It was my first time traveling alone to a different country, and I was finally going to watch Alek Száhala play live for the first time, after years of listening to his music on my PC at home. I was beyond excited. After arriving in Helsinki, I took the train to Lahti. I had the location of the party noted down on a piece of paper, in case I needed to ask someone for directions. While on the train, I noticed a group of Finns that looked cool sitting a few meters away. I thought to myself I’d ask them for directions if they stopped in Lahti, too. As the train arrived in Lahti, I got up, the group of cool guys got up, and I walked outside and approached them. They told me they knew where the party was and that they were going to a bar next to it. They told me to join them. I walked with them to the Pitka Pub, which was right next to the Senssi club, where Száhala was playing later that night. They welcomed me into their friend group and I started drinking beer with them. The bar was crowded, and I ended up drinking and chatting for hours. Eventually I met a guy that was also going to the party, and he told me he knew the organizers and that I could get in without paying. Cool. I told him I had come all the way from Portugal to watch Száhala live and couldn’t miss it, and he agreed.
After a few more hours of this, he finally told me I had to enter the club because it was getting full. So, I joined the line. That’s when suddenly the man himself Alek Száhala showed up from inside the club and came to me with the dude I had met at the bar. “Holy shit!”, I said enthusiastically. I must have said the word “fuck” at least seven times. After years of obsessing about his music, I finally got to see him live, and not only that, but I also even got to talk to him. We chatted a bit and then he gave me a signed CD with one of his sets recorded in it. Probably the best gift I’ve ever got. I was very excited at this point, but I learned he had already played at midnight, and that I had missed his set while I was drinking at the bar. Too bad, but at least I got to meet him! I met and chatted with a few more FINRG crew members, and then went in.
While inside I was enjoying the music of the DJs and drinking some more. But then something happened which I can’t exactly recall. Basically, I tripped somewhere, hit my head, and lost consciousness. At least that’s what I was told when I regained consciousness. Moreover, there were two police officers grabbing me and taking me with them. “You are too drunk”, “You are bleeding”, I was told by someone. I was taken to the police van, and before I knew it, I was in jail.
In my cell there was only a very thin, yellow mattress, a small window on the wall which I couldn’t get up to, and a toilet. I pissed in the toilet and laid down on the mattress to sleep. After a few hours, I woke up sober, but I had no clue why I was in jail. I knocked on the metal door several times and yelled “Hello” to see if someone would come. But nobody came. There was no clock in the cell, so I had no idea what time it was. I fell asleep again. A bit later I woke up and there was another man in my cell, in another mattress. He told me he had been driving while drunk. We chatted a bit, and he told me he thought I’d only stay one night. Apparently, I had a big scar on my forehead.
Eventually, I got out. I went back to the Pitka pub because I had nothing else to do. The next day I’d be in Helsinki and then back to Portugal, and the main reason I had come was over, so I’d just pass the time now. While at the pub I coincidentally met Száhala again and chatted a bit more with him. I think I asked him how many languages he spoke lol. Someone then told me I had a big scar on my forehead again, which made me check on the bathroom mirror, and indeed there was. I told them I woke up in jail, and they said that in Finland when someone is too drunk on the streets at night and they have no place to go, the police take them to jail so they don’t freeze to death. That made sense. I didn’t have any hotel room booked for that night, anyway, so I guess it was for the better.
The Stillest 