Back in Tallinn and waiting for pizza

Well these past few days have sure been eventful to say the least! Let's start out on Wednesday, when I woke up to see my right hand was swollen almost 3 times its normal size and the left one wasn't far behind. Once I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things, I recruited Hailey (my roomie) to knock on our professor's door for me since I was unable to. For the next few hours, me and the prof bonded in the Tartu ER as we patiently waited to see what the hell was going on with my hands.

Turns out, some bug bit me and I had a reaction. It was uncomfortable but not painful, so they gave me some meds and sent me off.

The Estonian ER turned out to be quite nice. I paid 17 Euro to have blood drawn, and for the meds. Everything was efficient and straight to the point, much better than waiting for 6 hours in an ER in the US then having to deal with insurance and a few hundred dollars down the drain.

Anyways.

After that fiasco, we met with a few companies later in the week, my favorite being Fraktal, a start up design business in Tartu. A few young, talented guys run this company that deals with web design and programs for people looking to build their own websites. They also do their own photography and graphic design.

One thing that I really latched onto in the meeting was how the guy we were talking to was explaining their work as a balance of technical work with design work. This is almost exactly what I'm looking for in terms of what I want to do, so I found talking to him really interesting.

Tartu Town Square

University of Tartu

Meatballs in tomato sauce, potatoes and salad.

Thursday, we toured A Le Coq, an Estonian brewery.

Once Thursday night hit, we were all exhausted. We were in bed by 10 that night, and up at 5:30 the next morning to catch a bus to Saaremaa, an island off the coast of Estonia. Here, we stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast on a farm, and were fed the most amazing home cooked meals we've had on the trip so far. We were very happy.

View from our room, looking out over the neighbor's farm

Lunch! Wild boar soup I believe?

Open face hot ham&cheese with pineapple and veggies

Country road

We spent Saturday on a private tour around the main highlights of the island, which was super fun. We had gorgeous weather and a wonderful lunch, might I add. We went to this place where you catch your own fish (rainbow trout) and they cook it for you right there, then serve it. It was aaahhhmazing.

Our catch!

Nothing like a fresh trout lunch

Me and the Baltic Sea

Windmill

All the fresh air and sun left us exhausted but relaxed at the end of the day. We were treated to fresh pork chops and polish sausage on the grill, as well as fresh salad greens and potatoes. Yuuum.

The weekend on the island was much needed, I was getting a little tired of the city life. Estonia has definitely surprised me, about 50% of the country is forest, and as we drove through it all, I can't help but say how beautiful it is here. The woods seem to go on forever, and the trees are so dense, I just can't help but imagine hiking through them. (I might get to do so later this week, after the program ends!)

Now, we're sitting in our hostel in Tallinn, waiting for some pizza to be delivered. We spent the day in Kuressare, a smaller town on Saaremaa. It was pleasant out, we saw the Baltic Sea and hiked around a bit before catching a bus to Tallinn.

The official program ends on Wednesday, and I'm meeting the rents in Helsinki on Friday. Can't wait!

Also, Happy Father's Day! I was bummed I couldn't go for a ball busting bike or run today with my dad, but I'm sure we'll make up for it this weekend in Finland and Russia.