a little bit of direction...
our time in Riga so far has been quite enjoyable, and the long days of poorly put together company visits are nearly over. yesterday, we had a meeting at the ministry of economics. in the middle of our visit a lady came in and told us that the budget had been adjusted and the ministry of economics is being disbanded. thats how backasswards this place is, the one thing they actually need to survive their crisis and they are abandoning it. just stupid. yesterday afternoon it was finally nice here so we hopped on the train and rode down to the beach. the beach is awesome, but its quite windy and cold there. (the baltic sea is equivalent to swimming in alaska)
and then like idiots.... we got in the water
so i have been meeting all the people in our hostel (most of whom have been living here for the whole semester doing study abroad) and last night we went out with them for a going away party for one of the guys. it is a very diverse crowd here, with russians, germans, ukrainians a palestinian, several georgians and indians, so there is lots of broken english being spoken. we had a good time and then we met up with some french canadians that i met on the train and went out for a while (ironically to a bar that is called "the french bar" here). i am going to end up meeting them in croatia in a few weeks and travel for a bit with them. more on that later as our plans develop. so as the sun started to show up early this morning, i walked my friend home through the maze of wasted english guys and prostitutes and then called it a night (morning).
today 8am came exceptionally early and we dragged ourselves out of bed and got on a bus to go tour some production facilities in rural latvia. we went to a massive bakery, to a candle production facility, and to a herbal medicine shop. the visits were okay, but it was really cool to get to see some small villages and the country side, which is gorgeous. not much else is going on, the crazy Riga nights will continue for a little while longer, and then the real adventure will start. i am really ready to start traveling and finally get to wear shorts. its like 50 degrees here everyday. im off to find the frenchies and get some food. peace
posted by Graham Potter @ 8:47:00 AM
