Meeting in Tallin, by Portuguese students

It all started on February 2, 2014. We went to Oporto airport and our adventure began. At the check-in we realized that Vítor’s citizen card had expired. Fortunately, everything was solved! Afterwards, we boarded a direct flight to Frankfurt. When we arrived at Frankfurt airport, we had lunch. We waited three hours in the airport and then we went to Estonia. During the flight, we were given the information that we could not land because the runway was icy, so we went to Helsinki airport, Finland. When we received our luggage, another adventure: Tiago’s suitcase had an unbearable smell, a bottle of liquor had broken! It was an offer to our hosts…

After this incident, we were informed that we were going to Estonia by ferry and that we would receive a voucher of 10 Euros to spend there. We went by bus to the port of Helsinki where we embarked on the ferry. The ferry was very large and very beautiful inside. When we arrived in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the family that welcomed us was already waiting for us. They seemed very friendly and they took us to their home (where we stayed during the week). It was a beautiful and large house. They showed us the house and then we went to our room to sleep. The day had been tiring.

On Monday we went to the school facilities of Kristine, a very big school. Then, we went by bus to the Liberty Square and we visited many historic sites of the city. We took many pictures. After that, we visited the TV tower broadcast. We climbed 170 meters. At the end of the visit, we had lunch at a restaurant. In the afternoon we went ice-skating and in the evening we went home.

On Tuesday morning we visited a museum that had an exhibit about the Titanic. At the end of the visit, we had a battle of snowballs: teachers vs. students. Students won, of course. After lunch, we visited the Bastion cellars and Kock tower. At the end of the visit, we all played bowling and billiards. At the end of the day, we went home.

The next day, we had a robots competition with mixed teams (teams with students from different countries). After, we had lunch at the school canteen. The food was quite good and tasty. In the afternoon we visited the Tallinn Institute of Technology and then we went skiing. It was pretty fun because we fell many times. Then, we went to the cinema.

On Thursday we continued our competition and after that we attended a lecture given by two robotic members of the NPO Robotics. They showed us a lot of interesting robots. Then, we had lunch in the school canteen. In the afternoon we continued the competition.

On Friday morning we knew the name of the country which won the logo of the project – “Many cultures, one technology”. In the afternoon we played computer games. At the end of the day, we went out to dinner with Kristo’s parents. They were really cool people.

Saturday was our last day in Estonia, so we had to wake up early to pack. Around eleven o’clock in the morning we visited a waterfall and a totally icy river with Kristo’s parents. Finally, we went to Tallinn airport. Once there, we were desperately looking for Vítor’s citizen card that seemed to be cursed. But we found it. The rest of the trip went well and we got home okay.
Tiago Silva & Vítor Faria, 8ºA