{"id":3357,"date":"2022-01-28T17:11:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/?p=3357"},"modified":"2022-01-28T17:18:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:18:01","slug":"thomas-kinter-post-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/2022\/01\/28\/thomas-kinter-post-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Kinter: Post 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Thomas Kinter
Learn Russian in the European Union
Daugavpils, Latvia
Spring 2022



January 25, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u041f\u0440\u0438\u0432\u0435\u0442 \u0438\u0437 \u041b\u0430\u0442\u0432\u0438\u0438! I have now been in Latvia for a little more than two weeks. More than a month or two ago I would not have believed that I would actually be here in spite of what felt like a thousand road blocks and diversions that worked to keep me in Virginia. Truth be told, I was extremely nervous and full of self-doubt when I finally did arrive here. I have never before left the United States and have never spent very long away from my home in Richmond. Even spending a semester at Hampden-Sydney only means I am about an hour away, so being four thousand miles away gives me something to think about. Some uneasiness also came from the fact that I speak no Latvian at all, and my Russian is not yet good enough to understand most of what people say to me in Daugavpils, which is where I am staying and where most people speak Russian. However, I suppose this was only the same nervousness that anybody feels when going somewhere new. In any case, the nerves wore off as I settled in and eventually got to know the people I am going to spend the next four months with.
The program I am in is called \u201cLearn Russian in the European Union,\u201d and it is what it sounds like. I chose this program because while Latvia is in the European Union, the city of Daugavpils is predominantly Russian-speaking and, as the program advertises, offers plenty of opportunities for language immersion. Studying in this part of the world also gives me the opportunity to learn about a lot more than just the Russian language. Aspects of the culture of both the Baltics and Russia can be found in this city, and the region around Daugavpils has played a part in thousands of years\u2019 worth of history for the surrounding states.
The Russian classes I have previously taken show me how much I like learning languages, and I hope Russian is only one of many I will learn in my life. After finishing my last semester of Russian at H-SC it was suggested to me that I go abroad to study more. The program here allows me to have Russian immersion in a safe location and also allows me to travel around to different parts of the continent. The major cities of the Baltics are no more than a few hours away by bus or train, and flights out of Riga or Vilnius are fairly cheap and go to many places around eastern Europe. I look forward to both spending time learning in Daugavpils and traveling in my free time.
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Thomas KinterLearn Russian in the European UnionDaugavpils, LatviaSpring 2022 January 25, 2022 \u041f\u0440\u0438\u0432\u0435\u0442 \u0438\u0437 \u041b\u0430\u0442\u0432\u0438\u0438! I have now been in Latvia for a little more than two weeks. More than a month or two ago I would not have believed that I would actually be here in spite of what felt like a thousand road blocks and diversions that worked to keep me in Virginia. Truth be told, I was extremely nervous and full of self-doubt when I finally did arrive here. I have never before left the United States and have never spent very long away from my home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[109],"class_list":["post-3357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-spring","tag-latvia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3357"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3372,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357\/revisions\/3372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}