Hi I’m Mathilde, I arrived on 28th August. I came by car from Belgium. I crossed Germany, Denmark and Sweden to arrive here. I was not alone, a friend from the same school in Belgium came with me. The journey took us 5 days. It was awesome. When I arrived I remember that I was really surprised by the old centre, I didn’t expect that. I found it beautiful. I discovered a lot of other beautiful places in Tallinn like Telliskivi or the beach. It’s been 3 months and I still discover new places every week. The streets are all different and interesting. Here, there are a lot of old houses in wood which are really charming. Estonia has a lot of beautiful places. Firstly, Tallinn has a lot of interesting spots. Here is what I really like: • Kadriorg Park: for a walk in one of the best park of Tallinn. Go there when it’s snowing, it’s beautiful. • Lennusadam Museum: for the history of maritime and also for the spectacular scenography. • Tallinna Kunstihoone: art gallery built in 1934 on Freedom Square. • Linnahall: a large concrete structure build in 1980 for summer olympics as a cultural and ice sports venue. Nice place to chill on the roof and to get a view of the sea and also the city. • Telliskivi: best place in Tallinn. Every restaurant is original and cute. There are also beautiful street art pieces, a market and nice events. • Patarei Prison: ancient soviet prison. Really interesting but also really creepy. • Museum of Occupations: for the history. • Kohtuotsa viewing platform: one of the best view of Tallinn. • St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: incredible cathedral with beautiful colours. • EKKM: Nice exhibitions (sometimes from EKA’s students) and best parties. • Pirita Beach: for a walk on the beach. Beautiful during Summer and Winter. • Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum: history of the houses in Estonia. • Tallinn TV Tower: Estonia’s tallest building. Craziest view. • Kumu: Art museum. One of the largest art museums in Estonia. • St. Olav’s Church and Tower: for the view and the architecture. Take a bus and travel. You really need to visit Estonia to discover all the other spots. It’s really cheap and easy to travel by bus or you can rent a car if you are a group of 5. I went to Pärnu, Matsalu national park, Narva, Tartu, Lahemaa national park, Saaremaa & Rummu. Everything is really interesting to see. I still have a lot of other places to go before to leave in May.

When it’s snowing, going for a walk in the forest or in the national parks is wonderful. Everything is white and quiet. I love it. Where I sleep. I found the accommodation really easily thanks to the papers I received from EKA. I have a room at Muusa Majutus dormitory. It’s a building only with students in art and in music. The dream. The place is super nice and super clean. Every week, we organize drinks with everybody to meet all our neighbours. For my place, I found cheap furniture in Prisma, Selver and Jysk. To buy food, I go to Maxima (it’s the cheapest store), Selver and Rimi. There are some places in the centre where you can try Estonian food but I learned a lot during my Estonian language lesson with teacher Vilma. Our teacher explained us a lot of things about Estonia and the culture. She also brought us different Estonian food to try. It was really fun, if you have the possibility, you should definitely take this lesson. I met a lot of Erasmus students during this lesson it was really nice. At the end of the lesson, the teacher organized a dinner-party with everybody, it was perfect. I try to taste new things at every occasion. There are a lot of really good restaurants here. Every time we have enough money and time to chill, we try new places. Where I eat and drink. • The Living Room: best place to chill and eat really good things for really good price. They also have the biggest choice of coffee in town. • Must Puudel: really relax restaurant with a beautiful vintage interior. Everything on the menu is really good. • Kohvik August: cozy café. Nice deco and good music. • Lendav Taldrik: nice restaurant in Telliskivi. • F-Hoone: my favourite place to eat in Telliskivi. People are super nice and what you eat is delicious. • La Tabla: if you like mexican food, you should definitely go there. • Konteiner kohvik: spicy but delicious food. How to make friends. I felt a little bit scared the first day because it was all new. I didn’t know if I was going to make friends, like the school or be accepted here. My fear went away really fast because on 29th, one

day after my arrival in Tallinn, I went to workshop at school, there I met future friends and I remember thinking «I already love this school». To make friends it’s really easy. I think the best tips are: • Go to a lot of events (exhibitions, parties, etc). • Never be shy to talk, around you everybody is the same and also wants to meet new friends. • Never say no when somebody propose you to go visit somewhere. Never miss a chance. With the Erasmus students, it was really easy to meet each other and be friends. With the Estonian, it was a little bit more difficult. I think it shocked me because it was different from my culture. I think, here, people are more reserved and don’t like to show their emotion when they don’t know you. But when I began to see every day the same Estonian students, the contact was better. In Muusa Majutus, there are no line between foreign and Estonian students: everybody talks to everybody and it’s perfect. I really like to meet people from all around the world but I also like to meet people from here. You learn a lot about the culture here and the best places to go. My experience here began in end of August and finishes in May. Nine months of happiness and of discovery. I’m really happy that I chose this city and this school. Everything is new and crazy. Student in Product Design