(no subject)
Let's see if I can remember enough of wednesday to write about it.
First event of the day was the opening ceremony of the academic year, for which the school had rented a part of the national library of Estonia (very impressive building by the way). The ceremony was in Estonian, but you could get headphones with an english translation. Very dignified, but also with funny moments, such as when our lead party organiser (one of the tutors) walked in at the beginning carrying the school's flag - escorted by two female exchange students, one of them one of the girls from Cologne. The school's own chamber choir performed several times - Gaudeamus Igitur, the Estonian anthem, and couple of songs in Estonian. It would be nice if we had something like this back home.
Afterwards Maxime, another Frenchman (sorry, name slipped my mind) and I talked to a german guy who asked if we were planning to go to the Estonia-Italy football match on friday. After a short discussion we decided we would and headed off to the large shopping center in the middle of town, where there's also a ticket agency.
Later in the day we all met up in front of EBS for the freshman introduction bus tour. As the name implies, this wasn't just for exchange students, but for everyone starting their studies this semester. They divided us into teams, took us out into the countryside, gave us Rum-Cola, and made us compete with each other in egg-throwing (one member of the team throws, one has to catch. Luckily I managed to be last in line, so I didn't have to catch - sorry, I like my jacket too much to take that risk :p), tug of war (we won that one!), and answering a tricky question (who can find the answer fastest using their smartphone? ;)). Then it was back to the city, where we got additional challenges: The tutors gave each team an EBS tie that we had to exchange for something valuable. The team getting the most valuable item would win. I actually never found out what we brought back, because there was an additional challenge: Taking a photo representing a certain event at the school. We split up and since I had my Eos with me, I was obviously going with the photo group. We had to take a picture representing the "EBS International Soccer Cup", so we went again to the shopping center, located a sports store, borrowed a few footballs (good thing we had some locals to do the negotiations in our group, I'm not sure it would have worked otherwise) and posed outside for the picture. We managed to get three to choose from before a security guard appeared and informed us that taking photos in shopping centers is apparently forbidden here.
Next stop was EBS again, where all the teams met up to turn in their results and get the points counted. I don't remember who won, but it wasn't us. Then we were made to recite the oath of the freshman (which would have been better without a spelling or grammatical error in every sentence.
It was a somewhat odd experience, especially if you're not used to such events and ceremonies from german universities, but it's really a good way to instill a sense of community and camaraderie into new students. The night was supposed to continue at Embassy, a nice bar we had visited during the pub crawl. Unfortunately the group was seperated at a red light. I ended up going with Peter (the german guy mentioned above asking about going to the football game) and a Russian called Daniel who is doing his whole degree here. After a while we managed to find the place on our own. There weren't many students there, and most were Estonians, so I just had a drink with Peter (Daniel had disappeared for a while and returned later) and talked to him for a while. About half an hour later the place started to fill up with more students. We decided to move to another bar, where pretty much all the finnish exchange students had gathered. So there the rest of the evening was spent talking, drinking and genereally being happy. Our table consisted of a Spaniard (again, name forgotten. I can't remember names anymore, you just meet too many people), Peter, Daniel, a finnish girl who was a friend of Peter's, me, and another very nice finnish girl (who answered "what music do you like" with "progressive rock", likes Dream Theater and knows Stratovarius (OK, she IS finnish) - impressive ;)). Later on a few people decided to move on to a nightclub, but at that point I decided I had to call it a night, so I went home and waited for the room to stop spinning.
First event of the day was the opening ceremony of the academic year, for which the school had rented a part of the national library of Estonia (very impressive building by the way). The ceremony was in Estonian, but you could get headphones with an english translation. Very dignified, but also with funny moments, such as when our lead party organiser (one of the tutors) walked in at the beginning carrying the school's flag - escorted by two female exchange students, one of them one of the girls from Cologne. The school's own chamber choir performed several times - Gaudeamus Igitur, the Estonian anthem, and couple of songs in Estonian. It would be nice if we had something like this back home.
Afterwards Maxime, another Frenchman (sorry, name slipped my mind) and I talked to a german guy who asked if we were planning to go to the Estonia-Italy football match on friday. After a short discussion we decided we would and headed off to the large shopping center in the middle of town, where there's also a ticket agency.
Later in the day we all met up in front of EBS for the freshman introduction bus tour. As the name implies, this wasn't just for exchange students, but for everyone starting their studies this semester. They divided us into teams, took us out into the countryside, gave us Rum-Cola, and made us compete with each other in egg-throwing (one member of the team throws, one has to catch. Luckily I managed to be last in line, so I didn't have to catch - sorry, I like my jacket too much to take that risk :p), tug of war (we won that one!), and answering a tricky question (who can find the answer fastest using their smartphone? ;)). Then it was back to the city, where we got additional challenges: The tutors gave each team an EBS tie that we had to exchange for something valuable. The team getting the most valuable item would win. I actually never found out what we brought back, because there was an additional challenge: Taking a photo representing a certain event at the school. We split up and since I had my Eos with me, I was obviously going with the photo group. We had to take a picture representing the "EBS International Soccer Cup", so we went again to the shopping center, located a sports store, borrowed a few footballs (good thing we had some locals to do the negotiations in our group, I'm not sure it would have worked otherwise) and posed outside for the picture. We managed to get three to choose from before a security guard appeared and informed us that taking photos in shopping centers is apparently forbidden here.
Next stop was EBS again, where all the teams met up to turn in their results and get the points counted. I don't remember who won, but it wasn't us. Then we were made to recite the oath of the freshman (which would have been better without a spelling or grammatical error in every sentence.
It was a somewhat odd experience, especially if you're not used to such events and ceremonies from german universities, but it's really a good way to instill a sense of community and camaraderie into new students. The night was supposed to continue at Embassy, a nice bar we had visited during the pub crawl. Unfortunately the group was seperated at a red light. I ended up going with Peter (the german guy mentioned above asking about going to the football game) and a Russian called Daniel who is doing his whole degree here. After a while we managed to find the place on our own. There weren't many students there, and most were Estonians, so I just had a drink with Peter (Daniel had disappeared for a while and returned later) and talked to him for a while. About half an hour later the place started to fill up with more students. We decided to move to another bar, where pretty much all the finnish exchange students had gathered. So there the rest of the evening was spent talking, drinking and genereally being happy. Our table consisted of a Spaniard (again, name forgotten. I can't remember names anymore, you just meet too many people), Peter, Daniel, a finnish girl who was a friend of Peter's, me, and another very nice finnish girl (who answered "what music do you like" with "progressive rock", likes Dream Theater and knows Stratovarius (OK, she IS finnish) - impressive ;)). Later on a few people decided to move on to a nightclub, but at that point I decided I had to call it a night, so I went home and waited for the room to stop spinning.