Home » Alumni Portrait » Dita: “EUSTORY made the borders disappear – now they are some lines on the map and nothing more.”

Dita: “EUSTORY made the borders disappear – now they are some lines on the map and nothing more.”

Name: Dita
Age: 21
Hometown: Balvi
Country: Latvia
EUSTORY experience: Gdansk 2009, Minsk 2010, Berlin 2011
Current Occupation: studies German language and literature at the University of Latvia

Dita comes from Latvia – a lovely Baltic state, a country in transition, hellbent on shedding its stalwart old-Soviet image, the Latvia of today is vibrant, enigmatic and for sure will become one of Europe’s next A-list star. Dita loves her country and recommends being there during the Midsummer celebration which takes part on June 23, when people stick to the original traditions of the pre-Christian festival, picking plants known for their healing powers and lighting bonfires to protect against evil spirits.

What is amazing about Latvia is how did such a small country (Latvia has a population of only 2,3 Mio) manage to preserve its identity over the years despite occupation from different other countries? Dita said that when you look at the history then you can say that it’s just a question of conjuncture with a little help from Latvian proud and stubbornness. She continues: “You don‘t exactly see in every day life that Latvians would be proud or patriotic but if suppression comes people get united and can do amazing things.” Dita has a simple solution for her country’s prosperity: “I wish everybody to do their job as good as they can – ministers do what they have to do, farmers do what they have to do, hairdressers, salesmen, bus drivers, pupils, teachers, parents. Everybody.”

Dita is a last year student in German language and literature, so it is not surprising that her favorite European country is Germany. After she graduates her Bachelor studies she is planning a new study in the field pedagogic and then her future is open – she wants to see what life will offer.

As a true Eustorian Dita shares the passion for history. She shares: “EUSTORY is an amazing opportunity to get knowledge about history in an exciting way by working with people from different European countries. Eustory showed me how to make learning from hard work to entertainment, made me realize, how close to each other we Europeans live and made the borders disappear – now they are some lines on the map and nothing more.” EUSTORY also thought her that you always have to check the weather forecast for the country you’re going to, otherwise you’ll take the wrong wardrobe and the most recent thing she learned from EUSTORY is how to give an interview 🙂

“It would be fun to learn more about old history.” says Dita when talking about possible future EUSTORY activities. Until now she has taken part in academies which deal with history not older than 19th century but something medieval or from the 16th century linked to nowadays would be extremely tempting…
Dita is in charge of the selection procedure for youth seminars of EUSTORY , so I asked her what exactly is her role? “That means that people have to impress me in order to participate in a seminar of EUSTORY” is her modest answer.

Interviewer: Kalina from Bulgaria

“We are a group of four people including Tina, who read the motivation letters of the people, who applied to participate in a EUSTORY seminar or academy and we examine their competition entries in order to decide to whom should be given the chance to participate in one of those activities.”