Day 61: My new Latvian family

Today, like yesterday, began with a lecture but about sustainable tourism this time. I found it very interesting, especially the bits about culture <- my forte. During the break between the lecture and lunch, I was able to get to know the other British participant a bit more. On Friday evening, there will be an International Song and Dance Festival performed by the summer school participants. My plan was to just film it, but unfortunately the third British participant went home today so there would only be one person representing the UK. I can't let that occur with the Olympics happening!

Potential idea for costume?

We have decided to sing the beginning of the British national anthem. That's probably as British as you can get, right? This is actually going to be the first time I've ever sung it, so I'm learning the lyrics in advance. As a rule in the festival, we have to play background music and the only shortened one I've found with people singing has the highest choir voices ever. This is going to be very interesting...

This evening's social activity was "Family Night", where Latvian families were invited to host a small group of summer school students in their home and introduce them to Latvian culture, food and company. Two German students and I joined the family of one student from the university. She actually knows one of my Latvian friends - small world - so we already had a conversation-starter. Her house was lovely, lived in by every previous generation of her family up until now. The food, which we ate outside in the garden, was perfect. I remembered to take one photo before it was all gone, just to savour the memory:

Creamy dessert with fresh berries and marshmallows.

It was great talking to her parents about the history of Latvia, delving into life under the Soviet Union, during World War 2 and the economy. By the end of our conversations, wasps were swarming around the food on the table. I don't blame them, it was delicious! To carry on the evening, we decided to drive to Cesis.

Seeing my favourite fountain with a rainbow!

After walking around the park and castle ruins, we joined another small group who had also come to Cesis for their family night. Somehow we managed to eat even more food at a small restaurant. No midnight snacks for me tonight! The sky began to get darker and the weather a bit colder so we headed back to Valmiera to relax at our new family's house. And guess what we did?

We watched the Olympics. A very patriotic day for me, indeed.

An unforgettable day.

Day 60: Caution, wet paint!

It is finally time to start getting up early again... it's been so long! Me and the other intern do not eat breakfast with the "proper" participants, which is okay. It means more time to sleep and look in the mirror, you know, the usual stuff.

The weather was incredibly humid in the morning so we felt so relieved as we walked into the university. After an introductory talk about the ins and outs of the summer school, an Estonian lecturer delivered the first lecture. The topic was "World Environment", very apt to the summer school's theme of Environment Awareness, Communication and Interpretation. Although it wasn't particularly my area of interest or expertise, I took loads of notes anyway. I had to leave halfway through the lecture to attend a meeting about our second film - which we received good feedback on by the way - but I let the lecturer know beforehand, just in case he thought I was being rude.

The best part of the day (for me) then arrived - lunch.

Scrumptious!

After fuelling ourselves up with energy for the city orientation game we had planned for the next few hours, it started bucketing down with rain. Most of us were wearing vests, shorts and flip-flops; the weather can be so deceiving sometimes. It slowly started to fade, so we headed outside, split into small groups and began the game. Just like in my first week here, our aim was to take creative photos in each of the locations listed on our sheet. "Gabrielle, do not cheat" was said to me many a time, to which I replied with "I won't" with an angelic smile. Even if we don't win the creativity prize, I had the opportunity to make new friends from Turkey, Netherlands and Greece, including someone who loves London as much as I do!

All that walking made us exhausted! A rest later, everyone gathered together to view the opening of a photo exhibition on each floor of the dorms to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Erasmus. Students from the university I am working in who go on an Erasmus exchange to study or intern must bring back at least 3 photos of their experience abroad and collectively made this exhibition. Each photo had a story to tell. Before viewing the photos, the coordinator of the summer school gave a lovely speech about making the most of Erasmus and getting as much out of it as you can. I couldn't help but think about the sorts of adventures I'll get up to soon in France!

Time for some more creative fun! Again, we split into groups for our next activity: painting on the walls of the dorms! No, not to get the students to decorate but to instead create a painting that represents five key words given to us. Our words were friendship, protection, communication, tourism and industry. This was the final result:

Not bad, huh?

Putting all our thought and amazing artistic ability into this gave us just 20 minutes to get ready for a formal opening ceremony in a local hotel (the same one where the international food party took place). I've never gotten ready so quickly before in my life. Walking to the hotel gave us a massive appetite, which, after a few speeches from the university's rector and coordinators, was successfully gone.

Before dinner.

After dinner.

I was warned by my good friend that a storm from Riga was heading for Valmiera. We started walking home to avoid it but were too late. Although I'm not the biggest fan of rain, it was rather refreshing after a day of heat and humidity.

Bring on tomorrow!

Day 59: Sunbathing - Take 2

After yesterday's rather interesting experience of sunbathing, I decided to give it another go to become all one colour again... My friend and I met up earlier this time to go to "the island" and soak up some sun rays. Not long after we started tanning, thunder bellowed across Valmiera and yet the sun was still in the sky. My friend even saw lightning!

Nevertheless, we carried on sunbathing, trying to ignore the constant roars of thunder in the distance. Dark clouds started to form so we finished sunbathing and went for a swim. But then we looked up and the clouds (and accompanying thunder) were moving further west. Hurrah! Sunbathing resumed and a couple more hours onwards, I was starting to look somewhat human again!

I am very happy to say that the Baltic International Summer School (BISS) is now underway!

Introductory name game - it was difficult!

It will be quite tough doing my blog over these next two weeks. Each day is packed with social events (and the optional lecture every now and then, of course) but I'll try my best. So far I've made some good friends from countries including Slovakia, Portugal, China and Germany. We spent at least an hour listening to our country's best songs on YouTube - anyone with good taste in music is a good friend of mine!

I'm wearing a name badge and joined in with the name game and quick tours so people keep thinking I am a full participant in the summer school. My new opening line is:

"I'm not strictly a participant. I'm interning at the university and have lived here for two months" 

...or something along those lines, just to avoid any confusion. And being the 2-month resident of Valmiera that I am, I am proud to have given my first restaurant, club and general recommendations for my friends' 2-week stay.

Let the BISS begin!

Day 58: Goes sunbathing... drowns

Today must have been one of the hottest days I've experienced in Latvia so far and that meant one thing: sunbathing. It would have been great to go to the beach but I couldn't, so I did the next best thing - sunbathing on an island in the middle of Gauja River.

The island.

You literally had to walk through the river to get to this island. I was so relaxed under the sun that I could have fallen asleep. To prevent this, my friend and I decided to go for a swim in the river. We walked in and, because the river has quite a strong current, we were being pulled down the river. I am quite a good swimmer and the water was fairly shallow so I was okay... until suddenly I couldn't feel the sand beneath my feet.

My face at the time.

I wasn't expecting this at all so panic mode soon set in. And it is very hard to swim when you're panicking. Although I should have probably been crying at this point, or worried to some degree, I was laughing. I have a terrible habit of laughing when I'm nervous. I was laughing so hard that I'm sure I was making myself sink even more. My friend grabbed my hand and we swam back to the island. It was definitely an adventure, I'll tell you that! I'm still laughing now...

Yep, that pretty much sums up my day.

It felt so great to sunbathe in a different country for the first time. It's only when I got home and looked in the mirror to marvel at my golden tan when realised I have drastic tan lines. I basically baked myself alive, like ya do. Ah well, I guess there is only one thing I can do to solve this. I'll have to go back and sunbathe again tomorrow... I'm not complaining!

Day 57: Proud to be British

I went out in the evening with no intention to watch the Olympics opening ceremony. I just didn't want to sit at my laptop for 3 hours... on my own. Instead, I planned to meet my friend, one of the first friends I made in Valmiera, at the jazz restaurant I mentioned yesterday. On my way there, I looked up and saw this:

Not something you see everyday.

There was a reason why several hot air balloons were flying overhead. A 5-day balloon festival is taking place in Valmiera. My friend and I were hoping to go to an evening show where the balloons would be lit up in the dark.

A beautiful sight to see.

Sitting outside this restaurant was lovely. Great weather, great company and great music - perfect.

The best background music to any conversation.

As we were talking, we looked over to the street and saw balloon flames fly by - okay, not fly, but drive by. This was actually part of the festival, but they went so fast I only managed to get one photo:

As fast as lightning.

That was definitely our cue to walk to the meadow where the "balloon glow" was happening. This is the second time I've seen hot air balloons being blown up, but how big they are continues to amaze me.

Trying to line them up.

As the "glow" was still happening, my friend looked over to our left and noticed a big screen next to the concert stage. They were showing the Olympics opening ceremony! We rushed over and literally stood there for about an hour watching it.

So many different emotions flooded through me whilst in awe of Danny Boyle's extravaganza. Besides feeling a little bit homesick, I felt so proud that this was happening in my home country. This might sound sad but even seeing Big Ben brought a tear to my eye!

I could have stood there all night watching it (Latvia is two hours ahead, remember?) but I think I saw the best parts anyway, including the Queen's royal entrance. It was packed with so many cultural references that I think I was the only one who really understood what was happening.

Thankfully, everyone knew who Mr Bean was!

I'm just glad I could watch it live, even when being 1800km away from home. I was very tempted to steal a hot air balloon and somehow fly home - my very own royal entrance!

Day 56: I'm singing in the sun...

I woke up to hear a radio playing very loud music this morning - and no, it wasn't the Bob Marley dog from yesterday. As I was making my tea, I suddenly heard a man singing along to the songs and let's just say he didn't have the best singing voice in the world. I realised he was probably one of the decorators that have been popping up in the dorms lately. He even sang the advert jingles! It was making me laugh (and slightly cringe at times) so to save him the embarrassment I didn't open my door and have a little peek.

The weather was absolutely lovely today but probably not as hot as I've heard it is in England right now. I received an email from the university letting me know that I had two letters waiting for me in reception. Two more parcels? Surely not. During my walk in the sunshine, I took a small detour to collect these mystery letters. Even when I saw them I had no idea what they were. To my surprise, they were birthday cards sent all the way from England! I hope it isn't bad luck to open birthday cards 10 days before the big day.

I have developed a new addiction whilst being here in Latvia - a very specific kind of cake. So specific that I don't actually know the name of it so I took a photo of one instead:

Delicious!

I actually wouldn't mind having 30 of these stacked high on a plate as my birthday cake... Hmm, not a bad idea at all.

I decided to sit in a park and read for a few hours, one of the most relaxing things you can do when the sun is out. What made it even more amazing was the nearby jazz restaurant; there was a band playing live jazz music outside. I'm actually planning to visit this restaurant tomorrow - the music was just too good to listen to once! What has that jazz festival done to me?

My view from the park bench.

Unfortunately, our plans for filming this evening were cancelled yet again, but I don't think we will reschedule this one. I believe that filming for this project is now complete. We have captured pretty much all of Valmiera, the clubs, kayaking, Gauja river, landscape views and so much more. Bring on the editing!

On a very important side note, I have just noticed that I have 25 tea bags to last me for the remaining 22 days in Latvia. I suppose I'll have to limit myself to just one cup of tea a day...

And what always comes with tea? Biscuits, of course. I went to the shop earlier on and bought a large packet of biscuits without actually knowing what kind or flavour they were. That's the definition of a biscuit crave right there ladies and gentlemen. Any biscuit is good enough for me, as long as it doesn't contain nuts. When I reached home, the first thing I did was type the Latvian biscuit name into Google Translate! Good news - no nuts. They'll do... for tonight at least.

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.

Day 54: Ah, we meet again!

I made it my mission to stay in bed as long as I could this morning to gain enough energy for the filming planned in the evening. It was going really well until I heard a knock on my bedroom door. At first I thought I was dreaming, but the repetition assured me that it was really happening. I dragged myself out of bed, eyes still closed and unlocked the door. It was the lady in charge of the dorms. Although in broken English, I managed to comprehend that they - the team of people standing behind her - wanted to paint the door sill. I approved (it's not like I had a choice), jumped back into bed and tried to fall asleep. But they were talking so loudly that it sounded like they were in the room! After 2 hours, there was eventually peace and quiet again.

When you gotta sleep, you gotta sleep!

I was going to stay indoors until the evening, but the weather outside was just too tempting to ignore. I'd been waiting too long for days of rain to stop! I met up with my Latvian friend from yesterday and the first thing we did was buy ice cream - without the nuts this time. We went for a walk along the river, trying to think of places in Valmiera that I haven't visited yet. The town isn't that big so it's possible I've already seen everything there is to see. I've even been to a place that my friend has never visited and he actually grew up in Valmiera! There is one restaurant, which he highly recommended, that I haven't been to yet; it is actually the one I saw the black man sitting outside of. Just to tick all the boxes, I might treat myself to a meal there before I leave to go home.

With the sun being out and all, it was the perfect chance to wear one of my summer dresses: the ones I spent ridiculous amounts of money on before I left England. I thought it was such a good idea until I was outside and could feel the wind. The wind speed seemed to increase when walking across the bridge. This was the result:

What I thought I looked like.

What I really looked like.

Later on, the film intern and I were going to film at the local beer brewery to showcase another leisure time activity for prospective students. Before we left, I made a clever move and changed my whole outfit. A flying skirt on a bridge I can handle, but not on a bike. We managed to get some great shots of the brewery itself and people enjoying its beer, all while the sun was setting so beautifully.

Don't you just love those moments when you look up to the sky and feel at peace with everything around you? I wonder if I'll get this feeling standing 43 metres over Gauja River about to launch myself from a cable car... There's only one way to find out.

"There is no true joy in a life lived closed up in the little shell of the self. When you take one step to reach out to people, when you meet with others and share their thoughts and sufferings, infinite compassion and wisdom well up within your heart. Your life is transformed" - Daisaku Ikeda

Day 53: Keep calm and eat pizza

I have now paid the deposit on my lavish French villa overlooking the Mediterranean sea, the final step in my house hunt, and I have to admit that it wasn't easy. I hesitate when it comes to buying penny sweets in a shop let alone spending a four-digit number - and paying it electronically! It went much smoother than the last bank transfer. Only one error message this time! I really don't like spending my money, but needs must when you don't want to be living on a park bench for 4 months.

Besides my usual organised and controlled self, I am becoming more accustomed to waking up in the morning with a fully planned day and having at least one of the arrangements postponed or cancelled. Ah, the life of a film-maker. Consequently, this also means that I am slightly more efficient at being spontaneous with my time. It's a difficult transition to make but very interesting to experiment with. This is a learning experience after all!

Wise words.

I had arranged to meet my new Latvian friend for an early lunch but then as the hours went by and the day became busier, lunch naturally progressed into dinner. Before I was about to leave the dorms, my friend called me and asked if I had a bike. I could sense a bike ride looming... As I was riding along the bridge, I peered down at my wrist and noticed an insect bite from yesterday's forest adventure. My eyes became so fixated on how swollen it looked that I nearly rode into my friend riding towards me. Food is always key to take my mind off insects, especially pizza.

We went to a local pizzeria, a very popular chain in Latvia. I have been to one of them in Riga but not in Valmiera... where I live. There is always a first time for everything I suppose. We decided on a pizza called "Studente" and ordered a large one to share. I wasn't sure how large it was going to be, but when it arrived at our table, I was very sure that it was the biggest pizza I have ever seen!

What the pizza looked like to me.

My friend has just come back from studying in America for one semester so it was really great talking to him about his personal experiences of studying abroad. We spent most of the evening comparing Latvian and British culture with a little bit of American culture thrown in. His attempt at an English accent is one of the funniest things I have ever heard...

Come to think of it, I hope he wasn't imitating me! Funnily enough, I came across this "how to do a British accent" video earlier on:

I don't think anyone actually speaks like this.

"The key to dialogue is respect for the other person, a willingness to listen, and a readiness to learn from them" - Daisaku Ikeda

Day 52: I'm a country girl now

Today I saw and embraced the true Latvian lifestyle in none other than the countryside. My set is now complete!

Before my boss, her two small children and I departed, we popped to the local supermarket to get some food. Surprisingly, there are no supermarkets in the middle of the countryside - who would've thought? The hot weather just cried out for us to buy ice cream. My boss recommended I get a "Rujiena" ice cream (which in fact my other friend from Rujiena said was the best). We got back in the car, I unwrapped my ice cream and noticed that there were nuts sprinkled on top... I'm allergic to nuts! No way was I going to let it go to waste though! I literally sat there scraping off every single nut with a plastic fork. I could already tell that this was going to be a good day.

As we were driving away from Valmiera, the number of buildings began to decrease and clusters of trees increased. The road ahead seemed endless, the surrounding landscape almost touching the clouds. I tried to imagine what my boss's "country house" was going to look like...

All my expectations were fulfilled.

I stepped out of the car and all I could hear were birds singing and crickets cheeping. My boss gave me a tour of the house and it was like I had travelled back in time to the 1800s. I just said "oh, wow" to everything with a stunned look on my face!


Today's main activity involved going deep into forests for a session of berry picking and mushroom hunting. After I got all my gear on (Wellington boots to be specific) we hopped back into the car and drove to a nearby forest. As we followed narrow paths, I began to wonder why I needed to wear Wellies and "something to cover my head" as my boss put it, but then all was revealed. Before we got out of the car, this is what I was told:

"There will be a certain type of insect [not mosquitoes] that can stick to your skin and suck your blood. Some of them even carry a disease. Oh, and the snakes. Just make sure you don't step on one..."

My mind actually went blank for a moment. I can't even handle mosquitoes! Can you imagine how I would react to a snake at my feet? I don't think my travel insurance would have quite covered me being swallowed whole. Luckily, I didn't encounter any snakes but did have a fun time with these little blood suckers. One of them managed to bite my forehead. Sneaky...

At first we couldn't see any mushrooms, so we spent the first few hours picking blueberries. We picked and we ate. They were delicious but we needed to save some for the dessert my boss had planned for us later on. We drove to another forest further on to find some mushrooms. Believe it or not, mushrooms are very hard to find, especially if you don't know where to look. After walking through marshes, leaping over fallen tree barks and trying not to fall in any of the hidden streams, I'm sure I was having mirages of mushrooms. Eventually, we were in luck! It was time to head back to the house. All of that picking completely wiped our energy.

Dessert before dinner - our hand-picked blueberries,
Cheerios, milk and sugar.

Before we made dinner, my boss gave me another tour but of the garden this time. It was the perfect garden. A treehouse, a small river, an allotment of different vegetables - pumpkins, cucumbers, corn, peas, beans, carrots and many more. Let me tell you that peas straight from the pod are amazing.

A tyre swing!

We made dinner together, including the kids! It was adorable to see them slicing up tomatoes and cucumbers. Sausages cooked over a fire is starting to become one of my favourite things about Latvia. My boss then received a call from her mother-in-law asking for us to come to their hometown - Rujiena! Ice cream was the first thing I thought about. We had some spare time before we set off so I played badminton and another ball game with the kids. I don't know how we did it but we managed to communicate without actually talking - they only speak Latvian. Now they are my new best friends.

After getting my daily dose of exercise by running around picking up balls and shuttlecocks (pun not intended), we headed to Rujiena. Her parents-in-law's garden was amazing too! I spent the whole time picking and eating their berries. Oh, and feeding chickens. Yes, chickens! 

The first time I've seen chickens up close.

Today was definitely one to remember. A home-grown courgette and freshly picked red roses are the best souvenirs to keep the memories alive...

Day 51: Kickin' it in the Klub

Filming in the clubs went very well last night, apart from the flashing strobe light making the footage look a little bit dodgy. But we couldn't have exactly asked the manager to turn it off - we're not MTV - so we have to make do with what we have. The funniest thing was when the other intern was walking around with the camera and, because it's a DSLR (google it), people just assumed he was the club's photographer. Girls automatically posed as soon as they saw him. He had to take their photo. How can you say no in a situation like that?

Whilst gradually overcoming horrible flashbacks of losing my keys the last time I was out *shudder*, we went to three clubs in total and to one of them twice. Ah, the things we do for work, eh? I think I might actually have the best job ever. It's a shame I'm leaving in less a month! Hmm, I wonder if we could "film" in the clubs every week...?

By far the best club of the night.

I'm always trying to keep as busy as possible. I have decided that I will use this weekend to achieve one of my aims for the week: to meet up with some Latvian friends I made at the beginning of my stay. Like I've said before, I've been to the big city, lived in the small town and now the only thing left to see to get a full perspective on Latvia is the countryside (the forest on Midsummer Day does not count).

I had made plans to visit my boss's "country house" today, that is when I eventually woke up and recovered from last night. The weather looked decent, a bit of sun and a few clouds here and there. I was raring to go! However, my boss predicted that there was rain coming from Riga, and rightly so. My countryside adventure has been pushed forward to tomorrow.

With all this time to think, read and generally reflect on life on a lovely Saturday afternoon, is it bad that I've already created a shopping list for when I get back to England? A girl has needs!

Day 50: Beach, barbecue and...

Another full day of filming was lined up for us today, starting with an interview conducted by moi. This is very good training for when I become that budding journalist I hope to be in the future. One of the best things I love about doing interviews is that you can have set questions to ask but then, because you feel so inspired by what the interviewee says, random (but poignant) questions just start rolling off the tongue!

I had heard that there was some sort of sporting competition at the local athletics stadium, so after the interview we decided to go along and check it out. I didn't have a clue what sport was being played - I presumed athletics - but it was far from it. Instead, it was fire and rescue sports.

I really wanted to join in...

We were actually watching the third Juniors World Championship in Fire and Rescue Sport and Youth Baltic Championship in Fire and Rescue Sport. I was so fascinated at seeing this for the first time that I stayed right until the end.

The winner!

So I've been thinking about what to do for my 19th birthday on August 4th. From next week onwards, I will be filming and participating in a 2-week international summer school hosted by the university so on my actual birthday I will be having a barbecue and beach party at sunset with the other participants. I hope to create some brilliant birthday memories here in Latvia and I think I've found the perfect thing to do:

Yep, BUNGEE JUMPING! What's more memorable than that? It's just an idea for now (even though I've heavily researched into it already) but knowing me, it is likely to happen.

Tonight, the film crew and I are hitting the clubs... to film. We will try to remain as professional as possible but we cannot guarantee that this will happen with my slick dance moves.

Day 49: Tramming up the Gauja

I was planning to sleep-in today, but yet another nightmare woke me up... and this scared me even more than the last one. This time, I was on my way to the airport with my family to catch a plane to France. Everything seemed to be going okay - I had my suitcases this time. I don't know how this happened but I ended up going to the departure gate before going through customs. By this time it was 10am. I looked at the boarding ticket and it said the plane was taking off at 11.15am, which gave me enough time to go through customs. Suddenly, everyone started moving forward. They were already getting on the plane! I didn't know what to do... An American airline worker appeared in front of me and we ended up running to customs.

It was this guy!

I called my family amongst all the chaos. As they were explaining they had already made their way back home, my phone battery died. Then I realised I'd left my laptop charger, phone charger and camera charger - basically every charger I own - at home. That's when I woke up in a panic.

This is going on my packing list for France.

I made a dreamcatcher when I was very young. They were adopted by Native American communities as a protective charm to be hung above the bed. Good dreams are filtered whilst the bad ones stay in the net. These dreams may seem trivial but I'm learning a lot from them. There's no doubt I will have more and more as the times to leave Latvia and fly to France draw closer.

You'll be glad to know that today's filming was not cancelled or postponed like the past two days so I have something to report back on. Our first plan was to ride up and down Gauja River in a water tram and the weather was perfect for it.

View from the back of the tram: the sun dazzling on the water.

I could just about contain my excitement. The captain said that a maximum of 30 people were allowed on the tram at one time, otherwise we would sink. As more and more people were entering the tram, I subconsciously kept a tally on how many people were on board.

Waiting for more people to join the group.

And yes, there really was a captain:

Excellent driver, I must say.

We got some really good shots of the river and its surroundings, but what was coming next was the best part: the rapids. As the captain was giving us a brief history of the 450km river, I couldn't help but look at the training kayakers in the background.

They seem pretty good!

Okay, maybe not...

Aren't you meant to stay above the water?

I might try this move in France!

I swear it was the same guy every time...

I'm so glad I finally got to ride on the Gauja tram. Now I can tick it off my list of things to do in Valmiera! After a quick pit stop at Hesburger to grab some fries and "top up our tanks", we headed to our second filming location: a music school concert. I thought it would add a nice touch to the film, showing the creativity of the town. And boy were they creative! There were children as young as 5 playing the piano, flute, clarinet and violin like professionals, but the life and soul of the part had to be 87 year old legendary Valmierian pianist who I think actually manages the music school. 

Here she is!

Another successful day of filming - check. If magical music and cool kayaking doesn't encourage international students watching this film to come to Valmiera, I don't know what will!

Straight in the memory box.

"If you can dream it, you can make it so" - Daisaku Ikeda