Road Trip: Lithuania edition

Last Monday, on a day off after Easter Sunday, I took a trip with some colleagues and friends from LCC. We drove around to several different sights in Lithuania, and had a lot of fun being off campus and enjoying each other's company. I even turned off my phone for the entire day which was probably the most refreshing part for me!

We saw lots of storks and other animals on the trip, and came up with a point system for those who see the most unusual animals. Storks were only 1 point, but the grey cranes and moose that I saw helped me win the game! :)

We saw several "castle mounds" which were hills built by Lithuanians many years ago to be able to view invaders from far away. There are not many hills in Lithuania, so we were delighted with a change of elevation.

The other castle mound we saw had ancient tombs in the side of the hill, and of course we wanted to climb inside...

Next we went to the "Hill of Crosses", which is a place where Lithuanians and people from many other nations have placed crosses as a sign of their Catholic faith.

When the Russians occupied Lithuania, it is said that they tried to destroy this hill many times, but overnight the Lithuanians would come and put up the crosses again. This is a powerful illustration to me of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.

There have been efforts made to count the number of crosses on the hill, but the number changes every day, so it is virtually impossible.

Next we went and walked around a nearby city, Siauliai, and found a HUGE metal fox which was placed by the town river. Apparently the city did not want to display the fox, but the artist placed it here in the middle of the night, and since the city didn't want to pay to have it removed, it is still here. It seems that people really enjoy it, actually!

And it wouldn't be a blog post without a picture of food, right? This is the dish we ate at a Lithuanian restaurant for dinner. It was mashed potatoes, covered with bacon gravy, with pickle spears on the side. Delicious and filling!

What a great day with friends!

Student Leader Events

A couple weeks ago the Student Life team and Residence Life team hosted a couple events to honor and appreciate the 2013-2014 Student Leaders.

The first event was called "Student Leader Appreciation" and we worked hard to make it a fancy and upscale event. We had decorations, fancy drinks and snacks, assigned seats for each student, and lots of flowers. It was a lot of work for us, but we were all really pleased with the results.

In this picture, you can see the fancy food/drinks, and name tags, and fancy clothes students were wearing. The two students in the front, Daria and Dima, are going to be RAs next year.

Here is the "stage" with lots of beautiful flowers. L-R: Ella, Alisha and Egle.

All the graduating seniors in front, getting ready to receive recognition for their hard work.

The next event was hosted by the Residence Life team for only the RAs. We had a murder mystery and progressive dinner all tied into one evening. Our theme was the "Old and Wild West", and we also enjoyed dressing up and playing our roles throughout the investigation. Again, it was a lot of work, but really worthwhile! 

Glamour shots in the "Deadwood Saloon"

L-R: Alisha, Viktoriya, Sasha and Hanna

L-R: Nastassia and Ina

My pies! Lemon, apple and chocolate

The whole group in typical, serious, "Old West" style

me and my team

L-R: Dima, Nastassia, me, Viktoriya and Kirill

The RDs and DCL

L-R: me, Alicia, Alisha and Josh

the last week

The last week included a visit from my brother who lives in Seattle! Last Friday I went to pick my brother up in Vilnius, and we walked around the city on Saturday. We came back to Klaipeda on Saturday night, and he spent the next week here at LCC with me. He took a few day trips to nearby cities on days when I was working, but we also got to do a lot of fun things together.

We enjoyed wandering around Vilnius our first day together, and found an "art alley" which had different art pieces on the walls.

This is St. Anne's church - one of the few Gothic-style churches in Vilnius.

And a monument to Gediminas, one of the first rulers of Lithuania, in Cathedral Square in Vilnius.

We ate "apple cheese" as it is called here - it was kind of like fruit leather, which we remember from our childhood.

Once in Klaipeda, we visited Old Town, and found the famous (very small) mouse statue. If you whisper your wish in his ear, it will come true.

This is another slightly more unique statue in Old Town.

We also ate kepta duona (fried bread), a traditional Lithuanian appetizer.

And of course, went to the sea. We visited a sauna on the Baltic Sea, and so after getting really sweaty in the sauna, we ran out and jumped in the water, which was probably around 35 degrees Farenheit. COLD!!!

This week also included a big Enns event that my RAs and I have been planning for most of this semester. It was called Casino Night, and very similar to the event we had last year. We had games, food, fancy drinks, and costumes. This girl won the "best costume" award, and the guy in the background in the green shirt won the grand prize for having the most poker chips at the end of the evening.

We also had a photographer who took pictures of students. These are four roommates, two of whom will graduate in May.

I also like this picture of my two guy RAs - Kirill and Dima. I don't usually see them being this nice to each other! :)