Students often find themselves stuck in a rut, repeating the same cycle of cafes, study rooms, and cinema visits. There’s often a need for some change, maybe even an adventurous one… That’s when I found out about AEGEE activities. AEGEE is a green association consisting of students all around Europe. It has a wide range of activities, most of which are free, and one of them is hiking. So, when I thought I needed a change, I went there with my roommates.
At 9 in the morning, a train was waiting for us to go to Elva, a city in the south-east of Tartumaa county. As it was still winter, we had to wear a coat, thermal underwear, socks, and boots, etc. (Bear those items of necessity in mind!) When we got there, we saw a great forest all covered in snow. It was so slippery that I even fell several times. Make sure to take the boots ready for these conditions, so as not to fall like me.
My roommate and I surviving the weather conditions. Well, not sure if we coped with the task.
We started our journey at around 10 in the morning, and had been walking for approximately 8 hours. The weather was freezing, but at the same time, the air was very clean, and the view was just impeccable. So, every little inconvenience was crossed out by this beauty.
You can smell the air through this photo. Your lungs are suddenly full of oxygen.
After 11 km, we made a stop to have some dinner. It was outside on some benches with tables around the fireplace. For dinner, we had buckwheat with vegetables and tea to warm up after such an intense journey. To tell the truth, sitting without any activities did not warm us up, even after eating and drinking. We couldn’t feel our hands or toes. It was an extreme activity for beginners like me. But if you are a pro-hiker, then this is definitely an activity for you.
We knew that we still had to go back, so we accepted our fate very quickly and unconditionally. On our way back, my room-mates and I started to make up fake scenarios as if we were in a TV series (the weather really got to our brains). The organisation was also offering a sauna after the whole trip, but my room-mates and I just wanted to go back to our dorm after 19 km of hiking. So, our group was divided into two; some went to the sauna and others went to the train station.
At the end of the day, it was a very fun and completely new activity. Moreover, we got to know people from various majors at our university. As they say, “do it for the plot.”
Heading into the sunset. Note: In this photo, you can also see special double lines. They are made for the skiers. And it is better not to step on them, as it is an auxiliary track, plus the skiers will judge you if you do so. (Talking from personal experience)
Another activity that caught my attention actually took place at the beginning of May. It was tree planting. Before actually going there, I thought that we would have a shovel and plants, and basically, we would put the plants with our hands in the soil. However, I was wrong. We had this ‘Pottiputki seeding tool’, which you can see below. It was very handy and we had no dirt on our hands at all.
Image retrieved from this website (click here).
The whole process starts with putting this tool inside the soil and making sure it is firmly in the ground. Then we open the claw, as I call it, and throw a plant inside. After that, we take out the tool and press the flower with our foot from all sides. And the process repeats until all the plants are in the soil.
Here, we are not damaging the plant, but rather making sure it is sitting firmly in the soil.
There were a lot of people who came for this activity, and 3000 pine tree shoots. At the beginning, the planting had to take around 4-5 hours, but we did it much faster, and our organisers were surprised by our speed. Later, we had lunch, and it was the best time as the sun was shining bright, though it was not warm, and the food was really good; we even had a dessert. And again, all for free. I had lots of fun doing this, and the thought of helping our planet Earth added more happiness to it. Imagine this tree growing throughout the years, and locals won’t even know that some Azerbaijani girl once planted it here. That is funny, but why not, right?
The delicious food we had. Dessert isn’t pictured here but trust me, I had more than 5 of those pastries.
After lunch, our organiser offered us a nice walk around the forest and we could not say no to it. I really liked this adventure, and I am advising everyone who wants something new from all these routine tasks to go out there and have fun. And always remember you are also doing something good for this planet by going to such activities. So, why not combine business with pleasure?
Some photos from the walk. The canoe was not on my list of things to see.
Cover photo credits: Rauno Liivand. (click here)
All images are author’s own unless stated otherwise.
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