Week 5 - 30th April -> 6th May

It feels like it's been a while since the last blog update, just because the previous one was that little bit earlier to allow for my time back in Finland. I had just the best time spending four days back "home" in Turku. I left my laptop in Lithuania, and enjoyed cutting myself off from the internet and instead purely appreciating the time I had there with my amazing friends. 

Having said that, now that I'm back in Lithuania, I am so grateful for Facebook and Skype to keep me connected to the people I love and care about. Although, there has been rather a lot of recent discussion surrounding the negative aspects of Facebook in particular. This mainly came from the few that don't have a profile on FB, but I decided to broach the topic with my student discussion group this week too. They made some very good points, supporting both sides of the argument, but the conclusion emerged that it's not FB that's the problem, it's how we use it that makes a difference. Personally, I think there is worse in the world to worry about.

Meridianas resting on the river.

Anyway, after returning from Finland, I've noticed more than before how much influence from Turku there is here in Klaipeda. For example, the infamous Hesburger can be easily located here and seems quite popular, and there are many ships currently on display in Klaipeda that were built in Turku. One particular ship, the Meridianas, serves as something of a tourist attraction here, despite being originally built by Finns. Recently, I have seen several tourist groups huddling around a guide next to this ship and I'm thinking that next time I will try to tag along and find out more of what the story is behind it. Nowadays, it is said to be an international restaurant, but I have never seen it functioning (as of yet). 

What the Meridianas must look like open.

Another somewhat of a reminder of the Finnish culture, is the strong influence of alcohol in Lithuania. Dare I say it, but it may even be more so than in Finland (this may come as a shock to those who reside in the land of the Finns - they like a drink - or many). But in Lithuania it is immediately more noticeable. In fact, it was one of the first things I noticed when I arrived here. My local supermarket is rather small and contains just the essential items, but half of it, I mean literally half of the whole store, consists of shelves upon shelves stocked with alcohol. In Finland, the supermarkets just stock "soft" alcohol, like beer or cider, and for the "hard" stuff you have to go to a proper alcohol store (Alko). However, this is not the case in Lithuania. This local supermarket of mine has everything you could want in alocoholic form - beer, cider, vodka, gin, rum, whiskey...and the list goes on. Nevertheless, the Lithuanians seem rather proud of their national beers. For me, this isn't very impressive coming from the island of Ireland, where beer was practically born (even though I'm not much of a fan - a disgrace, I know). But it seems to be a must-try in Lithuania. 


On the subject of intoxication, I have to share my perspective on smoking as well. Before coming to Lithuania, I actually feared that the smoking ban may not have come into effect here, based on my experience a couple of years ago in Latvia. To my pleasant surprise, the smoking ban does exist here, and as a non-smoker, I really do appreciate this. However, a conflicting surprise arose as almost every Lithuanian I have met so far, mostly around my age, smoke. In a way, Lithuania is kind of like a smoker's paradise because the cigarettes are still pretty cheap if you compare with other European countries (and even cheaper if they are coming from neighbouring Russian territory). Needless-to-say, I won't be converted.

Lithuania does seem to be converting me on other strange things though - like amber and sculptures. These are two culturally significant roots in Lithuania that I am being more and more exposed to. Since becoming more confident with my sense of direction in Klaipeda, I changed my usual walking route and explored some of the tiny, unknown streets, and discovered something that caught my attention. You should know that sculptures exist everywhere in this city, and they even have a sculpture park that is dotted with random and varying sculptures that don't seem to follow any one particular theme. But, this one, planted on the corner of street I had never ventured down before, was the most interesting one I've seen so far (see picture). My next task is to find out the story behind it. 

Moving on, even as the freckle and sunburn season makes a slow return, the empty streets of Klaipeda can be explained by one phenomenon: Akropolis. 
Akropolis is an entertainment/shopping centre - it is full of shops, and even has a cinema, ice rink and, wait for it, a Hesburger! (Though this is rivalled by a 24hr McDonald's drive-thru.) For me, Akropolis is where the city ends; I have not yet ventured any further, and have no clue what lies beyond it apart from the other exchange students of Klaipeda, where their dorm is situated. 
Anyway, as my most local, decent-sized supermarket rejected me all of sudden with workmen instead of customers, I realised it is under construction (everything is under construction here - university buildings, roads, the dolphinarium...! A sign of a booming economy..?). So, yesterday I ventured to Akropolis to stock up in Maxima (equivalent to Tesco Extra & Prisma), and there I saw half the city, as well as an interesting happening. There were dressed-up girls on stage singing, while on the ground there seemed to be some kind of fire brigade demonstration day. It was worth stopping for a moment.

But the real highlight of the day occurred on the way back to my dorm. I just happened to step off the bus and be standing in the right place at the right time, when a fantastic array of motorbikes of all kinds came streaming down the road, topped and tailed by two police cars. The stream of bikes seemed never-ending and I couldn't help but stand and watch with a beaming smile on my face - this was a reminder of home, and also of times ahead. I'm just gutted that I didn't have my camera with me to take a video - it was really something to see! Instead, I just captured a couple of photos on my phone, but they don't do it justice. 


That's the shame when you know you are watching something amazing and can't capture it for others to see, but I think it was better to be there anyway, and it's saved in my memory - that's enough for me.