Estonia 1998: March Madness Begins

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 2-8, 1998

This was a pretty busy week what with all the classes and activities that I have going, but it was still a good time. I started a couple of new classes and began the true student type lifestyle here. I also began making my preparations for going home and getting things finalized for next semester in Iowa. A process that is actually rather long and painful, and one that I will be happy to have over with.

2 March 1998
Monday

My first day back to school after such a wonderful weekend. I survived all my courses and finished things off with an evening at Silke’s place watching X-Files and Kavanaugh, a British court drama, sort of an English Matlock or something of the sort.

3 March 1998
Tuesday

Back into Estonian for my courses today. I really enjoy this Introduction to Estonian Linguistics course that I am taking. The language level is not too difficult, but I am actually surviving my first class in a foreign language. A good boost for my language confidence. 

In the evening I had my second Russian Cultural History class. It was a fascinating class, and something I am truly enjoying about it is that it is taught by a woman who, despite being happy to be Russian, considers herself an Estonian and recognizes the occupation of Estonia for the past fifty years to be an illegal thing. I’m happy to see that this attitude is growing here. Only in that way can Estonia begin to recover from its recent history and integrate the new Russian speaking community into its society. Neither side is going anywhere any time soon and the sooner that they can figure out to live with each other, the better.

4 March 1998
Wednesday

A nice day. In the morning we had our Estonian introduction class. It went fairly well, but about halfway through I began to get a little bit overwhelmed by the Estonian fascination for names and dates. Our lecture on Estonian journalistic history was merely a recitation of hundreds of dates and important people. Rather than the American concept of understanding why and being able to apply that to real life, the Estonian lecture ideal is to be able to remember a lot of cold, hard statistics, things which could easily be found in any book. If I can recite these names by heart that proves nothing, I must understand what they did and what effect they had on the Estonian people to truly be important.

In the afternoon I had my economics class. I survived it, but I must admit that I am not understanding very much of this whole thing. There are so many equations and abstract possibilities and so on that I am not quite sure how what I’m learning applies to real life. Numbers are one thing, but what they mean is simply a completely different story.

5 March 1998
Thursday

I had my first Estonian theology class today. I went with Diemo to study the Confessio Augustana. It was a very interesting class, and one that I found very difficult for the simple fact that the language of instruction was German. Fortunately there was an Estonian translation, and between that and the little German that I know and what transfers directly to English I was able to put together a basic understanding of what was going on. I will enjoy this course, even if I don’t get every word it will be broadening nonetheless.

Arno and I got a little bit closer to making this weekend’s trip to Rakvere a reality. We got a tour set up with the tourist information office in Rakvere and might even be able to get into the sausage factory after all. I’m not sure exactly how all this will happen, but we’ll see. It’s definitely promising to be very interesting if nothing else. What an incredible opportunity.

6 March 1998
Friday

For some reason I didn’t make it to my Estonian introduction class today. I went to the classroom at the appointed time, but when I got there I found it inhabited by a small group of perhaps ten women with a young woman with long hair writing on the chalk board, a big change from the overcrowded, mixed class led by a middle age balding man that I am used to. I didn’t hang around to see what had happened, so I’ll just try to catch up on Tuesday.

In the afternoon I went to make my reservations for my plane ticket home. I currently have a tentative seat on Finnair this July. I’m looking forward to it, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I have been in the United States. I’m having a great time here, but at the same time, seeing home and the family and friends that I love will be a very welcome experience. 

I spent the evening with Tiina and Ele. They are doing quite well and it is incredible how much Ele’s little baby has grown. It is nice to talk to them, they are really the only bit of the Estonian connection that I made last year that has really hung on until today. Everyone else has kind of drifted by the wayside, it is nice to make friends that stick with for a while. 

Tomorrow I am off to Rakvere to visit for the first time since I was there last year attending the Balto-Scandal theater festival. We are taking a big group of international students up there. We are going to have a tour guide and get to see the castle and various museums that are normally closed during this time of the year. I have to get up quite early tomorrow, so I’ll end here.

8 March 1998
Sunday

Happy Birthday Dad!!