Sunday, October 22, 2017

TARARA

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." - Jimmy Dean

Wonderful, exhausting but my emotions are great after the five days I spent in Hungary. Like most of you know, I started university like a month ago, I also joined an organisation called BEST. So, why I had this amazing journey to Budapest? The BEST organisation has it's local groups around whole Europe (BEST stands for Board of European Students of Technology) and therefore regional meetings (later called RM) are organised so different local groups could come together to discuss about their plans and doings (and also have some fun!). This RM which called name is RM of Tararas was really special for me because it was the first international event with BEST for me and it also wasn't my local BEST group's regional meeting I attended, I was an out of region (OoR) participant, so to speak an Estonian spy.

A group photo of all the participants and organizers

But what I did there? Mm, we had some training sessions, I had to introduce my local BEST group and of course, we had lots of fun and I met many new amazing people. I started my trip on Thursday by waking up in 4 a.m to catch my flight. It was little bit scary because it was my first flight alone but it turned out that I actually like to travel alone. When I arrived in Budapest I took some time to enjoy the city center and considering the fact that I'm not an artsy person, I loved the architecture of the city. I went to have a lunch and then went to the place the RM was going to take place using public transport. I was the earliest participant in there and met with some of the organizers. At first, I felt really odd in there because the more people came the more I felt lonely because I knew no-one in there.However, thankfully my roommates from Ukraine interacted with me. Thanks to them I started to enjoy the RM right away. Since the RM took place like 25 km from Budapest, we had no idea where we could find the nearest shop. I can say we didn't find one but we found a strip club even though we sadly forgot to go there. Anyway, in the first evening I had to present my LBG (local BEST group) which is as you might know LBG Tallinn. I was little bit nervous because I haven't been in the organisation for a long time yet and I'm not quite familiar with it's structure and projects yet. Thankfully, the presentation went fine, I managed to make the crowd laugh for a couple of times which is important to me as it makes me more confident during the presentations. After that, we had a party and we danced and had a huge amount of fun altogether. I met more and more people and therefore felt more and more awesome.

Emotions after the workshop about social media promotion

We had a training session about presentation skills which I think was the most useful session for me this meeting 

Also, we got many wristbands from other LBGs

It wasn't an easy morning. I hadn't slept much and had to wake up early and the first training session I had chosen was IT tutorial which taught us how to properly use BEST's private website meant only for the members. It lasted for almost four hours but we had some coffee breaks too. After that we had a quiz about BEST and it's history. I was quite bad at it but at least we were in teams so I many wise gals and pals surrounding me, hehe. Furthermore, I attended a workshop about social media promotion. I'm quite familiar with the topic but I still got some new advice which I'm also going to use with my blog's FB page. Besides that, it was time for dinner and the last session was about different departments of BEST. After working hard the whole day, it was time for another party. What I still didn't do was that I couldn't manage to go to sleep early to be rested for the following day.

Feedback is the way to perfection 

Egészségére!

Still, even though I was tired in the morning, it wasn't hard for me to take part of the session because it was about presentation skills and everyone had to talk and perform in front of the others. It was quite scary at first because I'm not used to perform in English but I liked that we got feedback from the others and learned some new tips and tricks to reduce podium stress. But then the day got bad for me. For some reason I had severe back pain, I couldn't move without pain and if I made any wrong move it also made me hard to breath. I managed to take the group photo but after that I had to skip the remaining two sessions I wanted to attend. I just laid in my bed and took many painkillers. I even called my mother and best friend to know the hell is happening and what should I do. Fortunately, painkillers did their job and I managed to attend the international evening. IE was awesome, imagine every country putting out its most special food and drinks. I prepared chocolate, mustard with bread, some candy and the classic Old Tallinn liquor. Somehow, I went to sleep at 6 a.m and woke up at the afternoon when most of the people had their things packed and Polish guy pulled me out of the bed.

The vibe of the international evening was amazing!

 Ha-ha, I picked that photo because it's like I'm playing an imaginary saxophone - finally I can say that I can play an instrument

Hot damn! 

My awesome neighbors from Ukraine

Living the life on the edge

The whole event was really educating and fun at the same time but this wasn't the end. We took a bus to the city and some of us left and we said our goodbyes but some of us including me stayed in Budapest for another day. Firstly, we went to one of the organizer place and ate lunch. Afterwards, we went to the city and enjoyed the pure beauty of the city. When the sun went down, we decided to go to a bar and got some beers and enjoyed the last few hours together. Love you, guys, see you around Europe!

 Trying to look like the statue

 Budapest is one of the nicest places to go for sure

GROUPIE!

 Sorry for blocking the view xd

A small collage of our adventures in the city

That wasn't all for me either, the following day I met up with a friend of mine from an Erasmus+ project which I attended last spring. We had a coffee and did a quick catch up on our doings lately until I had to leave to airport. It was nice to see you again, Anett!

 @ Budapest

My selfie skill isn't really good tho 

Starbucks spelled my name incorrect but I'd like my first name to have only one "o" anyway

Yeah, so far everything seems all good and stuff like that. There is only one thing I wish would've gone better which are the elections in my hometown. My political party didn't win and I didn't manage to get a seat in the city council. It's my own fault because again I have so many things to do and I lost my focus at the end of the campaign. But what I learned from that is that I should try everything even though if I'm not sure about myself - therefore, there won't be any regrets later.


Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Cardboards & Submarines

"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds." - George Eliot

Well, well, well. Another week or so has passed by and my friends from Viljandi are still thinking that I'm only partying in university. I can prove the opposite, for example when I started writing this post I was in library and I studied 3 hours straight, be proud. It's great to write some actual text sometimes over the numbers and programming languages I'm used to at school.

Okay, we party sometimes too (next to me is Sten, the one I'm afraid who claims my blog's biggest hater title)

So far, I've spent most of my weekends in my hometown. Last weekend, I spent time with my best friends and my family. Because my brother insisted, I bought the new FIFA and after that we went out to eat lunch (Hesburger), it was lit. Furthermore met up with my pals and gals. Viljandi is a quiet town and we just chilled and played football in the middle of the street - it was awesome. Merili and I also found a new way to reduce the stress level that sometimes initiates after socializing. We found some cardboard boxes and we drew faces of people we didn't like on them and after that just freakin tore everything apart - IT FELT GREAAAT! You can see the before and after pics below.

Before

 After

Buuut there is MORE - the upcoming Budapest trip, my birthday (hell yeah, I'm going to start my twenties soon!). I'm going to Budapest tomorrow and I'm quite nervous but I'm sure it's gonna be great. Furthermore, I'm going to throw my 20th birthday soon so stay tuned for the next two posts.
I know this wasn't one of my best posts but I know how to make it even. Just listen this..
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Friday, September 29, 2017

Eat | Study | Party | Repeat

"Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Unilife is lit. I'm studying like a maniac but still have time for parties and it's just amazing. The only issue I'm facing soon is exhaustion. Eat, sleep study, party, repeat. But still, I have met many amazing people. The thing with university is that you meet people who mostly share the same interests as you. I get to fulfill the needs of my both personalities (those who don't know I have a slight form of split personalities - Toomas, the social butterfly and Erik, the nerd who loves to study and work hard). Toomas enjoys the parties which happen quite often. For example, as I'm writing this post I'm killing my time until the party which locates in an underground parking lot starts. We also had a small "meet n greet" thingy last week where we went to Old Town and visited some bars. However, thankfully Erik holds Toomas under control and for example yesterday night I completed the programming homework which had a deadline in October 15th.

Meet n greet @Tallinn Old Town 

Actually I put the flash on by accident x)

One half of our studygroup

We have an amazing study group with who I study physics together. Once or twice a week we gather up in library and reserve a private room in there. I love to study what I'm interested in. At first, I wasn't quite sure if I'm studying the right thing but I thought I'd still give it a shot. I also bought a new laptop Dell XPS which is capable of playing FIFA 18 (of course) and it looks solid which is important to me, I needed a powerful computer which didn't look like a gaming machine. Furthermore, I'm broke af because I bought the laptop and also moved from my sister's to dormitory. At least now I live near the school and can sleep longer.
What else.. hmm.. Oh, just the thing that I'm going to Budapest in October!!! Like I said in the last post that I joined BEST-Estonia which is an international organisation. This organisation freaking sends me to Budapest to attend a Regional Meeting where I have to represent our local BEST group. It's scary as hell but I can finally get out of my comfort zone again! The meeting takes place from 12th till 15th but I'm going to stay till 16th because I want to explore Budapest by myself too - take some "me" time. Anyway, I'm sure it's gonna be cool.
October's gonna be busy. I'm also turning 20 then and I still have no glue whether I'm going to throw a huge party or a smaller one with my best friends. And more about birthdays, my friend Brigita got older and as usual she threw a small party at her countryside house. Sauna, hot tub, lot's of food and drinks and the most important, great company.

 Brigita 19

Find yourself a man who looks at you like Juhan looks at Brigita

Totally OK

I don't consider myself an artsy person but I love the 20th century, its style, groove, music etc. I accidentally found a photographer who's every photo is a small piece of art. His name is Vincent Peters and I'm just gonna leave my favorite photo of his.