Stokholma, Zviedrija

Evening at the beach in Jūrmala

On Monday, I went to Jūrmala with Egija and her friend Klinta.  It was so nice to go and sit on the beach, with the wind in my hair.  We took the train and it only took about 20 minutes to get there.  When we arrived, we got off the train, got some ice cream, and headed toward the sea.  Shortly after we had picked out a spot and sat down, a bird pooped on Klinta!  She freaked out and ran to the sea to wash it off, and then showed Egija.  Egija laughed at her and went to go change into her swimsuit.  When Egija came back, she told us that a bird had pooped on HER!  For the rest of the evening, I was so nervous that I was next, and the birds were just waiting for the perfect moment.  Luckily, I never was pooped on.  Don't be fooled, though.  The birds were just planning out their attack on me...

Stockholm, Sweden

The next day, I headed out for Stockholm, Sweden.  I will admit, my trip to Sweden was not the best.  I was traveling with Sanita and her parents and we took a big ferry.  The ferry was kind of like a small cruise ship.  There were restaurants, bars, a store, everything.  I had never been on a ship like this, so it was kind of exciting.  The ship left at 5 PM and arrived in Stockholm the next morning at 11 AM.  In the morning, we ate breakfast in a cafe that had a view out of the front of the ship.  The way into Stockholm was so beautiful, because the ship was maneuvering between thousands of small islands.  The area reminded me so much of Voyageurs National Park, where I go camping every summer with my dad and my brother.  When we got to Stockholm, however, it was raining so hard.  For the first half of the day, we took a bus tour, but the tour was in Russian, so I didn't understand anything.  It was nice to see the city in a dry place, though.  After the tour, we were left to explore the city on foot.  But, because of the rain, we didn't see much.  I didn't get very many pictures because I didn't want to get my camera wet and I didn't see very much of the city because I was always looking down at the cobblestone trying not to slip.  After awhile, we just decided to go back to the ship an hour early because it just wasn't worth it to be so miserable in the pouring rain.  The way back to Riga was not as fun as the way there, because everyone was tired and cranky.

Even though the trip itself wasn't so great, there were a lot of positives.  Stockholm is a seriously beautiful city.  It is in such a nice part of the world and it is so green.  I would really love to go back on a sunny day sometime.  I also feel like my Latvian improved a lot on the trip, because Sanita's parents don't speak any English, so I had to communicate a lot in Latvian.  Sanita was always translating for me, so I knew what was going on and was able to listen and follow the conversation a lot easier.  I have started speaking Lat-glish now, which I think will help a lot in my learning.  I am using Latvian words when I can, and after some time passes, I will hopefully be able to fill in the blanks where I am currently using English.  I am learning more and more every day and it is becoming increasingly less overwhelming.

When I got back home today, I was really tired from the trip and came into my room to chill.  It is now Thursday and the birds have had three days to plan out their attack.  I was sitting on my computer and uploading my photos, when, all of a sudden, a big black bird flew through the window into my room!  I screamed and Lauris came in, wondering what had happened.  He shooed the bird back out the window and all was good again.  It was so crazy.  Now I am just hoping that that was the extent of the birds' attack on me...