superstacker Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5815 days ago 25 posts - 28 votes Studies: French, Russian, Spanish
| Message 1 of 5 19 October 2012 at 12:46am | IP Logged |
I'll start this thread to document my upcoming language experience in Latvia studying
Russian.
Some background on me:
I'm 27 and have been studying Russian in my spare time to a basic level. I have little
experience of using any Russian skills "in anger" except for the one Lithuanian
shoplifter I had the pleasure of speaking to after she was arrested for shoplifting.
(She spoke Russian as a second language and not English).
Travelling to Russia as a UK citizen seems to be a bit of an administrative nightmare
with Visas and invites etc, so I often google for language schools in Ukraine or Latvia
as an alternative. I happened across a website for a company called Russian Up who
offer an immersion experience in Riga, Latvia.
After some emails back and forth asking about my hobbies and personality, they have
matched me with a language teacher to spend the week with in Riga. My trip leaves on
Sunday 21st October and I will update everyone as it goes on!
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viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4676 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese
| Message 2 of 5 19 October 2012 at 4:15am | IP Logged |
Best of luck with your studies. I lived in Riga for several years during the 1990s, it’s a great place with more of a big-city feel to it than the other Baltic capitals. Some of the suburbs are mainly Russian, like Plavnieki – hopefully you won’t be spending all of your time out there. There are cultural events happening in Russian too, like a drama theater, although I never checked that out. Actually the current mayor is an ethnic Russian. Jurmala (the beach closest to the city) might be worth a visit.
Just don’t tell the immigration officials what you’re there for!
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superstacker Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5815 days ago 25 posts - 28 votes Studies: French, Russian, Spanish
| Message 3 of 5 20 October 2012 at 11:31am | IP Logged |
viedums wrote:
Just don’t tell the immigration officials what you’re there for!
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As an EU citizen I have the right to work, study, visit and live in any EU state, which is part of the appeal of Latvia :)
Thanks for your advice about the city though!
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viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4676 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese
| Message 4 of 5 31 October 2012 at 2:07pm | IP Logged |
I was only joking with the immigration comment.
So, how did it go?
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superstacker Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5815 days ago 25 posts - 28 votes Studies: French, Russian, Spanish
| Message 5 of 5 31 October 2012 at 11:29pm | IP Logged |
In short, it was a very good experience, I have been busy at work, however I will do my
write up this week :)
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