Today we didn’t have any classes, but we did have some cool field trips. We started with a historical tour of Oldtown, Tartu; which was really interesting. Tartu (and Estonia, and the Baltics in general) has long endured the refining effects of the crucible of conflict- frequently there are tragedies, but there are some interesting ways in which the city and culture has rebuilt stronger each time. In particular on this tour, I found it interesting that after the city was bombed nearly to rubble during WWII, that the city planners decided to mark the ground to preserve knowledge of the location of the original streets and buildings. As a result, when one walks around near the University in Tartu, the cobblestones are of two distinctly different colors, which serve as a map for where the streets used to run.
After the tour we hustled back across Oldtown to just behind our hotel to visit the Ahhaa Science Center, an AWESOME and very hands on science museum. It was so much fun! We went to a planetarium show, and walked through an optical illusion tunnel that made us cling to the railings thinking we were going to fall off even though it wasn’t moving. I rode a bicycle across a wire suspended 20 meters in the air. We had private conversations from across gigantic and crowded rooms just by whispering, thanks to carefully crafted acoustics. I lifted up a car with almost no effort (a small car, but still a car) using a gigantic fulcrum. I saw carefully preserved brains in jars, as well as hearts, lungs, livers, fetuses, and even a pig fetus that had two heads. I flew a fighter jet in a fully gimbalized flight simulator, doing barrel rolls and loop-de-loops. I made a stop-motion animation film using Lego’s. And so much more! It was a blast!
We had a late lunch there, and then most of the class wandered off afterwards, though I stuck around to play with more of the exhibits. I finally left around 1615h, and wandered over to the nearby shopping malls to find myself a small lightweight backpack to use as a day bag. I managed to find one- a bright neon yellow Adidas bag for just $10 that will do the job quite nicely, though I kinda wish I could’ve found it in a different color as it really clashes pretty hard with the rest of my clothes. At least it’ll make it easy for my friends to spot me out in a crowd, and it’ll be easily visible in the many hours of darkness.
I came back to the hotel after buying the bag, and have spent some time getting ready for tonight- New Year’s Eve! I’ve prepared my suit and gotten spruced up, so in less than an hour we’ll all go as a class to have dinner at a fancy place called Atlantis that hangs over the river. Amusingly, as we learned on the tour this morning, sometimes during the spring the river overflows violently, and a few years ago after Atlantis was first constructed the river flooded to historical levels- putting Atlantis under water. After dinner the plan is to go to this local student pub called “Genialistide” that’s infamous for serving a shot called “Sparta” that supposedly just knocks everyone who tries it on their ass- and I’ve been dared to try one. I’m drinking plenty of water now in preparation for the evening, because supposedly all of Oldtown Tartu turns into a gigantic and wild party, so I’m expecting that I’ll have a good amount to drink but there’s no need to be irresponsible about being irresponsible.
I certainly hope that wherever you find yourself as we transition calendar years today, that you are in good health and good spirits, with good plans for the coming year and good reasons to hope it will be a successful year for you! I certainly am and do!
Happy New Year, and remember: be excellent to each other, and party on!
Terviseks, from Estonia!