{"id":195096,"date":"2022-01-20T13:37:35","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T11:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/out-and-about-an-email-from-riga-latvia-2\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T14:39:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T12:39:50","slug":"out-and-about-an-email-from-riga-latvia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/out-and-about-an-email-from-riga-latvia-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Out and About: An email from Riga, Latvia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In <em>Out and About<\/em> we chat with people who are currently living abroad or have lived there before. This week we chat to Marelize Vermeulen, who are living in Riga, Latvia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Where do you live and for how long have you been living there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I live in Riga, Latvia, since August 2019 \u2013 about a year and a half now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the most interesting thing that you have eaten in Riga?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a difficult question \u2026 The food here is mostly like the food we have in South Africa: bread, meat and potatoes and a lot of titbits. Riga also boasts the largest market (according to surface) in Europe, so there is always a new bread, pie or cookie to try out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the list of weird foods I would include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Black bread \u2013 This is their traditional garlic bread that you eat like you would eat biltong in South Africa. It is pitch black and is toasted and served hot, normally with a white dipping sauce.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Black beer \u2013 It goes well with the black bread. It is a dark lager brewed by Valmeimui\u017eas Alus. It has the colour of brandy and coke, tastes light just like a lager and has a fruity aftertaste. &nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Karums \u2013 These are sweets made of cottage cheese with many a flavour mixed in. It looks like an Italian kiss, but instead of the chocolate inside, the karum has cottage cheese. It is what I would call an acquired taste, but it is tasty and the children here eat it like hot cake. I have to add, however, that cottage cheese can be found in almost every dish here. &nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Smoked fish&nbsp;\u2013 to pick and choose from.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What advice do you have for someone who wants to study in Riga?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think once\u2019s study options in Riga are limited, unfortunately. But they do boast unbelievable medical, dental and engineering faculties. I study at the Riga Strandins University (RSU) in Riga and would recommend it to anyone who wants to study dentistry or medicine. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My favourite benefits are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You obtain a EU qualification.<\/li><li>The classes are small (maximum 12 students per class, on average eight students) with practical training.&nbsp;<\/li><li>You can study in English.<\/li><li>The city is cosmopolitan with a large international community.<\/li><li>They offer top medical training technology.<\/li><li>Most lecturers (even at preclinics) are doctors themselves.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The only drawback currently is that no bursaries are available to South Africans, which is a bit of a frustration. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Latvia has a little bit of everything. It is small, beautiful and inexpensive, and you get all the benefits of the European way of life. Moreover, Latvia is just a bus, train or cheap air ticket away from all the other European countries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most important thing to remember is to follow your dreams. If these lead to Latvia, then so be it. Just ensure that you do your homework beforehand. I would choose the RSU time and time again. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is considered a luxury in Latvia that is quite affordable in South Africa?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Affordable<\/em> is the important word here \u2026 The first thing that came to mind is safety. On a lighter note, though, it is definitely the travelling. The bug got me quite hard. It is easy, quick and cheap to get on a train, bus, airplane or ferry like a true student, eat street food and sleep in inexpensive hostels. This allows me to explore the world often, mostly on my own.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedgallery.kb-gallery-wrap-id-_f6bc26-2d{margin-top:20px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:20px;margin-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedgallery .kb-gallery-type-tiles.kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d{margin:-3px;}.kb-gallery-type-tiles.kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d .kadence-blocks-gallery-item{padding:3px;}.kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d.kb-gallery-ul.kb-gallery-type-tiles .kadence-blocks-gallery-item .kadence-blocks-gallery-item-inner img, .kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d.kb-gallery-ul.kb-gallery-type-tiles > .kadence-blocks-gallery-item{height:458px;}.kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d .kadence-blocks-gallery-item .kb-gal-image-radius, .kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d .kb-slide-item .kb-gal-image-radius img{border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;;}<\/style><div class=\"kb-gallery-wrap-id-_f6bc26-2d alignnone wp-block-kadence-advancedgallery\"><ul class=\"kb-gallery-ul kb-gallery-non-static kb-gallery-type-tiles kb-gallery-id-_f6bc26-2d kb-gallery-caption-style-bottom-hover kb-gallery-filter-none\" data-image-filter=\"none\" data-lightbox-caption=\"true\"><li class=\"kadence-blocks-gallery-item\" tabindex=\"0\"><div class=\"kadence-blocks-gallery-item-inner\"><figure class=\"kb-gallery-figure kadence-blocks-gallery-item-hide-caption\"><div class=\"kb-gal-image-radius\"><div class=\"kb-gallery-image-contain\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marelize3.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"\" data-full-image=\"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marelize3.jpg\" data-light-image=\"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marelize3.jpg\" data-id=\"88143\" class=\"wp-image-88143\"\/><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/li><li class=\"kadence-blocks-gallery-item\" tabindex=\"0\"><div class=\"kadence-blocks-gallery-item-inner\"><figure class=\"kb-gallery-figure kadence-blocks-gallery-item-hide-caption\"><div class=\"kb-gal-image-radius\"><div class=\"kb-gallery-image-contain\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marelize.jpg\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"\" data-full-image=\"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marelize.jpg\" data-light-image=\"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/marelize.jpg\" data-id=\"88145\" class=\"wp-image-88145\"\/><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Out and About we chat with people who are currently living abroad or have lived there before. This week&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":171837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1114],"tags":[426,429,42],"class_list":["post-195096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en","tag-afriforum","tag-afrikaans","tag-wereldwyd-en"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1114,"label":"Blog"}],"post_tag":[{"value":426,"label":"AfriForum"},{"value":429,"label":"afrikaans"},{"value":42,"label":"Wereldwyd"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/marelize2-1.jpg",853,853,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"AfriForum W\u00eareldwyd","author_link":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/author\/dune-vanwykafriforum-co-za\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1114,"name":"Blog","slug":"blog-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1114,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1098,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":1114,"category_count":1098,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Blog","category_nicename":"blog-en","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":426,"name":"AfriForum","slug":"afriforum","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":426,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":423,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":429,"name":"afrikaans","slug":"afrikaans","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":429,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":341,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":42,"name":"Wereldwyd","slug":"wereldwyd-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":42,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":222,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/marelize2-1.jpg","fimg_url":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/marelize2-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195097,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195096\/revisions\/195097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}