Hello there…
it has been awhile since I have posted, and I will try to update ya’ll on since then the happenings to me…but first, something that didn’t happen to me: my brother (Nate) got engaged! Congrats to the happy couple and many happy days ahead to them both!
Now, we (me and 34 others…1 leader, 1 co-leader, 5 interns, 27 American students) have toured Vilnius (the capitol of Lithuania), Trakai, Nida, Kretinga, and finally Klaipeda where I will be living for the next four months attending the Lithuania Christian College International University.
While in Vilnius we saw the presidential palace (where you can walk right up to the front…not something you can do to the White House), a KGB prison which was in operation right up until 1991, much of the old town and amazing architecture and many many cathedrals.
In Trakai we were able to tour a castle that had been operating the late 1500’s. Hannah and I took a walk around the outside, and just inside the courtyard, but declined to pay to see the rest of the castle, though we may try to get back when we have more time available.
Nida is on the Baltic coast, and is host to the massive Great and Parnidis sand dunes, and between them the valleys of Death and Silence. Essentially a tourist/resort town, the panorama of the Baltic Sea is stunning and the huge dunes and wide valleys were amazing. The only thing close to the dunes I have seen is near Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina. Simply amazing. We hiked to the top and looked around…breathtaking. Also of note, I took an unplanned dip in the Baltic Sea, upping my total of large bodies of water swum in to 3 (Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and Baltic Sea). I tried to see how cold the water was, but the concrete pier was slicker than it looked and as I leaned down, I slipped in. I soaked my shoes and my jeans, so I spent the next 45 mins looking for a shop to buy shoes and pants, which I did, and was able to spend the remainder of my time there dry. Also humorous, when Hannah and I sat down on the beach to eat lunch, several pigeons who were just hanging around became curious in our meal, and started to walk in circles around us…it was hilarious. I felt like a pioneer headed west being circled about by Indians.
Kretinga is a small town near Klaipeda. We visited there a Catholic mass, and afterward received a tour of the church including a tall tower overlooking the town. After that we were taken to lunch at this massive restaurant that had a great many tables, and was so big that there was a basketball court and playground in the courtyard so that you could play while waiting for your food. Very cool. This was today, and we were officially taken off of our leashes, and told that our hands would be held no more, though the study abroad staff were still available to us, and we have other trips to take together. We were challenged to write letters to ourselves that will be mailed to us at the end of the school year including our first impressions and hopes for the semester. At the end of the four months, we will write another letter looking back. A very cool idea and it will be interesting to see what we wrote and how we thought nine months from now.
I am very ready to start classes and get into the routine of the semester. My schedule is as follows: I have History of Western Civilizations from 0830-0930 MWF, Introductory Lithuanian 0945-1045 MWF, Introduction to Theology 1330-1430 MWF, Hebrew Prophets 1445-1545 MWF, Lithuanian Culture 1200-1300 F, and Linguistics which will be online. I have Tuesday and Thursday completely free of class! I can’t wait…this will be an awesome semester. I will try to keep up to date on this blog, and am working on an independent web site for pictures to accommodate those without access to Facebook.
Thanks for reading,
Phil in Klaipeda, Lithuania
a simple man 