Time flies so fast! Yes, Spring semester is approaching the end. It seems like I have enrolled at the University of Tartu just a few days ago, yet I have completed my second semester successfully which mean I will have only two more semesters to complete my studies. During last one year, there were so many ups and downs on a personal level as well academic level too, but that’s the life as we all know that “Nothing comes easier in life”. Set aside all the struggles, for today I will share my four most wonderful experience during my first two semesters at the University of Tartu.
“The Orientation Ceremony”
I have started my journey at the University of Tartu with a grand Orientation Ceremony. I still can remember every session of my orientation ceremony. It was informative, it was fun, but, more importantly, it also gave me brief idea about how my student life is going to be at The University of Tartu. The Orientation ceremony briefed me about every important bit of information that made my student life way easier than I thought that it could be. For example, as an international student, one of the most important things was for me to open up a bank account as soon as I reached Tartu. But, before the orientation ceremony, I thought I am not allowed to open a bank account until I received my TRP (Temporary Resident Permit). During the orientation, I came to know that you can open a bank without having your TRP. All you need is a verification letter from your department. Besides that, the orientation ceremony also briefed us on applying for a TRP, how many credits you have to complete in one academic year, how to apply for the library membership, what the opportunities and challenges you are going to face during your studies at University of Tartu are and much more! On top of that, there was a briefing from ISA (International Student Ambassador), which later encouraged me to be an Ambassador.
“Christmas With Estonian Family”
This was the first ISA event that I was directly involved in organizing. The event was organized during the 2017 Christmas time (From December 22 to December 30). The main idea of the event was to give a chance to all international students that were not travelling home to celebrate Christmas with an Estonian Family, so that they could know more about Christmas celebration in Estonia and Estonian culture. We had an overwhelming response from the student site, at some point, we even thought that we would not be able to host all the interested students, as we originally found only a few Estonian families who agreed to host international students. Fortunately though, in the end, we managed to host all the interested students as we found more hosts. I would say, the feedback from the participants (Hosting family and students) exceeded our expectations.
“Alumni Meeting”
This was the 2nd ISA event that I was involved in organizing. It was a great initiative from ISA to organize such a challenging event. We had four successful alumni at the event. I would like to say, all four of them were unique and successful in their own way. The main purpose of the event was to share their experience with the current students. Important questions such as how their student life was, how active they were during their student life and how they prepared themselves for the professional life during their time as a student in Tartu came to the forefront and were answered, so that all the current student could benefit from their experience. For example, things they discussed included the kind of activities they were involved during their student life, how they prepared themselves for upcoming challenges after graduation such as finding the perfect job, or the challenges you could face when trying to be an entrepreneur. In fact, all the alumni shared one common thing. They were all super active during their student life and made many connections with professionals by participating in career events, fun events, hackathons and many more which helped them a lot when they took the first steps into their professional life. One important fact about the alumni meeting was that, out of four alumni, three of them were not just university alumni, but also ISA alumni.
“Students Night Song Festival”
The Students Night Song Festival is the last event I have participated in with ISA. It was one of the most fun-loving events I participated in so far during my life in Tartu. The event took place on the 5th of May 2018, which was the last day of the biannual Student Days. It was preceded by an opening parade of the Student Days. The Parade started from the Town Hall Square and ended at Tartu Lumepark, or snow park.It was here that the Student’s Night Song Festival took place. The environment of the song festival was as amazing as the crowd it pulled, with everyone singing, dancing and laughing together.