Day 68: Lost in transit...

As I mentioned yesterday, today I took a day off from the summer school to visit a fellow Buddhist lady from Lithuania in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. Via text messages, we informed each other of our expected arrival time. I left in good time. As soon as I got to the bus station in Valmiera, the rain started pouring down. This was the first time going to Riga by myself and by bus, but I was sure nothing would go wrong...

I asked the lady behind the counter for a ticket to Riga. She wrote something down on a piece of paper and showed it to me. It was the bus time. Was it that top secret? When I got on the bus, I couldn't help but fall asleep when I heard the rain pattering on the windows. I'm not very good at sleeping on public transport - the slightest noise wakes me up - but I gave it a go.

Two hours and thirty minutes later, I opened my eyes and began to recognise some buildings. I was definitely in Riga. We were on the main road and I presumed the bus would carry out driving straight along the road towards the bus station. That didn't happen. The bus just kept turning corners, to the point when I had not idea where I was. 

My inner voice was going crazy:

"Does anyone speak English on this bus?!"

*sees sign for the airport* "I'm not ready to go home yet!"

"Why isn't this bus turning back to the centre?

"Oh my god, there's a taxi!" *writes down phone number on the side of the car just in case*

"Okay, am I actually still in Riga?"

"I think I'll just keep quiet until I start seeing countryside again - then I'll cry..."

I kept seeing road signs and maps for every town but Riga. That meant I was either still in Riga, or was going away from it. Luckily, I started to see church towers from the old town. Panic over!

I texted her saying that I had arrived and she replied with her location in the bus station and the easiest way to identify her: "I'm Japanese". I spotted her, we introduced ourselves and went to find somewhere to eat. Pizza - perfect!

We had the most amazing conversations about everything... Buddhist practice, life, Lithuania, Japan - everything! Thinking that she was staying in Riga for a couple of days, I asked when her flight back to Lithuania was, assuming that she flew here by plane. She told me that she had come to Riga by bus for one day just to see me - wow! Time started to get on a bit (the last bus back to Lithuania was at 6pm) so we decided to head to the room she had booked for us to pray in together. We tried to explain to the hotel manager that we were leaving in an hour and not staying overnight and he was very confused. He even brought out his English-speaking colleague to translate what we were saying, but she didn't understand either! My friend had to resort to speaking in Russian. Just so they didn't get the wrong idea, we figured that we had to tell them what we needed the room for - problem solved. 

On our way out, he offered us a Latvian liqueur. Thanks, but no thanks mate. We somehow took the longest route back to the bus station. We had to take a few risks to make it there on time, like nearly getting ran over for example, but sometimes it is necessary to be unorthodox. Before we went our separate ways, I managed to get a photo with her.

This will go down in history.

"Friendship is not a matter of the amount of time you spend with someone. Rather, it is a measure of the strength and depth of the spiritual resonance that arises between you" - Daisaku Ikeda

Day 67: Jam-packed with joy

It was quite a struggle waking up this morning. I think the weekend had caught up on me. But the thought of a hot breakfast soon motivated me to get a move on!

I sat down in the morning lecture and the volunteer staff had an announcement to make. It was my surprise! They handed me an envelope. I didn't want open it straight away just to keep the suspense going a little bit longer. I opened two more birthday cards that had arrived from England. Now it was time to open the remaining envelope. It contained a gift certificate to go on a bungee jumping trampoline or katapulta in a local recreation and sports centre! This way I won't have to travel hours to go to the other bungee jumping place (this centre is only about 20 minutes away) and it's probably safer than hurling yourself from a cable cart hanging over Gauja River. The volunteers want to come along to take photos of me somersaulting and flipping in the air. We will have to go next week because I leave the following Saturday - I can't wait!

On Saturday, I received a text from my boss's boss (the one I went berry picking with a few weeks ago) who wished me a happy birthday and told me to visit her office when I'm next in the university. I went to her office during our lecture break and she presented me with such a lovely gift; a jar of jam she had made from the berries I picked! Yum!

After lunch, I conducted a few interviews with the students, the manager of the summer school and some of the volunteers, asking them about how their assignments were going so far, impressions of Valmiera, communicating with people from other cultures, the social events etc. I was given some great responses about how such broad-ranging cultural diversity made it exciting to learn about cultures other than their own. That's what Erasmus is all about!

Isn't that right, Desiderius Erasmus?

The newspaper article the other intern and I were interviewed for has now been published on the website. Although it is written in Latvian, my laptop automatically translates the text and it reads very well! Here's the link for you to read at your own leisure: http://www.eliesma.lv/skats-no-malas-caur-objektiva-aci 

Photo courtesy of eLiesma.

I'm going to Riga tomorrow to meet with someone visiting from Lithuania. For those of you who don't know, I practise Nichiren Buddhism, a Buddhist practice following the Lotus Sutra based teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, a 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest. I belong to a lay Buddhist movement called Soka Gakkai International (SGI), an organisation that links and supports more than 12 million Buddhists around the world in 192 countries and territories. As SGI members actively integrate their Buddhist practice into their daily lives, belonging to such an organisation makes it easy to find other people practising in the area you reside in and support each other. I am the only Nichiren Buddhist practising in Latvia - and I have managed to find one of the few people practising in Lithuania, so we will meet and hopefully create a unique and lasting international friendship.

"Make an effort to meet with people. Interaction with others opens up new and exciting possibilities. Meeting people stimulates our minds, gives us energy, leads to more new encounters and infinitely expands our life and our world" - Daisaku Ikeda (President of SGI)

Day 66: Countdown...

Today was the official "day off" for all the summer school participants, so I spent my time catching up on sleep, shopping and eating. I think it's fair to say that this is a typical day in the life of Gabrielle. But it has given me time to reflect, something we should all do once in a while.

As a fully-fledged 19 year old, it has come to my attention that my time in Latvia is slowly coming to an end with just 13 days left! I have never known time to fly by so quickly, so I'll have to make the most of the time I have left here.

The last week of summer school is also now upon us. In such a short time, we have already seen new international friendships coming alive, brains and creativity racked by lectures, oneness with nature on field trips and much more.

This week, me and the other intern will have to knuckle down and film any necessary shots and interviews for the longer film to be ready for Friday's closing ceremony. I'm sure some fun will be scheduled into our timetable! Who said you can't mix business and pleasure, eh?

Blowing out the candles.

Cheeky smile in the sun.

One of our beach games!

A special day for both of us.

Lovely cakes prepared by BISS staff.

I still haven't found out what this additional "surprise" is yet but as soon as I do, you'll know about it!

Photos courtesy of BISS

Day 65: The big day!

My birthday started in the most unique and special way I could have ever asked for. It reached 11.30pm yesterday night. I wanted to be sleeping before midnight and not on staring at Facebook. Not long after I fell asleep, I started to hear the Happy Birthday song but I thought I was just dreaming it due to excitement. The singing started to get louder. My Chinese neighbour opened the outside door and, not realising it was my birthday, she thought that everyone had made a huge mistake. With the door now open wide, "Gabrielle, Gabrielle, Gabrielle" was being chanted so loud that even Latvian students living in the hostel woke up before I did! Nevertheless, I jumped out of bed very fast, opened my door and saw at least 40 people (the summer school participants) standing outside singing to me.

I was in total shock because 1) I wasn't expecting anything like that to happen, 2) everyone was so sincere even though I've only known them for a week and 3) I still felt like I was in a dream, so much so that my legs were shaking. When they finished singing, I burst out crying. One by one, everyone gave me a birthday hug and I spent the next 30 minutes giggling with my Chinese friend. A few people were recording the surprise with their phones. I dread to think what I looked like standing there in my night dress, face covered in tears.

I woke up this morning, wondering if the singing-at-my-door thing actually happened - it did. I opened my birthday cards and parcel from Japan, trying to hold back more tears of joy but to no avail. For some reason, this birthday had made me feel so emotional. Today was going to be a good day indeed. We set off for our field trip to the Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve. Our Latvian tour guide (biologist by profession) was very enthusiastic about nature, which always helps when you're talking to students about rivers and trees.

     Our first stop: Lake Burtnieks, the biggest lake 

in Latvia.

Walking through marshland and small puddles, my dolly shoes were beginning to take a battering already. But I didn't care - it was my birthday!

Centre of our attention: a stray cat.

The tour guide, alongside talking about several abandoned buildings in the area, informed us that Latvia contains over 10,000 storks, a very sacred bird to the country. Before getting back on the bus, we looked up and saw many stork nests high in the trees.

Not something you see everyday - unless you live in Latvia, of course!

I think the birds started to wonder why we were gawking at them. On the way to the sea coast, after seeing Stone Age settlements over of 3000 years old, we stopped for lunch in a park on the side of the road - that's what I love about Latvia! After eating a lovely salad, we drove to the beginning of a meadow. We had to walk across beams of wood places over small marshes, balancing like we've never balanced before!

The birdwatching tower.

View of the Gulf of Riga from the top of the tower.

My shoes were completely soaking wet by the point, but again I didn't care... until something crazy happened. Going back over the beams seemed to be going fine, a bit shaky from the hoards of people walking across.

I took one step forward and the beam I stood on snapped right in half! I, Gabrielle Westhead, fell through a wooden bridge on my birthday - that's something to tell the grandchildren one day. That's like something you would expect to happen in a cartoon. One leg ended up through the bridge, shoe drenched in the wet marsh below. I walked bare foot the whole way back to the bus. I suppose that's one way of cleaning your shoes... a bit drastic though.

We drove past a harbour that transports gypsies and many natural monuments until we stopped at the park reserve's main office for a small tour and a quick trip to the shop. Look what I found:

My birthday cake from me to me.

My favourite cake in Latvia - I told you I would! From this point onwards, nothing was going to ruin my day. We visited one beach before going to our final beach destination - the one I went to in my first week - for a barbecue and beach party.

My first birthday beach pose of the day.

We eventually made it to the last beach to begin a perfect evening of beach games, cooking sausages, roasting marshmallows and big birthday smiles.

All of a sudden, I was told to stand up. In the distance, I saw 3 tiers of individual cupcakes with two chocolate ones on top. No one had any idea that it was also the birthday of a lady I sang the national anthem with yesterday, the wife of a lecturer from the UK! We each blew out the candle and were handed a bag of goodies. There were photos taken so I'll have to hunt them down. As I was given mine, these exact words were said to me:

"Be prepared for a better surprise tomorrow. It's going to be extreme"

I have no idea what they mean, but my birthday can only get better from this point on! A night on the town ended the day in the best way. Like I've said already, my birthday may be "officially" over, but believe me when I say that the celebrations will continue for at least a few more months.

I love BISS.

Wow, I'm 19!

Day 64: Gold medal for GB!

After ice skating yesterday evening, it had been decided that the whole group were going to hit the town and visit the clubs - a very vital part of the student experience in Valmiera. It was late into the night when we realised that we had to be at the university at 10am for a lecture the following day. Luckily for me, it is optional to attend lectures, so I took the liberty of skipping the morning lectures and caught up on some sleep instead.

I turned up at the university for lunch and joined the UK team's rehearsal of the national anthem for the festival later on. I stopped laughing after our first go at it; it was time to get serious. We were given our red, blue and white ribbons, checked that we had the Union Jack and Welsh flag and felt very confident that everything was going to be okay.

3 hours of lectures flew by and it was time to go back to the dorms and decide what to wear. We each wanted to wear red, blue and white, staying true to our nation's tricolour. Blue and white dress, red scarf, ribbons in my hair - sorted!

Germany got me jigging along!

The Portuguese pouring out there hearts.

Tapping my foot along to Turkey.

The Dutch doing their thang!

An upbeat dance by Uzbekistan.

Azerbaijan's amazing solo. 

Slovakia and China unite!

Before we knew it, it was our turn. I did get one of my friends to record it but I'll keep it on my camera (for now!).

Me in the spotlight!

I began by explaining that the UK is clearly a multicultural society looking at the array of backgrounds in our team, including English, a mix of Jamaican, English and German (<- that's me), Welsh, Taiwenese, Chilean and even part Latvian.

Post-performance.

As you can see from our big smiles, the national anthem went very well. I could even see some people joining in! My cheeky line at the end topped it off though:

"When Great Britain win all those gold medals at the Olympics, that's the song you will hear"

I'm honoured to have been able to see so many different countries perform national songs or dances. It was like watching Eurovision live, but much better of course.

The Latvians and Lithuanians in the last performance of the night.

Oh and one more thing before I go to bed...

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! 

It's not like I'm excited or anything... 

Day 63: I'm a local star!

With the sun shining in the sky, I woke up bright and early this morning to go to an interview. It was actually me being interviewed this time, rather than the other way round. The local newspaper in Valmiera have a different guest feature in every weekly issue and this week the newspaper requested an interview with me and the other intern. With his tape recorder, the journalist asked questions about choosing to come to Latvia, expectations of the country and experiences so far. At the end we had to say a short quote directed at the readers of the newspaper. Mine was as follows:

"Thank you for embracing me into your town and culture. The nature is beautiful, the food is amazing. I will definitely take some of Latvia back to England with me"

Cheesy? Maybe, but it does the trick! The article will be in Latvian but I'll try to get a copy of it for the sentimental value anyway.

I attended both of the lectures today, one about the communication of environmental awareness and the other again about ideas of sustainable tourism. I enjoyed both and found them really interesting, but the one concerning communication was the most relevant to my degree. I even took part in the creative task that the Latvian lecturer had assigned. Split into smaller groups, we had to come up with a way of communicating an environmental issue in an attractive and symbolic yet provocative way. We ended up acting and miming a television advert, with me as the narrator and representative from the imaginary "Latvian Tree Protection Agency" and my colleagues miming as the endangered trees and a rare bird. I sounded like one of those people from an insurance advert.

Working hard.

After a long day of hard work and hot sun, some of us participated in the social activity planned for the evening: ice skating again! I must admit that my skating seemed much better this time, perhaps because there wasn't the stress of filming hovering over my head. But I did fall over once...

I'm not quite as good as that yet.

The UK team and I have arranged to practice our singing performance for the song and dance festival tomorrow lunchtime. Amazingly, one of the team found a scarf with the Union Jack on it in the shopping centre today and will buy some blue, white and red ribbon for us to decorate ourselves with! I'm feeling good about this. Even if the singing is off-key, at least we will look somewhat aesthetically pleasing. I'm sure if the Queen was here in Latvia, she would be proud of us.

Something lovely happened today. On my way to one of the lectures, the receptionist handed me a package and two more birthday cards. The package had come all the way from Japan! The temptation to open everything for my birthday is gradually increasing to a peak... just 2 days to go... I can do it.

Day 62: These boots are made for walking...

All 43 students of the Baltic International Summer School were awake nice and early this morning to go on our first field trip out of the two weeks to Gauja National Park in Sigulda, the oldest national park in Latvia. We were told to wear "comfortable shoes". I didn't bring any practical trainers with me (as I've constantly said before) so I wore the only footwear that I don't mind getting a little bit dirty - the boots that my mum sent me from England.

After a hour's drive by coach to the park's main conservation office, we were given a short presentation by the Public Relations Manager - who also happened to be an alumni of the university - about the host company's aims, visions and functions in Latvia. Feeling awed and inspired, we hopped back on to the coach  to go to the starting point for our walking tour of the park led by the PR Manager.

Our first view of the entire park.

It was all going so well (boot-wise) until we had to walk down our first flight of stairs.

Going down...

The longest and steepest flight of stairs I've ever seen.

Good news - I didn't fall. Only a couple more of these to go. Deep within the park, the scenery was amazing.

The deepest part of Gauja River.

The fact that it was raining last night made the ground we were walking on very tricky and sticky. We eventually made it to our next location and stopped for lunch.

The "Devil's Cave" in the sandstone cliffs.

We sat on the sand and ate our packed lunches overlooking the river. But there was no time to spare. Before we knew it, we were off again!

A very, very long bridge.

I'm not exaggerating.

Trying not to slip in the mud, the students were exchanging different parts of their culture to one another, singing pop songs and happily laughing. We walked up and down stairs, through mud and meadows, all whilst surrounded by the most beautiful preserved nature.

The river from above.

As the weather started to become hotter, we arrived at the end of our tour to see another cave up close - Gutmanis Cave, the deepest cave in the Baltic countries, connected to an old Latvian legend.

19 metres deep, 12 metres wide and 10 metres high.

Our personal tour guide explained that before Gauja National Park was established in 1973, people would carve their names and dates into the soft sandstone. Some were even paid to carve business names high up on the stone.

A few dated back to as early as 1811!

After 3 long hours, we made it and so did my boots! I don't think my travel insurance would have covered me for tripping on a branch, rolling down a cliff and into Gauja River...

My Welsh friend and I proudly standing
under the cave.