TALLINN

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I can say that last summer I've spent just perfectly. Maybe, coz' it was my first huge experience of travelling along. I had an opportunity to feel the atmosphere of complete freedom and permissiveness (as long as money could allow :P). My views on life have been changed and nothing could be done to it anymore - I became a new person)) ANd I'm happy with this!
Now, I'm gonna be some kinda of promoter and reccoment everyone to visit Baltic states)
My trip included 5 countries: Estonia (as a basic point), Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. During the month I saw and got to know more than during the last several years..) Hm, and not because I wasn't interested in all this stuff, but because I didn't understand the way of getting this info (I mean travelling). Once you try it, you become addicted 😊
So everything started from Tallinn. I had a summer school there (Tallinna Ulikool) and attended a course of English language. I was surprised by the number of people participating in this school and by the countries represented. People came from all over the world (except Africa, I suppose) - Australia, Brasil, China, Northern Korea, Europe (probably, all the countries), Turkey, the US. It was extremely international mix!! Lessons every day and parting every night.
Probably here I began to understand the differents between ukrainian and european youth. I didn't know before that you can easily leave the university for 1 or 2 years and go travelling just because you want this!!!!! We don't experiance this kind of lifestyle back home! Studying ---> Working ---> Family - the system we have! People can travel only if they have a lot of money!
Although Tallinn is not so big, the city is very compact. It seems that you can explore all the sites in 2-3 days, but then you are proceeding to discover new and magnificant spots. Almost every local citiesent knows russian (for me, as for ukrainian, it was much easier to communiacate with people). Although, people speak russian, they aren't gladly use it. In their daily life they use only estonian, underlining, by this, their national identity and patriotism.
I was very lucky to make friends with 2 spanish guys, 2 dutch guys and a girl from Estonia, who also attended english course. Extremely plesant people that I think I will remember them till the end of my days 😊
Spanish guys never get tired. And this is the rule! I can bet you will not find more party people than spaniards! Dutchmen always supported intentions to party, but acctualy they have rarely been initiators )) Germans prefered sitting in the bar with a glass of beer! Czechs, for example, were more likely to stay at home together, to make some calm home perties or to go to take great pictures of the surroundings. I was impressed by the hospitality and buoyancy of Georgians. They are the most happy people that I've ever seen. I concluded a lot from this experiance and can talk for ages, but it's better to concentrate on ESTONIA. The one thing that compared all of us was that everyone fell in love with the country =)
Perhaps, the most notable historic monument in Tallinn is the church of St.Olaf. It is believed to have been built in 12th century and been venerated by all scandinavian nations. Also, it had been the highest constructure in the Europe before the Eiffel Tower was built.
Tallinn (is translated as a Danish city) is an original name of the the city, but for certain period of time it's name have been changed to Reval. Nowdays there are 2 parts of the old city: lower town and upper town. Lower town consists of the main square, cafes, bars, museums, galleries - in one word - from the entertainment places. And the upper town is more for official governmental buildings. Three colours of the Estonian flag mean: black - fertile soil, blue - clear sky and while - clean air. Originaly white colour was changed by green (because 80% of the territory is coverd with forests), but due to the aesthetic reasons it was turned into white 😊)
Futhermore, I liked The Museum of Occupation, where you can find all the stuff (tools, instruments, cars, household products, ect) that estonians used during the last 100 years. They also demonstrate films about different historical periods of the country, but truly saying, they are rather boring (maybe for me).
On every corner in the city center girls in traditional costumes sell toasted almonds in various spices (even in garlic :$). Everybody drinks SAKU (national beer). And it's not bad))
Estonia is a small country, its population is around 1 million people. That is why some ordinary events (anyway for me) are in the spotlight. For instance, a city newspaper issued an article about 2 Chinese guys that participated in the Summer School. My point is that even the nation which is 1/4 of the world's population is exotic in Estonia 😊

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