Three Days...Three Countries
Last weekend I started to really love the other study abroad students. Everyone is so very unique...and I don't say that lightly. When you throw all 30 of us together on a charter bus for a 10-hour ride through Latvia and Estonia, it's like a toned-down version of Road Rules...and I loved every minute of it.
We stopped at the Hill of Crosses first. Although Lithuania was the last European country to adopt Christianity as its religion, I think it has the highest density of crosses on the continent.
People come from far and wide to place crosses here, both out of grief and celebration.
Our first night was in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. Our hostel had a sound system in place above each door—permanently set to a techno/80s channel. Sweetness.
Our last two nights were my favorite though. We drove to Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, and stayed in the Old Town. Cobblestone streets and ancient architecture with medieval undertones...
small underground specialty shops that felt more like dungeons than retail stores...and a beautifully quaint wool market with old ladies knitting mittens as you try them on. We splurged here.
It was frustrating to hear so many of the study abroads shouting things like, "It's just like Disneyland!" No. Disneyland came after.
Went to an Irish pub the first night in Tallinn, where my love for live music was confirmed over and over again. It just does something to me. I can't really explain it.
The exchange rate is around 12:1, so it felt really weird paying 200 krones for something that should be under $20. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Olde Hansa that was straight out of the middle ages/the viking era. Everything was lit by candles, the food was enormous, and I don't know what any of it was called.
On our 10-hour bus ride home (awwwww, I called Lithuania home) a group of Californians had at least a 20-minute conversation about In'n'Out while we ate apples we picked ourselves and passed a jar of Nutella around the entire bus. Good times.
We stopped at the Hill of Crosses first. Although Lithuania was the last European country to adopt Christianity as its religion, I think it has the highest density of crosses on the continent.
People come from far and wide to place crosses here, both out of grief and celebration.
Our first night was in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. Our hostel had a sound system in place above each door—permanently set to a techno/80s channel. Sweetness.
Our last two nights were my favorite though. We drove to Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, and stayed in the Old Town. Cobblestone streets and ancient architecture with medieval undertones...
small underground specialty shops that felt more like dungeons than retail stores...and a beautifully quaint wool market with old ladies knitting mittens as you try them on. We splurged here.It was frustrating to hear so many of the study abroads shouting things like, "It's just like Disneyland!" No. Disneyland came after.
Went to an Irish pub the first night in Tallinn, where my love for live music was confirmed over and over again. It just does something to me. I can't really explain it.
The exchange rate is around 12:1, so it felt really weird paying 200 krones for something that should be under $20. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Olde Hansa that was straight out of the middle ages/the viking era. Everything was lit by candles, the food was enormous, and I don't know what any of it was called.
On our 10-hour bus ride home (awwwww, I called Lithuania home) a group of Californians had at least a 20-minute conversation about In'n'Out while we ate apples we picked ourselves and passed a jar of Nutella around the entire bus. Good times.
posted by Madeline at 2:02 AM
1 Comments:
those are three pretty fricken awesome blogs, maddie!! i wish i was experiencing this with you...and i kinda feel like i am! i miss you tons though! we're on 4day and i stuck around here with lizzy. a big group of us went to knott's scary farm yesterday...fun fun!! anyways...i'll update my blog soon about my 4day. love you!!!!
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