Jana Arsenjeva: Every new connection opens new opportunities
A story of Latvian in Estonia
After working as a Product Manager in Samsung Electronics Baltics in Riga, Latvia for the past three years Jana decided it was time to make some changes. While visiting her Estonian colleagues in Tallinn office she fell in love with the calm green city at the sea. Shortly after Jana found a new job and moved to Tallinn. But she didn’t stop there and also joined Digital Health MSc programme at TalTech to further advance her skills and career development.
Find out how Jana likes life in Tallinn now, what differences she sees between Latvia and Estonia and whether she plans to come back to Riga any time soon.
Study opportunities in Estonia
I attended Settle in Estonia programme where among other things they told us about study options at Estonian universities. And as I was interested in IT field they mentioned the best place to look at is TalTech. Also my friends studying in IT college at TalTech confirmed it was a good place for IT education. After checking the opportunities I became interested in two fields— Cybersecurity and Digital Health. Ultimately, healthcare field was closer to me because in Latvia I dealt with so many issues and so much paper work, which made me see how badly the system is organised. Hence I realized it was something great to learn about in order to be able to make some change and improve the current situation.
Estonia vs Latvia
Overall the environment in Latvia and Estonia is quite similar so I’ve never felt like I’m far away from home. But what I have noticed straight away is how polite everyone is, for instance cashiers, store workers and customers greeting each other oftentimes. Now also when in Riga, entering a store or café I started doing so, which I previously didn’t do. It is not really common.
Food is actually the same, there was nothing that would surprise me, there were only couple of things I struggled finding but once I did it’s not a problem anymore.
Cold Estonians?
In Estonia people are indeed colder than in Latvia, but once you start living here you get to know them better and it changes. It also feels like Estonians don’t like to talk that much. For instance, a friend of mine told she never asks “how are you?” because it feels like waste of time. Overall, Estonians prefer to get directly to business. At the same time all my university groupmates are Estonians and they are really friendly, open-minded, talkative and engaged. So it probably depends on what kind of environment you are in and how much of international exposure your group of Estonians has.
Comfortable living environment
One thing I love about Tallinn is multiple bike and skate lanes that are being created here. I don’t know if in Latvia it would be even possible to drive such long distances using only specially designated bike lanes. Here on the contrary it is such a pleasure to be outside. I was also surprised by free public transport. To tell you the truth I like everything here more — the seashore stretching out along the city, clean and quiet Old Town… When you walk into Riga City Centre everything is louder. Here you don’t have this kind of stress, everything is more relaxed, nobody is rushing so much.
E-Estonia in everyday life
I love Estonian mobile ID, it is so easy, you don’t have to remember tons of passwords, you can login everywhere with only one application. I have also attached the public transport card to my phone, as well as some store discount cards, so I don’t have to remember to carry anything but my phone with me. In Latvia maybe a couple of shops offer something similar, but it is not like a big thing the way it is here. It is implemented so simply and logically in Estonia that even older generations are using this technology, while in Latvia I can hardly imagine it. At least this is my observation.
Same refers to healthcare system. For instance I’m communicating with my GP via digital health portal. I don’t have to call and wait long hours on the line until I get my appointment.
The biggest benefit for any TalTech student
What I really like here — lecturers often work in the field and provide one with an opportunity to get in contact with the relevant companies. And I find this is the biggest benefit for any student at TalTech. In other words, during your studies you already meet people who you might work with in the future. Another thing that really surprised me is how good studies are built and how easy is the communication flow between students and lecturers. Everything is very straightforward and clear and I like it a lot.
“Now I'm definitely more active than in Latvia”
One of the things I’m doing in my free time is learning the language. Of course it is easy in Estonia to go with English or Russian only. But in my opinion if you plan to stay in the country for a longer time you need to know at least something in a local language. Besides, in Estonia there are so many options to learn the language for free.
I also play for Tallinn Frisbee Club. We have 2–3 trainings per week, or we just do things together, such as beach volleyball. Besides, I met two very good friends here — from Germany and Estonia and we are that we are very active in our free time together — we are sup surfing, skating, biking, hiking and what’s not. Much also depends on the weather of course. Thus, in winter we did some cross-country skiing in Nõmme. Apart from that there are so great places like Telliskivi or Noblessner in Tallinn, and the whole rest of the country to explore. Overall, I'm definitely more active than in Latvia.
Tips for those coming to study to Estonia
- Join different Facebook groups, where you can learn about different happenings and events.
- Check the opportunities offered by the university, such as exchange studies and internships.
Be open-minded, and always look for possibilities to meet new people. Because every new connection opens new opportunities and new experience. This is what I definitely learned by getting to know my school mates and colleagues better. Everyone adds something new to your life. Just get out and explore.
What do you miss about Latvia?
Friends and family is the only thing I really miss. At home people are asking me this very questions all the time, as well as whether I am planning to move back. But I have to tell them that my life is here in Tallinn already. I’m even used to Estonian weather by now, because in general I find Riga warmer. While in Estonia even if it’s really hot there’s always a little bit of this cool breath, and I like it more.
And of course, as Riga is not that far away I can always come over for a couple of days.
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