Babble from a Foreigner: A new semester in Lithuania!

Hello friends near and far!

So now I have made my way back to Siauliai. It's a little surreal still because it feels like I am just slipping into an old life I just left behind. But I am excited for the new semester and can't wait to tell you more of the adventures I have going on!

The great thing about going home was being able to see all the familiar faces and hold all the people I have missed so much finally! I can't tell you how much better it was to talk to people face to face instead of over skype! I got my camera fixed while I was home (or, well we bought a new lens) and it has been AMAZING to have it back!! Part of me cannot deny the liberty in not having to worry about "capturing the moment" on my travels, but then I find more and more that I cherish the memories in photos. So I am excited to keep working on taking better photos and remembering all the wonderful things going on in my life.

And you remember how worried I was about London and being alone for awhile? Well, like usual, it was all for nothing. London was perfect, expensive, but perfect. I think it was very good for me to have exposure in doing things alone, especially something big like traveling and exploring a city by yourself. I discovered some power within myself that I never really noticed before. Yes, I CAN do all the things I need to do to survive in a city I don't know. But I also learned that I really do prefer traveling with at least one other person. There are some things about traveling alone that are just too difficult to do alone. And just having a companion with you makes a world of difference sometimes; you have someone to talk to when you are on a bus, someone to take pictures with, someone to always eat with. It's better, for me at least.

But my dear friends Miguel and Gonzalo made all the difference for me in London. We got to explore and laugh our way through the suburbs of London. I always love going to the suburbs of big cities sometimes. It always proves to show a charming side that you don't notice in all the hustle and bustle. We went to really cool places like the Seven Sisters, which was a cliff face that was absolutely gorgeous!!! I couldn't believe my camera was dead that day! So mad at myself! And we went to Brighton too and I learned that hipster town was were the Kooks grew up. And suddenly, everything in my life came together. Seriously, if you are a hipster in the need for a home...go to Brighton. They are waiting for you.

After paying 319 pounds to get my luggage to Lithuania (that's about $500 btw....I almost died) I arrived home! The taxi driver screwed me over and dropped me off at the wrong place. But it still felt good to be back in a place that I knew. Now its just been a waiting game in Siualiai for everyone in the Erasmus program to arrive. My new roommate, Carolin from Germany, is an absolute sweetheart and yells at me all the time for not wearing socks. She gave me an amazing book to read, called "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet". It's a fun book to read because everywhere in the margins are cool drawings and side stories...love it! She is also teaching me both German and Russian...so all in all, she's awesome.

I have a lot on my mind lately about what I what I want to make this semester become...because it is so different. And I feel a little lost right now because I don't see it all coming together. I am searching for deep cultural encounters, for spiritual connections, for learning new things....but I feel stuck in the old routine of a life I made last semester. And I feel like it takes so much more strength for me to reach out and far too much responsibility to try to carry the weight of everyone here. I have lots to figure out still, obviously.

But I have some questions that I have been asking myself a lot lately, and maybe soon I will have some answers for them. I'll share: