Quite a long read as I decided to consolidate the entire trip into one entry. Buckle up.

Saturday

My trip to Lithuania initiated when Sarah, Ariail and I left the dorm at 1:40ish and headed over to the bus station. The bus arrived on time at 2:10 and we were off to Riga in Latvia, our first stop. The bus itself was fairly nice, the seats were comfortable. There was free coffee, free WiFi and multimedia screens on the back of every seat (movies, music etc). When we first got on the bus, the man checked our ticket and IDs and we boarded to find our seats. They were taken, so we picked something in the back. Luckily we all were able to get double seats to ourselves, so sleeping on the bus was much easier.

The bus ride itself was bumpy to say the least. It was akin to riding a plane that constantly had minor turbulence. I wasn't sure if it was the roads, the bus, or a combination of the two. Eventually I got used to it, though it was disconcerting for the first hour or so and gave me a bit of motion sickness.

I woke up about 20 minutes before we were to arrive at the bus stop in Riga. I spent the time observing what I could of the city and its surroundings. I counted at least 3 McDonalds, which was somewhat amusing to me. The city also seemed much more spread out and...low to the ground than the cities back in the US. I found myself comparing it to Atlanta, which has a lot of very tall buildings, close construction and winding roads. Nonetheless what I saw of the city was nice.

When we arrived in Riga it was somewhat odd that there were no signs saying "Hey you're in Riga!". We could've been in any random Latvian country, but we were (thankfully) in the right place. It just struck me as strange, I suppose they assume that people won't get on the wrong bus. Luckily there was an indoor aspect to the bus station, so we were able to stay inside. (Though I can't say it was all that much warmer, I was still freezing and they didn't seem to have any good heat system.)

Got on the second bus at 7:20. Although it said it had free wifi, and there was a connection available, the internet didn't work. So that was a bit of a disappointment. I managed to sleep through the majority of the bus ride, waking up about 10 minutes before we arrived. That was much needed, as I was quite tired during the layover between buses. While we were driving through Vilnius to get to the bus stop I took the time to look around. There were quite a lot of steep hills, and I couldn't help but notice the cut-banks and think to myself "Oh they're just asking for a landslide." It seems that despite my best efforts I did end up learning something in Geology. We also drove through a tunnel, which was unnecessarily exciting for me.

Once we got to the bus station we grabbed our stuff and headed off in the direction of the apartment we were staying at. We spotted a McDonalds, and as I had been craving fast food earlier, I suggested we stop there for lunch/breakfast. Everyone agreed and in we went. I felt almost unpatriotic, as this ended up being the first time I'd ever ordered a Big Mac, and it was in a foreign country. I channeled my inner-Paul and devoured it in under 1 minute; it was quite good.

While we initially intended to grab food and then head to the apartment for a nap, none of us were really tired enough. I had gotten coffee at McDonalds, Ariail made coffee for herself when we got to the apartment and Sarah made some tea later on.

We were staying in an apartment with one bathroom, one bedroom and a full living room and kitchen. It's really quite cozy and I enjoy the trinkets everywhere. Hard to describe the feeling I get from it: I'd have to go with homey, perhaps a bit quaint. Regardless, I really enjoy the atmosphere and believe that I'll be very comfortable here for the weekend. After exploring the apartment for a bit we ended up lounging about on the couch and watching the 7th Harry Potter movie. It was around 3pm when we finally motivated ourselves to get outside and walk around a bit.

The streets here are so charming, all of the buildings possess unique styles that fit together with their surroundings in a sort of old-town puzzle. There is a lot of architectural variety, some streets are Gothic, some are Renaissance, and some are Baroque. It's hard to describe, but that's what photographs are for! We passed by an open market, I stopped to look at some of the amber items. (Amber seems to be one of the main commodities of the Baltic countries, as it's popular in Estonia as well.) I definitely would like to return and maybe purchase something, as there is a better selection of amber here than in Tartu. After passing the market we wandered around the streets for a while, stopping occasionally to take pictures or get a closer look at a particular building.

Though I admired the appearance of the streets, the design was not so great. The sidewalks on the older streets were very very narrow (so much so that two people would be hard pressed to walk side by side), and the actual streets were cobblestone. The drivers here are some of the most impatient I've seen. Almost all of them speed around, and more often than not someone is honking at somebody else. A good amount of the crosswalks don't have lights at them, so you just have to start walking. This is slightly concerning on some of the busier streets, and we were mostly convinced we'd get run over every time we crossed a street.

Eventually we looped around back towards the apartment, stopping in two shops along the way. The first was a second-hand store that we were in for only a minute or two, and the second was a vintage clothing store that had several amusing selections, as well as a few nice ones. There was a particular leather jacket that I was looking at that would have been absolutely perfect if it hadn't been a tad on the short side (it ended up just above my waist, which is normally okay but I prefer my jackets to be a bit longer.) I was rather disappointed, as I've been looking for a nice leather jacket for a while, but I'm determined to find one before I head back to the states.

Once we were done browsing the shops we went back to the apartment to check if we had a brownie pan. One of our goals while here was to bake brownies. Don't question it, we've just all been craving home-made brownies and don't have access to an oven back in Tartu. After finding one we waited around for about half an hour before heading back out to get dinner.

We went to a German restaurant called Bunte Gans that was only a few minutes away from the apartment. It was absolutely amazing. The food was delicious, and we got a lot for the price. I ended up ordering Wiener Schnitzel (veal) with pan-fried potatoes and red cabbage. Ariail had ordered a draft beer that I tried, and liked, so I ended up ordering one for myself. It was a Zoller-Hof Hefe Weizen (not that the name means anything to most people). I enjoyed the taste and it was a fairly smooth beer, but I wasn't able to finish the entire glass. The food was so delicious, and the portion was perfect. We also ordered creme-brule for desert that was incredibly good.

Due to the inflation rate here the prices are obviously much higher than what I'm used to, but it ends up being about the same. Still, I have moments when I see a high price tag on something and I'm completely taken aback before I realize that's normal.

After dinner we walked back to the apartment, watched a movie (the 8th Harry Potter) and went to bed around 11/12ish.

Sunday

We all got up around 10:50, groggily making our way out of bed. Ariail ended up making chocolate pancakes and coffee, so we were all very happy and well-fed. We lazed around for about an hour before motivating ourselves to get dressed and go outside.

We started by walking through the market we had passed the previous day. Most of the same stalls were there, with the addition of a lot of art (paintings and drawings). There were an odd number of stylized cat pictures, but otherwise the display was dominated by some beautiful landscapes and cityscapes. I ended up purchasing an ink and watercolor drawing that I thought was quite lovely. I also stopped by the amber stalls again and got a few things.

After this we headed towards The Vilnius Cathedral, or in Lithuanian: Vilniaus Šv. Stanislovo ir Šv. Vladislovo arkikatedra bazilika (Vilnius Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Vladislav). It's the main Roman Catholic Cathedral of Lithuania and it's located right in the Old Town. The outside of the building is very large, with many statues and details. It's quite impressive to look at, but the inside is what really struck me. I did not take pictures of the interior, but it was quite breathtaking, I assure you. The intricate details in the carvings on the walls and the ceiling, the subtle gold accents, the paintings, the statues; everything was beautiful. And there was a sort of hushed feeling inside, it was very peaceful and quiet. I felt a reverence towards the people that were able to construct something like this. I've always enjoyed churches for this reason, and some of the structures that are created are incredible; this one being no exception.

After we explored the cathedral we headed down a sort of main street. There were many shops and restaurants lining this walk, and it was fun to compare it to something like King Street back in Charleston. As we were walking we passed a man playing an accordion, quite well I might add. It was a very simple thing that made me very happy for no particular reason. As we continued to walk we stopped in a small grocery store to look around.

I've discovered that it is extremely interesting, and almost educational, to visit grocery stores in different places. There's always a variety of familiar and unfamiliar foods. For example, in Tartu I've been unable to find canned soup. However, in the store we stopped at they had a whole shelf of it, and I couldn't help but to buy a can. They also had a most curious collection of items: canned alcoholic drinks. Pre-mixed alcohol such as gin and tonic, rum and coke, and several others. It struck me as somewhat odd, and also amusing. I can't imagine they taste fantastic, but perhaps it's the convenience of it all.

After we left the store we decided to climb up to the Three Crosses on Bleak Hill. The first few minutes of the walk there were very nice. It was a dirt pathway bordered by a river on the right side and the forested hillside on the left. The sound of the river running over stones, the smell of the wet dirt and leaves and the quiet murmur of conversation from passer-bys was all very peaceful. This peace ended quite abruptly when I spotted the intimidatingly high stairs we'd need to walk. Not only were they steep and numerous, but they were...sketchy to say the least. Wooden stairs that looked well worn with several spots where one of the treads had broken off, so you had to skip a few steps. Going up wasn't too bad, it was just a bit of a work out. The view at the top was well worth it though. The Three Crosses were nice to look at, but the real treasure was being able to look out over Vilnius. It also helped that it was a gorgeous day: 45°F and sunny. After resting and taking a few pictures we started our track back down. Now although going up was more physically strenuous, I hated going down. I'm not scared of heights, but walking down those stairs was mildly terrifying. Nevertheless I soldiered through and made it to solid ground without incident.

We headed towards the market area again, cutting through a park on our way. We gave a cursory look over some of the stalls again before deciding to get lunch. There was a kiosk of sorts called Kebob that we chose. We all got beef wraps that ended up being quite delicious. It consisted of beef (obviously), tomatoes, lettuce, jalapenos and two kinds of sauce. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Once we all finished eating we headed back to the apartment. We ended up just relaxing for a few hours, before Ariail headed to the grocery store to buy ingredients for dinner. Once she got back to the apartment she started cooking. She's probably the main reason Sara and I didn't starve. She made sausage (well, really hot dogs because she couldn't find any bratwurst) cooked with red peppers and tomatoes with a side of pan-fried potatoes. It was very delicious.

After about half an hour, Ariail got back up and started baking brownies. (I really am getting spoiled here.) We ate them with some vanilla ice cream we purchased yesterday. They were excellent. We decided to watch another movie; Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was the film of choice. Honestly, none of us were paying a whole lot of attention, but it was something to do. After it was over we all shambled off to bed. The plan for tomorrow is to get up around 10 and visit a few shops that were closed for Sunday. After that it's to the bus stop where we'll leave at 12 and be back in Tartu by 10.

Monday

Our last day in Vilnius. Though our intention was to get up around 10, none of us really joined the world of the living until 11. Ariail made pancakes again so that we could use up the ingredients we purchased. After we'd eaten we all packed up our stuff and made one last venture outside. We wanted to check out a boutique that hadn't been open on Sunday. However, even though it said that it opened at 11, it was still closed when we arrived. Instead, we went to the vintage boutique that we'd visited on Saturday. There Ariail purchased a shirt and Sarah got a bracelet.

We headed back to the apartment to grab our stuff and make our way to the bus stop. It was around a 15 minute walk so we thought it best to leave early. Made it there with plenty of time to spare, found our platform and the bus was already there (since it was the first stop). Once we were on the bus I intended to work on some homework with my computer. I was hoping that since the bus has sockets for you to charge things, and say they have 220v power, that it would be, oh I don't know, actually functioning. But no such luck. Apparently the power doesn't work, as not even the lights would turn on.

That's what laptops are for I guess. Still, I don't particularly like reading while in moving vehicles, so I didn't get much done. I messed around for a bit until the internet cut out, then napped for about an hour. The rest of the time was spent zoning out while listening to music.

Once we arrived in Riga, Latvia we checked our bags at the bus station and headed outside to find some food. Sarah and I went to McDonalds while Ariail went to check out an old church before sunset. I wanted to go but I was too hungry. After Ariail met up with us and we all finished eating we decided to explore the city for a while. The architectural styles on some of the older streets are similar to Vilnius, but there was more of a city-atmosphere to Riga. This is probably because we spent the majority of our time in the Old Town while visiting Vilnius, while we were in the heart of Riga. It's really quite a large city, and it was fun to explore. There were the always-glorious bendy buses, as well as a new kind of bus (for me). I shall dub it the train bus. They ran on tracks in the ground and were attached to wires above the streets. Pretty interesting to watch them go around. Also, mind-blowingly enough, there were BENDY TRAIN BUSES. Crazy stuff.

After walking around for a bit we stopped in a small bakery. The smell was absolutely delicious. I was full from eating earlier, but Ariail ordered a latte and pecan pie, while Sarah just ordered a latte. I was content to just sit there and enjoy the atmosphere. Once they'd finished and we'd all relaxed enough we headed back out. At this point we just wandered the streets for a while. We ended up stopping in one boutique for several minutes before deciding to head back to the bus station.

Another 10 minute wait and we retrieved our luggage and headed over to our bus platform to board the bus. Unfortunately we no longer had the luxury of two seats to ourselves, as this bus was absolutely full. The bus ride was, for the most part uneventful. The woman next to Sarah kept talking in her sleep and there were a lot of times when the bus pulled over (I assume so the driver could take a break, but I don't know). Oh, he also pulled over a few times to talk on the phone. I guess that's preferable to driving and talking, but aren't bus drivers not supposed to do that?

Well apparently we lost some lady at one of the bus stops. We ended up turning around to get to a town 30 minutes behind us to...pick her up? I'm really unclear on what was going on; people were asking questions but speaking a different language, so I couldn't follow. Ariail asked the person sitting behind us and she said that we'd lost a woman. So I guess that's what happened. Still, all this detouring was extremely frustrating, as I just wanted to get back to Tartu in order to finish my homework and go to bed. One saving grace was the fact that the WiFi worked for the majority of the bus ride, only cutting out a few times.

Ended up arriving an hour and 15 minutes later than we were supposed to. That was probably the most frustrating/stressful thing about the whole trip.

That was really the only snag for the entire weekend. I had a great time, and it was fantastic to experience a new place. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to do this, and with good friends. I probably would've been lost without Sarah and Ariail, since this was really my first time travelling around a foreign place, and they both had a bit more experience. Bottom line: I had fun and I'm looking forward to plan another weekend trip!

First class of the day: cloud computing lab. (Lab: for those that are interested.) During this lab there were server errors a-plenty. It was rather irritating to have these issues, as the lab itself was quite simple and could've been completed much faster if the schools severs were working properly. They were simply not equipped to handle the amount of people trying to create instances, create snapshots, create security groups etc. The lab teacher actually had to go in and terminate a few of them to create room for the rest of the class. Regardless of the roadblocks, I still finished in just under an hour. The downside to this is that I had an hour to kill before my next class. I didn't wish to sit around in the hallways, so it was obviously the perfect time to finally get the coffee I've been craving. Annnd indulge in another slice of that Cappuccino Creme Brule cake. (Perhaps next time I'll just get a pastry, as this cake is quite rich, though I'll just work it off by going up that hill again.) It's too delicious not to get. The cafe really does have a lovely atmosphere, I felt very comfortable sitting down with my coffee and my computer and just relaxing for an hour. (Plus it's not infested with hipsters like Starbucks is prone to be.) It was nice to just be able to sit calmly and gaze out onto the snowy landscape and watch people walk by on the street. A rare moment of peace that that I thoroughly enjoyed.

But all good things must come to an end, and this was no exception. I had to head back to the CS building for my last class of the week. As always, my estimation of time is miserable, so I arrived quite early. But it was okay, as I got to talk to one of my classmates. He found it strange that this was my first real experience with snow. (I don't count the few years I spent in Kentucky, as I was quite young.) We also discussed some of the differences between education here and education back in the US. (Such as the 3 year vs 4 year undergraduate program, busy work vs exams etc). The lectures for this course (Coding Theory) are recorded, so I probably could've skipped class if I wanted, but I decided to attend anyway as I had a few errands to run afterwards.

I'm starting to feel like a broken record, so just assume that all of my classes are interesting unless stated otherwise. Today's practice lecture covered more theorems regarding finite fields and began a discussion on polynomials over a finite field.

After class I stopped by the multimedia center to print out my bus ticket, Ariail's bus ticket and my Crypto homework. The location is super convenient and it's very cheap to print. After finishing that I met up with Sarah and Ariail to go over to the bank and exchange our euros for some Lithuanian Litas. 1 euro is equal to about 3.45 Litas, and their inflation rate is pretty crazy. It's around 11% and the major thing preventing them from converting to the euro, though they are already part of the European union.

Regardless, I'm pretty excited for this trip, even though I have to stay up late for the bus ride. (I'd end up staying up even later, given that it's a weekend. I'm just not a fan of buses/cars.)

I intended to spend the afternoon getting my homework done, but me being me that fell through. I ended up messing around on the internet, looking at clothes and talking to Katie for several hours. Eventually I went to the kitchen and cooked myself some dinner. I made the same dish as the other night: sauteed mushrooms and garlic with rice. I wanted to use up the mushrooms before I left for the weekend.

After eating, I showered and commenced packing. I basically just grabbed a handful of clothes and threw them into my duffel bag. Packing complete! Now I'm going to relax for a few hours before meeting with Sarah and Ariail downstairs at 1:40 to head over to the bus stop. I'm very excited and I'm sure that I'll have a fantastic time! And rest assured, I will report on and document all of my adventures through words and gratuitous amounts of photographs.

Well for all the praise I gave the weather yesterday, I woke up this morning and lo and behold, the forecast weather for the day: snow. On the way to class this morning it was cold, but not snowing yet. However, on my way back around 12 it had started snowing. It was actually my first time walking outside while it was snowing, it's a somewhat interesting sensation. For the most part it didn't bother me, but the one irritating thing is snowflakes in the eyes. It's not a fun feeling.

My first class of the day was Principles of Secure Software Design (I'll probably take to calling it SSD [not to be confused with a solid-state drive], as the teacher started doing). Like every other class, this one remains interesting and entertaining. We had a short review of last week's lecture at the start of the class, and then moved on to security modelling! This is basically creating a visual description of a system containing its own phenomena, and its own relationships among those phenomena. We talked about different modelling languages and delved into some real specifics involving them. There was also an in-class assignment to analyze a model for different things. Assessing what the IS and business assets were, security criterion, risk-related concepts and risk-treatment. I found it fairly straightforward, but apparently some people were struggling with the concept. It was homework but I ended up completing it before the lecture was over and turned it in early. (Less homework for the weekend!)

The teacher also notified us that he'd posted our Essay topics. Hurray! (read: oh please no) We were instructed to pick 3 topics, listed in order of interest. Since only 32 topics were listed and there were 60 people in the class, I knew I had to pick mine as early as possible. I selected it this evening and due to my prompt response I was awarded with the one I wanted! Administrating Role-based Access Control. Now, I'm not entirely sure the direction I'm going with this, or even what material I'm covering. But it sounded vaguely interesting and somewhat manageable, so hopefully I'll be able to scrounge up a good essay. This will also be my first foray into technical writing, so that's always interesting.

Once I got back to the dorm the snow had really picked up, it wasn't too drastic, but it's been coming down very steadily and in large quantities. It's started to stick to the ground; it's odd to see the grass slowly covered up with snow since I'd gotten used to seeing it un-obscured. It looks like a slow dusting of powdered sugar.

After a few hours of doing nothing (mostly staring out the window watching the world turn white), (and if you haven't learned by now I'm generally unproductive in my free time) I headed off to my second class, Crypto lab! Today we dealt with examples of a one-time pad encryption and a Linear Feedback Shift Register. The first example was a bit fuzzy on the details, and I wasn't really grasping the point of it all. However I really enjoyed working with the LFSR, as it was more straightforward linear algebra that I had a strong understanding of. My favorite thing about mathematics and CS is when things really click in my mind, and you can look back and see the logical progression of it all. It's a very satisfying feeling (for me) to solve a problem like that. After class it was back out into the (now snow-covered) world.

The snow was...is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. Words cannot hope to capture the ethereal quality that freshly fallen snow possesses. Even pictures can't accurately portray how beautiful it is. When I arrived in Estonia it was, of course, covered in snow and most everything was frozen over. This was very pretty in its own right, but everything was trodden over and frankly a bit muddy and dirty. Having gotten used to the lack of snow after a week or so, and then to see everything blanketed in pure white untouched snow is just...enchanting.

I took my time walking home after my last class. It got out at 6pm so, of course, it was completely dark. However with the streetlights on there was the perfect amount of lighting to highlight the snow in a way that was, again, breathtaking. It also brought out the 12-year old in me. I detoured through the park and was definitely NOT: jumping around in the snow, scooping it up, making snowballs and generally frolicking. I probably looked like a lunatic, I had a huge smile on my face the entire time, and for most of my way home. The only thing preventing me from dropping to the ground and rolling around/making snow angels was the fact that I had my backpack on. And there was only a couple of inches, minor details.

I could wax poetic about the snow for days, but I'm sure those that have experienced snow are disillusioned, and those that haven't don't particularly care that much. And honestly, I'm probably only appreciative of it because it's new to me, and I don't have to drive in it. I really do feel bad for all those that have to scrape ice and snow off their cars.

I'm now anxiously anticipating the completion of classes tomorrow, as I'll be heading off to Vilnius, Lithuania for the weekend! I'm going with Sarah and Ariail and I couldn't be more excited. I love exploring new places, and Vilnius looks absolutely gorgeous. It's jam packed with museums and old churches, which I find fascinating. So it should be a good time for all of us. The only drawback is that we're leaving at 2:10am on Saturday and the bus ride is very long. We won't be arriving in Vilnius until 11:30 that day. We'll definitely (not) sleep on the bus. And rest assured, I will take gratuitous amounts of pictures.

Praise be, the sun was out again today! It's basically the start of spring in Estonia at this point. It's been predicted that the snow will end with February and we'll get into spring unseasonably early. (Typically the last snow is well into April). This is definitely okay with me, as the cold isn't too bad. It's just the ice that I dislike.

Anyway, today I went to the migration office! I met my tutor and Ariail at the town center and off we went. The office was a good distance away, so we took the bus. This was my first experience with the public transit system here, it's honestly pretty efficient. The tickets for the bus are purchased in a kiosk. Most of the people working there don't speak English, so I was grateful to have my tutor with me. I bought two tickets, which were just .51 euros with a student discount. It took us a little under 20 minutes to get to the migration office. Once we got off the bus there was a short walk to actually get there.

The office was similar to a DMV, but a bit more organized. We began by getting our pictures taken in a little booth. I probably looked slightly insane as Ariail made me laugh as I was taking my first picture. The other two turned out okay, so that's what matters I suppose. Next we got our tickets and began our wait. It was only around 15 minutes or so, nothing too bad. Once my number was up I went up to the appropriate area. The woman working at that desk didn't speak any English whatsoever, so again I was very very grateful to have my tutor translating for me. I felt a bit stupid for not understanding anything, but I suppose there's nothing to be done about it. I was mostly just there to sign a few things, provide my passport and get my fingerprints taken. It took quite a while for her to type in all the information, but the process was very simple. Once all the paperwork was done and I paid the fee of 63,91 euros I was free to go. I'll receive notification by mail and by email once my residence permit is ready. (Typically the wait is around 2 months). So I'm on my way to being an official Estonian citizen!

After everything was done we went to another bus stop, waited for around 10 minutes and were back on our way to the town center. Again, ~20 minute bus ride. Once we arrived we parted ways with my tutor, again thanking her profusely (we really would've been lost without her) and headed over to Swedbank so Ariail could pick up her bank card. She finished that in a few minutes and we went back to the dorm.

It took me a while to muster up the motivation to do my laundry, but after an hour or so I eventually started it. I'm glad that I don't have to lug all my clothes to a laundromat or anything, it's nice and convenient to do laundry in the same building. (Plus I don't have to brave the cold more often). After I finished putting all my clothes away I decided to stay on the motivation train and go to the grocery store.

I only intended to go and pick up a few items, but I ended up getting garlic and mushrooms so that I could make a nicer dinner for myself tonight. I decided to saute some mushrooms in the garlic and then mix them with the rice. It ended up being very delicious. It was nice to have a meal that didn't consist completely of carbs.

I may have gotten a little to used to sleeping in. Getting up at 9am was pretty brutal for me. At least it doesn't take that long for me to eat breakfast and get ready. The weather honestly wasn't too bad today. There's still no sign of the sun, but at least it wasn't foggy or rainy. Yes, it's still cold to me, but high 30s is easily tolerated (and I'd certainly prefer that over 20 degree weather). In fact, it's so unseasonably warm here that the ice on the river is melting. While it seems a natural progression to me, this is apparently crazy early for it to be this warm.

My first class of the day was Intro to Coding Theory. Teacher is still good and material is still interesting. (Noticing a trend? I'm happy with all my classes!) We did a quick review and then jumped into a discussion on Block Code, Hamming Distances, Decoding Error Probabilities and Maximum Likelihood Decoding. Most of my classes consist of a lot of mathematical notation, which I haven't had for a couple semesters. It's taking getting used to but I've found that I missed the ease with which you can consolidate what would have been a complicated, long-winded statement into a few symbols.

Next item on the schedule was Religion and Politics. Luckily the building that this class is located in is just down the street from the CS building, so a quick 5 minute walk. It's nice to not feel like I'd be late for class at any point, as sometimes the teachers here are prone to letting us out late. Classes are typically supposed to run from (x):15 to (x+2):45, where x is the starting hour. This provides 30 minutes in between classes that would be back-to-back. The campus buildings are rather spread out, so it makes sense that the time is needed to navigate around the city. Anyway, back onto topic. The class itself was fairly interesting, the main focus of this lecture was secularism and secularization. (Secularism being a set of beliefs that advocates the marginalization of religion from other spheres of life, and Secularization being a general decline in religious individuals, religious practices, and a differentiation between religion and other spheres of society.)  The teacher is slightly difficult to understand because he's quite soft-spoken, but his english is clear enough. I just wish he'd speak a bit louder, any sort of noise (nose blowing, coughing, chair moving, etc) is enough to drown him out completely. Regardless, I'll have to deal with it. Regarding the actual content of the course, it was thought-provoking to say the least. No mind-blowingly amazing topics were brought up, but there were a few class discussions that were interesting to me. I always enjoy hearing people's views and opinions, and to listen to different cultural perspectives on religion and secularism was a great experience. One of the most striking (and amusing) things was the view that most people held of religion in the United States. The teacher made a comment while we were discussing secularization: he said that religion is still so prevalent in the US because our healthcare is so expensive. Needless to say, the other American students and I shared a good laugh. (Though I don't necessarily disagree with him.)

The teacher also encouraged discussion between students regarding our personal opinions. He posed the question of which among the processes accompanying modernization seemed to contribute the most and the least towards secularization. There were some interesting variances in opinion regarding this and I enjoyed the small discussions I was able to have. The more I think about it the more I'm glad that I decided to take this class. I think that with only CS courses I would have missed out on this cultural insight, and lost a chance to gain some new perspective. While I'm certainly immersing myself in a new culture just by being here, this allows for a more intricate view of some of the thought processes that Estonians, and individuals of other cultures, posses.

One last note regarding this class: there was a tidbit that the teacher said that I found quite thought-provoking. He asserted that religion has complete legitimacy over death. He said that Estonians are not church-going people and that they do not identify with any particular religion, but all of their soldiers are buried. Something of the religious influence remains present, even in a culture where religion is such a non-factor. Food for thought.

At this point I'd been through 4 hours of non-stop classes, I was pretty hungry and ready to go crash. But no such luck, I had one more class to go. Basics of Cloud Computing was next on my list. I confess that despite my best efforts to stay focused and pay attention I was zoning out after the first hour. For the time I did pay attention I was interested, but the teacher delved into a couple of long-winded but not actually necessary explanations of things that weren't able to hold my interest. We mostly covered specific cloud infrastructures and storage services such as: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Block Storage (EBS). We went into a LOT of detail regarding these, (too much in my opinion) but I'm not yet sure how we'll apply this knowledge.

Once class was over I headed over to the University Multimedia Center to pick up two documents I sent to be printed. I've been getting all of my papers together so that I can apply for my Estonian residence permit. I contacted my tutor (UT assigned student-guide sort of person) and asked for her assistance at the migration office, as it was advised to bring along somebody who could speak Estonian. I'll be meeting her and Ariail at the Town Center tomorrow at 12 to head over to the migration office and submit my application. I've been told the process takes a while, but hopefully it's not too bad. Not that I have anything better to do, I just like my free time! (No classes on Wednesday, thanks to my re-scheduling.)

Lesson of the day is: 6 hours of class with no break is absolutely exhausting.

Weekend

I had a glorious weekend filled with nothing to do. I mostly slept late and played video games. The short list of things I accomplished: I made a pen holder out of a water bottle, cleaned up my desk and managed to get some homework done.

Monday

Was a pretty good day overall, despite the outside world looking gloomy and rainy. I got up around 11 to start working on notes and readings for Religion and Politics. I confess myself rather excited for the course, as I always enjoy subjects such as these that force you to think from different perspectives. I think it will be especially interesting considering that in Estonia, religion is a huge non-factor when compared to the US. So far I've gone through the notes for the first lecture and I'm definitely interested. We'll see what the readings and tomorrow's lecture have to contribute.

After getting through the lecture notes I relaxed for about an hour before heading off to Crypto. Again the up-hill walk (I'm not going to stop complaining about this, if my legs don't look amazing by the time I'm done studying here I might just sue the school.) and up the stairs to get to class. I'm really enjoying this class, as the material is new enough that it engages my attention and gives me something to learn, but has enough of a familiar basis in mathematics that I don't have too much trouble understanding everything. The teacher also continues to be a generally funny guy, he moves about the room in an almost quirky way and always interjects amusing anecdotes into his lecture.

Today's lecture was on modern cryptography (past 60 years or so) and the application of mathematical definitions to the problem of encryption. How to define a system as secure using mathematics and prove it. This resulted in a bit of a refresher course on some mathematical notations, but I recalled it fairly quickly. We defined perfect secrecy by showing that the probability of getting ciphertext does not depend on the plaintext. (Given two distinct messages, the probability of getting the ciphertext is the same). We tested this definition against the encryption scheme called One-time pad where the key must be the same length as the message, and if that proves true it is perfectly secure.

We also went on to talk about Stream Ciphers as an encryption scheme that would allow you to use a shorter key instead of having to match the message length. And lastly we discussed how to build a Pseudo Random Generator and how they were historically made (with Linear Feedback Shift Registers). Very interesting stuff. I'm honestly very happy with this course so far and hope that future content continues to engage me.

I stopped at Metro again to grab some food for dinner. Ordered a coffee as well since I'd been craving some (and since I had reading to do), it ended up tasting awful and my dreams were crushed. Ah well, at least I know not to get any coffee from there again. On the walk back to the dorm I saw a guy riding a unicycle, unfortunately my hands were full so I was unable to take a picture. You'll have to trust me when I say it was glorious. I actually broke out into a huge smile when I saw it, perhaps an overreaction but it was a rather amusing sight. While inside heading to my dorm I got to listen to a guy sitting in the stairwell playing classical guitar. He was rather good and it was nice to be serenaded as I ascended the stairs.

These little events made my good day even better, so that's always nice. Now I'll (hopefully) be able to sit down and focus on finishing my reading. I've also got a full day tomorrow, with three classes back-to-back. So that'll be fun. At the very least they're all in the same area, so I don't have too far to walk.

Happy Valentines day. While I don't particularly subscribe to this holiday, I do wish that I had the company of a certain someone today. Alas, it's not possible and I've classes to attend and things to learn. Regardless, I hope everyone that reads this has a very wonderful Valentines day! And on an interesting semi-related note there is nowhere near the nauseating amount of valentines day goods in the stores here. In fact I haven't seen any giant displays of animals, balloons or chocolates. The most I've seen was this morning: a single sign outside a cake shop with some pink balloons advertising some discounts for today. I think I like it here.

The first class of the day was Cloud Computing practicum. Same ol' hike (I really can't wait till it no longer tires me out to go up that hill) and I arrived at the CS building. In all of the faculty buildings here there is an area to have your coat hung up. It's behind a desk area of sorts and there is usually an attendant. You hand them your coat and they give you a number. It's an interesting, and organized system. I was aware of it before but today was the first day I decided to try it out (since I have two back-to-back classes). It's rather nice to not have to be carrying your coat around, and I gather it's especially helpful for those that have the giant winter coats. (Since the weather has been so nice here, I've only needed to wear my pea-coat).

Anyway, I hung up my coat and then it was up to the second floor for my first experience in the computer labs here! It was a fairly good first impression: the computers in the lab are running Linux with GNOME. I was rather impressed, as the computers back at the CS CofC lab only run Windows. It's not necessarily that Windows is inferior to Linux, just that I believe Linux would be better in practice for Computer Science students. It was kind of scary to use them at first as I have very limited practice with Linux. But it was a great experience.  The school was running their cloud servers with OpenStack on Ububtu. It was all quite fun, we had to create an account to access the school servers, create a key, create an instance, transfer files from our computer to that instance using the Linux terminal, some stuff about ssh, euca2ools, and a bit of trial and error. I'll create a link to the lab below for those interested in seeing it.

Lab

Things like this are vastly easier on Linux than windows, I made the mistake of trying to do the exercise through my laptop at first. Did not work out well. I'm definitely hopping on board the Linux train ASAP.

Since I had another class immediately following the first I sat out in the hallway for a while until my second practical of the day: Coding Theory. Again I had an interesting lesson. It was focused mostly on finite fields and some algebraic definitions. Oddly enough it appears that the practical for Coding Theory will be a sort of parallel lecture course, where we focus on one topic that will eventually be integrated into the main lecture class. Not sure how this will work out in the end, but we'll see.

Once all my classes are over I made my way back towards my dorm. On the way I stopped at the metro cafe to pick up a sandwich, as I wasn't particularly motivated to make food for myself (I was also out of bread). It's glorious that I can get a foot-long sandwich with the works for under 3 euros. One thing I certainly don't miss from home is the price of food. Got back to my dorm, enjoyed my sandwich and prepared to do nothing for the rest of the evening.

It's Valentine's day evening and yes, everybody is out partying. I have no particular desire to join the masses in this. As I reflect on the...let's call it 'party culture', I realize that it does not inspire any interest in me. A small part of me still feels like I'm missing out on something if I don't participate in the chaotic socialization of the international and local students. But a larger part of me, really my entire personality, rebels against the thought of going to a party. I'm not adverse to drinking or socializing, but something about such a large group seems vastly impersonal. I feel that I would get lost amongst the people, and ultimately ending up feeling lonely in a full room. Even at home the thought of partying has never appealed to me, I'd much rather do something with a close group of friends. I've reached the point where I am comfortable with focusing on my studies and slow-paced socializing. I've already met so many people, but I will be here for a while and I'm in no rush to befriend as many individuals as possible.

While it's true that the town is slow paced and quiet (and let's be honest, sometimes boring) I've discovered it has a certain charm about it for those that can slow down and appreciate it. Let's just hope I still feel that way in the upcoming months and I'm not beside myself with boredom! With any luck my studies will take up (an appropriate amount) of my free time.