Best Part About This Weekend:

It was a normal weekend! It felt like the first normal one I've had while here. A lot of the weekends, I'm being driven around and/or shown different places or doing nothing at all. This weekend was a happy medium.
It started Saturday when I woke up around 11:15. I went downstairs and my host mom was making breakfast (Lithuanian pancakes, one of my favorites!) unlike my actual mom who is done with breakfast by 9 on the weekends. So I ate my pancakes with apple and cream and sipped my coffee. (Yes, I drink it sometimes now) I don't know what it was, but it just had an amazing weekend feel. I knew it was below freezing outside and there was a light dusting of snow. I felt cozy. I didn't have any plans, so I made my own. I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. It was awesome. Movie ticket prices here are equal to movie ticket prices in the States, but concessions are cheaper. And the popcorn isn't as fattening or buttery! It's still good though. The movie started at 5 and since it's a long movie, I left the theatre/mall around 7:30. While waiting at the bus stop, I overheard two people speaking in English! It was like music to my ears. To me, he had no accent too! I haven't heard that in a long time. I ended up talking to him. His name was Austin. He's from California and he's here with a friend he met while studying in Hungary last spring while in University. Being from Southern California, I wasn't surprised to hear him say "This cold weather is kicking my ass.". I'm used to it since I'm from Michigan, but I sure know what he means. We weren't able to talk long because his bus came, but it was nice to talk! I got home around 8:15 and settled in for the night.
Today (Sunday) I did almost nothing. It kept up with the real/normal weekend feel. I woke up around 11:15 again, and have chilled all day. The only productive thing I did was a few lessons for my online Algebra II class. That's not fun, but it needs to happen.
Well, this wasn't an exciting blog post, but it's a glimpse into the life I'm living in Kaunas, Lithuania. Being an exchange student isn't always an adventure like one would picture an adventure. You know, all fun, new and exciting? Well, I'm doing all that, but in a different sense. It's fun, new, and it can be exciting, but it's a life. A life that I'm getting used to and liking.

Tis the Season

As many people know, yesterday was Thanksgiving in the States. That means today is the official start of the Christmas season. Yes sir. It's time for Christmas specials on TV, outrageous sales at stores, and Christmas music everywhere. Of the most annoying, I'd go with the music. I'm fairly certain there's about eleven Christmas songs, and every artist covers at least one of them. Yes, I was sitting in Akropolis (that big mall) today and all that was playing was Christmas music. In the half hour of being there, I heard Last Christmas twice. You know, the one that goes "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away..." I think all but one band/singer has covered that particular song. Some things don't change no matter where you are on the globe!
Also, almost right on cue, there is snow! I'm not a huge fan of the snow and the cold, but I'm kind of liking it for some reason. Maybe because it's something new. It started snowing yesterday, and while it didn't stick, it didn't melt into a sloppy mess. Now I think it's starting to stick to rooftops and other things that are closer to the same temperature as the air. It's really pretty.
As usual, things are normal. I'm just about over whatever sickness I had at the start of this week. It's mainly tiredness I think. Accompanied by a headache or sore throat sometimes. The cure is something I am good at: sleep! School is also typical. I don't really like it. It's so boring for me! I don't even like English class that much. I don't know what past simple perfect tense or confusative form is! (I'm pretty sure I'm not making those up too! There are confusing things with either those names, or similar and equally confusing) I also got a Chemistry textbook from the States. It's like a regular textbook for my school, but they don't have those here. The books are small, paperback ones. You don't write in most of them though. You do have to give them back at the end of the year like we do. Everyone is fascinated by it too! It's just different. And expensive!
Well that's about it for now. Iki! (Bye/until in Lithuanian)

I Like Rotary

Not all of you may know, but I'm on exchange through Rotary International. It is, hands down, the best exchange organization out there. No, I haven't been on exchange through another program, but Rotary is amazing. It starts with the conferences before you leave. You get to meet kids from all over the world that will try to influence you to go to their country. You also get to meet kids that are in the same position as you, leaving next year, and you meet kids that just got back from their year on exchange. Then, once you're abroad, you have support everywhere. You have your Rotary club in your city, your sponsor club from your hometown, and every single Rotary club in between.
This past weekend I, with the other exchange students here, went to a Rotary conference! It was in Šiauliai, a city in the northern part of the country. It was a conference for Rotaract members. Rotaract is a 'branch' of Rotary, but for younger members. I think from ages 18-30. I didn't know what all the weekend would include going into it. The main things I knew is that there would be bowling, a party, and every Rotary exchange student in the country. Yup, all four of us! I got to Šiauliai and there was an actual conference that we started with. It was really boring because I couldn't understand anything. Parts got translated for me though. After all that was over, we got to go bowling! Us four exchange students and one other Rotaract member made up the World Junior Team! We were terrible. Yes, I am pro on Wii bowling, but I couldn't channel my inner Wii. I don't think I scored over 60 in either of the two games. It was fun though. After the bowling festivities were over, we all went to a guest house in the countryside to spend the rest of the evening. There, we started with dinner. It was really good! Have I mentioned I love the food here? I think it was chicken with some type of rice with some veggies in it. Very good. After dinner, was a presentation of the team that won the bowling tournament. No, we didn't win. We did get a special mention though! We each got a box of chocolate and a plaque for being the exchange students. Then the night continued with a fund raiser. I didn't really understand what they were saying, but it was pretty easy to figure out. I think they somehow picked names of random members. That member had no choice but to participate. Participate in what? They were going to have a pie/cake thrown at them. The money part was other members could bid on who got to throw the pie/cake. I think the highest one was 420 Litas! (That should be about $165) After that was all over and the pie/cake was cleaned up, there was a dance! I didn't dance much. Two reasons for that: 1) I can't really dance. 2) I was tired! Natalie, John, and I (the other exchange students) ended up playing cards. We taught a few people ERS (Egyptian Rat Screw) and Speed. We ended up finally going to bed around 3:30 in the morning! I was extremely tired, but it was really fun. I slept in the next day, ate breakfast, then came back home to Kaunas.
It was an excellent weekend, but now I'm a little sick. Mostly a sore throat and a headache. Nothing serious. The good part about it is one of the sickness isn't homesickness! Yay for that! This is nothing a little of my mom's ancient Chinese Cold Quell can't cure. I'm not convinced that it isn't just dirt in those capsules, but they seem to work for the most part.
Thanks for stopping by!

Seeing is Believing?

So I've been trying to upload some pictures, but it's not working out very well. For those of you who don't have Facebook, here's a link to my album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093766&id=1268370066&l=2d7f398b35 You don't need an account to view the pictures.
I'm sorry I can't post them here, but I'm a little frustrated with my computer at the moment so I don't have the energy to work it out!
I'll get a post of real content up after the weekend!

A Day in the Life of This Exchange Student*

I thought it might be interesting for people to read what a random day is like for me. Here goes:
5:12 Wake up with those leg cramps. Can't remember if you're supposed to point your foot down, or if you're supposed to point it towards you.
6:08 Wake up with more leg cramps. Still can't remember.
6:42 Yet again woken up by those gosh darn leg cramps.
6:45 First alarm goes off. I turn it off right away.
7:02 Second alarm goes off. I turn it off, but turn the lamp on next to my bed and try not to fall back asleep.
7:03-7:16 Do my best not to fall back asleep, but border that line until I realize I have to get out of bed!
7:17 Jump out of bed and get dressed. I wore jeans and a red sweater if anyone is curious.
7:19-7:28 Go downstairs and eat breakfast. Breakfast was cereal and a few pieces of an orange. After I finished breakfast, I put my contacts in, brushed my teeth, did my makeup and my hair. All that good stuff.
7:29 Go back upstaris and get my purse (that has my books), my phone, my dark green blazer I have to wear, and my basketball bag since I had basketball after school.
7:31 Go back downstairs and get ready to leave.
7:34 Leave with my host mom.
7:51 Get to school. Traffic was busy this morning. I swear it's never the same! Ever.
7:56 Arrive at the biology room since it's my first lesson.
8:00-8:45 Have my biology module lesson. I have a biology book in English so I just read and take notes from that.
8:55-9:40 Have my second biology lesson. More of the same.
9:50-10:35 Go to math class. I don't understand anything! I just copy down what the teacher has on the board, and write a problem down from my book and stare at it. I'm two years behind my class here.
10:36 Class ends. I go to make copies of Justina's (my friend) English workbook since I don't have one.
10:41-10:55 Wait outside the English room and help Justina with her English homework.
10:56-11:40 English lesson. Boring for me. I don't really like it. I also gave Justina the wrong answer on a quesion or two. Whoops!
11:42 Go to the Ethic's room since it's my next class, and see a note that the teacher is gone and we're supposed to go to the religion room.
11:44 Decide not to go to Ethics so Justina and I go to Akropolis (that big mall) with our friend Greta.
11:52-12:46 Hang out at Akropolis. I got a liter of orange juice (it's very common to carry one around and drink from the carton here) and a package of M&Ms and we sat near Vero Cafe. It's like their Starbucks, but it's not everywhere.
12:47 Go back to school.
12:55 I go to my dance lesson.
12:55-1:40 I sit in the dance lesson. It's supposed to be a double lesson, so for the first part, we learn about different dances and their history. Most of it gets translated into English for me.
13:40 Class ends. The girls in the class talk our way out of having the acutal dance lesson. Woohoo! All my lessons are over!
13:46 Meet back up with Justina (who was in Chemistry) and tell her there's no second lesson. We try to think of what to do because the sixth lesson just ended and there is a meeting in the student council thing we joined after the seventh lesson.
13:49 Go to talk to the vice principal who is the head of the student council to see if we need to wait around for the meeting. Yes, we do.
13:51-14:35 (seventh lesson) We designed the papers that say what activities are on which day next week. Our school's birthday is next week, so that's pretty exciting. Kind of.
14:37 Other kids in on student council arrive. It's not really a meeting, but we just showed up to get information on things we should do next week.
15:04 I leave because I had to get soemthing to eat before I had to go to basketball. I went back to Akropolis and got something from the bakery in Maxima, the supermarket. It was just bread with melted cheese. So good.
15:28 Get to the bus stop to wait for trolley 7 or 13 that will take me to baksetball.
15:31 Trolley 13 arrives and I get on.
15:53 Get off the trolley and walk to the school were basketball training is.
16:01 Am in the locker room when I'm told there's no practice since the school is under construction and we can't use the gym.
16:09 Talk with a few of the girls that were there and see if we want to do something like go to Akropolis. We decide to go home.
16:10-16:24 Wait for bus 36 to take me home.
16:24 Get on the bus.
16:57 Arrive back at home. Come upstairs and check my email and finsih my orange juice.
17:04 I finished my orange juice and everything on the computer. Decide to read a little more of Mockingjay. I'm reading it yet again! I think the books in the Hunger Games series are some of the best books ever written. At least equal to Harry Potter in my eyes, though you can't really compare them. They're too different.
17:33 Go back downstaris to make hot chocolate. I talk a little with my host mom while she makes dinner. Mostly I watched a TV show that was filmed in Spanish, so you can hear it in the background. There is a voiceover in Lithuanian though. It's confusing for me because I'm learning both of those languages!
18:12 Eat a very good dinner of mashed potatoes and some fresh meat and carrots. Extremely good.
18:38 Do the dishes. Yes, I do the dishes here, but I'm not going to do them at home mom!
19:04 (there were a lot of dishes) Come back upstairs and write my weekly email to my mother.
19:43 Start a blog post about 'A Day in the Life of This Exchange Student'
20:16 Publish Post

*Every exchange student's 'life' is different. Also, every day is different for me. I've been here two and a half months and not one day has been the same. I just thought this might be interesting. Also, the day isn't finished at the time of publishing this, but there's nothing interesting I'm going to do.

Also, I promise I'll put some pictures up soon! Hopefully that will be my next post.

And They'll Call Me Freedom, Just Like a Wavin' Flag

Wavin' Flag by K'naan, without a doubt, is a great song. No, not a song; an anthem. It is an anthem for all exchange students all over the world. At this past summer's Rotary conference at Calvin College, I was in a group of about 500 15-19 year-old students from all of the world, singing this song, and watching many country's flags be represented. It was unbelievable. It is definitely enough to make a chill run down your spine; at least once. Each student singing that song believed that they can be freedom, like a waving flag. The energy. The hope. The dreams. The love. Those are just a few of the emotions you could feel. (I'm getting those chills writing this) Each time I hear this song, I get those chills. I have the song on my iPod, but I don't hear it very often since I have a lot of music. It's more special when you hear it randomly. After the conference, my brother Scout, kept playing this song on YouTube because he was present for this miracle, but hearing it played so often, it almost lost some of it's meaning for awhile. I heard it for the first time in a while yesterday. I was in a restaurant and I heard this song playing. I was eating/drinking very hot soup and eating a very hot dish of some sort and I was getting chills. It was special. I think (and hope) everyone has something that makes them feel this indescribable emotion. If you don't know this song, or just want to listen, here is a video!


As for my adventures here, things are pretty normal. I'm just living a life. Of course I miss everyone terribly. It would be hard not to, with all the wonderful people in my life. School here is extremely boring for me. I don't have to do much. Basketball is going well though. I like having something so familiar. As for the language; it is difficult, but I am trying to learn. I can understand bits and pieces of dialogues and such, but I really can't speak much. It's a slow process I'd say. Peace!

My Broken Umbrella

For those of you who are fans of the TV show Scrubs, this may sound like a title of an episode. But, to the best of my knowledge, it isn't. My umbrella is just broken, thats it.
Sadly, my week and a half long holiday is over. What a holiday it was though! I already wrote about the first part, but now that I've experienced the second part, I can blog about it!
So I mentioned that I was going on a youth tourist trip to a city named Klaipeda or something of the sort. It was really fun! It started Wednesday morning when I got on a charter bus. I was introduced to the girls that would be in my group, and they were really nice! They asked a few questions about America and we were able to just talk. In English of course. Also, on the bus ride, we played Uno. It seems to be popular here! First we went to a city north of Klaipeda called Palanga. We went to an amber museam and then walked through the woods until we emerged on the shore of none other than the Baltic Sea!
It was b-e-a-utiful (yes, I was going for the Jim Carrey refrence)! We walked along the shore and then out on a pier. It was the perfect day too! It was sunny and not too cold. After we were done viewing the Baltic, we walked around the town of Palanga. Its a small resort town. Since its autumn, there weren't many people at all. It's kind of like Suttons Bay! While walking down the main street, we saw this stand selling waffles. Dipped in chocolate. And then sprinkles. I HAD to buy one! It was delicious!! The waffle was just off the waffle iron, the chocolate was melted and warm, and the sprinkles had just been delivered by a fairy. Eh, I'm not positive a fairy delivered the sprinkles, but you get my point. After we were done in Palanga, we drove back to Klaipeda and went to the youth hostel we were staying in. While it wasn't the nicest of places, it worked for us. We hung out there that night and then the next day, we went to some museums. That was pretty borring. Especially because I didn't understand anything. To go to the museums, we had to walk, and it was raining. That brings me to my broken umbrella. I didn't even bother bringing it because it was broken, so I just wrapped my scarf around my head and neck. I probably looked like an old lady! But I stayed pretty dry. After the museums, we went back to the hostel for the evening. It was the same as the night before, where we just hung out. It was fun though! The next day we were very tired because we stayed up pretty late. We got on the bus to go home. We drove through this town where we stopped for lunch in a greenhouse. It was nice in there. It was a good end to the trip.
Now Saturday was another excellent day! The night before when I got home, I got a note saying that I had a package at the post office. My host mom said we'd go the next day before it closed. I wasn't sure who it was going to be from, but I had a few guesses. It was from the Amalfitanos! I love them. :) It had some cool stuff in it, including Sweedish Fish, makeup, a nice letter with pictures, and bubble wrap! Even though I'm 16, I love my bubble wrap. It was just after 12:00 and my day was already made. After I opened my package, I went to the huge mall, Akropolis, to meet up with one of the other exchange students here (Natalie) and her host brother who were in Kaunas for the weekend. We had a lot of fun! We went with the intention of shopping, but we didn't do much shopping at all. We walked around Akropolis and walked in three stores before deciding to leave. We were just enjoying talking in English! We talked about everything. High school, funny things here, and world domination. You know, the usual teenage girl stuff! While walking, her host brother saw a Chineese restaurant. I had Chineese food for the first time in a long time. It was really good! I got sweet and sour chicken. After we ate, we walked down Laisves Aleja, the pedestrian street in Kaunas and talked some more. (Laisves Aleja means Freedom Avenue in English) We hung out until Natalie and her host brother had to leave. Then I just went back home and hung out for the evening.
The next day (Sunday) I went with my host mom, grandma, and brother to a cemetary where they have relatives. On or near November 1st, people decorate their loved one's graves with flowers and candles. It was really pretty! After we had placed our flowers and candles, we went to my host mom's cousin's village. Village here is what someone might call a farm in the States. They have cows, pigs, dogs, crops, and a young elk! We did what most people do on a holiday, we ate! And we ate some more! It was fun.
Monday was mainly a day for relaxing. In the afternoon, I went with my host dad and his friends to walk around what is left of Kaunas Castle and we went for pizza. The pizza (spelled pica) is extremely good here! I got a seafood pica. Even though I crave Roman Wheel pizza right now, I know I will miss this pizza when I go back. Later in the evening, my host brother invited me to go skating with some of his friends. Yeah, you can do that at Akropolis. Sadly, the rink was booked for a hockey team to use, so we went bowling instead. I did terribly! But oh well. It was fun. While leaving we walked by the ice rink and I got to watch the hockey team practice. Thats when I realized how much I miss hockey. Hands down, it is my favorite sport to watch. I don't know why, I just really like it. I miss watching the Red Wings!
Now I'm back in school. I'm not very happy about it, but its good to have a normal routine again. This week, my class has to monitor the halls during the breaks. Its kind of boring because you can't leave your hallway, but I'm allowed to be five minutes late to class and I can leave five minutes early because I'm one of the people that can ring the bell to signal the start or end of class! I never got to do that at St. Marys. Take that! I was also supposed to have basketball today, but that was cancelled. It did show me how I'm feeling better when I found out it was cancelled. I had missed the first bus, so I was on the second. A week ago, I would have been really mad I missed the fist bus and may have possibly shed a tear. (I'm fragile like that right now) but I just sighed and thought 'whatever'. While on the bus, I got a text message that practice was cancelled, and I just got off the bus and crossed the street to go back! It was no big deal. Maybe I'm getting used to things.
I know this was a long post, but I want to thank you for reading this. Last I checked, this blog has almost 1800 views! So thank YOU for taking the time to read this. I'll do my best to keep you entertained!

This means "We are one people, one earth, one Lithuania".