Belgians and Norwegians arrive in Tartu:

Expectations and Reality

October 2013

Some of the Belgian students expected Estonia to have lots of snow already, Stanny said that he wanted to build a snowman, but in reality it was just quite cold. Most of the guests were afraid that the project work would be really hard and yet we all found it was a lot of fun to do. Some of us thought that it was still hard work, but we managed it just fine and are richer by the experience. The guests hoped that we would have more time in the countryside, but we did a big part of the project work in the school’s computer room. Stanny, a Belgian student was afraid that Estonian food would be strange, but in actuality he liked it very much. Everyone enjoyed taking the trip to the bog and meeting a lot of great new people. Belgian students thought that Estonians wouldn’t have living standards as high as this. One of the hosts, Kaspar was expecting more boys as guests, but was surprised that a lot of girls took part in the project as well. All of us were very excited to play laser tag, because for some of us it was the first time and the rest already knew it was a lot of fun. The after project activities were also very enjoyable- such as playing pool and going to restaurants. We all remember that at the end of the long days we were really tired, but we were really happy

.

It was really refreshing to ride on the barge called Jõmmu. Estonian students enjoyed it more, because they were more used to the cold. Luckily it was really warm inside the barge and everyone got hot soup. All of the students and the teachers loved Astor- the white dog of our guide.

Elisabeth: „I was happy that the guests were intrigued by Estonian culture and that they were all really talkative and friendly, so no one was ever bored. “

The Belgian students found that some of the hosts looked very different from their Facebook profile pictures.

Facebook picture of Kaspar / Real picture of Kaspar

They also found that we have fewer cars than there are in Belgium. Some visitors were surprised at the eating habits of Estonians. They noted that Estonians drink a lot of tea, milk and eat slices of cucumber or tomatoes for breakfast as opposed to Belgians, who are used to eating nutella with white bread. There were no problems with communication between the students as everyone spoke very good English. One of the biggest surprises for the guests was the Tartu Airport, which was very small, but they got a warm welcome. One of the problems the Belgian students encountered was that they were informed of the trip at a very short notice- 2 weeks.

Project work

Making a digital story was a really interesting approach to doing the project work. Although some groups had some technical problems, we still had a lot of fun and managed to create very unique videos. It was very motivating to take a break from making regular powerpoint presentations- it allowed us to be creative.

The Estonian school has Facebook access as well as a wifi connection and it is actually encouraged to use the social media sites, because that way the students are more united and better informed.

  • The flight was scary. We had to wake up early. The plane was weird- it had propellers.
  • The most surprising was that the city is really clean and cozy. There are a lot of amazing cake stores and shopping centres, too.
  • The thing we liked the most was the Boat trip. The boat was very extraordinary. Because it was so cold we had to put on some sheepskins and sit really close to each other. For us it was very speacial, because the nature is very peaceful.

Habits
Estonia / Belgium
Milk during lunch / Only water
Early school start (8.05) / 8.30
Short school day 15:40 / Long school day 17:00
Class duration 75 min / Class duration 50 min
Big classes c. 36 students / Small classes c. 20 students
5 exam periods / 2 exam periods
Flexible - WiFi, phone allowed at school / Popular social websites blocked
School ring, cap / PE uniforms
Handshake/wave in greeting / Kissing in greeting is not unusual
Nagu, wä? / Ale
Toilet = / =Restroom