LONG STUDY TOUR: Tallinn, Estonia

One of the perks that drew me to DIS was the opportunity to go on a week long study tour, on which academic visits were combined with cultural activities. From March 9-14 my Healthcare in Northern Europe class traveled to Tallinn, Estonia, and then Helsinki, Finland. As a group of 34 over-eager college students, we definitely took the cities by storm.

Tallinn is the capital city of Estonia, a country that has only had its independence from the Soviet Union since 1991. We spent our time in the Old City, a walled-in Medieval style town with cobblestone streets and lots of charm. 

Highlights of the trip:

1. Medieval Style dinner at Olde Hansa. This restaurant spares no details in its recreation of the Medieval dinner, from the completely candle lit restaurant to the large bowls of mysterious and meaty dishes. 

2. Humor. Our tour guide was one of the best I have had. She was very sarcastic and delivered all of here jokes with a straight face. According to her, the world's best hot chocolate is served at Josephine's, a  bohemian-influenced cafe. Of course we had to try. Verdict: darn good hot chocolate.

3. Ice Skating. A few of my friends and I went ice skating at dusk right next to this beautiful old church. Best use of €5. It was so much fun to get back on the ice, its been a really long time!

4. The views. Copenhagen is very flat, and it was nice to go to a city that had hills (even though they were small) to better enjoy the views. The snow was beautiful and it was kind of fun to be climbing over snowbanks and on ice (I might have been the only one to think that...)

5. The "cruise" from Tallinn to Helsinki. I say "cruise" because the boat was technically a cruise ship, but we were only aboard for 2.5 hours. Still, the views were amazing, we plowed through ice, and watched many old people get their groove on (ok we did too, embarrassingly). 

View of the ship from the harbor, before the beautiful sunset

My friend Kylie and I on the ship's deck

The academic part of this trip honestly was not that memorable, we sat through a few power points regarding health education, statistics, and research, but I'm not going bore you (or myself) with those details.


Other random facts about Estonia: karaoke is really big in Europe, even on Sunday nights. Estonians do not mess around with their karaoke either: Miley Cyrus ballads, people. Maternity leave is 18 months, and women can return to their job and receive full pay after 3 years of staying home. One of the oldest continuously operated pharmacies is located in the town square, having been open since about 1422.  It is perfectly acceptable to eat fish and cucumber for breakfast. Just don;t try the mustard, it's spicier than wasabi and you will be forced to spit it out. Trust me.


Up next: Helsinki, Finland...