On Saturday the 12th of May we had an early breakfast and shower round before packing our bags, saying goodbye to the hostel and going to the airport. To get rid of some hangovers and feel a bit more awake after a tiring trip, we treated ourselves to some coffee, juices and sugar before boarding. After an easy 2-hour flight, we safely arrived back at Schiphol, where everyone quickly wanted to go home to get some well-deserved sleep. It was an amazing trip with loads of interesting information, and most of all, with a wonderful group of people! Thank you all!

On Friday, our last final day, alarms were set super early (yes, Estucation, talking to you), or relaxingly late. Some groups had already finished their planned activity and used the morning for walking around Tallinn or relaxing in the grass and enjoying the warm, sunny weather. Other groups still had some activities planned.

Estucation went on an early trip to an Estonian primary school where they could see how the digitalization is implemented in the daily school routine. Ipads were used for several classes and even the young children already learned how to program. The school also had a 3D printer as well as mini-robots, all to help children develop in this digital age. A truly fascinating development to see, and the kids were way too cute of course!


The New Sovjeties and the Culture Club teamed up to visit the KGB prison cells. The KGB prison cells were used for imprisoning and interrogating politicians, state officials, businessmen and many others during the Estonian occupation. The guide explained that his own grandfather had been imprisoned here as well. Standing in the small, dark, stone rooms was impressive as it made you fully understand how horrible the living conditions were. They estimated that the cells were shared by around 8-10 people, and at the bottom of the cell door there was a small hole, which you could use to breathe in some air. Every two minutes the prisoners would switch with another prisoner getting the chance to get some oxygen.

After lunch, we all gathered again to go on a walking tour of Tallinn. In about 2 hours, our tour guide talked us through the entire Soviet history of Tallinn and Estonia and showed the most important buildings, monuments and places related to this period of time. The tour guide also brought us to a place that was built for the Olympics held in 1980 in Moscow. However, for the watersports they needed a place better located to water and chose Tallinn for this. The building is still there, although nowadays it is not officially used anymore. Now it is an amazing place to hang out and watch the sun go down. So that is what we did.

After dinner, most of our group gathered at this building. With drinks, music, dancing and the sunset in the background, this was a perfect place for celebrating our trip and our last evening in Tallinn.

Our very first full day in Estonia was packed with activities. Early in the morning we had breakfast, took a fast shower and queued up for the limited amount of bathrooms available in the hostel before heading out to visit NATO. Tallinn is home to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE). This centre opened its doors in 2008, after a cyber attack on Estonia in 2007 by Russia in response to a bronze statue being moved in Tallinn. It is now an important Centre of Excellence for NATO which conducts research and training on cyber warfare and develops NATO standards for cyber defence. Since 2016 cyber is the 4th NATO domain next to air, land and water, showing the importance of cyber defence in our contemporary societies. After going through strict security we were further introduced into the specific tasks and goals of the CCD COE and into the many events they organize, including an annual cyber security conference (CyCon) and Locked Shields. The latter is, according to themselves, 'the world’s largest and most advanced international technical live-fire cyber defence exercise'. It trains security experts who protect national IT systems. Last year, for example, the electric power grid system of a fictional military base was under attack, which the participants have to find ways to stop every single of the 2500 possible attacks. Sounds interesting? Take a look at their website for more information and possible internship possibilities!


After a short break to get some lunch and freshen up, we took the bus to our next stop. Completely fitting the theme of that morning, cybersecurity, we payed a visit to the e-Estonia Showroom. This centre was created specifically to inspire other countries with the success story of e-Estonia and to build links to leading IT service providers. In Estonia 99% of all services provided are online, and though the individual services might not be that unique, it is their overcompassing system with an electronic ID-card that links all information, that sets it apart from other countries. According to Indrek Õnnik, who provided us with an excellent and informative presentation into e-Estonia, internet is seen as a social right in their country. Privacy is still ensured as citizens can see exactly who opened what information from them and for what purposes, and they can choose themselves what information to share from for example their medical records. So if you are all into tech, this might definitely be the country for you (though marriage, divorce and selling your house still has to be done in person...).


Next on the list was a visit to a very modern building housing 5 different ministeries from Estonia. However, we were not there to get another talk about the Estonian systems or listen to another expert on digitalization. We were there for a completely different reason: a choir performance! Our Honours coordinator had some contacts in Tallinn and had arranged for us to be present at a repetition of an Estonian folk song choir. What we did not know, however, was that we were also supposed to warm up our own voices with them. With a little hesitation at the beginning, some of us really warmed up after some time and without any shame let their voices echo through the room. The choir even sang a few songs for us in the main hall of the building, which was quite amazing to hear!


One cannot end such a packed day without a delicious dinner right? Of course not, so we set off to Restaurant MIX, which turned out a bit fancier than most of us had expected. With a delicious three-course meal all of us were more than content with this amazing first day in Tallinn.

The last arrangements have been made, the last bookings confirmed, and the final schedule is ready. That is quite necessary too because in less than 48 hours we will set foot in Tallinn, Estonia. Tuesday afternoon we will fly to Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport to arrive at the hostel early in the evening. To start off our time in this city, we will have dinner at Restoran Pegasus, which, according to the website, is known for giving 'wings to your taste buds'.

Wednesday the real program starts with an early visit to NATO Tallinn, officially known as NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence Tallinn. This is a hub of cyber defence expertise with a focus on technology, strategy, operations and law. It is an International Military Organisation with a mission to enhance the capability, cooperation and information sharing among NATO, its member nations and partners in cyber defence by virtue of education, research and development, lessons learned and consultation. A very exciting and unique opportunity to be able to visit this international defence organization! After this offcial visit, we will go to the e-Estonia Showroom, which offers a full overview of all the e-services available in tech-pioneer Estonia, including the mechanisms involved in digitizing a society, the main challenges and policies, e-solutions and services and an understanding of the infrastructure. Our last activity of the day is still a bit mysterious, all that is known about it is that it will be a choire performance at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will then go for dinner at Restaurant Mix, which, with a fusion cuisine that is anything but simple, will conclude this anything but simple day.

Thursday gives plenty of room for the individual research groups to explore their own programs. For more information about what each group is doing this day and on Friday morning, you can read the 'research' page. This will give you a great impression of the range of topics that are explored during our stay in Tallinn. Next to our individual research activities, there is also the option to visit the Soviet market, also known as the Balti Jaam Market. Every day around 50 Russian market stalls fill the street accross the central station with a range of locally made and second-hand products. We will have dinner at Lendav Taldrik, an urbane restaurant that contrasts greatly with the old city center of Tallinn, but with a mouthwatering selection of Asian foods.

Friday is our last full day in Estonia, and the morning is again free for the individual research groups. We will regroup after lunch, however, for a 2-hour walking tour around the city center to explore Old Tallinn, after which we continue this historic theme by visiting the Estonian History Museum. Pizza from Pizza Grande will give us some new energy before going out for drinks with the entire group to end our (hopefully) amazing trip on a festive note, as the day after we will fly back to Amsterdam in the morning with a lot of knew knowledge, impressions and memories!

Afterwards, we watched each research committee present what they had achieved so far. Those who had been successful in contacting experts were ready to show off, and those who hadn't were ready to improvise. It was really interesting to get an overview of every group's topic and see how each one had come up with a distinct plan to collect their data. Despite our differences however, we also agreed on some activities that our whole group could participate in, such as visiting the E-Estonia Showroom and possibly the Patarei prison.