Written by Matilda and Finja

When we arrived in Estonia our first impressions were, that Estonia is full of nature and that Kanepi is a really small village with less people than it is usual in Germany.

In our host family we felt really comfortable from the first day. During the week we got to know more about each ohter and learned much about daily life in Estonian families. We discovered some differences between the life in Estonia and Germany, for exemple the connection between the family members is really close and they spend a lot of time together. Moreover the surrounding of the houses is more lonely than in Germany. At our first morning we were a bit surprised, that the family was not having breakfast together and that everybody has like his own routine.

All in all we can say, that we had a great time with our host family and that we enjoyed every single day.

On our trips we went to Tartu, visited some museums, done some nature games, went rafting and spent some time at school. Our favourite activity was the rafting, because we got really close to the beautiful nature of Estonia.

In conclusion we can say, that we had a really great time in Estonia, learned about the different culture and made many new experiences.

Matilda and Finja, hosted by Ilvi 

Written by Mira

Report about the exchange in Estonia 2017

Hi, my name is Mira and I stayed at the home from Laura for one week in Kanepi.

When I first came to Estonia I was thinking that one week will be a long time for enjoying an exchange. But now the time is gone and I think I will miss everything so much here;  the most littlest school ever, the fantastic and rough landscape, my so friendly and great host family which I will miss at most, the cool time I pass here with friends,…

I really like Kanepi. It’s a very little town and when you go out you nearly meet nobody there.  Out of my sights there were just the Estonians and Germans from our group here, cause they were the only persons we met outside.  Maybe it’s because of the very hard and cold weather the people have here. But when I was wearing my warmest winter jacket, there were Estonians with T-shirt and summer jacket outside.  The school is also very small. We have got something near 120 students in each grade in Germany and here in the Kanepi School there is just one class in a grade with about 15 students in one grade. I don’t know what is better but I think that here the lessons aren’t so boring like in our school. Maybe it’s because we have to sit 90 minutes per lesson in a crowded room and here the students have more space.  The best think at the Kanepi School is in my opinion that its start so late and that you can eat here every day a nice meal or breakfast.

When I came to Estonia I was thinking that here is everywhere free Wi-Fi but unfortunately there is not, but still more than we have in Germany.

I really want to thank my host family. They are the greatest host family ever and I really want to come one time back and meet them again. We have done many things together like enjoying the natural game we have played, visited friends,  went shopping, saw big snakes in school, met the major of Kanepi,  visit museums, went to parties and the church and enjoyed the basketball match Germans against Estonians.

 

 

For me the exchange to Estonia was and is still an unique trip in a different life which I will never forget because it was so fantastic here. I’m very sad that we have to leave Estonia tomorrow, if I could I would stay here as long as possible. J

~Mira  from Werther in Germany

Exchange in Estonia, April 2017 by Franzi

Hey there, 

My name is Franzi and I stayed for one week with my exchange student Mari-Liis.

Estonia is a very small country, it has a population of 1.3 mio, which feels, in comparison to Germany, like there lives nobody. The town, where I am staying, is called Kanepi and there are living about 700 people. Even though there are living not so many people, it is a really nice, but small village. I was really surprised, when I heard there are two shops. They are really small, but you can get there whatever you need for your daily life. 

My family was really nice and I am glad that I was able to stay at their place. They lived in the middle of nowhere about ten minute’s drive away. It seems to be quite cool living in the middle of nowhere, because it is silent and relaxing. My family had a big property and a sauna in their garden. I have been in there twice and I wish I would have one at home, but I don’t have one and anyway there isn’t space for it. 

Living in Estonia is different than living in Germany. One point is the standard of living. It is lower than in Germany, but it wasn’t a problem for me, but I think I was lucky to stay in that family, because everything was really clean and comfortable. 

The program we had was great as everything during our visit in Estonia. The school were shown to us, we took part in lessons (they are so different from ours), we played games in the nature, we played basketball against the Estonian exchange students, we met the major, we had an art workshop, we had a kind of party with all the exchange students, we visited the AHHAA science centre Tartu and the Aura centre, after that we had time to go shopping, we were rafting on the river Võhandu, we were in Võru and visited the military base Kuperjanov. The program was really good and the best thing was the rafting on Wednesday. On the weekend I did somethings with Mari-Liis and her friends, who had German exchanges as well. On Saturday we were in Tartu. We ate a big burger all together and went to a souvenirs shop. The shop assistant told us a lot about the Estonian sauna and it was quite interesting. When we passed the old town I met a friend I didn’t see since last summer, because she is an exchange student for a whole year. After that we were driving to a shopping centre. In the evening we, my exchange and two friend of her with their exchanges, were in the youth centre and played Billiard. On Sunday was a kind of Workshop in school with snakes. There was a man who has a lot of snakes and he brought four with him to school. There were three small snakes and one big snake. After that we were at an Estonian road museum with more or less every exchange student. We were also bowling with the same people as always and in the evening we were at Angela’s. The other evening we spent with the same people at different places and one evening we, just me and Mari-Liis, watched some films.

I am really sad that the week is already over, because i enjoyed the time i spent in Estonia.