Sveiki,
I lived in Daugavpils with a
Russian speaking family and went to a school, where mostly Russian was spoken,
but during my exchange year I also started to learn the Latvian language,
because I wanted to learn as much as I could about the country I had fallen in
love with so quickly. After my exchange year I have come back to Latvia three times, each time for several weeks
and I’m planning to come back again for studying and living in Latvia.
But
what’s so fascinating about this country? That’s a question I was asked about a
thousand times by my friends and family in Germany and it’s quite difficult to
give them a satisfying answer, because you
can’t really describe Latvia, you have to feel it.
Looking back I’m really
thankful that I got to know different ways of life in Latvia. My
family was Russian, but the family of my contact person was Latvian. I was
living in the second biggest city of Latvia, close to the centre; my
contact person’s family had a small house in the countryside. They showed me a
lot of the culture and important places in Latgale, that’s the part of Latvia in the
very East, and they taught me Latvian. We were also a great AFS group, met
regularly and it was interesting to learn about the others’ home countries and
the way they saw Latvia.
One of the many things I love about Latvia is the fact that there is music everywhere. I was in a
choir and an orchestra myself and thus learnt a lot of Latvian folk songs. Most
Latvians really love their country
and are proud of what they achieved. In Germany
people don’t dare to because of their past, but in Latvia it’s natural. Tradition plays a role also in young people’s
lives; they dance in folk dance groups and can tell old stories about
different places.
Latvians have a lot of nature, they love being in it. When you leave town you are already
surrounded by it and can feel like there is nobody else in world. But often
you also are in the nature with your friends or family, because in general
Latvians love to be together. For me it was great that I was always a part of
the, not only a spectator. Sometimes everybody forgot that I was not Latvian. One
more point is, that Latvians don’t need
much to be happy. They make the best of every situation and Germans could
learn a lot from the Latvian mentality I think.
I could write books about my
experience, but I hope you already got a small impression of it and now want to
go to Latvia yourself,
because Latvia
loves you!
Sophia Kistenmacher
Exchange student to Latvia in 2007
