Sveiki!🇱🇻

Life Update: I currently live in Latvia 🤗🇱🇻

Latvia? Where is that? 🤔

It’s located in Northeastern Europe along the shores of the Baltic Sea. The country is small, having a population of ~1.6 million people, but it has a huge heart🤍. The people take pride in their culture, the food is good, and the country has a rich history.

I’ve heard so many languages while living overseas. I learned a bit of Turkish, Slovak, and a whole lot of French. But Latvian….🫠 I tried. I really did. I even bought a book to help. But, I don’t know about this one y’all😂. The Latvian language is one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. No joke. When I read that online, I felt a little better about myself lol. After being here for 4 months, I officially know around 10 Latvian words. I’ll be happy if I can make a full sentence by the end of the season in April🫣.

What’s cool though, is all of my teammates are multilingual, speaking 2 or more languages🤯. Andddd since my team is in Rīga (capital city), almost everyone here speaks fluent English🙌🏾.

Winter in Rīga❅

For a Texas girl, Latvian weather is definitely an adjustment😅. When I arrived at the end of August it was 75° and sunny☀️. So I was excited, walking around in a tank top and sandals. However, everyone I talked to said the same thing, “winter is brutal”. Sitting in the sun, feeding ducks in the park, I thought they were being dramatic.

Turns out they weren’t dramatic enough🫠.

At the end of November the snow made a grand entrance and the temperatures dropped well below freezing. I woke up one morning and I could barely see my car under the snow.

In addition to the snow, ever since daylight savings time hit the sun now sets at 4pm🫣. I’m not used to this yet, but I’m getting into a routine. I’ve been finding things to do that get me out the house just to change up my scenery. Thus far, I’ve been going to coffee shops, discovering different book stores, spending time with some teammates, and exploring gems in the city. One thing I’m looking forward to is seeing the holiday decorations and visiting the Christmas market, which I heard is beautiful😍.

Speaking of the holidays👀… I get to go home for Christmas this year (thank God)! I’m so excited to be home and not do anything😂. I’m looking forward to seeing my family and enjoying everyone’s company 🫶🏽. Plus, I need a retwist ASAP, so y’all know that appointment is a priority 💆🏾‍♀️.

Travel, Friends, and Mems🫶🏽

I really can’t complain, I’m in a cool city, surrounded by nice people, and I’ve gotten to go all over Europe the past 4 months. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, so I’m grateful that I get to do it often 🙏🏾.

In September my team had games in Poland and Romania. The month of November felt like we did a European tour as we played in Lithuania, Greece, Turkey, and Slovakia. Then, we had a National Team break for a few days and my sister came out to visit 🥹. We went to Vienna, Austria and took a spontaneous trip to Tallinn, Estonia.

Another highlight of living abroad is when my people come to visit. My best friend since high school, Jenaé, came to see me in December and we had a great time! My parents and others will come visit in 2024 and I can’t wait🤗.

Since 2013🤗

Streets of Estonia 🇪🇪

Wrap-up

All in all, everything is good on my end! The life I’m blessed to live is something I constantly remind myself not to take for granted🙏🏾.

I’ll give a basketball update soon, but here’s the link to follow our team’s EuroCup season so far. I love this team for many reasons, and I’ll share why in a future post🥰.

If there’s ever anything you want to know more about, drop a comment or hit my line📲. I love and appreciate y’all🤍.