It's all right

Well, this ominous week is drawing to a close, and in the end, it's not been
bad at all.

At least in part, I think it was something my certain friend said, about
living in certain ways just as a way to survive, that - strange though it
is - reminded me of the certain ways in which I want to live: Not just
surviving, but living by being "in love" with what I'm passionate about.
Which is the work I'm doing and trying to do... and so, I have managed to
get on with it. Still slowly, but surely. And in the process, I've left the
odd feeling of not being quite myself, quite in this skin, time, and place,
behind me.

Today, I had a meeting with the director of the school where I may - I guess
by now I should be able to say: will - be teaching English during this year
in Latvia. I have a very good feeling about it already (which I don't
usually get); and I'll be there next monday, when school starts and the
teachers meet for a group photo and a chat...

Also, I've been finding quite a number of lectures which I should be able to
get credit for as parts of my studies. Not quite the same that we (the
respective coordinator at the University of Vienna and I) had considered
before I left, but none that are all too unlikely candidates, either. Most
notably, there are very nice lectures in literature studies that I am in the
mood for. (I may be an avid reader, but not usually of literature of the
romantic period or of poetry. Still, even that somehow seems appealing. One
has to expand one's horizon, after all.)
Of course, coming up with a schedule might be quite a challenge, not least
with the school engagement and wanting to get some of my own academic work
finished during this year in Latvia. But, it's always been that way.

A link on "adventure"

Found this on lifehack today, thought it should be mentioned:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-to-live-mini-adventures-on-a-small-budget.html

Yes, adventure is a mind-set. Most of our life - or rather: what most of our
life is like - is a function of what we make of it. Except of course, that
there are many things you can't control. What you can make of that is the
challenge.

(And, I'm trying out the e-mail to blog feature; wonder if it'll work...)

Meet LUIS

Yesterday, my parents and I finally managed to come together virtually, courtesy of Skype video calls; and my brother and I, the same way, had our longest talk in a while (though I won't even go into the relationship advice he's giving me... it's not quite PG-13).

Finally, I have a student bus ticket for September. - Sometimes it really is the little things that make you a little bit happier ;-)
And, I'm spending quite a bit of time with LUIS.
That is, the (course/lecture) information system of Latvijas Universitate.

Let me just say that one thing:
Wouldn't it be boring if different course info and registration systems were all the same?
Here, even the organization of study programs is pretty different from that I'm used to.
If I'm not mistaken, it differentiates between full-time and part-time students, and the curriculum of studies is also divided up into semesters, following a set program.
Of course, I should not only take classes from various semesters, but also from different programs of courses (at at least three different places in the city)...

I'm glad about the free time, yet again.
Although some of those things, I really can't figure it, either yet (because times and places aren't yet known) or by myself (because I just can't know if anybody would mind if I wanted/needed to take classes from the part-time student's program).

But now, I want to get on with my scientific/academic work, too.
Well, there still are a few more days to this week.

Dawg Day

Life is a casino we do not enter,
but are entered into.

Our minds and hearts are the chips we play with.
There are lucky streaks, and there is tough luck.

We long for a lucky break.
So, we play.

Only knowing this game, we play on.
Playing on, the bank always wins.

The real gamble we fail to consider:
Stop playing.
Get up.
Live.

So far, I've liked this free time a lot, spending it reading, writing,
and remembering who I think I am.

That was the first course

The exam for the EILC Latvian I (Beginner) was today.
Everybody passed, I got a grade of 9 (in Latvia, grades go from 1 being a fail to 10 being a perfect pass).

And I think I am getting (back) to work the way I should have done a long time ago.
It's what you do, and that you are active...
The promotional material for "The 11th Hour", in my opinion, says it very well:
"Consume less. Live more."

I still can't quite believe this first course is over. It must mean I've been here for a while... okay, it's just three weeks, but still... soon the first month will be over.

The People Factor

Why is it that we tend to want to escape from the routine of our lives, yet when we get a chance, we either don't take it at all, find ourselves in a new routine, or find ourselves pining for a routine?

Tomorrow's exam in Latvian looms ahead, but I'm more concerned about the free time that next week represents. I'm certainly not one for partying, so the easy way out into entertainment isn't available.
(Well okay, in the spirit of full disclosure: I did get a few books I recently ordered today. Three of them are novels, two are works of popular science. That's partly something I want to work with, but also entertainment…)

Being at home, the circumstances would be different. At least, one might feel at home.
(A friend - I hope that's what she is becoming - is going back to her home country, for example.)
I tend not to feel, or maybe not to want to feel, at home in my "home" country… and, of course, you can also feel alone anywhere, and even while you are in a crowd of people.

Now, there is something I have a lot of experience in.
I loved it when books like "The Loner's Manifesto" came out. Especially since there really at least two ways in which this can go:

• For one, you can be lonely. That's not the best way to be, as it indicates that there's something - or more accurately: someone - missing. I guess we all know some such feeling. After all, it's one of the reasons why lovers come together. Or so I assume.
• Yet, secondly, you can also be a loner. With those people, others are of interest, but the preferred state is that of not being in a crowd, let alone a part of a crowd.
• And, as usual, there are shades of the two.

(And then, possibly, there's me: Someone who can seem like a people person, mainly out of curiosity about them; who feels somewhat lonely at most times, at least whenever he's not doing something sensible with his time; and yet, in general, would much rather be left alone. All at the same time.)

Right now, with that free time up ahead, there is some loneliness. Hence, there would be a craving for things to do. And it's totally crazy, for I am trying to work as an independent scientist as well. So, the work never ends. There's quite too much that should be done, in fact…

Also, groups breed familiarity. Aloneness creates deeper encounters. Adventure.
Aristotle not only called man the political animal (i.e., needing social contact). He went on to say that there are people who do not need the company of others. These were either more or less than ordinary people.

(Next time in this: The factor of -adventurous- experience. But probably, you'll be getting to hear what I have been doing in that ominous week, first.)

gs07069 [at] lu.lv

Life goes on.
(Even when you don't want it to: I have met someone here I very much like, and our talks remind me of how you can want life to go in certain directions while the world's state runs counter to what you wanted.
What was it they say: "Life is what happens while you are making other plans."
Meanwhile, you won't get any younger.
But, it all sounds like I'm depressed, and I'm really not. Certainly not that depressed ;-)

In fact, my registration as student at the LU is finally getting somewhere. So, I now have my own ID number (and the ID card is in the works), my own access details for the internet (and LU e-mail address, hence this post's title), and even learnt that I'll likely, truly, be teaching at a school here. Finally, something that's pretty exciting...

I'd like to be better at Latvian already, but for it having been just three weeks, the progress is very nice. It's still a challenge not just to have learnt something, but to be able to use it. (And this Friday, we are having our exam.)

Already, it's been good for me: I am indeed rediscovering my aptitude at learning and my liking for languages. So, I think this is something I will want to focus on.
Of course, there's still the chance and wish to continue with academic work in 'positive ecology', nonetheless.

Now, if only I could finally connect those threads, for example by presenting a little paper at that conference on "Baltic Futures" which will be coming up in November (it seems there is still some time...). Of to work I am...

Rigas Svetki

Rigas city festival has been in full swing.
It's not my kind of scene, but a good chance to watch people nonetheless...



And boy, it sure looks like Latvians, too, like their chances to party...

It's probably one of the greatest misunderstandings in the world today, anyway, to think that we were all divided by abysmally deep chasms. Or that we were all just the same...
The same motivations guide us, but how we express them can be pretty different. Or not.

Yesterday, we also went to the Ethnographic Museum on the outskirts of Riga.
Very recommendable place... something I'll have to write a few thoughts about on the pages about culture and sustainability. But not here, not now. I need to review Latvian again, and hope to finally go out for a run (rather than just the usual walks ;) through the city... haven't really had the time for it (or the motivation, the city still being new to me).

You're at home, baby

Okay, the title for this post is stolen.
It's one of the ads for the Austrian "alternative" radio channel FM4.
There's a reason for the choice, though:
Last weekend, I was leafing through the web, trying to both relax and get into continuing with my work here, and feeling sort of alone. Then I realized how often I had heard mention of people listening to FM4 by way of their stream... And indeed, there it is.

Since then, I have found/remembered that the main Austrian TV news show is also to be found as a streaming, on-demand video. Newspapers have had their online twins for a while.

So, I'm away from home, yet not quite.
Sometimes, I even hear more about events in Russia, for example, by way of Austrian TV (online) and CNN (online as well) than through Baltic media. The latter, I either don't get (e.g. TV) or don't understand yet... Nonetheless, I'm now closer to Russia than I was before.
(Admittedly, there are also reports which make it seem preferable not to get local news... "news" items which had been reported before I left for Latvia, and had not been of much interest even then.)

The arrival of the Erasmus contract

I had written so much about the formalities, I must mention that the final mail I had so eagerly anticipated has finally arrived late last week. Now, I finally got to the position where I have the agreement/contract about the Erasmus scholarship, and now how much money I'll be getting as support for the foreign studies.
Yesterday, I finally managed to get that contract printed, signed, and sent.

The legalese employed is impressive.
1) It tells you to send/sign the contract before the 24th of the month before the beginning of your stay abroad or there'll be delays... if I had had it?
2) It also mentions that if you have already started your study abroad, you would/might/will have to prove that you had to do so... Excuse me, it also states when the program's started...
3) One of my favorites: It not only says how much money you'll get, but also that whether you get those funds is contingent on budgetary constraints... as if students had the money to stay if they didn't get a scholarship.

But, with near-absolute certainty, all that's just more phrases that have to be in there, more formalities which one shouldn't really be concerned about... and yet...

That little walk

Well, the cooking went well, the learning not quite so much, the playing around much better:
LittleWalkReznasPardaugavaVecriga.kmz

The webalbum images from August 11 were made during this walk, they just aren't geotagged yet. And they probably aren't going to be, for it would be necessary to get view direction and all that set as well, and I'm not going to just let my time fly by...

In the countryside

Another panorama for my dear readers, and again it can also (in big) be found on my Picasa Webalbum.

This time, it's the view around from the tower of Turaidas Pils (Turaida Castle), basically located in Gauja National Park. - Today we went out into the countryside on an excursion there, and to Cesis.
Still interesting impressions, reinforcing the view that Latvia is so similar it's rather strange. In talking about it, I figured it this is what it is: I grew up with Eastern Europe being the Eastern Bloc. So, there is something of a mental blockade to seeing those countries here as familiar. Yet, the vegetation is recognizable, the landscapes are rather familiar... and with Riga's architecture being socialist-like housing projects and art nouveau (Jugendstil) structures, just like Vienna, the familiarity is almost overwhelming...

Yesterday, I took a nice little walk... I'll see if I can finally get its GPS data cleaned up and then I'll let it be seen as a .kmz-file for Google Earth.
All the toys modern communication technologies provides... great entertainment, but now I'd like to cook dinner and then get back to studying Latvian yet again.

Peace, out, g

Day 8, First Week

First week of the intensive language course.
I'd have to count to be sure. But, I'm certain enough even so that we learnt - or, rather, had been taught - as much Latvian in this one week than I learnt Russian in the intensive course that went on for a month. Admittedly, it may have been the same number of class hours already!

Finally, at least for a while, I have an internet connection that I can use with my own notebook.
So, I'm writing here, checked for e-mails and let it be known that I'm here and alright, and transferred some first pictures to a web album (http://picasaweb.google.at/Dr.Gerald.Schmidt/LatviaWithCampusEuropae).

Yesterday, the final email from the Erasmus office finally arrived; the contract's here. Of course, now we still need to find somewhere to print it out, see if we can make it understood that it's to be sent certified mail, and all that. (Best of all that: legalese... the contract has to be signed before starting the studies abroad. If this is not possible, it must be proven that the stay abroad had to be started already. - As if they didn't have, and as if the contract itself didn't say!, that the foreign studies have already begun. But I guess it's no problem at all, only the legalese that you have to put up with.)

Next up:
Practicing Latvian, which I'll not bother any possible blog readers with; and
a trip into the countryside on Sunday, which seems to be to Gauja National Park - Sigulda, Cesis, Ligatne... that will be something for posting pictures again and geotagging them.

Till then! Uz redzešanos!

Panorama View

I stitched together the photos (well, Photoshop did) into this awesome panorama, all around... it's necessary to download the photo (i.e., to view it in its original size) to really appreciate... Thought I'd share it.

Day 6 (?)

It already seems like it must be longer.

Not only have I seen quite a bit of the city center, but there already seems to be something almost like routine. Well, okay, not routine, but time seems to be passing quickly, the essentials can be found, and so it certainly isn't all too strange.
In fact, it rather looks like life in Latvia will soon seem quite familiar.
Of course, one will have to see whether that's just a result of the first enchantment with being somewhere else, and the pleasure of seeing life as something of an adventure.

Once studies start and there is some routine with that, then things will get really interesting.

Today, it was only just the third day of the intensive language course, but it seems like it must have been more than that. The speed with which we go through the course material makes it an intensive course like I have hardly ever before had.
You barely find the time to review what you just learned, let alone the words that were in the lesson before that.
Still, I prefer that to not having a challenge.
And, of course, as I'll be here for a year (okay: 11 months, to be exact), and I'm supposed to be able to take university courses in Latvian in the second semester, part of the adventure certainly is to see how far you can come with the language and the (student's) way of life.

Hadn't even gotten around to mentioning how nice the additional program is:
We had a "welcome party" on Monday, when Latvian classes started - the post-folk group "Ilgi" played, and we actually even got around to trying out some traditional Latvian dances.
My parents wouldn't ever believe that I did indeed join in in most of those dances. (Admittedly, not as much voluntarily as because I wouldn't resist a woman asking me to dance with her. I'm all too much a gentleman - of the old Viennese school of behavior, so to speak - not to assent.)
A visit to the Riga Museum of City History was also on Monday, today a walking tour through the Old Town. I'm starting to know my way around there pretty well.
Still, a lot remains to be discovered...

Day 2 - 08/04/2007: What a beginning

Well, the stay in Latvia has started with a call to Katja for her help in a visit to the doctor's.
Fortunately for me, I only came along as a companion, Michael needed the doc (as it turned out, his "sore throat" is actually one of his wisdom teeth trying to emerge).

There's nothing like being abroad (and in need of communicating) to make you realize that, in most of the world, you are the foreigner.
And to consider how, when you are at home, your whole world seems to be, speak, even think, more or less like you do. (Unless of course, if you seek out the edges - which are almost everywhere, once you start looking.)

On the other hand, to image how you may become able to fit into a pretty different cultural environment - more or less well, of course - within just a year or so... it seems eminently fascinating to me.

Not surprisingly, then, I'm very curious about how far we exchange students will get in learning Latvian, and getting to know the country and culture. First of all, there will be this month's language course...

And I have come to wonder, considering how interesting any culture is when you actually, personally experience it for a while, just why we place so much value on particular cultures. - Let alone, what the experience will mean to you personally.
Sure, I do concur that it's more useful to learn English than many other languages. If that is the only foreign language to learn. And even then, there may be more people in regions that interest you who speak Chinese.
But, especially in contrast to how being at home makes it appear as if that were basically the whole world, it's only a prejudice to think that experience for example of or with Germany will be better (even as in: more useful) than that of Latvia in your own life.
German may be more widely spoken, and Germany the stronger economic and political power.
On the other hand, Latvian is a language fewer foreigners are likely to know, and a country at the crossroads between Scandinavia, most of Europe, and Russia. Nowadays, even between the European Union and Russia. Not to forget that Russia is not just out there, on an opposite side to the EU (the way much current debate in the press has it appear) but Latvian citizens of Russian descent are (if they consider themselves as such) Russians who are also EU citizens...

By the way - back to the beginning: A visit to the doctor's seems to be quite a cultural constant. The waiting, the anxiety it entails is just the same ;-)

Peace, out.

Day One in Riga

Nice flight, great arrival: No fewer than three people waiting for us - one Katja from RTU was meeting a German arrival and waiting for Michael because she had the list of people arriving today who are going to take the Latvian course at the RTU, and Katja from LU because of Michael and me, arriving on the Campus Europae program (and she had brought her friend in case we needed a driver).

Katja #1 had a driver, and she accompanied us to the respective places where we will be staying.

Reznas hostel in the "Moscow suburb" really is located in a place that looks rather wild. It's wild in a way that - judging by the first impressions - seems rather typical: Many run-down buildings, quite a bit of renovation, and quite a few not-so-cheap cars.

Another first impression:Sony ads for high-scale TV sets, the cheaper of which costs some 500 Lats (a little over 700 Euro).
Last I heard, the average monthly Latvian income was 300 or 400 Lats?!

Back to the hostel:The room's not so bad, relatively spacious for two people. Of course, it's basic. Still, I have seen smaller student rooms in Vienna, and certainly at higher prices.Kitchen's not too bad, either. The bathroom is a somewhat different story. It's not so different from those of most youth hostels. I.e., basic, but functional. Just one oddity: open shower stalls, and there do not seem to be separate men's/women's showers. Hmm?

Anyway, Katja showed us around to the city center, where we met up with Katja #2 (or actually, for me, #1 since we have "known" here a little longer through e-mail contact) and Santa. Grabbed a quick bite to eat, as we had grown pretty hungry, and had a nice talk about this-and-that: the program that leads us to Latvia (and had led the two of them to Germany before), first impressions, a little get-to-know-each-other. They made it sound like they wanted to interrogate us, but it was really nice. Finished with a walk through the old town.



Actually, less town than expected :-)
But, of course, that means that we'll likely get to know it rather intimately, which would be a very good thing in my book. (And, I should add, it looks to be a very interesting town, too.)

To a student of the University of Vienna, the universities look incredibly cozy, too. There are some more institutes spread around the city, as far as I know, but still it looks (they, we checked out both LU and RTU look) nothing as crowded as our home institution...

Here goes...

Allright, I guess that's it, then.

Looking at pictures of Riga, I still can't quite get my head around thinking I'll be there tomorrow already, and stay until June/July of 2008...

Last days in Austria were spent chilling. And, of course, deciding what to pack and what not to. With the 20 kg luggage limit (I'm coming by air) to consider, it's been an interesting exercise.

Makes you see how little you might get by with (a reason I've always liked using my backpack, with which you should also be capable of carrying what you want to bring along). And, of course, makes you see how much stuff has accumulated, some gladly and more or less necessarily, not so little just because, the kinds of lives we lead, stuff has a tendency to accumulate.

I have to admit, I'm most troubled about my books. Home is where my books are.

Yet, not having them might actually make me use the library more, and feel more like a student again.

About a year ago, when I considered adding another degree from an American university, I sure wouldn't have thought I'd be going to Latvia a year on... quite a bit of the experience, going some place else, living in a student dorm in a shared room, going to the library for nearly all the books (ahem), it will actually be a bit like college life.

Well, now, let's see when I'll get back to blogging, then, having arrived in Latvia. See ya!