Estonia 1998: Spring, Tests and Time, All Flying By
From the archives: It turns out that I was blogging long before anyone had ever heard the term “blog.” Twenty years ago I was an exchange student in Estonia. While studying at the University of Tartu, I created an online travelogue to keep my family and friends apprised of my experiences. Both my life and the nation of Estonia have changed a lot the two decades since. This reprise is providing me with a glimpse at who I was back then and the excuse to learn more about more recent developments in my temporary home, even if some of the opinions that I expressed back then may make me a little bit uncomfortable today. It is interesting to see how people grow and change.
March 23-31, 1998
The end of the month of March. So much has happened in this month, I am tired and exhausted, but at the same time I am content and happy. I have enjoyed the time so much. It is just incredible. The biggest two events of the week were two tests, and getting involved in an Estonian fraternity.
Both of my tests were in Estonian language. it is such much fun to be able to look back and see how much my Estonian has improved. A couple of months ago if someone had asked me to write these exams in Estonian I would have just laughed. Now, instead of struggling to understand the meaning of the simplest sentence I am struggling to write four pages of essays and hoping to get the grammar somewhat straight. I’m still struggling, but what I am struggling over has dramatically altered.
The fraternity has been a lot of fun. I have enjoyed getting to meet large groups of Estonians at one time and finally am breaking myself out of the international student dominated environment in which I have been living more the past several months. It’s not that I don’t like international students, it’s just that sometimes being around large groups of them can impede one’s ability to get to know the locals.
23 March 1998
Monday
Yesterday I went with Liisa to the Tartu University Congregation service. It was pretty good and afterwards we went to McDonald’s for a bit of refreshment and post sermon discussion. I especially like talking with Liisa because she is one of the few non-Estonians whom I actually speak Estonian with. It is good practice and easy to understand her because we make much the same mistakes and know basically the same vocabulary.
In the evening I met Silke and Nuri for the movie Anastasia. It was all right, the plot was nothing special but the animation was nothing short of incredible. It seems that cartoons are getting better every year. With the way that technology is going in a short while it will be almost impossible to tell the difference between real actors and animation.
Later in the evening we had watched the Miss U.S.A. pageant. It was interesting, especially because we had just seen the Miss Estonia version a couple of weeks ago. Silke was amazed that most of the participants were students and that there were so many doctorate and master’s candidates. Apparently in Germany it is purely a pretty face contest. She was a bit impressed.
Tonight we watched X-Files and started the movie Nuts with Barbara Streisand. I must admit that it was not a great movie and I left halfway through it. It was not moving anywhere at all and I just didn’t have the energy to sit through it. A very busy couple of days. I’m happy that I get to sleep late tomorrow morning.
24 March 1998
Tuesday
I am slowing getting back into the productive individual stage. Tonight I managed to write several emails and am feeling very good because I sent out my first note of contact for the American Estonian community with which most of my Estonian involvement will be in the years to come following my return to the United States. The important thing was that they have now set up a web page, and so I am looking to combine my actions with them in regards to the Estonians Abroad web page that I have been poorly maintaining since its creation last summer. I think that these are truly the people to be controlling the page, and I can just help out where myself and my research are truly needed.
I took a test in Estonian language today. It went fairly well, but unfortunately I think that I mauled the synonym section of the test. I just hope that I did well enough on the rest of it to make up for that part.
The best news of the day was getting a postcard from Hitoshi and Naoko who have just had their first baby, a beautiful little girl. Hikaru, welcome to the world!
25 March 1998
Wednesday
I somehow managed to have an exciting day and still get nothing accomplished. Bizarre ability, that. This morning I went running for the first time in Tartu. It felt really good and with the excellent weather that is now developing I am going to try to make that a more regular occurrence.
In the afternoon I went to teach Jane at the Catholic School. It went fairly well. It’s surprising. I don’t really look forward to it any more, but once I get passed that and start working with her it is really kind of fun. After that I met Helen, a friend of Nuri’s and went to visit one of the student organizations, EÜS Põhjala, which was having it’s open house. It was my first real contact with the fraternity scene here in Tartu. It was not at all what I had been expecting. Rather than being smothered by the restrictive rules and stuffy traditions of all the other organizations, Põhjala seems to be very down to earth and a really relaxed and friendly group of people. I am going to try them again on Tuesday. I really wish that I met up with them several months ago, but there’s no reason I can’t enjoy the remaining time.
27 March 1998
Friday
No classes today but stayed busy nonetheless. I went early in the morning to Silke’s place today study for the Introduction to Estonian linguistics that we have tomorrow morning. Liisa came by and we were able to get a lot of ground covered. I can’t believe how much petty trivia we have had to memorize for this exam. My notes are full of names and dates, but there is little mention of the most important thing in education, why. We have memorized dozens of individuals but that does little if anything to increase our understanding of the Estonian language. I hope that the next Estonian course goes a little better.
In the afternoon I had coffee with Sue. With the way that the schedules have been running recently, we have not had a chance to sit down and talk for a long time. It felt good to catch up and just relax for a change. It just goes to show that seeing someone everyday and spending a lot of time in their company does not automatically mean that you know what’s going on in their lives. Quality time is an overused word, but like every cliche, there is a basic truth at it’s base. Sometimes we just need to stop and smell the roses.
The most memorable part of the day came from selling my bicycle back to the shop where I bought it from. It had a bit of normal wear and tear on it, and it actually got to the point where I was wasting any money that I sank into repairing it, especially considering I would need to sell it sometime along the line before I headed home anyway. I got a fairly good price for the bike and when I think about the use I got out of it and the amount that it would have cost to rent it for that period of time, I know that I came out ahead. I even got a farewell picture of it before I had to say goodbye. I just hope that the film turns out.
31 March 1998
Tuesday
I met Silke for lunch early today because for some reason our Estonian class was canceled again Tiina must have been sick. In the afternoon I went for coffee with Sue and caught up on the local gossip. Strange, something that I would probably condemn at home, here I am a very active participant. Despite the fact that Tartu is the second largest city in the country, the world that I live in here as an international student is actually very small. Gossip can truly fly…
In the evening I went to my British sports class where we learned about the influence of the American and French revolution on the British society. I am really enjoying that class. It is a lot of fun being the only native English speaker in the class as well as the only person that has any idea about American sports, something that comes in very handy when talking about British sports because that is where most our American games have evolved from, making it very interesting to compare the two.
I finished up the night by attending the weekly meeting of the Põhjala fraternity. It was a good time and a good opportunity to practice a lot of Estonian. While I would definitely not join a fraternity at home, here I am enjoying it because of their much more laid back mentality and the fact that it is finally letting me meet a lot of Estonians for the first time.
It is really shocking how it is possible to live in a country populated by Estonians and yet know mostly people from other countries. This is a good way to rectify that situation. I just wish that I had heard about this group much earlier in the year. Now it is almost too late to make anything out of it. At least I’m still able to enjoy the time that I have. Three months can be a long time.
