Page 48 - Guide for International Students

eStonia
Official name: Republic of Estonia
Form of government: Parliamentary democracy, Riigikogu with 101 members
Head of state: President Toomas Hendrik Ilves Surface area: 45 227 square kilometres Coastline: 3794 km
Land borders: 343 km with Latvia and 339 km with the Russian Federation
Population density: 28,4 people per km2
Total Population: 1,3 million
Capital: Tallinn (431 184)
Other larger cities: Tartu (97 117), Narva (57 650), Pärnu (39 276)
Nationality: Estonians 69.9% (898 845), Rus- sians 25.2% (324 431), Ukrainians 1.7% (22 368), Belarusians 1% (12 327), Finns 0.6% (7 311), Other nationalities 1.6% (Latvians, Lithuanians, Jews, Germans, Tatars, Poles)
Official language: Estonian, member of the Finno-Ugric language group
Religion: The largest denominations are Orthodox (16%) and Lutheran (10%); neverthe- less, only 29% of the population and 19% of the Estonians practice any religion
Currency: Euro
Calling Code: +372
Time Zone: GMT +2h
Daylight Saving Start: last Sunday in March Daylight Saving End: last Sunday in October Electricity: 220V 50Hz, plugs are two pin conti- nental sizes
Estonia is situated in the north-eastern Europe on the coast of the Baltic Sea. It is bordered by Russia in the east and by Latvia in the south. The capital city, Tallinn, is only about 85 km south of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, across the Gulf of Finland. Sweden is Estonia’s nearest western neighbour across the Baltic Sea. Estonia
is often referred to as a very small country, but with an area of 45 000 sq. km, Estonia is in fact bigger than Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark or Switzerland, but still for example five times smaller than Great Britain. Estonia stretches 350 km from east to west and 240 km from north to south. Sea islands cover 1/10 and lakes about 1/20 of Estonia’s territory. Almost half of the Estonian territory is covered by forest and woodland.
the people
Part of the reward of studying in a foreign country is the process of learning new things in addition to the university programme, such as the habits and characteristics of the local people. Even though we would not wish to spoil that experience for you, we would like to mention, for your consideration, some generalisations made about Estonians, so that the culture shock could be minimised. Of course there are always indi- vidual, regional and generational differences.
estonians...
ȣ are not prone to emotional extremes;
ȣ make a clear distinction between working
life and private life;
ȣ are individualists, “put four Estonians together, and you will get five parties”;
ȣ are friendly and helpful, but need the ini- tiative for communication from outside;
ȣ rely more on facts than feelings;
ȣ are quiet and do not ask many questions;
ȣ shake hands at official meetings, but privately, they avoid both handshakes and hugging; a friendly ‘hello!’ is a good enough substitute.
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