2 portugueses in Estonia!!!

Hi!

Our names are Adriana and Mariana and we’re Erasmus students from Portugal. We’re studying Radiology and this is our course last year, so we decided to come to Erasmus to have a different experience, one unique thing :)

Our trip to Estonia was very, very exausting, but funny! We laugh a lot with the unexpected situations and were in Helsinki for just few hours, but we would like to came back.
Now, we’re in Tallin, the capital, until the end of November to do practices in MRI and CT in Ida-Tallinna Keskhaigla (Tallin's Central Hospital), and then we will move to Tartu to practice Mammography and Conventional Radiology. In our first days at the Hospital the Radiology Technicians help us with some words in estonian and Russian, it was difficult because the pronounce is really different from portuguese language, but with some practice we’re already saying some things in estonian.

This experience is being quite adventurous and really amazing, because since we arrived we met many, many different people, from different countries and cultures and we've been through situations that we could never imagine. We were in Tartu for 3 days and we enjoyed, but we have to confess that Tallinn is pretty cool and the Erasmus students that we met here are quite friendly and funny, so let's hope that the experience in Tartu, continues to be as nice as it's being here!!!

One thing we miss from our country is the food, is quite different from here, but we’re managing and already tried many estonian food that we like, for example, the black bread it's reeeeeally tasty and you can have awesome and cheap pancakes in lots of places. The beer is also good, and you can't buy less than half a liter, so it's a generous quantity too ;) because one thing that our tutor, Kreeta told us is: "In Estonia bigger is cheaper", and that is really true here!

The weather is the most complicated part of this adventure, because when we thought that it would be cold in Estonia, we didn't think it would be so early, because we’re in the beginning of October and already is snowing. This way we were both ill for one month already, and we have to hurry up buying some warmer clothes because we weren't expecting this cold so soon.

While the weather was sunny we had the opportunity to go to Haapsalu and Kuressaare in Saaremaa where we loved the amazing nature landscapes, the typical handicraft and the windmills that are considered one of the most important symbols of the island.
This weekend we made another trip with Erasmus students to the South of Estonia and we were in Turi's village swing, slept in a castle, walked in Vijandi and Tartu, visited A.Le Coq's factory (beer factory), met Estonia National Park and visited Palamuse Museum in Jogeva. It was really exausting because at night we partied, and we had to wake up early in the morning to visit some places, but the result was a great and wonderful weekend.

Well that's it for now, we'll keep posting our adventures here, so you can know how it's like to do Erasmus in Estonia...

Terviseks :)

Dri and Mimi