> From: "Truhon, Stephen" <truh...@apsu.edu> > > I will be attending a conference in Tartu, Estonia. Does any member have a > connection to the University of Tartu, especially in psychology? Any > suggestions of places to visit in Tartu?
I live in Tallinn and I'm in Tartu a few times a month. Tartu is a small (by American standards) city of 100,000 people, and the University of Tartu is the largest employer. Here is some tourism information: http://www.visittartu.com/ http://www.tartu.ee/ You can probably just walk into the tourist information center (it's in the main square, in the building with the large clock) and ask what events are taking place during the time you're there. If you want to see something a bit different, walk across the river to a neighborhood called Annelinn, which is where you can see row after row of Soviet-era apartment blocs. I'm not a historian, but as I understand it, after Estonia was occupied and made part of the USSR after World War II, the leaders in Moscow were worried about the Estonians trying to gain independence. To help prevent this, they imported scores of people from what is now Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, who were more likely to be sympathetic to the USSR "cause" and not interested in an independent Estonia (even now, around 35% of the population are native Russian speakers). They had to find a place to house all the newcomers, so they threw up a bunch of massive, ugly apartment buildings all over the country. If you are flying into Tallinn, you'll see even more of them as your plane approaches the airport. Here's a list of the faculty members at University of Tartu's psychology department: http://psych.ut.ee/psych/index.cgi?h&tootajad (it's in Estonian but I think you can figure it out, or use Google Translate) Someone mentioned that the former president of Latvia has a psychology background. The current president of Estonia does as well: http://www.president.ee/en/president/ As for language, I think you'll find that anyone under age 30 speaks English quite well. One thing some visitors notice is that often people will mix American and British English, and sometimes in the same sentence. The reason is that the schools teach British English, but American English is otherwise quite pervasive in movies, music, and TV. I just had a look at tonight's TV schedule, and it will be CSI, followed by Desperate Housewives and Nip/Tuck (all one season behind the US, for financial/licensing reasons). All foreign TV shows and movies are in the original language, with subtitles (i.e. not dubbed). I think this is related to English proficiency and/or "reach" of the native language, as I've noticed the same trend in Scandinavia (subtitles) but dubbing seems to be the preference in Germany and Russia. If you want to see subtitling at its fullest, catch a movie while you're in Tartu, and the subtitles will be in both Estonian and Russian. Enjoy your trip, and feel free to contact me off-list if you'd like any further information. Regards, Justin Fidler Sona Systems, Ltd. http://www.sona-systems.com --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
