IS IT A BIRD? IS IT A PLANE? IT’S… KARSUMM! – HANNAH (GERMANY)

Student days are over and sadly these were my last ones to participate as a student as I will graduate this summer. I was impressed with how well everything was organized – a big shout out to the organizers who made my last Tartu Tudengipäevad so memorable! While I could fill several pages describing how lovely the night song festival was, how much I ate during the pancake morning, or how we danced the Walpurgis Night, I want to point out one event in particular which I watched and surprisingly enjoyed quite a bit! It runs under the catchy and promising name of… Karsumm!

Intrigued? Well so was I as this was my first time watching! So what is this event all about?

Basically, contestants pursue the aim of “flying over” Emajõgi with the help of a flying machine which they designed and built themselves. Sounds pretty challenging, right? Karsumm clearly belongs to the Tartu’s Spring Student Days’ classics for a reason. Participants need to come up with a little story behind their performance and flying machine and deliver a little performance before attempting to “fly” across the river. This year I witnessed Baywatch, Mary Poppins, and some pagan inspired performances and I was amazed with the effort all the teams put in. My favourite team by far, however, was the one who took their inspiration from Pixar’s movie UP. After telling the sad but romantic story of Ellie and Karl, one of the team members actually climbed on a little house made from polystyrene which had countless balloons attached to it, just like in the movie. I think I was more excited about it than most of the kids around…

It’s fair to say that none of the flying machines made it to the other shore and that most participants ended up wet. All of them delivered a great show though and the audience surely enjoyed themselves which after all is this event’s main purpose. If you are keen to learn more about the event or simply cannot imagine yet how this is supposed to actually look like, check out this video of the team “UP” from Karsumm this year.

You can also check out the official photo gallery of the event here.

Me with what is left of the house after it got pulled out of the river (balloons in the background):

karsumm with hannah

Don’t forget to check this event out during the next Tartu Student days in Spring, you won’t regret it!

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