Day 48: Dive at every opportunity

Before I got on with my day, I decided to look over some important documents for my French university and noticed that there was one thing I hadn't done yet. At this particular university, they consider sports to be an integral part of education - it keeps you active and contributes to your teamwork skills. And what's more, we get extra credits for participating, i.e. it goes towards your degree. I've always been willing to give any sport a go and luckily for me there was a long list to choose two sports from, including:

The standard ones: basketball, football (or soccer), volleyball, tennis, yoga

And the ones that really caught my eye: bodybuilding, swimming, jazz dancing, rock 'n' roll dancing, sailing

I wanted to choose an indoor and outdoor sport, trying to be tactical in my decision. In the end, I chose fitness and kayaking. Fitness because I will need to work off all those croissants I'm planning to eat while being in France and kayaking because... because who wouldn't want to go kayaking?! I've been canoeing and kayaking once before when I was 7 years old, so I might be a bit rusty now.

Uh oh, what am I getting myself into?

My choices will be confirmed during my orientation week in September. I think bodybuilding will be my back-up choice. It's better to be safe than sorry, right?

The weather was waaaay too nice to stay inside today so I went on a bike ride. I didn't plan where to go; I was just going to see where my wheels took me. I ended up going through yet another forest, over a few bridges and, of course, I took some snaps along the way:

Speechless (and that doesn't happen very often!)

I was very tempted to change my mode
of transport when I saw that boat.

When I travel by bike, I always try to keep an eye out for interesting things, things you would walk past everyday but not usually notice. This is my one of my best yet:

Public art in a park.

I ended up visiting a local art gallery and seeing two amazing photography exhibitions.

Vidzeme Photographers exhibition: Time

The second collection of photos in the next exhibition were actually taken by the man working in the art gallery, so it was great to talk to him about his inspirations.

Normunds Cercina's solo exhibition: "...white fascination, mystery..."

My film crew and I were supposed to film some frisbee training at the local beach this evening. Similar to ice skating on Monday, it had to be postponed to next week. But like I told the Latvian student assisting us, film plans always change and I'm sure we will see the best outcome. I find it's good to keep a positive attitude in times like these.

We have more shots to film tomorrow and hopefully these ones will not be postponed. We will ride on a tram along Gauja River, something I've wanted to do since I arrived in Valmiera. On this 30 minute journey, we will pass the rapids and kayak training centre. I might just accidentally dive into the river and magically end up in a kayak... I need all the practice I can get!