Hello, can I get 14 post stamps for abroad? No, that's not only Europe.

This year I decided to greet my friends with holidays the old fashioned way and forget Facebook, so I sent out Christmas cards for people whose addresses I knew.

And that made me think about a topic which is quite important for travelling people: how to stay in touch when your friends are across the continent or the whole globe?

Well, of course, you can sit and sing about it (I admit I do it sometimes. Don't believe me? Fine, I'll prove it. Proof.).

Buuuuuut, I believe there is also a better way how to deal with it. Sure, it's sad that you or your friend had to go, but let's face it: the other person's thirst for travelling was probably one of the characteristics you liked (there's that sense of freedom in people who constantly travel that you just can't resist). Every traveler goes through the same phase when he/she has to leave for another country. Every traveler has his/her own ways how to deal with it.

I'd like to talk about some things what you can do, so it would be less sad or frustrating that most of your friends are in other countries and you don't have enough money to visit all of them (yes, I know, Ryanair is cheap, but not when you want to visit ALL of your friends. It adds up, my friends, it adds up... Not to mention it doesn't fly to every town)

1. Don't talk to people. Don't make friends. If you don't make friends, there will be no one you miss from that town, right? Ok, that's a bit too harsh, sorry. Because we all know that part of the travelling is meeting and getting to know people. But hey, it is one of the steps what to do so that your friends wouldn't be around the globe. But it also eliminates the possibility of getting friends as well.
2. Persuade your friend to:
   a) move to your country;
   b) continue traveling with you together.
   This only works if the traveling person does not have hard traveling plans and is open for everything.
3. Get their Facebook, e-mail, address, skype, phone number... Anything that you can stay connected. Now every time you miss them, you are just one message away! Sure, I know, it's not the same thing as seeing person live, but this can keep the friendship alive until one of you decides (or gets enough money) to visit each other. The crucial thing to remember is to keep in touch. Friendship takes time and it takes attention. Sure, there are people that can continue the conversation even if you haven't talked in a year, but most people require attention.

The important thing when you meet or get to know somebody in another country/town is to stop thinking that you will never see each other again. You always meet again. Maybe after two or five years, but you do. You might bump into him/her on your next trip or at a party.

So my best advice would be not to feel too sad when your leaving the country and your new friends. Don't say goodbye, say see you later. Because the odds are that you will.

London is calling

Before starting  my work at the casino, I decided to make a little trip in October. Mr. Fashion suggested going to London and I quickly booked the tickets, being happy that I will be able to see a new city and new country!

I didn't want to stay in a hostel, so I texted my Dutch friend as I knew she had friends in London. She gave me contacts of her friend living in Southfields. I contacted her and was set to go.

My journey started with an early wake in the morning, flying to Skavsta airport and waiting there for six hours for my flight to Stansted airport. I forgot that they check passports more thoroughly if you're flying to Britain. But I passsed and I was on my way! I did have a little scare in the airport check as I had a laser pen and I completely forgot about it, so the security stopped me and had to scan my bag a few times till they found it. They let me keep it though.

I had to take a bus to London from Stansted. I reached Victoria station in the evening and I agreed to meet with my host at Leicester square. I checked the map, seemed not that far, started walking...after 15 minutes I realized I'm walking the wrong way. I guess it was because of the cars driving the different direction:it really turned off my orientation capabilities. But finally, I came to the spot being 30 minutes late. I met her roommate and then we took  two buses to their place, where I met another roommate, and since we were quite tired we all went to sleep.

I decided I have to see as much as I can, so I took the free tour of Royal London. The tour was amazing. The tour guide was very energetic and he shared a lot of fun and rich stories.During the tour he mentioned another tour - The Grimm Reaper tour. I just had to go there. After the tour I checked the map - I was next to Big Ben and the tour was supposed to start of the tour was next to Tower of London. So I had four hours before the start, I decided to wander around London through the little streets. And I did. The second tour was amazing - it was about Jack the Ripper and Victorian London. We walked around East End and after it was done I went to Bond street to meet my friend. I haven't seen her more than six months! So I was really excited to see her and since we haven't seen each other such a long time, I ended up spending the night in her place. So that's how I checked out Stratford as well.

Next day I decided I have to see Baker street, and I met my friend at King's Cross station. I couldn't leave without having my picture taken at 9 3/4 platform. I also saw my friend fulfill her life long dream of buying a wand. I have never seen anyone this happy. After that she went to work and I wandered around town for a little bit as my feet were screaming and I couldn't walk a lot. I met Mr. Bond and we walked around. I don't know why, but I couldn't feel my feet pain anymore. My brain also kind of malfunctioned again, but now at least I will always remember that the capital of Australia is Canberra. We had a great time, it was amazing to see him again.

I took my bus to the airport...and even if London wasn't that amazing as I thought it would be (I don't know what I was expecting - wizards on brooms?) I was sad to leave.

Tallinn aka I just want to FeelGood

I had to do an internship for my uni and I ended up spending three months in Tallinn. I thought it would be quite boring time, as I had some acquaintances there, but not friends and the job wasn't as interesting as I thought, not to mention I was the only intern there. I lived in Mustamae, quite away from center, but it seemed ok, like a little getaway when I wanted it. But soon I got bored. Seeing that I have free weekends and I might use some extra money, I decided to look for a job, maybe in a hostel I though. I sent out my CV to some of them and I got a reply from FeelGood hostel. It was quite odd when the owner agreed to meet and discuss details in Shooters as that was the most popular bar in town. But we met, we discussed and agreed to have a trial shift.

I came there quite unsure what I will find and how will I be greeted. But it turned out to be the best thing I could do. I was met at the door by Mr. Fashion, a guy full of charisma and self love and not to mention amazing style. He immediately took me as one of the group, and for that I am very grateful because if he wouldn't have, I wouldn't have had those all night long talks and I wouldn't have my best friend (or babes, or Black Swan) now. He was the one who made me realize that life is only bad when you allow it to pull you down and you should not let that happen. You should walk proud like the diva you are. He certainly was a diva and that was probably what attracted all the girls to him. Later he introduced me to Mr. French and oh boy, if you think about the typical arrogant, stubborn, excellent chef, with a very strong French accent, expert of wines, but damn cute and somehow lovable French person, you are right. It is him. Those two argued all the time like a married couple or sometimes seemed inseparable. Or maybe they were like brothers, you know: can't live with them, can't live without them. There were also two Estonian staff members, who were typical Estonians: blond, not very talkative, but smiling. Of course, there was our Ms. Manager, who was always down to business or party depending what time of the day/night it was. For a short while that was it, I still wasn't very open about myself, I was just hanging around and trying not to bug everyone too much. Later, more staff joined us. Here came the Australians: one was our staff member and the other was almost staff member as he booked for three nights and ended up staying for two months, and everybody was so used to having him around, it was weird to see him go. The parties turned up a notch when Mr. Army arrived. Now that guy was serious about parties and every day was a fun day if he was around.

I started being more open and trusting people. We would be going to Shooters, to Paar Veini, Studio.With a new staff member, our Don Juan from Mexico, my sister and her friend showed up to have a bit of fun with no supervision. I gave them freedom, we went to see Tallinn, we went to the Patarei Prison (which is very interesting and a must see), we ate elk soup in Draakon, we had a night in the hostel. We ended up having two nights in the hostel as they misread their bus ticket and didn't want to sleep at my place again (because it was very far away from the bus stop and it was super tiny and it didn't have the hostel people) they booked a night in the hostel. I ended up the only one of them sleeping in their booked bed as they were sitting in the common room all night. It was great of her to come here, but her small vacation ended and I had to put her and her friend on the bus (again) and watch them leave.

Patarei prison surgery room

Everything seemed to come into peace again: I would go to the internship at days, I would spend evenings with my friends at the hostel and I would go to sleep in my apartment at night. We would have our staff meetings and decide what do we want to do. I really wanted to do a pub crawl as I knew that there are more good bars than just Shooters. We started out in Shooters, then had a Flaming Jellyfish shot in a bar that was left from Soviet times (really great) then we had a stop at Wolf's Hunt and we proceeded to Noorus. The pub crawl was moving slowly and was quite boring...until the Australians arrived. We had a few shots at Noorus and went to Paar Veini. There we pushed over some tables together and if you know Paar Veini, you know you can get crazy chairs there, so when I saw the swivel chair, I just HAD to sit there. That's where I mostly talked with Mr. Bond (no, he wasn't in the movies, but following his life, he might end up playing Bond soon enough) who seemed like a person who can't really settle down. He metaphorically kicked me in the ass for not sightseeing as he saw more in three days than I have in one and a half month. He was charming, always kept talking, making me smile and laugh (I also made a fool of myself when I said I can speak German and couldn't remember how 3 was in German. Drei).

At this point I met another staff member who became a very good friend of mine. She was also the one I would end up talking to about everything, we had little talk nights, and she was the one who accompanied me to have my first tattoo done. She was also a little crazy like most of us. And she was always there if you need advice, a drink or just to talk everything out.

We had a little mishap with the system as one guest had a different name written, but everything turned out fine. It was a German girl who stayed in our hostel for a month. We became very good friends and roommates on the nights that I would be spending in the hostel. We would go out to party and boy, did we party. Every week we would have a staff party and the party would be so great that on Sunday evening we would still feel quite woozy and thinking that maybe we shouldn't have alcohol related activities next week. This notion would last until Monday night.

For a week I left my friends and went to have holidays with my parents in Hiiumaa. During this time a lot of staff left. But Don Juan was still here, and we had some addition: a Serbian guy, Slovenian girl, two Austrian girls, a German girl and the Polish 10th Doctor (seriously, he had the same hair and attitude). They fitted just right in. The Polish 10th Doctor and I (the companion) quickly became dorky friends always ready to geek out over movies and TV shows.

On the last day for my precious roommate staying in the hostel, something bad happened: her wallet got stolen. She had to call her embassy and make a travel pass quickly as she had a flight in the morning. Everything worked out.

During August, I was busy sightseeing, and Tallinn really had what to offer. As a lover of high places, my absolute must see was St. Olaf's church roof and the top of town hall. Then it was the panoramic places. On one of them I saw the sunrise. I explored museums, the KGB one was great, their stories are amazing. Tallinn has beautiful parks where you can go relax, read a book or just go spend time with someone. And the beaches... If there was sun, the staff and guests would end up playing volleyball in Strome beach. I learned the little streets so well, I could go back in the middle of the night (and we ended up doing that quite often). By the way, it wouldn't be a mistake to call Tallinn "Little Australia" as I have never met so many Aussies anywhere as I have met here. We even had a joke at our hostel, that the cycle of Aussies cannot be broken: when one checks out, another MUST check in.

The hostel always created a friendly atmosphere with its staff and events. We had dinners together, we played games, had movie nights. We talked, people opened up and usually people ended up staying for longer than they intended to. And that was great. The staff team really became like a family (with constantly changing members). The summer memories still put a smile on my face.

I tried to do my tasks quickly in my internship and I was eager to talk to interesting travelers at the hostel. August was different than June. I think everything there changed me, I became more open, more eager to explore and I wanted more experience, to see something more, something bigger, something grand. I started searching for something, maybe myself, maybe a goal, maybe a feeling, I can't really say what, but I guess I'll tell you when I find it.

I am very happy that I decided to go to Tallinn and to work in FeelGood Hostel. And yes, this long post is just a small portion of every experience in Tallinn. I have met many amazing people there, and don't you think I forgot any of them. I remember each person who made me smile and made me feel better. When I feel bad, I just remember the summer and those memories power me up with good energy to keep going, to keep searching. After all, as somebody said, "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end".

Some sun in Croatia

Usually students end up totally wasted on Spring Break.

We decided to use out Spring Break for travelling (and end up wasted in other countries, mwahahahaha. Ok, joking, we did NOT end up wasted). So again we met up at the train station (this time it was three Lithuanians and one Dutch) and started our travel. And the journey was quite loooong. We got to see the Balaton lake and at first we were excited, but after an hour we just wanted it to end. Also, we crossed the borders, had to change a train, had a customs check (which I hadn't had in YEARS), then we had to change to a bus as some of the tracks were flooded, then changed to a train again and finally we were there! We walked to our hostel, which was a bit creepy by the way, as our bunk beds didn't have ladders, so you had to skillfully climb on top (good luck going to the bathroom at night), there was a cross like sign on one of the walls and we actually couldn't get in as the doors were faulty and we locked ourselves out, so one of the girls climbed through this little space and opened from inside... We booked another hostel later.

Zagreb is a nice city, but I guess I would have liked it better if it wouldn't have been raining most of the time. We were going according to some guidebook that we took from the hostel and we actually seen a lot. We just went to one museum: the museum of Broken Relationships. That is really something. It's full of emotion, as it has a lot of stuff that people had as symbols from their relationships and then after the relationship ended they gave it to the museum with a few sentences about the love story. We also tried out a fish restaurant there, as Croatia is a country of fish. It was called a Fish and three dots (and no, I don't remember how it is in Croatian), but they were excellent, everything was well prepared and the waiters were really friendly.

We also wanted to see the seaside, so we took a bus to Lovran. During our trip we saw snow and we were a bit afraid that it might be colder than expected (it turned out to be quite warm). Our bus let us out in the center of Lovran and we called our hostel since they promised to pick us up. The minute we got off the bus a group of young students approached us and asked where's the nearest club. Um, hello? We have been here less than 5 minutes! We got a little worried when the hostel owner asked what kind of car we drive and accidentally hung up. We don't have a car! We started thinking scenarios how we are going to find the place when the owner called back and came to pick us up. He drove like crazy and finally when we were sure that we're about to hit something he stopped and let us out. His wife was waiting in the four bed apartment with a TV, balcony, kitchenette, shower, and you know what? We paid 13 euros each for night. It was the best bargain. The wife was surprised that we were four girls, because they were expecting a family. Oh well, we made a joke that me and the Dutch girl are the parents and chose the grand bed. We had a fantastic view from the balcony: we could see the sea, the palm trees and other cities across the bay. It was a bit funny accident with the TV as the owner said "I programmed it just for you" and it turned out to have mostly German channels and more that 10 porn channels. Maybe 20. Thanks.

We set out to have a walk in the morning and go to Opatija as well with a bus. Our hostel was 20 minutes away from the center so we walked along the roads which had palm trees. We went by the sea, enjoying the sun. When we took the bus we had no idea where we had to get off and also we had trouble understanding the tickets, but we reached Opatija where we also walked around and had lunch. The buildings in Opatija looked more expensive so we guessed it was more for upper class tourists while Lovran looked like a small friendly town welcoming everyone. It was so relaxing. We just sat on benches or on piers just looking at the sea. It was see-though, you could see every pebble on the bottom. In Opatija there was also a star walk with all famous Croatians. I didn't know everybody, but I was pretty excited to find Tesla's star. We couldn't leave before trying the cream cake. And oh dear...don't eat that on a full stomach. It's so good that you will hate yourself for finishing it. Oh and one more thing: people in Lovran, especially in tourist shops know how to speak Dutch. That was a bit of a surprise.

But our vacation came to an end and we got on a bus to Zagreb, spent the night there and next morning got on a bus to Budapest.

Austria and Slovakia

First of all, the planning of this trip was very fast. One night a few girls gathered at our place and we decided that hey, we don't have anything what to do on the weekend, let's go to a trip! We checked train prices, they seemed reasonable, booked our hostel in Vienna and agreed to meet on the morning of the trip.

It was a bit weird for us that a return ticket was cheaper than one way, but in the end it was for the best. We went to our train and we actually had our own little compartment, so some of us were trying to sleep, some of us were enjoying the view and some were listening to music or just lost in thoughts. We reached Slovakia, Bratislava to be exact and bought our tickets for Vienna to go there on the evening and since we had a fair amount of time, we checked out Bratislava (that was the plan after all). Bratislava actually looked quite...dead and empty. It looked like we were in an intro of a movie about a post-apocalyptic world. But soon we reached the old town and we saw people (yay!). We had a coffee and then we climbed to the castle. I can tell, I was expecting a bit more from the inside exhibition, but I guess not much was left after the fire. We also stopped at the info center where we asked a pretty receptionist what we should check out. We went into some church because "it ain't a trip if you didn't go into a church" as one girl said. Mostly we just walked around the old town. Before the train we decided to go to a bar and have a proper shot of traditional Slovakian drink. I am not kidding, we actually went into the bar and went sort of like Bender style: Hi, hello, excuse me, what is your cheapest, strongest, most national drink? Five of those, please.

In the evening we went for the train and headed to Vienna. There we bought a metro card for 24 hours and went to the center to find our hostel (we were staying in Hi Hostel, I recommend it for sure, we loved it!). After we unpacked out bags in our room (there was 5 of us, so we got a room just for us!) we decided to head back into town and look around and have a beer. We wandered the streets, had a curry sausage, had our beers and went back to the hostel. Next morning we checked out (tip: you don't need to take a towel, if you're sleeping in a hostel, you can just use the sheets, they wash them anyways after you use it), and went to the center. We went to Sisi museum (take the audio guide - totally worth it!), climbed st. Stephan's church tower (great view) and got stopped by awesomely dressed guys who were inviting us to a Mozart concert that night and asking us not to go. We practiced our German, which was not that bad actually. Of course, we couldn't leave Vienna without eating schnitzel and strudel, so we had a lunch stop and later a coffee-strudel stop right before our train back.

When we got to Bratislava again we saw that our train to Budapest was late. We had to wait two or three hours, can't remember for sure, so we bought some snacks for the ride, we took a group photo and finallyyyyy our train was there. I think the waiting made us a liiiittle bit crazy. Why do I say that? Well, we found a little room in the train again and...We put all of our drinks and snacks on the little table and then we heard something rattling. There was the sales person passing by: he just looked at our snack table, smiled and passed. And did we just let it slide? Well, guess who started shouting to the guy "Waaait! We would like to get some chocolate frogs, please!!". *raises hand* We also were hitting on every guy who happened to pass by, we put all our jackets on one of the seats and called the pile our imaginary friend "Jacket de Balaton" (try saying it as French as you can), we were singing, the Dutch girls knew a song about the train, we were walking through the train trying to rap and sing...It was mental. But it was hell of a fun. And I would do it again in a heart beat.

Exploring Hungary

During my Erasmus, Budapest was not the only city I saw in Hungary.

First trip we took was to Holloko (I might have misspelled that as Hungarian city names sometimes seem as somebody just threw random letters and named the city like that. I'm pretty sure the names mean something in Hungarian but when I don't speak that language, I'm just saying how it seems to me. No offence, Hungarians). But before we stopped in some natural museum which they called "another Pompeii" as some little volcano erupted and covered everything in that area. I'm not really sure as we got the shortened version of the tour (because of the whole group we were only 5 non-Hungarian speakers, so we didn't get a lot of attention from the tour guide. He would quickly explain what we can see and tell us that we can go "migrate" around). But it was still cool because we saw what animals existed before the eruption and we got to climb this little route over trees (we had safety lines of course). And Holloko was like a live Hungarian culture museum: the houses were like they used to be, we saw people in national Hungarian clothes, we ate langos. It was nice. And later we climbed to a castle from which you could see Slovakia.

Szentendre

This is a little town, very peaceful, very calm. We had a one afternoon trip. Mostly we just walked around, there's a marzipan museum, all year working Christmas museum and all these little shops and cafes. Just a small chill town.

Godollo

We just wanted to see that as Queen and empress Sisi (or Elizabeth or Erzsebet) was living there. We found not only her palace and a nice park around it, but also the World Peace Gong!

Esztergom

This city is completely on the border of Slovakia and Hungary, and yes, it has the biggest church, but I think mostly people go there to take pictures on the border and brag that they walked to Slovakia and back (like we did). Actually it was also just after my mentor's birthday so we had a little sit down with cake. (that's my mentor on the right in the picture!)

Bear zoo

The name basically says the point. But the cool thing is you can feed the bears with a huge spoon! You can feed them apples, they love honey...and you can see the little cubs as well! Adooorable! But if you're going there, prepare for a long walk from the train station and back. We did it in a quite hot day. Ouch.

What happens in Budapest...

Yes, I ended up spending four months in none other but Hungary, and not just any place in Hungary, but capital: Budapest. How did I choose this place? Well, it's in the middle of East Europe, so I thought I might as well travel during my Erasmus (and I did!) and I heard the wine is cheap there (and it is!).

My trip started as I and another girl (who had the same name as mine, by the way) started going by bus towards Budapest. Yes, we were going by bus and it took us around 24 hours to get there. I am very thankful for my roommate that she didn't end up yelling at me, because I wasn't very good company on the bus: I ended up sleeping most time. We arrived to the bus station where we got a taxi to our place. We had another girl living with us, she was from Belarus: a tiny girl, working in Budapest (she came to study and ended up living there), but she was really passionate about tidiness and health. Now I'm not such a tidy person, so we clashed there a little bit, but everything worked out fine. We lived in a quite cold apartment and on the ground floor so we didn't get much sunlight and we had a little hunch that our neighbors belonged in mafia because they were always discussing business and turn quiet every time we would walk by and only resume talking once we were inside our apartment. It was also a bit weird that everything that was on the ground floor (or first floor as we call it in my country, but apparently in Hungary like in some other countries the first floor is the ground floor and the second floor is the first floor and that would mix us up a lot) had bars on it.

We lived quite close to Oktogon (maybe 5-7minutes walking from it) and really close to Yellow line metro (which is the oldest metro in Budapest). We were studying in Budapest College of Communication and Business (BKF) where we found a different studying culture: students were laid back, didn't care if they're late to class and lecturers didn't really care as well. We had Macroeconomics, Market Research (this lecture seemed interesting at first, but it got soooo boring), Between East and West (turned out to be very interesting as we were discussing the differences between East and West Europe and how they appeared and whether Central Europe exists and where it is and what are its characteristics), Intercultural communication through Film (we had a guy who was a movie interpretation expert so he was practically leading the class together with the lecturer), Hungarian language (I really enjoyed learning it, but since I'm not using it anymore I remember just a few words. The lecturer was really fun, teaching us slowly but effectively) and Intercultural Business culture (here we got a lot of training how to deal with different cultures and nations).

Our Erasmus started out with a get to know weekend where we had some games and drinks and of course dances. Our group was not that big: around 30 international students from Netherlands (9 were from here, so yes, I got to know Dutch culture quite well), Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Turkey, Moldova, Bulgaria, and us from Lithuania. But there were also some people from Finland and of course a lot of people from Hungary (hey, it's their country). Next day we had a race all over Budapest to get to know it better. So we had these checkpoints and tasks, we split into teams and started going. We quickly checked most things but later we came back to check it again.

Now, if I would start talking about all the things that I visited and liked there, this post would be endless, so I will try to put my experience here as laconically as I can.

People: Hungarians are very friendly and quite laid back, don't get angry if they are late. Being there we learned that "on time" you can be late around 15min, but if it's a party you can be late two hours and nobody will get angry. I found great friends, not to mention my awesome roommate with whom I shared everything and I am thankful that she didn't run away from my weirdness. I became great friends with my mentor who has a lot of talent: she can draw, she quickly learns languages, she can cook, she makes great henna tattoos, she can craft things out of wood and not to mention that she is a very warm person and we still keep in touch. I found like-minded people with who we made Sherlock, Avengers nights (and those nights not only had good movies but also greaaaat food. And we said we WILL find out what happened in Budapest, but we failed in that mission. damn it!). And of course, I became friends with my Erasmus family, who were always around, with whom we celebrated birthdays and Easter. We had movie nights at our place, lots of home parties that I loved so much (because like I said, I'm not a club girl and in a home party you can actually have a conversation, drink and dance if you want to), and we traveled together (next posts are about trips). There was a bit of drama sometimes, but that kept us interested in what's going on, but overall I can't say it was a very wild bunch, but I loved it none the less.

The places: it is incredible to be able to go have a walk next to Danube, next to great castles, next to where great kings and queens lived. The bridges there are amazing. The hills are amazing (and alive with the sound of music). We would go jogging in Margaret island (I don't jog, so I would go rollerblading) which had a little zoo (birds and deer). We would go sit in the evening at Deak Ferenc ter. We lived near Hero square and the park, so at some evenings we would go sit by the pond, listen to frogs, look at the ducks and see bats in the sky. The basilica that you can climb on top and view most Budapest. The Buda side - the more quiet and more for parents and serious people, the Pest side - the center, the place to party, the place where tourists and students gather. I also found the comic book shop (and sent comics for my sister every now and then) and the first time I came in there I felt like in the movies as the guys stopped ruffling through the piles of comics and stared at me like I was from another universe. Also, you should check out the second hand markets: there you can get not only antiques, but actually pretty cool stuff for reasonable price.

The bars: Morrison's 2 and Szimpla Kert. That's all you need to check out. Gooo. You won't regret it.

The food: if you are a veggie fan, you won't like Hungary. They like their food with a lot of meat. They are famous for goulash, which is very yummy. Another things you should try: langos (huge pancake with sour cream, garlic and cheese), kurtos kalacs or chimney cake (super yummy sweet thing). The best ones are usually next to St. Peter's basilica.

Drinks: WINE. That baby is so cheap, some nights if we didn't have anything what to do (or we would be super lazy to do anything), we would just run to our corner store and get some wine and cheese. Seriously, wine is from 1 euro. And it's good! And the next drink is Palinka. It's hard to explain it, but I guess the closest thing to it is schnaps? Well, you can have it plain or fruit flavour and it's reaaally good.

Fun facts: Hungarians start counting from the thumb (thumb - 1, thumb and index finger - 2. Was quite confusing at first). They have two words for red (voros and piros - I just remember that red hair is voros and if a ball is red it's piros, don't ask me why). They have the same word for he and she. On Sundays most of the shops don't work. They usually say their surname first and only then their name.

So yeah, it was amazing four months in there. And I'm not done talking about them, cause I said that I had some trips. I will talk about them in my next posts. Bur for Budapest I would like to say Thank You! It's been great!

Exploring Riga

There was a time when I would go to Riga constantly. One semester I went there three times. Why? I just loved the people there, I loved being there.

One time I went with my friend to lead a small conference. Our task was to make the members motivated to join the organization. We were sleeping at one of the members, he was a team member of organizing committee for the conference. We had a mission there to take back our organization's mascot that Latvians have taken during another conference. Our mascot is a huge teddy bear called Džeikas, and we tried doing that, we really tried, but they kept taking it away from us. After the conference we went to celebrate in one of the bars, can't really remember the name. Actually, we went out every night to see the night life. People were in the bars, looking happy, discussing their life. The city seemed alive.

The second time I went there, it was to celebrate the organization's birthday. I went with another girl and we were staying at another member's place. He was organizing the birthday, so at some point before he left us with another member who was a photographer and we had a little photography session. He's really good even though sometimes he thinks he's not. But that's usually how it is, if you are good at something you keep asking more and more from yourself and you can't do anything until you reach perfection. The birthday was in a Rock bar, it was great, we had games, we had dances, we had songs and we had cake! Next day we looked around Riga, we went to one scenic place where you could see the bridge and had a little sit down there. It was peaceful.

The third time I went to Riga and stayed over at my Latvian friend together with a girl from Estonia. You could say we had a little Baltic evening representing all countries. Next day we went to a conference near Jelgava. It was the end of June and the mosquitoes almost ate us alive. But we had fun: we had sessions and seminars during the day and we had party in the night. The organizing committee was so nice that they brought cupcakes for everybody in the morning and there was plenty of tea and coffee. We shared our stories there, gave each other advice and it was also time when the new leading people took over. So in the last night of June there was a little giving away ceremony after which everybody joined in the fun. The new people - celebrating their upcoming success and the people who gave their crowns away - celebrating the success they had. I stayed a few more days in Riga after that: just wanted to walk around it. But I had to leave as well.

Netherlands

Another trip with my mom!

This time the post will be a little bit different, because I was filming my adventures and I made a clip, so you're welcome to take a look and enjoooy! (sorry for crappy camera quality)

Going through Poland

Going through Germany

Netherlands!

Birthday present: trip to Stockholm

What's the best birthday present? Trips!

After TWIN conference I had acquaintances all over Europe and more, so I decided that I should visit at least one of them. I chose the girl from Thailand who was living at Stockholm at the time. Too bad that it was winter time as I needed double space for my warm clothes. But who cares! I was going to Stockholm! And in the summer I read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so I just HAD to see all the places the book was taking place.

I flew to Skavsta's airport where I took a bus to Stockholm. No ferry this time. I met my friend at the bus station and then we proceeded to the metro station to go to her place. She lived in the dorm, not in the center, so the next day I had to buy a metro card (still have it!) to go to the center and old town. I was exploring Stockholm the way I wanted to: on foot. I realized why most people living there look and probably are so fit: whole Stockholm is full of hills it's all ups and downs and after a long day of walking you can really feel your legs. There is one nice place on one of the hills where you can look over most of the Stockholm (the girl I was living with was so nice to show it to me. She was also so nice that she made traditional Thai dinner for me. Good thing I like spicy food because that stuff was HOT).

And I achieved my goal: I wen't and seen all of the places mentioned in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was quite funny when I was looking for one place, so I asked one person how to get there and he was "well, just take the metro and it will be two stops". Two stops? Can't I walk there? "No, it's too far" the person answered. I found a map and walked to the place I needed in twenty minutes. Some people really don't like walking if they think that twenty minutes of walking is far.

Talking about Swedish, how cool is that their official greeting is Hey? I mean you can walk into the royal palace and you meet the royal family and you're like "Hey!". Their whole language is very melodic. It's actually my favorite language to hear. Even the metro stops sounded like the lady was singing them.

Stockholm was getting ready for Christmas (it was December) so there was already decorations and Coca-Cola trucks standing everywhere. Sadly there still was no snow.

At nights we went to bars, and can I say, Swedish people are really friendly when they had a few drinks (like most people actually). But I didn't have 20 (it was a week until my birthday) so we weren't allowed to some bars. Oh well, I guess I'll have to come back one day.

TWIN or how I haven't slept for almost 10 days and never regretted it

Here we goooo, another trip to Germany! But this time I was going to an international conference.

Me and another girl from my town got ready for a loooong drive: we were going 28 hours in a hot bus (it was the end of June) with drivers who spoke only Polish (good luck understanding how long they are stopping and how long till the next stop). But we made it to the beautiful city of Karlsruhe! We nearly lost our minds, but we made it! We were greeted by a German girl from the organizing team and she drove us to her apartment where we stayed for a couple of days. After we took very needed showers we decided to join her in the organizational weekly meeting. Apparently we were the first participants to arrive, so when we were introduced, everybody started clapping. I might say, it is a good feeling when a hundred people are clapping for you. Later we joined them for a beer where we met my friend's host (we would be living with hosts which is an awesome system as you get to know the culture better, not to mention you make friends more easily).

Conference started after a few days and that is also when my sleepless nights began, because c'mon you are in a once in a lifetime opportunity where there are 16 nations in the room, everybody's eager to share their stories and they are a bunch of interesting people! The 16 nations were Thailand, China, Latvia, Lithuania (that's us), Kenya, Tunisia, Iran, Serbia, Macedonia, Germany, Poland, UK, Czech Republic, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia. Overall we were a group of around 40-50 people, so you can imagine that over the week we got to know each other very well.

The conference topic was about whether money brings happiness and what is wealth, is it just money and so on. I know at first it sounds oh my deaaar, that is soooo abstract, but actually we got into sooo much discussion and we talked so much we touched everything: health, education, family, environment, business...I don't think there was a thing that we haven't talked about. And after long day of discussion we would go to party so everybody just stuck together. I'm still in touch with some of the people from the group and that is great.

The people really made it all. They were always smiling, ready to help, just talk, discuss serious topics or just party. Talking about parties, they were awesome. One German guy showed us this super great drinking game which is really fun. I have no idea what it's called, but you get this children's toy where there are four people and they have to defend their part from a plane which goes round and round. And if the plane hits one of your chips, you have to take a shot. We also had cultural dinner one night, so we were stuuuuuffed with German goods (and no, it's not just beer). And what is a trip without a little romance? Yep, there were sparks flying, and promises to visit and late night kisses until he realized that he doesn't want a long distance relationship. Oh well, his loss. No, but seriously, I hope he's doing fine, he's a nice guy. Actually, every person in that conference was nice, especially the organizing team which was always ready with a smile or coffee at times that you needed it most.

And the whole city was so welcoming. I guess it's because it's a student's town, not very big - around 350 thousand people. And ladies, 70% population are guys, so yeah... But it's not the only reason the city grew on me: I loved the trams, the night life, the smiling people, my life at the dorm (which was so funny as my host would be always sleeping when I came back and still sleeping when I left. But overall she was a great girl and really took care of me, even though sometimes I wouldn't even return to her place to sleep. Cause we would be three of us sleeping in a tiny room, so I would sometimes end up sleeping at another host). I loved that the city is green, and I loved that they're building a metro! The city is not that big, but they are thinking about the future, that's great.

There was one bad thing though - my foot swelled up and it was hard to walk or especially dance. But hey, I was not about to let that ruin my trip! Bandaged that baby up and lumped all over our tours. The swelling went down on my last day - haha, very funny, greaaat.

During this trip we not only walked to and through Karlsruhe, but we also visited Strasbourg, where we went into the European Parliament, climbed a veeeeery high church (I'm not a huge fan of stairs, but me and my friend realized that most probably why "stares" and "stairs" sound similarly is cause when you are climbing stairs you usually end up staring at somebody's behind) with a beautiful view. We have also been in Heidelberg and Stuttgart where we half of us visited the Mercedes Benz museum and half of us went to the zoo (I went to the museum) and then we chilled in the little park. That's also the town where I said goodbye to the person I mentioned before. We still called each other and talked a lot for a few more days, but it's one of the things that I learned while travelling - people always leave. And when they leave we usually grow apart - it's very rare to keep in touch and if you can do that, consider yourself a lucky person (I mean, I kept in touch with just one person from that group and I consider myself lucky for that. Sure, the whole group would be very communicative at first, but if there's still somebody left that you enjoy talking after two years like I have, don't be sad, one person is a lot). So I became used to goodbyes, and I stopped missing people that leave (yes, I know it's odd that I don't miss people, but what can I do?). Because in the end, I usually have just memories left. And I'm very thankful for those. I always remember every person who made me smile, but I also learned that not many of those people will stay. And that's ok. It's sad, but it's ok.

The conference ended with a huge global village party, which means each nation had their special food and drinks prepared. The amazing 10 days were over and it was time to go home. I slept all of the ride home.

Saaremaa

After being in Hiiumaa we decided to check out Saaremaa as well, we have been there just a couple of time though. But the island is full of tourists and I guess most people like it that it's not so away from civilization like Hiiumaa. But that's exactly why we liked Hiiumaa more than Saaremaa.

None the less, Saaremaa has some things to offer.


First thing that I liked the absolute most is Kaali crater. Why is it so great? Because it's hardcore: if you get close to this baby (you can actually even go near the water, dip your hand in it, dogs drink from it) you might get a headache or your phone might stop working. Say whaaaat? Yeps, it's true. The crater was made by a huge meteorite and later it filled with water. I'm not really sure why the phones stop working or why you get a headache....radioactivity? But then I don't think tourists would be allowed to go so near it if it would be very harmful. Anyway, if we ever get small Kaijus (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen Pacific Rim), my bet is on this place.

Kuressaare castle is now a museum, which you should totally check out as in one of the rooms you get to hear a dragon (quite frightful if you're there the first time and it gets you by surprise) and it tells you a lot about the island's history. Also next to the castle there are workshops and archery range and ponies!

Ok, I wouldn't be talking about a shop if it wouldn't be cool. So in the middle of Saaremaa there's Good Kaarma soap shop where you not only can get natural hand made soap but you can also book a tour and make the soap yourself. Or you can just go there for a nice cup of tea and cookies and walk through the barefoot path.

Panga cliff - it is so cool, but don't go here if:
a) you are afraid of heights
b) you're drunk (as you might slip and fall to your doom)
You can walk on top of it and just check it out, I am not sure if people are climbing the cliff, so if you are a climber I can't really help you there.



So yeah, like I said, we haven't been to Saaremaa many times, but it is worth checking out!

Germany

This trip was also organized by my mom's coworkers, but this time it was not only me and mom, but we also took my sister and my best friend. Yay!

During the trip we visited Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden and it was amazing!

We started with Potsdam and Sansoucci palace. We started at the park and since it was spring break it was already quite hot in Germany. Not to mention our tour guide didn't have the greatest qualifications you would want: he would always make historical mistakes (we were studying history very hard at the time, so we could spot his mistakes) and when confronted about it, he wouldn't admit it. There was also one funny accident when we started walking in the park and we had to reach the palace, even our tour guide was not sure which way to go, so he asked some locals in German. The trouble is, I understand a bit of German and I could understand that when the people answered "Ich weiss nicht" that means they do not know. It does not mean "A kilometer in that direction" how our tour guide translated it. But in the end we reached our destination, took a couple of pictures and headed to the bus.Thankfully, the bus was waiting next to the palace and we didn't have to walk back in heat.

Next stop - Berlin! We had a great walk in Unden den Linden avenue, we took photos at the Brandenburg gates, we had a stop at Starbuck's (since we got the souvenirs we wanted and walked the alley to and from couple times and walked around as well) and had some coffee and listened to an amateur band playing next to Brandenburg gates. I have been to Berlin twice and I still haven't seen everything! I have been to Hard Rock Cafe there, I've been in Reichstag building, but mostly we would drive around with bus and just see the sights very fast and I don't really like that, I'd like to walk through, and yes, I know Berlin is huge, but the best way to know a city is not on bus, it's on foot.

And theeeen we reached Dresden. Now first of all, why Dresden was awesome is cause we got to live in a four star hotel. And I shared a room with my best friend. And we could see the hotel's kitchen through the window so we were joking that we were watching live cooking show. One night we kind of went crazy, cause Wolverine was on and Gambit was one of the characters and I had a deck of card, so we ended up throwing cards all over our room. It was quite a mess. But at least we had fun. We also did evening trips around Dresden and during daytime we checked out the old town and Zwinger palace. It was beautiful.

Soon afterwards we headed home.

P.S. One night we slept in Poland and there was Viva with German subtitles. Guess who ended up singing Pokerface and I'm Too Sexy in German? *proudly raises hand*

Czech Republic

My mom was organizing another trip to check out how rural communities are living in Czech Republic and asked me to come along. Needless to say, I said yes.

We got on the bus, had a looooong drive through Poland, and reached Czech Republic.

So on this trip we checked out a couple of things: first of all it's Prague. The thing that we wanted to see was Charles Bridge and the famous Prague clock. Dooone! Actually, Prague's clock is not that big...I mean yes, it is beautifully made and it is awesome, but you know when people the The Prague's Clock, you kind of expect something more....majestic. What I do remember very well is that there was some kind of parade at that time and it had storm troopers in it. Storm troopers always grab attention.

The second city we visited was Brno. And I don't really remember a lot about the sights, but we did go to
Budějovický Budvar, There we had a whooole brewery tour. I still have bracelet from there. What can I say about the brewery tour? It was interesting - to see how all the beer is made, how it is poured to bottles, how the bottles are shipped. But in the part when beer is fermented it reaaaaally smells.

Good thing when I'm on a trip with my mom's coworkers is that I'm usually the youngest, so everybody's taking care of me: I get extra snacks, I get extra attention and everybody's asking me advice when they want to get presents for their sons or grandchildren. So I'm in a kind of center of attention. I like attention, but I would feel better if they would be my age.

Also, in her trips, you can really see the country, because we don't just go to big towns, we visit little villages and see how people are doing there, how they are dealing with youth and general community. They also usually have common native foods and drinks, so you now only see the culture, but you can taste the culture as well!

The people who are going there on the trips get valuable insight on how people are dealing with rural communities and how they are making them grow and solve appearing problems. So I guess it's a win-win, they get the information they need, I get another country of my list.

Hiiumaa: strange, wild and relaxing

Some years ago our family decided to follow our best friends and go for holidays in a little Estonian island called Hiiumaa. We have been going there for over 5 years now, so we come to love the little place and going to a cabin with no wifi, surrounded by forests next to the sea, which is so clear and sometimes full of pink jellyfish... It became our little get-away, our little shangri-las, with no people unless you drive into the city, with your thoughts, with your books, you and the nature.

Actually the nature is so close here, during one thunderstorm, a bat flew into our cabin. Can you imagine how terrifying it was when thunder is roaring and something is clasping wings under your bed? In the morning we saw that it's just a small bat, my sister named him Lupe. In the evening we set him free. Also, we would always hear owls in the woods and we saw eagles, deer and bears.

But it's not only nature that we started to love. First of all it's the ride with the ferry. Feeling the sea breeze on your face, looking at the waters and seeing the land go away and appear in front.

Soon after you reach the land and start driving the (most probably) empty road you will reach Kardla, the island's capital. Now this capital is in my memory for one thing: coffee. Yes, you read it right. The town even has a legend that a meteor hit it and formed it like a coffee cup. But that's not all, they even have a cafe festival every year (which I attend every year of course) where fifteen cafes have different themes. You get a map with those cafes and events (it would be more helpful if it would be not only in Estonian) and of you go on you coffee hunt. (if you want more info go to http://xn--kohvikutepev-pcb.ee/en/)

Now in this cafe festival there always is one cafe that I absolutely adore (and it works not only during festival for which I am so grateful). They always have very helpful waiters (one of them according to my parents is my boyfriend..seriously...the things my parents make up...), great coffee and chocolate pie. Oh dear gods of sweets, the chocolate pie! If you want to experience that, the cafe is called Gahwa.


What else you should check out?

If you are a panorama addict like me, then lighthouses.

Kopu lighthouse 

was built in 1531 and is one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, so it's really worth a visit.
You might get a little claustrophobic while climbing the stairs as the ceilings are really low and the stairs are very steep.

Tahkuna lighthouse 

is the tallest lighthouse in the island and actually it was mixed up with Ristna's lighthouse (how can you build the wrong lighthouse??).
It stands next to the memorial for sunken ship "Estonia" (the one with the bell).
We used to live 5km from this lighthouse, so me and my sister decided to walk there and buy ice cream. Sadly, when we reached it, the kiosk girl told us that they were out of ice cream. Oh well.

Ristna lighthouse 

was built by the same guy who designed Eiffel tower. Yes, you heard me correctly, the Eiffel tower.
It has very narrow passage way, so you have to nearly squeeze yourself in the wall to let people pass.
You can climb right next to the light.






But Hiiumaa is not only for relaxation. If you are a fan of windsurfing, this is the place to go, they even have a place called "Surfer's Paradise" where are the perfect conditions for windsurfing.

They also have museums for history people and abandoned and haunted places for adventure hungry people. Ah, there's some more weird places I have to tell about. One of them is

The Cross Hill.

Yes, it is that creepy as it looks.
It is a tradition to go there and make a cross for you and your loved ones and if you make a cross and leave it there, you will find true love.

Random piles of boulders. Nobody knows how they got there. There's some myth that the Devil was trying to throw them at the church and tear it down. Well...he missed. By a long shot.

I just think that people from the past trolled us.

Saare tirp 

or the Tongue as we call it. So there were giants living in Hiiumaa and they wanted to reach another island called Saaremaa so they started building a road in the sea. The cool part is, the more you go, the more you think it will never end and the more it seems cooler, because there you have a path in front of you and if you go a step right or left from it you will slip into deep sea.


The thing is there are a lot of weird stuff there. You might take a wrong turn and end up in a swamp or in some ancient burial place or a town that is not on the map or you might find the perfect beach. That's just how this island is. It's wild and raw but on the other hand it's so relaxing and calm. That's why I keep going there. Cause you never know what you might find next year.

There's no seaside in Evora

"Take your swimsuit, we're going to be by the sea" said my mom as we were packing bags to go to Evora in Portugal.

I know what you're thinking - hey, there is no seaside in Evora! Yeah, we kind of realised that after we drove around 100 km inland from Lisbon. Oops. On her defense, apparently Evora WAS on the seaside. Around 5000 years ago. Or more. A little mishap, but hey, it happens.

So the trip started with my first ever flight from Vilnius to Amsterdam where we took a plane to Lisbon. Now there was a fun thing in Amsterdam's airport. We checked to which gate we should go and since we had some time we walked around the duty free zone. We had to pass another security check. We were checked by a guy who started asking if we have any hair gel. I kind of think he's addicted to it as his hair had a biiiit too much of it. When it was just an hour left we went to our gates.

We had some kind of sixth sense that something is not right, so we decided to check the flight number. And you know what? WE WERE AT THE WRONG GATES. Let that be a lesson for you travelers out there - always check the flight number. We made it of course, but it was a nervous run.

We landed in Lisbon and continued by bus to Evora. One bad thing though - my ears didn't pop after landing, but I couldn't let that to make my mood go down. Our first night started with a culture shock. It was just 7pm, so we decided to go out to the city to eat. The city seemed dead. But the thing that surprised us most was that every bar and restaurant was full of men and no women were in sight. After a few angry glares and glimpses at us we decided that maybe we should eat in the hotel's restaurant and explore the city next day. Now here's the thing - Portuguese eat A LOT. And I eat quite a lot, I admit it, but I ordered a small portion of pasta and I was full after half of it.

But let's return back to the town. Evora is very nice, with palm trees along roads, beautiful houses, parks with peacocks (roaming free! I tried to catch one but it got away...) and churches. They are catholic, so you know there was a lot of attention put into building the churches. And the weather - we went there in November and in my country I already had to wear a winter jacket and here the temperature was above 17 degrees. You could almost sunbathe!

Oh and another thing - remember when I said that in the evening there were only men and no women were in sight? Well apparently all the women go out to the cafes in the morning where they have their coffee and cigarettes. Actually while exploring the town at various hours we noticed that at six o'clock town goes empty - there are no more children or women seen anymore. It was a strange feeling because Portuguese assumed that I'm local because of my looks and I kept getting angry glares probably cause they were expecting me to be at home after 6pm. But that's not how I roll. There was one night when every bar was FULL of people AND it was after 6pm. There's a very reasonable explanation: football.

Last thing I can add, that this was a great birthday present. Trips will always be the best present for me.

Runaway spots in Latvia

The first time I went abroad was to have summer holidays with my parents in Latvia.

It was still in the time before we got into EU, so there were custom checks. I didn't even have a passport then, I had travel documents. Small little paper with my name, nationality, identity code and picture.

I remember I was really nervous when the officer approached the car, asked for our papers and was thoroughly checking it, also looking at the picture, is it really me. And then we passed. Another country! Yay!

Pape

If you are going to Pape, be prepared for a completely empty beach. Well I don't think that would be surprising as it is a very small village. It is so small that people say hello to everybody they meet. But it does have its charm - if you are into fishing, there is a great lake where you can catch a few beauties. Also there is a small lighthouse and you can climb over the rock trail that leads into the sea. Talking about the sea - I hope you like shallow sea, cause that's how it is in Pape. You could be walking and walking and it would still be just up to your knees. Plus if you are into amber - there's heaps of it on the beach (best way to collect a new bracelet).

Rucava

If you are staying in Pape, Rucava will probably be the place where you will go shopping (food, toys, whatever). You should also check a spring which is next to Rucava - fresh water is always nice, plus you can fill up bottles and bathe in it while hoping that it will regenerate your skin (I have no idea if it will, but hey, you can try).

Why is it a good runaway spot?

There is rarely any signal here, so it is perfect if you want to just get away and have a good excuse why you can't answer when people want to contact you.

There's more than just the beach in Palanga, Lithuania

Ahh...the seaside...

I would be going to trips with my parents or my grandma or just with friends to this town called Palanga. It's sort of the beach party town (of course, when I was little I would be going here "for the clean seaside air"). The only thing I did not like is that the beach would be always packed by people and you could not so easily find a free spot. And if you want a shade you have to go near the forest, where the ant problem might arise (nobody likes ants when all you're wearing is a swimsuit!).

So our little party beach town (or pensioners resort, depends in which part of town you are)... I can't really say I love it, sure it's fun to go there with friends once in a while, but since I don't like clubs too much (more of a pubs girl), I can't find the true charm of this town. But there are a few things that I like here.

Birutė's hill

Birutė was a guardian of fire (vaidilutė in Lithuanian) which meant that she sacrificed her life of protecting the eternal flame (which meant she couldn't get married) but the great duke at the time Kęstutis saw her and fell in love. Sooo...he sort of "released" her from her duties as fire guard and asked her to marry her (this is a very important point as he did not MAKE her marry him, he ASKED her and only after she said yes, he married her). So every time Kęstutis would ride into battle, Birutė would come on this hill and wait for him (aaawwww). After he was killed she returned to live here and she was buried on top of the hill.

Lurdas (I have no idea how it is in English)

This is the place where she supposedly took care of her fire and this is also a place to pray for everybody (that's why there's a Saint Mary's sculpture).

Birutė's park

Yes, another thing named after Birutė (she was taking care of Palanga after all) and yes, the statue you see there is Jesus. Yes, like the one in Brazil. Only that in Brazil it's huuuuuuuuge, and here we have the smaller version. I'm not really sure why. But this park is cool, there's a small botanic garden, amber museum and ponds with swans (careful, they might bite!). Great place to have a walk, read a book or take your date.

And I can't finish the story about Palanga without a few legends.

Eglė the queen of grass snakes

There's a story of how a girl Eglė was bathing in the sea with her sisters and when she returned to her clothes there was a snake in them. Wanting to get rid of the snake she had to promise to marry him (weird, I know). The parents were trying to trick the snake king, but he finally arrived for his bride (turned into a handsome guy as well) and took her to the seas. They had four children (three sons and a daughter) and when they turn adolescent Eglė starts missing her home. So she does some quests in order to have the permission to leave and before she goes, her husband Žilvinas teaches her a chant to call him out of the sea:

"Žilvinas, dear Žilvinas, 

If alive - may the sea foam milk,

If dead - may the sea foam blood..."

Unfortunately, angry family members learn about this chant and kill Žilvinas and when Eglė finds out about that, she gets really furious and turn herself and her children into trees as a punishment for her family's betrayal. Her daughter is turned into common aspen as a symbol of her weak will and telling the angry family members about the chant. The sons are turned into oak, ash and birch and Eglė turns herself into a fir tree (which by the way is eglė in Lithuanian).

Jūratė and Kastytis

This is sort of our version of little mermaid story. Kastytis was a fisherman and one night he was out in sea and since it was a stormy night his boat started sinking and he was saved by Jūratė, the queen of all sea and sea life, and taken to her amber palace under the Baltic sea. She was actually the one who made the sea stormy as she wanted to punish Kastytis for fishing in her waters, but she fell in love with him. Buuuut the thunder god Perkūnas found out that Jūratė fell in love with a mortal man and destroyed the castle (that's why you can find amber in the sea - it's the remains of the palace). He was so angry that he killed Kastytis and chained Jūratė to the floor of the sea. And it is said that to this day you can hear her mourn the loss of her lover in the sound of a stormy sea. 

5 tourist spots to start exploring Kaunas, Lithuania

The town itself is not so big, just around 350000 people, and most of them are Lithuanians. It's a student town, so the clubs are full on weekends (not that I'm very big on clubs, but if you are, I recommend trying DeJavu). You can walk through the main pedestrian avenue (Laisvės alėja) and the old town in roughly 30-40 minutes.

The places to go to:

Laisvės alėja

This avenue is the main pedestrian avenue. If you stand in the middle of it for two hours you might probably meet at least 50% of people you know in Kaunas. It is full with little cafes and shops AND there's free WiFi. The cafe culture is strong in Lithuania and cafes are not just a place to run in and take your coffee and flee - it's a place to meet friends, sit back, relax, enjoy the tastes or just have a moment for yourself. My favorite cafe is Mio, but Vero Cafe and CoffeeInn are good as well. The avenue starts with Soboras (the big white church you can see) and ends with Vilnius street, where the old town starts.

The Naked Man

Yes, well...It's art, ok?? The most famous sculpture in Kaunas, tourists love taking pictures of him and near him. One person actually almost got late for his flight because he refused to leave Kaunas before taking a picture with this guy. He's weird, but he's our naked guy and you should see the look on people's faces when you tell them "You have to see the naked man!"

Vilnius Street (Old Town)

It's not the old houses that usually gets people going here: it's the variety of bars, pubs, cafes and bakeries. This street is crawling with little shops with friendly staff who are ready to serve! Bars worth checking out: Gyvas (you get live beer there, variety of Lithuanian beers), RePUBlica (awesome atmosphere, great beer). Yzy - with a cozy atmosphere and sweet cherry beer. And check out Groovy (in the old town square) - cheap and good cocktails to go.

Aleksotas hill

You can either climb stairs or go with a funicular to see the beautiful Kaunas panorama. You get a great overview of Kaunas old town and you see not only the center from up there as well. (I'm not putting the picture of panorama, so you have to go see it yourself) It's a great place to just stop for a minute and relax (and you need to rest after those stairs as well!).

The top of Resurrection Church

More climbing! Yay! So yes, you can climb to the roof of this church (4Lt if you take the stairs, 8Lt if you take the elevator). On top you will get a great view of the center and old town and you can see Aleksotas hill from here as well.

Of course, there are other nice places to see in Kaunas: Pažaislis and its monastery, Ąžuolynas (the oak tree forest), Santaka (the place where Neris and Nemunas - two main rivers - meet into one), War museum courtyard (eternal flame and memorial in there), Kauno marios (artificial lake), Lampėdžių karjeras (you can go swimming there), but the ones that I've mentioned are the first five you should check out.

Can you be a traveler without leaving the country?

The usual definition of a traveler is “a person who travels a lot”, and don’t get me wrong, I do agree with this definition, but I believe some people are travelers even before they leave the city boarders.

You can view the start of your traveling history by a few ways: first time you left your home area, first time you left the city, first time you got to another country… But there is also an other way – some people view the start of their travels as their birth.

Now this might sound weird, but we all know the cliché saying that your whole life is a journey. As much as it’s used everywhere, it does carry some truth. There is a possibility to travel the world without leaving your country; there is a possibility to have journeys every day.

Traveling is more of a state of mind, when everything new is exciting. Of course, it is best felt when you are trying a new dish in a country you have never been before, or talking to someone from a different culture in another city’s hostel. But in all essence it is the new factor that excites travelers most.

If you are a traveling person, chances are at least once you’ve said to yourself “I have to try something new” and went away to a particular place you haven’t been yet. This trick also works without leaving the country. 

As long as it’s something untried before, you can fool your travel bug into believing that you are traveling. This is why travelers are so great at working in a fast changing environment - it fuels their essence and keeps their travel bug asleep.

As another cliché saying goes, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. And this saying again carries truth to it.

Do you have the travel bug?

Have you ever been in a situation where you might be studying, perhaps relaxing with a book, or maybe you are out with your friends and you just get this strange feeling that something is missing? If that feeling is like an itch you have to scratch and after a second you realize you HAVE to go somewhere, it might be the travel bug.

Travel bugs usually have a few things in common:

·        They rush over suddenly, almost out of nowhere;

·        You feel like your life is very boring and you want adrenaline;

·        You have the urge to experience something different;

·        You look through plane/bus tickets even if you are not planning to go anywhere;

·        You subconciously calculate how much money can you spend or how many days you can take off.

If you have answered yes to a few of these questions, chances are you have a travel bug. These travel bugs can be very dangerous as if you dismiss it and don‘t travel for a long time you might end up in rapid mood changes, general sadness. Not to mention you might start thinking what is the point of everything.

That is why you should take into consideration your travel bug. You have to care for it so that it wouldn‘t bite you back. That is what I do as well.

A good way to maintain your travel bug for a longer time is writing about your experience. And that is what you can find here alongside with my impressions, tips and suggestions.

Hopefully I can help you take care of your travel bug.