(Or “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind)
Minute, hour, day, week, month, Year: The great on boarding
Prologue: Landing
Welcome to Estonia dear International student! Look around. A beautiful landscape opens from a landing strip, am I right? Take your time: look around, breath in and let the sunshine warm your beautiful smiling face – your journey has become!
Hopefully, the board police weren’t hard on you. When is your Lux Express bus? The price of the tickets usually around 12 EUR, but sometimes you can make a bargain and buy them just for 3.
Ah! You are right, the train station Ülemiste is not that far from the airport. Did it cost just 6.46 EUR!? You’ve probably already had an ISIC card already because usually prices for train tickets at Elron website ~10.64 EUR. I am glad that you’ve decided to take a cosy train with Wi-Fi and sockets to enjoy beautiful Estonian forest sights.
First Day in Estonia
How was your 2 hour trip on a train? Did you enjoy it? Did you have a chance to talk to anyone on the train? Let me help you with your luga… A lot of bags! Seems like you are well prepared for the winter here , but the sun is going to come back in a couple of weeks!
Do not be afraid to have many luggage items – the dorms are 20 minutes away from the train station by foot! I AM JOKING, SORRY DO NOT WORRY, sure we can order a Bolt. The ride will cost us around ~3.2 EUR and will take 5 minutes.
Next time you can consider the Bus Station as it is much closer to dorms, around 10 minutes with bags by foot.
Ratuuse 22, Narva 25 or Narva 27 – does not matter. They are located in one area at arm’s length/distance from the university building.
Don’t forget to take your key at reception. I will wait for you downstairs and we can go and buy some food – you’ve probably haven’t eaten since landing! No, no, do not worry – you have 3 days to sign a contract with Student Village at Narva 25 (check out working hours at the website)
No, no, I stick with renting an apartment with my friends. I will send you the links to learn more about it:
Narva mnt 27 view
Photo Credits: Stanislav
Yeess, I am also hungry and haven’t had my breakfast. The closest to the Raatuse dorm is Commarket but if you go towards Narva 25/27 you will see Konsum. If you widen your supermarket search you will find Rimi, Maximarket (at Kvartal), and Selver .
By the way, do not forget to purchase your Bonus Cards for just 1 EUR – trust me you will save you much more later! (activation is required)
What time is it now? 2:13. Well, as you do not have kitchen equipment yet I would suggest exploring some good spots to eat out! Lunchtime starts at 12:00 and lasts until 15:00 and the average price would be around 3.5-5 EUR for a solid portion of food!
I love your brilliant ideas! You definitely should have a common dinner with all your neighbours. It is very important to learn about people you will live with next semester, and try out different cuisines is the first step in cross-cultural exploration!
Thanks for the invitation. See you in the evening!
*Reality: Author’s one of the first dinners in Tartu ^_^
Photo Credits: Stanislav
First Week in Estonia
Glad to hear that you’ve done with all formalities. Did you open a bank account? Then turn to either LHV, Swedbank, SEB Bank. Every one of these banks has their own mobile app so you can pay for your dorm or online purchase really quick. The card itself has contactless payment feature – no more entering PIN for small purchases!
If you still need some items for home and you haven’t found them in Kvartal, Kaubamajaa. I would suggest taking a free bus №69 (yay!) to Lounakeskus. It is a large mall and there are plenty of places to buy items for the home including pillows, blankets. Before buying kitchen items, try to agree with your neighbour to share the pot and frying pan rather than buying them individually (SAVE THE PLANET – Check this wonderful tips for a greenier lifestyle
https://isablog.ut.ee/blog/going-green-in-tartu-ayaz-azerbaijan-%ef%bb%bf/ )
Have you seen the info about Students Days? During the first 2 weeks there will be a lot of events within the town area such as pancake morning, city quests and many more! Throughout the semester there will be organized trips outside Tartu such as Bog Hiking or a South Trip by ESN . Check them out! I go for bog hiking every year as Estonian nature is just magnificent.
First Month in Estonia
Hey! Haven’t seen you for ages, how are you? I know, I know – a lot of new people! I also have a bad memory for the names (and according to my partner – not only for the names). Small tip: try to repeat their names multiple times, add each other on social media or simply ask at the end of the conversation and write their names down with some facts.
Do you want to explore? Did you know that this year Vanemuine theatre turned 150 years old? Theatre is a very important element of Estonia culture – more than 1 million tickets are sold in Estonia every year. Do not worry, they have English subtitles for foreigners who want to experience theatre play of great quality! I visited “Beatrice” last autumn. It was outstanding! At some point, I even stopped just to use subtitles as the acting skills were so brilliant that I could barely feel what they were talking about. Even some jokes were clear which is hard when you do not know the language!
Every last Friday of the month the Tartu Art Museum has 1 EUR ticket price. Universities museums are free of charge just do not forget your ISIC card or ids to enter in. If you want to dive deep in Estonian nation traditions and culture “Estonian Rahva Muuseum” is the top spot to visit. It is better to form a small group and order a guide. Ask for Patrick Weyer.
He’s a great friend of mine and very knowledgeable about Estonian culture and history with outstanding guiding skills and tons of jokes!
Wooow! That’s sooo sweet that you want to contribute to the community. I think the best way to do it is to help animal shelter. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/Loomadevarjupaik/. You can take dogs out for a walk or pet some cats, however, do not limit your big heart just to this to helps little pearls!!!
Epilogue
Hellooo, my darling! I have just finished reading your last post about your exchange adventures In Estonia. The story about berry picking was soooo cute and your south trip paddling technique is just hilarious!!! I laughed out loud! I am happy to hear you enjoyed your spring semester 2020 at the University of Tartu! You are always welcome to come back!
See you somewhere in Europe!
Some extra helpful info:
