Want to know about the famed NOVEMBER trip?

Well, you may have heard lots about it. You may have heard me mention it from time to time. And you may have wondered...what in the world is the "November trip"? Well well well my friends. This November trip is the biggest endeavor Kim and I have decided to try to take on. We are traveling with two other people: Juan from Spain and Sangkyu from South Korea to 5 countries in Western Europe in about 2 weeks. And we are very very VERY excited! So I decided that I would share our plans and little things we've been learning along the way. Maybe it would help some other travelers out in the world.

So I figured I would just go by each country and give you the break down of what resources we used for our plans in each. In general we found a couple sites to be useful for every place we have ever traveled in the world...ever. Like Hostels.com! (http://www.hostels.com/) This is a great site that I personally love to use whenever we go someplace that we have no friends to stay with, it has always recommended the best hostels for the cheapest prices wherever we go!
And what we decided to go with a train pass that would get us between those 5 countries a lot cheaper than flying would. But here comes the disappointing news for non-EU members... Kim, Sangkyu and I had to go for a Eurail pass (http://www.eurail.com/home) because we had the unfortunate fate of being born outside the European Union. So a pass for 5 countries valid for two months ended up costing $430, and that included insurance and shipping fees (which was what really killed us and pissed us off! 30 Euro to send it to us?! It better be delivered with hot naked men and I get a message after delivery for 30 effing Euro) So this is our pass that we chose, just in case you are super dedicated and wanted to know: http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/select-pass/5-countries
But our EU friend, Juan, got the good deal with the InterRail pass that is only for EU members (http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-passes). For only about 185 Euro (about $260) he could travel to 30 different countries in EU for as long as it is valid, which is 10 days I think. So we paid about double what he did. It makes me so mad, almost enough to force America to join the European Union. Who decided to make this special exclusive EU rules? We could have been daring and risked it all by getting a InterRail pass anyway  and pulling the dumb-foreigners card if we got caught. But Kim and I just couldn't risk it...the last thing we wanted to do was worrying about getting kicked off a train every time we rode it or having to pay more money in the end. We thought to go the safe route. But for the adventurous and frugal travelers, we have heard you can successful travel InterRail as a non-EU member. Or super savvy and talented Turkish friend Ceyhun did it when he traveled across Europe.

Ok, so let's go day by day:

We are starting Thursday November 10th:
We take a bus to Vilnius and spend one night in Vilnius. We will be staying at Old Town Hostel (http://www.hostels.com/hosteldetails.php/HostelNumber.14803). We have all staid there before and have enjoyed it a lot. It has a great location, it is very clean and tons of helpful resources. The kitchen is also huge which is a plus.

Then the next morning we'll be off on our way to Bremen, Germany. We'll be flying RyanAir the whole way, so wish me luck because I've never flown RyanAir and I don't know what to expect. I keep hearing these RyanAir horror stories about how freaking difficult it is to fly Ryanair, so I'm a little intimidated and afraid, but I guess there's more to come on that later.

So from Bremen we then take a train to....BERLIN!! We are going to be meeting Boris (the boyfriend of my fabulous friend Franci) and their friends Alex and George. There we will be staying at the U Inn, which I'm a little worried is completely faraway from everything that we want to go see, but there is only so much we can do to try to fix that now, but I think it will all be fine in the end.

The things we want to see in Berlin:

• Berlin Wall
• East Side Gallery
• Checkpoint Charlie
• Brandenburg Gate
• Picture Gallery (Classical Painting Museum)
• Maybe the Hamburger Bahnhof (Museum for the present- contemporary Art museum)
• And I really really really really really REALLY want to go to Judishes Museum Berlin which is this cool abstract memorial museum for the Holocaust
• Curry 36, kebabs, beer and wursts are on our list of things we must go eat while in Berlin

Unfortunately, we only have one night and one day in Berlin. I think this list of things is more than enough for us to conquer in that amount of time (Don't worry Berlin! I'll be back soon I hope!) And after that we should be well on our way to Copenhagen in DENMARK!! We are taking a night train, so along the way we have two changes and layovers. Which means we might not actually be getting a lot of sleep... but life goes on I guess.

On November 13th, we arrive in Copenhagen. We will meet Mette, Kim's friend that she met in her international connections last year at UNC. Metter sounds super adorable and super excited to see us! We can't wait to meet her and give her big hugs. I'm not quite sure what we are going to see in Copenhagen (I know, shame on me, worst traveler ever) But I am sure it will be so worth it!! It's only one night in Copenhagen and we will be sleeping at a hostel called Sleep in Heaven...more to come one the conditions later.  :)

On November 14th we take a train to AMSTERDAM! We plan on staying two nights and 2 and a half days in the most liberal city in the world. We want to go see all the cool museums, maybe ride bikes around, and of course at least go see what everyone is talking about. I'm sure the boys will have more fun in that area than we will. We are staying two nights in Amsterdam....

....so on November 17th we take a morning train from Amsterdam to BRUSSELS! We had a quick change of plans and decided to spend the night in Brussels as well. Lucky for us, Belgium is probably the only place we might not have a language barrier! Apparently most people in Belgium speak English, lucky us!

Then we say au revoir to Brussels and take a night train to PARIS on November 18th. We are going to blissfully have 3 nights to explore the city of love from top to bottom. Also lucky for us, Kim has another friend from the international dorm at UNC who lives 20 minutes outside of Paris. Not only is he going to show us around all the time, he is going to let us stay with him at his parent's house! His name is Raphael and we are incredibly excited to see him!!!

Then, unfortunately, all the fun must come to an end. We have to fly back to Lithuania on November 20th to Kaunas. We will probably be totally exhausted and have to catch a bus back to Siauliai very early. But! We will probably be coming back from one of the best trips of our lives! Can't wait to tel you guys more about it...once I get back of course!!!  :)  :)  :)

Learning and growing

I say it a lot, and I mean it just as much, but I just cannot seem to describe to you the deeply spiritual and mental journey this experience has become. I expected it. I knew there would be days where I would feel alone or guilty or afraid. But the other things I have experienced are absolutely beyond words. I have never learned so much in such little time. I've discovered things about myself; my identity, my beliefs, my prejudices, my talents, my gifts. I've learned what it means to stand for something, and how important it is to cling to that identity within you. I used to fear categories and labels, but now I've just accepted the fate that no matter what, people will use them and I might as well make it clear what labels I want put over my head. I've learned what it means to listen. I've learned what it means to care. I've learned to be flexible and open-hearted, genuine and honest. And I think I've discovered what is important in this life is just love. And love has always been a serious subject and word for me; it's never been a light-weight word. especially when it comes to actions and life. But here it has been given richer and deeper meaning and application than I ever thought possible. It comes in the simplest kindness from strangers, it comes from making friends in the most beautiful ways, it comes from learning new things from people different than yourself. It goes beyond action or emotion, it is a type of love that you can only feel shake you to your bones. And here, there is this certain type of fearless that arrives as you deal with each new day. I can conquer anything. There is no person too scary or intimidating to become a friend. There is no language barrier too great to communicate. There is no food to
odd to try.

Sometimes, I get sad. I miss home. I miss feeling completely comfortable and knowledgeable. And of course I miss all the familiar and beautiful faces that exist back home. But then, somewhere along the line, someone picks me up and helps me realize that this whole world is my home. And all the people here are familiar faces that love me and all the places are just different looking homes for me to relax in.

So, that's just a teeny, tiny bit of my thoughts on the way that this trip has impacted me so far. It's so hard to put into words some change you can't quite describe, so it may take me a little bit to figure it all out.

But I wanted to refine some of my goals for the rest of this journey, just because I think it's important to do that sometimes.

1. I want to learn more history
2. I want to read more
3. I want to take better pictures
4. I want to learn more about other cultures
5. I want to love people better
6. I want to learn one new skill
7. I want to learn new languages
8. I want to discover more of the world
9. I want to be a better friend
10. I want to pray and reflect more
11. I want to think more

So I am going to upload pictures on blogger for a while I guess, just because Facebook has been the most IRRITATING thing on the planet lately with pictures. I have some of Kaunas and Grutos Parkas up!

What the heck am I doing with my life?

To Whom it May Concern,
I just wanted to take the time to apologize. This is an apology that reaches to every missed opportunity, broken promise, forgotten moment, hurried conversation, and mistake. There are no excuses, but for whatever reason there just never seems to be enough hours in the day for all the things that I want to do and want to think about. There is so much pressure that comes with being so far away and seeing so many things. I cannot express to you how much I am learning; everyday, I could write novels. I wish I could too, because they all would be so interesting. I mean, who can say really say that they held a church service in their dorm with a Dutch person in the morning and by the evening they were learning about Turkish dances and the Sacrifice Festival that is going on right now. And this was a normal day for me.

And I'm not trying to rub this travel experience in anyone's face. But I just have to let it be said I feel this unbearable guilt and weight as I go about this experience. This is a weight of all not knowing what I'm accidentally leaving behind or losing, not knowing what or who I am overlooking, or just not being perfect enough to handle it all.

Maybe I think too much.  Maybe it turns out that I am not the type of person cut out for traveling. Maybe I am too set in my ways, closed-mind, and intolerant to be the open-book-world-loving kind of traveler I envisioned myself to be in my head. But I feel like I am drowning sometimes here, and I guess this is a stress that goes beyond what I have ever experienced before in my life.

Everything is tugging at me all at once. I'm a student. I'm a traveler. I'm a historian. I'm a lover. I'm an anthropologist. I'm a photographer. I'm a friend. I'm a sister. I'm a daughter. I'm a Christian. I'm a perfectionist.  And I feel so guilty because I feel like I am not fulfilling these roles with all that I can. But sometimes it feels like to much and I am sinking. But what can I do? What would I change of this experience or of myself to make it better?

I think it all comes down to forgiving myself. I am a reflective person. I like to take the time I need to think about what I have learned, what I have taken from all my experiences, I like to think about how every piece of my day fits into the larger concept of my life. It's only when I get the chance to do this type of reflection that  I feel right about it all. And I feel ridiculous because a normal person would have already had this figured out; they would have known what they wanted to get from this whole experience, they would have had priorities straight and they would have just ran with it. But not me for some reason. I spend more time just trying to figure out my own stupid identity and goals as I experience this life. Sometimes I have no clue who I am at all here and I feel like I am just stupidly being pulled along by everyone else around me. And I am jealous of all those people who seem to have it figured out; they are strong, they are independent, and they are learning all that they want.

But for me, this is not enough. I expect more out of myself and this is why I have such a big problem with where my priorities have been lately, what I'm filling my time with, what I am learning and what I'm putting my most energy towards. But I just wanted to apologize now to anyone who might be reading this and myself for not fulfilling all that I think I should. But all I can do is let it all go, and just live my life moment by moment. And most of all forgive myself when I don't think I am being perfect.

Music: Don't need no translation for good beats

So, I know it's been awhile since my last post. But just to let you know I've been frantically working on a pretty darn epic history and art post to put on here. So it's not completely that I've gone MIA...I just have so much to do blog-posts have taken a back burner. But I thought you all might enjoy a little post about all the different kinds of music we've been experiencing here!

So I'll go by country...hope you enjoy!

First, let's visit Germany:
My friend Boris was kind enough to share this artist and song with me. I have no idea what is being said, but it's pretty catchy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOcSZE-tZk8

And then Franci (Boris's girlfriend) shared this music with me. They aren't German, BUT I love them and have to share anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-RDRV36L_8

Now let's go to the Netherlands! There are lots for this one... but all equally enjoyable!
And all the credits for these videos go to my friend Melanie, she's dutch and she knows her stuff.

This is a really cool song she showed me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT6tpUbWOms

And here's an equally cool one (I really like this guy for some reason, but I can't seem to download any of his stuff!!!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm7jv6Qoy4k&ob=av2e

And NOW some of my absolute favorites!!! TO STAY MY FRIEND, YOU MUST LISTEN TO THESE! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8b_hngUHB8&ob=av2n
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVoqx3Fg1xA

Let's go to TURKEY!
First, classical Turkish music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFSm5_4afro

Then some pop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzx1svyyPgc

And this is the song we had the treat to hear our friends sing one night. This was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life and I will never forget sitting on that bed and hearing this song, eyvallah friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrBGzFt7fZQ

So there is just a little of the new music I am enjoying over here. You would think I would have more Lithuanian bands for you to enjoy, but that's not the case at all really. But we'll get there!
Viso gero for now friends! History and Art blog posts to come soon!

Oh! And P.S. There is a BIG November trip coming up soon! Just to let you know that the plans and preparation for huge adventure all over Europe is being set in action; I'm talking Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and France here people! More to come on that later  :)

So blessed.

When I finally open my eyes and see the life that I am living now, I can't help but feel incredibly blessed. Blessed beyond all words I could ever write. And I want so badly to try to describe the emotion I feel when I think about all the people I've met, all the things I've learned, all the places I've seen, but I just can't. I can't seem to find words eloquent enough to paint the picture just right.

All I can tell you is there are times where I feel so lucky that I have to stop and catch my breath because I know that moment was a gift from God just to me. And I cannot believe that only a little over a month ago I was in Greeley, Colorado. Greeley was just as beautiful and a true home but it was my time to see the world. Doors flew open and I was taken to absolutely gorgeous places. And one thing after another has blown me away. I feel myself getting lost in the world and this is a kind of lost where I never want to be found. People are so beautiful. The world is so radiant. And everyday that I live here I discover a new adventure, a new lesson.

And there days when all I wish I could do is see my mother and father, talk to my friends like we used too, or sleep in a bed that is my own. But this experience is worth more than its weight in gold. It's not just the lifelong friends I have met, or the timeless beauty that exists in Europe; it's the experience of seeing very different cultures meet in a new place and compromise. It's learning to see past stereotypes and misconceptions that we have made of each other.  It's seeing that it's not impossible for people with very different cultures and backgrounds to find friends in each other. It's learning simply how to be a better human being.

Last night, my roommate and I just happened to stumble across a group of our Turkish friends locked away in one of their rooms singing together. And we had the honor of just being able to sit with them, listen to them, and learn from them. And as I sat on their beds, swaying to "Ben Seni Sevdiğimi", sipping tea; it hit me and almost brought me to tears. This all a gift. This is all one huge blessing that I was given. These people, this place, this life. All of it has touched something so deep within me that I at loss for words even to describe. This is a moment in my life that moves so deeply within my soul that I know is pure heaven on earth.

And what I have heard over and over again in my life has finally surfaced to my eyes; this is heaven on earth. Within us is heaven.

So, while I take a little more time to think this revelation out, I wanted to just list SOME of the blessings I have experienced while here or learned that I always had.

• An Awesome roommate
• A safe city
• The resources to go to new places
• Meeting the kindest people to walk this earth
• Open hearts and minds
• Deep conversations and everlasting friendships
• The opportunity to learn
• The opportunity to grow
• The chance to live life in Europe
• The opportunity to explore different cultures, histories, places, lives.
• To be a U.S. citizen and speak fluent English 
• Amazing support from my family and closest friends
• Love, deep and everlasting love

And just for good measure, I wanted to share some new goals I have for myself to try to grow even more while I live these moments:

• Travel more (Poland, Greece, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria. Bulgaria. Romania, France, the UK, Turkey, as many places as possible!)
• Become a more educated traveler about places before I go there.
• Learn more about photography to capture moments
• Bless others in my actions
• Learn as much as I can about the new cultures, people and histories I encounter.
• Be fearless to ask questions
• Be patient and gracious
• Be forgiving to others and myself
• Forget about what other might be thinking. 

So here's the youtube of the song our friends were singing and the Turkish and English lyrics. Enjoy my friends! And many blessings to you! Eyvallah (it means thank you in Turkish)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrBGzFt7fZQ


Turkish

Ben Seni Sevduğumi

Ben seni sevduğumi da dünyalara bildirdum
Endirdun kaşlaruni, babani, babani mi eldurdum?

En dereye dereye da al dereden taşlari
Geçti bizden sevdaluk, al cebum.. al cebumdan saçlari.

Kız evinun onine da sereceğum kilimi
Oldi hayli zamanlar görmedum, görmedum sevduğumi.

Yaz geldi bahar geldi oy açti yeşil yapraklar

Ben sana doyamadum, doysun kara doysun kara topraklar.

Estonia annnnnd....surprise! FINLAND!

In short, ESTONIA WAS FANTASTIC!!!

Kim and I have made it a goal to travel to a different country every month. So for the month of September we thought it would be a good idea to travel to some of the other Baltic states and visit our friend Kaarel who we met in Vilnius a few weeks ago. So Estonia it was and we booked our bus tickets (only 179 Litas!) for a weekend of adventure! We found some other friends from the Erasmus program who wanted to go with us: Dora from Hungary and Svenja and Franci both from Germany. It worked out that Dora had a friend living in Tallinn as well who we could meet while there, it was perfect!

We started in Siauliai late Thursday afternoon. Had to miss Lithuanian Civilization lectures, oh well, it's a sacrifice that I think we were all willing to make. And when we told our professor (who happens to also be my Multicultural Communication and Russian professor) that we wouldn't be in class because we were traveling she practically chased us out of the room telling us to travel as much as possible! It was awesome. Then we had about a 2 and a half hour bus ride, in the smallest bus ever (sat next to a man reading a Russian book, good chance to practice reading haha!), to Riga the capital of Latvia. There we just happened to run into our Latvian friend Diana who happened to be visiting home for the weekend. It was a huge "small world" moment that blew my mind! Then we had a four hour bus ride to Tallinn on possibly one of the coolest buses ever. If you are in the Baltic states and in need of cheap but good transportation, go LuxExpress. There's free unlimited hot chocolate on some of their buses, and free wifi. We were living the high life!

Here's a map with all the places we stopped basically. Siauliai is more in the middle-northern region of Lithuania, just in case you wanted to know.

And here we are waiting in the bus station at Riga! From left to right, Kim, Svenja, Dora, and Franci. Haha I thought this picture showed their personalities perfectly.

So lots of sleep and conversations later, we made it to Tallinn!! It was 1:30 in the morning and lucky for us, Kaarel and his family are the coolest people ever, and Kaarel's brother Laur picked us up from the bus station. Kaarel couldn't because he had just had Lasik work done to his eyes the day before, driving was probably not the smartest decision for him. We jammed all our luggage into the back of his rather large Volvo, sat on each other's laps and rode to our accommodations, United Methodist Church. Kaarel and his family attend this church and it was actually a huge blessing! Extremely good dorms for only 10 Euros per night per person. So it came to only about $40 for the whole weekend for a place to sleep, and a good place to sleep too!

The next day Kaarel, foggy vision and sensitive eyes and all, gave us a tour of his home city! We walked around old town, saw cobblestone streets older than the U.S., old defense walls of Tallinn, towers, cathedrals, street art, galleries, TONS of museums! We went to the city museum and was totally blown away by how rich the history of one tiny city was. I totally geeked out over the Soviet history and modern political history. I geeked out SO much that I am going to be writing a blog-post just for history soon, I am THAT inspired! But just for a preview (and because I can't contain myself), we learned a lot about Estonia's fight for independence from the Soviet Union. In 1989, the Baltic States created this 600 km (about 370 miles) long chain of people from Tallinn to Vilnius (!!!!) to protest for independence. And we found out our friend Kaarel was apart of that! He was only about 4 years old but he remembers driving a little out of Tallinn with his brother and his dad and standing holding hands with other people wanting independence from the Soviet Union. I love history, I love it so much. Especially when I can see it touching the daily life of people I know and love. See, totally geeking out over here.

Here we all are! Left to right: Svenja, Kaarel, Kim, Dora, and Franci. 

And here's just a few pictures from our tour of Old Town Tallinn:

The following pictures are of the Oleviste Cathedral. This Cathedral has rich history of preservation against the Soviet Union, Kaarel told me a lot about it. But, for now, I'll save you from that historical torture.

This is the Alexander Nevski Church, one of the Russian Orthodox churches in the area:

AND THESE:

Chocolate Syrup and Ice-cream pancakes from the Kompressor. TO DIE FOR. I'm not losing weight at all in Europe. Not with this kind of food around.

So all day long we were hearing rumors that you could take a ferry to Helsinki, Finland for super cheap and be there in a matter of a couple hours. Kim and I could not resist. We would NEVER get the chance to go to Finland ever again and the thought of passing up even a few hours in Finland was just too sad. So the next morning, after a little bit of a wild goose-case to find the ticket vendor, we were on a ferry to FINLAND!! I learned that I get sea-sick on ferries, which is good knowledge to know for the future probably. We ended up only having about 4 hours to see the sights, which was not nearly enough time but very appreciated no matter what! Helsinki is breath-taking!

In front of the Helsinki Cathedral:

The Uspenski Cathedral, this was my favorite:

Oh! And surprisingly we discovered that Helsinki is a city FULL of music, not kidding. Every street there was at least ONE person playing some instrument. We met this band, Half Day Nation, as they were handing out free CDs and warming up their fingers (Finland is COLD). One was from Australia and the other was from Finland, super cool guys! They played a special concert just for us!

Here's their myspace, just saying, you should check them out  :)  

http://www.myspace.com/halfdaynation

The random Russian guys that pulled Kim into their picture, this happens a lot more than you would believe:

 Then we sadly had to come back but we were looking forward to meeting back up with our wonderful friends and cooking dinner for our wonderful tour guide Kaarel! The German girls have a gift with food, I swear. They made a chicken saute with wine and mushrooms, onions, and cream sauce that made me want to cry. So good!

And on our last day we attended church with Kaarel and made time to stop at the Kumu art museum! Which was so fantastic!!! There will be a future post on art as well, and I can't wait! I have so much art to share with you guys!!!

Haha this is Kaarel in front of his home. He didn't want to show us inside, but I'm sure it's lovely:

Fall is on it's way!

These little birds where EVERYWHERE in Tallinn! I thought it was too cute!

So there you have it! Estonia and Finland in a weekend. It was wonderful and I cannot wait to go somewhere else next! Feeling super blessed and loved here, Europe is like a warm jacket you can just wrap around you. Tons more blog posts to come soon!  :) Seriously, tons!

As usual a song and a quote!

This band Franci recommended to them, they are called Hundreds and Thousands. Maybe they are German? We aren't sure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb0HGvEWIJc

And a quote that has been on my heart lately:

"Dance like no one is watching, sing like no one is listening, love like you've never been hurt, and live like it's heaven on earth." -- Mark Twain

Viso gero for now!  <3 Sarah