Journey to Moscow: Hill of Crosses

Woke up early this morning to load up the coach so we could be on our way to the sleeper train to Moscow. We made a stop to a touristy place called the Hill of crosses.

This small hill has hundreds of thousands of crosses spread all throughout. Big crosses, small crosses, wooden crosses, and metal crosses. Tons of crosses! Originally, just a few were placed on the hill to represent the lives of four martyrs in the area. However, they were taken away only to be replaced again by even more crosses by other people. The crosses would eventually be bulldozed into the ground and replaced once again. This cycle continued until the man bulldozing the hill took his young son with him on the dozer. Unfortunately, the little boy fell off and was run over by the bulldozer, which ended his life. From then on, nobody bothered to remove the crosses from the hill resulting in a place of remembrance and prayer for many people. Most crosses looked very old, but some were dated as recent as last April. There are many stories behind this amazing site which still today influences many people in Lithuania.

After we left the Hill of Crosses, we traveled to a very large buffet restaurant in Riga, Latvia, which reminded me of a Latvian version of Country Cupboard except that the food was really good. Those from home can relate. Now we are on a sleeper train for 16 hours until we reach Moscow. There we will be busy for 5 days participating in several corporate visits like Coca-Cola and Mars.

Leaving Vilnius, off to Klaipeda

Trakai Castle

Today we visited the Presidents palace in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was the typical presidential building with extremely ornate decorations and gold paint. We were only allowed to take pictures in one of the rooms but it was one of the most decorated.

Presidents Palace

We also are off to our next stop in Lithuania. Klaipeda. On the way to this city, we stopped to explore an enormous castle surrounded by a beautiful lake. There were large sailboats scattered about and paddle boats for tourists to rent. Weddings and bridal showers also were taking place at the castle during our visit. It was a gorgeous day and the lake was absolutely amazing. It was great to just walk around the castle and explore the little peninsula it was on while taking pictures.

Travel continues as we ventured to the Lithuanian Christian College today. Which is another 4-hour bus ride. Nearly everyone fell asleep on the way. But we made it safely to the college where we are sleeping in a brand new dorm and will be taking classes for the next week. 

More pictures of today's adventure here!

Our Arrival and Tour of Vilnius

Today we finally arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania. I got to JFK airport around 12:30pm on Wednesday and got to Lithuania at about 4:30pm Thursday after a 5 hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. Total hours awake? 30 hours. I'm fighting the jet lag as much as possible right now! They told us to stay awake as long as possible tonight so we won't be so messed up for the next week. So far so good but everyone was exhausted!

But once we arrived, we were taken to a nice hotel called the Domus Maria. Then to a nice restaurant for dinner where we had a three course meal. The appetizer was some kind of hard bread with butter and mozzarella cheese. Then the main course was some kind of big fried chicken ball. Dessert was a form of cheese cake pastry. Yum! And finally, there was a tour of Vilnius. There is a lot of history to this capital city involving many historic churches and the influence of Communist Russia. I got about 250 pictures just tonight and had to narrow it down to 20 or so. But tomorrow starts classes and our super busy week! Corporate casual dress for most of the week and more traveling to the next stop in two days. Will post more photos as they come! Keep checking them out.

Lithuania Pics

Preparing for a Semester Abroad

Well, I'm leaving this Wednesday and I figured I should get some things around to pack today to see what else I have to get for the trip. So far, I have most of the things I need.

Last week I found a new camera for the trip. One with a quick shutter and a far zoom. It also has GPS integration so it will also keep track of where the pictures are taken. Here is a review of the camera I got, the Lumix ZS20.

There are a few limitation to the amount of luggage we are allowed to take on the trip as well. Only our backpack (includes 3 text books) and ONE suitcase which is supposed to weigh under 45 pounds. It will definitely be hard to pack a suit, other corporate dress clothes, and normal clothing along side other regular traveling gear. Fortunately, I found this nifty way to fold a suit so it doesn't get wrinkled (apparently). Thank you LifeHacker!

I also happen to stumble upon another cool link for restaurant tipping etiquette in foreign countries. Most of our meals on the trip are covered by the overall expenses so we may not have to worry about this as much. However, there may be a few times where we will go off on our own for a quick snack. Yahoo covers a good portion of the countries we will be eating at in this video.

If you have a favorite traveling tip that would be extremely useful for me, please let me know in the comments!

Trip Itinerary

Here is my travel itinerary!!  You can also find this link on the very top of the blog next to "Photos" on the navigation bar. You can click on the individual points on the map to get a closer look at each visit as well.

I never actually realized how much we will be traveling until I put this together!! If the map is correct, this trip will cover 24,346 miles!!!!! That is a lot of traveling.....

The IBI

Starting on May 23, 2012, I will be traveling the world on a once in a lifetime opportunity through a Messiah College study abroad program called the International Business Institute. Throughout the course of 10 weeks, I will be traveling with 38 other classmates through 13 different countries all while studying for 12 credits worth of international business classes. While in countries like Germany, France, India and China, we will visit major corporation headquarters like Nestle Company and Shell International as well as other organizations like the EU Parliament and the World Trade Organization. This will all be coordinated within four different classes: Comparative Economic Systems, International Trade and Finance, Global Marketing, and Global Business Strategy. Click on the link for more information about this amazing journey! International Business Institute

 My goal throughout this tough and rigorous program is to maintain this travel blog to give the readers a hint of everything I am experiencing while trekking across the globe. Hopefully I can give you a taste of what I am seeing through pictures and samples of what I am doing while on the trip. Thanks for reading and share it with others that are interested!

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