It’s been getting dark pretty early around here. Later this week, we will dip down to below seven hours of daylight. With the darkness creeps a sense of quiet stillness, inviting long evenings of sipping hot wine and enjoying a good book or movie. And so, as we plunge our way into the heart of darkness that is a Baltic winter, I’m encouraged to use this time to reflect a bit on the season now nearly over; my first autumn in Riga.

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Riga, Latvia

VS

The 7th of December marks four months since my arrival here in Riga. Over these months, the most common question I’ve received from friends back home has been a simple, “How’s Latvia?” Of course, they’re not so much inquiring into the wellness of the country (which, if you’re wondering, is really not so great) as they are into my own personal well being. I should also note that this is mostly friends with whom I don’t keep in touch on a regular basis, and these messages are often in the form of a Facebook post, g-chat, or quick email. The conversation usually goes along the lines of something like this:

“Hey! How’s Latvia”

“It’s great! I’m meeting lots of new people, working hard, having fun, and doing some traveling when I can.”

And that’s basically how the exchange happens, and it’s all true. But now, I’ll take some time to shed some more light on the topic and offer some comparisons between living in Riga, Latvia and living back home in Pittsburgh, PA. Bear in mind, these impressions are based on only four months of experience, and my thoughts may very well change with time.

Nightlife

• Riga seems to have something for everyone. Whether you’re looking to shake your tailfeather on the dance floor at Club Essential, catch a World Cup qualifying match on giant plasma TVs at Albert’s, sip hoity toity mixed drinks while rubbing elbows with Riga’s nouveau riche at Sky Bar, trance out to the house DJ at Shot Cafe, or throw back a few beers over quality conversation and under dim lights at Atslega, Riga has it covered. Also, Riga’s center city is uber-compact, making it easy to stumble home from just about any bar in town (provided, of course, that you live in the city center). Oh, if you’re looking to party in the clubs until until the sun comes up (or in the summertime, hours past sunrise), this is your place.
• Pittsburgh also has a nighttime haunt for everyone. You can nod your head to the latest indie rock at Club Cafe, swing a pint of Guiness from side to side while singing along with Red Hand Paddy at the Harp and Fiddle, imbibe a tasty new microbrew at Sharp Edge, hang out with friends and bust a chill at Doc’s, line dance and ride a mechanical bull at Saddle Ridge, or bebop with Pittsburgh’s hipsters over fancy beers at the Brillo Box. No matter your style, Pittsburgh has a nightlife locale for you. Pittsburgh is a city of neighborhoods, and each neighborhood brings with it its own unique flavor. Unfortunately, if you want to hit more than one or two neighborhoods in a night, you’re going to need the help of a designated driver or a taxi. Interestingly, the actual city center is largely absent of any viable nightlife scene. Also, if you want your night to continue beyond the staunch 2AM last call, you’ll need to find yourself a private after-party. However, if Irish pubs and neighborhood dives are your scene, it’s hard to beat Pittsburgh.
• Advantage Riga: The compactness of the city, variety of establishments, and never-ending parties give Riga the leg up in this category.

Food

• Riga is your place if you’re a meat and potatoes, food that sticks to your ribs kind of person. Big on sausages, pork, bacon, cheeses, and thick, creamy sauces, Riga is not bothered with finding healthy alternatives. Also plentiful are fish, pickles (and cucumbers), and Pringles. Surprisingly enough though, there are very few overweight people around Riga. Also interesting to note: it seems to me that Latvians love their McDonalds even more than Americans do. Then again, Riga does not have alternatives like Burger King, Wendys, Taco Bell, or KFC fighting for the fast food market. As far as restaurants go, you can find anything from traditional medieval Latvian cuisine, to sushi, to Italian and Mexican.
• Pittsburgh is the place to be for coleslaw and french fries on your sandwiches, halushki, pierogies, and Heinz Ketchup. In Pittsburgh, you can also find all the aforementioned fast food options, and also the quasi-fast food options like Chipotle, Qdoba, Panera, and Schlotzsky’s. Pittsburgh falls in line with the irony of the rest of the U.S. in that it can be very health-conscious, at times to the point of excess, yet at the same time, hosts a growing obesity problem (pun intended).
• Advantage Pittsburgh: You had me at Primanti’s.

Drinks

• Riga, as you might guess a former Soviet territory might, is all about vodka. It’s vodka vodka everywhere. A shot before meals because it aids digestion. A shot after meals because, well, it aids digestion (you know, just in case the one before the meal wasn’t enough). At the grocery stores, you will find half the booze section occupied by various rums, whiskeys, gins, and tequilas; and the other half occupied by vodka alone. Sure, there’s plenty of decent Latvian beer (Uzavas is my pick) and loads of wine options, but in this country, vodka is king. Also popular here is a Riga Balsams, a dark, distant cousin to Jagermeister. In the wintertime, hot currents juice with Riga Balsams is a very popular drink. And while we’re on the topic of cold weather drinks, Latvians are also big on mulled wine. Now for non-alcoholic drinks. Latvians really dig their Kvass, which, they’ll tell you is like a Latvian version of root beer. But let me tell you from experience, if you try this stuff, DO NOT expect it to taste like root beer, you’ll be disappointed. It’s not really bad tasting I guess, but it’s not for me. At a restaurant, if you want water, you’re going to have to pay for it, and be sure to specify that you want it still and not carbonated. If soft drinks are more your thing, you better be a Coke drinker because Pepsi products are nowhere to be found here. Also, you may be a little shocked at how tiny your bottle of Coke will be if you order in a restaurant. And don’t even think about free refills.

• Pittsburgh is proud of its Iron City Beer. It’s not the greatest beer in the world; in fact, some say it’s downright shitty. But to me, it tastes like home, and that goes down easy. Pittsburgh wears its blue-collar label as a badge, and is very much a “shot and a beer” kind of town. Ritzy bottle service VIP lounges have a hard time here. It’s a city where the cheap beer flows like the waters of the Allegheny and the city armory is always well-stocked with an artillery of Irish car bombs and Jager bombs. Pittsburgh is also the home of antiquated alcohol laws. You can’t buy booze in grocery stores. And if you want both beer and liquor, you’re going to have to go to two separate places. May god have mercy on you if want to buy alcohol on Sundays. After all, as we all know, Sunday is a day of rest, and a distributor open on Sundays is about as common as a public toilet in the South Side. As far as non-alcoholic drinks are concerned, nothing beats the good old U.S. of A. Free, icy water at every bar and restaurant; free refills on soft drinks, iced teas, and lemonades; and a choice between Coke and Pepsi.
• Advantage Pittsburgh. Seasonal beers, free refills, and variety give Pittsburgh the edge.

Friendliness

• Riga is full of very nice, very friendly people. The thing is, you’d never know this at first impression. Generally speaking, Latvians tend to have rather cold personalities until they get to know you. Initially, there is very little eye contact and smiling amongst strangers. Eventually though, the Latvian personality permafrost begins to thaw as the Latvian kindness melts through. It also should be noted there is still a very palpable tension between Latvians and local Russians.
• Pittsburgh is just a downright friendly place full of strangers willing to embrace you at your first meeting. It’s a city of greasy spoon diners with waitresses who call you “hun,” and sports fans who reach for a high five from every single hand within a five foot radius, whether they know you or not. Sure, you might hear calls of, “Watch it, jagoff!!” as you crawl through Oakland traffic at rush hour, and you might see unbridled hatred towards visiting sports teams and their fans, but don’t let that scare you off.
• Advantage Pittsburgh. It’s the home of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood for crying out loud! Of course Pittsburghers are neighborly!

Toilet Paper

• Riga lacks variety in paper products. Toilet paper is no exception. There’s no cute babies or fuzzy bears on their labels, but they get the job done. In fact, it does more than get the job done. Personally, I’m a fold and wipe kind of guy (rather than wad-and-wipe). Latvian toilet paper is of such high quality that I only need TWO squares per wipe. Two.
• Pittsburgh has more varieties of toilet paper than you could ever wish for. You have your choice of quilted, with aloe, patterns and prints, or plain old generic. Though, in all my years of experience, I’ve never found a toilet paper with the fortitude to get the job done with a mere two squares.
• Advantage Riga. I’ll say it again. Two squares per wipe is all you need. You just can’t beat that economy. But Pittsburgh should take consolation knowing that it has Riga beat, hands down, in the napkins category.

TV

• Riga television provides limited options for English speakers. Mostly you get ESPNs, Discovery, National Geographic, Animal Planet, MTV, and Nickelodeon. Fun fact: Latvians, and Europeans in general, LOVE LOVE LOVE the sitcom, Friends. They love it. Interesting note, the Hustler channel is part of the standard cable TV package. Score?
• Pittsburgh has all the conveniences and bells and whistles of American television. More channels than you could ever possibly need, and accordingly, all the excess programming needed to fill all those channels.
• Advantage Pittsburgh. Yes, I realize this is a bit of an unfair category, but Pittsburgh TV is still way better than Riga TV.

Sports

• Riga has its Dynamo hockey team and, um… I think they have a basketball team, and surely, they must have a soccer team… I think? But I’ve never seen anything about them.
• Pittsburgh is the City of Champions. Superbowl and Stanley Cup championships in the same year. In fact, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the sole reason many Latvians have ever heard of Pittsburgh to begin with.
• Advantage Pittsburgh. No contest.

Weather

• Riga in the autumn is damp and gray with rapidly decreasing daylight.
• Pittsburgh in the autumn is damp and gray with rapidly decreasing daylight.
• Advantage- draw. Both have rather crappy weather. But I will say this in their defense, when you finally do get a warm and/or sunny day, you really appreciate it and make the most of it.

Worldliness

• Riga is a European capital first settled in the 1200s. On a walk through Old Town, you are likely to hear Latvian, Russian, and English amidst a variety of Scandinavian tongues. In the summer time, the number of foreign visitors multiplies exponentially. Meanwhile, young, local Riga residents routinely spend their weekends in Stockholm, London, Milan, Helsinki, or Berlin.
• Pittsburghers who live in the North Hills area of the city are passionately resistant about venturing into the South Hills area. Generally speaking, people don’t want to travel from one end of the city to another, much less into a whole other country. Correspondingly, the closest you’ll get to hearing foreign languages in the city is the sound of all the Polish and Slavic last names. Can you say Nikolajski?
• Advantage Riga. No doubt about it. If there’s one thing Pittsburgh lacks, aside from fashion sense, good grammar, and a competitive baseball team, it’s international diversity.

Pride

• Riga has a relationship with its nationality akin to feuding siblings. Self-depreciation seems to be part of the psyche here. But at the same time, the second any non-Latvian has something negative to say about the country, Latvians will passionately and tirelessly defend their country’s honor. Recently, during the Latvian Independence Day, I was particularly impressed with the overwhelming, proud sense of national spirit on display.
• Pittsburgh is a town that suffers from its reputation as a dingy, Rust Belt, steel town. During the Pittsburgh diaspora of the 70s and 80s, the city lost over half its population as workers left seeking opportunities elsewhere. As a result, there are proud Pittsburghers spread all over the nation, and indeed, the world. What is left in the city is a population who are truly FROM Pittsburgh. And chances are, their parents are from Pittsburgh, and probably their grandparents are too. This creates the same sort of “ho-hum, it’s just Pittsburgh” self-deprecating pride that can be found in Latvia. Though to be honest, I don’t know how much of this is purely Pittsburgh Pride as it is Pittsburgh Steelers Pride. For certain, it can appear at times that Pittsburghers are more prideful of their sports teams than they are of the city itself.
• Advantage Riga. Again, this isn’t quite a fair comparison. The fact that Riga is a national capital, and that their most recent independence from Russia was less than 20 years ago creates a striking sense of not only Riga pride, but Latvia pride.

And so there you have it. Impressions and comparisons based on my first four months in Riga.