WKND 2K17

"A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth." - Charles Darwin

WEEKEND Festival was lit! The three days I spent in Pärnu were amazing. At first, I didn't really wanna go because like I said in the last post "this isn't my kinda music" and I would've preferred sleeping instead of dancing. These thoughts were in my head before everything cool happened in Pärnu that made me change my mind.

Put your hands up!

Day 1 - Karlis, Erik and I took a ride to our crib in Pärnu. The place we stayed at was the same as last year so huge thanks to our so to speak "landlords". We did everything we could to show our appreciation and thankfulness - check out the photos. We met up with some of our friends (as well as Günther who stayed with us last year) and we enjoyed the event together. The performer I liked the most on the first day was Don Diablo. The guy really knew how to speak with the crowd and that's what I expect from every DJ. I also met up with Mari-Liis (goood friend from Saku) and when at one point our group was huge, suddenly everyone split up. Finally, I was with Karlis who was drunk as hell so I had to babysit him. We met up with Günther and still had to offer him a place to stay because he couldn't get in to the place he was staying. We called Erik a couple of times to have him as our taxi driver which of he wasn't too happy about (he was already sleeping). Fortunately, we got home.

With Karlis - Work hard, party harder!

Day 2 started really slow. We had some extra people coming to join us from Viljandi and we had to wait for them because otherwise they couldn't had got into the safehouse. When Merily, Agnes, Merilyn and Annika arrived we still had to stay put because you know, girls.. Even though we missed Chainsmokers, we managed to see Tungevaag & Raaban. Weather that day was awful and therefore the only performance I attended after that was Deadmau5 which was fine but I hoped it to be way more awesome than it actually was. However, I was probably just too tired to enjoy the party 100%.

 From left to right, Merilyn, me giving Merily a piggyback ride, Annika, Agnes and Karlis squatting in the front

Blazing red lights

On the third day we had our group enlarged again with Peeter having a ticket for the last day. We went out for breakfast and after that arrived just in time for Cartoon live. Well this set was the best one in my opinion. They didn't just play some monotonous beat like most of the DJs but songs from different genres, even turned the event patriotic for a few minutes with Ivo Linna's "Eestlane olen ja eestlaseks jään" (in Eng. "I am Estonian and I will remain Estonian"). And of course Martin Garrix was my second favorite that day, it's just that if it comes to partying and listening to EDM, he's the prince of that music genre.

Tried to take a group photo and all of the sudden we had many new friends - our actual group is on the top row 

Martin Garrix & Troye Sivan - There For You

Anyway, the whole festival was great. Most of the marvelous pictures were taken by Erik (so he's the one who's behind the camera all the time) and most of the selfies are under girls' ownership. I love the group we spent time with, so many amazing people at the festival, so what can I say - until next year I guess! (Now I can continue to watch Sons of Anarchy before going back to work.) x)

Snaps that bring these amazing moments back

THE END

I STAY

"Patriotism is the secret resource of a successful society. " - Michael Ignatieff

Am I going to stay? Yes, I'm going to travel but in the end, I will end up living in Estonia I'm certain. "Mina jään" ("I stay") was the main quote for the song and dance festival I took part in last week. The week I spent in Tallinn at the 2017 Youth Song and Dance Celebration was LIT. Firstly, I didn't wanna go because I thought it was gonna be exhausting and boring. For sure it was exhausting but it was an experience of a lifetime. I was so wrong at first and I'm glad that some individuals convinced me to come. The days were tough, we had to fight with both sunny and rainy weather, we woke up early and went to bed late. We had 3 performances but one was cancelled due to bad weather but thanks to that the most memorable thing happened. Young participants, like me, organized an event a Freedom Square and noone expected that there would be so many people in there. The feeling was amazing, it felt special because it wasn't fully planned, it made me feel like we proved our worthy of our country's freedom again. Many cried because of happiness and if you were there, you would understand. Most of the pictures aren't taken by me and I have no idea who made them so if one claims his or her work, I may take them down.

I stay 

No weather could've stopped us 

Battleground 

 @ Freedom Square

It's fantastic to write about these moments I had because I get to relive everything

Anyway it was splendid to dance with my dance partner Maarja and befriend many new people like Anett with who I and Maarja spent much time together. Also I "re-met" Karl who was in a volleyball training with me a few years ago. I hadn't seen him a long time and it was nice to have a nice singing circle with him playing ukulele while beatboxing and the others singing. I spent lots of time with my dance group too, for example with Sander and Helen. Went out to discover Tallinn's Old Town with Keili, Kunnar and their friends - amazing. Actually, the craziest night was the one we had with Kunnar. We went out to meet up with our choir buddies (we both sing too yes) and drank maybe too many beers in a bar, afterwards I talked with some random Germans, we met up with Kunnar's relative Mari-Liis and her friend Johanna and they somehow tried to introduce some shady locations in the Old Town.. Anyway, the night was crazy-fun.

Late sunset 

Collage

When we finished with our last performance, it was really emotional to see several people cry. Maarja was such a great partner and I hope we can dance together in future too (in university for example). I had a nice evening with Anett the last night we spent in Tallinn. It would've been even more cooler if we weren't forced to go back to our safehouse so early.. The song celebration wasn't as epic as the dance celebration but it was cool to see so many people listening. I never thought I would feel myself so patriotic as I do now.

Maarja, Anett, Sander, Helen & I 

Good luck, Sander 

Youth Song Celebration

When I came home, I had a 12-hour sleep which my organism really needed. My friend Härold got 18 and had a small BBQ with his friends. I couldn't hold up there too long because I had to work the following day and currently I love my job. More to come!

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WATCH THE DANCE CELEBRATION

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Best service

"Change your thoughts and you change your world." - Norman Vincent Peale

Not sure if any of you remember but a few weeks ago I carried out a 3-day workshop about programming with Sander for primary school students. The course was a total success and we even decided to participate in a contest which was meant to support the best student companies and projects. We presented our workshop and turned out the winners of a category called "Best service". Besides that we got sponsored by SEB (bank) and we felt damn good that our effort paid off.

Introducing our project

Stipend by SEB 

BEST SERVICE 

Possible collaboration with this young fella 

Co-participator about to serve the cake

About the fun part of my life, I attended my friend Triinu's birthday event. It was cool except that one guy in there constantly changed songs and some of us weren't so happy about it. Unfortunately, I had to get home early because the following day I had to dance the whole day. My motivation for dancing is on critical level but I pushed myself to perform at my county's dance celebration. It didn't go as well as it should've gone - the first dance went so bad that it was embarrassing, however the second and the third one came out fine. The day was exhausting because we had to train from morning till evening but I'm satisfied with myself because I managed to come out of my comfort zone. I would also like to thank Ako who took the pictures at the dance celebration.

With Triinu who can now enjoy all the perks that come with adulthood 

@Viljandi 

 About to jump into action

Parade

Welcome to the Jungle

"The best things in life are often waiting for you at the exit ramp of your comfort zone." - Karen Salmansohn

I'm afraid of heights but yet I was crazy enough to put skydiving into my bucket list, right? No, don't think I've already bailed out of a plane. I'm going to get over with it step by step. I got the chance to test myself by rappelling down a suspension bridge in my town. Actually, I didn't plan on doing it but we were bike riding with Mark and we ran into his father who coincidentally arranges leisure events of such kind. It wasn't as scary as I thought at first, I just overthink too much. After I had gotten my adrenaline rush, we cruised around for a while and Mark took some pictures of me and my bike.

Acting like I wasn't frightened

Mark surely knew that he has to capture that moment

Guns N' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle

Enjoying the view

There was another night song festival in my town and it was cooler than ever because this year I participated too. I sang in a choir and besides that spent time with friends by singing and dancing together. The pictures at the festival were taken by Ako Lehemets. Later on, I attended a birthday party which I attended too. Meriliis and Johanna celebrated their aging and it was so fun I don't even remember everything quite well.

 The festival took place at my school's basketball court

 Rock'n'rolling with Kristel, Katharina and Adeele

 Squad

My choir (I'm in the left, behind the speaker)

Love is the Way

"Life is the question and life is the answer and God is the reason and love is the way." - Johnny Cash

The holiday is about to end and my week has been quite diverse so far. I said in the last post that I'm going to visit a university in Tallinn to try out the life as a student, so I did visit the place and it was interesting - I went to 2 lectures, met new people and realized how huge the campus really is. One of the lectures was about databases and the other one teached the basics of organization management. My shadower warned me that the first lecture is going to be really boring and she was damn right, I couldn't understand almost anything. The second lecture was way more easier to listen and I liked it because I didn't feel lost or stupid in there. Anyway, the day was great and I'm really thankful for the opportunity to visit the university.
This week hasn't been ordinary also because of the Independence Day of my fatherland. On Thursday, I performed at the ceremony concert with my choir and dancing group. The day wasn't easy but it was worth the effort. I remember exactly how my legs ached at the end of the day but I still went to see a concert with two of my friends afterwards. The following day I watched the parade from the TV and in the evening went to see a movie with a couple of friends.

The three photos above were taken by Kris Süld

Yesterday, I went to celebrate my great friend and classmate's aging. Günther didn't invite anyone but still about 10 people managed come over and the party was awesome. Oh, and on Tuesday I had a barbeque night with Kristo, Lars and Kermo. The weather maybe wasn't the best for grilling outside but that wasn't an obstacle for us.

Workin' out with my classmates at Günther's

 Pae grill

Today, February 26th, one of my biggest idols would've got 85 years old. It's Johnny Cash's birthday and I'm going to celebrate it by listening to my favorite songs by him. I even drew a picture of him, it's not perfect but I'm proud of it.

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Johnny Cash - She Used To Love Me A Lot

Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus

Mountains

"Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley." - Theodore Roethke

I'm trying really hard to stay in my post per week schedule and even though I've been really active and done many things lately which I wanna talk about in my blog, I find it really hard to use the spare time I have to make a new blog post. I'm just so tired of school, why can't the winter holiday start already? The week has been really hard for me because all of the sudden we had a huge English vocabulary test on Tuesday and 3 tests on Thursday. The English test was quite difficult but I managed to pass the test with a casual 4. The Thursday wasn't really easier but enough of that sad shiet.

Does Santa's magic elf visits your home too?

Meanwhile, one of my best friends aged. Merili got older, yehuu - not enough to drink and drive (you never get old enough to be allowed to drink and drive at the same time) but she got 16, jeez what a child, right? :D Actually, I just feel old when I'm helping the girl with her physics..

We had a nice walk and talk with these guys + Mark 

Tumblr 

That's how messed up my weeks are right now

But before all that, on last Friday, I visited Teeviit 2016 which is an education fair with my friend Sten. I enjoyed the event and even saw some of my friends with who I attended the media seminar in summer. I learned more about volunteering and studying abroad, these topics are really important for me because I'm thinking about studying abroad and furthermore I'm having thoughts about doing voluntary work after high school but that's unlikely to happen because education comes first for me.

Teeviit 2016 

After 5 hours of walking around and seeking for advice, our stomachs insisted on a pizza

If you haven't seen the picture I worked on for a couple of hours then here it is. Make sure to like it on my Facebook page too!

Mountains