Last year, choosing a class trip caused major tensions among students in Saue School's 9.B class. This fall, however, a decision was reached relatively quickly: to travel to Malta for four days at a cost of €400. The trip could be paid for in five installments, ensuring that no one was left out.

"The only problem with a more distant destination is that it makes parents worry, but I think more adults are coming along with us, not just our homeroom teacher. Some parents are volunteering to join, so this issue has been taken into account," said Teressa Tuvi, a 9.A student at Saue School.

Planning for the trip started early and the class worked hard to find the best possible option. According to Teressa, much of the credit for how smoothly things went belongs to their homeroom teacher, Malle Liiv. In fact, the students had already wanted to travel somewhere farther than Sweden last year, instead of taking a cruise, but back then, the parents were opposed.

"Some parents thought it wasn't worth going so far or taking such a big trip just for the end of eighth grade. They preferred to save it for ninth grade instead. This year, it seems they couldn't use that excuse again, so it went through," said Tuvi.

While the Saue students easily secured their desired trip, students in Tabasalu faced a rockier road when deciding on their final trip.

"It was very difficult because we're at an age where everyone has different opinions. Everyone wanted to go somewhere different and there wasn't much consensus," said Liis Kerner, a 9.B student at Tabasalu School.

The students shared only one common wish: to travel abroad. Their dream destinations included Italy, Spain or another warm country.

"A trip to a sunny destination would have cost around €500. It would've been expensive, but it would've been better than staying in Estonia," she added.

Beyond the cost, Liis believed the trip would likely have been blocked by parents, as a teacher alone couldn't be expected to accompany the students on such a long trip.

"We would have needed at least two or three parents to come along. Would we have found that many? Probably not. Maybe one, but not more," Kerner said.

After long and passionate debates, the Tabasalu students decided to spend two days in Pärnu, including visits to an adventure park and go-karting for a cost of €230. According to Liis, this was not only the best but also one of the more affordable options.

Graduation trips within Estonia aren't exactly cheap either. For example, a two-day stand-up paddleboarding tour in Viljandi County, without meals, would have cost €300.

"In the end, the location is very important, as well as what we do and how we part ways after the trip. I think spending that last time together is very important and I'm really, really looking forward to it," said Kerner.

At Narva Estonian Basic School, 18 students are graduating this year. How to celebrate the milestone in addition to the graduation ceremony has always been a delicate compromise between the students' wishes and the parents' possibilities and trust. Several options were considered, including traveling, but in the end, they decided on a beach picnic.

"We didn't want anything too demanding because of exams and graduation parties — there's already a lot going on. Often, people rent a house and hold a party there. We wanted to do that too, but the parents weren't really on board. They don't trust us that much yet, but a picnic was acceptable," said Emili Parts, a ninth-grade student.

A house party without parental supervision was discussed last year too, but that also ended with a picnic.

"Because having 20 kids all staying overnight somewhere is considered very risky in their eyes," said Elina Metsma, a tenth-grade student.

However, there were no problems with being allowed to have a picnic. "It's outdoors and doesn't involve overnight stays. We all came home afterward in the evening," Metsma said.

The students themselves were not keen on having parents supervising a rental house party. "Either we go alone or we don't go at all," she said.

Parent Teele Parts said she had not even heard about the idea of renting a house.

"I first heard about the house idea now. I think they discussed it among themselves and realized that if they brought it up, they'd have to deal with questions like who would supervise, whether it would be one parent or several and who would take responsibility. Maybe the class wasn't very united on that point either. So they chose the simpler option that suited everyone. We parents also offered to organize something, to act as party hosts or something similar, but it seems they preferred to do it on their own," said Teele Parts.

At Russian-language schools in Narva, it is customary for graduation celebrations to be held together with parents. Students at the Estonian-language school, however, prefer to celebrate independently.

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