#31DaysOfStoryWriting —Estonian Stories
This post is a continuation of my personal #31DaysOfStoryWriting challenge in March 2021. This 3rd week will be dedicated to my Estonian story during my study and living experience from August 2019 until now.
For those who don’t know yet, I’ll dedicate March 2021 as the revival month for my writing hobby. I’ll try to write a short story every day in this medium blog with this theme plans:
- 1–7 Mar (Indonesia stories)
- 8–14 Mar (Australia)
- 15–21 Mar (Estonia)
- 22–28 Mar (#Before30)
- 29–31 Mar (Wrap Up)
Day 21 —White Christmas and Yellow Flower in Estonia
Coming from a tropical country, Indonesia, which only has two kinds of seasons, dry or wet season, made me grateful that finally, I can feel the four-season experience. Even the first winter is really warm with almost no snow at all, but last winter it became one of the best. Finally, I have the White Christmas experience in Estonia, celebrating it in the Church with some friends, it was an amazing time.
When it came to the spring season in Estonia, it was very unfortunate that it happened during the pandemic time. But seeing the blossom of yellow flowers during spring is truly the cure of pandemic time. It was so colorful and make us feel fresh after the gloomy winter season. We also can’t underestimate the autumn season, as it’s the best season to see the true color of nature in Estonia. Last but not least, the summer season is the best time to go out all day, because daylight is much longer than nighttime. I am really enthusiastic to wait for the real midsummer day experience in Estonia this year, after the quiet time last year. Let’s pray for the recovery of the pandemic to happening soon.
Day 20 — Climate Change and Abnormal Winter Time in Estonia
My first winter in Estonia is a really weird experience, as I’m expecting minus 20 degrees Celcius temperate but found out it didn’t happen last year. It was one of the warmest winters as some locals said. It made me realize that climate change is real, and the bushfire in the Amazon forest and Australia is just the beginning. Through this experience, I’m getting to know about Greta Thunberg’s story, a Swedish environmental activist. And most probably the demonstration that I saw during Friday 12 pm at Raekoja Plats, Tartu, was inspired by her story. Let’s take the climate change issue more seriously from now, as what do we do for preventing COVID19.
Day 19 — Happy Birthday WFH
On 13 March 2020, the Estonian government declared the first lockdown which leads to the closing of all public places, public gatherings banned, including sports and culture events, and all workspace must lead their employee to be able to “work from home” (later abbreviated as WFH). It was last until 17 May, more than two months of lockdown. I remember at that time, I just started my first month of internship with Positium, and it was unfortunate to have limited communication with my supervisor in this condition. But later I found it was a new experience to spend more time without distraction which we’re usually found in the office, but also give more pressure to mental health as we’ve missed genuine face-to-face interaction. The WFH mode leads me to have a self-thought question “is my work really meaningful?”. During WFH time, I also finally chasing my long-time dream to have my own podcast, with the intention to share my experience and improving my oral communication skill. Thank you WFH, you made me learning something new, and happy first birthday!
Day 18 — Estonia and Forest
Living in Estonia means you’ve got a lot of opportunities to explore its forest hiking area. Yes, you read it right, bushwalking in Estonia means hiking, or they called it in the Estonian language as Matkarada (Hiking Trail). Half of the land area of Estonia is forest, which contributes to its very good air quality which I felt very fresh at the beginning of my arrival in Estonia.
In February 2020, the birthday girl requested to celebrate her birthday by hiking together with a group of friends from Tartu Catholic Church. I’ve got the chance to explore one of its biggest hiking trails named Kütioru matkarada. It’s a one-hour driving from Tartu city and being part of Võru County. It amazed me as this is the first time I heard that someone wants to celebrate her birthday by hiking in the forest. It’s like proof to my hypothesis that forests have become a living part of Estonia. In many cases, I also saw a mom or dad or even grandparents did hiking together with their school-age kids. Recently, I also watch a beautiful documentary movie about Estonian Nature, named “The Beauty of Being” (Olemise Ilu), directed by Estonian Biologist, Fred Jüssi. Thank you Estonia, you made us appreciate the beauty of our nature, more and more.
Day 17 — Trip to Riga, Latvia
Another good thing that I missed from the pre-pandemic time. I still have the freedom to explore new places. One of the benefits of studying in the European Union area is the freedom to visit neighborhood countries inside the EU through Schengen Visa power. Latvia is the south neighbor country of Estonia, and it’s much closer for me as I came from Tartu, the southern part of Estonia. On 28–30 November 2019, I decided to break from the study routine that took a lot of my energy physically and mentally. I spent three days and two nights in the capital city of Latvia, Riga.
Inspired by my good experience staying in a hostel back in Australia, I also want to experience it again in Europe. Through hostelworld.com booking service, I stayed in Tree House Hostel, inside the heart of Riga Old Town. My intuition is correct; staying in Hostel genuinely gives me a relaxing and traveling experience and meets some new friends here, including the receptionist and one of the exchange student from the University of Tartu. This hostel also gave me a complimentary healthy vegetarian breakfast. I hope I can stay there again when the situation is getting better.
Riga Old Town is very similar to Tallinn Old Town, maybe slightly more prominent. It has many different churches, including the catholic churches, when I try to spend time attending daily mass every day during my trip, even it’s in the Latvian language. In the evening, I visited the biggest-ever movie theatre that I’ve seen, Forum Cinema. It is a 6-floor building entirely dedicated to a movie cinema, can’t you imagine? During that time, I watched one of the blockbuster Latvian movies named in English, Blizzard of Souls (in Latvian: Dvēseļu putenis). Because of this great experience, watching a movie in the cinema during my solo trip has become a new habit. I’d like to try a new city transportation system outside of the city center, visiting museums and the library. There is also a Riga Christmas Market which just opened one month before Christmas day.
Day 16 — The University of Tartu Welcome Ceremony — Before Pandemic
Those who start their university journey in 2019 are very lucky. I can still feel the vibe when we as the new students got a big welcome event with music and an interesting event to see. It was a warm and bright day with sunlight over us. Going there with your new colleague, or even meeting some new friends, is now becoming a precious moment that can’t be replaced with a virtual event. I hope this pandemic will over soon, and the future student can feel this kind of moment again.
Day 15 — Tartu, City of Literature
The city of Tartu become part of the UNESCO city of literature since 2015. Having a well-maintained public library service is the must-have criteria for a developed city from my perspective. Coming to Tartu in August 2019, one of my first things to do is visiting the city library. It also driven by childhood memories when visiting the library during school break is become the best time for to do daydreaming about what I want to become when I’m becoming an adult. I’m impressed again by the public service offered by both Tartu City Library and the University of Tartu Library, as a student and resident of Tartu city, I can borrow most of the books for free. Not only academic books, but we can also borrow fiction books including a graphic novel and Japanese manga (in English translation). Recently, I just started my long-time hobby to read physical Japanese manga named Haikyuu (volleyball story), and also some literature about Estonia recommended by the friendly-speaking librarian. All of them borrowed for free from Tartu City Library.
