The first item of the day was more orientation! We went to an auditorium/lecture hall sort of room behind the main university building. There we received a welcome from many of the UT (University of Tartu) staff. In addition we were given 'welcome bags' that were filled with helpful information, a reflector (which I'll talk about later) and a SIM card for our phones. From there we were introduced to some student organizations, such as the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). After that was a brief discussion on practical matters: life in Tartu, the IT system and psychological counselling.
At this point there was a coffee break. Everyone piled downstairs into a lobby area where drinks and snacks were provided. I had my first taste of non-American coffee! It wasn't bad at all, less bitter than American coffee to be sure (or that might have been the overabundance of cream and sugar that I added). I also had a few cookies and a few meat pies (which was small, croissant-like bread with meat and onions in the middle; very good). While there, I met up with the fourth girl from CofC (she had been studying in France previously). I also talked to a few of the people I had met the previous day. Most of the international students were talking about the party last night: how crazy it got, how much fun they had, how drunk they still were or how bad of a hangover they had. It was fairly amusing to listen to.
Upon returning to the auditorium there was a brief introduction of the admissions procedure for master's programmes. Admittedly I zoned out for most of this, as it was not particularly relevant to me (or really anyone else in the room for that matter). Following this was a very interesting talk on Estonians, Estonian culture and traditions, and national character stereotypes. The woman speaking discussed that Estonians are typically viewed as introverted and conscientious. But when Estonian individuals are asked they identify themselves as extroverts and not particularly hard-working. She also told us a rather amusing (to me) joke regarding Finnish people:
How do you tell the difference between a Finnish introvert and a Finnish extrovert?
A Finnish introvert looks at his shoes when talking, an extrovert looks at your shoes.
Our lecturer also discussed how Estonians are typically silent people. They are more comfortable than other cultures with silence and pauses in conversation. There is generally no small talk. Additionally she said that you commonly sought out information on your own and did not ask for help or assistance. People only asked others if there was no other avenue of gathering information yourself. This was probably why I felt that people didn't wish to answer my questions. Ah well, a lesson learned. She also mentioned that you were not supposed to take a seat next to somebody on the bus out of respect...which of course was something I did on my way to Tartu. I'm already breaking culturally understood guidelines! Hurray.
After this, a former international student went over a few survival tips. These were mostly relating to classes: conventions for attendance, homework deadlines and communication with the professor. They were all similar to what I'm used to at home, so no surprises there. She talked about places to visit and a few important landmarks in Tartu. And lastly holidays! There is a midsummer festival on the 24th of June that is supposedly the largest holiday in Estonia. I'm really looking forward to attending this.
Next were some actual academic facts and advice from the Student Exchange Coordinator. And lastly a spiel about Russian language courses. The guy presenting this was very personable and funny. And, for lack of a better way to say it, he looked and spoke in a very typical Russian manner. He was tall, bald, somewhat intimidating looking and had a rather thick accent.
Once I took care of some class coordination at the dorm, my roommate and Sarah and I went out to run some errands. We first stopped at Swedbank, where they began their paperwork to open an account and I completed my process. I now have an overseas bank account, how exciting. I have access to internet banking and I will need to pick up my debit card next week on Wednesday. I was surprised at how easy it was, and they have interesting security measures in place. In addition to a userID and password you are given a plastic card with 72 pin numbers. Each time you wish to access your account online you must provide one of those pin numbers, randomly selected each time. I'd never heard of anything like this so it was an interesting idea to me.
After the bank we headed over to the shopping mall that a few of us discovered a few days ago. There we purchased a few household items, backpacks and a few school supplies.
We all split up to deposit our purchases in our dorm rooms, then met back downstairs to go get dinner. We ended up going to a small place just off of the town square by the name of Runnipizza. For dinner we got...you guessed it, pizza. It was surprisingly good. It was thinner and made with less sauce than the pizza back home, but it was still delicious and pizza-y. The kind I ordered was cheese, sausage and garlic.
A couple hours were spent at the restaurant just talking, which was nice. But we were all tired, so eventually we headed back to the dorm. Here I started to try and organize myself, my papers and all of my things. Not the easiest task but I'm slowly making my way through it. I've accumulated quite the collection of papers and items. Among them is my reflector! (I told you I'd talk about it later). These are worn on the right side, near our knees. It's part of Estonian law to wear them at night time so that cars can see pedestrians. It is especially important in the winter months, as it gets dark very early.
I've also gained quite the collection of coins. They are easily my least favorite form of currency and I was displeased to know that they are so commonly used here; there are no 1 and 2 euro bills, they are in coin form instead. This was something I found odd and am somewhat struggling to adjust to, I definitely prefer my paper money. But I did make a little box for my coins (or at least the ones I wasn't carrying) so that they weren't always strewn across my desk. That was entertaining for about 2 minutes.
Another good, but exhausting day. Tomorrow is Friday and the last big day of orientation!
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