Goodbye!

This will be my final post here, since I have officially finished serving at LCC. I can't believe it's been three years already! My last few weeks were very full of goodbyes, checking students out of the dorm, and helping the new RAs and RDs prepare for the summer ahead.

These are two of my colleagues and friends who are also departing from LCC this year: Bethany and Gretchen. Each spring, we have a faculty/staff gathering to say goodbye to departing colleagues, and this is us having fun after the ceremony.

These are a group of colleagues that I did a book study together with in the past year. It was a really fun and encouraging group of people to get to know better.

L-R: Jennifer, Ilona, Bethany, me, and Grazina

 A few days later, we celebrated with all of our graduating seniors.
(This picture is for you, Susie!)

L-R: Bethany, Ella and me

Viktoriya - one of my RAs who graduated this year

THANK YOU for your support and prayers! I will miss the many students, colleagues and friends I made at LCC, but am also excited for the next phase of life.

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! :)

Italy #4: Views of the city

We took lots of pictures while we were out walking around the city, and so these are just a few of my favorites. We really enjoyed the architectural heritage, monuments, and artistic charm of Florence.

There were lots of motorcycles parked everywhere in Florence, and well as buzzing through traffic very quickly.

This is the Arno River in Florence, which we crossed many times each day from our apartment to go into the main part of the city. There is one famous bridge (Ponte Vecchio, where this picture is taken from) which has lots of shops across it instead of cars.

I like this picture because of the colors and the fact that you can see statues and the Duomo's dome - just a normal view in Florence.

The Duomo is on the left, and in the center of the picture on the lamppost coming out from the building you can see the Florence coat of arms.

From the top of the Duomo - in the background is the belltower. Notice that I am keeping a tight hold in the railing, because we were up high!

A view of the city from up high. The second bridge is the famous Ponte Vecchio.

I love this view of the Duomo - it's so BIG!

Italy #3: Museums and Siena

We went to two main museums in Florence: the Uffizi Gallery and The Gallery of the Academy of Florence. There were several famous works there, which we took pictures of (even though it was against the rules)!

This painting, The Birth of Venus, but Sandro Botticelli was commissioned by the Medici family of Florence and is now kept in the Uffizi Gallery. I thought it was interesting that there was a stone replica beside the painting so that blind visitors could also experience it.

And of course, Michaelangelo's David statue, which was in The Gallery of the Academy of Florence. It was so lifelike  - we were amazed!

During our last day in Italy, we took a trip to Siena, which is also a city in the area of Tuscany, famous for its medieval cityscape, among other things. This is a picture of the Duomo in Siena, also very detailed and covered with marble panels like the one in Florence.

This is the Piazza del Campo (Campo Square) where we sat to eat our lunch. It was sunny and beautiful, filled with other people eating and feeding the many pigeons in the square.

View of another church on our hike up a small hill to get a better view of the city.

And the Siena Duomo from far away.

Italy #2: The Duomo

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the main church we saw on our trip to Florence. Normally, it is called "The Duomo". Construction was begun in 1296 during the Gothic period, and completed in 1436. The dome was started only after about 100 years of construction. The dome was supposed to reject traditional Gothic style and do away with the typical external flying buttresses (like at Notre Dame) which were disliked by Italian architects and forbidden in Florence.

The exterior of the Duomo is made of pink, green and white polychrome marble panels.

This is the front of the church - so much detail on every part of the structure!

And the the dome from the inside. I could have looked at it all day, because there was so much going on in the painting. It was supposed to be a representation of The Last Judgement. 

Then we climbed the 463 steps to the top of the dome to see the views outside. This is halfway up, and you can see the detailed marble floors in the church's main entryway.

And one view from above - it looks to me like the typical Italian countryside in the background.

In order to go up to the top of the dome, we had to buy a combined ticket with all the attractions. So to get our money's worth, we decided to "quickly peek" into the baptistery, and we were amazed. This is the ceiling inside, and it is entirely a mosaic!!! Again, it is a representation of The Last Judgement.

A part of the mosaic ceiling in the baptistery - it's gives both the amazing "how did they do that?" and the "ewww, gross!" feeling!