I wouldn’t say the party scene in Tallinn is insane, but then again I don’t really know party scenes like that. I like to drink and have a good time; I like to find cool little hole-in-the-wall bars and pubs to hang out at until close, but a club is much less my scene. I can’t dance due to my extreme clumsiness and lack of rhythm. I’ve always more enjoyed hanging out with friends around a campfire or a silly movie while drinking at home and chatting over a loud club with a cover charge and random drunk guys trying to get me to make love to his leg.
We went to Ükskõik bar to play jenga and get some cheap shots (6 for €6). They basically make you a big cocktail (like a redheaded slut, which is cranberry, jaeger, and peach schnapps; or tastes like childhood which is basically cotton candy bubble gum in a shot glass) and separate it into shots. They say 6 but they just make it and fill up the glasses, once I got 8, another time I got 6.
The bar also has other board games and a Playstation. Some nights they have live music, others you can request anything you want to have played. Either way, it always has a chill atmosphere. Plus, it’s underground, so that gives it style points.
After, we took a short walk to Club Hollywood in Old Town. It was a Wednesday night, however, so there were maybe thirty people there. But I got in for free (ladies’ night) and got to have a couple of drinks with some of the guys from the hostel. But again, we had been having a good time talking all night and that got pretty difficult when we moved from a bar to the club. The people that were there were having a good time though, the DJ was playing songs I hadn’t heard in a while (which is always better than repeating songs over and over again, there’s only so many times I can listen to “That’s What I Like”).
I stayed at a party hostel so for me the party was always right upstairs from where I slept. Meaning I could get as wasted as I wanted and not have to be more than slightly concerned I wouldn’t make it to my bed and that was more because it was the top bunk (I should not be allowed up there sober, let alone drunk off dozens of shots). On the weekends, many of the locals showed up to The Monk’s Bunk bar even and hung out there too, saying they enjoyed the people that stayed there and loved talking to them about their travels to their hometown.
I met a girl named Marilyn who had lived in Tallinn her whole life and had been coming to Monk’s for a few years now, so she was basically an honorary worker there. Another guy who came by a few nights was an American living in Old Town who liked to meet other travelers and talk about the computer and IT company he worked for. He told me that I came to Tallinn at one of the worst times because spring hadn’t set in yet and there wasn’t much to do; you need to come back in the summer. But, I still loved my stay there so that just means I’ll love it even more when it’s warmer out and high season is on them.
There were only seven of us at the hostel during the week so there was less to do for a couple of nights…but then an entire British Uni football team came to stay! We were supposed to have a giant beer pong tournament their first night there. I say supposed to because I think we were able to get through about five rounds before everyone started to forget we were playing. The fact that there were so many people in the little bar/game room was too distracting to keep playing in an organized fashion.
Beers and other drinks are always cheap. The Monk’s Bunk pub crawl is famous and the pregame was so good that I ended up missing the actual crawl. There were a few hookah places around if that’s also your thing. If you have a preference, trust me, you will find it if you look hard enough. Tallinn knows how to have a good time and with such friendly locals, you’ll find someone to point you in the right direction.
My Life as Laur 