Studying abroad in riga, latvia
When I went to college, I decided that I wanted to study abroad once each year for a total of four trips. This did not quite end up happening, as I did five years at the University of South Florida, and I only went three times. I was actually signed up to study abroad in Germany my sophomore year, but due to an inadequate number of people who signed up the trip was cancelled. Therefore, the three trips I went on were to Costa Rica with the college of education my freshman year, a semester in Oviedo, Spain my junior year, and somehow a semester in Riga, Latvia my senior year.
I ended up in Riga thanks to the director of the secondary social science program at USF, Barbara Cruz. During the 10 minutes before the first class I took with her, we talked about travel, the Spanish language, and how I had to leave Spain early due to Covid. A few weeks later she sent me and two other girls information about an ERASMUS scholarship she had been granted to award to one student of her choosing. To my surprise, the two other girls did not even respond to the email, and after some deliberation I decided to take it.
The scholarship was a full semester of classes, airfare/travel expenses, and 800 euros a month for accommodation and living expenses. Plenty of money to live comfortably in Riga, the Capital of Latvia. In addition to this, I knew that if I were to take classes half time at USF I would receive financial aid and grants in addition to this scholarship. I ended up receiving a couple thousand extra dollars that ended up going towards travel on the weekends and during a five week lockdown in Latvia. Since I was essentially in my last semester of undergrad, the last class I had to complete was my final internship, something I was unable to do in Riga. After lots of figuring out and back and forth, I added a minor in linguistics. I took two very easy classes that qualified me as half time at USF; and I took painting, Spanish literature, morphosyntaxis of Spanish, English grammar, and beginner Latvian through the University of Latvia.
The time I spent in Riga was a very important time of my life. My Spanish skills got much better from taking those classes, I learned so much about Europe, Eastern Europe, and Latvian culture. This was also a time of personal growth where I realized some things about myself and those around me. I learned about my own desires when it comes to travel and time management, and I learned about what that might be like for some other people. I also came to the conclusion that I should be a little selfish in my early twenties, I regret not putting myself first more and relying on other people.
If any of you reading this have questions about study abroad I would be more than happy to help with that. Studying abroad is something I believe everyone should do, and it is all completely possible regardless of your financial situation because there is always a solution.
From the very beginning, people kept telling me that Latvia wouldn’t be a good place to go, that it was eastern Europe so it wouldn’t be the same as going to western Europe which was apparently “better”, one person even said that you couldn’t pay him to go there for a semester. Something I found quite stupid to be honest. It turned out to be such a beautiful place that I enjoyed every second of living in. I feel bad for anyone who judges a place without any knowledge of it or the people and culture. Now, I will not say that it was anything like living in the United States. The minimum wage was less than four euros an hour, I was told that laughing and smiling was a sign of weakness, and there is still concern of their close neighbor Russia; an entity that tried to push the Latvian language out and replaced it with their own during the Soviet Union occupation. A common misconception is that Latvian is similar to Russian, it is quite the opposite since it is not even remotely close or in the same language family whatsoever. Just because someone or someplace is different does not mean that they are any less valuable or worthy of attention. I plan to return to Latvia, any part of the year, because each season was unique and beautiful.
My friend Una.
During my time in Riga I did make one true Latvian friend, her name is Una. She is engaged to a man name Valts, they are some of the nicest people I have ever met and look forward to seeing them again one day. My professor knew the lure that Riga has, it was a beautiful city established in the 11th century, containing an old town and an art nouveau district. Oddly enough, they had some of the most incredible thrift stores I have ever been to in my life. Vintage, stylish, and affordable. I had to bring back an extra suitcase. I could make a whole blog post about how beautiful the fall season was. Being from Florida, I haven’t really experienced the change of the colors and the cool fall air as the days get shorter. Being in Riga for the fall was an absolute treat, the pictures and memories of the fall there will be with me forever.
Overall, go to Riga, study abroad, do it alone. You wont regret it.
