Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

French students:

Pierre Louis Kieffer:

I did not expect that Latvians  drink milk during the lunchtime! For French people milk is associated with breakfast and with sweet food, so this practice seems strange for us.

It’s not a global generalization, but on the whole I think that Latvian people are less polite than French. I didn’t expect this, but sometimes I am shocked because people don’t say thank you, while in France for the same situation people generally thank.

Alexandre Cornez:

Before coming here I thought I would have a problem with the food. Eventually, I found out that if here isn’t such a wide choice we have in France, I must admit I’m relieved, here is nearly everything I need to survive. But, there are still some stuff missing, especially the meat, there is no butcher :’(. I don’t mention the butcher in the supermarket, it’s so bad.

SSE Riganians say about France that...

... all French people drink wine three times a day (agreed 15 people out of 22): 

Pierre Louis Kieffer: To my mind it is a little exaggeration, but on the whole it is true that French people drink wine during their meal. It is generally agreed that a meal is not a good meal without a good wine! I think it would be better to say that French people drink wine one or two times a day. In any case it cannot be three times, as French people don’t drink wine at breakfast! Not a lot of people drink wine in Latvia, so it is a drawback for us!

Alexandre Cornez: Well, it’s true that we have good wine, and it’s also true that a good wine is good to accompany a good meal. But definitely not three times a day, to my mind French people use to drink wine in some big occasion or during important meals. For instance, usually I don’t drink wine more than 3 or 4 times a month on average, and it’s the same in my circle (friends and family).

... every French woman has an excellent taste in fashion (agreed 10 out of 22): 

Pierre Louis Kieffer: It’s really funny to see what you think about us! It’s difficult to provide a good answer for this question, but I’m convinced that France is associated with fashion and “haute couture”. As a result, if you live in France, you have more opportunities to buy clothes coming from well known French designers. Therefore, it’s easier for us to have the “excellent” taste in fashion. Finally, a fact that a lot of luxury brands come from France helps in this way.

Alexandre Cornez: Yeah! Well I’m not a professional, because I’m not a woman :). But I think they have an excellent taste in fashion indeed.

... all French hate Englishmen (agreed 17 out of 22): 

Pierre Louis Kieffer: I think this assumption is totally wrong, we can’t say that. I’m sure without any doubts that there are French people who hate Englishmen (and vice-versa) due to historical events, but we can’t made a gross generalization.

Alexandre Cornez: I don’t think so. There are always people who don’t like strangers, but I’ve never heard of that. Perhaps in the past?

Polish students: 

Estera Rink and Agnieszka Borkowska:

Before we came here we thought that it would be extremely cold, probably because of the proximity to Russia. However, the weather turned out to be similar to the weather in Poland.We’ve heard that there are no night buses here, and at night you have no other option than to take a taxi and taxi drivers are said to be cheating. We haven’t check whether there are any night buses, but we definitely know that drivers are cheating.

According to the latest economic situation, we’ve heard that Latvia suffered a lot during the crisis. Well, we don’t think that the current situation is really that bad or maybe we haven’t noticed that yet.                                                                                                      

We’ve read that the clubs are very expensive. In reality prices are very similar to those in Poland.Latvian people are very friendly (well, apart from old ladies in the buses, but I guess that it is the same everywhere).

It’s amazing that many people here are multi-lingual e.g. they speak Latvian, Russian, and English without any problems.

SSE Riganians say about Poland that...

... in Poland there are very bad roads (agreed 15 out of 22):

Answer: That’s true, most of the roads in Poland are terrible, however they’re improving and re-building them now because of Euro 2012, so hopefully situation will be better soon.

... prices are much cheaper in Poland (agreed 17 out of 22):

Answer: It depends. For example, prices in France or Germany are higher, but they also earn more than Poles. We have some products that are generally cheap, for instance, vodka or meat is much cheaper than in the UK, but most of the prices are comparable to Latvian ones.

... all Poles drive really small cars (agreed 9 out of 22):

Answer: Heh, this one probably comes from the fact that we used to produce small car Fiat 126p. And because it was produced in our country it was cheap, so most of people drove that car then. Now, we drive all sorts of cars, like any other nation in the world.

Kyrgyz students:

Cholpon Madylova:

At first I thought that nobody speaks Russian in the Baltic countries. But it turned out that there are quite a lot of Russian speaking people in Riga and SSE, including Lithuanians and Latvians. Every second person in Riga speaks Russian.

I thought that food and transport are very expensive here. And it is true, food here is 2-3 times more expensive than in Kyrgyzstan (except alcohol drinks; they are cheaper than in my home country). Bus and trolleybus tickets are 7 times more expensive in Latvia comparing with Kyrgyzstan, and petrol price is twice higher here.

I learnt that people in Latvia like beer. Beer here is very tasty and different from Kyrgyzstan’s one. I also like beer in Latvia.

I thought that Latvians like singing national songs and dancing national dances. But I have not seen Latvian dances yet and have not heard any Latvian traditional music so far. So maybe it is not true. About the university: SSE has a very specific and unique educational system and culture. SSE is different from any European and Western schools.  Educational curriculum is different. I think it is very effective and motivating. The school itself has a lot of international students.  Students are very friendly and always willing to help if someone does not understand something in lectures.

SSE Riganians say about Kyrgyzstan that...

... in Kyrgyzstan everyone crosses streets on the red light (agreed 9 out of 22):

Answer: Actually crossing the street on the red light is something illegal and dangerous. But yes, some people do that. If there are no cars and you do not have time, then why not???

... every Kyrgyz family owns a cow or a sheep (agreed 7 out of 22):

Answer: It is not true. Of course, in rural regions people have small farms, but not in cities.

... in Kyrgyzstan camels are everywhere (agreed 2 out of 22):

Answer: Camels???? Camels live in deserts. Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country, there are no deserts.

Swedish student:

Anton Muhrbeck:

I thought that Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians all speak the same or a similar language, which is basically the same as Russian. Well, I guess we all know that it is not true. However, Latvian sometimes sounds a lot like Finish.

I was sure that all Latvians are massive Vodka drinkers. Not true! Latvians are more into beer.Latvians hate Swedes since SwedBank messed up. Also not true. You guys have all been very friendly!Only young people speak English.True, the majority of the older generation in Latvia does not speak English.

Latvia is more like Russia. Not true. I have learnt a lot about Latvian culture and history. Latvia is more like a western country than I initially believed, mainly influenced by American culture. I see many similarities to Sweden as well!

SSE Riganians say about Sweden that...... Swedes buy only IKEA furniture (agreed 9 out of 22):

Answer: Ha-ha! Yeah, that’s basically true. I don’t think I have ever been in a house or apartment that does not have something from IKEA.

... every Swedish family owns a small red house with white edges and a lake nearby (agreed 7 out of 22):

Answer: The red houses with white edges have its origin from a small town named Falun, which also has given the name to the red colour: Falu rödfärg. The colour has been used since the 14th century; it became really popular as it is was cheep and preserved the wood. It is now more a traditional colour, commonly used on wooded houses all over Sweden. So it is indeed very common, and most families that live in major cities own a summer house. The most idyllic Swedish summer houses are painted with Falu Rödfärg and located near a lake. A perfect place to celebrate midsummer’s eve!

... say Swedes are overcautious about the environment (agreed 15 out of 22):

Answer: I have never heard this one before. I wouldn’t say overcautious, simply more aware about the situation. I live in Stockholm, which is one of the cleanest cities in the world. This is an image that all the Swedes want to preserve, so people always try to keep the nature clean through laws, recycling, picking the litter up afterthemselves.

collected by Jekaterina Kolbina