Day 47: My Latvian learning curve

There's no better feeling than waking up, seeing the sun shine through the window, turning up music really loud and singing as if no one can hear you. I'm pretty sure people could hear me... but never mind.

I had my best Glee face on!

My morning interview had to be postponed to the afternoon - check me out, sounding like a businesswoman or top celebrity - so I had a free morning to do whatever I wanted! Anything at all...

...I went to the library. It might sound sad, but I feel as if I need to read as much as I can. My linguistic skills have definitely changed since being here in Latvia. I have to speak sloooower, dig out my "proper" English grammar, stress my 'T's' and think about the types of words I use, otherwise "huh?" will reciprocate with every sentence I utter. And when people do say "huh?" my natural instinct is to spell out the word. Terrible tourist move there. If people don't understand the word, spouting out 10 English letters at 100mph will not help. Yep, I'm experiencing first-hand intercultural communication. Hopefully my degree in Communication will see the benefit!

Does this exist?!

I see this whole experience in Latvia as the best preparation for living and studying in France for 4 months in September: overcoming the initial bouts of homesickness, working through language barriers, polishing my pointing skills, successfully cooking for myself [and dealing with the cooking disasters], managing my student budget, handling horrid insects, living with limited clothing (I say limited but I have over 20kg's worth of clothes, but that is never enough for a girl), becoming accustomed to cars driving on the opposite side of the road and avoiding getting ran over many a time, conversing with people from half way around the world and much, much more.

All of this at the tender age of 18... I'm very curious to see what life will bring next.

"The important thing is to take that first step. Bravely overcoming one small fear gives you the courage to take on the next" - Daisaku Ikeda