Winter University AEGEE-Riga (Sp)Ice Matters: Catch the Mammoth!

Spending New Year in one of the oldest and most beautiful countries of Europe - isn't it a dream for any person? What about spending New Year holidays with -10 frost and huge amount of snow - isn't it a dream for any person? :) But what about spending New Year holidays with nice, friendly and enermously interesting people from all over Europe? I think it's really a dream for any person of the world - to spend New Year as the best days of the whole past year! :) AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk members Andrey Buschuk and Olga Yatsina and AEGEE-Kyiv member Nadya Seraya managed to do that! We were participants of Witner University in Riga.
Going there we faced with huge amount of problems, starting with visa process. And staying in the middle of nowhere at 11 p.m. somewhere in Chernigov region, two hours from Belorussian border in the bus, stucked in a snow, I didn't believe that our NY holidays will be good... We arrived in Riga with 10 hours delay at 11 p.m. next day, it took us almost 28 hours to get from Kyiv to Riga, and the only wish for us was to take shower, eat something and go to sleep in NORMAL bed! We were not even thinking about traditional Welcome party for participants! But you can't even imagine how much we were surprised when we saw that already arrived participants were waiting for us to go together to Welcome party!!! Our organizers were so nice and sweet, that they let us to take a shower and even left some food for us! After that we didn't have any doubts that we will go to Welcome party and the rest of holidays will be not so bad as it started with us :)

Next seven days were amazing! The program was made in the way, when interesting workshops (contemporary dance workshop, theater workshop and chocolate workshop - yummmmy :) ) were mixed with party bars, excursions, Riga city rally and of course New Year celebration...
New Year days were special part of our WU, because AEGEE-Riga rent cottage for all participants in 10 km from Riga, and there we spent 3 most exciting and sweet days of New Year - sauna, billiard, big party hall and small comfortable rooms for participants. It was really great there! Singing all together "Welcome to my country", friendly atmosphere, group hugs, warm cottege, shampaign and falling snow outside - this is the secret of the most beautiful New Year in our life....
Next day our organizers were so nice that they didn't make any challenges for us and just arranged sauna party with beer and snacks - thank you for that, AEGEE-Riga! :)
Excursion to Jurmala, quest in the forest with 50 cm snow, huge skating rink - it's just some details from the last days in Riga. Last three days were full of activities, we didn't have any minute to be bored, but at the same time nobody forced us to do something, we just wanted byourselves to do all that and to be together.
And of course farewell day was full of crying...Crying and hope that we'll see each other somewhere in Europe.
See you somewhere in Europe, my beloved sweet participants and organizers of WU in Riga...