Narva Week 5

This weekend, we had to opportunity to visit Tartu and see the university. The coolest part of the weekend was getting to see the art museum inside the university where they had actual mummies preserved. I’ve never seen anything like that and it was super cool. They also had a whole room of sculptures and some nice paintings. We also got to see the “student lockup” in the attic which was a small room where students stayed when they got into trouble or broke a rule. The walls were full of old drawings and we heard some really funny stories about how the students got in trouble. Another really cool part of this weekend was that we were given a scavenger hunt with places to find around the city. This gave us an awesome opportunity to explore the city and have some fun. One of the places we went was the KGB museum. It was in the basement of an old building in the city. The whole place was full of information about the prisoners, their personal lives, the living conditions, interrogation practices, and so much else. They had replicas made of the bunk beds and the solitary confinement cells which were incredibly small. While not the most fun part of the trip, it was a great experience and I feel like I learned a lot. On a brighter note, we all thought Tartu was a great city. Walking around during the scavenger hunt was really fun, it would be great to go back and explore some more. The buildings were beautiful and we all liked spending time in the city. It was really nice to have a weekend again that was spent on more than just studying, like with midterms last weekend. With finals and the end of the program coming into view, I have loved taking advantage of all the cultural experiences we have left. Can’t wait to see what the last three weeks will bring! – Natalie