Lithuania!

Last weekend, September 9th - 11th, I went to Vilnius, Lithuania with a group of International students. I will try my best to provide an accurate account of all the adventures in this lovely city but I doubt I can do Lithuania justice in this short blog post.
Five thirty am came much too early on Friday morning as we gathered in the lobby on the first floor to make the 5 minute trek (because at 6:00am everything is a trek) to the bus station. A nice coach bus, microwave included, carried us to Riga, Latvia which took about 4 hours, non of which I remember. A quick 10 minute bus transfer in Riga and we were Vilnius bound, with the minor bump of a German shepherd and boarder patrolman entering the bus at the Latvia/Lithuania boarder. I do not recommend 8 hours on a coach bus to anyone.

We arrived in Vilnius around 3 in the afternoon and immediately checked into our hostel. To say this place was a dive is an understatement. Did I mention the name of the hostel was A Hostel? That should have been the first hint. Nine of us stayed in a 10 bedroom cave. The 4 others stayed in an adorable hostel a few blocks away, lucky them. There was absolutely no light in our hostel and the beds where like coffins. Five on top, five on the bottom. I was on the top row, which I realized was a terrible idea AFTER stumbling home in the wee hours of the night with questionable sobriety. I have bruises on my knees from the awkward metal handle/ladders.
After checking into out hostel we went to exchange our Eruos into Litas. The exchange rate is quite favorable, an example being two massive Lithuanian meals, drinks and desert included, was about $12 US dollars. And I thought Estonia was cheap. Our group of 9 met up with other 4 and we went exploring. The most noticeable difference between Estonia and Lithuania is the traffic. Drivers are crazy and do not stop for anyone and the pedestrians are equally as insane. We followed crowds of people quickly walking around buses and cars...the crosswalks were more of a suggestion than anything. We made it our goal of the trip to not be run over. Luckily we achieved that goal as I am sitting in my lovely dorm back in Tartu. After some sight seeing (lost wandering) we found a nice, traditional Lithuanian restaurant. I had a 'Huge Potato Pancake' with sour cream sauce. It was essentially a massive patty of hash-browns. Others ordered dumplings with meat which were delicious as well. We went out to a sports bar after dinner for drinks. For those of you who don't know, Lithuania is OBSESSED with basketball. In the photo above you can see the basketball hoops and balls on the power lines. I have two Lithuanian flatmates and they definitely love their basketball. The sports bar was absolutely packed with fans. Unfortunately Lithuania lost to France but it wasn't the end of the world. I left the bar a bit early and ended up getting completely lost. Luckily Lithuanians are very friendly and helped me get back to my hostel about 1 minute before everyone else arrived...even though they left about a half hour after I did. Oops. I got to see more of the city that way!

The next day we went on thee best tour I've ever had. The tour 'company' is The Yellow Suitcase Tours, they have tours in the capitol cities of all three Baltic States and they are completely free to the public. The tour guide is a local volunteer interested in showing people 'the real' city with many local stops rather than the big touristy options. Our tour guide was a bubbly young girl named Egle and she showed us her favorite parts of Vilnius. If it weren't for her, I would never have discovered the most wonderful place on Earth; The Republic of Uzupis. This small republic is a place of peace. Their flag, a hand with a hole in the middle, represents the need to keep an open mind throughout life. The constitution has 41 articles and can be seen in 8 different languages along one of the walls. One of my favorite articles states "Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation." Another favorite is "Everyone has the right to love and to take care of the cat."

This is the cat. He is fat and happy and he gets quite a lot of attention. I could probably talk about the Repubic of Uzupis for a very long time but I do believe I should move on to the rest of the tour/Lithuania. After spending a while in Uzupis, we walked to a street completely dedicated to Literature. Local artists design bricks that represent famous Lithuanian artists, poets and translators. It was impossible to choice a specific brick I like the most but I've included a photo of the entire street to give a feel for what it looks like.
We finished our tour directly after the street of Literature and went for some delicious Lithuanian food. After a two hour meal, a group of us returned to the hostel to nap and get ready for a night on the town. We first went the town square where we watched Russia play Greece on the big screen. Randomly in the middle of the game, we heard loud chants and something about Georgia. As it turns out, the Georgian National Ballet Allstars were performing - we're talking live band and dancers - in the square. A few of us immediately ran over to enjoy the show and live music. It was so random but I'm so happy I was able to see the performance. I definitely will not forget that one anytime soon.
The show lasted about an hour and then we all went into a club. It was kind of strange and every few minutes foam would start raining down from the ceiling. After getting groped by a Lithuanian guy, I decided it was time to leave. I met up with some of the other students who had decided against the club and we went out for a drink. We then went to bed in our cave and that was the end of Saturday.
Sunday morning consisted of packing/cleaning the hostel and drinking as much coffee as possible because a) we were exhausted and didn't want to miss our bus and b) it was the only thing on the menu we could remotely pronounce. One of the dishes had the words "Free Potato" but when asked, the cashier just glared at us and shook her head. We all tried to spend the last of our litas on bus food and I bought a Lithuanian flag for a car window...now if only I had a car. We boarded the bus and were homeward (Tartu) bound around 2:30 in the afternoon. A 45 minute stop in Riga gave us just enough time to buy an ice cream cone and stretch our legs before another 4 hour bus ride back to Tartu. On the bus I learned that Germans refer to the Big Dipper as a Wagon which made me laugh pretty hard.
I'm meeting so many wonderful people and am so happy to be here in Estonia. It is truly a once in a life time experience and I'm in love with the part of the world. I'm off to Tallinn (Capitol of Estonia) tomorrow to meet a fellow Willamette student and his friend. We'll spend a night there and then a night on one of Estonia's islands and then back to Tartu on Sunday so I can study for my Estonian test. Nägemist!