After the Estonia study tour, I felt two things: “a sense of fulfillment” and “a desire to learn more and more”.
A sense of fulfillment from having learned so much
As an undergraduate majoring in Civil Society and International Cooperation, I was interested in the way of everyday life in various regions. I visited an elementary school, a high school, and a university, and I feel that I was able to understand a little bit about daily life in Estonia through these visits.
Before my trip to Estonia, I had assumed that Estonia focused on ICT education and provided more advanced education than Japan. However, by actually visiting the schools, I was able to see issues and realities that I could not have understood only from my preliminary research. For instance, the teacher shortage problem, differences in values between students and adults, and the compatibility of IT and paper media. I realized that things necessarily continue to have both aspects to learn from and challenges to overcome.
I learned a lot and have a sense of fulfillment that I was able to gain new values as described above.
In a biology class, students were working on an experiment using personal computers and handouts made by the teacher.
I can't wait to learn more about Estonia and sustainability!
In the limited time of 10 days, we visited many places, enjoyed the outside view of the city, and gained a variety of experiences. However, 10 days is not enough time to see the real daily life in Estonia. As one of our members said, "We are only seeing a part of Estonia.” These are the best words to describe how I feel right now.
I would like to see more parts of Estonia that I have not yet seen and cannot see, and have a more in-depth experience on the theme of sustainability and Estonia.
I would also like to thank my friends and teachers with whom I spent a lot of time and experienced a lot together from the preliminary lectures to my return to Japan :)