Baltica!!

Since my absence a lot has happened…between travelling and midterms I didn’t have time to write a blog so Ill try to make this one good.

About two weeks ago I went to Riga.  Riga is the capital of Latvia and one of the major Baltic cities.  Most people I have talked to have never heard of Riga, or if they have don’t express much of an interest in visiting.  However, I found Riga to be one of the best cities I have ever been to.  That is not to say everyone would enjoy it as much as I did since it has a very different culture than other European cities.  I chose to go to Riga after studying it in my Soviet Architecture class.  Had we not talked about Riga in my class I probably wouldn’t have thought to go to Riga and therefore am so glad I chose that class.

While in Riga I went on a tour where I learned a lot about the history of Latvia (which I think is overlooked in history classes).  Latvia was occupied by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.  The architecture and layout of the city is interesting because you can visually see both of these influences. On the tour we went to the Museum of Barricades, which explains how Latvians fought for their liberation by using concrete barricades to fight and block the Soviet Union.  There was a video of after they gained independence and the removal of the giant statue of Lenin.  Living in Saint Petersburg I am used to seeing massive Lenin statues but I don’t often think about what it must have been like to just wake up one morning and cross a giant statue on your way to work.  Once we left the museum we went to where the statue of Lenin stood and I tried to imagine if it was still there and how different the square would have felt.  One of the main sights in Riga is the Freedom Monument.  They commemorate their freedom by placing flowers at the bottom of the monument because when the Soviet Union was in power they would have been deported to Siberia for doing such a thing.  I was fortunate enough to be passing the monument when a group of young Latvians sang and danced around the monument and then laid flowers.  I asked the tour guide if it was a special day or something and she simply said, “No, they do it because they can”.  On another note the tour ended at a bar where we each received a free shot of the country’s special liquor.  It was a 40% brown goo that tasted disgusting but it was freezing so I gladly welcomed its warming affect as I swallowed it.

Later after a Latvian dinner of kebab and potatoes we went back to our hostel “Fun Friendly Franks Hostel” and enjoyed our complementary beer (great hostel right?).  That night we went on a pub-crawl that the hostel organizes.  The first pub we went to was probably my favorite because there was a live band that played/sung traditional Latvian folk music.  Whether you are a fan of folk music or not you can’t help enjoy the lively atmosphere it creates!  What I loved about Latvia (or at least Riga) was how everyone loved to sing and dance…when I say dance I mean like swing/folk dance.  I can’t say I’m the best swing dancer but I at least I know how to laugh at myself.  Throughout the next couple of days we went to the Museum of Occupation, the Jewish Museum, the Central Market, Alberta Street, and wandered the cobblestone streets of the old city.  I could probably write several pages on Riga but for your sake Ill stop now.

Next.  This past weekend my program made a trip to Novgorod.  Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia.  Basically there are a lot of churches, monasteries and of course the Kremlin.  I can imagine that Novgorod is very pretty in the summer but going in gloomy April wasn’t the most exciting trip I have ever been on.  Not only that, but the atmosphere of Novgorod still feels very soviet in the sense that it’s very quite and you’re never really sure where the people are.  If you were passing Novgorod on a trip I would say stop by and see the Kremlin but otherwise it would not be a place I recommend. 

Lastly, I decided to stay in Saint Petersburg for the summer!! I will be continuing my Russian studies at Smolny University and also be teaching English.  I started teaching English this week to pre-intermediate students twice a week.  So far its been an interesting experience but I can already tell that I gaining some skills from it!