The only thing harder than trying to pay attention to a two and a half hour lecture about Russia and the Baltic States in a post-soviet era world from an Estonian with a heavy accent, is trying to do it jet lagged. The lecture itself was pretty interesting, but it was long and my eyes were heavy.
After lunch we walked to the US Embassy in Estonia. We had to enter the embassy's door (which was a giant, black box covered in one way glass from floor to ceiling) one by one as for security purposes. After I was finally in I had to give my passport to a Marine and was led to a large conference room. We met with two Americans who worked at the embassy. We're not allowed to publish what we talked about (I don't really know why) but I can say that it was the most interesting conversation. I snapped out of my jet lag and hung on every word they said. They work in a field that I would love to be a part of and the stories they told about working in this field made me really excited for the possibilities of my future.
After that we went to the Estonian Art Museum: Kumu. It was cool I guess. I'm
not that into art to be totally honest. I just don't get it. There was one exhibit that had an uneven bunkbed with pictures of naked women on the bottom bunk and dead plants on the top bunk. What does that mean?? Why make that?? Where is the message??
Anyway I fell asleep standing up listening to the tour guide.
All in all it was a great first day, even though I was exhausted. Estonia is a gorgeous country, the people on my trip are friendly and adventurous and I'm so excited for the rest of it!
P.S. I thought this painting was funny because it looked like the girl was taking a selfie.