Part 1, in which Colin schemes to open the hostel

It was about seven weeks ago that we concocted the notion of opening the hostel. Tallinn was frosted over with a layer of snow, a late November dump that persisted for a week or two before being washed away by dull December rain.

Colin was noodling away on his laptop, as he does all too frequently. That’s one bad habit he has picked up from Estonians. I have considered writing to Wikipedia asking them to block his access for his own health and my sanity. Usually he Googles useless pieces of information to pepper our conversation. Occasionally, however, his interweb access has purpose.

Since we met some eighteen months ago, Colin and I have been idly plotting to open a bar of our own, something every drinker dreams of at one point in their life after realizing how much cash they pour into bar tills. We progressed a little further than the average dreaming drinker. We found a few potential locations, but problems arose each time we began negotiating to lease them. One basement seemed ideal, but consultations with a few wizened locals revealed it had a history of flooding each spring thaw. The building’s project manager insisted such a problem did not exist, but we erred on the side of caution, not wishing to see our furniture and bottles floating around in three foot of water come March.

After that disappointing setback our search became a little less vigorous. Occasionally Colin would trawl through online property sites searching for suitable locations. His head would bob above his laptop lid. “Hey Joel, there’s a store on Pikk .. oh, it’s 90,000 a month….” His head would droop again. The search would continue.

Colin was at it again that snowy day when, for some reason, he decided to enter “Tartu” into the search engine instead of “Tallinn”. Tartu is a city I’ve always had a soft spot for. It’s such a vibrant little town. In the daytime the streets are full of university students striding off to class. At night they come out in droves to party in the town’s many bars.

The property search engine spat out a few results, among them a large apartment in the center of town at a relatively low price. Colin’s brain started to whirl. The apartment certainly wouldn’t work as a bar, but maybe… His next search was on Hostel Bookers, the main website backpackers use to plot their travel. It retuned exactly what he expected – Tartu had only two or three accommodation options, none of them typical backpacker-style hostels that young travelers expect when traipsing across Europe. His head bobbed up. “Hey Joel….”

Seven weeks later and here we are, lounging on beanbags in the common room of our new hostel. We’ve called it Hostel Terviseks. Terviseks means “cheers” in Estonian, quite appropriate as it’s the first and only word a lot of foreigners learn, and something that is said frequently in this lively town.

I’ve now moved to Tartu semi-permanently. I don’t plan on settling here, but for the mean time I’ll be enjoying the student lifestyle in this chilled out town. Feel free to drop by anytime. There’s a beanbag waiting for you.