I was up bright and early this morning for our expedition around northern Estonia. I was greeted at the front desk with some good news - my bag was in the country and being sent my way! Woo! The Dutch guy who owns the hostel wrote a guide book (THE guidebook in the Dutch speaking world, apparently) to the Baltics and was going to be showing us some cool places around the north in his funky old blue minibus. You always seem to get a good mix from Youth hostels - today was no different. Accompanied by an older Taiwanese lady, [View Full Entry]

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Last night was very pleasant, even if I was completely knackered due to my exploits the previous night. Maarit was very understanding and pointed out that it was Sunday and that her friends weren’t around for going out anyhow! Today we walked through Tartu on the way to the bus station. We visited Barclay square, where the Soviets rounded up all their political prisoners and transported them in cattle trucks to the gulag, or worse. We passed the music school from which was emanating classical music being practiced. We listened to that as we hid under a bridge to shelter from [View Full Entry]

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Today began with a hangover… Again. This seems to be becoming a pattern here in Tallinn. I was aiming to meet the Aussie girls at the bus station at about quarter to nine, but by the time I had been on an anti-hangover mission to Mc Donald's for a “Big Tasty” and made it back to the hostel to get a cab, the 10 o clock bus we had agreed to catch had already left. Never mind! I caught a taxi from the hostel and chatted with the driver in Russian about how Russian language is used in the Baltics these [View Full Entry]

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So, the adventure really begins! I was up at 5.30 this morning to catch the plane from plymouth to Gatwick and then onto Tallinn here in Estonia. I made the trip fine, however, my baggage obviously wasn' t so fortunate and hasn't made it as far as Tallinn... After filing my lost baggage report at the airport, I attempted to find my way to the hostel. I took a bus that looked important and hoped for the best. The bus took me through some pretty ropy looking neighbourhoods and past numerous sex shops and what I assume are brothels down to [View Full Entry]

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Long time, no write! I guess I've been caught up in the high season here. Well, that is quite definatley over now and the weather is too. We've been having positivley crappy English weather here for a few weeks now, and that has only served to shorten the season - as I write, the heavens have opened again. A lot of sitting around is being done, hence I have the will once again to write in my blog! The students I told you about in the last entry have pretty mcuh all left now and life is once again quiet. Thanks [View Full Entry]

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Well, here we go - the High season is upon us and the madness has already begun. The site is set to go from a pretty meagre 250 people upto around 3000 within a week - that means a 1200% increase in workload for us! Pass op, mijne damen en heeren - de Nederlanders komen! I manage a bar on the campsite and, in general, the customers are pretty well behaved, save for the odd drunken scuffle or general rowdiness. That is normally the preserve of high season when we have DJs from 'the city' here and it all gets a [View Full Entry]

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Oioi! I ventured into town today with my mate Erik who is over from Holland for two days. His mother agreed to drive me to the Russian embassy. This became a bit of a mission, as the embassy is actually an old country manor hidden away in a wooded area right on the edge of town. When we got there it was closed. A brief conversation with the embassy staff in a sort of franco-russian via the gate-phone informed me that the embassy opened for an hour every day - if they felt like it. So, my first experience of Russian [View Full Entry]

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So here I am, finally out of the UK! I had a very pleasant week in Devon and managed to meet up with Seb, a housemate from uni, in Slapton for some drinking by a fire on the beach. Very chilled, despite staying in the student bunkhouse overnight and trying not to get noticed... Life here on the campsite is still quiet as the tourists won't be arriving for a few weeks yet. The weather isn't exactly stunning either, but at least it all gives me time to settle in befor eI start work in a few days. I have my [View Full Entry]

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This morning I awoke in my usual state of still-drunkardness. However, this time it was 7am and my Mum was on the phone to say she and Dad would be arriving at my Halls to clear my gear out shortly. Through the haze I somehow had a shower without killing myself and packed the remainder of my stuff into Sainsbury's bags. The past week has been an odd one. Last two exams out the way on Monday and Tuesday and then house parties through until last night's aborted mission into the depths of Withington. It seemed a bit odd, as I [View Full Entry]

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(Auch auf Deutsch geschrieben, unter) Well, it is the start of my mission to master Russian and have a good time along the way. I'm currently in the middle of exam period at the end of my second year at Manchester University and I've come home for a week. OK, so the travelling hasn't started for real yet, but I'm getting excited and the real travel will begin soon.... So here's the plan: I'm flying back up to Manchester on monday and then I'll be driving back on saturday before flying to Luxembourg via London to my job. Plan is to [View Full Entry]

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