Real Life Reporting in Tallinn, Estonia!
April 19th 2010 23:41
Time: 11:01pm Date: 19/04/2010 Location: My Bedroom, Kautokeino
This may seem out dated to many of you - well at least it does to me because I am a practicing journalist who should all be about relevance and timely information, but I promised I would keep my audience updated with what I am doing, so I will keep my word.
This is a story about when my journalism classmates and I travelled to Estonia to report some real life foreign correspondance. Basically we were given one week to gather what we needed to develop a story about this foreign land on our own. I decided to do a radio piece (which I am hoping ABC Radio will buy off of me) on an evironmnetally friendly hotel chain in the Baltic Region known as Reval Hotels. I would then compare it with a local Melbourne environmentally friendly hotel (Alto Hotel on Bourke St.) to provide the story with a local angle.
Some of you may be thinking, where the hell is Estonia anyway? Well, let me give you a run down...
Estonia is a small country in Northern Europe surroundered by the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, Latvia and Russia. Similar to Finland in terms of climate and culture, but with an old town that is to die for. With a population of only 1.34 million, it is one of the least-populous members of the European Union. Oh and how can I forget! You can also thank the Estonians for the creation of free Internet calling, a.k.a Skype!
We set sail (well took the ferry across - the most common mode of transport between Finland and Estonia) on Monday the 8th of March at 7:30 in the morning - see I told you this was a long time ago! The trip takes a bit more than three hours which is not bad to get to a whole different country when it takes approximately 10 hours to travel between two states (Victoria and Tasmania)! However, the water conditions are very different. The sea is flat but covered in ice; a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed! When we arrived in Tallinn (the capital of Estonia), we carried our stuff to the backpackers - the place I would be staying for the next four nights. Usually, when you think of a backpackers; you think cheap, dirty and disgusting but this one was actually very nice. By no means a large backpackers, my room even had its own private bathroom! The backpackers was in the midst of the 'Old Town'. A place of beauty and history; nothing like you would experience back home in Australia! As I walked down the streets, I felt like I was in Disneyland or something where everything is designed to put on a show. However, this was the real deal! Everything felt so old but had been so well maintained. The main town square consisted of one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe which dates back to 1422! The weather was as cold as Helsinki but by now, I was used to it!
After getting some lunch and buying the necessities, we went to the Estonian Foreign Ministry. This was interesting to get an insight into how the Estonians were marketing their country to the world with so few people to back it up. It was also amusing to hear of their relationship with the Russians! The class then was taken on a twilight tour of the Old Town by a young, local Estonian man. This was really good as I got to know a lot about the town such as the history behind it and also directions for the week ahead! He showed us the gate and the wall between the old and the new town and how it is common to see market stalls every day lined up along the wall. We learnt how back in the olden days, the archers would sit up in the towers that lined the wall, waiting to attack. These towers are now rented out privately to people with a stack of money.
Braving the freezing temperatures, we walked to two really pretty churches; one of which was Russian Orthodox and one Lutheran. The architecture of these buildings was simply stunning. However, what was even more stunning was a look out that we visited which looked over the entire city - the old as well as the new town. The view from this lookout was incredible! The transition from the old to the new was right there for you to see and was really amazing. The guide then took us to the Estonain parliament which fitted right into the old town showing off its soft pink colours. By the end of the hour and a half, we went to have dinner at a pub around the corner. Estonian 'dark' beer was on the cards and I'm sorry to any dark beer fans but no cigar for mine!
The following day (before I headed off to my first interview) a few of us went to this pancake place that was recommeneded to us the night before. These were seriously the best pancakes in the entire world and cheap as chips! I went back there every day but that's another story! Later that afternoon, I had my first interview with the General Manager of Reval Hotels, Juha Mahonen. I planned my route into the new town and to the hotel the night before using Google maps and this time...it was spot on! It even helped me to get there early but this caused me a problem. A lady out the front of the hotel was approaching hotel guests and begging for money and of course I became one of her victims. Anyway, my interview went really well and I even got a free drink (the perks that come with being a journalist =))! However, I wanted to collect some vox pops from guests outside the hotel. I believe I waited for almost two hours and managed to get only two interviews. The language barrier proved to be the major problem. My first question was always, "Do you speak English?" and I would either get a shake of the head or nothing at all! I returned to the backpackers cold and frustrated but was otherwise happy with the day's progress. Later that night, the group of us went Italian for dinner and some drinks, in what looked like a war bunker which was very satisfying after a long days' work. Oh by the way, the beer in Estonia is cheap and big!
After another batch of amazing pancakes, a second interview was to follow on the Wednesday. It was with the Communications Manager of Green Key (the 'green' organisation who partners with environmentally friendly hotels), Kadri Tammik. After walking through the streets of Tallinn for about an hour, I realised I was lost. This was not good since I was supposed to be there by now. My socks and shoes were saturated from the melting snow and my legs were tired. After asking three different locals who weren't much help at all, I found a young man walking back from the shops. Luckily, he spoke great English and was headed in the same direction as I was. He took me straight to where I wanted to go - an absolute life saver! I was only half an hour late...
However, as Kadri was also from the Estonian tourist board; she could understand that it's easy for a tourist to get lost in Tallinn. Thank God for that! Anyway, my interview with her was a major success - she helped me out a lot! Feeling once again satisfied with my days work, I returned home to eat out with my fellow journalists at an African restaurant. An interesting fact from this place was the menu had both Estonian Krone prices on it as well as Euro prices. This is because Estonia is currently preparing itself to soon switch over to the Euro.
Later that night, I chilled to the sight of Manchester United on the big screen in the backpackers common room.
Thursday. No interviews lined up. What to do? Well, sightseeing and tourist shopping is what you do! This town was seriously amazing. I managed to walk into so many little antique shops with stuff from who knows when. Although it was expensive and worthless to me, it was very interesting to see the things from the olden days - way before my time! However, Thursday hit the group hard. Around lunchtime, I received the news that the group producing a television story had their car broken into - window smashed, radio and GPS stolen! They obviously had to report the incident to the police who were really nasty about the whole thing and therefore provided hardly any assistance. By mid-afternoon, I heard that another fellow classmate had broken her leg from slipping on the ice. She ended up in hospital and a group of us had to wait in the freezing cold for her to find her way home. That was not all! Before dinner, the third piece of bad news was brought to my attention - another fellow classmate had been bashed in the street by a group of men in an unprovoked attack the night before. Luckily, after visiting the doctor she was OK! It was at this point that I just wanted to go home. Not home to Australia, but home to Helsinki. Yes, it was true - I felt home-sick for Helsinki! A few of us managed to brush past our sorrows though with a dinner stop at 'Olde Hanse' - a true medieval restaurant where literally everything is old-fashioned. The food was cooked in a medieval way (I don't know what I was eating but it was good), the waitresses were dressed in medieval clothes, medieval music played in the background and the medieval toilets were a sight to be seen!
The next day I was frantically trying to secure another interview. Success! I managed to grab CEO of Kaleva Travels, Merike Hallik. This was useful to me as I felt like I needed that one last interview to be fully equipped with material when I returned back to the studio. The interview went better than I expected for last minute and I returned to the backpackers to collect my luggage. I was relocating to one of Reval Hotels to experience for myself how they were marketing their 'everinomentally friendly' label. Unfortunately, I had to pay for this myself (well my university did actually) but I felt this was necessary for my story and me as there was a comfortable bed and a TV waiting for me =)! Oh and how can I forget; buffet breakfast anyone?!
Saturday saw me leave Estonia and return back to Finland. I was satisfied with my work and was ready to produce and edit my piece into a three part mini-series the following week. But before I could begin, I had to interview a couple of people from back home in Australia and with time differences and all; let's not go there!!
Whilst some of us ventured further to Riga (capital of Latvia), southern Estonia and Muhu Island (just off the coast of Estonia); most of us stayed in Tallinn. After spending almost a week there, I wouldn't have had it any other way!
**For all pictures of my trip to Estonia, please refer to the external link which is my Facebook album =)
I'm in Disneyland?! No, I'm in Estonia which feels like Disneyland! Especially this 'Old Town' that feels like Disneyland! Don't you think it looks like Disneyland?!
This may seem out dated to many of you - well at least it does to me because I am a practicing journalist who should all be about relevance and timely information, but I promised I would keep my audience updated with what I am doing, so I will keep my word.
This is a story about when my journalism classmates and I travelled to Estonia to report some real life foreign correspondance. Basically we were given one week to gather what we needed to develop a story about this foreign land on our own. I decided to do a radio piece (which I am hoping ABC Radio will buy off of me) on an evironmnetally friendly hotel chain in the Baltic Region known as Reval Hotels. I would then compare it with a local Melbourne environmentally friendly hotel (Alto Hotel on Bourke St.) to provide the story with a local angle.
Some of you may be thinking, where the hell is Estonia anyway? Well, let me give you a run down...
Estonia is a small country in Northern Europe surroundered by the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, Latvia and Russia. Similar to Finland in terms of climate and culture, but with an old town that is to die for. With a population of only 1.34 million, it is one of the least-populous members of the European Union. Oh and how can I forget! You can also thank the Estonians for the creation of free Internet calling, a.k.a Skype!
We set sail (well took the ferry across - the most common mode of transport between Finland and Estonia) on Monday the 8th of March at 7:30 in the morning - see I told you this was a long time ago! The trip takes a bit more than three hours which is not bad to get to a whole different country when it takes approximately 10 hours to travel between two states (Victoria and Tasmania)! However, the water conditions are very different. The sea is flat but covered in ice; a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed! When we arrived in Tallinn (the capital of Estonia), we carried our stuff to the backpackers - the place I would be staying for the next four nights. Usually, when you think of a backpackers; you think cheap, dirty and disgusting but this one was actually very nice. By no means a large backpackers, my room even had its own private bathroom! The backpackers was in the midst of the 'Old Town'. A place of beauty and history; nothing like you would experience back home in Australia! As I walked down the streets, I felt like I was in Disneyland or something where everything is designed to put on a show. However, this was the real deal! Everything felt so old but had been so well maintained. The main town square consisted of one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe which dates back to 1422! The weather was as cold as Helsinki but by now, I was used to it!
After getting some lunch and buying the necessities, we went to the Estonian Foreign Ministry. This was interesting to get an insight into how the Estonians were marketing their country to the world with so few people to back it up. It was also amusing to hear of their relationship with the Russians! The class then was taken on a twilight tour of the Old Town by a young, local Estonian man. This was really good as I got to know a lot about the town such as the history behind it and also directions for the week ahead! He showed us the gate and the wall between the old and the new town and how it is common to see market stalls every day lined up along the wall. We learnt how back in the olden days, the archers would sit up in the towers that lined the wall, waiting to attack. These towers are now rented out privately to people with a stack of money.
Braving the freezing temperatures, we walked to two really pretty churches; one of which was Russian Orthodox and one Lutheran. The architecture of these buildings was simply stunning. However, what was even more stunning was a look out that we visited which looked over the entire city - the old as well as the new town. The view from this lookout was incredible! The transition from the old to the new was right there for you to see and was really amazing. The guide then took us to the Estonain parliament which fitted right into the old town showing off its soft pink colours. By the end of the hour and a half, we went to have dinner at a pub around the corner. Estonian 'dark' beer was on the cards and I'm sorry to any dark beer fans but no cigar for mine!
The following day (before I headed off to my first interview) a few of us went to this pancake place that was recommeneded to us the night before. These were seriously the best pancakes in the entire world and cheap as chips! I went back there every day but that's another story! Later that afternoon, I had my first interview with the General Manager of Reval Hotels, Juha Mahonen. I planned my route into the new town and to the hotel the night before using Google maps and this time...it was spot on! It even helped me to get there early but this caused me a problem. A lady out the front of the hotel was approaching hotel guests and begging for money and of course I became one of her victims. Anyway, my interview went really well and I even got a free drink (the perks that come with being a journalist =))! However, I wanted to collect some vox pops from guests outside the hotel. I believe I waited for almost two hours and managed to get only two interviews. The language barrier proved to be the major problem. My first question was always, "Do you speak English?" and I would either get a shake of the head or nothing at all! I returned to the backpackers cold and frustrated but was otherwise happy with the day's progress. Later that night, the group of us went Italian for dinner and some drinks, in what looked like a war bunker which was very satisfying after a long days' work. Oh by the way, the beer in Estonia is cheap and big!
After another batch of amazing pancakes, a second interview was to follow on the Wednesday. It was with the Communications Manager of Green Key (the 'green' organisation who partners with environmentally friendly hotels), Kadri Tammik. After walking through the streets of Tallinn for about an hour, I realised I was lost. This was not good since I was supposed to be there by now. My socks and shoes were saturated from the melting snow and my legs were tired. After asking three different locals who weren't much help at all, I found a young man walking back from the shops. Luckily, he spoke great English and was headed in the same direction as I was. He took me straight to where I wanted to go - an absolute life saver! I was only half an hour late...
However, as Kadri was also from the Estonian tourist board; she could understand that it's easy for a tourist to get lost in Tallinn. Thank God for that! Anyway, my interview with her was a major success - she helped me out a lot! Feeling once again satisfied with my days work, I returned home to eat out with my fellow journalists at an African restaurant. An interesting fact from this place was the menu had both Estonian Krone prices on it as well as Euro prices. This is because Estonia is currently preparing itself to soon switch over to the Euro.
Later that night, I chilled to the sight of Manchester United on the big screen in the backpackers common room.
Thursday. No interviews lined up. What to do? Well, sightseeing and tourist shopping is what you do! This town was seriously amazing. I managed to walk into so many little antique shops with stuff from who knows when. Although it was expensive and worthless to me, it was very interesting to see the things from the olden days - way before my time! However, Thursday hit the group hard. Around lunchtime, I received the news that the group producing a television story had their car broken into - window smashed, radio and GPS stolen! They obviously had to report the incident to the police who were really nasty about the whole thing and therefore provided hardly any assistance. By mid-afternoon, I heard that another fellow classmate had broken her leg from slipping on the ice. She ended up in hospital and a group of us had to wait in the freezing cold for her to find her way home. That was not all! Before dinner, the third piece of bad news was brought to my attention - another fellow classmate had been bashed in the street by a group of men in an unprovoked attack the night before. Luckily, after visiting the doctor she was OK! It was at this point that I just wanted to go home. Not home to Australia, but home to Helsinki. Yes, it was true - I felt home-sick for Helsinki! A few of us managed to brush past our sorrows though with a dinner stop at 'Olde Hanse' - a true medieval restaurant where literally everything is old-fashioned. The food was cooked in a medieval way (I don't know what I was eating but it was good), the waitresses were dressed in medieval clothes, medieval music played in the background and the medieval toilets were a sight to be seen!
The next day I was frantically trying to secure another interview. Success! I managed to grab CEO of Kaleva Travels, Merike Hallik. This was useful to me as I felt like I needed that one last interview to be fully equipped with material when I returned back to the studio. The interview went better than I expected for last minute and I returned to the backpackers to collect my luggage. I was relocating to one of Reval Hotels to experience for myself how they were marketing their 'everinomentally friendly' label. Unfortunately, I had to pay for this myself (well my university did actually) but I felt this was necessary for my story and me as there was a comfortable bed and a TV waiting for me =)! Oh and how can I forget; buffet breakfast anyone?!
Saturday saw me leave Estonia and return back to Finland. I was satisfied with my work and was ready to produce and edit my piece into a three part mini-series the following week. But before I could begin, I had to interview a couple of people from back home in Australia and with time differences and all; let's not go there!!
Whilst some of us ventured further to Riga (capital of Latvia), southern Estonia and Muhu Island (just off the coast of Estonia); most of us stayed in Tallinn. After spending almost a week there, I wouldn't have had it any other way!
**For all pictures of my trip to Estonia, please refer to the external link which is my Facebook album =)
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