Rieke's opinions

Student exchange Kanepi-Werther 2018

On my way to Estonia, I was very excited to visit this country, because I heard many different experiences by friends or other students about Estonia. Some of them were quite good, others were not that positive. So I wanted to make my own ones.

When we arrived in Kanepi, the students and teachers welcomed us very warm hearted.  My exchange family was so friendly to me and I was very happy about having some pets at the home, I was living in for a week.

All in all we spent lots of time outside. We went hiking through the nature and the forests. I really liked spending time outside, but it was very cold so I really liked, when we get tea and some soups or kind like that, after a longer trip in the nature. But I also think that sometimes the walks were a bit too long, so you get kind of bored on this ways.

My best experience on this trip was going to the sauna. I really liked it, because it is typical for this country. So for me it was important to make this experience for knowing the Estonian culture better. I was wondered that nearly every house on the country side has they own sauna. The one I visited was without electricity, what I liked very much, because it was very cosy inside. The most special event at the sauna was going into an ice hole after sitting in a 90 degrees warm room. I will never forget this experience and I am so thankful that I made them.

 Another thing I was wondering about were the cities. When I went to Tartu I thought, that the city is very small without anything to go shopping, but when I was there my thoughts directly changes.  I liked the city very much, because there was an old part with very nice old houses and little shops, which were very nice to visit. But there was also a new part with a big city center. I was really wondered about that, so it was very nice to have this both sides in one city. I also liked that the City was near by the water, so you had a very nice view from the bridges to the frozen water.

When we went to Tallinn, first I thought that the concert gets very boring, so I was not very excited to go there. But now I am very happy that I did, because it was fantastic. I nearly never saw before a concert which was so great. The music was mixed, so I think it was music for everyone. I also really like that there were some songs, which were only instrumental and also some with a singer. This was a very good mix I think. In my opinion the DJ at this concert was quite good , but all in all I think everyone of the orchestra did a very great job.

In conclusion I would say that the exchange gave me many new experiences, which are very important for my future life. But I am also glade to go back  home, because the culture here is very different so I missed my home very much especially at the first days of this exchange.

Rieke