Dear all,

as I promised, here is my story about the introduction week. It has been a week full of crazy parties and crazy people, but it was one hell of a week!!

To be honest, it is quite hard to remember every single thing that I have done this week, but I will start in the very beginning, so that maybe I will remember more.

On saturday the 29th of September, we had a meeting with the vice-rector of Turiba university. He gave us an introductory talk, and we were given all the information we needed for the upcoming semester. After this, the student council of the university had planned an orientational activity for us. We had to find certain places on the campus and there were checkpoints where we had to complete tasks. It was still a little awkward between most of the erasmus students, but we knew some names etc.

The next day, the programme was a little bit unclear what the programme was, but we ended up going to a guesthouse, next to a tiny little lake, with a waterjump. We all gathered in a garage, where there was one big matrass for all of us. Everyone had to claim their own pillow and sheets and so, everyone claimed a place to sleep. When everyone was outside, some rules and regulations were explained, and then it was time to party. During this party, I have got to know many many people already! It was a great night!!

The next morning (it was sunday), everyone felt pretty much dead, because of the party, so we didn't do anything the morning after. Around 4 o'clock, we were back at the campus. There was a city rally planned, but there was not enough time for everyone to take a shower at the same time etc, so most of the people decided to skip it, and go to the after party. This party was located next to the river, it looked like some kind of a beach bar. There were many Erasmus students, also from other universities.

On tuesday, it was time to go bowling. I went into the city with 2 dutch girls to do some shopping. We asked a taxi driver to bring us to 'the bowling center'. He directly said he knew what we meant, and so he drove us to a bowling center. Unfortunately, this was the wrong bowling center, so we ended up walking to the right bowling center, one hour too late. When we arrived, everyone was bowling for a long time already, so we decided just to socialize with the people. After this, we went to eat something with some of the erasmus students of Turiba university and we went out, but not too long, because we had to save our energy for the pubcrawl on wednesday.

Wednesday was pub crawl day, the day that everyone had been looking forward to. At 20:00 (I know, very early), everyone gathered at the faculty of economics at the university of Latvia. We were devided in groups and the pubcrawl started! We went to three bars, and at the fourth bar, all the groups were together again. During the pub crawl, we played a game, which resulted in a new nickname for me! My name is very hard to pronounce for many foreigners, so during the game that we played, someone didn't remember my name so he pointed his finger at me and said: 'Fuck!'. So I said: hello everyone, my name is fuck. So then he said: so what is your name? So I said: Joosje. And then someone said: Ocean?? So then my nickname became: Fuck the ocean!

The days after the pubcrawl there was a traditional lunch and a Eurodinner. At the eurodinner, everyone had to bring and cook typical dishes of their own countries and everyone got to taste. We, as the dutch clan, baked pannekoeken and hutspot and we brought some stroopwafels. The stroopwafels were very popular amongst all nationalities!!

Saturday, a trip to Jurmala was planned, but I was quite full of people, so I decided to visit Anouk in Valmiera. I took the bus and I met anouk in Valmiera. We walked around in the forest for some time and then we went to her CRAZY FREAKING LUXURIOUS apartment. Then we went to a restaurant to have dinner and I took the bus back home.

Sunday: Nothing. Everyone was walking around in pyjamas, watching movies etc. It was a really nice day.

Monday, we finally started school. The first class I attended was 'Languages, cultures and ethics'. All of the classes that I attended so far were a bit strange, so I guess I still have to get used to the systems, the culture and the people in Latvia, but so far it has been an amazing experience! I have met amazing people, and I feel at home in the beautiful city of Riga! I am not at all ready to leave, but as lucky as I am to have this experience, THERE IS STILL 4 MONTHS LEFT!

ATA! <3

Oh right, I forgot to tell you about my Latvian language skills:

Prieka: Cheers
Sveiki: Hello
Ata: Bye
Labdien: Goodday
Ja: Ja
Ne: Nee