Cruising to Tallin

Very early Monday morning, I was up, ready and packed for the big trip ahead to Estonia. Since I was still so new to the area, to get to the city center, Anna traveled with me by bus that morning. This trip, with the many bus stops for the morning rush, took about 40 minutes and was once again a nice time to talk as well as catch the sites.
Many YFU summer programs offer additional trips, and for the students traveling to Finland, an optional excursion to the capital city of the nation of Estonia, Tallin, just south of Helsinki through the Baltic sea was our opportunity. Even from America, before traveling this summer at all, I was curious and anxious for this trip to see this unique capital that is known as being one of the best kept medieval old towns in all of Europe.
Arriving at the port station was great. I was able to meet up with all of my YFU friends that I had become very close to in D.C. and the Turku orientation after traveling to Finland during our first days on program. It was so nice to catch up on everything and capture everyone's excitement from their great stories and adventures from the summer that had just passed by so quickly. The station was silent - except for our loud American group - but we only noticed it sporadically since there was just too much to say and cover with everyone. For technically just knowing each other for a few days while coming to Finland, we all became very close traveling, being exhausted together, and pretty much moving as a team through international travel connections and terminals. We had a big week of huge events planned out for us and we were so excited to be able to see each other even more and experience all of the big plans together!

Going to Tallin was very similar to how I traveled to Åland earlier this summer. We were going to take another cruise ( lucky me!) and it was scheduled to take a little over 2 hours to travel over the Baltic.

On the ship we had a great time catching up and socializing, meeting random groups of young Finns also traveling to Tallin ( they were curious about us large group of Americans... they probably heard us from the other side of the boat!), enjoying the docks, and also skimming through the tax free shops on the cruise. Time passed by so fast.

Arriving in Estonia, we went through passport checks ( another stamp!) and that made us realize how cool it was that we actually were in another country ( and thus, even another culture, new currency... and a new language!). From the window we had a great view of the old town in the distance and that sparked our excitement for the eventful trip planned ahead of us.

We were going to stay in a hotel, visit renowned medieval style restaurants, tour the old town, go to museums, and even have free time to shop and enjoy our incredible historical surroundings. A lot was going to happen and we knew we had no time to waste, so after quickly dropping off our luggage in our hotel rooms, we were on our way to experience the new adventures that awaited us in Estonia!