It's so hard to believe that I've been here for a month already. At times it feels almost like I've been here for years while other times I still feel fresh of the plane. Either way, I think it was great way to spend my "anniversary" and Valentine's day going to Tallinn, Estonia with two awesome Canadian girls, Natalee and Jenny! To get to Tallinn we took a cruise ship overnight from Stockholm. The ship was really nice and had a disco, cabaret with live band, several restaurants, a spa, a boutique with tons of perfume, and the reason most people take these cruises- the duty free store.
The first night we were on the ship we decided to check out the cabaret. While we sitting there listening to the live band and watching a bunch of older people cheat at the limbo, a Swedish couple sat down next to us. They inquired why we were speaking English because apparently they had noticed a lack of Swedish being spoken on the point. We told them about how we were exchange students and they introduced themselves and told us they were on a weekend vacation away from their kids. They ended up buying us a round of drinks and we spent a long time talking about cultural differences and politics in Sweden/Canada/USA. They were really nice, too bad the evening ended early when the lady realized she didn't have her purse (i was in her room the whole time).
The next day was spent in Tallinn, wandering around and being touristy. The city was so cool because it's one part medieval castle, one part Communist remnants, and one part village. There were people dancing in the town square and ice skating. We saw a wedding party. We had hot chocolate and truffles and marzipan hearts for V-day. We went into various cathedrals and shops where locals were making hand-made goods out of glass and leather. Lunch ended up being fantastic. I had found a dining guide at the currency exchange and we randomly picked a nearby place that claimed to serve "Estonian" food. The place was decorated like an open-air market and the waitress was wearing a peasant dress. I ended up having a fairly inexpensive and wholly delicious duck fillet. Check out all of my pictures!
On the way home we decided to splurge. Natalee introduced Jenny and I to "pretty smells" and we all bought perfume on the ship. Mine is "Incredible Me" by Escada. We also paid for the traditional Swedish smörgasbörd buffet dinner- all you could eat herring, salmon, potatoes, köttbullar (meatballs), and apple cake. It was so worth the somewhat steep price.
--------------------------------------------
Today has been full of small surprises:
1) My class tomorrow was moved from the morning to the afternoon
2) My package finally arrived by standard post, well sort of...apparently they tried to deliver it last Wednesday while I was in class but instead of just leaving a notice, they mailed one so I didn't get that until today. And the package is in town, not down the street at the gas station like I thought it would be. So I won't have time to get it until Wednesday
3) The snow today was in perfect little symmetric flakes
4) A German guy in my Swedish class is going to be studying in Indiana in the fall, either at Purdue or IUPUI, he wasn't sure, but either way I get to tell him the inside scope :)
5) I was walking to the grocery store from Swedish class when I saw an owl sitting on the street signpost. He didn't seemed to be bothered by the cars or my attempts to capture his picture.
( I apologize for my camera's poor night picture taking abilities)
The first night we were on the ship we decided to check out the cabaret. While we sitting there listening to the live band and watching a bunch of older people cheat at the limbo, a Swedish couple sat down next to us. They inquired why we were speaking English because apparently they had noticed a lack of Swedish being spoken on the point. We told them about how we were exchange students and they introduced themselves and told us they were on a weekend vacation away from their kids. They ended up buying us a round of drinks and we spent a long time talking about cultural differences and politics in Sweden/Canada/USA. They were really nice, too bad the evening ended early when the lady realized she didn't have her purse (i was in her room the whole time).
The next day was spent in Tallinn, wandering around and being touristy. The city was so cool because it's one part medieval castle, one part Communist remnants, and one part village. There were people dancing in the town square and ice skating. We saw a wedding party. We had hot chocolate and truffles and marzipan hearts for V-day. We went into various cathedrals and shops where locals were making hand-made goods out of glass and leather. Lunch ended up being fantastic. I had found a dining guide at the currency exchange and we randomly picked a nearby place that claimed to serve "Estonian" food. The place was decorated like an open-air market and the waitress was wearing a peasant dress. I ended up having a fairly inexpensive and wholly delicious duck fillet. Check out all of my pictures!
On the way home we decided to splurge. Natalee introduced Jenny and I to "pretty smells" and we all bought perfume on the ship. Mine is "Incredible Me" by Escada. We also paid for the traditional Swedish smörgasbörd buffet dinner- all you could eat herring, salmon, potatoes, köttbullar (meatballs), and apple cake. It was so worth the somewhat steep price.
--------------------------------------------
Today has been full of small surprises:
1) My class tomorrow was moved from the morning to the afternoon
2) My package finally arrived by standard post, well sort of...apparently they tried to deliver it last Wednesday while I was in class but instead of just leaving a notice, they mailed one so I didn't get that until today. And the package is in town, not down the street at the gas station like I thought it would be. So I won't have time to get it until Wednesday
3) The snow today was in perfect little symmetric flakes
4) A German guy in my Swedish class is going to be studying in Indiana in the fall, either at Purdue or IUPUI, he wasn't sure, but either way I get to tell him the inside scope :)
5) I was walking to the grocery store from Swedish class when I saw an owl sitting on the street signpost. He didn't seemed to be bothered by the cars or my attempts to capture his picture.
( I apologize for my camera's poor night picture taking abilities) 
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment