Immigrant? Refugee?

Some weeks ago I got myself into a mood of unwelcomed and there were more than enough reasons for that.

It has started, when a guy in some public administration office mentioned that although Latvia is the EU country, it is not really comparable to Germany. He also kindly reminded about the limitations on the movement of labor during the transitional period.

On the same week several Italian friends independently got me in a similar dialog. "How long do you have to study?" "More 2 years." "Are you going to stay here after it?" "I don't know." "What are you living from?" "I'm working for the university." "Oh, university! It's cool!" That made me feel like an evil Latvian eating Italian tax-payers' money or a sly that uses educational motives to finally immigrate to the country.

Another nice occasion was a meeting with Ukrainian guest-workers. I can understand some Ukrainian and probably this is a reason why they made me so stressed. I know that there are many Latvian guest-workers in U.K. and Ireland. I can only hope that they don't speak loud what they think, because someone around might understand it. Thanks god, there are not so many Latvians at all and in Italy especially. But sometimes it does not help, because for most people here there is no difference between ex-Soviet countries.