first full RA meeting

My RA team has been incomplete until last night, when Natallia arrived! Tonight we had our first official team meeting - we went through a few business things, ate homemade applesauce, got to know each other, and of course took a few pictures! I'm really excited to have the opportunity to invest in these high-quality, hard-working students this year!!!

trying to be serious....

back: Ira, Natallia and me

front: Ausrius and Kirill

silly

(we love Kirill's face in this one)

and more laughter

(ha ha look at Ausrius' hair!)

showing off our Residence Life t-shirts

Res Life Retreat!

The RAs have finally arrived!!! To begin our week of training, last night we took them on a retreat to a cabin/sauna spot we had visited earlier this year with the Community Life team. We had fun playing games, eating, doing the sauna, laughing and talking together. What a great way to start off the year! It has been a really busy week, and will continue to be so, but I am so excited to have these students here in particular. Tonight I had 2 of my RAs over to watch the sunset out my big and beautiful windows. We talked for over 2 hours! It was such a great way to get to know them better - and we laughed a lot! :)

a silly photo of the group

more pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our Student Life retreat last week:

(photo credits to Josh and Alisha)

Margarita (SL VP) and I grilling meat for lunch (a Lithuanian specialty)

the diving board into the river (it looks so peaceful)!

the Community Life team

L-R: Josh, me, Susie, Olena and Alisha

my personal favorite: us being our normal silly selves!

Student Life retreat

Sorry I haven't been posting much... There's not much to take pictures of, or I end up forgetting my camera. At the end of  last week we had a retreat with the whole Student Life team. This includes our VP, an Athletic Director, a counselor, and office assistant and more! We had fun playing games together, eating, and getting in the sauna. It was especially exciting because there was a river outside to jump in. They had a zipline, a diving board, a platform AND a slide! I really enjoyed this retreat, and am excited to work with all these wonderful people this year!

Playing games together (several pictures with captions added)

Olena on the slide, and me falling off the zipline into the river after the sauna

Student Life team 2012-2013

On the snake log (L-R): me, Bethany (Spiritual Formations), Susie, Alisha, Josh, Olena

In the back row (L-R): Margarita (SL VP), Elena (Leadership Development),

Vaida (Office Manager), Egle (Career Development Center Director),

Demas (Athletic Director), Ina (Counselor)

holiday

Today was a national holiday in Lithuania, so we had the day off! I took a trip to Juodkrante, which is on the Curonian Spit. I visited "Raganu Kalnas" (Witches' Hill) which is a short trail with lots of carved wooden statues along the path. There were lots of interesting statues with funny faces and even one that had a slide through the mouth of the face! I also went to a cute little restaurant and ate fish, and walked around the town for a while. It was nice to get away from campus and totally relax. My camera ran out of batteries shortly into the day, so I only have pictures from Witches' Hill. 

The entrance

one of the many statues - i'm not exactly sure what it is, so use your imagination!

this one is definitely a dragon

there were plenty of picture opportunities - this crazy face was on the back of a chair

training...

We've started our training this week for Residence and Community Life. My two fellow RDs are Josh and Alisha, and when we meet as Community Life, we add Olena, who works as the Intercultural Programs Coordinator. Yesterday we had a fun retreat with Community Life. We spent the morning getting to know each other better, looking ahead to the year, praying together, and also serving by picking up trash around campus. In the afternoon, we went to a cute place in the Lithuanian countryside that had a sauna and four-wheelers! We got to drive the four wheelers around a crazy course, and then spent some time in the sauna and jumped in the lake afterwards. A great day of team building!

Here are some pictures courtesy of Susie:

 Residence Life on the 4-wheeler: Alisha, Josh and me

Community Life outside the house/sauna: Josh, Alisha, Susie, me and Olena

And my favorite: after we picked up trash around campus

Susie, Olena, Alisha, Josh and me

a new style!

Yesterday I went to get a haircut! I have been trying to grow my hair out since January, and I was ready for a bit more of a hairstyle rather than just a haphazard mop. :) A friend recommended a salon to me, and actually three of us went at the same time to get our hair cut! This is the first time I've been to a salon in years!

 Before: Bethany, Susie and me

After!!!!

With my new "style" in front of the orange wall in my apartment - I can't get anything to stick to the wall for some reason, so right now it's bare, but it's still a cool color!

new apartment

Here are some pictures of my new apartment. It's on the 5th floor of Enns Hall (almost like my last name - people get them mixed up often!) and it has a great view of the LCC pond and more!

When you walk in, this is what you see - the living room

My bedroom is off to the right, and the bathroom to the left

A little further back and to the right is the kitchen

And here's the view: LCC is off to the right, and the town is across the field - there are apartment buildings, a busy street, and a grocery store

Just wanted to let you all know that I made it safely to Lithuania - the first things to do are getting over jet lag, unpacking and getting settled, and then enjoying the Sea Festival that's in town this weekend. There are lots of craft booths and festivities in the Old Town. 

I will try to post pictures soon. Have a great weekend!