After arriving at the airport and making it through security (even Nicky did), we got some breakfast. Surprisingly the group of people that went on a coffee tour every morning did not get coffee now this early. Glad we were finally able to catch up on some more sleep, many of us took this chance. Especially the people who bought their souvenir pillow pets enjoyed the two hours high up in the sky.

Later, after we arrived at Schiphol and walked the entire marathon distance from the gate to the luggage collection, our flock of EAGLEs was split. The majority took the train to Eindhoven while some others were picked up by their parents.

Eventually all of us arrived home safely, which ended this wonderful trip to Latvia and Estonia. A number of EAGLEs from the flock came to Het Walhalla where we immediately shared all our memories about cold pancakes (which we did not like), kroketten, the enormous amounts of burgers and dill and of course our beloved Els. This will be a trip to remember.

Heleen en Jos

When entering the building, we first had to take off our shoes. It seemed like they wanted to keep everything clean, but after asking we learned that they do this in order to make the company feel more homey for the employees. We first got a small tour around the company, giving us a lot of flashbacks to the different ‘beun’ projects we did during our studies. Krakul started off really small and grew up to a company with quite a few fun projects, our favorite being a bottle opener that automatically registered the beer that you opened and sent it to a server. Of course us students really liked this invention .

After our visit to Krakul, we went to Artec Design. Artec Design is a company that helps clients conceptualize a product and also helps turn it into an actual physical product. We were received by an engineer, who showed us the variety of products Artec Design makes. Among others, they make the public transport card check-in poles in Estonia, and communication devices for point-to-point laser communication for skyscrapers in Japan. A remarkable product was a device that allows to test muscle tension. This product was actually used for research in the International Space Station! Also a fun fact: the engineer that received us turned out to have been studying in the Delft for his masters.

After the company visits, we went back to the old city center of Tallinn to eat some pizza and relax a bit. We had the rest of the day off after all. When we were finished with our lunch, I went to the Tallinn City museum with some other people. In the city museum there was an exhibition about the ‘100 years of Estonia’, where you could see pictures and stories about the history of Estonia and how it transformed into a modern nation. On the upper floors there was another interesting exhibition about the founding of Tallinn by the natives and later colonization by Swedes and Germans.

After a little stroll around the city to find the perfect gifts for the committee members, it was time to settle for a few drinks at the Olde Hansa: the oldest pub of Tallinn, fully in medieval style with beer served in tankards.

As this was the last dinner we would have, we gathered for a meal with all of the participants, at St. Patrick’s. This was also the place where we presented our gifts for the committee members. Lots of laughing happened when we presented our DIY cider packs and cold pancake mixes.

Roel en Quinten

After disembarking, I walked along the harbor and found a lovely small market with fresh fruit, local cuisine and Finnish wood handcraft. I continued my walk to the Senate Square where I first saw the impressive Helsinki Cathedral. Here, I got on a sightseeing bus to get a good overview of the capital and hear more about its history.

Finns speak Finnish. It makes sense then that the official language of Finland is Finnish, but it is also Swedish. The Swedish minority, which only accounts for 6% of the country’s population, enjoys ethnic autonomy. That’s why Helsinki has bilingual signs on streets.
Another fun fact: Finland’s education is one of the best in the world, although Finnish children start school at seven years old and school attendance is only compulsory for nine years. Furthermore, Finland has kept school hours short, homework minimal, and standardized testing non-existent for its students. They follow the phrase ‘less is more’ and seem to succeed to activate and engage children.

Walking back to the harbor, I saw an epic vintage tram consisting of a motor car from 1909 and an open summer trailer from 1919 which reminded me of San Francisco. I decided spontaneously to take a ride in the epic summer trailer and enjoyed another tour through the old city. However, this time we went through smaller streets the bus couldn’t take. In front of the Finnish National Theatre I saw hundreds of old-timers, which gave a nice picture.

Finland is mainly a nature paradise destination, which is why I also wanted to go on a boat trip through the Helsinki archipelago. Finland is often called the land of a hundred thousand lakes and islands: this archipelago already consists of more than 300 islands. It was very interesting to see all these summerhouses and saunas near the waterline. As you might know, saunas are a quinte essential part of Finnish culture. The only island that is not public is Santahamina, which is a military base and houses the Finnish National Defence University.

Back on land I had plenty of time left to go on another walk through the city and chill in the park. Then it was time to hop on the ferry again back to Tallinn where I enjoyed live music in the ferry’s club.

Lisa en Jeffrey

KGB museum and Viru hotel
Upon arriving we were told that we were 1,5 hours too early. This meant we had an earlier lunch time than planned. After finally arriving at the correct time we got a nice tour around some of the hotel and museum. The museum consists of the 23rd floor of the hotel this was a secret floor, this meant that the elevator only went up to the 22nd floor. When the hotel first opened, people were told that the upper floor was meant for technical maintenance. This was however a KGB office which was used to spy on people that stayed in the hotel and communicate with other KGB offices. When a someone who was deemed to be a danger to the Soviet union, stayed at the hotel, the KGB would occupy the room next door in order to spy on them. Also wireless mics were hidden nearly everywhere, like in the radio or in a lamp but also on a plate at dinner or an ashtray. The KGB was actually quite advanced in their technology by using wireless mics that transmitted the signal to other hidden devices. Because of this the hotel was also said to be made out of micro-concrete, 50% concrete 50% microphones. In the museum were rooms recreated to look like they did at that time. With doors that said: “There is nothing behind this door” that opened up to a KGB office with many radio’s. The KGB left the hotel in 1991 due to Estonia reclaiming their independence after being under the regime of the Soviet union. All the equipment they couldn’t take with them they broke and left behind.

Kadriorg
After a lovely detour provided by Ivo we visited the Kadriorg art museum. The art was made by some Dutch painters. The architecture of the rooms was especially beautiful. After the museum we had a walk through the gardens surrounding the museum and the Japanese gardens.

Free time
Visiting the open air theatre, lauluvaljak which hosts the song festival in Tallin, which we were told about yesterday at the university where they also explained some of the engineering behind the shape. After this we went on to grab some food at the German beerhouse with live music, which was a good start for our evening programme, a pubcrawl! The pubcrawl started at my personal favorite, the Irish pub, after that we went to a few more secret bars that exist in Tallin. After ending the night with a shot from chemical test tubes we went back to our hostel where we tried to sleep through Roels snoring.

Heleen en Stan

After the presentation, we got a tour around some research labs. The first lab we were shown could simulate the entire power grid of Estonia. The second lab could simulate transformers and a power station. These labs allowed students to practice in a safe environment before getting into a company. It turned out that the lecture schedule for the master students was redesigned to make sure that these students could attend lectures while working at the same time, since nearly all of them have a full time job next to their university studies. They also had labs to check light and power quality and an electric machines lab which was recognized by us all from our own Electromechanics course.
We were then shown a couple of robotics labs, and the prototyping lab, where they have the ability to 3D print with quite an impressive range of materials, from simple plastics to metal composites.

At the end of the tour, we got a chance to look at the autonomous buses that drive around on the TalTech campus.

After a failed attempt to have pancakes for lunch, we walked towards the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tallinn. Here the ambassador herself gave us a presentation about Estonia and its history, and the role of the Dutch embassy in the country. The embassy was located on top of a hill, possibly higher than the highest point of the Netherlands, right in front of the working place of the Estonian Prime Minister. Surprisingly, the ambassador and the intern turned out to be the only Dutch employees at the embassy.

In the evening we went to have dinner in the street recommended to us by the ambassador: Telliskivi!

Jos and Daan 

Despite the lingering drunkenness, the breakfast was fairly uneventful. Our bellies filled with bread and sweet cherry yoghurt, we entered the taxi-bus and took off towards “Squadrobots” where we were welcomed by Matiss, who is the CEO and one of the founders. During his presentation, he showed us some examples of autonomous moving robots, for example used in sorting packages and delivering food. However, Squadrobots specializes in cleaning robots. These cleaning robots can effectively clean a surface, and can communicate with other robots nearby. If one of the robots fails in cleaning the floor (low battery for example), one of the other robots will take over the task.

After the presentation and a quick question round, it was time for a spectacular demonstration. Unfortunately (as everyone who has ever had to develop anything autonomous knows) robots tend to dislike demos. The designated cleaning robot flat out refused to move more than a single wiggle, even after several reboot attempts were made.

Now it was time for lunch! Matiss showed us a great burger place at their university campus where we could have lunch. If that place would be on our campus, we would have been broke in a couple of days. Because we had a lot of spare time, people played some card games or took a little walk around the neighborhood.

Nutritionally and spiritually recharged, we entered the 17-person bus to undertake the four-hour journey towards Tallinn, Estonia. The bus was equipped with individual airco outlets. This blessed feature was noticed by most upon departure. Unfortunately Heleen and Noud discovered this pleasant refreshment only minutes from reaching our destination. After a quick whiff of cold air we arrived and walked to the hostel. The hostel looks great, apart from the fact that we need to share one shower and one toilet with 12 people! Another annoying fact is that the EAGLE organization have their own private bathroom, which they will not share. After a quick change of clothes we went looking for dinner, as a four-hour bus trip does make you hungry.

The first restaurant we encountered had a tempting €9 for two courses deal. After some CO deliberation we decided that the statistical likelihood of the first restaurant being the optional choice was fairly small. But alas, after encountering a good number of different restaurants we found our way back to the first one. It turned out to be fairly large but completely empty. The serving lady (who recently moved back from the Netherlands to Estonia due to an unsuccessful marriage) told us we could only choose one dish because there was a single cook in the kitchen. We ate the soup and crispy rice and moved on to the Irish pub.

While writing this story, we are enjoying some nice beers at that pub. Also, two people are playing live music, and invited an old friend on the stage (who called himself the drunk bastard), to join them for a song. For now, we will enjoy our drinks and then go to bed, as we need to be ready at 8:30 in the morning.

Bram & Nick

A lucky few of us started the second day with some coffee Heleen brought. After that we visited SAF Technika, a company that specializes in direct link telecommunications. Getting inside proved to be a bit difficult, since the security seemed to be sleeping. Our knowledge of the courses Intro Telecommunications and Electromagnetics 2 was enriched during this visit. First they explained some things about their company and after that we got a tour around the facility. Besides their main focus, they are also involved with Aranet, an IoT application mainly used to manage horticulture.

After this visit it was time for lunch, which was supplied by our favourite Circle K supermarket. The second visit proved to be equally difficult to start, since the guard ignored our DagCo when they rang the doorbell. Luckily, after that it was time for our tour around the company at Mass Portal. This company manufactures 3D printers and specializes in improving them. They mainly focus on 3D printing for industrial applications. They use delta printing instead of cartesian, because it is more precise and faster. Using different filaments they were able to create different types of applications, ranging from foot orthoses to support a bird missing its legs and even a 3D-printed beer tap. It was very interesting to see the different prototypes for a vacuum grabber, which they later implemented in one of their own machines to achieve 24/7 printing. After the presentation, we all got a little 3D-printed boat, which is used to stress test a printer. This is because there are a lot of different shapes and techniques used printing this little boat.

Before the day schedule ended, we visited the rooftop of the building of the scientific community in Riga, to get a great panoramic view of the city. After seeing the beautiful view over the city, we were off to find a nice evening meal. We were drawn to a happy hour at a local bar, which led to great drinks and great food. Unfortuntaly, the happy hour worked different than we were used to. Instead of making the next drink free for our 1+1 deal, we were given two drinks immediately, which led to a table full of drinks.

We hope tomorrow will be just as fun!

Thijs en Noud

Today was the day we were looking forward to for so long, the EAGLE took off with Riga as its first destination. We gathered at 7:30 in the departure hall of Eindhoven Airport though the majority met each other already in the bus on the way. While waiting for our airplane to arrive, the first gaming competition started and of course went in the second round above the clouds. About 2 hours or 20 rounds of Mario Kart later the EAGLE landed in Riga, the capital where over a third of the entire population of Latvia lives.  The weather was unexpectedly good, as we were welcomed with blue sky and sunshine. After moving to and checking in at our centrally located hostel, it was time to discover the city of Riga.

The first impression was very good. Riga is a beautiful old city with a lot of parks. We got to admire the incredibly varied architecture of Riga, where old and new buildings stand side by side all throughout the city. Luckily, it wasn’t destroyed during WWII which is why you can see a lot of art Nouveau buildings but also less enjoyable streets of cobblestones. Next to this, we got to visit the old city centre with many interesting land marks, such as the largest cathedral in the Baltic states and monuments dedicated to commemorating the Latvian war of independence. After exploring the city, we stopped to have a drink at a place called Egle, because of course we had to. Everyone grabbed something to eat somewhere and the day ended with some drinks in the city and some games at the hostel.

Tomorrow the first company visits start and we’re excited to see what the rest of the EAGLE Study Trip has in store for us this week!

Lisa en Jeffrey