Hello friends near and far! It's been a long time, I know. So just a quick update on Siauliai...life here has been "labai gerai", or very good! Just trying to get through all my classes (I have a lot), keeping up with the newest movies with my friend Carolin, getting to know new people a little bit, welcoming old friends into a new flat, and smoking lots of nargile with Dora and Yusuf. It's starting to really feel like spring here and everyone is so excited. We are itching for the chance to go outside without heavy coats and to see green around the city again, it's wonderful! So, it's been a lot of fun here, but now onto a new adventure!
Tomorrow, my Hungarian friend (Dora, I mentioned her above) and I will start our trip...which we like to call the HANG trip. HANG is the first letter of each country we are going to visit! So we are first going to Germany (Bremen, Leipzig, Dresden) to visit some friends that we met last semester (my dearest Franci and Boris to be exact!) We stay there for 5 or 6 days and then off to Hungary! This is the exciting part of the trip! Dora's family has no idea we are coming, so we are going to surprise them one day by just showing up on their doorstep! Can't wait for the chance to meet her family! And it's probably a good thing that they get to meet me face to face because Dora has been lying to them about our trip and saying that I didn't want to go to Hungary and that's why we are not visiting. So maybe they hate me, but at least I get to prove them wrong once we go! We stay in Hungary for a week then we are off to Austria! And we might have the chance while we are there to meet our Lithuanian friend Rasita and our Czech friend, Pauli-D. But for Pauli-D it will be a surprise too, so hopefully we can make this work! One night in Vienna and then we have a long train to my favorite place in the world, the Netherlands! There we will get to say hello to our wonderful and dearly missed friend Melanie from last semester too. We will get to stay with her family and explore Utrecht from top to bottom! So excited for the chance to see her again!
So this is a very exciting trip for us. All along the way we get to see familiar faces and met old friends. It makes me realize how far I have come from last semester, now I can go around the world and meet a friend. I am very excited for the chance to see old friends, meet new friends, and enjoy the spring season all around Europe. This adventure has been dearly needed in my life.
Of course I am a little sad because I am leaving poor Carolin and Yusuf for three weeks. I will miss them both so much, especially Carolin. But we have big plans to go to the movie theatres and have late Easters when I come back! (You all better be going to the Hunger Games premiere for me!) And I am also a little scared because this is the first trip that I planned a lot of the getting around, we are using Interrail again, like the big November Trip we took last semester. Except this pass is bigger and lots longer. I really am afraid that something will go wrong with the passes this time. And I am a little afraid to meet the families and friends of all of my good, good friends. I hope they like me and I feel comfortable and confident enough to be who I am around them! Cross your fingers for us! We need them!
SO anyway, without further ado, here we go! I am keeping a journal for everyday, like last time. So when I get back I will share my thoughts and experiences with you. Until then my dear friends, enjoy the emerging spring weather and see you in April!
Lots of love,
Sarah
P.S. Some German music you can groove to! Deichkind will be playing in Berlin while we are there, I wish we could go!
Seeed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yWU0lFghxU&feature=related
Deichkind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPJlyRv_IGI
