23-29. November

I was working hard in my sculpture lessons that week, since I learned there are two works to be presented in the upcoming exhibition/presentation on 9th of December, my last schoolday in Riga. One of them consists of making a sculpture of a shape I formed with a paper strip, which almost looks like the infinity sign, and after making the shape in clay, my task was to surround the clay with plaster mould and later pour it in plaster, resulting in a plaster sculpture. That week I finished my plaster mould and I am ready to pour it in plaster at upcoming week. Another task is to make a clay sculpture of my hand, which I also started and am about to finish in upcoming week. I find it therapeutic to work with clay, but at the same time, it is difficult, since in Tartu Art School, the sculpture classes were sparse and not the main focus of my study program. Although I feel like I have been learning quite a lot about what making sculpture is about, and I am glad that I can be productive and proactive about this.

I also want to describe my thoughts about latvians. The more time I spend in Riga, the more difficult it becomes to find differences between latvians and estonians, since it becomes much easier to find similarities. For example, latvians are dreary people, kind of introverted, find it difficult to speak with foreigners naturally and prefer to work side by side quietly before they decide to get to know you. This is all very similar to estonians. It is said to foreigners to ask directions on the street when you get lost, and I have found it to be challenging, since latvians are unassuming and do not naturally speak with foreigners that well. This is different, compared to swedes and danes, who are also kind of introverted, but speak with foreigners more at ease, according to my personal experience.

I remember from that week that I also visited a performance art at Arsenals with Tereze, a girl from JRMMV, but the performance art, supposed to be a starting ceremony for watercolour exhibition, was really weird and bewildering to me. I almost felt it was mocking me, so I didn't enjoy the experience at all.

30. November - 4. December

I started my internship week at DDB Latvia, the company that has many chains all over the world, one of them being here in Riga. My first task given by computer graphics teacher here, Matiss, was to design a postcard invitation to the company's christmas party, in more specific, about the act of making gifts to each other, where gifts are put in one giant bag and pulled out on random, so it results in a mystery about who made it, and whom it goes to. Matiss told me to explore stylistic examples at first, and then to make three concepts, from which, one will be chosen to develop further.

The company itself is very lovely, I have my own table in one of their offices, and I can drink free coffee, using the coffee maker in here, and I really enjoy the coffee in here. They also have various teas and other appliances and possibilities in here, such as being able to read magazines for graphic designers and to network and converse with other designers and art directors, learning more about the behind-the-scenes of designer company's work flow and tasks.

I will also add one of the concepts I made for the task given by matiss, which is a comics strip. Enjoy!

In the Wednesday, there was a brief scheduled with the art director, but she didn't really accept the first variant I made, saying that the story is not so clear on this one, so I spent rest of Wednesday and Thursday on taking new pictures, putting together a slightly better version. For Friday's brief, I made the one like this:

It was actually a lot inspired by popular Latvian comicbook magazine called "Kuššš!", which I referenced to the teacher as being one of my main stilistic examples for making this comics strip.

9. December

This was my last day in Latvia. It was a day I spent in sculpture lesson, and I remember that the latvian students couldn't believe that I was really going back to Estonia, and they were feeling kind of emotional, since they asked me questions, like "how did you like the time being?" and "what was your most disappointing and best moment in here?" and such. I hugged at least 10 people goodbye (girls in specific, I just shook hands with the boys) and to my surprise, that one girl who used to be mad at me ran at me when she saw me and insisted that we hug each other goobye. I promised them I will come back to Riga one day, and told me that I am always welcome to come back and check them at school, as long as I notify about it on facebook in advance.

I presented my works to Inese as well, she kept a copy of the presentation file with the works in her computer, and prepared all the paper necessary for officially ending the internship, including the Europass Mobility document and signatures for Erasmus+ contracts, on behalf of receiving organisation.

After the school I went back to my dorm and started cleaning my room for leaving tomorrow. It was kind of nostalgic to see my room in the same condition as when I first entered the dorm, as I was done cleaning it.

2-8. November

At the beginning of the week, I was talking with girl named Tereze about visiting more museums in Riga, and she agreed to show me around after the classes. We visited exhibition of movie production, exhibition of Riga artists who were somehow also connected to art group Kursi Koolkond in Estonia, which was interesting. Tereze knew the hostess of the latter exhibition somehow, which meant that she shared us some of her red wine, which was a lovely gesture. One exhibition we went to was crowded and we couldn't see anything: the room was filled with all those fancy people in suits, so we unfortunately had to reschedule from there. It was a great night otherwise, I really want to thank Tereze!

On Friday, I visited a very exciting exhibition called "superconduction: challenge of art & technology" and it was held in a narrow house somewhere almost in Old Riga. I was invited by a girl called Dzelde, who was also one of the tour guides, along with about 10 other girls from our school.



The exhibition was interesting, I learned that I can communicate with plants in another countries over the internet, I learned that you can make a very detailed map out of photographs from social media tagged in certain locations and many other things related to science and technology.

9-15. November

 

 On Tuesday I met up with the guy from our school, Kristians, and he showed me the Riga market, in particular the one shop that was selling graphic t-shirts. I don't think I can name anything specific about that market, if anything, I made an observation that it's not even much different from a marketplace in Estonia. That is actually what I begin to notice more and more in Latvia: so much is very similar to Estonia. There are even words that are the same: Katlumāja in latvian, katlamaja in estonian.

On 11. November, Wednesday, there was an important holiday in Latvia. As I understood correctly, they were celebrating "Latvian Freedom Fighters’ Remembrance Day - Lacplesis Day". At the daytime, I gathered in the big hall for the lecture about that day's historical significance to Latvia. The lecture was in latvian, so I had Tereze next to me who was translating some parts of the lecture to me in english, but it was funny that even she did not fully understood the history and events, so it limited her ability to translate, but at least I learned something new, for example some details about importans latvian painter Jāzeps Grosvalds. 

On the evening, I was out on the street, where I saw a whole ocean (metaphorically) of candles, in rememberance of the soldiers. The street was right next to Daugava river. I also met up with a girl called Ance, and she shared me a candle to also light it.

Only thing that saddened me about the whole day was that when I was asking from the students about the day and what it is about, they were not really able to explain, and some people even wanted to avoid the topic, as if the day is nothing special, or the lecture was mindnumbingly boring. I have decided to not be dragged down by it, since it always pays off to be curious, instead of being carried by with indifference. I am not talking about students being indifferent, since it is not my first day of school and I know that students anywhere tend to get bored or not pay attention - I am talking about these moments where I felt awkward, since I see latvians have something going on, such as holiday, and I really want to be let in on this, but I find it rather difficult if latvians display indifference about the whole thing when I ask questions. I have to thank Tereze here again, because she was probably the only person who made effort to explain what is behind the celebrations, and few other people as well, such as Rute.

On Friday, I went to DDB Latvia. Their logo:

 

 I scheduled a meeting with my Computer Graphics teacher Matiss, who works in DDB Latvia. The purpose of the meeting\tour was to introduce me to designers and directors in DDB Latvia and show me the rooms and the building, offices, pictures, facilities, technology and such, since in the last week at Riga I will begin my intership week at that company. The designers were friendly, light-hearted and very knowledgeable about what they do, which was something I admired.

The office rooms were really cool-looking, I saw lots of clever posters, images and texts on the walls, and generally, it really looked like my dream job. I want to thank my Inese for arranging this opportunity, as well as teacher Matiss for welcoming the initiative.

 

 

 

 

26. October

On Monday I had Conceptual Composition in the morning. It was mostly individual work on a concept of my own, for which I had an idea - Stop-Motion video. I showed my stop-motion so far to the teacher, who gave me some feedback and a green light to go forward with the idea.

At this day, I also learned from Inese that my timetable will change. There will be less fine arts subjects, such as no painting, drawing and composition. Instead, there will be more computer subjects, such as more Computer Graphics. I welcomed this decision, because I have hinted it before to Inese and other teachers that I will learn much more relevant skills with computer subjects than with fine art studies.

27. October

Tuesday was a one of the days with the only fine arts subject where I had work to continue, Sculpture. The clay statue already begins to take shape, I am glad. The teacher looks like a really serious man, but occasionally shows some sense of humor. Really therapeutic subject, but after few hours or so, sculpting becomes straining and I have to rely on teacher's notions.

28. October

Wednesday was again sculpture in the morning, followed by lots of foto lessons. I scrapped my previous work and started on a fresh page. It's still work in progress. Basically, as I understand, I am supposed to prepare a black and white photo manipulation, which will be later used for photo printing. Teacher speaks in really long sentences, but I give my best to understand, what he is saying.

29. October

On Thursday I was invited to a field trip in the morning, but later it turned out that school didn't want me to go, since I need to attend to maximum amount of lessons offered by teacher. I was really sad, but whatever. 

In Computer Graphics, the teacher revealed to me that he could actually accept me for 1 intership week at company he is hired by - the DDB Latvia. It was good news! Teacher told me that the company belongs to a world-wide chain, and that they are one of the biggest design companies operating in the baltics.

I spent the rest of my time mastering my pen-tool skills on Illustrator, by designing a word logo.

30. October

Technically, it was a free day, according to renewed time table, but I still came to school, working on my clay statue, since the teacher told me that it needs to be completed next week and I might fall behind otherwise. It was also partly suggested by me, so I was happy to continue working and show some self-discipline like that.

Rest of the day was another sad news: Kaisla, the finnish exchange student, she is leaving today! She gave us all flowers and hugged everyone goodbye! It was an emotional moment.

At friday night, me, Sara (visiting student from Chech Republic for few days) and Ance went to DAD Cafe, since one of our schoolmates, Rute, was hosting an exhibition of her painting works in there. It was a fun night, I got to see the infamous Miera street.

12. Oktober

   I went to the Riga by bus from Tartu. Bus was going from 7:30 till 11:30. I arrived at Riga Bus Station. The weather was beautiful. After some time wandering around in Bus Station, I met Inese. She brought me by a minivan, which was driven by the school's principal himself. I was also greeted by another exchange student, a finnish girl Kaisla. She arrived on 5. October and will be staying until 30. October. I engaged in a conversation with the people in the minivan.

  I was driven by a dormitory, located on a small island not far away from Riga's city centre. Small island is called Kipsala. The dorminory was modern and quite luxurious, from inside and from the outside as well. Later I was told it's the official dormitory for Riga Technical University's students, but I was accommodated here since Janis Rozentalz's school does not have an official dormintory. When I reached the spot, I signed some papers here and there, I got the keys and Inese made a little tour to my room. Inese organised it so that for tomorrow, there is going to be another student to meet me and Liza, and guide us to the school. No lessons were planned on my day of arrival, so I took the day off and explored the mall nearby called Olimpia.

13. Oktober

  I woke up and rushed in front of the dormitory. Me and Liza were greeted by another student called Milda. School was within 20-minutes of walking distance. At first we visited the Inese's office, where she brought us up to date about school's schedules, rules, details and faculties. 3 girls (Milda, Patricia and Sofia) also met up with up and gave us a tour around the schoolhouse. It was a 5-story building. Later I also heard that I am going to have lots of computer-related subjects, while Liza and Kaisla will be having more fine arts-related subjects instead.

  First lesson was Sculpture, where we had to make a shape out of a paper strip and model a sculpture based on that paper shape. After that I had a break, I went outside for a smoke with couple of students, who were all very eager to meet me and bring me up to date with school's rumors and general gossip.  After that I had a painting class, where teacher asked about which colours am I accostumed to use, and I responded: Acrylics, so she got me some acrylic paints from the nearest shop. I was still out of some art supplies, so me and Kaisla went to the nearest art shop after the lessons and I bought my supplies.

14. Oktober

 I was a little late on Wednesday, since I got a little lost on my way to school. On the morning, Inese told me that we can make student cards, which are necessary for making bus cards. With the bus cards, I could use public transportation within Riga for free. Later, I continued the work with my sculpture. Next lesson was Graphics.

  Next lesson was Photo, where we were introduced into the process of bringing a photograph to life. In that class, they made a picture of me for the document photo, which was convenient. I sent it to Inese. Later on, I visited a music shop Randoms and bought some Baltic Comicbooks, which were supposed to be quite popular in Latvia, according to my schoolmates.

15. Oktober

  When I arrived, the next lesson was Computer Graphics, where teacher could turn more attention to me, since it was a smaller group. The teacher was very helpful and friendly, he showed me some useful tricks on Adobe Illustrator, and left an assignment where I had to design a logo out of a word. I chose the word, which means "Friendly" in latvian. I got to use a very big tablet with screen built in, which was really Sci-Fi and wonderful. I really liked that class.

   Next lesson was Design Graphic. In that lesson, I learned about my homework, the independent task of decorating my own name letters on a white background, and designing a poster to be printed out later.

  After that I took a break and the group of cigarette smokers around school showed me various hide-out spots where they kill their time. We were conversing and gossiping It was fun.

  I continued on to drawing. We were drawing an antique Creek/Rome-style statue head. The lesson was funny, Kaisla couldn't stop laughing at how similar estonian and finnish sound like.

  After that, me, Liza and Ance went to the city centre to get the bus card. We waited for quite a while, and Liza was almost falling asleep, but it was fun, because Ance was curious about me and we had lot to talk about. At the end, we hugged each other and I returned to the dormitory.
  

   16. October.

  I arrived to school to begin with Composition in the morning. Lesson was kind of slow-winding, but somewhat independent task, so we each had our own tempos for working. After that there was a long break, during which I socialised around the school, and did my homeworks. By the end of the day, I made it to Painting, where I continued my painting on a cardboard canvas.

  

   19. October.

  Start of the week was  uncomfortable for me, since I have catched cold, but I still arrived to school to begin with Conceptual Composition. The teacher gave me out an assignment, which was very interesting: to make an illustration, or make a project out of telling alphabet with some words, using the same overlapping style for illustrations throughout the whole layout.

  There was lots of free time, during which I was slowly working on my other assignments. Including this, working on a presentation I am supposed to give on Tuesday,

 I continued by taking the last lessons to go on a down and make investments in some supplies necessary for the name-letters assignment.

  20. October.

   After the lessons, it was a big day for me: International evening. We had some tea and cookies while some students performed with a presentation about Janis Rozentalz's art school, history of Riga and about latvian artists. We were thankful, and after Liza I performed with a very cool presentation where I told something about myself, Tartu Art School, gave general overview of Tartu and quickly briefed on some of the known estonian artists. After that, there was presentation by Kaisla, who sung a song for us on guitar (Kaisla is a good singer) and who handed out some lakrits-flavoured sweets. After that, we continued to converse, eat cookies, drink tea and play introductory games, such as a version of "Simon Says". It was a lovely evening, and thanks to my great idea, we also made a really fun group photo, as seen in here: 

21. October

  I remember that on this day, I was feeling really under the weather and sick, so I had problems getting to classes on time. I had fever, cough and runny nose, but I figured that I couldn't afford falling behind in studies, so made the decision to go to school.

 In the evening, Me, Liza, Kaisla and Ance were going to Riga's Old town to check out some museums. Most of them were closed by that time, unfortunately, but we managed to visit one particular museum, very similar to Estonia's "KUMU" museum on the inside. With the student card, the good news are also that most of museums will be free of charge. Thank you Ance for organizing this evening! :) 

 23. October.

  On Friday, I was mostly preoccupied with doing my homework, and I had an incident where I lost my MP3 player, so I had to wander and get lost in the city center for 5 hours (I also snuck by a fast food place in during that time) until I reached the electronics store. Everything was expensive, but I "am not too rich to buy a cheap thing", so I finally bought a moderately priced MP3 player.