But I am still glad that I stayed longer here in Estonia, because I can spend a lot of time with my superamazing host family <3
kolmapäev, 27. juuli 2016
Russia trip got cancelled
Just a little update. The trip to Russia with my theatre group won't take place. We got some problems with the Visa, because we were supposed to write them in Russian, although no one had told us about it. And we weren't able to collect as much money as we hoped. I am so sad about this.
teisipäev, 26. juuli 2016
The YES
First of all I am so sorry, that I haven't written something in so long, I couldn't find the motivation for it.
The YES (=Youth European Seminar) took place about a month ago at a lake in the near of Berlin and was the last event for the other exchange students, before they would return to their families. Every European exchange student, who spent their year in Europe could participate. The first thing I did as I arrived in the airport of Frankfurt, was to buy myself a far too expensive Brezel, and it was soooo good. I loved seeing and hugging the people from our preparation week again, we hadn't seen each other for so long. After we flew to Berlin we had to then stay at the airport for 4 hours, 2 hours longer than planned, because we had to wait for some mysterious exchange student, who in the end never showed up, so we started driving about 10pm. It was so weird that it was getting dark, because in Estonia the sun wasn't really going down at all at that time.
As we arrived, everything was very overwhelming, it was dark and the campus was immense, but some of my friends, who had been there longer, helped me out and so I was able to find my room.
The topic of this years YES was " Young innovators changing the world". The 700 (!) exchange students were divided into four tracks about Entrepeneurship, Public Speaking, Technology of the Future and Journalism, which was my group. Every day started and ended with a plenary session, where all the students came together, and where we got information and listened to speeches of guest speakers. During the day we learned more about our topic in the Track sessions and could reflect about our exchange year.
At the last day we presented our track to the other students, we had to do a news show, which ended up being quite funny, but also very stressful to prepare, because we had even less freetime because of that.
It was definitely a very interesting experience having a seminar with so many people, constantly meeting new ones, while being on the search for old friends. I couldn't talk nearly as much with most of them as I would have liked to due to rare freetime and the huge amount of people. But it was awesome to meet the Estonian exchange students! One evening many of the Estonians and the former exchange students in Estonia were sitting by the lake, singing loud and false Estonian songs and doing weird energizers, which was really cool.
We had a party at the last evening, and I stayed up all night with a friend, so that we could say goodbye to everyone, who was leaving. The first bus drove at about 3 o' clock. It was really hard to say goodbye to the ones, who had been with me in Estonia, not knowing if we would see each other ever again. Let's just hope the saying ' At YFU you see each other always a second time' is true :)
I took a plane to Estonia on the same day,feeling very tired, but also really thankful, that I was given this amazing chance to living there a bit longer.
The YES (=Youth European Seminar) took place about a month ago at a lake in the near of Berlin and was the last event for the other exchange students, before they would return to their families. Every European exchange student, who spent their year in Europe could participate. The first thing I did as I arrived in the airport of Frankfurt, was to buy myself a far too expensive Brezel, and it was soooo good. I loved seeing and hugging the people from our preparation week again, we hadn't seen each other for so long. After we flew to Berlin we had to then stay at the airport for 4 hours, 2 hours longer than planned, because we had to wait for some mysterious exchange student, who in the end never showed up, so we started driving about 10pm. It was so weird that it was getting dark, because in Estonia the sun wasn't really going down at all at that time.
As we arrived, everything was very overwhelming, it was dark and the campus was immense, but some of my friends, who had been there longer, helped me out and so I was able to find my room.
The topic of this years YES was " Young innovators changing the world". The 700 (!) exchange students were divided into four tracks about Entrepeneurship, Public Speaking, Technology of the Future and Journalism, which was my group. Every day started and ended with a plenary session, where all the students came together, and where we got information and listened to speeches of guest speakers. During the day we learned more about our topic in the Track sessions and could reflect about our exchange year.
At the last day we presented our track to the other students, we had to do a news show, which ended up being quite funny, but also very stressful to prepare, because we had even less freetime because of that.
It was definitely a very interesting experience having a seminar with so many people, constantly meeting new ones, while being on the search for old friends. I couldn't talk nearly as much with most of them as I would have liked to due to rare freetime and the huge amount of people. But it was awesome to meet the Estonian exchange students! One evening many of the Estonians and the former exchange students in Estonia were sitting by the lake, singing loud and false Estonian songs and doing weird energizers, which was really cool.
We had a party at the last evening, and I stayed up all night with a friend, so that we could say goodbye to everyone, who was leaving. The first bus drove at about 3 o' clock. It was really hard to say goodbye to the ones, who had been with me in Estonia, not knowing if we would see each other ever again. Let's just hope the saying ' At YFU you see each other always a second time' is true :)
I took a plane to Estonia on the same day,feeling very tired, but also really thankful, that I was given this amazing chance to living there a bit longer.
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| Plenar session |
esmaspäev, 20. juuni 2016
Aasta Lõpu Seminar &update
Hey guys,
so in the beginning of June the End Year Seminar took place. It was really confusing, saying goodbye to all the YFU students, although I am going to see most of them again at the airport/ YES seminar and talking about going back to our home countrys, although my year doesn't actually end yet. But all in all I had a great time with wonderful exchange students, in the same location, where our Arrival camp took place.
As I opened my mail today I saw that an email with the result of the Estonian language test had arrived and I did it!! I seriously doubted that I would pass, but I scored 80% ! I am so happpy about that :3
Besides that I finally received the pictures my host sister took with her camera and can share them now with you :)
so in the beginning of June the End Year Seminar took place. It was really confusing, saying goodbye to all the YFU students, although I am going to see most of them again at the airport/ YES seminar and talking about going back to our home countrys, although my year doesn't actually end yet. But all in all I had a great time with wonderful exchange students, in the same location, where our Arrival camp took place.
As I opened my mail today I saw that an email with the result of the Estonian language test had arrived and I did it!! I seriously doubted that I would pass, but I scored 80% ! I am so happpy about that :3
Besides that I finally received the pictures my host sister took with her camera and can share them now with you :)
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| We took a walk beside the beach ^^ it's so beautiful and the best thing is, that there are no other people :) |
I also visited a folks dance festival in Jõgeva. It was really interesting to watch the traditional Estonian dances and it was incredible to see about 5000 people dancing together. There was a little
market, where my friend and I ate the most weirdest Hamburger in my entire life :D Besides the meat, which also really wasn't the typical meat for Hamburgers, there was only a ton of salad on it,so that it was really hard to eat. In the beginning the weather was terrible, it was raining, and also quite cold and windy, but as soon as the dancing started the rain stopped and we could enjoy it :) In case you can't watch the video, you can check out this link, which shows a similar dance festival
Yesterday we went picking strawberries in the forest near a military center. At the moment there is a huge practice and it was so scary for me to hear the detonations of bombs (not real lones though) and to see the jets flying above our heads. Estonia has been occupied by other countries so many times, that they are trying to be prepared, and that's why military is so important here. In school there is a in most cases voluntary subjet, where they learn how to shoot, military history and also some survival things.
kolmapäev, 25. mai 2016
A different world full of onions | Sibulamaailm
Sellel nädalavahetusel oli mul vist kõige huvitavam reis Eestis. Ma otsustasin YFU lodusprogrammist organiseeritud reisil kaasa minna, sest kohad olid veel alles. Me sõitsime jalgrattastega Tartust Laaksaarele. Nohja teised sõitsid, mina võtsin 25 km pärast bussi ja jätsin oma ratta väikses külas sest ma ei jaksanud enam. Aga igatahes me saabusime laupäeva õhtul pärast 45min sõitu praamiga Piirisaarele, mis asub Peipsijärves ja kus praegu 50 inimest elavad, talvel isegi vähem. Tundus nagu hoopis teine maailm. Armsad väiksed majad, palju loodust ja kõikjal kasvatatakse sibulaid, sellepärast nimetatakse küla ka sibulaküla :) Me pestsime väikses jões, tegime lõkke, ja sõime Tatart, ubusid ja vahukommi. Magasime õues, taeva all. Nüüd ma alles märkasin kui hilja päikest langeb!
Järgmisel päeval avastasime saare natukene. Me tegime ka pilte puukirikust ja sõitsime siis praamiga ja raatadega (minu puhul bussiga ka) Tartusse. Eriti teised olid nii läbi õhtul- imet tegelikult pole, kui sa oled kahel päevadel trennimata 130km sõitnud.
Aga siis esmaspäevalsain teada millestki uskumatult. Tol õhtul ,kus me juba tagasi Tartus olime, põlles puukirikut ja kolm elumajat maha, mis tähendab, et me tegime vist viimaseid pilte sellist!
This weekend I had probably my most interesting trip so far. I decided to go to a bycicle ride to a small island, located in one of the biggest lake in Europe~ Peipsijärv, there are only about 50 people living , in the winter the amount is even smaller. -
After 25 km I had to take the bus, because I just couldn't do it anymore. Looking back it was the right decision, because the hardest part was about to come later. But anyway we arrived after a 45 drive with the ferry in the evening on the island. It felt like another world. Narrow paths leading from one charming little wooden house to another, and everywhere in the gardens were onions grown. We went to a little river to wash ourselves, ate bones and Tatar (~ buckwheat) and grilled marshmallows on the campfire :) Although we set up a tent, we decided to sleep outside and just then I realized how late the sun is setting!
On the next day we explored the other part of the island, tried out one of the old wells and made pictures of a wooden church. We drove then back to Tartu. But on Monday I had to find out something quite shocking. On the evening, where we were already back in Tartu, the church and three more houses burned down, what means that we took the last pictures of this church...
Järgmisel päeval avastasime saare natukene. Me tegime ka pilte puukirikust ja sõitsime siis praamiga ja raatadega (minu puhul bussiga ka) Tartusse. Eriti teised olid nii läbi õhtul- imet tegelikult pole, kui sa oled kahel päevadel trennimata 130km sõitnud.
Aga siis esmaspäevalsain teada millestki uskumatult. Tol õhtul ,kus me juba tagasi Tartus olime, põlles puukirikut ja kolm elumajat maha, mis tähendab, et me tegime vist viimaseid pilte sellist!
This weekend I had probably my most interesting trip so far. I decided to go to a bycicle ride to a small island, located in one of the biggest lake in Europe~ Peipsijärv, there are only about 50 people living , in the winter the amount is even smaller. -
After 25 km I had to take the bus, because I just couldn't do it anymore. Looking back it was the right decision, because the hardest part was about to come later. But anyway we arrived after a 45 drive with the ferry in the evening on the island. It felt like another world. Narrow paths leading from one charming little wooden house to another, and everywhere in the gardens were onions grown. We went to a little river to wash ourselves, ate bones and Tatar (~ buckwheat) and grilled marshmallows on the campfire :) Although we set up a tent, we decided to sleep outside and just then I realized how late the sun is setting!
On the next day we explored the other part of the island, tried out one of the old wells and made pictures of a wooden church. We drove then back to Tartu. But on Monday I had to find out something quite shocking. On the evening, where we were already back in Tartu, the church and three more houses burned down, what means that we took the last pictures of this church...
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| Sibuladpeenrad | little onion field |
We
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| Viimane pilt... |
teisipäev, 3. mai 2016
Nädalavahetus vanaema juures
Tsau!
Sellel reedel sõitsime vanaema ja vanaisa suvila juurde. Võtsime Johannat, ka saksa vahetusõpilane, kaasa.
Suvilas meenus vaheaja. Kõik oli nii vaikne, loodust täis ja rahul. Halva internetiühenduse pärast ma peaaegu üldse ei kasutanund oma telefoni, mis tundus väga hästi. Eestis olen ma lihtsalt liiga palju telefoni kasutanud, kogu aeg olen siin internetiga ühendatud, isegi koolis, ja kui mul pole midagi tegemist, haaran ma kiiresti telefonile.
Erand sellest telefoni mitte kasutamisest oli pildistamine. Suvilasel on suur aed ojadega ja tüki metsaga, ja see oli lausa imeilus. Mängisime karte, sulgpalli ja sõime hästi palju. Laupäeval tegime väikse matku järve juurde. Teel nägin minu esimest madu metsikus looduses: rästikut. Need on Saksamal äärmiselt haruldased. Pühapäeva hommikul sõitsime Ahhaa-keskusse Tartusse, ja käisime seal ka Planetaariumis. Sisseostmine Šokolaadipoes Tartu vanalinnas ei võinud muidugi ka puududa :)) Üldiselt oli suurepärane nädalavahetus, isegi üks oma lemmikutest Eestis :)
Hey :)
This weekend we visited my host grandmother and grandfather in their sommer house in the middle of Estonia. We took Johanna, who is also a German exchange student, with us. It felt like vacation, everything was so quiet and calm and the garden was so beautiful, with forest amd a small river. We played cards and badminton and ate a lot :D As we took a walk on Saturday to the lake, I saw my first wild & poisonous snake:) On Sunday we drove to Tartu, to go to the Ahhaa center, some kind of family science center, where you can do lots of experiments yourself. We also went to the planetarium, which was really fascinating.
And of course we didn't miss to go shopping in the chocolate shop in the old town of Tartu ;) All in all it was a one of the best weekends I have had here so far :)
Sellel reedel sõitsime vanaema ja vanaisa suvila juurde. Võtsime Johannat, ka saksa vahetusõpilane, kaasa.
Suvilas meenus vaheaja. Kõik oli nii vaikne, loodust täis ja rahul. Halva internetiühenduse pärast ma peaaegu üldse ei kasutanund oma telefoni, mis tundus väga hästi. Eestis olen ma lihtsalt liiga palju telefoni kasutanud, kogu aeg olen siin internetiga ühendatud, isegi koolis, ja kui mul pole midagi tegemist, haaran ma kiiresti telefonile.
Erand sellest telefoni mitte kasutamisest oli pildistamine. Suvilasel on suur aed ojadega ja tüki metsaga, ja see oli lausa imeilus. Mängisime karte, sulgpalli ja sõime hästi palju. Laupäeval tegime väikse matku järve juurde. Teel nägin minu esimest madu metsikus looduses: rästikut. Need on Saksamal äärmiselt haruldased. Pühapäeva hommikul sõitsime Ahhaa-keskusse Tartusse, ja käisime seal ka Planetaariumis. Sisseostmine Šokolaadipoes Tartu vanalinnas ei võinud muidugi ka puududa :)) Üldiselt oli suurepärane nädalavahetus, isegi üks oma lemmikutest Eestis :)
Hey :)
This weekend we visited my host grandmother and grandfather in their sommer house in the middle of Estonia. We took Johanna, who is also a German exchange student, with us. It felt like vacation, everything was so quiet and calm and the garden was so beautiful, with forest amd a small river. We played cards and badminton and ate a lot :D As we took a walk on Saturday to the lake, I saw my first wild & poisonous snake:) On Sunday we drove to Tartu, to go to the Ahhaa center, some kind of family science center, where you can do lots of experiments yourself. We also went to the planetarium, which was really fascinating.
And of course we didn't miss to go shopping in the chocolate shop in the old town of Tartu ;) All in all it was a one of the best weekends I have had here so far :)
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| At the lake. My two host sisters, me and Johanna |
Staying longer?
Everything started as my theatre group got invited to performing our play at a theater festival in Siberia, Russia in August. At first I was really sad that I couldn't go and I didn't even consider the possiblity of staying longer.But after talking with my parents, who were really supporting, it appeared to be possible!! It is not 100% sure though, because Russia has to approve my Visa. So in the end of July I am going to go to the YES, and after that I'm gonna fly straight back to Estonia. In the end of August I will then finally return to Germany. I am so glad, that I am able to spend more time with my host family, because they are so amazing and I am so lucky to have them. On the other hand I am of course also a bit sad, because I won't see my friends and family for another two months. But in the end I just don't wanna miss this unique opportunity because it's something so special,we are actually only the 2nd school theater group from Estonia to get invited to Russia.
Besides that I want to do a language test in Estonian, just for myself, to see how good it has become. I want to try to write the blogposts in Estonian as well for practice.
Also the Latvian trip is not going to take place, because too less people have signed up for it. I am kind of sad about that, because it means that there is only one more YFU meeting. It feels so strange. Yesterday my host family got a letter with all the new exchange students, that are coming next year. I can't believe how fast time has passed.
Besides that I want to do a language test in Estonian, just for myself, to see how good it has become. I want to try to write the blogposts in Estonian as well for practice.
Also the Latvian trip is not going to take place, because too less people have signed up for it. I am kind of sad about that, because it means that there is only one more YFU meeting. It feels so strange. Yesterday my host family got a letter with all the new exchange students, that are coming next year. I can't believe how fast time has passed.
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| Me trying to make 'Ofenschlupfer' (saksa saiavorm) out of Estonian white bread. It didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to😬😬 |
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| One of my host sisters and me at Viru raba ~ Bog of Viru. |
reede, 15. aprill 2016
Some Estonian music🎶
I thought it might be interesting for you to listen to some Estonian music, because there is so much great music here. I love Estonian when its sung it sounds so beautiful.
Here is a playlist with all my favourite songs :)
And here a playlist which shows a bit more variety.
laupäev, 9. aprill 2016
Narva | 81 days
Narva, the third biggest town in Estonia is different from all the others. While walking through the streets, you can only hear Russian speaking people, even in the supermarket the woman on the cashdesk greets you with "privjet" instead of "Tere" and there are also many signs which are written in Cyrillic script. Narva is the most eastern town of Europe and with a Russian population of 95%, also one with the highest percentage of foreigners in Estonia. It doesn't really felt like Estonia anymore. Once it was a really nice town similar to Tallinn, but everything except one house got destroyed during the 2nd world war.
There is only a river seperating Estonia from Russia, I somehow hadn't imaged Russia to be so close!
We went there from Thursday to Saturday and stayed in the only Estonian school in the town. We also had the opportunity to do some activities with the students on Friday morning and in the evening. Besides that we just walked around and visited the castle and some sort of underground tunnels that provided refuge for the citizens of Narva. It was such a great weekend with the best people in the whole world. I have only known them for such a short periode of time, but I can't imagine a life without them and I don't want to think about the fact, that we are going to have only the Latvia trip and the End year seminar together. Less than 3 months in Estonia. Soon I will be back in Germany. On the one hand I am looking really forward to it, but on the other hand everything will be entirely over and it's never gonna be like it is right now. 'Don't count the days, make the days count.' This quote describes it perfectly.
There is only a river seperating Estonia from Russia, I somehow hadn't imaged Russia to be so close!
We went there from Thursday to Saturday and stayed in the only Estonian school in the town. We also had the opportunity to do some activities with the students on Friday morning and in the evening. Besides that we just walked around and visited the castle and some sort of underground tunnels that provided refuge for the citizens of Narva. It was such a great weekend with the best people in the whole world. I have only known them for such a short periode of time, but I can't imagine a life without them and I don't want to think about the fact, that we are going to have only the Latvia trip and the End year seminar together. Less than 3 months in Estonia. Soon I will be back in Germany. On the one hand I am looking really forward to it, but on the other hand everything will be entirely over and it's never gonna be like it is right now. 'Don't count the days, make the days count.' This quote describes it perfectly.
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Russia!! |
The bridge between Estonia and Russia
kolmapäev, 23. märts 2016
The last winter days (Pictures)
Trip to the sea❤️
Breathtaking sunset
At the lake in Kadrina
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| Ice fishing |
Frozen Waterfall
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