Latvians keep coming

I do not know if it's just my aura or all Latvians are really moving to the Netherlands, but I keep meeting more and more Latvians who have moved or are about to move here! The funny thing - almost all of them I have already met before!

Since 2,5 years ago when I moved here for the first time I have hanged out with:

1) Agnese Nr. 1 - my crazy party associate in my last and her first weeks in Amsterdam. The friendship with crazy memories and long-lasting impact on both of us. True, I didn't know her before - but CouchSurfing united us.

2) Sintija - the history dates back to 2003 when we got to know each other through my dad. One day I noticed on Facebook that now she is living in Amsterdam - what a surprise, me too! For almost a year she was my company to a lot of cultural events!

3) Lelde - the history dates back to God-knows-when. I think, both of us were still in the primary school when we became pen pals. Later on we found out that we used to study in the same university and she used to work with my course mate. Funny enough, for the first time we met more than 10 years after in Amsterdam...

Furthermore, there is a bunch of other Latvians living nearby whom I haven't met so much yet, but who are worth mentioning anyway.

4) Kristīne - so many e-mail exchanges, but still haven't met despite having quite a few common friends. One day...!

5) Mārtiņš - my cousin's cousin, yet not my cousin. One day I heard from my cousin that he has moved to the Netherlands as well... So far the only Latvian guy I am aware of in this country (apart from "I know X who knows Y who is living here")

6) Baiba - well, we were together in the primary school and, the same as Lelde, she was also studying in the same university. Then one day I saw on Facebook (as well) that she is in the Netherlands, although in the opposite side of the country. Will meet again for sure!

7) Agnese Nr. 2 - at first, ages ago I interviewed her grandma for some article. At second, her grandma then told me that her granddaughter Agnese was studying in the same high school where I did. At third, turns out that she used to work for the same company in Amsterdam I am working now!

8) Agnese Nr 3 - my Latvian colleague at work, seeing her every day and practising my Latvian not to forget it :)

9) Egita - well, Facebook says that we have 45 common friends and I am sure that draugiem.lv would add a few more. Knew about her since I joined AEGEE, but never really talked - until one day we met in Brussels in an event. And then again, here...

10) Agnese Nr. 4 - the youngest part of the non-existing-community. One day she wrote me on Facebook saying that we have met and spoken a few years ago in an information market in Sweden, where I was presenting AEGEE and she was doing Erasmus (I think so). Of course, we have common Latvian friends. Last week also this Agnese moved to Amsterdam. Welcome!

11) Tatjana - just remembered, another AEGEEan living in the country, although also not so close to me. Memories about co-organised events back in Latvia...

Did I forget anybody? :) Aija doesn't count, she was living here before I did - too bad.

Lie To Me

For the last few days I have been watching TV series "Lie To Me", bringing back memories from my time in Brussels.

It started while I was living in Brussels - every now and then me and a couple of my housemates would get down to the basement, where we had "film screening nights". Together with chocolate and a bottle of wine or bacardi we would be watching various films and TV series. In the first month it was a lot of "How I Met Your Mother", still remember that! Haven't seen the last seasons, so I still do not know how did Ted meet his wife :(

At some point in the end of the year we started to watch "Lie To Me" and I really felt for the series. I am not a huge fan of TV series or even watching films as I often feel like wasting time, but this was both entertaining and useful, you could learn - or you thought you could - about people and psychology.

We never finished "Lie To Me" as we had only the first season and half of the second season available. Now I have found the second and third season as well, so watching them whenever I have time. :)

For those who do not know - "Lie To Me" tells a story about a company who is specialised in figuring out if people are lying or no, as it depends on their body language (what a surprise) and microexpressions on their faces. The good thing is that every time there is a different story (sometimes two in one), so it is not a problem watching one if you have missed the previous one - although the relationship between the main characters in the company develop throughout the film as well.

Markets vs shops

While living in Western Europe, I have noticed how cool it is to shop in open-air markets. Although both here and back in Latvia they look similar, the feeling you get while visiting them is kind of different - although I can't tell you why.

Back home I didn't really go to the market so often. Sure, we have quite a few markets in Riga and tourists especially love the Central market (which is situated in hangers for zeppelins). However, in my neighborhood there wasn't any market. As it was not on the way, I didn't go to any, just shopping in the usual supermarkets.

But both in Brussels and Amsterdam you find loads of markets in different places of the cities. Next to the CD House in Brussels where I was living for a year there was a small market every Monday morning. If I managed to wake up on time, sometimes I used to go there and buy some fresh fruits and vegetables.

Today here in Amsterdam we also did shopping in one of the street markets, this one was on Ten Katestraat. We initially wanted to go to Albert Cuyp market, which is the biggest and most known one, but saw the first one while passing by and decided to give it a try.

And it was great, of course! Not only you can really smell vegetables and fruits and buy them much cheaper than in the supermarkets, but the choice is also bigger. In the end we bought more than we wanted and needed, but still the total amount of money spent was less than we would spend in the supermarket.

Of course, for other stuff you still need to go to the supermarket, but now I will try to manage to buy vegetables and fruits in the markets much more as well as go to the special meat shops (mostly run by Turkish and Arabic people) for meat.

How to fall in love with Brussels

It would not be fair to compare Brussels with Riga, because that would mean putting both cities in a closed box and looking to them from only one perspective. I hope you agree that they deserve much more, they deserve to be treated as unique in their own way and loved for the reasons you can love one, but not the second one (and the other way around).

Elizabeth Gilibert in her book “Eat pray love” wrote that each city can be described by one word. If she is right, then Brussels is definitely Career.

Before I moved to Brussels, several times I heard that you do not move to Brussels because you are in love with the city. No, you move there to work. To earn money. To climb up in your career. To lobby – for yourself. I feel that it is also the way Brussels is organised. You are there on your own, you need to follow your own path and nobody else will help you unless it’s in their interests or they really like you.

Or maybe I should say that Brussels is a Market? One big and huge market, where you can buy everything you want – starting with girls next to Gare du Nord and finishing with a warm chair in the European Parliament. The same as all other markets, it is also messy, sometimes dirty and always loud and full of people. Some of them come there knowing what to look for, some of them pass by curious to see what so famous Market has to offer and some of them wander around aimlessly.

For sure Brussels is the most multicultural city I have seen so far. Even the metropolitan London can not compete with the feeling you get when walking on the streets of Brussels. Not only “Mini-Europe” next to Atomium, but also Brussels itself takes a bit of different cultures and puts it together in one place. Turkey, Middle East, Brazil, North Africa, China, Flanders – they are just a couple of streets away from each other and all you need to do is to take another turn to find yourself in another continent.

Something like that would never happen, and probably never will, in Riga. Wherever you go, it is still Riga, the same culture, the same language and the same signs. Yes, sometimes you hear English or Russian more than Latvian, sometimes you see that those wooden houses are not comparable with art noveau found just five minutes away by tram and sometimes you think that parks so green make you feel like being in a countryside. However, never ever you have a feeling that you are in a different country or yet – a different world.

Also those who say that it is not possible to get to know Brussels in a short time are right. Brussels likes to keep its best places secret so only those who seek can find. You need to know where to go and what to look for in order to fall in love with it. And once you get the opportunity to have a glance to the way locals live, you understand – this is different. This is not Brussels which expats or tourists know, this is another city!

As I said before, people told me that one does not move to Brussels because of being in love with
the city. Despite that, there are some who stay in the city because they have fallen in love with it during their stay. And let me say that it makes Brussels meant for those who are patient enough – you need to take your time to discover the best parts of it, but once you have found them, your love becomes bigger and stronger.

This article was written as an assignment in one of the recruitment procedures when I was looking for a job. The editor wanted me to write an article, comparing Brussels with Riga. It has never been published.

Ko redzēt un apskatīt Briselē?

Toreiz, kad septembra vidū devos uz informācijas dienu savā augstskolā, studentu pārstāvji mums arī iedeva kaudzi ieteikumu, ko darīt, redzēt un apskatīt Briselē. Lai šī informācija netiktu palaista zudumā, publicēju to savā blogā - gan nākamajiem studentiem Briselē, gan arī vienkārši tūristiem un garāmbraucējiem :)

• Nacionālie Muzeji visā Briselē - bezmaksas ieeja mēneša pirmajā trešdienā
• Erasmus māja - atvērta katru dienu, izņemot pirmdienas, plkst. 10:00-17:00
• Horta muzejs - atvērts plkst. 14:00-17:00
  
• Marcolini un Godiva šokolāde, nopērkama Sablon
• Dansaert apkārtne - vērts pievērst uzmanību veikalu skatlogiem
• Matonge apkārtne ar Āfrikas pieskaņu, netālu no Port de Namur - tur jādodas vakaros
  
• Sīkumtirgus katru dienu plkst. 6:00-14:00
  
• Pusdienas Atomium
• Teātris angliski - Kaai Theater un Karaliskais Flāmu teātris
• Koncerti - Botanique
• Opera
• Idejas, ko darīt Briselē pa brīvu
  
• Brisele no studentu skatu punkta
• Nekomerciālais kino Cinematek
• Vilcienos izmantot nedēļas nogaļu biļeti, kas ir ar 50 procentu atlaidi
• Vakars, kas pavadīts Cirio (la Bourse), dzerot "half and half" - dzēriens, kur puse ir šampanietis, bet otra puse - baltvīns
  

Lai top!

Pat nezinu, ar ko sākt šo blogu un kā rakstīt pirmos ievadvārdus, kas es esmu un ko es daru. Bet tomēr mēģināšu.

Es esmu Anita. 23 gadus veca. Latviete pēc pases, Eiropas pilsone pēc pārliecības. Tieši pirms nedēļas sakravājusi savas somas un pārcēlusies uz Briseli, kur līdz decembra beigām skaitīšos Erasmus apmaiņas programmas maģistrantūras studente Erasmushogeschool Brussel, patiecoties savai jaukajai un lieliskajai Vidzemes augstskolai Latvijā, kur es studēju tūrisma stratēģisko menedžmentu.

Šī ir mana ceturtā mītnes zeme - gandrīz visu mūžu esmu nodzīvojusi Latvijā, bet pirms dažiem gadiem, mainoties man pašai, mainījās arī mans dzīves ritms. Par savām mājām esmu saukusi arī Maltu (Vidusjūras salu), Amsterdamu un tagad - arī Briseli, bet vienmēr sirdī man otrās mājas ir arī Londonā. Jā, starptautiska personība. :)

Par ko es blogošu? Par Briseli. Par saviem iespaidiem Eiropas galvaspilsētā, kura pagaidām man vēl ir sveša un nebūt ne mīļākā uz pasaules. Par to, kā tas ir - studēt Erasmus maģistrantūrā, kad vienīgais, kas atlicis, ir maģistra darba rakstīšana, nevis lekciju apmeklēšana. Par centieniem saprast, kas ir kas un ko darīt, ja es nerunāju franciski, bet manas nīderlandiešu valodas zināšanas ir ļoti, ļoti minimālas. Un par to, vai pēc Erasmus beigām es būšu iemīlējusi Briseli. Par to, kā es centos izdomāt, vai man blogot latviski vai angliski.

Jau drīzumā - mana pirmā tikšanās augstskolā ar starptautiskās daļas puisi un cenšanās iegūt savā rīcībā sabiedriskā transporta studenta karti.