Our day began with a trip to Tallinn's old town (Vanalinn). The tour was lead by Suvi's mother who is an expert in all things Tallinn. She was thorough and detailed and many of the landmarks were often a sobering reminder of Eesti's past under occupation. Memorials such as the the plaque with all of the names of parliament members who had been sent to Siberian concentration camp at Valitsus Maja were especially poignant.
This being said, none of this overshadowed the charm and beauty of Vanalinn. The numerous shops filled with Käsitöö items, amber jewelry and other trinkets & souvenirs were all very enticing. This in conjunction with the many historical anecdotes that came with all of the buildings highlighted Estonia's rich and proud history. For example, there was a house with a black window in which allegedly the devil had its wedding. Additionally the rituals of the Upper & Lower town were interesting as well!
The Estonian flags scattered throughout the walls & windows of the city reinforced a strong sense of pride for Eesti & its colors (blue for the sky, black for the land and white for hope & freedom). Our tour ended at the Viru Gates & I think all of us felt a little more Estonian than we did at the start!
After Old Town we went to Mektory, Tallinn University of Technology's start-ups lab. They have super cool rooms to study in such as the Sauna Think Tank room, themed embassy rooms, interactive rooms where they work on heating systems and a hallway that looks like a forest.
Each year Mektory has a competition to find the best start-up idea within the university. The prize for winning this competition is an office/work space and money to help launch their start-up. They also have a similar competition called "Bright Minds" for students of every age, but their prize money doesn't need to be used on making their start-up idea a reality.
We were also given a lecture on study opportunities at Tallinn University of Technology. After our trip to Mektory we returned to our typical cafe, Kohvik Kohalik, for lunch. We all love the free sai & leib that comes with every meal!
Once we finished lunch we took the bus to Telliskivi to visit Garage 48, another start-up lab. This particular company had a "wall of fame" with their most successful start-ups which included some really well known companies such as Taxify and Lingvist. Their offices are super cool with a few resident dogs, a conference table with swings instead of seats, comfy couch areas and compulsory slippers to make you feel more comfortable at work. It had such a chill vibe and it seemed like a great place to work.
Dinner was an awesome international dinner consisting of homemade kotletid, keedukartulid (boiled potatoes), kurgi- ja tomatisalat (cucumber and tomato salad), pelmeenid, fried black bread, sült, seljanka and many others. We had a candy exchange at the end from all of our respective countries and we're definitely too full to function at the end of it. It was an awesome evening of bonding & getting to know each other's cultures.
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