Hello hello! It’s been over month and boy do I have news! First of all, I’ve just spent the past thirty days traversing across Europe with my friend, Ashley, and am about to collapse out of sheer exhaustion. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Am I ready to get settled into a routine back in Klaipeda and wear more than the same five shirts? YES PLEASE.
And that brings me to number two, I’m back in Lithuania and just finished my first week of my Fall semester! Myself and twenty-three other students are in Klaipeda, after spending nearly a week doing orientation in surrounding areas such a Vilnius, Kretinga, Palanga, and Nida, but yesterday marked the end of the first week! Senior year, finally!
The month of August had been a whirlwind of adventure. Ashley and I started off our trip in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. I left behind my life in Klaipeda and said goodbye to my fellow RA’s before catching my flight towards Sarajevo. After many delays, I eventually arrived where my host father, Esad, from my high school exchange was there to welcome me home. I could feel my brain straining to remember all the Bosnian I had ever learned and especially found it difficult to switch between talking to Ashley in English and then speaking to Esad in Bosnian, but we managed to catch up during the car ride up to Panjina Kula. I felt like a child as we started up the narrow streets and I would point at buildings and say, “Znam gdje mi smo!” which is a very poor grammar structure for “I know where we are!” But Esad just laughed at my antics until we arrived at the house. Nizama (my host mom), Nermana (host sister) and her two children, and Granny were all at the house waiting for us and I couldn’t stop smiling as Nizama told me that I got my old room back and there was pita waiting for me in the kitchen. After food and talking on the terrace until midnight, it was finally time for bed and thus our summer travels commenced!
It was so good to be back in Sarajevo, despite the horrendously hot weather. I won’t give a day by day account because I could probably write a novel out of the first week alone. However, we managed to hit up all the sites that we could and drink more coffee than either one of us needed. It was especially nice to go to the National Museum which was still under reconstruction during my exchange after it had been burned down during the Bosnian War. This city had captured my heart once before and this trip only rebooted my love for it.
So if you think I talked about Bosna-Hercegovina a lot before, I got bad news for you.
After goodbyes and many promises to return (maybe in a cooler month so we could actually go outdoors), we boarded our flight for France! Similar to Bosnia, it had been years since I’d been there the first time. After speaking Bosnian for nearly a week, it took me awhile to switch my brain to a different language; however, I was happy that it was a language I’m actually familiar with. The airport was a blur as we ran down to grab bags and catch our train to Dijon where we met up with some of my George Fox friends who were working/studying abroad! This was easily one of the most fun days we had, simply because it was with wonderful people and the stress of planning our day was removed when we had the “locals” show us around. We walked up towers, had our morning café au lait et croissant, and went to a half dozen churches. Eventually, it was time to say goodbye to Dijon and bonjour to Mont Saint Michel!
Have you ever seen the movie Tangled? Lost princess Rapunzel and thief-with-a-heart-of-gold Flynn go on a wild adventure and wind up at the beautiful kingdom that looks like it’s floating and completely ethereal. WELL. Ashley and I visited the place it was based off and it truly was magic.
The tide was out, so we lacked the true effect, but it was stunning nonetheless. The bottom lies a quaint little village (however it mainly caters to the tourists at this point) and the top rests the Abbey. The stairs were killer, but the view was phenomenal. Ash and I moseyed around town, taking pictures and enjoying the view before we unfortunately had to head back down to join our tour.
Next day was the Loire Valley where we managed to go to three chateaus! Visiting all these places only affirmed one thing for me – I need to become royalty somehow. The castles ranged from medieval to romanticism, but they were all equally stunning. However, it was easy to return home that night because the next day was our first day in Paris!
Paris is easily one of my favorite cities in the world and, believe me, I hate how cliché it sounds, but it’s simply otherworldly. Every building is opulent and the history is so fascinating, not to mention how good the food is. I was practically floating down each street as I would look up and suddenly, “Oh! Notre Dame!” or “Wow, I can see why the Phantom spent so much time in the Opera House.” Every second we spent in Paris made me want to stay longer and I’ll for sure be back a third time. Well, that is if I can afford it because apparently you have to be a billionaire to spend more than a few days in that gorgeous city.
Eventually, our time in Paris had to come to a close, so we packed our bags and boarded our train to London!
The train to London was an adventure as we weren’t aware of how early we had to be for an international train. After only taking the train from Paris to Dijon and back again, we weren’t ready for security checks and border patrol, which in retrospect makes complete sense; however, we hadn’t a clue then. Once arriving at the check-in, we were suddenly rushed through with attendants saying “I can’t believe we’re letting you through. You’ll never make it.” So needless to say, we were worried. Eventually, we made it to the platform where the worker said calmly, “oh, no need to worry. You have plenty of time.” That turned out to be a good thing because somewhere in the hassle, we didn’t realize that they switched our seats and we were in separate cars. But luckily, the platform lady escorted us to a car and just told us to find any empty seats. Finally we were on our way.
Unlike Paris, we didn’t have London planned to a T. We woke up leisurely the next day and had breakfast at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens and then just strolled around town, grabbing coffee where we pleased, and finally headed down to watch Les Misérables at the West End! It was my second time seeing it live, but never at a professional level, so needless to say, I was giddy the entire time. The rest of London was a lot of wandering around and seeing the major sites. It made me wish we had done more research or a local guide to point us in the right direction, but we still had an overall lovely time and before we knew it, we were on our way to Lyme Regis!
Lyme Regis was a rather surprising city for us. Ashley had convinced me to go when she said that it was along the Jurassic Coastline and Jane Austen loved to spend time there, but even still I was a little wary just because there were no good photos of this town anywhere on the internet. After driving through the British countryside, we eventually rolled into the most adorable beach town. Our Airbnb host was incredible and had tea and biscuits ready for our arrival and then we strolled into town with enough time to walk along the jetty where certain scenes of Persuasion were based and grabbed authentic fish and chips and mushy peas! Then it was off to bed so we could head up to Bath and Coventry the next day!
We ventured into another Jane Austen town – Bath! The city was utterly charming, albeit extremely busy because there were festivals and concerts going on in the area. Nevertheless, we had a lovely time on a Jane Austen walking tour (I know, we’re nerds), and getting a coffee along the canal. Bath was just a pitstop as we continued north to Coventry to meet up with my childhood pen-pal, Sophie.
Sophie and I met when we were eight or nine years old. At the time, I desperately wanted a pen-pal, but my parents refused for me to go searching on the internet or one (as an adult, I can see how naïve I was, but at the time, I was so upset). Then at a kids camp in Canada, there was a guest speaker from England who happened to have a daughter named Sophie who was my age! We quickly became friends and agreed to write to one another. Over time we got Facebook and Instagram and continued our contact and when I announced that I was coming to England, she didn’t hesitate to invite us over and meet up once again! This enhanced our trip so much! It was lovely having a local friend and guide who could take us to cute little tea houses for cream tea and then join us for the weekend in Edinburgh!
What we didn’t know about going to Edinburgh in August was that the Fringe Festival was happening. The main streets were extremely crowded with people handing out flyers for their shows and tourists looking for tartan and whiskey. We managed to make the most of it, though, and ended up attending a free show help in St. Giles Cathedral, as well as hiking up Arthur’s Seat which was exhausting, but the view was so worth it! It was also incredibly handing having someone with data who could look up amazing coffee shops in the area which was just icing on the cake. Edinburgh was such a cool city and I wish we had an extra few days to aimlessly explore.
We had to say goodbye to Sophie a day early as she had to head back to work and we had a tour scheduled for the Scottish highlands! This was easily one of the highlights as we toured castles and dipped our feet into lochs. If it wasn’t so expensive, I would have moved to Scotland in a heartbeat.
The next day, we arrived at our final destination for KASH in Europe which was Dublin! Our time in Dublin was short, but we managed to squeeze all the necessities in! We visited museums, saw the Book of Kells, shopped on Grafton Street, and even snuck in a concert at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The next day was the Cliffs of Moher which was absolutely breathtaking. Ashley and I were trying to be good and not scream “IT’S THE CLIFF OF INSANITY,” but alas, we failed. We also made a pitstop at Burren National Park and the adorable town of Galway and I’m already plotting my next trip to Ireland. I wish I had infinite funds and time so I could see the whole world. Slowly, but surely!
And then it was the end of Ireland and the end of my time with Ashley! I said goodbye to my travel buddy as she stayed in Ireland for a few extra days while I flew off to Denmark to see my parents.
Denmark was lovely and I wish I had more time in Copenhagen as well (surprise, surprise). However, thanks to my dad’s side of the family, we were able to do and see more while also reconnecting with our extended family who lived outside of Copenhagen. We toured beaches and visited the oldest church in Denmark, as well as saw viking settlements. We also had enough time to spend a day in Malmö, Sweden which was a delightful city and would willingly go again. It was a wonderful last stop before I finally headed back to Lithuania!
And we’re all caught up! It only took me multiple weeks to write this blog post, but this is my entire summer update and I apologize for the absurd length. I’ll be sure to update my Lithuanian adventures shortly, but that’ll have to wait until I’m done homework.
Anyway, I need to go grocery shopping and then have a roommate meeting.
Until my reading assignments are completed,
Kate
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