I took the night bus there in hope of sleeping before three days I stayed there. Of course, when I say the night bus, I imagined I could sit and peacefully sleep there. I did not realize I would get a companion who blasted Metallica through headphones on what seems 100% volume and played games on iPhone while shining the light into my face which seemed to be brighter than sunlight. But I did get a few hours of sleep and as I was entering Tallinn once again that year I started to wonder. How many of these people are going to see their family, friends and how many set out for an adventure alone, like I once did?
In early morning I left the bus station and since I knew the city pretty well, I walked to the hostel on foot, while trying to spot little changes which happened while I was away. As I later explored the city, it seemed not so much changed: only the Christmas decorations were added. Full of tourists, people taking pictures and scurrying around. I also went to see the sea on the last day of the year. It was a beauty as it always was. Waves crashing on the rocks, always seems quite calm but able to kill you in a heartbeat.
Even my hostel (Ah... FeelGood, if your walls could speak.... they would tell amaaaazing stories....), which I once spent sooo much time, seemed unchanged, even if I did get lost in the corridors of the second floor (cause they did some renovations). But when I say unchanged, I mean the little things. That feeling that the world is small (I met a girl who used to live a street away from me in Budapest and we didn't even know it then). New guests coming in and ready to explore. Or party. Or both. Staff greeting me sleepily but with a little smile even if it's seven in the morning and I just woken the person on shift up. Of course, immediately the memories filled my mind when I wouldn't let myself sleep in fear of not hearing the doorbell and being a little jealous of people who could sleep lightly.
Whole Tallinn was full of memories. And not only because I met some people I was working with in the summer. I could see little events, even little pillars of my life on some streets, in the parks, in the overview places and bars. But I decided not to linger on the past too much and enjoyed some hot wine from the Christmas fair (which oddly was still working after Christmas...but I guess it's because Orthodox Christmas is after New Year. And to be true, it did attract a lot of tourists). The evening was a usual Funday Monday: Red Emperor karaoke and Shooters.
New Year's Eve! So of coooourse, we celebrated it in FeelGood. We started our little gathering (21 person and 10 nationalities: whoop whoop!) at 9 pm with guests, staff, snacks and drinks. It was really cozy: everybody presented themselves, we had some jokes and laughs, some people told about how they see Tallinn, some about New Years and resolutions, everybody had smiles on their faces. The hostel even stopped working for half an hour, allowing everybody to go and see the fireworks in the main square. We all counted down to zero and everybody started greeting each other with the start of 2014. Hugs, kisses and champagne! Those few seconds full of joy and laughter, hopes, dreams and wide eyes, staring at fireworks. We had a little agenda for that night: to visit the most popular bars and a club. We went to Shooters and I ran to the back bar to greet another friend with the new year. We stayed there for a drink and went for Noorus. We had some more drinks, took more photos, smiled even wider and went to Studio. All places were packed with people. I haven't stayed there for long and returned to the hostel. To be true, I felt quite tired, but happy. So after having a little chat with some people, I fell to bed and fell asleep in seconds. And I know, what you're thinking: I should have had an awful morning after a night like that, right? Wrong! Actually, I was lucky enough to have a morning worth smiling widely.
When I finally decided to go out of bed, I thought, well, today probably will be quiet and I can relax before my ride home. Haha. Yeaaaaah, riiiiiiight. Ok, it was a bit quiet before afternoon, but my friends came in (and they thought they will stay for just a few minutes, ha!) and we ended up chatting, laughing, remembering, making up new jokes and laughing from old ones, talking about memorable guests and events. It was so hard to leave again, but I had to. I wasn't too sad, though. How can I be? Spending the New Year's Eve in this hostel gave me an incredible start and boost for 2014.
There's a saying that how you will spend the start of New Year, is the way you will spend the whole year. Well... if this saying is true, I am in for a magnificent year.
Thank you again, FeelGood.
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