Day 55: Skating the night away

I know I keep talking about my sleeping patterns and habits but they do form a very pivotal part of my day. Ever since I arrived in Valmiera, I hear a dog barking very loudly from behind my dorms at the same time every morning. It sounds almost musical, really high pitched but changing note every couple of seconds. I can just imagine what this dog looks like...

A strange resemblance to Bob Marley.

Today I had my first meeting about our next film project: two promotional videos (one long, one short) covering the Baltic International Summer School hosted by the university - two weeks of lectures, field trips and social events for students from 15 different countries, including the UK! As we will be fully participating and filming, we were given a quick overview of what will happen and what is expected from us. The summer school will actually consist of two "schools", one which will be staying in Valmiera for one week and then going to Estonia for the next. I will have a Chinese student staying in the room next door to mine for the first week so that should be fun! Much like the management simulation game we filmed in the first week here, me and the other intern get free lunch and dinner everyday. There's nothing better than free food.

On my way out from the university, I was handed a slip from reception saying that a parcel was waiting for me in the post office. My second parcel from home and it contained leather boots this time. As I've mentioned before, you can never be too sure when it is going to rain over here and all I packed was flip-flops and dolly shoes. After all that effort my mum took to sent them to me, wouldn't it be terrible if it doesn't rain anymore? But just knowing I have them is very comforting.

When I eventually got home after doing a few bits of shopping, a strong smell of bleach wafted in the air. I opened the bathroom door, the most obvious place where bleach would be used, and realised that someone had cleaned everything. I even have a new shower curtain! There have been some minor improvements done to the dorms, presumably for the summer school students. A few painted walls, new lightbulbs and not to forget the all-important door sills - the full works!

*gasp* I want me some of these!

Our first filming location for today was the small local beach to capture some frisbee and beach volleyball matches.

Frisbee in mid-flight.

Hit that ball boys!

And the best photo of all:

My good friend.

Later on we went to our second location to film - ice-skating at Vidzeme Olympic Centre. Our plan was to skate and film at the same time for dynamic shots and it went surprisingly well. When all the filming was done, we spent the last 15 minutes skating camera-free.

Me in action!

"I hope no one skates into me"

I've never been ice skating at 11pm before... It's a very "chilled" way to end a great day.