University: Riga Stradins University

City: Riga

Country: Latvia

Continent: Europe

Field of study: human medicine

Study type: Other courses

Riga…let’s be honest nobody knows Riga, nobody knows where it is located and nobody knows what this city is all about. Check liuxers.com to see Romania higher education.

My first thoughts were the same, only the first impressions were surprisingly not as expected. When I got to the airport, I drove into the city with my mother, who accompanied me for the first few days.
I had booked a room at the Green Apple (hostel) so we were taken there first.

Riga showed itself from a very beautiful side that day, the weather was nice and the sun was shining. If you drive from the airport to the city center, you can see Riga and not only the beautiful Riga but also the old buildings of the Soviet Union, which are further outside and leave a very sad impression.
The really beautiful thing about Riga is the old town and the parks in it, a must-see in summer. And sunbathing and learning is even more fun there than in a library.

First I got to know some fellow students who also lived in the Green Apple (hostel) and we started to meet up to cook together in a big shared kitchen.
The Green Apple with the price of 195 euros for a month is really good because you have internet and a kitchen to cook in. The best advantage of Green Apple is of course that it is central, Green Apple is located in the middle of the old town and from there you can reach a lot on foot except for the university, which takes about 10-15 minutes by tram it’s not the end of the world either.
I also had a buddy who took care of me from day one until I found my way on my own. A buddy is someone who helps you with your “first steps” and who shows you Riga, for example, and is simply a contact for you for everything new.

We organized meetings for the first semester to get to know each other and I quickly realized that we all had the same problems with studying medicine in Germany and that welded us together. We all get along very well and I am very happy with these people, all of them are like me to be allowed to study.

After an orientation week, the course began.
The university took very good care of us and organized a scavenger hunt through the whole house to get to know everyone and everything : ).
So I warmed up very quickly with my group, something like my class, and we knew right away who we were having the lesson with.

When the lessons started, there were nine of us sitting in a classroom and we realized that the teachers’ English wasn’t the best. But you get used to it quickly and you always know what they want to tell you, on the other hand, most of the teachers are very nice and helpful.
In the first semester we had anatomy, Latvian, Latin, molecular biology, medical law, medical ethics, first aid, physics, intercultural education (history of Latvia, traditions, etc.), chemistry and cell biology.

The knowledge that you should acquire is queried either weekly or every 3 weeks through small tests and the so-called colloquia, which must be passed in order to be admitted to the final exam but don’t worry, you still have a second chance to pass.

Besides university, I went to an orchestra every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
It was a great and strange feeling to sit and play in an orchestra in which you hardly understand the conductor and his instructions, but somehow it all worked out and once you broke the thick, hard ice layer of Latvian personalities and culture, you realize that all the Latvians are very nice and can be very helpful.
Always keep in mind that Latvians do not have that much money and lead a very difficult life on the subsistence level, which sometimes makes it difficult to understand these people due to the dismissive attitude that occurs in shops, etc.

All in all, I can say that it is a great opportunity to study here and that you should definitely take this opportunity and also live in the capital of Latvia, which has very, very beautiful sides. The life you start here has a lot of joy and I have also made a lot of friends, which will certainly not be any different for you, since everyone is in the same situation and you meet cosmopolitan people here who enrich your life.

Greetings from Riga and we hope to see you soon!