Onions and Mineral Water

So the langage camp is done, and I just moved into my host family's house. Its very nice. It feels old, and almost like a cottage. They have two cats, one tiny kitten and it's mom. They're Russian Bleu and very cute. The langage camp is over, it was actually very helpful. I know have a small knowledge of the basics of the language; pronunciation, conjugations, and cases. You know how in spanish there are different endings for verbs? Well here, there's different endings for verbs and nouns And there's a lot more endings. Listening to conversations, I can actually understand a little bit know. I couldn't necessarily tell you what the conversation is about but I can pick out some words and guess on a few others. I had lunch with my host mom and one of her friends today. We had a soup, I think it was pumpkin, which I really liked. There was also a salad, with tomatos, cucumber, shrimp, and onions. There was an oily dressing poured over it. I don't know how you think it sounds but I didn't mind it, except for the onions. I HATE onions! They are disgusting. But, being a good exchange student, I ate them. I tried to mask them by eating a small piece with a lot of other stuff but, its an onion! You really can't cover up the taste. With lunch, I had a glass of mineral water. I don't really like it either. Its just bubbly water, very odd tastig. I can't describe it. I think I'll get used to it, I drank the whole glass, again to be a good exchange student. I also unpacked everything. It wasn't as much as I thought but it did take awhile. Its nice to have my own place for everything, not just a suitcase. I start school in four days... I can't wait actually! I don't like not knowing anyone, the other exchange students are in different cities so I can't meet up with them. Well, there will be more to come later, including pictures! Bye for now...

First Full Day

So I tried to post an update yesterday but the wifi crashed and I lost all I wrote. I got reconnected but it didn't save so I decided not to try at all. In a nutshell, there were no problems with my flights, at all. I slept through most of them. My luggage arrived fine. I was in Vilnius for a little while, and in listening to the radio, I heard a ton of familiar songs like Not Afraid, California Girls, and Alejandro. I was really homesick at first though. I had thoughts of leaving, and I cried a fair bit. I'm getting much better now. I'm staying at a Rotarians house, Vygintas Grinis, while we are at the language and culture camp. I met my mom yesterday though. She is really nice but doesn't know much english. I hope this will help me learn Lithuanian! Today, I slept in for awhile and then the other exchange students arrived. Natalie, from Minnesota, John, from Michigan, and Yu Shan from Taiwan. We went to a language camp and then a Rotary meeting. The language camp will be helpful I think. The Rotary meeting was fine but I couldn't understand anything. After the meeting, we walked back to Vygintas' house. It was great to see the city on foot. It looks amazing. It helped cure homesickness. Well, thats it for now. I miss and love you all!

Under 24 Hours

The past couple days have been great, but stressful. I got as far as I could on cleaning out my rooms. I packed, very efficiently might I add. And I spent a lot of time with friends. Now it's time to leave. It kept getting harder and harder to say goodbye to my friends, even though I'll be back, I'm going to miss out on making so many memories with them. During my last day in Suttons Bay, I didn't cry! I was proud of myself. But then the morning I was to head downstate (today actually; phew, long day) it was really hard to say goodbye to some people. The closer it got to me leaving, the closer of friends I was with. I loved being able to see mostly everyone. I'm bummed I didn't see everyone I wanted to, but it was close. Now its time for me to move on, for now.
About the flying to Europe, living in another country, and speaking another language thing... I'm pretty numb. I pretty much have no idea what to expect. I know the gist of it, but not enough to even create a picture in my head. I know it's going to be the best year of my life (but only so far I hope). Some things I do know; it will be amazing, different, and life changing. Some things I don't know; what school will be like, if/how much I'll play basketball, what type of friends I'll make, and what all I'll learn about myself, along with another culture. Well, I need to get some sleep because tomorrow will be an even longer day than the past two, probably combined.
LOVE YOU ALL!

Last Few Days

I'm leaving in four days!! I have so much to do still. I'm still in the process of cleaning out both my rooms at my parents' houses so they can move while I'm gone. :( I have a ton of stuff. Then I need to decide what clothes to take with me, then what other stuff, then I need to make sure, when it's packed, that each suitcase weighs under 50 lbs. AND I need to spend as much time as I can with friends and family! I'm so excited to go, I just want to be there and not worry about what needs to be done here. Sadly, what needs to be done here is what will make me get there. Ah, tis a twisted world. Well, I'm just trying my best to keep this updated for all. Later!

Supposedly Quick Intro

I'm Elsa, I'm 16, and I'm going to be a junior in high school. The funny thing about my junior year is, I will be spending it abroad! I am a Rotary International Youth Exchange student from district 6290 (the best district. 62!-90!). I will be hosted by district 1460 which happens to be in Lithuania! I will be spending my year abroad in Kaunas, Lithuania. Lithuania was 4th on my list out of 40-some countries.
To answer the question of many; "Now why Lithuania?", at the first Rotary conference, one of my roommates was the inbound from Lithuania. She made the country sound really interesting and so I put it higher up on my selection list. When I found out I was going, I wasn't sure what to think. Giedre, my roommate/friend, said it is an amazing country. I began to research it and I fell in love. I can't imagine going anywhere else now.
Now up to this moment; I leave two weeks from today. I'm leaving on August 23rd. I want to hurry up and leave! Not that where I live. In fact, it's not bad at all. I love this place. Leelanau County has been my home for eleven years and I will always consider it my hometown. I want to leave this place, not to put it behind me and move on, but to go on adventures and explore. This place holds many memories, friends, and beautiful things. The hardest part about leaving will be saying goodbye to all my friends. I love you all! But I will be back for my senior year. I've come to the decision that the reason this is so hard for me is that I have so many memories with these people that I can't believe that I'm passing up the chance to make one more year of them. But things and people change. I hope to keep this blog to keep you all updated on my year so you can hear what I'm doing but so I don't have to individually tell everyone everything. Doing that would take a lot of time, energy, and it would not let me fully experience my year away from what I know and am used to.

With love,
-Elsa