Special Skills You Can Learn in Estonia
While you’re living abroad, you are bound to pick up lots of new skills like learning a new language, becoming more independent and navigating cultural differences. Besides these soft skills, there are a multitude of other skills that you can develop while also having fun!
We’ve compiled a list of activities that can be especially fun to try during the spring and summer months. Let’s dive into some useful skills that you can learn during your time studying or volunteering in Estonia!
Orienteering
With 50% of the territory of Estonia being covered by forests, low population density and the freedom to roam, it makes sense that Estonian sports and hobbies are closely tied to the outdoors and exploring nature. Orienteering enthusiasts use a map and compass to navigate from point to point in a forest or other natural terrain as quickly as possible. This sport is introduced to kids as early as elementary school and is a common activity in children's summer camps. It’s a great way to improve basic survival skills, learn about different plants and animals and enjoy nature.
Source: Unsplash
Disc golf
Similarly, disc golf is also a fun outdoor sport, but it is usually not played in a dense forest, but rather in more open areas where disc golf courses have been set up. The players throw a disc at a target as shown below.
Source: Unsplash
Disc golf is a popular pastime since most people already have some experience with playing with a disc or frisbee, and the element of competition makes it a more social sport. Estonia has the highest density of disc golf courses per km2 of dry land in the world (35.4) and ranks third in terms of the number of courses per capita (113.6 courses). This enthusiasm is also reflected in the world championship rankings, with the Estonian disc golfer Kristin Tattar being back-to-back world champion in 2022 and 2023.
This sport can help you with knowledge of the disc golf world, teamwork, hand-eye coordination and gives you the opportunity to meet many new people and discover various courses around the country. Who knows, maybe you’ll also introduce disc golf to your community when you return to your home country?
Village swings
While you may think that getting on a swing is like riding a bike, have you ever tried to swing on a huge village swing in Estonia? Village swings are not that common in cities, but if you try, you may find them! For example, there is a swing close to the Song Festival grounds in Tartu. On the other hand, if you travel to Estonian villages, you’re bound to find a village swing in the center. Unfortunately, it is not really a weatherproof activity, and so when summer comes and the weather is nice, people will gladly spend hours having fun on the village swing. If you happen to join a midsummer celebration, you’ll see that there is not one moment when the swing is not filled with people for the whole night!
Source: Olev Mihkelmaa, olev.ee, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The village swing is also the basis for the sport kiiking, where people compete by performing a full 360-degree rotation with a swing which only holds one person. Village swings were also historically built to turn 360 degrees, but modern swings have limits on how high they can go for safety reasons.
Even though these activities have been turned into professional sports with strict rules and heavy competition, they are still mostly beloved hobbies and opportunities for enjoying the outdoors with friends and meeting new people. There are skills that can be learned from doing these activities, but that’s just an additional benefit! You can have lots of fun and discover Estonia through all the different events and activities, including orienteering, disc golf and looking for village swings.
Let us know if you have tried any of these activities, and if so, if you learned or experienced anything that really surprised you! You can also head over to the dedicated forum thread here to share more of your experiences and other recommendations for fun outdoor activities or sports to try.
Ingrid, OLS Community Manager – Estonian