In late February, a group of other exchange students and I planned a trip to Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. Seeing as it is only 500 or so kilometres from Stockholm, and it was very cheap, being a former republic of the Soviet Union with a fairly weak economy, we thought why not?

So we booked a ride on the ferry that leaves every couple of days, as well as two nights in a hotel and went. Being poor but resilient students, we decided to opt out of travelling in a cabin, instead we stayed overnight in a roomful of aeroplane-style seats and eventually tried to get some sleep.

After 15 hours or so we finally arrived in Tallinn. The amazing thing about going from western to eastern Europe is the dramatic change in surroundings that happens over a short period of time. Tallinn is an extremely run down city - the five-hundred year old buildings in the old town are crumbling, as if no one has had either the time or the inclination to pay any attention to the city's historic centre. Outside the old town are masses of concrete, Soviet style buildings which are at the same time both ugly and yet amazing to observe in their multitudes around the city.

The old town, which is still surrounded by the wall which has protected it from medieval times, is the most interesting and attractive part of Tallinn. Its run down appearance gives you the feeling that you are in a city that is one of the least subjected to the modernity and efficiency of the West. When it snows, there is no one to run around and clean it all up, and so when I was there the cobbled roads were covered either in sludge or slippery ice, and you had to watch out that you weren't going to step into a rivulet of freezing cold water running off into a drain somewhere.

Yet while Tallinn seems as if it is still emerging from its communist past, it seems to be doing so very quickly. Affluent-looking locals walk the streets in fur coats, and after a while you begin to notice that most of the cars in Tallinn look inexplicably new. And, what's more, expensive. There are also pockets of capitalism inserting itself here and there; perhaps the most refurbished old building is the one inhabited by McDonalds, and walking around the old town you notice about 10 or 15 foreign exchange booths.

In spite of the growing affluence things such as accomodation and food are extremely cheap, however. Presumably the government is also subsidising the arts heavily as we managed to get into a performance of Madama Butterfly at the Opera House for about 400 Estonian Kroon, which was the equivalent of around A$3.50!