Labas!

Well, it’s been over a week since I left Portland and seven days exactly since I arrived in Klaipeda. So I have a lot to fill in.

The last week in Oregon was hectic. Not only did I have to pack, but I had to run a bunch of errands, quit my job, and make some feeble attempt to hang out with people one last time before I fled the country for six months. However, I think everyone felt that it wasn’t a long term thing. When I left for Bosnia, ten months in a foreign country as a seventeen-year-old is a little more drastic. In comparison, six months is nothing – especially considering I’m not missing any major holidays.

My last night was spent with church friends, watching movies and eating s’mores, which was a great way to get every piece of “America” in me before I was on a jet plane across the Atlantic.

I left around 3:30PM last Saturday where my first layover was in Reykjavik, Iceland. The flight wasn’t entirely terrible, other than the fact that I didn’t realize you had to pay for your meal, instead of it being included with the flight price. After only sleeping for an hour, I stayed awake for the rest of the flight, which didn’t help my already settling exhaustion. I landed in Iceland at 6AM their time and wasn’t about to go sleep my day away at the airport. Instead, I got a coffee in my veins, found a free walking tour and a bus that would take me from the airport to the city, so with my phone charged and body very tired, I set off.

Reykjavik was an incredibly charming city, especially because the first two hours of my day were spent wandering a city that was still sleeping. I ate at a little café in the main area that served breakfast (Icelandic yogurt with a berry compote, anyone?) and then took off to explore.

I was so happy to explore everything and see such a beautiful city. It was incredible to literally wander up two or three blocks from the main roads and completely escape the tourist scene and just see the quaint houses and quiet streets. After a two hour free walking tour, I felt oriented enough to take the rest of the city on by myself and was able to go to the top of Hallsgrímskirkja and get a breathtaking view of Reykjavik. After Icelandic fish and chips and another latté, I headed back to the airport to get an hour or two of sleep before boarding my 1 AM flight to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen was uneventful as my layover wasn’t long enough for me to leave the airport. Instead, I grabbed breakfast and read in my terminal until my next flight took off for Vilnius, Lithuania!

By this point in my journey, my body was in survival mode. Over 48 hours of travel and layovers with only six or seven hours of sleep altogether. Not to mention time change and the general stress of traveling by oneself. But eventually, I landed in Vilnius, grabbed my luggage, and took a shuttle over to the train station for the final leg of my journey. Once I met up with the other three teachers who flew into Vilnius, I felt a little more oriented – especially considering two of them have been here before and new how to navigate the country as well as speak the language. Our train rolled in and we boarded, taking about half an hour to get to know one another before I couldn’t stay awake any longer and fell asleep. I fall asleep in moving vehicles, regardless of exhaustion, but I actually can’t remember ever falling asleep as quickly as I did on the train.

At 8:45 PM, we arrived in Klaipeda and trudged our luggage to the waiting taxi, where we then drove off to my new home for the next six months – LCC International University.

Once at the university, there wasn’t much to do other than make my bed and begin unpacking. I was too exhausted for much else and was in bed by 10 PM.

The next day was orientation! Despite everyone’s jet lag, we all managed to be bright eyed and bushy tailed as we met the team and went over the agenda for the next month.

I won’t bother you with details, but Tuesday mainly consisted of orientation and unpacking.

Now, Wednesday was fun! While we still had orientation that morning, I was able to finally leave campus with a guide. One of the RA’s, Hannah, actually studied abroad at LCC last semester (you can check out her blog here for more Lithuanian adventures), so she knows the lay of the land pretty well. After running to grab groceries (because a few granola bars and some cheese will only get you so far), we met up with other staff to go out for dinner in Old Town Klaipeda – or Senamiestė in Lithuanian!

We took the bus down, which was good because I now feel comfortable enough to take it on my own (when that will happen, I’m not sure… probably soon), and met up with about ten or fifteen teachers and other Residential Life. However, my group seemed to think the group was getting too large and we didn’t want to be those Americans, so we broke off into a group of six and took off to the river. Hannah showed us one of her favorite restaurants which sat on the river and introduced us to the wonders of kepta duona – a Lithuanian appetizer that consisted of fried rye bread and a creamy cheese with garlic. Yeah, it’s about as amazing and as fattening as it sounds. Totally worth it, let me tell you.

Kepta duona!

After dinner and a round of Two Truths and a Lie, we walked around town to grab coffee and find the statues that are scattered across Klaipeda. This was the first time I felt like I was actually able to hangout and get to know my fellow RA’s, which has been good because now with two hundred students flooding the halls, it’s harder to get away.

I’m waiting for more downtown walks, but that might have to wait until the semester starts in September, because as of Saturday, it is way too busy to escape for very long. Overall, it was a very fun and successful evening and I hope we get to do it again soon.

Thursday was more orientation and Friday the first set of students arrived from the Netherlands! That was a busy day as we moved everyone in and got people settled into our halls (Second West is where it’s at). Friday was also my first night on duty and I quickly found myself reverting back to Customer Service Katie as I dealt with some more difficult situations. But together with the receptionist and another RA, we managed to get through it and I was finally able to go to bed at 1:30 AM.

Saturday was the busiest day as the majority of students moved in. It was a constant flow of students from Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and more. We all took turns at the front table, handing out keys and escorting students up to their rooms, while giving a quick rundown of the itinerary for the weekend until classes started. Once my floor was settled in (and I can especially say this now after day 4 of SLI), I like to think I have one of the best, most well-behaved floors. But maybe I’m just a wee bit biased. That evening was orientation for the kids where we all got acquainted and I have almost my entire floor memorized. More or less because apparently I can’t say Lithuanian or Ukrainian names to save my life.

Then came Sunday! The church that the majority of staff attend was closed that Sunday, so we decided to go to the Curonian Spit and do some Baltic Sea beach combing! We were all up early and took the bus to the ferry, the ferry to the Spit, and then another bus to the beach. There, we spent about four hours just moving down the beach, looking for amber and sea glass that was washed up with the tide. It was a lot of fun to hang out with staff and other ResLife and we managed to grab dinner at a cute restaurant on the Spit before heading back over to LCC for the student mixer!

The student mixer was just a fun evening full of snacks and games for the students and the ResLife to get to know one another – especially considering we’ll all be living together in the dorms for the next three weeks. After the student mixer, a small group of us gathered in our RD’s room to watch a movie, drink some tea, and eat banana bread. We were hoping to watch La La Land, but alas, it’s not on Netflix.

And finally, we’re on the last day to catch up on which was yesterday! As it was the first day of class for the students, we had an opening assembly to introduce teachers and other staff. It also amazes me how European students dress for school. Most students wore dresses and blazers or button downs which is something you’ll rarely see in American high school. But orientation went smoothly and the students were dismissed to class, leaving the ResLife staff to do whatever they pleased. Well… more or less.

After errands and laundry, I prepped for discussion groups that evening and cleaned my room (Mom, you’d be so proud!) and then went to the Staff Meeting/Potluck which meant discussion groups after, and finally Tea and Games with the students once again! I had a lot of fun with the students playing a (quite violent) game of Spoons, but it was fun to hang out.

Overall, I’ve loved every second of my time here in Lithuania, but it’s interesting to me how I still don’t feel like I’m in a foreign, new place. When I first went to France and Bosnia, it took me a solid week to feel partially oriented and like I knew what I was doing. But so far, everything here has felt fairly normal… which is an odd sensation considering I’m in a completely new place. However, I’ll embrace this feeling and hopefully see more of the country and its surrounding areas so I can hold on to this “homey” feeling.

Anyway, I need to go make lunch and get ready for my Poland trip this weekend!

Until I have some more free time,

Kate