Since it’s been almost two weeks since I left for Lithuania, I guess it’s about time for me to update this blog. It’s a bit difficult for me to wrap my mind around everything I’ve seen and done in the past two weeks. So much has happened that it feels like I must have been here a lot longer.
I arrived in Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius on the 26th of August. All of us study abroad students were taken to our hostels and then we spent the next couple of days touring the city with our awesome interns Roberta, Mira, Roman, Dasha and Hedi. The interns are fellow LCC students who have volunteered to spend the semester helping us by accompanying us on all of our trips, making sure we know about the history and significance of the places we visit, showing us the basics of getting around Klaipeda and generally being cool people to hang out with. We love them.
During our time in Vilnius, we got see such places as the castle of Gediminas, the great warrior who founded the city and the building which used to house the headquarters/prison of the KGB, as well as the Gestapo during WWII. This last tour was particularly moving, as we learned about what people in this part of the world suffered during the Nazi and Soviet occupations. We saw photos, documents, artifacts and prison cells, including the room where many people were executed for opposing those in power. It definitely increased my respect for all the brave dissidents who participated in resistance movements such as the Baltic Way.
Gediminas' Castle
Statue of Gediminas
At the museum
Exhibit showing some of the beautiful needlework done by people who were exiled for being political dissidents or being related to dissidents.
The lovely castle at Trakai
On Friday, we set off for Klaipeda and LCC. On our way we stopped in the city of Trakai to visit the island castle of Vytautas, Lithuania’s greatest duke. We had a great time exploring the castle and the surrounding town. We arrived at LCC later that day and got settled into our dorms. I met my roommates. All three of them are freshmen from Ukraine. They’re a lot of fun and I’m enjoying getting to know them.
Some of my favorite things from the rest of orientation weekend were the scavenger hunt we had looking for different places around Klaipeda and last Saturday’s trip to the Baltic Sea.
Monday was the start of school. I think all of my classes are going to be interesting, especially my Christian Classics class. I’m looking forward to learning more about theologians I was introduced to during classes at JBU last year and discovering new ones. The last half of Monday classes were cancelled so that we could attend the opening convocation and then join all the other universities in Klaipeda on a march downtown to celebrate the start of the school year. I'm pretty convinced we need to start doing this in America.
I love the pond on campus.
The Baltic Sea is so pretty.
Oh hey, there's some moose on the beach!
The parade. LCC students carried the flags of their
countries and many wore traditional clothing.
Of course being at a new school hasn’t stopped me from experiencing my usual first of the year brain freeze. So I got lost in the academic building, lost in my dorm, lost on the bus and discovered that crossing the Atlantic has not diminished my ability to trip on flat surfaces. Despite my inability to use a map (or gravity), I’m glad I’m here. Lithuania is a beautiful country, LCC is a great school and I’ve met a lot of great people that I look forward to living and studying alongside this semester.
For anyone who’s interested in writing me while I'm here my address is:
LCC International University
C/O Hannah Nester
Kretingos 36,
LT - 92307 Klaipėda, Lithuania
