I'm really sorry for not writing this post earlier but I have been really really busy with my school and work in the past couple of days.
Before RGT I had made a deal with Lauris that if I go to Baltic Pride he will pay for rainbow hair dye that I had wanted to have for some time. So, a day before going to Riga, Kirke dyed my hair into rainbow. Blimey, it looked bloody brilliant!
So on Friday I took off early in the morning to go to Riga. I arrived there at 11 and met one of my CS hosts Christoph and we went to the place I was supposed to stay that night. I dropped off my stuff there and went to have a look around in the city. I met with Lauris and Heli and Pierre who had been there for couple of days already. We wandered around in the market, which is pretty brilliant and big and I absolutely loved it! We just relaxed and chilled in a park next to the Freedom monument. Then it came time for me to join the first CS event- Riga Bike Time. It was a bike tour around Riga and not only city central. I met many lovely people all around the world and already knew couple of people for the sauna in the evening. I saw Riga nearly as a local, had loads of fun. Even though it was raining. But never mind the bollocks, I'm not made out of sugar!
After the bike tour I got myself some food and then tried to head back to my host's place- I had a tiny misunderstanding of the map because my host had marked two places on it and of course I thought the one that was further from the city center, was the one where he and his gf Yvonne lived. Right. So after more than an hour of walking and getting to know the streets of Riga, I managed to get to my destination.
Over there I met Yvonne, who was the person who had actually written me to offer a couch. She was really lovely! I'm really glad I met her- definetely a person to surf with! She was hosting a girl from Taiwan at the same time as well and one of Yvonne's flatmates was hosting two people as well. Those two turned out to be a girl from Finland and living in Tartu and it looked as if I had met her before somewhere or seen her somewhere. The other girl was a Polish volunteer in Viljandi who knew couple of people I know and, of course, knew where I worked. Such a tiny world again. We all made pizza and eventually missed our last bus to the sauna place. So we took a taxi. It wasn't too expensive, surprisingly.
As we arrived to the sauna place I saw the people I had met earlier and it was great fun. Some beer... Some dancing. And then- at some point Pat, my couch host in Bristol, as soon as he arrived and saw me, came and hugged me. Was nice to see him! The evening was nice- I had a drinking competition with Pat and Mackin (a guy with whom we had made a deal to get Pat drunk). Our plan worked..... I was dancing the whole evening and talking to loads of people. It was really really epic party. Can't write everything I did here, but I can assure you, it was damn great fun! Me and my hosts and Taiwanese CS (Caren) left at 5am to go home again. As we were leaving, the firetruck came because obviously some Estonians, who are too hot for Latvian sauna, managed to overheat it. As far as I know, the ceiling had to be taken off...
In the morning, when I got up, I got dressed and went to the central where I met up with Lauris, Heli and Pierre and headed to the Baltic Pride- the second reason why I was in Riga. It was a sunny day and great fun to see all the LGBT people gathering. Interesting, as I had never seen anything like it before. As the parade started, it was raining and besides the water, the gales came down from the sky as well... It didn't ruin our day, even though I was frozen to my bone marrow. Yvonne also joined us :) We marched a little bit of time to a park where loads of politicians held speeches followed by a concert. By the time the concert started, I was already so cold, we decided to have a tea in the teahouse in the park. It was nice and cosy. We sat there for about two hours.
And after that me, Heli and Pierre went to the couch station and back to Tartu.
I can say that next year, if my exams will allow me to do it, I will definetely go back to Riga Good Times VI to see all the people I met during that one night :)
Before RGT I had made a deal with Lauris that if I go to Baltic Pride he will pay for rainbow hair dye that I had wanted to have for some time. So, a day before going to Riga, Kirke dyed my hair into rainbow. Blimey, it looked bloody brilliant!
So on Friday I took off early in the morning to go to Riga. I arrived there at 11 and met one of my CS hosts Christoph and we went to the place I was supposed to stay that night. I dropped off my stuff there and went to have a look around in the city. I met with Lauris and Heli and Pierre who had been there for couple of days already. We wandered around in the market, which is pretty brilliant and big and I absolutely loved it! We just relaxed and chilled in a park next to the Freedom monument. Then it came time for me to join the first CS event- Riga Bike Time. It was a bike tour around Riga and not only city central. I met many lovely people all around the world and already knew couple of people for the sauna in the evening. I saw Riga nearly as a local, had loads of fun. Even though it was raining. But never mind the bollocks, I'm not made out of sugar!
After the bike tour I got myself some food and then tried to head back to my host's place- I had a tiny misunderstanding of the map because my host had marked two places on it and of course I thought the one that was further from the city center, was the one where he and his gf Yvonne lived. Right. So after more than an hour of walking and getting to know the streets of Riga, I managed to get to my destination.
Over there I met Yvonne, who was the person who had actually written me to offer a couch. She was really lovely! I'm really glad I met her- definetely a person to surf with! She was hosting a girl from Taiwan at the same time as well and one of Yvonne's flatmates was hosting two people as well. Those two turned out to be a girl from Finland and living in Tartu and it looked as if I had met her before somewhere or seen her somewhere. The other girl was a Polish volunteer in Viljandi who knew couple of people I know and, of course, knew where I worked. Such a tiny world again. We all made pizza and eventually missed our last bus to the sauna place. So we took a taxi. It wasn't too expensive, surprisingly.
As we arrived to the sauna place I saw the people I had met earlier and it was great fun. Some beer... Some dancing. And then- at some point Pat, my couch host in Bristol, as soon as he arrived and saw me, came and hugged me. Was nice to see him! The evening was nice- I had a drinking competition with Pat and Mackin (a guy with whom we had made a deal to get Pat drunk). Our plan worked..... I was dancing the whole evening and talking to loads of people. It was really really epic party. Can't write everything I did here, but I can assure you, it was damn great fun! Me and my hosts and Taiwanese CS (Caren) left at 5am to go home again. As we were leaving, the firetruck came because obviously some Estonians, who are too hot for Latvian sauna, managed to overheat it. As far as I know, the ceiling had to be taken off...
In the morning, when I got up, I got dressed and went to the central where I met up with Lauris, Heli and Pierre and headed to the Baltic Pride- the second reason why I was in Riga. It was a sunny day and great fun to see all the LGBT people gathering. Interesting, as I had never seen anything like it before. As the parade started, it was raining and besides the water, the gales came down from the sky as well... It didn't ruin our day, even though I was frozen to my bone marrow. Yvonne also joined us :) We marched a little bit of time to a park where loads of politicians held speeches followed by a concert. By the time the concert started, I was already so cold, we decided to have a tea in the teahouse in the park. It was nice and cosy. We sat there for about two hours.
And after that me, Heli and Pierre went to the couch station and back to Tartu.
I can say that next year, if my exams will allow me to do it, I will definetely go back to Riga Good Times VI to see all the people I met during that one night :)
