Heading Home

Right now I am sitting in Stockholm Arlanda Airport reminiscing about the past five months. I can not believe how quickly it has all gone by, I know I’ve said it a billion times before, but I never realized how much I would hate leaving. This morning was harder than I ever expected. Saying goodbye to Karina was as hard, no probably harder, than I thought it would be. This past week being able to meet her family and see where she grew up was amazing. I’m so happy that I got to go to Latvia with her. It is a beautiful country, especially the city Sigulda. But yeah, I’ll tell you all about it now…

Friday, June 12

At 11am Joie drove me to the University to meet Karina and her parents. The goodbye with Joie was a bit rushed since we had to get to Stockholm in time for our ferry to Riga, but thankfully she is studying abroad in Florida next spring so I will get to see her and Per again soon! We got to Stockholm around 2pm or so and then had to wait in line until it was time to load all the cars on board. When we finally got to the place to check-in I had to do all the talking because I was sitting behind Karina’s dad and neither of her parents speak English.

After waiting forever for our key cards because the machine was broken we finally boarded the boat. It was the same company as the boat I took during Sea Battle, but ever so slightly different. Kate, another girl from Latvia who was studying abroad with at Örebro was also on the ferry with us, just in a different cabin. So all Friday night Karina, Kate, and I hung out played some air hockey and even sang some karaoke (No Doubt’s Don’t Speak). By that time it was getting late and the three of us were exhausted and getting nauseous from the ridiculous waves, plus Karina had lost her voice while singing so we headed to bed.

Saturday, June 13

In the morning we woke up and went out to the deck so Karina and her dad could show me all the sights of Riga, well the one’s you can see from the river. We could even see her apartment building. Once we got to her house we unpacked quickly, ate, and showered. Then we went out to Old Riga so she could show me around before we were meeting up with her friends. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard so it was difficult to walk around and actually take pictures of everything, but I managed. At seven we met up with her friends Maya and Maira at Rock n’ Riga.

Sunday, June 14

On Sunday we went back to Old Riga so that we could actually do things and see the sights. Our first stop was the Latvian Occupation Museum. It was really interesting, I had never heard of most of the things I had read there because, well Latvian history isn’t generally on the top of the history curriculum in the US unfortunately. After the museum we went to the top of St. Peter’s Church where there are panoramic views of all of Riga. Again, it was raining pretty hard so it was cold and wet. After that we grabbed some lunch and then headed back to Karina’s house.

Monday, June 15

On Monday we woke up early because Karina was getting her haircut by her cousin and then we were going to go to an indoor water park, the biggest in the Baltic States. Our initial plan was to wake up at 8am and leave her house by 9am, but of course that didn’t happen. By the time we got to the water park it was already 2:30pm, but it was opened until 10pm and we ended up staying until 8ish. It was a lot of fun, much bigger than the one in Örebro. All the slides were named after stores or brands sold in Latvia like Snickers and Lasens (a milk company). Only the indoor section was opened, but we still had a lot of fun. All of the slides except one were for multiple people and you had to sit on rafts and inner tubes. Our favorite slide was the milk brand one we called it the milkshake. Like one of the slides in Örebro, this one dumped you into a toilet bowl like thing before spitting you out into the water, but unlike the other one this one was longer and had two big drops, one before the toilet bowl and one after. After that we were exhausted and headed home, knowing we had to wake up even earlier the next day.

Tuesday, June 16

We had to wake up at 6am on Tuesday to make the bus and train to Sigulda. In Sigulda there are four castles of Latvia and a lot of other tourist attractions, like the forest cat-climbing place – that was where we were first headed. That was so much fun, I had never done anything like it an absolutely loved it. Basically you go through a ropes course in the trees of the forest. We were 12 to 25 meters above the ground the entire time. Ah I loved it. Especially when we got to glide throughout the trees. One of the instructors there became our personal instructor after he saw that we were afraid at one of the parts and helped us through the rest of it. Anytime we had a problem he would show off telling us it was easy to do and then end up having to drag us across the course at some points. I was so proud of myself when we finished. We did the entire course, including the two black sections.

Afterwards we got some lunch and then walked around to see the castles and go on a Ferris wheel from the Soviet times. After walking for a while we were both tired and were thinking of heading home but on our way to the train station we ran into Karina’s ex-boyfriend Uldis and he invited us to meet up with his friends so he could show us this medieval site they are building. Latvia is known for its medieval festivals and a lot of tourists come over the summer to watch and participate in the activities so Uldis and his friends are trying to make money off of it since they are all really involved in the medieval community and have lost their jobs due to the crisis. I’m really glad we met him. He taught us how to throw knives, spears, and axes. And we got to try archery and play a medieval game called Knucklebones. I wasn’t too good at anything, but one time I actually got the ax in the tree trunk!

Wednesday, June 17

On Wednesday Karina’s parents offered to drive us to this palace, which is now a museum. In July it is a huge tourist attraction because the garden is filled with roses, there is almost no green, just roses. Unfortunately, I was too early to see that but it was still beautiful. Afterwards Karina had a job interview and then we met up with Kate to go to Jurmala, a small cute town on the coast.

There we walked on the beach, it was too cold and windy to go swimming. Karina and Kate had never met before Örebro, but it was funny to hear them talk and tell similar stories. In such a small city they must have past each other at least once before but never noticed. Around 8ish we headed back to Riga and to Karina’s so I could pack for today.

And now hear I am. Sad and excited, it’s confusing. I’m excited to see everyone at home, but leaving is incredibly hard for me. I’ve been crying on and off all morning. I hope I can come back someday soon. I’ll miss everyone too much.

Okej, I need to check in. I’ll be home in about 15 hours. Yikes!

Love and miss you!

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