Mulled wine + Vitamin D — Party = (barely) Survived Estonian Winter
This is an Estonian winter survival guide.
Maybe you have heard of the polar night and beautiful aurora in the Nordic winter, or you are excited about the snow and Christmas, but what if I tell you, it may be difficult to survive the winter in Estonia?
Indeed, the winter in Estonia may be the most difficult winter in the world. It is not like countries in southern Europe, which have a regular daytime of 10–12 hours — due to its high latitude, the daytime in winter usually limited to 9 am to 3 pm; it’s not like countries in northern Europe — its latitude is not that high, even (almost) polar night, we still can not see the aurora; it is for sure less interesting than the countries in western Europe because there are few people, so you can mostly just see this:
Mulled wine
You may need a glass of mulled wine — of course, if you don’t drink, they will kindly offer you a non-alcoholic version. Usually, mulled wine is boiled with red wine and spices, or you can find the ready product directly in the supermarket, then boil it. Since alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, it is easy to evaporate when boiling, so mulled wine generally has a lower alcohol content — you will feel sweetness and warmth, but it is nowhere near as drunk. What’s more surprising is that its nutritional value is higher than regular red wine.
Vitamin D
The long nights in Estonia in winter make a lot of people depressed and sleepy (I was literally listening to EDM hardstyle while reading for my essay otherwise I will just fall asleep :P). This is caused by not absorbing vitamin D from sunlight in many cases. The most effective way is to take vitamin D pill, and you can see that these are the most prominent items in every pharmacy.
Party
I tried to recall how I survived last two winters in Estonia: the first survived winter was because the polar night was fun, the snow was fun, and the party was fun (2019), and the second survived winter — I guess I didn’t survive at all, the polar night was boring, the snow was boring, and even parties could not be held. I was depressed. After taking depression medicine for a long time, I even gained 10kg because of it. Endless studying saved me, who was cranky all the time.
Thinking of this, I feel that it is too much need (any form) party to survive the winter in Estonia, whether with friends, myself, or strangers, to release all the depression. This may not be possible before the new year, because most nightclubs cannot end the party before 11pm :)
Hope the covid will end soon and everyone will survive this winter.
😬
