Two Months in Estonia (and Tallin vs Tartu)
In September and October 2025, I had the privilege of experiencing and working in Estonia on two back-to-back practica, supported by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV), in the framework of the Global Estonian Internship Program. In September, I was welcomed into Tallinn University and spent four productive weeks there, while in October the University of Tartu Museum warmly included me in their goings-on for another busy four weeks.
My responsibilities were quite diverse, even within the same institution. In Tallinn, I was assigned three main tasks on my first day: give a lecture and participate in the Introduction to Estonian Studies / Introduction to Estonian Culture course, help grade essays and participate in an introductory semiotics course, and assist Tallinn University Press—as a small publisher—in optimizing their use of the Crossref platform. In Tartu, my first task was to find information on the Swedish military engineer (he was also much more) Erik Dahlbergh, a later task was to assist at a symposium dedicated to the figures of Meelis and Vyachko, and my final task was to research how Estonians abroad celebrated the anniversary of the opening of the Estonian-language University of Tartu.
Alongside smaller tasks that I completed along the way, each of these projects provided me something new with regards to both knowledge and skills. I did not know that the anniversary of the Estonian-language University of Tartu was recognized nearly every year on the east coast of Canada and the United States, that Meelis and Vyachko had such a controversial position in the Estonian (historical) consciousness, or that the shape of many fortifications surrounding Estonian cities is the direct result of Dahlbergh’s ideas and influence, for instance. Likewise, I knew very little about the scholarly ecosystem and the role that Digital Object Identifiers and metadata play within it, and even in semiotics (which is my academic background) and matters of Estonian history and culture (which is my heritage), I learned many new things. Skills-wise, I learned about using Crossref, as well as the many digital archival, museological, and database tools available in Estonian cyberspace.
Having spent many years in Tartu, I had less experience with Tallinn, and I had never visited Tallinn University. The back-to-back internships, however, allowed me to juxtapose the two. Tallinn University is a self-contained whole, a miniature labyrinthine city with buildings connected by “tubes” or tunnels, located in the centre of Estonia’s largest city. Meanwhile, the University of Tartu has as its “campus” the entirety of Tartu proper, a more or less decentralized institution spread out in what may be Estonia’s second-largest city, but is nonetheless four to five times smaller than Tallinn. While the University of Tartu is older and has more students, Tallinn University is newer and smaller in its student body. The comparison even extends to linguistic triviality: Tartu is the “University of…”, while Tallinn is simply “… University,” according to their English-language branding. The cities, meanwhile, stand to one another as economic capital to cultural capital, business centre to university town, “big city” to “small town,” even northern Estonia to southern. Indeed, the rivalry between the two extends down to the geological level: While Tallinn sits atop limestone, Tartu is built overtop clay.
It was not lost on me that it was election season while I was in Estonia. Billboards, branded vehicles, debate shows on ETV, voting stations, ads, and so on, were a part of everyday experience. Both practica, as well as events organized by contacts, co-workers, and friends, allowed me to map the institutional landscape of Estonia more so than I had ever done before. Lectures, television programs, and everyday conversations gave me a much better understanding of the different political parties, ministries, and media outlets found in Estonia, along with their histories and relations. Visits to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Estonian Literary Museum, the different collections and buildings of the University of Tartu Museum, the Juri Lotman Semiotics Repository, ESTDEV, the National Archives of Estonia, the Centre of Estonian Exile Literature, the KGB prison cells (Vabamu), and other institutions all contributed to a more holistic understanding of Estonia.
I had not fully forgotten it, but being in Estonia reminded me of what I had been missing and what I love: the culture, the language, the opportunities, the free and free-thinking atmosphere (even under the ever-present threat of Russian aggression), even specific things such as the plays (Rahamaa) and concerts (Jarek Kasar) that I attended. I got to see old friends and family members, but I also made and met new ones, all because of the opportunity afforded by this scholarship program. In Tartu, I was constantly swimming in nostalgia, happy to catch up and work with friends, colleagues, and former instructors from the semiotics department.
In the end, there are too many people to mention. “You know who you are,” as they say, and thank you to all—acquaintances, co-workers, peers, etc.—for your patience and friendship, amongst other things. I will always remember the time spent fondly and look forward to what the future may bring, both back home in Canada and when our paths cross again. I would like to thank Piret Viires from Tallinn for her guidance and organization, and Ken Ird and Lea Leppik for their supervision in Tartu. Especially I would like to thank Liina Viies for finding me the job placements and everyone involved in the internship program; I hope to take what I have learned and enrich the Vancouver Estonian community the same way that my life has been enriched.
Thank you kindly.
Erik Kõvamees
Vancouver, Canada
Participant in the 2025 Internship Program for Young Estonians Living Abroad
