Semester in Estonia/Tallin

 299 students and me went to Lappland, organized with the best promoted travel organization at university's in Estonia and probably the whole north of Europa. We went to Saariselkä. The Village has currently 311 inhabitants and has around 10.000 beds for tourists. The place is beautiful different than what we are used from central Europa. It is cold. Soil is poor of nutrition. Life is slow and rare. We had temperatures from -4 to -15°C. Sun went down at 15:00. Everything is frozen and nothing moves. The atmosphere is lifeless, timeless and completely calm After 2 hours of hiking I was so surprised to find a living creature. This squirrel seems very prepared for the winter The sun disappears early. Ski Loipe and hiking paths have lamps in the forest. Santa Claus We visited the real Santa Claus in Finnland! It is a beutiful decorated village with a lot of things to do(if you have enough money). We visited Santa in his village called Santa Claus village and actually there are 3 Santa ...

 Clarissa and me went to a short Trip to Riga. Since I am in the Baltics I must visit the City. Even with cloudy weather and some rain it is a nice city, cheap prices, big old town and the interesting contrast that I know from Tallin. The Center of Riga seems rich in the first sight, but when you drive some minutes outsides of the city you will definitely find numerous gigantic old soviet blocks. In the old town there are preserved or reconstructed a lot of old impressive buildings, like the Headquarters of gilds. Riga started to grow as a city when Albert of Riga a German bishop from Bremen went to Riga to crusade the city and bring Christianity. For this reason you can find a lot of churches in Riga. What are the Bremer Stadtmusikanten doing in Riga? Tourists are confused. Buildings in the centre once owned by one of the Gilde in Riga Churches everywhere in the centre 5 Old German Zeppelin are reused as market halls since 1930. They are busy visited by locals and the prices are a...

 Since I am doing a semester abroad to study I also want to share what I am studying here.  Nah just kidding. I am actually studying. Classes here are smaller than i am used to with around 15 students. There are weekly assignments, regular labs, essays, self-assessment and tests during the semester. Luckily the level is lower and professors can make exceptions when you can not join a class. On of my classrooms Short frustration Break of my roommate One of my labs handwritten number recognition on a microcontroller Beer As promised in one of my first posts and regarded as a small case study I give an update on the beer in Estonia. With the consent of my fellow German students I can acknowledge that the beer in Estonia is really good. Most of the Estonian beer is brewed in Tartu, the second biggest city of Estonia. The favourite beer of our dorm is also from there, called Alexander. The afordable german imported beer is called Argus and despite the cheap price nobody buys it, be...

Stockholm was the city in the northern part of Europ e that surprised me the most so far. Stokker and Holme are Swedish words and mean "inventory" and "small islands".  Throughout the city there is big and calm water, that's why the city is also called the Venedig of the north. The city has some fantastic properties, like being busy but not crowded. There is a good public transport system, good bicycle lanes. We rented an E-Bike for 2€ for 2 days which was amazing to ride around the big city. The city and the people are modern, digitalized, and really multicultural. This city is a must see in the north of Europe! This is the most usual view in Stockholm. Pretty houses directly at the water. These houses are on every second postcard of Stockholm. So here you see them again. Ferry Ride We went to Stockholm by ferry. It was not much more expensive than a flight. Our boat Gabriella was built in 1990 and the flair on the boat was amazing. We left the harbour 30min b...

  Rouven and Franzi visited me last week in Tallinn. I was so happy that they visit me and I can show them the city. We did a whole week of travelling and exploring of Tallinn, Helsinki and the surroundings. Since tourists can not travel for free in public transport we walked a lot and now I finally know how to find myself everywhere in Tallinn. Tallinn Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn Old Town Fishing in Estonia has not a lot of restrictions. Pensioners can fish completely free.  You can find a lot of flea markets in Estonia. They are selling everything from old tools up to antiques or some fruits like apples they collected in the woods. When you see these you feel spoor for the people, sometimes the value of all the products they try to sell for a day does not exceed 30€ old engine room from a coal - steam ship that sailed around the world Control room of an old submarine Tallinn has a big number of bars. This one offers live music and a modern atmosphere After the...