Parting Ways with Latvia
About the author: Bryan Metzger ’20 is a Global Policy Intern at the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence in Riga, Latvia. Bryan is currently a Stanford undergraduate majoring in international relations.
I am writing this blog post from a small coffee shop in Old Riga. It’s on a somewhat quieter street, just a couple of blocks from the main square. Right now, my primary preoccupation is the fact that I’ll be leaving this country in just two days. It’s difficult to know when I’ll ever have the chance to return — it could be in just a few years, or decades from now. It’s strange to think that I’ve grown so fond of a place that’s so far from home, so disconnected from every other facet of my life. When I touched down in Riga two and a half months ago, I remember feeling knots in my stomach as I wondered how I was going to live in a foreign country halfway around the world all by myself. It was a rather isolating feeling, knowing that I stood at least 4,000 miles from everyone and everything else I’d ever known.
How long it’s been since I felt that way! I’ve now developed a strong connection to Riga, and it dawned on me just a couple of weeks ago how much I would miss it. I’m naturally pretty prone to nostalgia, so I’ve been harnessing that feeling to motivate my final few weeks here. I’ve tried to be as intentional with my time as possible, spending little time in my apartment and as much time as possible out on the street or out in the countryside. I’ve grown a bit closer to my coworkers as well, and we have a nice time comparing the way things are in Latvia versus the United States. Hearing all about the intricacies of Latvian politics has been especially interesting; with elections for the Saeima (parliament) coming up in October, campaign season is in full swing. While Latvia must contend with many of the same forces that have plagued other Western democracies, such as the rise of populism, nationalism, and general anti-establishment forces, there are also some peculiarities unique to this country. Perhaps the most intriguing is the existence of a powerful, nominally-socialist, pro-Russian political party that may even win the election in October. Needless to say, these sorts of conversations tend to put the American political system into greater perspective.
I’ve also been thinking a bit about what life will be like after my time here, and what I might’ve learned from simply being abroad as well as my time at the NATO StratCom CoE. On the first front, I’ve certainly learned how to travel a lot on my own, take care of myself, and even connect with total strangers in unfamiliar situations. Theoretically, I should’ve already learned this upon arrival at Stanford, but it’s also true that this school is a much easier environment to thrive in than the real world. I’m grateful then to have gained some valuable life skills on that front. On the second front, I feel like I’ve gotten a better idea of what my immediate post-college career may look like. Though the centre is technically a military organization, it is also a research organization with a large number of civilian researchers. Many of these people are in their 20s or early 30s, and so I’m able to see myself in their shoes a bit easier than I would otherwise. While I still have no clue where life will take me even in the next few years, it’s comforting to know that working at a research organization such as NATO StratCom COE could very much be on the table. I suppose I’ll find out in good time.
Once again, I would like to thank the Freeman Spogli Institute and its supporters for their generosity and their help in providing me with this life-changing experience. I’ve learned so many things, both about myself and about my academic interests, that I definitely would not have learned otherwise. I hope that I’ll be able to continue my involvement with FSI in these next couple of years, one way or another.
