Having fun in Tallinn

I spent the last semester in Estonia — a small dynamically developing country in North Europe, with cold weather like in St. Petersburg, the biggest amount of start-ups per person in the world, some people even call it the "silicon valley of Europe". And it is so technically advanced that you can vote for the president on-line and it is covered with wi-fi almost everywhere, so theoretically you can cast your vote with your mobile phone even if you are outdoors. That’s basically why I chose Estonia.

Besides all the startup and tech novelties, Estonia has the biggest amount of pubs and saunas per square kilometer, it helps Estonians bask in the cold weather.

I studied in Tallinn University of Technology with one of the modern campuses in Europe. All of the university buildings, dormitories and hostels are located in the same place. It is covered with fast wi-fi all over, it has 8 cafeterias, some comfort and quiet places for studying and even for sleeping, free sauna, modern sports centre and 5-floor library building. I lived in the university hostel right on campus so it took about 5−10 minutes to get to the school. The hostel has a box system, each box has two double rooms. The main difference between a hostel and dormitory is that the hostel is only for international students and it gets cleaned every week. All of this sums up and you start to think that it is kind of five star Resort&Spa but you have to study and study hard.

So I and other exchange students lived on the top two floors. There were people from all over the Europe, mostly Germans and French like in every Erasmus. I lived with a Slovak guy and in the next room lived a Czech and German. Everyone cooked for himself and if it is a special day like someone’s birthday or holiday we gathered together and cooked national dishes of the country of your origin. For example on Easter we had langos, lasagna, couscous, pasta, pizza, draniki… and much more… The latter is my favorite national Belorussian dish which everyone liked so much. Each holiday tables were full of tasty meals. We talked, played card games, learned interesting facts from other cultures. For example, everyone was so impressed that we celebrate New Year more than Christmas. That was kind of jaw-dropping for them, they could not imagine how this things can happen. For me, I was really impressed how open-minded and interesting everyone you meet is. It is probably because you are immersed by cultural diversity and everyone seems so new and shiny. People are always around you and every day by participating in different events you meet more and more new people.

We decided that the world would be a much better place if everyone tried Erasmus at least once. You become better not only in your field of studies but personally, you acquire knowledge about life, you become more kind and open-minded by living with so many great people from all over the world. I agree with the saying that Erasmus is not just half a year in your life — it is your life in half a year.