on the move again...
it's hard to believe, but my semester at LCC is over. i don't think it has really hit me yet. saying goodbye to my roommates was so strange. jenya and sorina both cried. nora somehow disappeared right before i left so i never even said goodbye to her. i didn't see many of the study abraods before i left. originally our plan was to catch the 8am bus to visaginas, the little russian town were jen's roommate sasha lives, but we decided to take the 4am bus instead. 4am is not the optimal time to wish anyone a proper farewell. i guess i'll let that be my excuse for all my awkward goodbyes, although i don't think goodbyes ever come naturally.
our last night in the dorm was pretty eventful. alex the intern came to spend a few hours with us and he gave us an extremely well-prepared goodbye speech. he sat the three of us down, told us how much he loved our friendship this semester, how he loved our smiles, our sincerity, our genuine personalities, our openness... apparently we broke his stereotype of americans. he told us we are beautiful, that we were his favorite trio this semester, and that if he makes it to the states this year he will be coming to visit us. it made all of our nights to hear everything he had to say. after that precious little moment with alex the insanity of packing and checking out kicked in full-force. i hated every minute of it. i gave almost all of my clothes to salvation army in order to make room for all my souvenirs. i packed as quickly as possible in order to enjoy my last night with everyone. who knows what i'll find when i unpack my suitcase for good in a few weeks.
ashley, jen, and i are currently staying at sasha's house in visaginas. it's a little russian forrest town in lithuania. her parents are so cute and her mom is an incredible cook. i'm going to miss russian borscht like i never imagined. her family owns a little garden house outside the town and we hung out there yesterday. we're soaking in our last weekend of relaxation before our hectic traveling begins. the only bummer right now is the weather. it's been snowing all day. SNOWING. we're all upset about it. the weather was so nice in klaipeda the past few weeks and we are all ready for summer. ashley and jen gave their coats to salvation army and i left mine with my luggage at the bus station in vilnius so we've been freezing our asses off this weekend. before lunch today we all took a shot of vodka to warm ourselves up. we even chased it with pickles - just like real russians. the amusing thing is that the vodka really does make you warmer. we've all had manicures, pedicures, and haircuts this weekend. ashley and jen got their hair died also. i can't even recognize ashley, she looks so different. still hot as ever, though, of course. kineshnya ("of course" in russian).
we're all headed to vilnius tomorrow morning (sasha included). we'll hang out there for the day, meet up with kyle and sasha from the study abraod group, eat one last lithuanian meal, and then peace out of this country. i don't know how it's going to feel to actually leave for good. saying goodbye to sahsa will be hard. we all love her so much.
after an overnight bus to warsaw, we'll spend a day in poland (we'll be spending another night at philemon's house - this should be interesting) and then we'll catch our flight to istanbul the next morning. right now we're embracing the "plan as you go" travel mentality. pray for us. i'm not sure how often we'll have internet access but i'll try to update when i can. a little more than a month until i'm back in california...
so strange.
our last night in the dorm was pretty eventful. alex the intern came to spend a few hours with us and he gave us an extremely well-prepared goodbye speech. he sat the three of us down, told us how much he loved our friendship this semester, how he loved our smiles, our sincerity, our genuine personalities, our openness... apparently we broke his stereotype of americans. he told us we are beautiful, that we were his favorite trio this semester, and that if he makes it to the states this year he will be coming to visit us. it made all of our nights to hear everything he had to say. after that precious little moment with alex the insanity of packing and checking out kicked in full-force. i hated every minute of it. i gave almost all of my clothes to salvation army in order to make room for all my souvenirs. i packed as quickly as possible in order to enjoy my last night with everyone. who knows what i'll find when i unpack my suitcase for good in a few weeks.
ashley, jen, and i are currently staying at sasha's house in visaginas. it's a little russian forrest town in lithuania. her parents are so cute and her mom is an incredible cook. i'm going to miss russian borscht like i never imagined. her family owns a little garden house outside the town and we hung out there yesterday. we're soaking in our last weekend of relaxation before our hectic traveling begins. the only bummer right now is the weather. it's been snowing all day. SNOWING. we're all upset about it. the weather was so nice in klaipeda the past few weeks and we are all ready for summer. ashley and jen gave their coats to salvation army and i left mine with my luggage at the bus station in vilnius so we've been freezing our asses off this weekend. before lunch today we all took a shot of vodka to warm ourselves up. we even chased it with pickles - just like real russians. the amusing thing is that the vodka really does make you warmer. we've all had manicures, pedicures, and haircuts this weekend. ashley and jen got their hair died also. i can't even recognize ashley, she looks so different. still hot as ever, though, of course. kineshnya ("of course" in russian).
we're all headed to vilnius tomorrow morning (sasha included). we'll hang out there for the day, meet up with kyle and sasha from the study abraod group, eat one last lithuanian meal, and then peace out of this country. i don't know how it's going to feel to actually leave for good. saying goodbye to sahsa will be hard. we all love her so much.
after an overnight bus to warsaw, we'll spend a day in poland (we'll be spending another night at philemon's house - this should be interesting) and then we'll catch our flight to istanbul the next morning. right now we're embracing the "plan as you go" travel mentality. pray for us. i'm not sure how often we'll have internet access but i'll try to update when i can. a little more than a month until i'm back in california...
so strange.