To exemply...

... a new word I learnt from paying attention in a lecture. Another new word is subisitute... My English will definitely improve here :) Yay! Apart from that, the lectures are still very interesting! Module 1 is nearly finished even; My first exam is in 2 weeks! Schoolwise everything is still the same... lectures, essays, lectures, essays! But I'm learning to live with it :) Double yay!

What happened for the rest? Saskia's parents and boyfriend came to visit us in Riga. They stayed in our lovely apartment from Friday till Monday. It was a full house! (literally even, there were 2 men and 3 women... haven't lost my sense of humour yet :)) I joined the whole bunch for dinner on Friday and Sunday (stoofvlees on Sunday! but it was not really yummy). Whilst they were sightseeing, I was of course writing an essay :)

We also met Vladimir and Tatiana on Friday. Together we went for a drink in the skyline bar, where I drank a lovely long island ice tea! Afterwards, the 3 of us went for another drink in the Bon Vivant, where I had a Stella of course. It was nice to see them again! If everything goes well, we might go to Sigulda together at the beginning of October. Everybody says it is really lovely there at the start of autumn. I'm curious...

Today we went to see La Traviata! My first opera experience ever... It was great though! I always thought it was dull and only for older people... but there was even some sort of striptease on stage :) Andy would have loved this scene for sure! Sometimes I missed the plot a little, because I was distracted by the musicians (no there was no handsome one, it was just interesting to see how some of them were completely bored) This won't be the last opera we'll see, because there are still 9 on our wishlist :) Luckily it is not too expensive! For 5 LVL you already get a decent seat!

More facts about life in Latvia:

• I found a subisitute for a 'Limburgse hooooooooooond' ... Because Latvians don't really have a word for 'in' they stress the final letter of the word which describes the place. To make this sound less blonde: Es studeju dzivokli (read: dzivokliiiiiiiiii)
• Older people expect young people to give their place to them on trams and busses. Lucikly for them I am a very friendly girl :)
• Ticket controllers on trams and busses smell money as soon as the doors close. They always seem to jump up out of nowhere :) Thank Santa, I have a monthly ticket!

That's it for today! I will update my photos tomorrow... if I don't forget at least! Oh yeah, our stove is fixed (depends on how you look at it) and internet still works! Tripple yay!

Ata!