ESN Introduction Week (Part II)

DAY 4 OF  INTRODUCTION WEEK – INTERNATIONAL DAY

On Thursday the 30th of August my EILC exam was scheduled, but also International Day!
Earlier that week the ESN team asked me if I could prepare something for my country, so I did.
Last-minute the only other Dutch representative added info to my presentation leading it to be a combined effort. I myself discussed the stereotypes of windmills, wooden shoes, ‘’De Wallen’’ and weed (and whether I find these to be correct or not). Moreover, I told the audience about ‘’hagelslag’’, Dutch cheese (and how Germans use ‘’käsekopf’’ as a swear word), salted herring (with a picture of ‘’haringhappen’’) and of course the lovely ‘’oliebollen’’ which we eat during New Year’s Eve. To me that covered the most (spoken) parts of what I know about my own country. During this International Day I have also seen presentations from other countries, including Laos and India! We also witnessed some Serbian & Turkish dancing, Turkish singing, and were able to taste liquors such as Rakia and Bison Grass Vodka. After all these new impressions it was time to have a good night rest, since I mentioned I hardly slept the day before. 13 hours of sleep helped me to restore my energy level. 

DAY 5 OF INTRODUCTION WEEK – TRADITIONAL LATVIAN DINNER AT LIDO 

Finally, on Friday (31st of August) we went out for eating at Lido. This is a self-service restaurant with good quality food, but for a lower price than ordinary restaurants. We went to the one at Krasta iela 76 (Lido Recreation Center), being very closeby to my dormitory and also one of the bigger Lido’s around (there are 8 Lido’s in Rīga) if I would have to guess.

To get an idea of the prices in Lido, rice with vegetables and mushrooms (1,2 Ls), Chicken Shashlik (2,1 Ls) and 200 ml of Black Currant -Juice (0,5 Ls) adds up to 3,8 Ls or about 5,45 EUR, and offering you quite a decent meal.

Although it said Traditional Latvian Dinner on the invitation by ESN, you could still get something on your plate being completely international. For me it was also like this, although as far as I know I never had the ‘’Shashlik’’ before. It is tasty, but I don’t know if I should be so happy about the fact that I just read on Wikipedia that it is considered to be fastfood, haha. 

And with this event the introduction week had come to an end. I wouldn’t have minded if the introduction week would have been 1 or 2 days longer, as I enjoyed each event.