We'll Meet Again

Oh boy, so many emotions to deal with now. I'm currently sitting in my room waiting for the house lady to come and check my room, the kitchen and bathroom to check if they are clean.

I haven't had any classes for about three weeks, so I haven't really been doing much other than a few picnics with friends. Two weeks ago I had my oral exam for my history class, which was both fun and scary. Basically I had to come up with a central argument based off of three movies we had watched and six articles we had read. I chose the argument "When analyzing history, the distinction between victims and perpetrators can often become blurred. While this lack of clear right and wrong is often shown in movies, even people who collaborate on the basis of survival are almost always still criticized and have to show some act of redemption". Cheery, right? I then outlined an argument like I would have done in an essay but left out the “meat” because he was going to ask me questinons. I was really nervous about it at first, but after I got the hang of talking face to face with him, it was easier. We disagreed on a few points, but I don’t feel as if that impacted my grade. I think I lost points mostly for answers to questions that I feel I knew the answer to but did not answer in confident way. Overall it went well and I got an 88%.

I can’t lie, I really have not done much after the exam. Before Laura left, we went to Werner and got some last minute souvenirs but that was somewhere around two weeks ago. A large amount of my time was spent skyping with my parents so I could watch the Spurs play in the NBA playoffs.

Yesterday I ventured outside to go to the mall to get some panty house for my dress that I'm planning on wearing when we see If/Then. Yes, if you know me well you know that I show my bare legs rarely. I then grabbed some lunch from one of my favorite places in the city center before I headed to Werner (or what I dubbed "The Cake Place"). They have some boxes of chocolates that are very pretty so I picked up some boxes for last minute gifts.

Once I got back I proceeded to clean the entire apartment top to bottom. I'm not sure how strict she is going to be, so I cleaned everything in sight. My new suite mates bought an oven, which we aren't allowed to have according to our contracts. I warned them yesterday they should put it in their room today since the house lady was coming over, but they either didn't understand me/didn't care and the oven is still there. Oh well, if it gets taken away it's not my fault!

I'm listening to Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" over and over to make myself feel a little better. On one hand, I'm so ready just to be home and in the United States. On the other hand, I'm really going to miss Estonia and the friends I've made here. It's pretty incredible to me I knew so little about this country and city before I came here and now I have to deal with the sadness of realizing I probably won't be able to come back for around ten years. This place that was once to foreign to me now has a very special place in my heart.

Once I get my room checked, I need to go print out my bus ticket and our tickets for If/Then. Words cannot express how excited I am to see Lia and explore New York. We are planning on going to the Met on Friday before we see the Lion King.

One thing we really have to in New York is go to the giant NBA store that happens to be just around the corner of our hotel. My Spurs are NBA champions once again! Father's Day was on Sunday but I wanted to get my dad something with the Spurs on it for his present.

So this is where my study abroad journey ends. Tomorrow my bus leaves for the airport at 7am and my plane takes off at half past noon. I’m so grateful I had the chance to live in another country for so long and learn so much about Estonian culture. It really is such a beautiful country and I will never forget my time here.

Estonian Wedding

I have no excuse for this post taking so long other than me being lazy.

The trip started off in a very interesting way. We were scheduled to leave at 6:30 am, so I set my alarm for 5:30 am. When I woke up however and looked at my clock, I saw it was already about 6:50. I figured there was absolutely no way the bus was still there and didn't bother getting out of bed. I did write a Facebook status about losing 90 euros. After messaging with my mom for a few minutes, I got a message from my friend Valeria the bus was still waiting for me and I had to be down in five minutes. I threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth and hair and grabbed my already packed bag. Once I got on the bus, it was already about 7:15. I felt really bad they had waited for me so long, but we were meeting a bus with students from Tallinn at a certain time, so it just mattered we got to the ferry station on time.

We drove to the Virtsu harbor and took some pictures by the water before we got on the ferry. It was a short ferry trip, about half an hour, before we got to the island of Saaremaa. We then drove to Karja church, where we had a picnic of sandwiches and apples. The weather was really nice, so it was very comfortable to eat sitting on the grass.

We then drove to Angla windmills and took some pictures before driving to Panga cliffs. The cliffs are just gorgeous and the view of the water was beautiful. It was there Federico (a Tartu student who was playing the role of the groom) “proposed” to Valeria. Of course she said yes. We then all selected roles for the wedding that were written on name tags. There were roles from everything from local party girl to long lost relative of the bride. I had the role of local town joker along with another girl. We walked down the cliffs to go to the water when an actual wedding party was trying to drive down the rode and we had to find the bus driver so the bus could be moved! After wading in the water for a bit, we spent about a half hour at Odalätsi springs.

We then drove to our first accommodation, Loode Farmhouse. If you saw the pictures, it was a very beautiful, large area of land with several different cabins for us to stay in. After being assigned cabins and unpacking, we enjoyed a nice dinner in a large tent while the owner played some violin and taught a few dances.

Then the bachelor and bachelorette (or hen’s night) parties began. Once we were separated from the guys, we started our first activity. The ESN girl from Tallinn was playing Valeria’s mother. We had to tell her about Valeria’s past boyfriends and what was wrong with them and she wrote them down. Valeria then had to burn the paper and a symbol of her letting go of her past. We then made wedding dresses out of paper towels and toilet paper. A boy was brought over to pick a winner and our group won!

We then went over to where the guys were and watched them complete some of their games. After they finished, we could use the saunas or just relax in our rooms.

The next morning after breakfast, we headed to the wedding. First though, we stopped at Viidumäe nature preserve where their is a viewing platform. It looked really sketchy though, so I just watched people climb up until a bee stung me and I went back to the bus.

We then drove to the town Kuressaare, where we had lunch and could explore the castle grounds a little before the wedding started. Before the wedding started, we were organized on bride and groom’s side (people with local roles were just mixed in) and then the wedding started. Valeria, Federico, the groom’s mother and father, the bride’s father and mother, the bride’s brother and the priest were all dressed in traditional wedding clothes. The two were “married” and we sang a song before we went back to the bus. It started raining immediately once we got to the bus.

While we were driving to the next accommodation, where we would be spending the night and having the wedding party, we were stopped by two men in traditional estonian clothing. It's a tradition to be stopped on the way from the wedding to the party. We got off the bus and we were told the bride and groom have to complete a task each time they are stopped. This first stop required Valeria to clean three fish and Federico had to nail some nails into a block of wood. It was starting to rain again, so they had to rush so we wouldn’t get soaked.

We got back on the bus but didn’t drive far before we were stopped by the two men again. This time Valeria had to change a diaper on a doll and Federico had to peel a potato. It started really pouring then! I managed to get under someone's umbrella and others ran back onto the bus. After the couple finished their tasks, a gift was given to the two men.

We then drove to Tehumardi Recreation Centre where we were again assigned cabins. Once we freshened up, we walked over to the firehouse which is a large dining hall with a very pretty fireplace in the middle. Once we had finished eating, some more roles were given out to different guests. One guy had to yell out “cuckoo” like a clock every half hour, a girl had to kiss as many people on the cheek as she could with her red lipstick and someone had to give a toast every time it got quiet. The role of bodyguard was also given out to protect the bride from being kidnapped during the night! We learned some traditional dances, played some games, and sang some songs.

At one point, the bride was kidnapped! One of the men who had stopped us while driving earlier helped the groom arrange for his bride’s ransom. It was really funny to hear him on the speakerphone trying to make a deal, especially since the kidnapper was the bride’s “brother”. Eventually they made a deal of ten euros of vodka. The groom couldn’t get ten euros out of the guests, mostly because none of us had our wallets on us, but the kidnapper was satisfied with about five euros and vodka. However, Federico decided to play a joke on the kidnapper and filled an empty bottle with water. We watched from the window of the hall while the exchange took place and we got our bride back!

After a little dancing, I headed back to the cabin and fell asleep immediately. The next morning, Elisabeth, Laura and I walked over to the beach. We may or may not have walked on private property to get there, it was really hard to tell and we only realized we may be doing it on the way back.

After breakfast, we saw the Kaali Meteorite Crater and then an outdoor museum of a traditional Estonian fishing village. After a lunch and more singing, we drove to a place that had some very beautiful Estonian horses. Valeria and Federico completed some last wedding traditions, such as carrying her from the horse drawn carriage to the house. We all got a turn riding in a carriage before we had to drive back to the ferry station.

If you have seen the pictures, you can see it was a very fun and beautiful trip.

Now all I have left for my studies here is one oral exam tomorrow. Then I leave to visit Lia in New Jersey next Thursday. We are both really excited to see each other and get to see the Lion King and If/Then. I’ve loved it here, but I miss my home, Charleston and my friends so much!