There’s a huge surge in interest in the demographic make up of my Estonian class and the varying reasons people have for being here. So here we go.  It’s up to you how much you want to consider this account fictional, but it’s at least pretty fictional.

• Ralph is from Northern England.  He has a general interest in languages, and figured Estonia was a cheap place to visit and pick up some bits of the language.  Ralph only has time to spend a week in the summer, but he also comes to Estonia to study in the winter.
• Franz is Swiss.  He speaks seemingly all the Northern European languages, and has an especially solid foundation in Finnish, which means he has a vague understanding of Estonian and is among the first in the class to pick up some of the more subtle bits.  (The first after the Finns, rather.)  Unfortunately, his accent is atrocious, in English and Estonian, so you really have to work hard to figure out what insightful thing he’s saying.  It’s unclear what Fritz does for a living.
• Natasha is Ukrainian and wants to be a translator.  Her English, Russian, and Ukrainian are flawless, and her Estonian is great.  She actually lives here and has quite a few Estonian friends, so she sounds great and has a good vocab
• Pavel is Serbian, and has been living in Estonia for a few years.  His English is great, and his Estonian is pretty good.  He’s got an Estonian significant-other, though it’s unclear what sort of name that other might have, if you catch my drift.
• Burak is Turkish, or at least Turkishish.  He comes to Estonia every summer and winter.  He likes languages, but he doesn’t pile them on like some of the others in the class.  He’s between jobs at the minute, but he’s working in America, and some pretty out of the way parts as well.
• Mare is from another Baltic country, which is probably LAtvia, because you don’t meet many Lithuanians around here.  She’s here pretty much just to have fun and stay up late, which isn’t to say that her Estonian isn’t good and that she doesn’t work hard.  It’s just that she’s always a lot more excited about stuff going on after class than class itself.  I can’t blame her.
• Jane and Jane (!) are grad students from somewhere in Western Europe, though I haven’t any idea what they study.  Politics or something.  They want to have a better understanding of the politico-culturo-whatever situation in the country.
• Oli and his younger brother Levi are Finnish.  The younger ones lives here and wants to learn the language..  cause, you know, obviously.  The older one seems to be here for moral support- Levi isn’t terribly social and I think he likes having his brother around.   Oli is a hot air balloon enthusiast…  So that’s something.
• Martti has lived all over Europe, but he’s originally Finnish.  He’s in high school.  He has to learn Estonian so he can remain in high school here.  I don’t know what his alternative is, but he’s gotta take tests in biology and physics and do word problems in Estonian, etc.  All at the end of the summer.  He’s good, and that he speaks Finnish certainly helps, but…  I think he’s kinda screwed.
• Senada is Croatian.  I have no idea of anything about her; she’s rather quiet.
• Billy is American.  His family is Estonian, but he managed to never learn the language.  He’s here seeking his father’s approval.  Good luck, buddy.
• Gavin is from Western Canada, near Yellow Knife.  I have no idea why he’s here, but I suppose YK is one of those places that makes Estonia seem modern and cool and something.

Alright. Oh, I forgot one.

• Brent is American.  He’s in grad school in the US, studying linguistics.  People are generally confused when he says he’s studying Estonian.  Why not Finnish?  Or Mandarin? How many languages does he speak?  Really?  Only two?  Hmmn.  Well good luck.  He’s definitely the slowest in the group, but he’s quick with his dictionary and he works harder than everyone else.  He has to; he’s kinda dumb.  If he were nicer, he’s be a candidate for the Mr. Congeniality award at language camp.

So.  That’s my class.  Oh, and the teacher is a real live high school teacher, so that’s cool.  She’s super nice, but I don’t know anything about her.  She wears her hair in a braid, and kinda loves to makes fun of Estonia, Estonians, and Estonian, but she’s obviously quite proud of her weird country, compatriots, and language.

Is there a c-word for language?  Cause that would make that last sentence a little bit more  fun.  Oh well.  It’s bed time.