Viskas

I can’t believe it. I’ve been back for a couple of weeks now, and have found myself falling into a very slow routine. No more long walks through the snow to get to campus. No more shopping and cooking for myself. No more lacking of all types of technology (it’s very weird getting used to having a cell phone again). And most of all, no more Europeans :(.. I miss my friends greatly, but luckily through Facebook and Skype I can still talk with them pretty often, though this 7 hour difference makes that a bit difficult sometimes. My sleeping pattern continues to not make any sense, that no matter what time I go to sleep: 10pm, 12am, 2 am, I will always wake up around 7 or 8am. That should not happen, and I hope I can figure out how to fix that. I sure miss sleeping in.

I got back in the swing of things when I went to work for a few days before Christmas, all the while unpacking and wrapping my Christmas presents in the middle of the living room while watching Spongebob. The tree was all set up, but not fully decorated as I quickly got to work on making the tree look a little bit prettier. And as usual, another Christmas morning was spent wrapping presents for other people, and waiting until 12:30 to start opening presents. Then my family celebrated another Christmas with my aunt, uncle and cousins this past Thursday. My goal for the rest of my break? Re-read all the Harry Potters.

Through all the family get togethers, I’ve realized that I miss the quieter tone that I had gotten used to for so long. I also realized that I still have small amounts of patience, and it’s the stupid things that aren’t worth getting upset over that get me the most annoyed. Another thing is that while shopping I still catch myself converting the money into litai to determine whether something is worth buying or not. Perhaps the most aggravating thing is not having transportation when I want it. Since my car died a few months ago, and the lack of public transportation, I have been reduced to asking my brothers or parents to borrow their car or have friends pick me up. I really really miss the bus.

Well, I don’t really know what else to say. I’ve grown so much through this experience, and there are things that I definitely want to hang on to. I’ll be thrilled to share more stories with you if you ask, and I’ll even speak some Lithuanian if you’d like. But I really had the time of my life, and I will never ever forget this semester. After this semester, I have changed my answer the most frequently asked question, "Who goes to Lithuania?” A person goes to Lithuania to step outside of their comfort zone. I was challenged to grow, to learn a new language and to learn how to cook. I have accomplished all of them, but I couldn’t have done so on my own. I learned to ask people for help, and to be humble enough to accept it. I learned to laugh at myself, with much help with that from Mārtiņš, Ieva, Aurelia, and a lot more friends. But most importantly, I learned to love what I had and to make the best of what was available for me. Lithuania, I thank you for helping me grow up (contrary to what many people believe).

As it is New Year’s Eve, I wish all of you a very happy and healthy 2011. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year :). Thank you for following me in this wonderful adventure. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Back in the States

Dec 17

Since check out at 1pm, I have been running around like crazy trying to figure out what’s going on in my life. It was much more difficult to find people than I had originally planned, but I got to see the majority of people that I had really wanted to. A few of my friends gave me forget-me-nots, as if I would need something to not forget them. But I will cherish their farewell gifts very close to my heart, and every time I look at them, my friends will always be remembered.

I trudged over to campus one last time to hand in my books and go last minute shopping. And then James and I cooked our last meal in Lithuania: dumplings. It was only fitting as dumplings were one of the first things that I learned to cook. After dinner I rushed back to Karklu to reorganize everything, and then Mike, Steph Shelly, Steph Mings, Melissa (Shelly’s roommate), Mārtiņš and I rolled all our huge suitcases down to the bus station, which is about a 15 minute walk in normal conditions. It was a workout to say the least, but at least we didn’t have to pay for a taxi.

Calvin and Gabby along with Nastya and Anya (Gabby’s roommates) were already there waiting for the rest of us to arrive. We had a bit of free time before we had to go, and it was a surprisingly wonderfully happy 10 minutes. It was a scary situation trying to fit 5 full suitcases and 3 smaller ones into the bus. Thankfully the bus was not full, so we were able to take up two seats to pile up all our bags. And then to sit through the four hour bus ride to Vilnius, one that Gabby and I slept through while Calvin and Steph chatted away. Getting to the bus station, the four of us looked at each other and laughed in total confusion of where to go. We managed to get through the second door we tried into the bus station, and walked towards a center circle to pick a taxi. I am so thankful to have taken Lithuanian as it was pretty simple for the taxi drivers to understand me, give me a price to get to the airport, and help all of us throw our bags into the trunks.

We arrived safe and sound at the airport around 11:45, and breathed a big sigh of relief at the thought that we only had to wait 6 hours until we could board our plane (well… Calvin and Gabby had about 11 hours). It was a fun time of reminiscing about all our favorite times during the course of the semester, and hearing crazy, completely surreal stories. Though, perhaps the funniest part was Calvin and Gabby staring at the clock, waiting ever so slowly for 5 minutes to pass as every minute felt like an hour.

Dec 18

So this was my second time sleeping in an airport, but it was definitely a different experience. There was no man cleaning the floors when I was trying to sleep, and I actually got to sleep on connected chairs instead of the floor. What an upgrade, huh? With another round of laughs, Steph and I went off to check our bags in hopes that they weren’t overweight. Everything went smoothly, and we even had some extra time to help Gabby weigh her bags just in case. And then it was time… with a sad farewell, but high hopes of seeing each other again (since Steph and Gabby both go to Eastern, and Calvin goes to Messiah [2 hour drive away]) it wasn’t as heartbreaking as all the others I had endured throughout the week.

My flight from Vilnius to Copenhagen was uneventful as I pretty much slept through most of it, waking up just in time for the plane to land. I had plenty of time to get to my next gate and we got boarded on time. Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of sitting on that plane for an hour and a half before finally taking off. Good thing I had an hour and a half after landing in Manchester to catch my next flight back to Philly. Needless to say I was completely mentally freaking out, and the only information that the flight attendants could give me at the time was nothing, because they could not see anything about planes that were not SAS. At the time, my I-pod was playing ‘Believe’ by Yellowcard, which the chorus sings “Everything is gonna be alright (x3). Be strong, believe”. A few minutes later, the flight attendant that I had asked walked over to me and told me that US Airways flying from Manchester to Philadelphia has an hour delay, so I will be good to go. I smiled and took a nice deep breath, and fell asleep for my remaining hour flight.

As promised, my flight was delayed by an hour, and a little bit longer as apparently the day before the plane was having some engine problems. Thank you security lady, that makes me feel tons better. My flight ended up leaving 2 hours later than originally planned, and now I had an 8 hour flight to look forward to. I slept on and off, always managing to wake up just in time for when they were serving our meals. And then to celebrate my 2 remaining hours on this plane, I decided to watch Taken. I will give you one guess at what the lead girl’s name is :). It was a good movie, one that probably would have made me more paranoid about my trip around Europe if I had watched it before going.

I got off the plane and rushed to get through security and get my luggage. I wasn’t quite sure where I was suppose to meet my parents, so around every corner I was keeping my eye out to see them. Unfortunately, I kept seeing other people, especially my friends who were still in Lithuania. When my luggage came around, my one bag’s zipper had popped open, but nothing looked to have fallen out. But now, if I had forgotten to get someone’s Christmas gift, I have an awesome excuse for why ;). After getting through customs, all I had left to do was find my parents. I saw my dad’s head peeking out from the crowd and rushed over to hug him over the barrier. At this point, I see my mom walking away from me to which I just laughed. After hugging her at the end of the barrier, I spot my little brother walking towards me! It was a great surprise, and to reward him for coming, I passed off my luggage for him to carry :).

After this point, it was a quiet day. My parents went off to some show with my grandparents in Pitman, so I pretty much had the house to myself. Mike came over to keep me company/ keep me awake and I ended up staying awake until 11pm (felt like 6am), and fell asleep no problem.

Dec 19

Why I would ever wake up at 8, I don’t know. I felt very sluggish and slow and kind of out of it. The entire day was spent doing laundry, attempting to unpack, wrapping some presents, and make up for lost time watching Spongebob. But perhaps my favorite, “welcome back” that I received is from the Eagles beating those Giants. Talk about an epic comeback!! My dad was threatening to send me back to Lithuania because up until this point, they were playing really well and then I return and they start playing poorly. Tonight I went to church for an early Christmas service. I got to see a lot of people and only briefly share my experience from my entire trip. It was a wonderful welcome back :).

Be on the lookout for one final post about the full semester recap.

Time Flies, and Now So Do I

Dec 13

My Lithuanian verbal exam went well enough, I didn’t freak out during my short speech, though Mārtiņš will be the first to make fun of me for being worried before it. It was a funny final, but one I’m certainly happy is over and done with. Unfortunately, I don’t think the written part went as well. But, to make myself feel better, no matter how much more I would have studied for it, I still wouldn’t have been ready.

After that horrible final was over, Calvin mentioned that he wanted to get some Charlie’s Pizza, but for a different night. Steph, Gabby and I were able to convince him otherwise, so we headed out for dinner. Now, there is something to be said for the sidewalks and roads and how well they’re shoveled or plowed… The fact of the matter is, they’re not. And under the nice soft fluffy snow (which is also false, it’s very soft slush that does not let your foot get any grip while you’re walking, so you’re constantly slipping and sliding all over the sidewalk) there is a layer of the most slippery ice I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, Lietuva was able to claim another victim, as walking back from Charlie’s Pizza, the snow stopped agreeing with my feet and I took a very nice and graceful trip to become better acquainted with the ground. Luckily enough, Steph and Calvin got to see the entire show and of course showed great sympathy to my failed attempt at walking (aka laughed hysterically as I laid there in the street in stunned disbelief and anger that I finally lost to the snow of Lietuva).

Unfortunately, from that point my night could only get worse (go figure). I had the wonderful pleasure of studying for my Motivation and Emotion final tomorrow. But, by 5pm tomorrow, I will be in calmer waters and it should be pretty smooth sailing. Packing is unfortunately going well as I am finding anything and everything to do other than study for this final.

Dec 14

Surprisingly enough, Mot and Emo was not as horribly awful as I was prepared for it to be. I think it went pretty well, and James, Lauren and Gabby waited for me to finish so I could get a round of applause upon leaving the room :). Then I rushed off to return to Karklu since Mārtiņš convinced me to go to the mall with him to go shopping quickly. I needed to pick up some last minute things anyway, but had to quickly return to make dinner at 7. Unfortunately, those plans got changed as procrastination wins once again. But this gave me more time to finish my study guide for my Soc exam tomorrow, which really shouldn’t be too bad. Just one more thing to get over. Time keeps moving too quickly, and I really don’t like it.

Dec 15

This was the earliest that I had to wake up all semester, and I was not too happy about it. I’m so sorry for the rest of the Karklu guys that had 8:30 classes all semester, because it truly is awful. But my presentation went as well as it could, and I’m just glad it’s over. After class, Steph and I picked up Calvin to go to the bus station to buy our tickets for Friday night that would take us to the airport :(. The lady understood me well enough, and we got our correct tickets to Vilnius. It still hasn’t hit me yet, and I really don’t want it to until I get safely back in the States.

After mindless hours studying for my Sociology exam, it was finally time to get it over with. This finals week has been beyond annoying, but in a more mind-teasing way. I thought my Lithuanian verbal and Mot and Emo exams would kill me, and that my Lithuanian written and Sociology exams would be easily manageable. But no, it was the opposite. I don’t like the feeling of going into a final feeling like it’s going to destroy you, but having it be easier and less life threatening than you thought is a pretty good feeling. But then walking into a final thinking “I got this” and walking out thinking “That just kicked my butt” really sucks. That’s what happened with Sociology. To help me recover from my failed attempt at succeeding, Maksat and I went to watch the rest of our Moose basketball team play Klaipėda’s Tekoda team. Moose was down by 5 points at halftime and it was a close game for the rest of the remaining two quarters. But we, of course, came out with a win :).

Dec 16

I don’t think I’ve ever realized how much I truly enjoy a good caramel macchiato and chat with a good friend. Nastia and I went for one last trip to Max Coffee to chat before I have to leave tomorrow. Then, I had my last final tonight at 5:30: World Literature. Once again, my belief from yesterday (about failing the “easy” exams) held true and this exam was harder than what I was expecting it to be. But to go out on a happy note, I spent my last night in Klaipėda with some awesome people at Memelis.

Dec17

Well, this is my last blog post from Europe :’(. I’m only writing about the morning part of today, but since it only consisted of packing, last minute double checks, and the check out procedure, I won’t bore you with all the other lackluster details. I will post another one about my weekend sometime eventually when I’m not completely exhausted. But at least this time I gain 7 hours instead of losing them!! Hellooooo sleep coma :)!!

Here are my traveling details:

Bus from Klaipėda to Vilnius- 7:30pm-11:00pm. Here I will be with Steph Shelly, Calvin and Gabby. After this part, I’ll be on my own.

Vilnius, Lithuania to Copenhagen, Denmark- 6:30am-7am (change clock back 1 hour)

Copenhagen, Denmark to Manchester, England- 8:30am-9:30am (clock back 1 hour)

Manchester, England to Philadelphia, USA- 11am-2pm (change clock back 5 hours)

Drive from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Jersey- 2:30pm-3:30 pm

Jersey, here I come :)

Snow, Snow and some more Snow

Dec 6

Monday. I'm tired of thinking "this is the last" whatever! I'm ready for this semester to be over, but I don't think I'm quite ready to leave yet. I have such wonderful friends here, and I don't want to think that I might never see them again. I will return to Europe.. eventually. I just don't know when. At this point, I wouldn’t mind going home for winter break but returning back to LCC for the Spring semester. My seminar video went amazing today! It was so funny to see all the inside jokes, all the awkward situations that we all went through, solidified into a short little video. It brought back a lot of good memories, ones that I will be sure to hold on to for a very long time.

Dec 7

I had absolutely nothing due today! Such an awesome feeling. I have plenty due the rest of the week, but it's exciting to see everything slowly coming together. This was technically my last actual class for Social Research, one class I am certainly not upset about celebrating the "last" day for! My "true" last class consists of taking an exam for this class, something that will make my finals week slightly easier. Instead of a test, I have a presentation about my research proposal that I have been working on with a partner all semester. I will be happy when we’re done with this once and for all.

And today was our final Tri-S meeting, which I finally remember all three S's… Spirituality, Sustenance and Soup! We had burritos tonight which were beyond delicious. And for dessert: brownies with chocolate chips and melted marshmallows on top! The topic for tonight was about re-entry into the States (or Canada for Derek). I don't know what to feel. At this point, I am ready to be back, but I am not ready to leave. It's a weird balance that I can't seem to find, how can you make the transition to losing such amazing friends any easier?! I know I'm not going to find an answer to that, but that is what's laying on my heart now. So many thoughts are running through my head, and I can't keep up with them. 11 days. That's all I have left. I don't look at it as a countdown, I look at it as moving towards the next chapter of my life that at this moment, I'm not ready for. I do promise to come back to Europe. I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I will come back.

Dec 8

With two more papers handed in today, this week is looking pretty good so far. Now just to handle studying for my last Social Research exam tomorrow, and I can breathe a quick sigh of relief before final's week horrors set in. But to help relieve some of this tension, I went out to Max Coffee with Aušra, not that we've been planning this for two weeks or anything (I never seem to get anything done when I make plans with people….).

And to all my friends back in the States who may not have been keeping up with my blog this entire time, take note of Sergey as he claims to devote all Spring semester to looking through my pictures and this blog. Now that is dedication to our friendship :). Better late than never, right?

Dec 9

After 4 months, I’ve finally found the secret to getting people to talk to me: the number game. This is when you send me a number, and I write something about you (usually sometime nice). Now, if only I had known this a few months ago... Anyway, sadly enough, the Study Abroads got together one last time to reminisce about our time spent here together. We returned to HBH, the restaurant that we first came to back in August! It feels like such a long time ago, but yet the time has blown so quickly. It’s one of my favorite sayings: the days drag on forever, but the weeks fly by. We had a white elephant exchange, and all I have to say is that it was a great way to end our time together.

Dec 10

It’s snowing. Like, snowing snowing. I keep watching people dig out their cars, but I would not want to drive on these roads. But having the choice between snow flying in my face or my warm car sliding on ice? Not entirely sure which one to choose. But, I don’t have a car, so I have no choice. Blizzard, here I come… Great news! The blizzard stopped right as I had to walk to campus! Yay! Anyway, after my one and only class of today (my other two were canceled, double yay!), I hung out in the computer lab for four hours waiting for Zaza’s wonderful “sweet treat” night. He made rice with dried fruit, including raisins, apricots and pineapple. It was very tasty.

Dec 11

I made Steph wake up early on a Saturday morning to go watch the LCC Moose Basketball team play. They were playing at the auditorium right by Karklu, so I really had no excuse to not go to this one (I can’t believe this is my first basketball game..). Our guys killed the other team, 104 to 61 :). To make things even better, our captain scored from behind mid-court at the buzzer of the first quarter. I think they should make that a 4-point shot, just to make it a little more “IN YOUR FACE!” worthy.

After the game, I headed off to Akropolis to get another suitcase so I can start packing this week :(. BUT, it’s black with dark pink flowers, so needless to say it’s adorable and totally worth it. I already started packing some stuff, and so far so good. I need to find a scale somewhere so I can weigh these bags, but I’m not too worried. I came here with one 45lb suitcase, a 30lb carry-on, and my purse (that also smuggled in my laptop) and my two winter coats. What am I leaving with? A potential weight of: two 50lbs suitcases, a 40lb carry-on backpack, and my purse (which will once again smuggle my laptop on) while wearing my winter coat this time. I think I’ll be alright…

I love ice skating. Knock on wood, I have yet to fall while skating, but that almost became false tonight. There was something wrong with my left skate which hindered me from crossing my feet over during turns, or skate regularly at all. And to add to my struggle, I was trying to help Zaza stay on his feet, which I was able to accomplish for about 90% of the time. It was such a fun night, and everyone had a great time. When I get back to the States, someone needs to go ice skating with me. I miss it.

Dec 12

My morning began with making pancakes (I like this tradition). I got to use up the rest of my flour and baking powder that I really didn’t want to have left over. I need to find some people who might like to take whatever food/spices I end up having at the end of the week. Although my plans for making sniego vyras (snowmen!) today didn’t quite work out, I have quite enjoyed watching the progression of snow build up the side of my window. And, just for your information, there is actually very little sarcasm in that statement. I have both parts of my Lithuanian final tomorrow, and then Motivation on Tuesday, the two finals I am not looking forward to the most. It needs to be 5pm on Tuesday ASAP!

Monday: Lithuanian Verbal Exam (must speak for 5 minutes on a given topic and answer questions) and Written Exam

Tuesday: Motivation and Emotion

Wednesday: morning- Social Research; afternoon- Sociology

Thursday: World Literature

Friday: Pack and Party ;)

Saturday: Flight back to the States

My day also ended with eating pancakes. Karklu Christmas party = awesome!

Yra Gruodis! (It's December!)

Nov 29-30

These were preparation days. I finished my two papers that are due tomorrow, and even finished one that’s not due until next week! AAAAnd, I even half-finished another paper for next week. Well, I have 5 due, so I figured I would hate my life a lot less if I finished some now. Now I just have to prepare for my Lithuanian presentation that I’m dreading.

Dec 1

I love how I was the only one today for Lithuanian who after I presented was asked a question by every single person in class. The guy who went before me got a couple of questions, and the group of three that went after me got the same. But Rodvyda went person by person and forced them to ask me a question as I stood cringing at the front of the room. At least it’s the last presentation, besides our oral portion of our final...

I finally caved today and got a bus pass, but honestly, it is getting way too cold to walk half an hour to and from Karklu anymore. Yes, when the temperature gets past –10 (approaching single digits), I think I deserve to be able to still feel my nose after being outside for an extended period of time. But I’m super glad that I dragged my huge winter coat with me from the States! It is definitely coming in handy!

Dec 2

Happy Hanukkah Lauren and all my other Jewish friends out there!! That’s pretty much the most exciting part of today, other than my little rehearsal for the Christmas program that I’m singing in. I know, the poor audience, but it’s with the majority of the study abroad group singing, “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.” Fun Fact: That song was written by Edmund Sears, a guy from Boston.

Dec 3

The Christmas Program went awesomely today! The choir sounded amazing (shout out to Derek, James, Martha, Gabby, Nastya, and Maksat)! I’m definitely getting into the spirit of Christmas (to those who know me, I was singing Christmas carols on Thanksgiving...), and I even got my picture taken with Santa! But this got me thinking about what I won’t be able to do when I get home:

            My mom is decorating the tree without me. I doubt the boys will help too much, and it was just one of those things that I liked to do so that I could put all the ornaments that were about me in the front of the tree and all those about my brothers in the back ;)

            There will be no Christmas picture of the four kids this year since I am conveniently missing. Though that means I won’t have to deal with all that fun sibling love of waiting for Mom to take the flipping picture even though she continuously says “last one!”

            I miss having TV so that I could watch the 25 days of Christmas (which apparently they extended? I dunno…). Maybe someone will TiVo some for me?

            I am going to have so much present wrapping once I get home! I have only a week before Christmas to unpack, find all my gifts, wrap them, and then wrap presents for my mom and brothers (ugh Jeff...). That is going to be one crazy week.

            Although I miss all these things, I am more than happy to miss them for one year in order to be in Lithuania. It is definitely worth it :)!

P.S. It snowed today only because I e-mailed Mom saying that it hasn’t snowed since Thanksgiving. Sorry Klaipėda...

Dec 4

As happy as I am about it being Saturday, I’m not happy about the fact that it means that another week has gone by. I’m running out of time left here, and I’m sad to be going home, though I do miss it a lot now. I have two weeks left here, and I honestly can’t believe it. This time has flown by, and it all feels like a blur now. I have so many happy memories to look back on with some truly amazing people that I have met along the way. You guys will always hold a very special part of my heart. I'm not even gone yet and I miss you already...

Dec 5

I got to make buttermilk pancakes for Steph, Mike and Mārtiņš (only cause I wouldn’t let Steph help me cause I finally knew exactly what I was doing). They turned out beautifully, absolutely golden and super fluffy. We had raspberry jam and peanut butter to go along with them, and even some brown sugar. Delicious! After breakfast we headed over to Akropolis so that Mārtiņš could find some boots, and the rest of us could find something for our white elephant present exchange. Now after all that procrastinating, hello World Lit paper...

A Snowy Thanksgiving

Nov 22-24

Regular class days for me over here, though everyone back in the States is either already on break (starting from last Friday) or is going home today (Wednesday). I keep wanting to say ‘back home’, but for the next 3 1/2 weeks ‘home’ still refers to Klaipėda. Today was my last Lithuanian quiz EVER, now that’s a scary thought. We have presentations next week and then preparation for our final exam the week after. Wow, how time is absolutely flying!

Nov 25

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I was not thankful to have an exam today, but at least my professor canceled class for today and pushed back our paper until Tuesday. It gave me extra time to attempt to make the green bean casserole that I was in charge of for the study abroad Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I have never made it before, let alone with different ingredient styles than what I would have used if I was in the States. I got most of what I needed and with help from Mom, improvised on the rest. I had the normal green beans and onions, but the rest was going to be tricky. I used cream of mushroom soup and added flour and hot water to try and make it thicker, crushed pecans thanks to James’ and Gabby’s suggestion, and then creamy forest mushroom potato chips to substitute for the French fried onion topping.

After scrambling to get everything put together, I rushed off to go take my exam. I think it went pretty well, but I never accurately predict how I do, so we’ll see how this turns out. But at least it’s over, and I finished in enough time to bake the casserole myself. With crossed fingers I put the casserole into the oven and hoped it would have enough time to cook but wouldn’t burn due to my lack of use with this particular oven. As 5 o’clock approached, the casserole at least smelled delicious! I met up with Gabby and Calvin and we went downstairs to meet the rest of the Neumann people and then wait in Defehr to drive over to Emas’ house for our wonderful dinner.

 And how wonderful it was! Everyone did a superb job at making everything: James and Steph Mings tackled the turkey, Mike had mashed potatoes, Steph Shelly made baked corn, Gabby and Calvin made 3 trays of stuffing (much to everyone’s joy!), I had the green bean casserole, Maksat made a traditional Asian style dish of rice, carrots and chicken, Heather brought French bread, Bekzhan and Nastya supplied the drinks, Martha made apple pie, Lauren brought cookies, Derek brought fruit cake, and Natalija made apple crisp and pumpkin pie, of course with ice cream to put on top. The best part of the whole night? The stream of compliments flying across the table from person to person about their dish. It was a true sense of community and support.

What am I thankful for?

Having parents that support me. My dad told me to bomb (fail) my exam so that I would stop being as stressed as I was- and in the process related it to one of my favorite football (soccer) games ever.

Having brothers that miss me. I love the relationships that have grown between us throughout the years. I never would have believed anyone when I was younger, but I love them so much.

Having the best study abroad group I could have ever imagined. The community we have built up together is really special, and I have been truly blessed to have met all of them.

Creating all the new friendships with people here. They have made it incredibly special, and they’ve helped me understand a different way of living.

Having amazing friends back home who miss me. Also for everyone else who has been praying for me since the beginning of this trip. I have felt all of those prayers, and I’m having the time of my life.

Having a snowy Thanksgiving in Lithuania!

Nov 26

It was a pretty quiet Friday, the sidewalks were slippery from the compacted frozen snow. LCC had a sponsored Talent Show night that was a lot of fun to go to. And, as Steph was very proud of me, I finally rode the bus home. I’ve been too stubborn to go out and buy a bus pass because the beginning of the month wasn’t very cold. But now with the addition of snow, these last few days are going to be a challenge to get through, and then I will probably get a bus pass for December. I heard rumors of it getting down to –17 here, which is around 1 degrees… Not fun. But the sunset was beautiful today, so I made Mārtiņš stop so I could take a picture.

Nov 27

Dare I say today was another attempt at being productive? I feel like it’s a game of catch up and get ahead at the same time. There are only two more weeks of classes, and next week is pretty quiet which means that in two weeks my life will explode. Wish me luck…

Nov 28

Same old, same old. Somehow my Saturdays are never as productive as I plan them to be, then I spend all day Sunday wishing I had finished everything on Saturday, so I end up still not finishing all my work. You gotta love the logic of procrastination.

Alpha Retreat

Nov 15

Steph Mings’ mom came to visit for a few days! She even brought some goodies with her that the group enjoyed as we all sat around preparing a wonderful feast to share together. I was in charge of cutting the chicken breasts, but all of a sudden this big bowl of Oreos, both plain and mint, are placed on the table in front of me. Now, I had chicken gunk all over my hands and was sadly unable to get my own mint Oreo. So I did the only logical thing I could think of: I incoherently scrambled to find the words to have someone feed me a mint Oreo while flailing my arms everywhere and nearly flying out of my chair in anticipation. Finally, Steph Shelly gives me a mint Oreo and I sit happily calm in my seat as I savored the sweet cookie taste. Oh, what simple pleasures. After that, I grabbed a plastic bag that was sitting in front of me and used that like a glove to pick up more mint Oreos. Sweet success!

Anyway, for dinner we had chicken with mandarin oranges and mangos, and then two different stir-fry dishes (one with meat and one without), and mashed potatoes (I LOVE mashed potatoes <3). The food was amazing. I am becoming quite the little chef, though for tonight I was only Mike’s assistant. Though I did manage to cut the potatoes while they were already in the boiling water. What can I say, I like a little challenge. For dessert, Steph’s mom brought some sugar cane to share. It was like bamboo that you cut pieces off and munch on it to get all the sweet sugar out of it. Let’s just say that with my sweet tooth, I was quite pleased.

Nov 16

Tonight I picked up my usual chef position as I cooked dinner with two friends. I made a familiar dish previously created by Gabby and me: chicken with onions, garlic and corn served with mashed potatoes. Ieva had some borscht that she served, which is a wonderful dish that I would love to bring the recipe back with me. And Edita had homemade lazy cake, which was the very same that Gabby and I tried to make last week. Another thing that I need to re-attempt at making so I can know how to successfully make it at home cause it’s supposedly really easy. So easy, there’s no baking required! Fancy that.

Nov 17

Sadly sociology was canceled today. I like the class, but I was pretty happy to have the break after the previous week’s discussion topics. Plus, I got to sleep in two whole hours! After classes I went and got Calvin and Gabby to cook dinner together. Cooking together is so much more enjoyable for me than cooking alone, and I can actually say that it may even be considered fun because of it.

Nov 18

Grr, yet another night at Neumann. But I guess the reward of brownie sundaes was well worth it :). We did better at making brownies this time because Gabby and Lauren had actual mix to make them with. As half the group ran over to the store to get some awesome flavors of ice cream (including cinnamon apple with nuts), the rest of us stayed back to prepare the brownie goodness. Much much better this time.

Nov 19

Tonight after classes and Canada’s independence day celebration, a huge group of about 40-50 people went on the Alpha retreat. We got on the bus around 6pm and headed for the “cabin in the woods”, the prime location for any horror film. It was a short drive, under 20 minutes or so, until the bus pulled down this tiny little dark road and Emas hopped on the bus to tell us that we were walking the rest of the way. Certainly reminded me of a horror film, but we all trudged off the bus and followed as best we could down the dirt road that led to the cabin. Just for the record, I love my boots that I bought here before leaving for Russia because I can step right into a puddle and have no cold/wet foot damage from it. Sadly, the same could not be said for others.

The cabin was huge! Everyone quickly got settled in before heading down to the Baltic Sea, which was about a 2-minute walk from our cabin. It was a fun walk down to the sandy shore, but it was a cloudy night which didn’t help with the visibility. Then we headed back to have hotdogs for dinner, which are surprisingly good with cucumbers. After dinner, Emas talked about the Holy Spirit and how He is active in our every day lives and is always with us.

Oh, and I got to play ping-pong again which I haven’t played in so incredibly long. I was actually still pretty good, which was really surprising. And then movie night consisted of watching “The United States of Leeland P. Fitzgerald”. It was a great psychological movie that really got you to think about how people act and why. Ah, well, it’s the psychologist in me :).

Nov 20

After another talk from Emas, a few people decided to start the morning off right by going down to the beach. Oh how I love the beach and its calming effects. It was just fun to be with friends enjoying the moment and having a ton of fun in the process. We played the foot game, which is where everyone is standing in a circle and one person touches the foot of the person to their right. The foot that is touched must be moved to touch the next person’s foot, and so on. It gets crazy as people are all twisted around or stretched doing a split for a couple of minutes (Calvin!).

Then back to the cabin to hang out for a little while until lunch. Steph taught us an amazing game using the pool table, but only using the cue ball and one other ball. Each person must roll the colored ball to hit the cue ball, but if the person keeps missing and the cue ball stops moving, you can pick it up and the person whose turn it was gets a point. In this game, points are bad. It just makes me really want a pool table, cause the game was super fun and I really want to play it again. And I’m not just saying that because I won :). We had chili for lunch, and then sat around for the final time as Emas wrapped up about how we can properly use our gifts from the Holy Spirit in our lives. Sadly enough, the Alpha retreat was over, and we all headed back to the bus that would take us back to Neumann, followed by my half an hour trek back to Karklu.

As all you Harry Potter fans should know, the first part of the seventh movie came out yesterday!! But being at Alpha, I could not go until later on tonight. I was supposed to go with a huge group of friends, but some miscommunication and lack of cell phones to contact them, it ended up just being Steph and me meeting up with James and Calvin and Will later on at the theaters. But even that ended up being complicated. I was to meet Steph at 7:15 to walk to the bus stop, and of course until that time I kept playing the Harry Potter intro songs to get me pumped up! Finally, Steph and I were at the bus stop waiting for our bus to take us to the mall, but it ended up never showing. So another one drives up, and we’re contemplating whether or not it will actually take us to the mall, and all of a sudden Steph yells, “Yes! James is on this bus! Go, get on, get on!!” So we dash onto the bus and quickly find seats and talk about how excited we are to finally be seeing this movie. All of a sudden, during the middle of our conversation, I glance up only to see Calvin’s worried face looking right at me. I jumped out of my seat and rushed towards the door, quietly yelling behind me for Steph to follow. It ended up being the wrong stop, but only adding about 5 minutes to our walk to the mall. The walk helped release some building tension of excitement, which was nice and definitely necessary.

We finally got to the mall and met up with Will. Now to buy our tickets. “We only have 5 tickets left,” said the worker behind the counter. My jaw dropped and we all nervously laughed as there happened to be 5 of us in our group. It was at this moment that I was relieved that I had not found any of my friends before leaving, otherwise this would have been severely awkward. We were able to buy the last 5 tickets, but weren’t allowed to enter the theater until 10 minutes before the start of the previews. Kind of good thing about this movie is that it had assigned seating, so at least we didn’t have to fight over the best seats in the house. Steph and I ended up sitting together at the very top middle, which she and I both agreed were awesome seats. Though at this point, any seat in that theater would have been amazing for me.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the movie. Usually I find a lot of things that I don't like about these movies and end up severely disliking them for a while, but I was overall pleased with this one. I absolutely cannot wait until the next one comes out, and I think it should be released on July 19. Do you know why? If you are a true Harry Potter fan, you should know that July 19 is Harry’s birthday :). I think that would be a great way to end the series.

Nov 21

Well, after yet another very unproductive weekend, I have a lot of catching up to do. I have to watch a movie, Shawshank Redemption, and then write a 5-10 page paper on it describing the motivational factors behind one of the main characters. It’s just more annoying than it’s worth. Oh, and see all of you who were mad at me for having my week off for Fall Break, here is your Thanksgiving Break. So enjoy that stuffing for me :).