the singer
here is a pic of the guy singing from the video, he sang to us for so long that his wife finally pulled him back to the table, unfortunately i dont have picture of his twin brother who was taking turns singing to us
30 hours in Finland
so on friday afternoon we all head out for Helsinki. i had no idea what to expect. we asked my friends dad where we should go when we got there and he told us "the airport". so in actuality Helsinki was predeposed to suck before we even got there. anyway on friday we all got on the ferry (which was the nicest part of the trip) and headed across the baltic to Finland. we got there two hours later and took a bus to our hotel in the city centre. we heard finnish food was terrible so we decided on a spanish restaurant called la bodega. during the middle of our dinner, the locals eating next to us broke into song. check out auburneurope.blogspot.com to see the video of him serenading us. it was bizarre. the restaurant was also right next to a night club, so about 15 minutes into our dinner the bass line started rattling our glasses on the table, but other than that it was great. next we all decided to head out to a bar called hemingways for a couple of late night beers. well in finland apparently every night is 10 dollar beer night at all the bars. so we all sat there nursing our beers for an hour, and in the middle of that hour from across the street, we hear our friends singing coming out of another bar. ridiculous. finally we went back to the hotel to look up some of the student bars around town... we ended up at an art school bar which for the better part of 30 minutes we debated whether or not it was actually a gay bar. we chilled and listened to the dj and then around 3 we headed back to the hotel. on the elevator this old guy in a suit who had just checked in asked us "what are you doing going in? you still have another hour til everything is closed." called out by somebody older than my dad
anyway so on friday we got up around noonish to check out and met up with rest of our group that came over saturday morning. well as i have done in many a country, i suggested renting bikes to get off the beaten path a little bit. that went over well for about half of us, so we took off on the tram to the bike rental shop. the guy gave us a map and showed us a 23 km "coastal route" that should take two to three hours and be very easy to follow. bullsh*t. so i was pegged to be our guide for no apparent reason and off we went. things went smoothly for the first hour or so, we stopped at the beach and on some outcroppings. then about two hours into the ride we wound up in the middle of a mall. so i asked the cops that were there about where we were. i gave him my map and he chuckled and said "where do you think you are?" we had missed a left turn and i had lead us straight off the map. for probably ten kilometers. so i passed bike map navigation onto jeffrey. who promptly lead us down a path on an island where we had to get off and carry our bikes through a forest. so finally we ask some people and get back on a major road headed back to initial route. 5 hours and 50 kilometers later, our biking adventure finally ended. so we got lost in finland twice, but i guess thats part of the fun. we dropped off our bikes and then john, thomas, brandon and i (me not by choice) all went out to tour the rest of the stupid city. i was quite bitter about this tour and wanted only to sit down and have a beer and some food, but no we had to go check out the finnish parliament and the currently-being-renovated president's mansion, which was completely empty. finally we went to see the 1952 Olympic stadium which was cool, except you cant go inside. so we tried various different ways in, all to no avail. finally we walked all the way back to the port and got on the 10pm ferry back to Tallinn... we got back at 12ish and went back to the hostel for some showers. we end up going to the no name pub for a late dinner. when 5am rolled around, me and john said good bye to the russian people we had been engaged in conversation with (for about 3 hours we talked about russian-us politics and also the art of the flaming sambuca shot) and headed home. by this time it is broad daylight. we stopped at a little food stand on our way back and we heard the people in front of us speaking english. well another bizarre story. it turns out to be Maj. Meadows, the auburn guy that spoke to us at the embassy last week. so we sat there asking him defense questions and all kinds of what if questions about the russians for about an hour. we finally say our good byes (after 3 years in estonia he is headed back to the states july 1st), and we finally get back to our hostel around 7 this morning. so we have our last free day today, i am about to do some work on my company reports, and then we fly out to Vilnius, Lithuania at 5am tomorrow and immediately get on a bus to Klapieda, a city on the coast. there is a lot more to this whole story, and eventually i will write it all down, but its been a crazy weekend. hope everyone is well.
I'm on a boat
I'm blogging from the middle of the Baltic sea. I'm drinking bordeaux
from the bottle on the back of the ship. wifi on the ferry. So cool
dont take pictures of the US Embassy
so on wednesday we toured the estonian parliament then had a meeting with their minister of finance on the country's economic policies. we got some lunch and then our company visit was with Svedbank, a swedish banking giant with a 50% market share in every aspect of banking in the baltics. the guy who spoke with us is an ex-pat who got his MBA and then moved here for a year and learned estonian. apparently about 15 years ago the demand for american business people was huge around here, because the guy was in his late 30s and had been CFO of the baltics before he took a better position. that night we went to the pub with no name to watch barcelona whoop up on man u. it was a lot of fun and we ended up with a couple english guys at the local clubs.
now yesterday was the longest day yet, we got up at 730 and walked to the US embassy. we got there and brandon decided he would take a picture of himself next to the security box. he was warned, they deleted his picture, and then we went in. we first spoke with a Major in the Marine Corp about the US and NATO presence in the baltics. oh and as it always works out, the major was an Auburn grad, class of 96, so he enjoyed speaking with us after his lecture. he also spoke to a prominent state department guy about past and future US endeavors in the region. then on the way out brandon tried to take another picture in front of the embassy. so 30 minutes of interrogation later, we now have a person of interest to the us government in our group. after that we went for ANOTHER lecture on estonian business at the tallinn chamber of commerce (another solid 30 minute hike to the top of the mountain in old town). we came back here, took naps, and then went to the museum of soviet occupation yesterday afternoon. it was really eye opening to see a different side of WW2, because when the germans captured estonian, they were viewed as liberators from soviet oppression, and the estonians fought back the soviets side by side with the germans. you always hear about the atrocities of the germans during the war, but the soviets were probably worse. there were so many mass murders by the soviets here it is unbelievable. after that our company visit was with microsoft estonia, and then we went to the estonian national ballet and saw Swan Lake. after that at 10 oclock we went out for sushi, which ended up being pretty good, and then a few of us went out for kate's birthday. we got home as the sun was coming up at around 4 and now its two in the afternoon and we are all packing to go to Helsinki, Finland for a few days. i will try to write a post up there but if not ill write one on sunday. everyone have a good weekend!
330am comes earlier everyday...
...because thats when the sun comes up. so we have had the busiest three days ive ever been through. ill start with school on monday. we got up at 8am after 4 or so hours of sleep and had some breakfast. we then walked to the university of tallinn for our first lecture with one of the key economic advisors to the estonian government, Dr. Urmas Varblane. it was interesting to hear how other countries are playing their cards during this economic crisis. more on that later as i have had about 4 other lectures on the same thing. that afternoon we took bus to do our first company tour; the Kalev chocolate factory. yea tons of fun for diabetics. anyway that was fairly interesting to actually get to see a start to finish production process after i had been studying that for a few years. we then did a walking tour of the old town in tallinn followed immediately by a welcome dinner (picture below). i can say that i have tried traditional estonia food and now be done with it. so next
on tuesday we got up and took a visit to the European Commission (the governing body of the EU) and head a lecture from the Head of the Commission, His Excellance Toivo Klaar. this was also on the present and future of estonia's economy and also about their proposed switch to the euro. our next lecture was at the university and was given by Mr. Aavo Kokk, former estonian daily paper editor and currently the top advisor on economic restructuring. that afternoon we did our company visit to ABB Estonia. ABB is one of the most impressive companies i have ever seen and if you have never heard of it google ABB. anyway enough of the boring crap...
...that night we had dinner at a little italian restaurant on the square, and then john, thomas and i all did a little shuffle around old town. we stumbled upon a depeche mode bar, a terrible english band from the 90s that apparently has a huge following in estonia. obviously we had to go in and it did not dissappoint. every depeche mode concert flyer ever plus the constant flow of terrible depeche mode songs made for about 30 minutes of entertainment. after that we came across the lone star texas bar where we enjoyed some chips and cheese dip and a couple of san miguels (which are from spain and made absolutely no sense why they would be in a texas bar). wednesday is still in progress here, so i will post about that tomorrow, but just know that i took both of the pictures below today and i did walk between both sites. twice. for now we are all of to the nameto baar (which means bar with no-name in estonian) to watch the champions league soccer final on a big screen. hope everyone is well and hopefully we will get an interesting video out of tonight.
the longest day EVER
ll be bac
ok so i left off in london, ill start there. i rode the train into victoria station from the airport and then headed to picadilly. picadilly circus is not actually a circus. from there i walked up to covenant garden and hung out at a pub. my battle with public phones has continued into this trip and once again the phones won. i borrow three english peoples phones and finally got in touch with my friend mchael i met in spain.we had some beers and tequila at a very authentic mexican place in honor 0f our stay in cuernavaca, and then i headed back to the airport. i got to Tallinn around 12 oclock last night and it was still daylight. very awesome. so i got here and went out to get some beers and food with my room mate john. we ended up getting talked into going to a finnish kareko about 3am this mornng. we had a lot go on today, and thomas's computer is mssng keys so i will post sone nore hwen find good place. check out my pics.ill nr back tomorrow. cheers
Flying First Class
so i obtained my seat in 15c for my flight to London yesterday. aisle seat. well the flight was maybe half full. no one ever sat next to me. so i bought a bottle of crown for $20 US in the duty free store, ordered a couple of diet cokes, and had 4 pillows and three blankets to accompany my three seats that i slept on. i fell asleep somewhere over new york and the guy across the aisle from me woke me up as we were landing. absolutely the best flight ever. EVER. also on a bright note, i had some drinks for an hour or so with a guy in the ATL airport before i left. our conversation ended by him offering me a sales job for his company, World Diamond Source, Inc. apparently they are top of the line in the synthetic diamond saw blade industry, and they are very interested in moving into the international market, so i could POTENTIALLY live in Ft. Lauderdale and get to travel as much as I want to make sales. very appealling . anybody with a little down should google the company and tell me what they think, as i have only heard what the dude told me. so now im off to catch a train into london to have lunch with my buddy mike. this is the guy i met and hung out with in cuernavaca, mexico. refer to previous blog entries in mexico to learn more about mike. anyway im half way there, ill try to update when i get to tallin
Minus 2 weeks
The end of the line. ATL-PHI-LON-EST. Those may or may not be the proper airport codes for my arrival into Estonia, but I have attached an Estonia flag because I know everyone was very curious as to what it i looked like. Most of you reading this do not where or what an Estonia is, so from here on out I will refer to my location as different regions within the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
anyway so on friday we got up around noonish to check out and met up with rest of our group that came over saturday morning. well as i have done in many a country, i suggested renting bikes to get off the beaten path a little bit. that went over well for about half of us, so we took off on the tram to the bike rental shop. the guy gave us a map and showed us a 23 km "coastal route" that should take two to three hours and be very easy to follow. bullsh*t. so i was pegged to be our guide for no apparent reason and off we went. things went smoothly for the first hour or so, we stopped at the beach and on some outcroppings. then about two hours into the ride we wound up in the middle of a mall. so i asked the cops that were there about where we were. i gave him my map and he chuckled and said "where do you think you are?" we had missed a left turn and i had lead us straight off the map. for probably ten kilometers. so i passed bike map navigation onto jeffrey. who promptly lead us down a path on an island where we had to get off and carry our bikes through a forest. so finally we ask some people and get back on a major road headed back to initial route. 5 hours and 50 kilometers later, our biking adventure finally ended. so we got lost in finland twice, but i guess thats part of the fun. we dropped off our bikes and then john, thomas, brandon and i (me not by choice) all went out to tour the rest of the stupid city. i was quite bitter about this tour and wanted only to sit down and have a beer and some food, but no we had to go check out the finnish parliament and the currently-being-renovated president's mansion, which was completely empty. finally we went to see the 1952 Olympic stadium which was cool, except you cant go inside. so we tried various different ways in, all to no avail. finally we walked all the way back to the port and got on the 10pm ferry back to Tallinn... we got back at 12ish and went back to the hostel for some showers. we end up going to the no name pub for a late dinner. when 5am rolled around, me and john said good bye to the russian people we had been engaged in conversation with (for about 3 hours we talked about russian-us politics and also the art of the flaming sambuca shot) and headed home. by this time it is broad daylight. we stopped at a little food stand on our way back and we heard the people in front of us speaking english. well another bizarre story. it turns out to be Maj. Meadows, the auburn guy that spoke to us at the embassy last week. so we sat there asking him defense questions and all kinds of what if questions about the russians for about an hour. we finally say our good byes (after 3 years in estonia he is headed back to the states july 1st), and we finally get back to our hostel around 7 this morning. so we have our last free day today, i am about to do some work on my company reports, and then we fly out to Vilnius, Lithuania at 5am tomorrow and immediately get on a bus to Klapieda, a city on the coast. there is a lot more to this whole story, and eventually i will write it all down, but its been a crazy weekend. hope everyone is well.
on tuesday we got up and took a visit to the European Commission (the governing body of the EU) and head a lecture from the Head of the Commission, His Excellance Toivo Klaar. this was also on the present and future of estonia's economy and also about their proposed switch to the euro. our next lecture was at the university and was given by Mr. Aavo Kokk, former estonian daily paper editor and currently the top advisor on economic restructuring. that afternoon we did our company visit to ABB Estonia. ABB is one of the most impressive companies i have ever seen and if you have never heard of it google ABB. anyway enough of the boring crap...
The end of the line. ATL-PHI-LON-EST. Those may or may not be the proper airport codes for my arrival into Estonia, but I have attached an Estonia flag because I know everyone was very curious as to what it i looked like. Most of you reading this do not where or what an Estonia is, so from here on out I will refer to my location as different regions within the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
