The first day of orientation week! We were finally going to meet all the other exchange students at the Riga Stradins University.
Something else first: we still have to pay a fee to the real estate agency. The woman in charge, however, doesn’t seem too interested in the money, because she failed to show up already 3 times. She always happens to forget our appointment: oh sorry, I forgot and now I’m outside Riga. Today we have yet again an appointment. She ‘d better show up this time… because we might forget to pay the money. UPDATE: she just sent a text message saying she wants to meet us today at 1pm. I’m curious…
Anyhow, back to day 1 of orientation week. After an other unsuccessful meeting with this lady, we left our apartment at around 12 o’clock; enough time to get to the uni, where we had to be around 13h30. We didn’t know which bus or tram we could take to the uni, so we went to the tourist office for some help. The guy behind the counter helped us, but afterwards he said he wasn’t from Riga. Bad sign?
So, we took trolleybus 8. 15 minutes later we reached its final destination… but where is the uni? After having asked some young guys, who obviously didn’t even know about the existence of Riga Stradins, I asked the bus driver how to get to the uni. In the end he was so kind to call a taxi for us, with my mobile phone of course. I really don’t want to know how high my mobile phone bill will be…
Just as we thought the taxi would never show up and started walking in a random direction, our yellow taxi with cute taxi driver arrived. The company, smile taxi, hasn’t stolen its name, because it definitely put the smile back on our faces! We eventually arrived 5 minutes late and had to enter a room full of exchange students, approximately 30 students and 5 organisers.
We got some basic information:
- The minimum passing grade is 4, the highest grade is 10.
- We only have holidays on 16, 17 and 18 November.
- Only illness is a valid excuse for not coming to lectures and practical classes.
- The lessons start September 1 and end December 19.
- There are 3 modules of 4 weeks.
- After each module there is a week for possible exams.
- We will have to write a lot of essays, a possible 40 pages per week.
We also got a tour around the uni and it seems to be really nice. It definitely looks better than the first time I saw it in June. Most of the exchange students happen to be full-time students or they are studying medicine/stomatology. Some of them are even planning to stay 6 years to get their medicine degree! There are not many students for the European Studies department, we are at the moment with 5 only, but there will be some more later on.
At around 6pm we went into town for a drink with most of the exchange students. Everyone drank alcohol, but Saskia and I drank a nice coke. Some of the students even ordered a water pipe. It was a very cosy and cheap bar; the second floor was filled with cushions and small tables and a coke costs only 1EUR.
We had to be back at our apartment around 9pm to meet the lady, who of course failed to show up. Afterwards we went back into town to go to the French Bar, the place to be for exchange students and for people who like cheap beer! A litre costs around 2,8EUR and a 0,33l around 1,4EUR. I drank 2 beers (0,33cl of course) and 1 shot, a Latvian specialty with vodka, apple juice, cinnamon and a slice of orange. It’s called an apple-pie, or something like that.
Conclusion of the day, the group of exchange students seems nice and I guess we will have a lot of fun together! Today is the second day of orientation week and we will go to the Lido, where they serve Latvian food. We are also going to buy a Latvian sim-card today; I will give you my number in my next blog.
Take care!
Something else first: we still have to pay a fee to the real estate agency. The woman in charge, however, doesn’t seem too interested in the money, because she failed to show up already 3 times. She always happens to forget our appointment: oh sorry, I forgot and now I’m outside Riga. Today we have yet again an appointment. She ‘d better show up this time… because we might forget to pay the money. UPDATE: she just sent a text message saying she wants to meet us today at 1pm. I’m curious…
Anyhow, back to day 1 of orientation week. After an other unsuccessful meeting with this lady, we left our apartment at around 12 o’clock; enough time to get to the uni, where we had to be around 13h30. We didn’t know which bus or tram we could take to the uni, so we went to the tourist office for some help. The guy behind the counter helped us, but afterwards he said he wasn’t from Riga. Bad sign?
So, we took trolleybus 8. 15 minutes later we reached its final destination… but where is the uni? After having asked some young guys, who obviously didn’t even know about the existence of Riga Stradins, I asked the bus driver how to get to the uni. In the end he was so kind to call a taxi for us, with my mobile phone of course. I really don’t want to know how high my mobile phone bill will be…
Just as we thought the taxi would never show up and started walking in a random direction, our yellow taxi with cute taxi driver arrived. The company, smile taxi, hasn’t stolen its name, because it definitely put the smile back on our faces! We eventually arrived 5 minutes late and had to enter a room full of exchange students, approximately 30 students and 5 organisers.
We got some basic information:
- The minimum passing grade is 4, the highest grade is 10.
- We only have holidays on 16, 17 and 18 November.
- Only illness is a valid excuse for not coming to lectures and practical classes.
- The lessons start September 1 and end December 19.
- There are 3 modules of 4 weeks.
- After each module there is a week for possible exams.
- We will have to write a lot of essays, a possible 40 pages per week.
We also got a tour around the uni and it seems to be really nice. It definitely looks better than the first time I saw it in June. Most of the exchange students happen to be full-time students or they are studying medicine/stomatology. Some of them are even planning to stay 6 years to get their medicine degree! There are not many students for the European Studies department, we are at the moment with 5 only, but there will be some more later on.
At around 6pm we went into town for a drink with most of the exchange students. Everyone drank alcohol, but Saskia and I drank a nice coke. Some of the students even ordered a water pipe. It was a very cosy and cheap bar; the second floor was filled with cushions and small tables and a coke costs only 1EUR.
We had to be back at our apartment around 9pm to meet the lady, who of course failed to show up. Afterwards we went back into town to go to the French Bar, the place to be for exchange students and for people who like cheap beer! A litre costs around 2,8EUR and a 0,33l around 1,4EUR. I drank 2 beers (0,33cl of course) and 1 shot, a Latvian specialty with vodka, apple juice, cinnamon and a slice of orange. It’s called an apple-pie, or something like that.
Conclusion of the day, the group of exchange students seems nice and I guess we will have a lot of fun together! Today is the second day of orientation week and we will go to the Lido, where they serve Latvian food. We are also going to buy a Latvian sim-card today; I will give you my number in my next blog.
Take care!
3 opmerkingen:
Haai Ellen!
Even melden dat je vakantie hebt op mijn verjaardag... Mss zie ik daar een leuke trip naar Riga :)
Dikke zoen en wees er maar zeker van dat we dat adres zullen gebruiken!
Jaja, cute taxi driver ;-), en aan de Letse dranken zit ge ook al, dat belooft voor de komende maanden. Mijn verlof voor de week van 13 tot 17 oktober is in orde. Nu nog de vlucht boeken (wsl via reisbureau wegens nog te gebruiken waardebons), maar dat komt ook wel in orde.
Grtz XXX
Naar de uni in 'n taxi :-)... met een knapperd achter het stuur, je zou voor minder veinzen dat je je weg naar de uni niet meer kan vinden :-p
Benieuwd of de Letse keuken met d'Hoogeschool kan concurreren ... Ik kijk al uit naar je verslag.
Nog veel plezier daarginds !
Een reactie posten