I came into this summer with high expectations, but my time here was so much better than I could have imagined! I interned at the FinEst Center for Smart Cities, a research institution within Tallinn Institute of Technology in Estonia. My supervisor and co-workers were very welcoming and eager to involve me in any project that interested me. In between work, my co-intern and I had frequent conversations with sustainability, energy, and policy experts over lunch and were taken on architecture tours of Tallinn and Helsinki. I am also so grateful to Kadri for organizing our visits to the other Baltic countries! We met with many senior government officials (I even have a picture with the Mayor of Riga while I am sitting in his chair and wearing his chain) and had fruitful dialogues about foreign affairs. We also spent time in museums, libraries, and famous landmarks, and listened to firsthand stories from people who had lived through the Baltic fight for independence. Our visits were genuine cultural immersion rather than tourism.