University: Riga Stradins University

City: Riga

Country: Latvia

Continent: Europe

Field of study: human medicine

Study type: Other courses

Hello,

I’ve been studying at Riga Stradins University since the end of August. Like probably most people who come to Riga, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, although I already had some information from senior students, the great support of MicroEdu and the RSU website. Check mcat-test-centers.com to see 7 best masters in marketing in Europe.

I stayed at the Cinnamon Sally Hostel near the old town for the first two weeks and that was a good thing because you could get to know so many other students – and look around for apartments at your leisure. So I can only recommend the Cinnamon Sally for the early days, even if there are only shared rooms there, you get to know a lot of people quickly. Overall, I settled into Riga quite quickly and the first semester passed in no time.
You shouldn’t miss the orientation week of the RSU, you get to know a lot of people, get a better impression of Riga and you can enjoy the time before the university really starts.

The course is more school-based than in Germany, we have lessons in small groups and especially at the beginning I felt reminded of my school days. In my opinion, the advantage of the school system is that you know both your study group (usually consisting of about 7-10 students) and the professors very well and everything is a bit more personal than when 400 people sit in the same lecture. We write weekly tests in anatomy and there are also several colloquia during the semester. Personally, I think that’s all very well, because you always have to keep learning and in the end you can’t be overwhelmed by the amount of material.
You get used to the somewhat over-the-top classes and the peculiarities of the university relatively quickly, as well as the English of the professors, which is often not perfect, but is still mostly understandable, even if you weren’t a ace in English class before.

Riga’s old town is beautiful and has a lot to offer. There are great cafes and restaurants and it’s a good place to go out in the evenings. Taxi rides are also quite cheap, so you can get home quickly and safely at night. Great shared flats and apartments are easy to find in Riga and the transport connections from the city to the Anatomikum and the university are very good. When it comes to apartments, however, you should be aware that it can be difficult to keep very large apartments warm in winter (which is really cold here!) and generally things are a bit different with rental contracts, deposits, etc. sometimes than in winter as we are used to in Germany, but at some point you always find something suitable and as I said, there are enough nice apartments in Riga. You should look a little longer and not necessarily accept the first offer that comes along,
As soon as you leave the city and drive towards the beach or the airport, for example, you quickly realize that you are in the “east” and on the outskirts of Riga you can still see very simply built houses and a lot of poverty and there is also a lack of drunks Not.
The Latvians are a bit reserved and you have to get used to them a bit, but the younger people in particular are often very keen to show Latvia from its beautiful side and the English of many Latvians is also very good. You can always make yourself understood when shopping, etc., sometimes even in German. With a positive attitude and a little patience, I think Riga is a good place to live.
The supermarkets also have some German products, at Rimi, for example, you can shop well, although there is a lack of delicious German bread without caraway and the offer for vegetarians is not that big, but apart from that you can get (almost) everything here.

I’m glad I decided to go to Riga, you get to know a lot of new people quickly, there’s a lot of solidarity among the students because we’re all in the same situation and the university is mostly fun, even if you don’t understand the subject matter may underestimate. And I don’t think that the experiences you gain from studying abroad can ever hurt.