Public School Vs. Distant Learning

 Hello Everybody!
 This week is my last study week at school in my whole life. In next two weeks I will have only three days of exams and then I will have a graduation June 9. This is the ending of an era. I have been going to a public school for my whole life and I cannot be more grateful for that then I already am now. Those have been the best years of my life and I have had so much fun. In this post I just want to talk about pros and cons of public school education comparing to distant learning which a few of my friends also prefer.
 First, you can make real life friendships which will last forever in a public school. Going to school isn't only about boring lessons, tests and deadlines which stress you out it's also about building relationships with people and learning solve real life conflicts both with teachers and with students. Unfortunately, learning distantly does not offer you that experience which will be very valuable not only in your personal life but also in your career when maybe you'll have to work in a group or try to find a compromise with your manager while trying to maintain good relationships with all your co-workers because you wouldn't want to work in company where everybody hate you. Work isn't really that much different from school if to be honest. Also the discipline at school prepares you to take responsibility and initiative at your future work place. It gives you confidence in yourself.
  Second,  school teaches you to work hard and actually study. And for those students who can't do that school teaches them to use all their power of creativity to get through it. Sadly a lot of distant learning students don't develop any of these skills. Very often their tests and homework are being made by somebody else as a teacher can't check who sits at the other side of the screen. This kind of learning doesn't really give you anything because once you'll have to really understand something at work nobody will be able to send any knowledge into your brain via Bluetooth.
  Third, aside from learning how to learn and contacts school gives you the opportunity to participate in many projects and have excursions, trips and exchange programs. I think that's the most fun thing. I personally have participated in some competitions with my classmates and have received valuable prizes, some of my classmates could get to know the other European countries' cultures by exchange programs and I with other students also could see the variety of our world while having excursions abroad and also within our country. That's a great experience! I wish all of you could have that. Today as we had our last Chinese lessons our teacher has prepared us a video. In the video we saw all the amazing things we did together like celebrating Chinese festivals, having tea ceremonies, cooking, singing, dancing...just everything! This is so precious. So many sweet memories that I am afraid I am about to start crying now and this isn't even our graduation ceremony yet.
  However, of course distant learning has its pluses: mobility, not having to wake up early all the time, bigger opportunity to combine studying and working etc. But I would choose it only if I had to travel with my family most of the time or if I had to work full-time so that I could earn more money for a living or if I would have already started my dream career and wanted to dedicate most of time to that. But please don't choose distant learning if your motivation is to sleep more, always stay inside of the house and study less - that's just not healthy nor good for you.
  Well, I hope I have inspired somebody and that this post makes you appreciate all the priceless experiences the school has to offer to you. It is about so much more than just getting a paper of graduation. Take the most out of your time at school and make the most of your childhood and teenage years because so many people years later regret the opportunities they have missed and you can't turn the clock back.
  Love you,
  Eva x

Yes, I thought a High School Musical 2 picture would sum it up :)

Tallinn

  Hello, Everybody!

  About two weeks ago I and my friends had a road trip to Tallinn, Estonia. The two days we spent there and on the road were full of fun, laughter and adventures.  We visited a church which held a conference for the youth and I met some of my friends from different cities which made me very happy. In this post I'll tell you a little bit more about what I liked in Tallinn.

This is a beautiful church which is located right in the city's center.

  The first day we came there after a meeting we went for a little walk in Tallinn Old Town. My friend wanted to take us to a beautiful pizzeria hidden in some small corner of the town. The yard outside was decorated with colorful fairy lights which looked magical but unfortunately a picture can't tell you how wonderful it really was. Then inside this pizzeria had a medieval decor with the stone walls. It was very pretty but unfortunately by the time we got there pizzeria's kitchen didn't work anymore which was a pity. So we had to leave and go to a McDonald's as usual. :D

Outside the pizzeria

  By night I and a few other girls stayed at my friend's house which is located in completely different part of the city somewhere far away from the center. We had some lovely talk about life with a cup of tea which was very nice. At the time we finally decided to go to bed we realized that we have only four hours left to sleep. Why does it always happen? But we were alright. I still felt quite energized the next morning :D The locals told us that there is sea in twenty  minutes walk but we obviously did not have time to visit the seaside. Perhaps, that's the reason for a second visit. ;)

  Next morning we woke up early and had a normal tour across the old town which was still sleeping at that time (only 24/7 McDonald's worked :P). The city is very beautiful. I even think that probably the medieval architecture is preserved there better than in Riga Old Town. I've also noticed that Riga Old Town's main street is packed with bars and clubs but Tallinn Old Town's main street looks more peaceful and their bars and clubs aren't that noticeable. Maybe it's even better that way.

Watchtower's panorama.

 The restaurants entertain people with shows in medieval style: clowns, dances, knights. Sometimes the restaurants' staff even stand outside in their costumes and try to attract customers with their show. It brings the atmosphere of the old town about one thousand years back. I wish there was something like this in my hometown.

  I hope you can see at least a little bit how beautiful Tallinn is. I didn't want to take many pictures - just wanted to enjoy my time off in a beautiful place. That morning was freezing cold so unfortunately I didn't see the whole city. After some more meetings in the evening we drove back home. And in my opinion the time on the road was the most valuable because we had opportunity to laugh together and to talk together about the deep things.

  I hope I will do some more travelling and exploring very soon so that I can share more with you how beautiful the world is.

  Love

Visiting Fashion Musuem

  Hello Everybody!
  Some time ago I went to Fashion Museum of Alexandre Vassiliev Foundation in Riga. It was an amazing time. I still can't believe that this whole collection belongs to only ONE person. It was huge. The name of this exhibition was "Elegance of the 1930s". You can still see it until the 24th of April because they change the exhibition every six months. See more:  http://www.fashionmuseumriga.lv/eng/
  I think this exhibition was truly magical because I could see the "pre-war chic" and also the usual everyday clothing which still looks many times more elegant than what we wear everyday nowadays. There was also a lot of accessories for us to see and it helped to understand better the everyday life of the people who lived then. I will talk about my favourite pieces and outfits in more details.

  What you see above are my favourite jackets and a bolero (I think it's bolero). Why I love them so much is because of all the hard handwork that was put into them. Every little glitter, every little bead and the neat embroidery in general. It looks fantastic. The jacket number 3 is made by Chanel and in my opinion it still looks beautiful, modern and stylish. People used to wear this clothes to the theatre. Now it is a big rarity to see something like this on the street and in public places.

  The backs of these dresses are just perfect. Imagine how much effort and time went into sewing or knitting these laces! It's a real quality work.

 

  These two dresses were the kind of dresses people would wear everyday at home or for a lunch date, or maybe even at work. They are so colourful and each one has some interesting details like the sleeves, an interesting belt and a decollete. I would like to have this green dress. Probably it's my favourite from the whole exhibition because it's so simple, classy, beautiful and exquisite at the same time.

  Now try to guess where people would wear something like this? Right! To the beach. It's a beach costume everybody used to wear in 1930s. It's hard to imagine knowing that nowadays people usually don't wear any clothes to the beach at all except only the bikini (and even that doesn't happen always).

  In this picture my favourite part is the necklace and the headband. Again such a neat work! I'd like to know how many crystals the designer had to use to make these accessories.

<3 <3 <3

  This little notebook girls used to write down the names of partners for each dance. That's so cute. Imagine when somebody wants to dance with you but you have to check your notebook to know if there are any blank spaces. And if you don't want to dance with somebody you just lie that your dance schedule is full.

  To whom do you think this perfume in the picture belongs? It's not Chanel 5 as you may think. There is an S on the top of the bottle. This S stands for Elsa Schiaparelli, an Italian fashion designer who lived and worked at the same time as Coco Chanel did and was her biggest competitor. It's funny how even their perfumes' bottles look alike and somehow compete with each other.

  From the accessories my favourite part was the variety of different small bags which all were very original and had many tiny details on them. When I'll see something like this in the stores I'll definitely buy it. It's so elegant, original and pretty. 

  After attending this exhibition I feel like I was born in a wrong era. Of course I understand that this chic came after the First World War because people wanted to celebrate and live fully. It didn't last long because the Second War came quickly and all of it ended but it was a very beautiful era. I wish we could have at least a little bit of what they had. During the excursion I've also found out that in 1930s appeared first big makeup brands that we still know today like Maybelline and Max Factor. There is an interesting story about how the world Maybelline was invented. Actually it's Vaseline+Mabel. Mabel is the name of the Maybelline mascara inventor's sister. And Vaseline is one of the mascara's ingredient.

  Well I think you've had enough of information. :) Would you like to visit this exhibition? Do you also miss the 1930s era?

  Love,

  Eva

Nice places to eat, drink and relax in Riga

 Hello, Everybody!
 In case you're thinking of visiting Riga or you live in Riga but don't know where you could have a nice coffee/dinner date then this post is for you!

1. Caif Cafe. Riga, Šķūņu street 16.
 It's my favourite place where to drink coffee at. And not because the coffee is so amazing but because of the atmosphere. The cafe has two floors, big tables and instead of chairs - nice soft couches. :) Very often I go there with my best friends and at the end of evening we're already kind of falling asleep there because it's really cosy. And very often they play French music which is why I personally like this place even more. And for coffee they have a lot of syrups which is amazing. Yum, yum. It's located at Old Riga.

Click on the photo for the photo credit.

2. Ezītis Miglā.  Palasta street 9 and Aldaru street 12/14.

 It's a bar/restaurant in hipster style. Prices are very friendly. I think the French fries with sauce for only 2 euros is everyone's favourite there. The interior is very stylish and there is one table which located right below the stairs which makes you feel like you're in a Harry Potter's room. "Ezītis" also provides some  table games so it's always fun there. 

Click for the photo credit.

3. Vilhelma Pankūkas. Šķūņu street 6.

 "Vilhelma Pankūkas" is a small pancake restaurant at Old Riga. It's very nice to go there with a family. The interior really feels like home. And it's almost the only one pancake restaurant in the city centre. There is a big variety of pancakes: with meat, caramel, bananas, cheese etc. so for pancake lovers that's a good option. 

Click for the photo credit.

 4. CoffeeInn. Terbatas street 7.

 We have a lot of CoffeInn's in Riga but one of my favourite is located at Terbatas street 7.

 I like the atmosphere of this cafe. It is usually decorated with the drawings that are made by the customers. Tasty and not pricey coffee. Wi-Fi!!! And also comfortable chairs and enough of  power sockets for customers to charge their phones and computers. It's students favourite place where to do their homework and drink coffee at. :)

 5.Lido. Elizabetes street 65.

 I like this restaurant because it feels like a warm home and it's cosy. The waiters are dressed in Latvian national costumes and girls usually have a hair band of daisies in their head which is cute. You can have a normal meal which tastes as good as a homemade cooking. And in average a lunch can cost about five euros. Perhaps the best place to go for a meal and taste a Latvian cuisine.

 6. Kūkotava. Terbatas 10/12.

 For those of you who love pastry as crazily as I do Kukotava is heaven. They have cakes, cookies,muffins, even mini pizzas and other products. Also it's not pricey though it looks very exquisite on the inside. On a Valentine's day a queue there was so long that some people who wanted to order some cakes just lost their patience and with anger slammed the door. Well, the place is popular so they should have predicted something like that to happen on 14th of February.

 7. Crazy Donuts. Krišjāņa Barona 28.

(couldn't find an original picture so look at the screenshot) 

 For the lovers of donuts this cafe has it all. I'm not sure about the prices but I think one donut costs about 0,70 euros and tastes heavenly good when a donut at the supermarket can cost about 0,85 euros and taste like rubber. So it's definitely worth going there even though it's not that close to the centre. I really like how colourful this place is. After tough days at school just being there makes me feel better.

8. Pizza Italia. Brīvības bulvāris 30.

It wouldn't have been me if I didn't add pizza in this list. One slice of pizza there costs only 1,89 euros. They have different other dishes from Italian cuisine and you can even order WOK there. I love this place and it is always beautifully decorated according to the season. I often like to come there and write some creative ideas in my notebook while drinking hot chocolate. Probably this bistro somehow inspires me.

 That's all. Have I missed something? What other nice places I should add into my list?