I took the bus to Tartu and set out to find Witek, who was also now living in Tartu. He had given me rather vague instructions as to how to find his apartment. "Go along river to the centre". Two problems here, I couldn't see the river from the bus station and once I found the river, I didn't know where the center was. Luckily, Tartu is small, so I wasn't lost for long. Once I got to Witek's place we decided we should stop by a grocery store and pick something for the party. Alcohol seemed to be the best option, if it weren't for one problem, neither Witek nor I drink alcohol, so we had no idea what to get. We ended up buying some Pepsi and a cheap Spanish wine.
Verena really went all out with the party. She had pictures of vintage advertisements and portraits all over the place, a collection of vinyl records sitting out on display, and a projector showing Charlie Chaplin films set up in her bedroom. While I wasn't really matching the theme, there were quite a few people that really put a lot of thought into their outfits. Although one idea that had never occurred to me that occurred to everyone else, I could have gone to a secondhand store and picked up something old-fashion. Most exciting for me though was the music. While it wasn't exactly swing, it was close enough, so I got to dance a bit, which I hadn't gotten to do since summer school.
I met quite a few people at the party, most of whom were foreign students studying in Tartu. There were even a few familiar faces (other than Verena and Witek). Gerli, whom I went with on the island trip, and Aivar, who helped out at the summer school, were both there.
The next day, Witek and I decided to go around the city for a bit. I wanted to revisit the abandoned cathedral as I hadn't been able to explore it much on the previous trip to Tartu.
The cathedral had been abandoned when Tartu became a Lutheran city, although this doesn't really make sense to me. It seems that generally when a city converted, they would also convert the cathedral, so it just strikes me as odd that this didn't happen here. Since its abandonment, the cathedral's history can be summed up in a question. What to do with it? Several ideas were proposed, including an observatory and reopening it as a church. Finally, a section of it was turned into a library and later a museum.
It's probably worth mentioning that the weather was beautiful that day. It turns to rain off and on most days, but on that day, the sky was blue and it was surprisingly warm. It's also a bit prettier in Tartu right now as the leaves change colors than in Tallinn. Most of the trees in Tallinn are evergreens as it's farther north and the soil quality is poorer.
We then went to check out the museum. The museum was mostly a history of Tartu University. Tartu University was the first university in Estonia and has been important historically as the academic and nationalist center of Estonia. While parts of it were interesting, I was about to fall asleep the whole time I was there as we hadn't gotten back from the party the night before until 4am. Also, since I was sleeping in a strange place, I didn't sleep well and woke up at 9:30am. The one funny thing about the museum was its inconsistent translations. So everything was in Estonian and most displays had English translations. One room had Russian translations alongside the Estonian and English, but none of the other rooms did. One display was in Estonian, Finnish, and German, with no English. Another display was only in Estonian and Swedish.
We then visited the botanical gardens where I discovered that flowers in Estonia don't so much wilt as give up.
I also learned that pot plants are legal.
Afterwards, I met up with a new friend whom I had met at the party, Jeana. She is an American PhD student studying folklore. The folklore at Tartu department was having a party for a professor who was a promoter of Seto culture, which she invited me to as she thought I'd be interested in the music. The best example I could find of Seto music is this video. There is a lead singer who sings a line, then the line is repeated by a chorus. Improvisation is a big part of Seto music, so the lead singer is free to make up lyrics which the chorus then repeats. One feature I find fascinating is that the chorus generally starts singing before the lead singer has finished the line. While there was some singing, the party was surprisingly formal, which made it a bit awkward, especially as everything said was in Estonian, so we had no idea what was happening.
It was a great trip, hopefully I can make my way back to Tartu for another visit before I leave Estonia.
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