Farewell to Lithuania - for now

A view of Vilnius from my recent hot-air balloon ride!

My time in Lithuania is coming to a close (I really can’t believe it’s been ten weeks already!), and instead of writing about gender and policy this time, I’m going to focus on some of the smaller details of my experience here.

One of the questions I’m asked the most lately is, “What will you miss about Lithuania?”  So here are a few answers:

- The food! How very outdated it is to think that post-Soviet countries lack access to fresh or diverse cuisine. The food here is excellent, and even without eating meat, I’ve still done quite well for myself. Some of the dishes I’ll miss the most (but not necessarily Lithuania’s healthiest ones) are tinginys (“lazy man’s cake,” a delicious, unbaked cake of chocolate, butter and biscuits); kepta duona (fried Lithuanian black bread with garlic); and Lithuanian hot chocolate (pretty much melted chocolate in a mug).  I’ll miss Cukatos, my favorite café in town, and the friendly staff there who memorized everything I liked and didn’t like. I won‘t miss worrying about bacon hiding in my food, though.

- Vilnius, or at least the Vilnius I saw. What I mean is that ten weeks has given me an introduction to Vilnius, but I haven’t finished the book  In the same way that you don‘t really know NYC if you never leave Manhattan, I can‘t claim that I truly know Vilnius without having spent much time in the suburbs or outside of the center and the Old Town.  But I have done my best to explore, learn, and grow in this place, thanks especially to the wonderful people who have helped show me the way.  I will miss taking winding roads to work, the quaint and colorful shops and streets, and the offbeat, funky details in the graffiti, window sills and and decorations of this town.

- And most of all, the people. I have so much love and gratitude for the people I’ve met here; they have been generous, open, and amazingly, they’ve been willing to befriend someone who was only in town for a few short months.  I will miss my friends in Vilnius, our conversations and adventures together.  I feel very fortunate to live in NYC, a city where so many people pass through, and so I’m confident that I will see many of my friends here again.

Soon I’m leaving for new lands, namely Latvia and Estonia, where I’m traveling with a friend before returning to the U.S..  I’m excited to come back to my life in New York, but it’s bittersweet, since I’ve had such a positive experience living in Lithuania.  For now, I will say not “viso gero” (Lithuanian for ‘goodbye’) but rather “iki” ( ‘see you later’), and hope that it won’t be too long before I can say “labas!” (‘hello’) again!