Viljandi County, Estonia

The alternate title to this post is, "THIS is why I moved to Estonia."

Two weeks ago, fresh from another trip to the hospital but with doctor's permission to travel, I set off on an excursion to southwestern Estonia with several other international students. I didn't really know what was in store except that it was only about 50USD including lodging, transport, and some meals.

On Friday morning, I woke up, walked three minutes to the bus stop, climbed on the bus the Tallinn University International Club had chartered for us, and promptly fell asleep, just like everybody else. About two hours later, here we were:


This manor (MAYnor, if you ask an Estonian) is located... somewhere in Viljandi County. We spent about 45 minutes here, walking along the pond, trying to get the horses to play with us, and watching the tractor race going on with American country music playing in the background (no joke). Afterwards, we climbed onto a bus for another twenty minutes.









We disembarked at the site of an old military battle. This is all that remains in memory of the castle that was destroyed here.

We stopped for a rather late lunch in the city of Viljandi, where castle ruins overlook a gorgeous lake. We walked around the ruins, probably collectively took over 1000 pictures, and played on an awesome giant swing. I thought we were staying here for the night, but it turns out the city has little tourist infrastructure, so we got back onto the bus and headed for a farm about 20 kilometers out.


We stayed that night at the Kopra Talu (Beaver's Farm). That night, I was introduced to a very Estonian tradition: the sauna party. At Kopru Talu was an old, traditional smoke-style sauna. The sauna itself is in a chimney-less room. One of the Estonian "tutors" lit a fire shortly after our arrival. We let it burn while we made dinner, ate dinner, and had a few drinks. (Well, at least those who weren't on antibiotics had a few drinks.) Finally, the tutors put the fire out, and we went in. Stephanie and I were the brave first two to join Karolin and Martin, two of our Estonian tutors. Karolin tried to explain to Stephanie and I why Estonians tend not to wear swimsuits in this sort of sauna.

"You're a bit like grilled chicken in there," she told us.

There is ash everywhere, and you might not be able to get the smell of smoke out of your clothes. Stephanie and I were still a bit reticent, so we went in with swimsuits and slapped each others' back with wet birch branches to stimulate circulation. Eventually the sauna grew popular, so we went out to fulfill the other part of an Estonian sauna party: jumping in the nearest body of water. Martin of course enjoyed a nice swim, Karolin took a minute-long swim, Stephanie jumped in and jumped out, and I just dangled my legs in the water. The water was absolutely freezing. "Why do they do this to themselves," I wondered as I decided against going all the way in. The answer came as I got out of the water: for all the hell the cold puts you through, you feel amazing as soon as you get out of the water. I did one more round of sauna and lake before calling it a night. My favorite quote about the experience came the following day.

"I was a little bit scared to go in the sauna- it was coed, and I knew about half the people had taken off their clothes. But it wasn't at all naughty, not even a little bit!"

More pictures are available on my website.