Year #2 begins....

Hello again! I hope you all have enjoyed a wonderful summer so far! I definitely have! I worked at the bakery again, and went on lots of trips to visit friends and family. I had two big fundraisers - one in Goshen, and one in Newton, and they both turned out really well! 

I return to Lithuania TOMORROW already!!!! I can't believe how fast the summer has gone! This year I'm looking forward to new RAs, new RDs, and a new apartment on campus! Lots of change, but hopefully it will be good!

As I am packing and getting ready to leave, I'm in awe of how many people are supporting me - it's an amazing feeling to be so loved by all of you! I literally couldn't be doing this without you! Thanks to all of you for your financial gifts, prayers, encouragement and much more. I wish I could do more to thank you.

Here's a couple pictures from my summer in Goshen and a few other places (in chronological order):

eating ice cream at Yup's in Middlebury with my "younger sister" - Annie

a nasty cut on my hand from a broken glass in the dishwater at the bakery (9 stitches!)

visiting my brother in Seattle, Washington

five year college friends reunion in Iowa

all wet after running in the rain during a work day at the bakery...

the first rain in over a month!

birthday celebration

Today is my birthday as well as two other LCC colleagues. Last night we went out to celebrate at a pizza place that I had been wanting to go to all year! I had been told it was the best pizza in Klaipeda, and I would agree that for Lithuanian pizza, it was the best I've tasted so far. I ordered a pizza with spinach, walnuts, feta and blue cheese. After pizza we went to someone's house to eat cake and talk some more. It was a fun final evening!

me with my pizza

 the whole group

The other two people who had birthdays were Jane (pink coat on the far left)

and Steve (just to the right of me)

trip to Nida

Yesterday I took a trip to Nida, Lithuania with a group of friends (students and faculty from LCC). We took the ferry across to the Curonian Spit, and then took a 45 km bus ride to the other side of the Spit to the town of Nida. There was a beach and some big sand dunes - we enjoyed climbing around on the dunes, taking pictures, walking around the town, and being away from campus for a while. 

taking pictures and enjoying the view

looking towards Russia

running down the dune!

I leave tomorrow for the States, so I probably won't be posting much over the summer. Thanks for your support and for visiting my blog to keep updated on my life in Lithuania this past year!

Graduation

Today was LCC's 17th graduation. Three of my RAs walked today, and it was fun to celebrate with them. We had a Senior Leadership Awards ceremony last night, where each of the student leader supervisors read letters they had written to their senior leaders. It was a fun and special way to publicly affirm their hard work. Today was Baccalaureate and the graduation ceremonies. I only got a few pictures during the ceremony (and they're not very good since I was far away), but I did get some pictures from afterwards. It is a tradition to give a flower to each student who you've come to congratulate. The students each get a rose from LCC and then their hands fill up with bunches of flowers after the ceremony. By the time they leave, many of them have a huge bouquet!

me, Bethany and Kristen waiting to cheer the graduates into the ceremony

Ana receiving her diploma from President Marlene Wall

me and Iuna

me and Ana

graduates throwing their hats in celebration

New RAs

I finally have a picture to show you of my new RAs for next year! We went to the beach and grilled out tonight to spend one more time all together before the summer. We ate, took some pictures, and talked about zombies among other things! :) I'm sorry that my picture skills are not very good, but at least I got something...

 trying to take a jumping picture

 crazy faces

Ira, Alex, Natallia, me, and Ausrius

Also, after I got home from our gathering, many of the girls from my 2nd West floor came down and gave me cookies and individual notes from them to thank me for being their RD! It was so sweet of them!!!

some of the notes (very nicely done) and cookies in the background

bowling

Tonight I went bowling for the first time since I've been in Lithuania. I took the worship team members (some of these guys/gals):

It was my small way of saying thank you for their help this semester.

our shoes

last RA meeting

Tonight we had our last RA meeting. I wanted to do something special to thank them for all the hard work they've done. So, we went to the BEACH and we grilled hot dogs and had "s'mores" (with cookies instead of graham crackers). Even though we left an hour late because two of my RAs were finishing their last exam, we had a lot of fun laughing, talking, taking pictures, and eating of course. And, the evening was so warm and beautiful! We got there right as the sun was setting, and it was perfect! I will miss these girls very much - it feels weird to be done with the first year already! Some of our favorite things from this year were: horseback riding, eating tacos and pizza, going to the sauna, our apple crisp and blind date events, the retreat in my apartment, and much more. 

 "stupid" faces

 jumping

 the fire

 pretending to be "hot"

 Melisa's butt is on fire!!!! :)