This blog post was written by our student ambassador Navhya, a MBA student at the Estonian Business School.
You came looking for a degree. What if you find your future, your people, and a few surprises you never saw coming?
The first in a series
What does opportunity really mean? We often think of it as a degree, a job, a business idea, or a chance to travel. But what if it is something much bigger? The opportunity to become someone you had not yet imagined.
For me, studying in Estonia has been exactly that. I came here on a scholarship to the University of Tartu. Then came another opportunity: Estonian Business School, where I am now expanding my perspective.
But the greatest opportunity has been neither degree, but:
- To learn and unlearn;
- To step outside the familiar;
- To discover interests I never knew I had;
- To meet people who see the world differently;
- To realise that reinvention has no age limit.
And Estonia itself understands opportunity.
A country of just 1.3 million people has created global companies such as Skype, Wise, Bolt, and Pipedrive. You can build a company digitally. You can explore entrepreneurship while still studying. You can be twenty and starting your first business, or forty, fifty, or beyond and starting an entirely new chapter.
And then there is the opportunity to step into the world of technology and AI.
Living in e-Estonia means seeing digital services not as some general idea of the future, but as part of everyday life. Being part of Estonia's growing technology landscape supported by initiatives through Invest in Estonia has given me another opportunity to learn, question, and understand where tech and AI are taking us. For me, that is another opportunity, not simply to learn how to use these tools, but to understand them, question them, and help shape their use ethically.
Then there are opportunities that have nothing to do with business or technology.
Stand among thousands of Estonians at the Song Festival and you are not simply watching history. You are taking part in a living tradition. Walk through Tallinn Old Town or Exploring Tallinn Old Town during yearlong festivals with my friend Lauri Laumets in front of the historic Town Hall square. Wander into a bog. Meet someone from a country you have never visited. Take a trip across Europe, and suddenly another culture, another language, and another experience is within reach.
That is why I chose this word as the thread for this series. In the coming posts, I will explore the opportunities I have encountered here, to upskill, to evolve, to shed some old skin, to travel, to build, to connect, and sometimes simply to discover a part of myself I did not know existed.
“Julge pealehakkamine on pool võitu.” A bold beginning is half the victory. That is all opportunity asks of us. The courage to begin. So, welcome to Study in Estonia and welcome to Opportunity. Let us see where it takes us.
And an extremely big Aitäh to my friend Kadri for introducing me to this beautiful Estonian saying.
“Before you go, here's a little challenge!”
CAN YOU CRACK THE OPPORTUNITY CODE?
O Р P H I U N T S E O र L Е T D I G A R Õ U L Т D O T E D R R I S І U Н स L P I У S H É V P I О M О U O N N T L N Т U E O A U E Y अ O T P Т I П व M A T P O G
Can you find all eight words for opportunity?