hills, we revised our plan and took a bus from Polva to Voru. Now note here: After giving my drawing covered in stick figure versions of us and our bikes with arrows pointing to a rectangle with circles underneath to the bus attendant, I was amazed to find out that not only could we take our bikes on the bus with us but we were not going to be charged extra. I would suspect in the States, this would not be the case.

Once we made it to our guesthouse, everything went smoothly. The guesthouse was run by a cute old man, Tiit, who was obediently followed by his golden retriver and black cat. Tiit cooked us two meals each day. They were simple usually composed of fried eggs, a slab of ham each, a fresh cucumber-tomato salad that was generously topped with dill, a loaf of bread, an A Le Coq, and yogurt for desert. Simple, but it was the best couple of meals I had all semester. On the last day we were there, he told us of his life in the Soviet Union and when Estonia gained its independence he decided to move from the city back to the "motherland" to live out his life.

In Voru and Rouge, we rode our bikes around visiting the churches and gawking at the natural beauty. In Rogue, there is a nature park where you can walk along the outskirts of the deepest lake in Estonia. I feel, only in Estonia would you find a nature trail dedicated to water pumps. The path was lined with moss-covered metal cylinders and signs explaining the challenge of pumping water up a hill. I have never been so knowledgeable of hydraulics in my life.

Now, I love Tartu and I am quite fond of Tallinn (because of Alexander Nevsky), but the Southern towns were what I imagined Estonia to be like. They were rustic, and did not specifically cater to tourists. The birch forests were amazing because they lack undergrowth so you can look in and feel like the rows of trees go on forever. The hills, although a pain to bike, just increased the charm because you couldn't see what surprise was next. With all the quaintness, I definitely advise future students of Tartu to visit Southern Estonia.

The Great St. Pete

So here's me being uber late with all my blog entries... first off, St. Pete.

My expectations of Russia were complied from a conglomeration of sources such AP European History, what little I had learned from Estonians, clips from the news and of course, spy movies. I had expected Russians to be boisterous with a bottle of vodka in one hand and a furry cap upon their heads. Fortunately, or unfortunately (I was really looking forward to the hats), this was not the case.

As for the city itself, I really wanted to dislike it because everyone who had been there told me I was going to love it. In the end, there are some buildings I adore such as Our Lady of Kazan or the Dom Knigi, but the gaudy European Baroque style that adorned most of the buildings just does not appeal to me.

What really interested me, as usual, was the food. Tepemok, the blini place we visited, I would venture to say is average fast food for Russia, and in that case, the Baltics as well (I visited a similar pancake place in Vilnius). Compared to American fast food, I found Tepemok not only more flavorful but also more healthy. An American greasy french fry which occasionaly will bend on its own, falls flat to the light yet filling side order of simple blini and smetana. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

When it came time to leave St. Pete, I have to admit I was overjoyed to be going home to Tartu. Although St. Petersburg is lovely, I wish we had a chance to explore more of the "real" Russia; the Russia that isn't so Europeanized. But as our bus rolled away, the scenery slowly changing from a maze of canals to forests of birch trees, I seceretly couldn't wait to return to St. Petersburg and Russia once again.

Nie dobrze

I know in Russia I was saying 'bardzo dobrze,' but I'm SO far behind on posts I can't even bring myself to say those words in this blog space.....So, in the honor of being behind, I would like to make a few observations about Polish Erasmus.
I am excited to come home and have responsibilities again. Not the thing you'd expect to hear from an Erasmus student, huh? While my experience has been amazing and I wouldn't trade it for anything, I must admit I am getting weary of the life I lead in Poland.
As far as responsibilities go, in Olowek, you literally have none. You aren't even responsible for your keys. First of all, if you leave the building, you're to leave your keys at the reception desk. The lovely (haha, not) ladies in administration hold on to them for you and give them back when you return to the building. Or, in my case, when you drop your keys down the 15th floor elevator shaft, they'll call the elevator man to fetch your keys and loan you out a spare set.
You don't have the chore of checking your mail. It's delivered directly to the reception desk, and you don't even have to ask for it. They inform you if you have a letter or a parcel.
If something happens, and for some reason you can't get into your room, you always know at least one person whose roommate is currently travelling and you can just sleep in their room.
Wake up late? No worries, there's several buses and trams each hour. Don't bother remembering which turns to take, don't worry about having to physically exert yourself by walking. Someone else can drop you off right at the door while you doze on the way there.
Don't feel like going to class? It's okay. The vast majority of professors don't take attendance, and honestly, don't care whether you come or not. If you turn in the essays, take the exams, and do the presentations, you'll get your grade and your credits. Don't worry about coming to class. Its really no biggie if you miss a class....or twelve.
Forgot to pay rent? Don't worry. Administration will remind you. When you pick up the keys you aren't responsible enough to carry from the reception desk, there will be a little tiny note attached to your key ring, telling you that it is necessary to pay the rent. Can't remember after that? Don't worry, they'll keep reminding you with little notes.
I know the point is to have an amazing time experiencing the country and its culture, but really? Can we not have a few more rules? A few more things to be held accountable for? Where there are no rules, there are no consequences, and I know that myself, personally, will have a difficult time readjusting to all my responsibilities at home.

American Accent

You're in the grocery store and there is a buzz going on around you. Moms are scolding kids, couples are cooing, and the young store clerk is helping an older lady carry her bags. So much can be understood by all these situations just by looking at them but as I get closer to each I find that I can't understand anything else from them because of the language barrier. In the beginning it was frustrating because it was so strange and a feeling of exclusiveness messed with my brain that was so used to participating in other people's conversations. Now when I walk through Carrefour (err I mean Delicatesy because that strike is going on against Carrefour) I hardly notice the discomfort. I now know what the labels mean on the items I'm buying and so dinners have gotten way more satisfying since Februrary. This is such a cool feeling! I guess it feels like a really big accomplishment in my life and it is neat. I have a friend coming into town soon and I can't wait to see her reaction when we enter the grocery store, in a hope that I'll get to witness what my reaction must have been but this time from an outside view. Her and I went to Edinburgh and it was her first time out of the country, out of the US. I knew this but I still forgot to be sort of careful to the fact as she slunked off her 8 hour flight and I bounded off my 1 hour one. It was a bunch of big hugs and giggles and then off to the hostel, to throw our bags down, join a free tour of the city, and then scramble for a cheap but delicious place to eat before places started closing for the day. Over dinner she finally confessed to being absolutly blown away today by it all. I laughed and apologized for being so inconsiderate and she rebuted me with no worries and just went on to say how shocked she was by how different it really is and how the realization of being so far from home swamped her about an hour into that free tour and how she had a few weeks to go before she went back. It was so neat to talk about all these things because I felt them so long ago but the exact same things. She said she was scared to tell me (:P silly friend) because she felt silly about it. I told her not to worry, it's something everyone reflects on and feels and that I certainly felt the same for a long time. So I can't wait until we get to where no one speaks English and to see and hear her first impressions. We've met some fun and friendly Irish fellows on our travels and twice now we've had conversations about the "bizarre Poles." They go for trips over into Krakow and Warsaw and soon to be Poznan for a wedding frequently and they can't get over how "unhappy" the Polish people are. They claim Ireland to be the happiest country on the planet and so it's a really big shock for them when they visit the country. It was also funny to talk about the outdated tram system and the way Polish people never cross on the red at crosswalks. While we're speaking it's kind of cool to talk about a place I call home, I don't know I guess I feel like I have authority to share a little knowledge about the place. I'm giving the guys a list of some more useful words and phrases in Polish seeing as the only one they claim to know is kurva, not a very helpful word. After traveling through Scotland and hanging out with these Irish guys, when we entered the airport yesterday morning I finally heard it, the American Accent! I used to think that our accent "didn't exist" and that we just spoke "plain English" but after talking to some Scottish and Australian People about it my friend and I found that they enjoy it. Not in the sense that it's melodic or even interesting but because it's exotic, it's different and so it's just plain interesting to hear to them. I found that to be quite neat. :) It was funny when we asked them to do impressions of us, well Americans in general, we came off sounding like jerks as they mimicked George W. Bush and Tom Cruise. But after enjoying the Scottish accent for a few days (I've decided it's my favorite now, it is soOo sexy!) when I heard an American, well a ton of them, around us in the airport it was music to my ears; in the sense that it was familiar. I really liked it. When we started talking their ears would perk up to us as well and we did the lil chin up hello because we hold something in common, our homeland. It was neat. But as I'm excited to go back to the states in a few weeks, I'm also excited to get back because I miss Wroclaw; I want to be able to show my friend the good places to eat and my school buildings and just sleep in my own bed. Crazy how that happens.