NSLI-Y Latvia – Week 3
Greetings everyone! This week, we’d like to share a blog post written by Alex and Will:
Hello to all the readers, friends, and family back home! As we reach the halfway point in our trip, we all continue to strengthen the friendships and connections we’ve made while also becoming more confident with the Russian language and experiencing as much of Latvia as we can.
This week, our classes have been packed with vocabulary describing houses and apartments, as well as loads of grammar rules, including the prepositional case. The prepositional case is used to convey where something is. We’ve also learned about plural nouns and the loads of exceptions related to them.
This past weekend, we had an exhilarating excursion to Cēsis Castle, and though the weather was not perfect sunshine, the memories made and the fun had were not altered by the cloudy skies. Not only did we encounter the rich history of the castle. We also explored the Ērgļu Cliffs and some local caves! Our tour guide Uldis told us so much about each place we visited.
This school week started off strong with a visit to the U.S. Embassy. We got to ask questions and hear a speech by Ambassador Christopher Robinson. The energy continued at this week’s RD Meeting on Tuesday, when we learned about the history of Latvia and its respective regions, and also gave presentations on the subject.
Then, on Wednesday, we went to the KGB museum in Old Riga, where we explored The Corner House. During the Soviet era, the building was used as a prison for those who had been labeled ‘anti-communist.’ The building had been used in other ways over its long history, too. On Thursday after school, while no formal excursion happened, many students informally went to watch the Tet Rally Latvia, part of the FIA World Rally Championship. It was a great way to unwind.
We finished this week with our peer partner activity as we do every Friday. This week, we drew houses and explained them to others with our peer partner. We got to practice our new house vocabulary and prepositional case through the conversations.
After that wrapped up, the program was officially halfway over. Though it’s been three weeks in Riga, we look back now at what felt like yesterday when we landed in this foreign country with little to no knowledge of anything. Every single student has made leaps and bounds in their language acquisition while picking up so much rich Latvian culture, sure to be brought back to the United States soon! Thanks for reading and make sure to check back in for next week’s blog!
Uldis explaining operations outside of the castle to the students.
Joaquin, Sophie, Nadiya, Savyon and Robert pose in front of the Cesis castle.
Sophie and Joaquin with a lantern – ready to enter the castle!
The entire туса 16 group standing in front of the Cēsis Castle.
Rose, Yuxuan, Lena, and Carissa taking a selfie at the top of the Ērgļu Cliffs.
Joaquin, Sophie, Robert, Savyon, Nadiya, and Katherine at the caves.
A part of Ludmila’s class studying new nouns and cases we were given.
Dom and Dalton working on homework while eating at a local restaurant at Acropole mall.
Robert walking around Riga with his host dogs.
Туса 16 looking at one of the keys that the Nazis buried inside the walls of the KGB house to prevent the Soviets from using it again.
Students listen to the tour guide describe prison conditions in the KGB headquarters.
Omer relaxing with his host family and friends.
Omer, Alex, and Alex’s Host Mom Natalia at the University of Latvia’s Botanical Garden.
Yuxuan with her host family about to play mini golf with soccer balls in Siguldu.
Group of Rose, Katherine, Dalton, and Madhav explaining the Kurzeme region of Latvia at this week’s RD meeting.
Robert outside of the American Embassy.
Group embassy picture!
Dalton and Dom at the WRC Tet Rally in Riga.
Robert, Yuxuan, Joaquin, and Nadiya presenting on the Latgale region of Latvia and sharing the flag they made for it.
Alex and Will working with their peer partners to learn Russian.