ESN Introduction Week (Part I)

In this and my next blog-entries* I would like to reflect on the ESN (Erasmus Student Network) activities I have joined in the past, and provide a glimpse of which are to follow in the future! I will start of by showing on which days I have been occupied by ESN movement, marked in yellow on the calendar (clickable) below.

*Due to technical limitations these cannot be combined.  
 

From 27 August to 31 August there was the introduction week of ESN, with there still being a preARISTOTLE (non ESN) party on the end of the same week. 

DAY 1 OF INTRODUCTION WEEK - OLD TOWN TOUR
To start, on Monday 27 August we had the Old Town (Vecrīga in Latvian) Tour with ESN. Although our guide was great, I already heard a lot of what he said before. This is also because I already had experienced a guided Old Town Walking Tour during my EILC. Yet, it was a fun game to try to see how much I remembered! Other then that, I was able to meet some new people once more, which is always a good thing. If you pass this part of Riga for the first time, you will be amazed by how each building seems to have a different size, height, shape or color! I consider this part of Riga to be the most beautiful of all. It is definitely worth a visit! Sometimes it is also possible to secretely join one of the many guided tours, although you have to get lucky with the language spoken by the guide.
Precisely at the end of our own tour it started to rain quite heavily! This is when I was told that it is impossible to survive in Latvia without a raincoat. Being used to the Dutch weather I had better hopes! Furthermore, the Latvians (ESN team & buddies) told us that the sewage system in Riga cannot handle large amounts of waters, which I was able to witness from first sight. Yet, so far I have encountered less rain and wind than I am used too. As for the average temperature, it is still quite low and lower than that of 
The Netherlands.

DAY 2 OF INTRODUCTION WEEK – BOWLING
On day 2 (Tuesday, 28th of August) of the introduction week it was time to go bowling, and again, meet new people. After all, many people were still flying in for ERASMUS. J
For the bowling, we went to Zelta Boulinga Centrs (2/4 Uzvaras blvd), here we had some great fun! It is also here where I learned that it sometimes better to say that you are from The Netherlands rather than from Holland, as it can be confused with Poland! After I explained to a girl that I came from Holland she told me with full excitement that there was another girl at the bowling coming from the same place! Only when I tapped this girl her shoulder and asked I found out she was Polish...! This would have been the first Dutch exchange student I had talked to since my arrival in Riga, but it was not meant to be. Actually, still now I only have met 2 Dutch exchange students. But frankly, I do not care for this all that much. It will be more interesting to get to know something about other cultures. And if I will speak Dutch, it then might as well be with the few (but still more than Dutch) Dutch speaking Belgium exchange students I met. In either case, I am happy that I am not situated like the German Erasmus students, which have come to Riga in great quantities. As a result, they speak to each other a lot in their own language, instead of English (which is the goal of many people here on Erasmus – improving on their English). Lastly, it is funny that the German students sometimes include me as being part of the large German pack, forgetting for a split-second that I’m actually from The Netherlands. 

DAY 3 OF INTRODUCTION WEEK – PUB CRAWL

The 3rd day (Wednesday, 29th of August) of the introduction week it was time for the pub crawl. I think this is a typical event for almost any student introduction week! As common with pub crawls, we also had to fulfill some assignments. This included such activities as making a human pyramid in front of the Liberty Monument and faking ‘’Alien Attack’’ and ‘’Execution’’ as group poses. These activities were outside the bar, but we also had activities which took place inside. Inside we had to do assignments such as asking for the bartender his name (you will probably see him more often after all!) and count the number of blonde girls in the bar (which somehow the guys who had to do this enjoyed very much ;)). We were also tested on our Latvian language skills and had to write down the names of famous locations and buildings based on pictures provided. Our team had done very well in this photo and quiz competition, as we were later awarded with the 2nd prize!Our team had done very  well in this photo and quiz competition, as we were later awarded with the 2nd prize! All in all, this night was a great success. The only sad feeling I had this day that I would have liked to attend the birthday of my oldest brother (whose birthday is also on August 29), but circumstances decided elsewise. One other ‘’tiny’’ problem was that I still had to study for my EILC exam for the day after. After having returned from the pub crawl at 3 AM in the morning and having my test at 10:30 AM, I did not sleep much this night. This resulted in extreme tireness for the day after.