First of all, let us state that we are really thankful to the Erasmus+ program for having the opportunity to travel and meet our Estonian counterparts and explore the beautiful country and culture of our Estonian friends.
After a very early morning bus ride to the Schwechat airport and a seemingly endless but calm flight, we finally got to check-in at our first hotel. The tiredness didn't stop us from fully exploring the beautiful, historical city of Tallinn. The capital of Estonia had everything to offer from old castle ruins to modern high-rises. Each corner was filled to the brim with historical monuments, bustling restaurants and cafés, tourists and souvenir shops. Walking along narrow alleys, we found ourselves facing a breathtaking panoramic scenery, a view out of a fairytale swooping from churches, reflective glass building to boats and cruise ships docked in harbors. Another cobbled street lead us to a small yet cosy restaurant. The food was 10/10. Feeling satisfied we got some free time for ourselves and ended our first half-a-day with a smile.
Nelly Tomcikova
The first day of our Estonia tour was quite eventful. One of the most enriching experiences, which resonated with me the most, was that of the Estonian National Maritime Museum.
The museum guided us though history of navy, showed us breathtaking wonders of cold war era engineering and allowed us to connect with history in an interactive way.
The most eye-catching exhibits were a retired submarine, the oldest Viking ship ever found in Estonia and many interactive games like a flight simulator and a machine gun operator.
Martin Halama and Juraj Dzurech
The next day, we headed to Kadriorg Palace located in a stunning park of the same name. Originally built by Peter the Great of Russia for his wife, the future Catherine I of Russia, it now houses an art gallery with displays ranging from Renaissance sculptures to thought provoking portraits by Dutch masters from Flanders. The atmosphere of the palace was very elegant as the floors and ceilings were glamorously decorated. To add to this harmony, outside of the palace there were brass bands performing live music.
After the museum visit, we saw charming Japanese-style garden glittering with fresh raindrops and radiating peace to the mind. This spiritual journey left us hungry and so we ended the trip at a kebab booth where we were hoping to satisfy our hunger. The weather was not being cooperative though and decided to shower us with another round of rain. So instead of enjoying our kebabs while picnicking on the beach basking in the sun, we huddled at the nearest bus stop and hid under the booth´s awning to fend off the persistent rain.
Kornelia Cacikova and Juraj Dzurech
On Monday we got acquainted with three lovely students from the Ylenurme gymnasium who showed us one of the most visited natural tourist spots in Tartu. When we first heard we were heading for the "swamps" we didn’t know what to expect but despite Estonia being one of the flattest countries in Europe, we were surprised at how enchanting this Selli-Sillaotsa bog natural reserve was.
Patricia Lehutova
Today, we visited an Estonian school where we played the story Snow White for two groups of children. The challenging part was that while the narrators retold the story in English, the main characters spoke their lines in Estonian. It was very stressful at first, but as we saw the childrens´ faces light up with joy, our anxiety was relieved. As we finished the play, the audience burst into a loud aplause and continued to cheer even as we disapeared backstage.
Later, we did a set of presentations for both, young and older students about Slovakia, our culture, our city of Piešťany and introducing our school. Some classes were more interactive than others, but I believe they were happy we were there, so they at least had a small break during they class. Overall though there were enough students, who did indeed have a few questions for us, so we were happy they were intrested in our country. I enjoyed the visit of the school and am excited for tommorow´s school olympic games.
Juraj Novotny
What a wonderful day it was! We had an opportunity to be part of the School Olympic Games at Ylenurme Gymnasium today. We competed against 8 teams of Ylernume students in 8 disciplines such as running, long jump, rowing, tandem skiing, soccer kicks, tag of war, weight throw and basketball fast passes. Together we created an amazing team spirit that helped us to get through all the disciplines and not just that! As a class we put our maximum afford and energy into every one of the disciplines and with huge support we managed to take the 1st place.
It was an amazing day and we are really thankful to Ylenurme Gymnasium for this wonderful experience :)
Nina Mrazova
Today afternoon we've visited the Estonian Sports and Olympics Museum. It is located in the city center of Tartu just a 15-minute walk from our hotel. Our visit started by brief presentations of both schools and their connections to sport where we introduced not onlz our sports program and activities but the many successful athletes attending our class - Laura Posova, Oskar Gono, Stella Svorcova and Nela Konopkova, Daniela Studena and Pata Lehutova. These overviews were followed by a short quiz about the history of the Olympic Games, in which our magnificent PE teacher Mr. Domonkoš showed his prowess in the topic as he led his team "Halušky" to clean victory. After the quiz followed the tour of the museum during which we tried many of the Olympic sports in the form of interactive attractions but also found out many interesting curiosities for example, that the American president dreamed about becoming a professional weightlifter or that the longest wrestling bout lasted for over 11 and half hours. The tour ended with esteemed ceremony in Estonian sports hall of fame, where the flag of Olympic games was given to the representatives of "Ülenurme" gymnassium to hoist for the Olympic Day competitions held at the school the next day.
Timotej Mikuš, Timotej Papiernik
Lea's birthday was on 20th September, so, to celebrate it, we went to eat out in the evening. We found a pizzeria near our hotel and after a visit to the Sports and Olympic Museum and a guided tour of Tartu lead by a history teacher of the Ylenurme Gymnasium, a few of us went there. We tried some Estonian lemonades and ordered pizza. The food was delicious and the place had a great ambience. We had so much fun during this little celebration.
Soňa Bardiovská
On Tuesday we visited our partner school to take part in volleyball and basketball tournaments. Even though we had not trained that much as teams, the matches were very even and we managed to win some of them. The Estonians proved to be very solid opponents though. We played in different teams, first it was Estonia vs Slovakia but then we played Slovak boys against Estonian girls and kept mixing. On the other field, the international basketball match did not lack quality either. We had a lot of fun and found a lot of new friends. We hope to stay in contact with many of them. After two hours of playing we said our goodbyes and (still a bit sweaty) took a bus back to our hotel.
Šimon Sedlák