After a few weeks in Riga I'm glad I made the choice to come here. I feel very much at home for being in a place very far away from home. I accredit that mainly to the people I've met. All of the students have been very nice, and once I get to know someone I hardly recognize the cultural differences between us. It also helps that there are so many ways to get involved and to meet people at SSE. For example, last week I went to the soccer trainings, which were on Wednesday and Thursday night. The school has a deal with the Olympic Center in Latvia (about 15 minutes walk from the school) to where we can play there for about 2 hours twice a week. Playing pick-up indoor soccer games has been a great way to meet more people (still struggling with names though).
This past weekend, I had another chance to see more of Riga, as I went to a club Friday night with my compadre and some of her friends. Entrance was free via accepting an invitation on Facebook, so I decided to check it out. This was my first time really experiencing a club scene, and it had all of the flashing lights and loud music you would expect, with multiple DJs in different rooms for different tastes in music. It left me with a headache by the end of the night, but it was a neat experience. Saturday night I went into town with Valentin and Ivan to look at more flats, and we decided to settle the issue over a beer or two at one of SSE Riga students' favorite bars. There we ran into a few students I knew from New Years and we had a good time hanging out with them.
As far as a flat goes, Valentin, Ivan, and I have a meeting with an owner tomorrow to review a contract. Rihards (one of the school's compadres) offered to help us search and spent last week looking around for cheaper and nicer flats for us. He's also done a great job negotiating price. It seems like many of the other students can't wait until we find a flat, since it's customary for students to throw a welcome-party in their flat when they first move in. I think some of the students who are stuck in the dorms (a few I talked to said they paid for the whole year as a single payment last semester) don't want us to leave since it will be that much quieter around here, but they have admitted that they would find a flat too if given the chance. Either way, I will still hang out with the students here, especially Gerard and Oleg, who I am around a lot.
Last week we had a completely new type of learning setting, as all of our work consisted of online simulations. This week, we are back to what we did during the first week, although we have a new lecturer this time around (some classes have professors who cycle). Monday I already have my first final, followed by a 10 page paper testing my WebGPSS skills due Friday. As for some of the other activities the school offers, I have been advertising one for a friend called "Peak Time." This is an international business competition for students and seems very prestigious. Winners of individual rounds will be given the chance to come to Riga in early May for a finals competition. The school also offers many academic clubs, such as a debate club, that I may consider joining for the semester.
My next class is Organization and Management, and in the class I have to go with my group (once again assigned, but this time with 5 people) to a business in Riga and learn about their management techniques and operations. A lottery was created so that few lucky groups will get to visit PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, or Ernst&Young. Since there are 30+ groups and only 3 or so get chosen, my hopes aren't too high but it is still an amazing opportunity.
As far as other news goes, I promise I'll start being more of a shutterbug and finally post some pictures! Also, at the end of January the school holds an event called Winter Symposium (Gerard is in charge of organizing it), which consists of a full day of skiing, games, and the first school-hosted party. I'll bring more details on that next time!
Until then, stay classy.
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