It's Already March?

I can't believe I'm 2/5 of the way done with my study abroad experience already! It seems to have flown by, and although the first two months have been very fulfilling, I hope to expand my horizons in the remaining months. So far, I've experienced a lot of Riga and all of SSE, and I've decided that it's time to start experiencing the rest of Europe. I have already booked a trip with my brother to visit Stockholm, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris in May, and during the weekend of March 12, my roommates and I are planning on going to Tallinn, Estonia. I also plan on visiting Vilnius, Lithuania and hopefully another few cities in Germany or other parts of Europe around April.

This weekend, I will likely stay in Riga, since I have a midterm exam for Macroeconomics on Wednesday. However, I may decide to take one day off next week and visit the city of Sigulda at some point. It is the largest tourist city in Latvia and is known for its ski resorts, other sporting events (such as bobsledding and a vertical wind tunnel that I want to try), and also for a beautiful view from a nearby castle. Another city in Latvia that I am waiting to visit is Jurmala, which is a beach resort nearby. Hopefully I will be able to go when it is warm outside!

Since my last post, I've taken my Organization & Management Exam and have finished the final report. Today I received the good news that I passed both and therefore I already passed the course! I've also had the chance to experience more parts of Riga that I haven't before, as I took a tram to the outskirts of the city to eat at a great restaurants with one of the other exchange students. I also explored Old Town some more and took a tour of St. Peter's Church. Going up to the top only costs 2 Lats ($4), and provided some of the most beautiful sites I've seen in Latvia. I plan on doing it again when the weather isn't so cold so that I can stay up there for longer than 10 minutes. It has become one of my favorite places in Latvia so far.






I've also done more than sightseeing, as Valentin, Ivan, and I went ice fishing one day on the Daugava River. It was a little bit scary being out on the ice on a huge river, but certainly an experience I've never had before. We unfortunately did not catch any fish, but my roommates found another place a little outside of the city where it is rumored that the returns of ice fishing are very high. Last week I also met some other American students over here who are from the University of Nebraska and are studying at the University of Latvia. Like me, they came here to have a completely new experience and it seems to be paying off for them as well. I also met a professor from the University of Michigan who teaches an MBA course in SSE every few months. It's been nice having people from the US that I can relate to, although I still mainly hang out with the SSE students from the Baltic countries and exchanges from SSE.







From this point on, student life is about to become much more exciting. The Year 2 students finished their Financial Economics course last Wednesday, which was followed by celebration in Old Town from most of the students at school. The Finance course is extremely difficult, with only a 25% pass rate the first time. It's the equivalent of 9 UK credit hours, and occurs over the span of only two months. Fortunately for those students, it officially ends this Friday, but that also means that more people will be at all of the SSE events. For example, debate had about 16 people yesterday, and at night a poker tournament was also held. I'm very exciting to see what the next few months will old, especially with spring right around the corner.

For a full album of pictures, check out my facebook page. Until next time, enjoy!