Dear diary,

Friday, 6^th april 2001

Norwegian Arrival

Starting driving in the minibus on Wednesday afternoon from Førde had a long journey (1200 km) before waking up in the boat
on the way from Stockholm to Tallinn. We were very tired, but excited about coming to Estonia.

Our first step on foreign soil was quickly stopped by the border guards! They looked very “important”, and Roger was shaking
like a leaf when he handed them the passports. We were, however, quickly on the road again.

We met Heli and Siret, and they guided us through the beautiful city of Tallinn.
There we had a great lunch, before we walked around in the city, some of us buying useless cheap watches from gypsies.
Others bought weird socks and hats..

Welsh arrival

After leaving Cardiff at 1.15 in the morning we caught the coach to Heathrow Airport.
By this time everybody was incredibly tired, being as a coach seat must be one of the most uncomfortable places
anybody could ever wish to sleep.

Whilst we weren’t particularly happy about our ‘beds’ for the night we were all looking forward to arriving on
Estonian soil that afternoon.

The same counted for the Norwegians and the French who had to spend two days travelling across Scandinavia in a MINIBUS,
driven by Cato and Roger, those mad, bad, "drunk" drivers!!!

At the airport we had a bit of a wait for our flight which wasn’t until 9.25am, so we made the most of our time by catching up on
our sleep or eating.

We arrived in Talinn at 3.00pm after changing planes in Stockholm. We met the Norwegians and some of the Estonians at
the airport in Talinn.

We travelled in two buses, one of girls and one of boys to the ferry, after having made a brief detour to a supermarket, to stock up
on snacks for what seemed like an endless journey. The Welsh contingent who had travelled to Norway last summer were very
happy to finally be able to catch up and introduce us to their old friends.

Estonian preparation

While our future guests were travelling towards Hiiumaa, we had to get everything ready (accommodation, information packs…)
for their arrival. We were excited about meeting our mates from the summer but also because we were going to be introduced to
the new Welsh participants.

After picking up the Welsh. We headed to Rohuküla where the ferry to Hiiumaa left. We stopped on the way by a large shopping
centre. The ferry was old, and crowded with people. Some of us were worried about not finding any life boats, fortunately we
didn’t need them !!!

Saturday, 7^th April 2001.

After waking up in the gym of the Kaina School building (and fighting for the showers) we had a breakfast upstairs.
At about 09.30 we left the school for the town centre. On the way from the to the Kaina Town Hall we were greeted by the leaders for
the “Drug Free” project.

All day we participated in a workshop where the subject was drug abuse and ways to avoid this. Booklets about drug abuse,
STDs and unwanted pregnancies were given out. These were made by the Estonian organisation.

We played some warm up games as a whole group, something that helped break the ice, later we broke into smaller groups and did
various activities. We were putting together keywords aboud issues such as the relationship between boys and girls.
Afterwards we had to present the result to the other groups. We were also asked to make a collage on “the family man”. The group
came up with loads of ideas, alchohol, cars, Pamela Anderson to name a few.

After lunch we returned to the hall to watch a video made by Estonian young people.
We also had a lecture about the AIDS epidemic in Estonia. According to the speakers Estonia has an enormous spread of HIV/AIDS
through drug abuse.
As she was speaking I realised how much I take for granted at home. Things like the facilities that are at offer for the people in the
same situation as the young Estonians in question and how much of a stigma is still attached to the disease.

The workshop ended with an “AIDS” game designed to show how easily the HIV infection can spread.

After the workshop we went to a discoteque arranged by the “Drug Free” association. Of course Tina had to wear her Welsh dress.
Cato, Roger and Miles were very impressed by the outfit.!!!

Sunday, 8^th April 2001

We slept well last night after the disco, and didn’t even hear our friends from Saaremaa leaving. Except for Revs who was up
and showered by 6:30 to wave goodbye to Helen!

Breakfast was fish and eggs with bread - YUMMY! At 10:00 we left for our tour of the island.

	Tom and his new girlfriend

Unfortunately, Øystein deceided go to the toilet when we were about to leave, so we had to go back and pick him up!!!
He was locked inside, reading his book, wishing for beeing under the sun!

The old school bus was a shakey ride for groups 3 and 4. Later, Kirsten feeling ill, had to swap to our bus - so, not much of a
change from the school buses back in Wales!

We climbed to the top of the first lighthouse. Even Anna made it to the top. Heiki, Aron and Eirik also found something else to climb...

We stopped for lunch in the local capital Kärdla. We ate potato, salad and some meat thing. After the lunch we went for a walk in Kärdla.

Then we drove back to the school where we are staying. In the evening we planned a presentation for the Estonian school children
about Wales, Norway and France.

Monday, 9^th April 2001

This morning we woke up quite early cause we had to pack, clean and leave the gym before 8 ! After the rush, we went in the
classrooms to make a presentation to the Estonian pupils about Wales, Norway and France. Then we went in the library where -
there was “Fierce competition” between Wales and Norway.

Estonians didn’t really understand the private joke, but the kids eyes lighted up when we offered the books that each of us brought
as a gift to Kaina high school, specially when they saw the Harry Potter collection! We both enjoyed the experience and we felt that
the Estonian people appreciated our efforts.

After this, we split up in small groups and went in our host families, a bit nervous about the place we were going to stay for two
nights. Everyone of us had different experiences, but they were all good and learnt us more about the Estonian culture and
everyday life.

Tuesday, 1o^th April 2001

We met in the morning at Kassari Culture House, where Heli is working and shared our experiences with each other, some had slept the
whole afternoon because they were so tired.

Some of us went to Hiiumaa’s museum, where we saw a wolf, fortunately for us, it was not really alive, but in a glass box! Scary!

The others stayed at the culture house where they made a fire, they had to run around in the woods looking for firewood, were they
were attacked by dangerous animals such as rats and mice

Mouse attcks Øystein, and dies after the bite

The others stayed inside, making hats, rugs or painting. Then we had a lunch, outside under a wonderful sunshine, and then we went
to the Horse stables where we could ride a little bit. Then we went back in the host families.

Wednesday, 11 April 2001

Most of us met in the morning at the hotel in Käina, where we were going to stay for two nights. Then we went together to the beach,
where we spent several hours picking up beer bottles and mini-grills. Some of us got lost.

We were all amazed by the beauty of the place, there was ice on the sea at one side, and no ice on the other side.

After this we all gathered to eat soup and burned sausages. There was a giant swing there, which we broke after five minutes. It was
fun though, Tina also managed to obtain a groin injury after falling off another swing . We stayed there for about four hours.
Then we went back to the hotel, to our rooms.

We had dinner at the bar, and Roger announced that there would be held a beauty-contest this night. He asked if there were any
volunteer-judges, and of course there were. After setting up the rules for the competition, the judges were told that it was not the
girls who were competing, but the judges. All the "judges" dressed up as whores and strippers, thus made complete fools of
themselves

(Cato was a bit too naked) Matthew, or “Mattie” won the competition after showing us, “Nellie the Happy Elephant” (wearing nothing
but a big sock). After the competition had ended, all the participants threw Roger into the pool. After this some went back to their
rooms, some had a sauna and then jumped in freezing water and some of the more boring went straight to sleep (or at least that’s what
they said they were going to do).

Thursday, 12 April 2001

At 9AM breakfast was served, and after that we all took the bus to Kassari Social House. It was raining, and some snow on the
ground. We visited the wool-factory, were we all bought woollen mice. Some of us visited the museum, and some of us just relaxed.
We brought with us the things we made two days before. Most of us also used the opportunity to surf the web and check their
e-mails. We went back to the hotel wearing strange hats and a lot of self-made art.

We prepared for the goodbye-disco and our last night on Hiiumaa. We went by bus to the disco, which was not far from Kassari.
Actually all of us were very tired, but when we arrived at the disco, we woke up and went completely wild! Everyone was dancing,
even the leaders did. Evelin and Heli had a final evaluation about the exchange, and we all had pancakes afterwards.

Some of us got closer, and closer, and closer…. When we came back to the hotel we continued the party there.
It went on till 5 AM.

Friday, 13 April 2001

Getting out of bed this morning was hard, but Tina helped us by kicking all the doors in, and screaming with her "gentle and
mild" voice "Wake up everybody !!!!!! The bus is leaving in five hours!!!!"

We had our last Estonian breakfast at the exchange, and some of us, thought it tasted great. Others did not.
But this is some of the beauty of international exchanges, different opinions and new exciting food.

We left the hotel, and said goodbye to those Estonians that could not join us to Tallin.

The trip to the mainland was with another ferry than the one we arrived with. This one did not look like a submarine that had been
sunk five times during the last year. It was actually in much better shape than the one we took across the Baltic Sea.

We drove to Tallin and had a fifteen-minute-long meal at a restaurant. The trip to Tallin took a bit less than 3 hours. We arrived in
Tallin at 1600, and it was freezing. It was about -2 C, and very windy with some snow.

The hostel was situated in a part of Tallin that looked as if cut out of a crime movie, probably because we were not used to such
conditions back home.

After putting all our bags safe in our rooms, we went to HESBURGER and had a McDonalds-alike-meal. Then the bus came, and
took us to Downtown Tallinn, where we finally had a few hours on our own. Tallinn was a beautiful city, and we all enjoyed visiting it.
Since everything else was closed for the night, we all visited bars. Of course we did not drink, since we are neither old enough nor
allowed by our dear leaders. We all went back by taxi, and most of us joined our poker-game.

Saturday 14^th April 2001

This morning, we quickly went to the bus, and down to Tallinn-market, were bought cheap cds and other items. We had our last meal
together before the Welsh left, at a pizza-place. We had to say goodbye to the Welsh, it was so sad that we had to run after the bus
for a while (2km).

Then the Norwegians went home.