"Some dance to remember, some dance to forget."

Hello dearest family and friends!

It has been a while since I last posted but a lot has been happening. I got back from Munich on Sunday and had intended to post on Monday about at least my experiences in Latvia, but I was invited to a barbecue with some Americans who are in Darmstadt through the National Science Foundation, so I had to delay my posting. I had a pretty good time, talking with students from Yale, Virginia Tech, and even the University of Illinois, among others.

My trip to Latvia began at 2:45 AM on Wednesday, July 16th, eating some breakfast in my room in time for the 3:56 AM trolley to the train station. Luckily there would be no walking across town at night this time. I took the 5:00 AM - 6:30 AM shuttle from Darmstadt to Frankfurt (Hahn) Airport. Despite the number of crying babies on the flight, I still managed to get an hour or so of sleep.

When I arrived in Latvia, amazed by the size of forests surrounding Riga, Toms, a friend who was an exchange student at my high school and with whom I would be staying, picked me up and took me to his father's apartment. They were in the process of moving to another apartment and were very apologetic about "the mess", but it was not a problem whatsoever. After dropping off my things, we walked through downtown Riga, getting some lunch, seeing the sights, and running a few errands. Afterward, we picked up Martinsh and Dace, two of his friends, bought some groceries, and headed to the house of Roberts, another one of their friends, where we would have a barbecue. I had a really good time in their company, listening to music and eating some good food. After dinner, we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset. After some time on the beach walking, talking, and playing catch with a frisbee, we returned to Roberts' house to finish off the food before heading back to Toms' apartment. By this point, I was pretty exhausted and ready to get some sleep.

After breakfast the next morning, Toms, Roberts, Dace, and myself traveled by car to the Bauska District of Latvia (near the border with Lithuania) where we were to visit a palace and then a castle. The weather looked pretty terrible along the way, but fortunately things cleared up by the time we arrived. The palace was fairly interesting, but I think that I enjoyed the interior less than the grounds. After touring the inside, we decided to relax in the gardens behind the palace. [In the previous picture, from left to right are Toms, Roberts (who successfully quit smoking over the weekend), and Your Humble Narrator.] Next, we went to the castle, which was actually more of a ruin than a castle. Climbing the main tower provided a nice view of the surrounding area. I always enjoy exploring castles and this one was no exception. Before heading back to Riga, we ate some cheap and tasty lunch at a local diner. That evening, I was to eat dinner with Toms' father and step-mother, so I freshened up when we arrived back at the apartment. Since they were moving out, there was no dining room table, so we ate dinner on the coffee table in the TV room. The meal, consisting of Latvian soup, a main plate, and dessert, was absolutely delicious, and the conversation, which mainly concerned global economics, was really interesting. Toms' father studied economics in school and is currently a successful businessman. His step mother is one of the top lawyers in Riga. [In the previous picture, the girl on the left is Dace and the woman on the right is Toms' step mother.]

As it was Thursday night, Toms and his friends would be going out to the clubs, and since the clothes I brought were inadequate, I would be borrowing outfits from Toms. The first place we went to was Coyote Fly, but I was denied entry because I am a foreigner. Apparently, the club had decided to enact a "Latvians only" policy in response to the growing problems presented by obnoxious groups of English or Italians that travel to Riga for the sex trade, often causing significant property (not to mention personal) damages. The bouncer did speak English, and he didn't find it very funny when I pointed out the inconsistency of denying entry to a single (and sober) foreigner with a group of well-behaved regulars while the club plays almost exclusively foreign music. Oh well. After our failed attempts at entrance we went to a place called the Cuba Café where live music was being played. I think everyone enjoyed themselves there. Eventually, we decided to head to "number one club in all of Baltics", Club Essential. It was a really huge place with three main areas. The main room had a large dance floor and a bar over two stories and played almost exclusively hip hop. A second room had couches and tables for "talking" and such. The third room had older music that I could recognize and actually understand, so I preferred it to the others. Despite the footage of animals having sex on multiple television screens and the songs glorifying materialism and objectifying women in the main room, I surprisingly wasn't that bothered since everyone there seemed to be with friends and having fun. When we left, the sun was rising.

On Friday, after catching up on sleep, we went again to Roberts' house where we made lunch before heading down to the beach. At the beach, we swam, threw around the frisbee, and played 3 on 3 soccer. I don't recall ever having played soccer barefooted or on the beach before that, but it was pretty fun. After a few hours, we started to head back to Toms' apartment in order to get ready for Dace's graduation that was to take place later that day. Toms and Roberts had convinced me that I needed to purchase a suit (and consequently pants, shirt, and shoes) for the graduation. While this did make me upset since I hate to waste money and since it would be difficult to transport all the additional clothing, I justified the purchase since I wasn't paying for my lodging for the entire trip. But, as it turned out, they were totally leading me on. Apparently, while I am wary of what strangers tell me, I have a hard time telling if my friends are telling me the truth or messing around with me. Thankfully they were generous enough to inform me of this before I had purchased my outfit although they had considered waiting until afterward.

Since Dace's school is one of the best in Latvia, the ceremony was in a really nice building and was followed by an expensive reception which I, and Roberts, did not attend immediately. Instead, we ate some dinner at a local restaurant while Toms found, with his many connections, some extra tickets for us. We stayed at the reception for a couple of hours and then proceed to head out in a big group once again to the clubs. We again tried to get into Coyote Fly, but I was denied entry for the second time. This time however, Toms spotted someone he knew who worked as a bartender there and she pulled some strings to get me into the club. I must admit that it felt pretty cool getting in outside the rules. Despite all the efforts to get in, we didn't stick around very long and headed over to another club, Salt and Pepper, which was extremely crowded. We stuck around there for a while and then went to one more club before finally returning to Club Essential. This time, the sun was rising as we arrived, and there seemed to be a very different group of people this time around.

There was a group of men, most middle aged, that were moving about the dance floor in search of drunk young women to take advantage of sexually. While I had known in the abstract of such "people" and such behaviors, it was the first time in my life that I had seen them with my own eyes. It was disgusting and infuriating. Of course, there were some women who actually welcomed these advances, but it was still tragic because such hedonistic relationships can at best cause temporary satisfaction and at worst lead to ruined health and broken hearts. There would also be those that would, due to their intoxication and social pressures, accept such invitations that in almost any other circumstances hastily reject them. I wanted do something. I wanted to tell them, "do you realize that he is using you only for your body?", but then there was the language barrier and also the chance that my actions might make the user more sympathetic. Yes, the vast majority of these women still had a choice, but some of them may not have due to drugs, but how would I know which were which? I didn't know what to do. Meanwhile, my patience was quickly diminishing and my fury was rapidly increasing. I came to the conclusion, for better or for worse, that direct intervention would not be the best course of action. I decided that by being at the club (paying admission, purchasing drinks, dancing to music, etc.) I was supporting the means by which such unfortunate acts are committed. I acknowledge, however, that problem obviously wasn't caused by the dancing or even the purchasing and consuming of drinks. Certainly, societal pressures were involved, but societal pressures are the result of the combination of all choices made by the member of the society and all the reactions each individual has with the other members of the society, those choices and reactions being biologically (genetics and hormones) and environmentally (the family unit, financial well-being, friends, education, constructive dialog, etc.) influenced. So maybe my own actions will have very little effect on someone else let alone the whole picture, but if enough people make a similar effort, the consequences can be amazing. Regardless whether or not I think other people are going to make a similar effort, in the name of that possibility I must try, and so I left the club for Toms' apartment for the night still very upset with Roberts. Maybe it was escapism on my part since basically every bar and club in the world has such people, but I didn't want to be there any more. When I got back, I did as many push-ups as I could, took a shower, and went to bed.

Looking back at my previous paragraph, I went on about that for a lot longer than I anticipated, and I don't want that situation to stick out in your mind when you think of Latvia, the people of Latvia, or my experience in Latvia. I am sure the frequency of that happening is similar to that of most of the world. The people in Latvia were generally extremely nice, and I had a vastly positive experience.

On Saturday morning, we drove to Toms' summer house near the beach in preparation for his brother's 25th birthday party. While waiting for all of the family and friends to arrive, we played some 2 on 2 soccer in the yard, threw around the frisbee with members of Toms' famous ultimate frisbee team, swam in the sea, and even visited a nearby lighthouse. After everyone had arrived, we played a game where everyone stood in a circle passing around a garbage bag full of unknown articles of clothing as we listened to a Michael Jackson song. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the bag would have to grab a piece of clothing and wear it. Everyone was a good sport and had a lot of fun. The birthday celebration would continue into the night. Seeing such a large gathering of friends and family reminded me of the gatherings of my own friends and family and how much I miss all of you. I enjoyed the games but even more so I enjoyed the conversation which varied from Hitler's rise to power to politics in Russia to the changing state of the US in the world.

As the next day was Sunday, I found a church in the nearby community. Toms was kind enough to drive me even though no one else attended the service. After four days in a row of partying, everyone was pretty tired so after cleaning up at the house we headed back to Riga to relax for my final full day in Latvia. On the way, we stopped at the summer house of Roberts as he took care of a few things. While we waited, Toms and Martinsh swam in the pool as I shot with the basketball on the backyard court. It was nice to pick up a basketball again. Oh, and once again I was tricked by Toms and Roberts (who is studying to become a doctor) who convinced me that the bug bites I sustained the previous evening may have contained a disease known only in Latvia so I needed to go the hospital before I left. Naturally, going to hospital sounded better than the alternative, but eventually they let me know that they were once again leading me on. We all got a pretty good laugh. When will I ever learn? After all that was cleared up, we dropped off Martinsh and Roberts at their respective homes, got to Toms' apartment shortly after dinner, and proceeded to hang out at the apartment for the rest of the evening. My flight was set to leave around noon on Monday. Toms and Dace took me to the airport and helped me changing my Latvian currency to Euros, Dace also giving me Latvian chocolates.

Despite the one negative experience at the club, I had a really great time in Latvia. It was really good to see my friend once again, especially considering when I saw him last I didn't think I was likely to ever see him again let alone his family, friends, and country. It was also really neat to see him in his element rather than in the US. He is really comfortable in Riga and tries to make the most of his surroundings. I had fun hanging out with his friends as well. We mutually enjoyed one another and discussed a number of interesting things throughout the weekend. My summer experience was greatly enriched because of my experiences in Latvia, and I am very glad that I was able to visit. Tomorrow I will be writing about my experience in Munich (and elsewhere) with my parents, so stay tuned!