can't sleep, beds on fire.

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well, this mornings was a pretty big waste of an entry, so i shall make up for that with this beast. and beast is most definitely the word to describe the majesty that is about to unravel on this here piece of networky canvas. i suppose i will start off by saying what i know, what everyone knows, and what is generally becoming more and more hard fact as time goes on.

i love being here. it's not as if this is the most thrilling place on the planet, far from it. but it's just nice, and i'm a fan of nice. after another boring flight that wasnt even saved by the view (it was a cloudy morning), i arrived at riga airport and was just generally excited. ok, there are other reasons for that, but add them to being here and all is good. i'm not sure what the total difference is between here and venezuela, but i instantly feel more confident here. got out of the aiport and got the bus into town, even getting off at the correct stop. that just didnt happen in venezuela, mainly out of my own silly fear. but for some reason, when i'm on the eastern side of europe i dont really worry too much about anything, and i genuinly believe that whatever happens i will be able to work my way out of it. so i got off the bus, and tried to remember a walk towards the big freedom monument in the centre of town, or even the old town. and lo and behold, i succeeded! i text arta (previous latvia visit couchsurfer) to see where she was, she replied saying the old town, and strangely enough we were on the same street. glory!

it's been really super cool to see arta again. she has without doubt been one of my favourite couchsurfers, and she has always seemed in a good mood, which is nice! after the usual mad greetings, we headed for a much much much needed coffee. after the shenanigans of last night with bryn, neve and the morton, i havent been in a state of sleep since about 7am sunday morning, and you have no idea how much i want to be asleep. so that coffee was definitly a good thing. i still feel like im falling asleep now, but i've got a 4hour bus ride ahead of me, so maybe i'll find some sleep on that. doubtful, but still. anyway, back to the day. had the coffee with arta, then we came to the bus station so i could buy my aforementioned ticket. my plan was a bus from riga to tallinn, leaving riga at 4.30 to arrive in tallinn at 9. thwarted! no spaces left on that bus. so now i'm getting a 7 o'clock bus to get in at 11.30ish. tht's fine though, i'm hostelling in tallinn so it's straight there and straight to sleep i imagine.

arta unfortunately had to go and play tennis after all that (she doesnt even enjoy it! it's an academic requirement! ridiculous!), so i was left to wander the streets of riga for a few hours, something i am still in the middle of doing. and that is another thing i do with much gusto here, walking. i really enjoy just walking and walking and walking here, occasionally stopping to sit on a bench and look at things, another thing which is awesome in eastern europe. the joint highlight of todays visuals were the old lady dancing busker or the young boy cello busker. equally magnificent, in entirely different ways.

so yes, as a precurser for what will surely continue over the next month or so, eastern europe is ace. it's quiet, it's just pleasant. i look forward to whenever the drama queen in me kicks up, it'll be interesting to see what happens, but for the time being everything is glorious.

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