Kitchen – My Fulbright Experience

[This post was published several days after it was written.]

I am sitting on a bus to Pärnu right now. It is a very foggy morning. Although I can still see the almost full moon, the sun is trying to cut through the fog. I am only just passing through Pärnu today, but I will be sure to spend some more time there in the future. Actually, I am heading to Riga, Latvia for the weekend to meet up with some of my fellow Fulbrighters. More on that after it’s happened. Since I will be spending more than five hours on a bus today, I figured now was a good time to update my blog. A lot has happened since I last posted.

First of all, I am getting settled in Viljandi. After staying in the guest house for about a week and a half I found a place to stay. I looked online, talked to people, and inquired about multiple apartments. I visited a place where international volunteers were living, but decided that it was too far away from school. The walk was fine now, but I could only imagine the dread in winter. This particular apartment wasn’t the nicest place, not to mention there would eventually be five people living in a space meant for two and a half. The entire time I was looking at affordable places that seemed to be where a student should expect to live, but I couldn’t get this one apartment out of my head.

When I was still in the States and happily under the delusion that I would be living in student housing this year, I decided to look at apartments available in Viljandi, just for fun. Most places were fairly inexpensive and their appearance matched their price tag. However one place clearly stood out from the rest. It was perfect. Close to everything; school, the folk music center, the castle ruins, and all the cafés and restaurants. It was fully furnished, and well. It was super cute and had everything I could possibly want. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. This apartment was more expensive than the others and at the time seemed like it would be out of reach.

After seeing the first reasonable apartment with the practical price-tag I decided maybe finding a place I actually WANTED to live in, was worth a little extra cash. So I went for it. I decided to take a look at my dream apartment. I ran some numbers and realized that although I wouldn’t be saving as much money as I had anticipated, I could actually afford this place (thank you Fulbright). I went to meet the landlord and before he even finished showing me around I told him I was 100% committed to the apartment. It looked even better than in the pictures. Not only was it fully furnished, but the kitchen was even stocked with plates, bowls, cups, mugs, silverware, pots, and pans. There were candles, pictures, and other accessories decorating the space. And to top it off the super friendly landlord offered to buy me a new TV, washing machine, and mattress topper!

I met with him again later that day to sign the contract and the apartment was mine. The friend I had made at the guest house, Jaanika, picked me up with her car and helped me bring my stuff to my new place. After marveling at the fact that I had practically everything I needed she left to eat dinner at home. Later that night she came back to hang out. When I buzzed her in she walked through the door with a huge bag of apples, pears, and tomatoes from her grandmother’s garden. It was so sweet!

Remember how I mentioned this apartment was a little on the pricey side? Well I kept thinking that it would be nice to have a roommate to help with that. I wanted a roommate anyway. Originally I was hoping to live with some Estonians so I could work on the language and get to know Estonian life even better. During the apartment search there were a few options for roommates including an Estonian student, a girl from Moldova, and one from Germany. I was also talking to the only other international student at the culture academy (that I knew of at the time). Her name is Hennariikka and she is from Finland. She was also looking for an apartment and willing to spend some extra money to get a nice place. When I told her about the place I found, she agreed that it was perfect. Well…perfect for one person. Nevertheless she showed up the first night and was unsure of where she would be spending the night. I offered her the couch until we had time to “figure things out”.

It became clear rather quickly that although the apartment was not ideal for two people (it is a one-bedroom), she wanted to stay. After several days of discussing possible ways to arrange the furniture our landlord bought us another mattress (this guy is great) and Hende (her nickname) has now turned part of the living area into her little corner. I am really happy to have a roommate. Even though I thought I wanted to live with an Estonian, I must admit it is nice to have someone to talk to about the challenges of adjusting to the Estonian culture and learning the language.

I am extremely happy with my new place. I can’t believe my first apartment is in the Old Town of Viljandi, Estonia. The only downside is it is so nice I may never want to leave (don’t worry Mom, I’m only joking).