How time has flown!

Wow, it's my last month here and I cannot explain to you how time has FLOWN !

Things here are truly incredible. I am so happy over here and I can say that it is one of the best experiences of my life. I never realized how closed my perspectives were about culture before I arrived here! Since I have been living in Lithuania I have also traveled to:

Baltic Sea (swam here in the freezing water, amazing time with forests so tall that it takes your breath away)

Riga, capital of Latvia

Tallinn, capital of Estonia

Warsaw, Poland

Lugano, Switzerland

Milan, Northern Italy

Vienna, Austria

Salzburg, Austria

Budwies, Czech Republic (home of the original Budweiser beer, 13th Century)

Paris, France

Munich, Germany

the Free State of Bavaria, Bavarian Alps, Germany

I have also made some incredible friends from Naples, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, France, and Udine!

I have had some ups and downs however, I lost my laptop, it crashed, and unfortunately it had all my journal entries from the last few months here as well as a lot of pictures I had taken, so that really was hard on me, but I am still thankful for my experience over I here. 

I have been so inspired by my time over here in Vilnius that I think I will try and do more international traveling in 2013. I have already gotten some great websites about international work opportunities for people who want to travel/live in different countries. 

Honestly for me, missing family hasn't been an issue. I have been to busy here trying to make the most of my time because i know time is limited here. I dont know how I will handle having to leave all of my friends behind in a month. I don't  want to think about it. All I know is that I am a changed person because of this experience. I feel so much more independent than i used to be. I have more confidence in myself to do the things that I want to do. 

Program coming to an end.

Well, I only have 10 days left of my study abroad experience here in Spain. How crazy it is to think that 4 months ago from today I was so scared and excited about doing this and now it's already almost over! I have had such an amazing time and I feel so fortunate for all of the things I have been able to do and see. Speaking of which, I went to Paris and Brussels this past weekend with two of my friends from my program and it was really fun! We didn't have a whole lot of time in either city but I never planned on seeing them in the first place so it was great to be able to go! But as my program is coming to an end in less than two weeks I think it's safe to say that I have reached my level of Spanish that I will acquire here. I feel so much better about it than before and think I can even consider myself fluent! Finally! It feels great (although my English is suffering). I still have lots of work to do to master the language but I have reached a very advanced level and I am very happy about that since that is a main reason for why I am here. I feel like I have changed as a person (in a good way) and I have matured and really developed a strong sense of independence. I am so glad that I did this and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

La Fête des Lumières

This weekend I went to the Festival of Lights held in Lyon. All over the city, light shows were displayed for four days to celebrate the saving of Lyon over 100 years ago. Three million people supposedly showed up for the festival and the streets were packed after 5pm! This link gives a great explanation of la Fête des Lumières and shows some of the displays as well!
  Light artists commemorate the saving of Lyon | euronews, le mag

Not only is the festival going on, but there is a Christmas market as well! Last night I went back to the market to buy a small Christmas tree and some good food from the stands.  They had waffles on a stick, gingerbread, prezels, and tête choco. While waiting in line to buy a bison burger, I even met a girl who went to the same high school as me, but graduated a couple years earlier! She is currently a teacher's aid at an elementary school about an hour south of Lyon. What a small world!

Thanksgiving in Spain

Well, having Thanksgiving dinner in Spain was definitely something that I will remember! I didn't eat at my home stay because ISA Granada treated all of us to dinner at a really nice hotel. They had an entire room set up very nicely for us and they served us so many courses! We had cheese with nuts, a guacamole/sun dried tomatoes/ goat cheese appetizer, fried zucchinis, soup, and then turkey topped with stuffing and some potatoes. It definitely wasn't an average Thanksgiving from the United States but it was interesting to see their take on it! None of the dishes before the main course were traditional to our holiday but they were all very delicious. The turkey was a bit strange because it was topped with a spicy/sweet cranberry sauce and the potatoes were baked. We also had a pumpkin desert, although I'm still not quite sure what it was... The overall experience was great, however. It was great to celebrate with my new friends and family and be served great food! Our ISA directors also put together a video for us and thanked us for a great semester. It got a bit emotional! It's easy to tell that things are starting to wind down, but I still have about a month left!

Thanksgiving

While I will not be having a Thanksgiving feast with family and friends this year, I still have plenty of people and memories to be thankful for! I have been able to take part in an experience that I will never forget, and although it has been a challenge and pretty frustrating at times, I will never take my decision to study abroad for granted. Even though I will not celebrate this holiday, I am very excited for Lyon's Fête des Lumières. The city has begun decorating buildings, squares, and streets for the upcoming festival, December 6 - December 9.
I hope everyone back home and studying abroad has a wonderful Thanksgiving!



 https://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&safe=off&q=lyons+fete+des+lumieres&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38897761&biw=1248&bih=588&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=LlytUMHqNpOM0wXe8ICABA

Heidelberg, Germany

The last week in October I had a full week off for fall break! My boyfriend and I went back to Heidelberg, Germany to visit my family. We stayed with my grandparents, who live in a very small town just outside of Heidelberg. The train ride was little over five hours long with the TGV, France's high speed train. This specific train route from Marseille, France to Frankfurt, Germany was just opened this past spring, making it easier for Germans and the French to travel between the two countries and making it easier for me to travel from Lyon back to Heidelberg.  

The weather was quite a bit colder than it had been in Lyon and over the next two days it even snowed. We stayed in and relaxed with my grandparents and didn't do much other than play cards, take walks in the woods and catch up on sleep. That following Monday I took Alec to see Heidelberg for the day!  Wednesday night we went to a Halloween party that some of my close friends were hosting. Halloween has become more and more popular in Germany over the last four or five years and my grandparents even had trick-or-treaters this year! 

 Later that week we took time to visit my other family members in Mannheim. That Friday we looked around Mannheim for the day with my cousin and her kids. That evening we took the train back to my grandparents home to spend the last two days with them. By the time it came to leave, Alec had stocked up on Haribo gummibears and I was definitely not ready to leave my grandparents, especially after they had spoiled us with great dinners and plenty of sweets!

The beautiful city of London

This past week a friend and I took a trip to London and it was fabulous!! I'm not usually a fan of huge cities like that but London is different. Everything I saw was so beautiful and full of life! There is a lot of history there too which I always love. There are an endless amount of cool places to go and see, and the double-decker bus tour is a must! You learn so much and you get free transportation around the city which is normally very expensive. I could not get over how nice and helpful the people are there either. People would always come up to us and ask us if we needed help. It was unreal! I never had a negative thought while I was there because everything was so positive. I felt right at home- and it was nice to be able to speak English for a few days! If you ever have a chance to go to London I would highly recommend it!