Jordan on his experiences in Latvia

To find what you seek in the road of life,
the best proverb of all is that which says:
"Leave no stone unturned."
Edward Bulwer Lytton

Is this not true? In Latvia, I have found myself digging into the inner depths of my brain, personality, and overall self. It happens when you are surrounded by new people, a new culture, and a new lifestyle. I must adjust to the ways of living of this country. Why, because I am an exchange student who chose to change his life in no other way possible. I chose to make myself better. This comes to pass as you see that this world isn’t as large as you originally thought. When you see that people share commonalities with you, and the culture shares commonalities with yours. That’s when you see it.

The experiences I am having here are experiences I may not ever experience. One being ice skating on a pond near your house. I, being a Southern Californian (GO CHARGERS!), do not have cold winters like Latvia. The coldest it gets is +10 or so degrees C. So I don’t have the opportunity to ice skate on a frozen pond that just a few months ago, saw that it was liquid. And also mushroom picking. That I will NEVER do in San Diego County. All of our mushrooms are rumored to be lethally poisonous. Here, my host-family has taken me numerous times to do this amazingly fun activity. One time, we got lost while picking mushrooms for about an hour or two. Thank goodness for the long days in summer here in Latvia. Or else we would have been lost in the vast, yet beautiful, forests in Latvia. We got back home, and laughed about the entire experience. When we were lost, some people started to complain and get scared. We laughed so hard. The experiences here that I have had are once in a lifetime offers with many wondrous outcomes, so, why turn the offer down?

Jordan Hawkes, Poway, California, USA