American Abroad

So today I did something a little bit different.... I road the train to Tallinn by myself and explore alone. I’ve taken many trips here with friends this semester but never alone. So I decided to last night to celebrate the end of the semester by doing a mini solo trip.

I’ve been more active on my account this semester. I thought that we’d be exploring more of Estonia (thanks COVID) but we ended up not.... but here are a few things I learned this semester.

1. The sun setting at 18:00 is NOT early

2. 4C is warm and enjoyable

3. I don’t think I ever want to go home

4. Girls are nice

5. The Estonian language is very confusing

6. Public transportation is a god send

7. Education shouldn’t make you go THAT into debt

8. American Christianity is fucked up

9. Cooking alone is not fun

Two things  I have learned while being here during Election Season 

1) Thank the 12 oz sweet baby Jesus I am not in America right now and have no plans to be back for a while. The entire election is causing me anxiety and I am half way around the world. 

I am not sure yet what all this blog will be. If it will simply be like a diary where I write down what’s happening or if it will actually gain some traction. Either way it’s something need to do because life is getting too stressful.... but one thing I do know is that the grammar on this blog will be sub-par. I am horrible at English. So horrible that I picked my major based solely on the one that was least likely to have writing.... but maybe this will be a sex in the city type blog. Who knows.. so I guess an introduction is needed. I am currently in Estonia. With COVID starting to ramp up again that means the Estonian borders are pretty much closed and traveling outside of Estonia is a no go. But who needs to go to another country when this place is a dream come true. I am almost literally half way around the world. It’s crazy to think. But I am so so so happy to be here. I am getting my master’s degree in chemistry through a program that allows you to spend one year in one country and another year in another country.... apparently that’s common here!  It’s not a thing back home and honestly I am in heaven. Literally everything is amazing. So to keep things short (for my sake) here’s a list of the things that I have already noticed that are different than the US: 

1. No body wears masks and we aren’t scared of catching COVID because the numbers are so low

2. the beef is NOT good. This one isn’t the big deal but I wanted a burger the other day and it was not the same. 

3. the pizza is like gas station pizza... again not a huge deal but man I was really wanting pizza

4. the culture as a whole is very homogenous... meaning there isn’t a lot of POC here and for me that isn’t a huge deal but it stinks for those who are a person of color.... I even have had several people tell me “you’ll be treated just fine, you look Estonian and you’re from America” 

5. Walking is a thing for everyone... I am not scared of being raped while walking from the city center back to my apartment

6. The university doesn’t have a lot of tests or homework which is both nice and stressful 

7. everyone speaks another language ... which is fucking awesome but it makes me feel like a fraud 

8. Health care is FUCKING amazing!!!!! I went the ER because I was afraid I broke my foot (turns out it was just a bad sprain) but it was less than 50 euro for the entire visit... also I needed to get emergency contraceptive and instead of it being $50 it was 15 euro..... like what the actual fuck?!?! Why are we as American’s putting up with that bull shit. If people are so anti-abortion (I hate pro-life because it’s not pro-life just anti-abortion) then why not allow women to take a pill before the sperm and the egg actually meet?!?!?!?!?