rindiņas beigas (latvian for "end of the line")

Yesterday morning marked the end of Auburn University's 2009 Eastern European Studies program. Our three weeks traveling through the Baltic area taught us a lot. We saw three similar cultures, each with their own language and simple differences. Throughout the trip we were blessed with great guides who organized our daily lives and shared with us the best parts of their cities. The companies we visited showed us a variety of management approaches and interesting business decisions. Most people were very inviting to their American visitors, while few were not as particularly fond.

The underlining fact of our trip was that we had a great group. The good doctor seemed to be able to put up with our antics, and even graced us with his presence on the last night. Also, our two guests continuously provided us with an array of different perspectives. Bruce the Wise (aka The Grim Reaper) was always insightful, and we are very grateful sor his presentation on the last day.

We head separate ways thankful for the opportunities we have in life. Memories of the good and the bad are firmly planted in our minds. Seeing some of the factories and victims of the recession was a bit disheartening, but how each person clinched tightly to their new found freedoms was inspirational. I hope that the nationalism we saw that seemed to coarse through everyone's veins can keep them afloat amidst this recession/depression.

I wish everyone safe travels and the best of luck finishing your studies or beginning post-grad life. Some of us will be traveling around Europe (maybe even chasing girls through, say Croatia...), while the others head home to indulge in those juicy morsels that are Chik-fil-a chicken nuggets. A special thanks to everyone who made this trip possible for each of us, and to everyone who followed our blog: we are truly grateful.

Thanks for following,
Thomas

A Closing Ceremony Unlike Anything Imagined...

Cameron, Whitney, and I got the priviledge to experience a midnight concert by Hedda, a female choir from Norway. They are absolutely incredible, and they are performing Sunday here in Riga. Though the video is twice the Blogger limit, I will post it just as soon as I find a computer that can convert it to a smaller format. Riga has been a blast...thanks for following our journey!

-"Bodie"

View from the Top

Dr. Shook officially ended our program at 5:30 p.m. tonight. These last three weeks have flown by, and I for one cannot believe it's already over. But don't worry, we went out with a bang. We all met at the Skyline Bar for one last hurrah. This particular bar is located on the 26th floor of Hotel Reval and offers the chance to see all of Riga at one time. Although the drinks there are fairly expensive, you can't beat the atmosphere and stunning view. It was so nice for us to be there as group and enjoy our last few hours together.

I can't imagine this trip being any better, and I am so sad to see it end. We can't leave on a sad note though, so enjoy this video. Brandon listened to Alex's advice and started the soul train, and I'm pretty sure the whole bar loved it. If you can't tell that's Brandon, his sister Joy Beth (who flew in this afternoon), Alex, Whitney, Kate & Dr. Shook along with a few locals culturing us on how they dance. Enjoy!

(It's getting really late here, and we have an early flight...video to come!)

Cameron Stallworth

Last day in Riga/Europe

As I write, I am sitting in the Double coffee for the last time with Alex and Karen.  I cannot believe we are going home tomorrow.  Karen is analyzing everyone in the group for us while we eat ice cream.  

We started off our day with a lecture from Bruce on the history of banking.  Afterwards, we headed to Lido, a huge Latvian buffet style restaurant with a small amusement park outside, where we were overwhelmed by all of the types of food available.  We went to the Institute of Solid State Physics for our last company visit.  The combination of the language barrier and the nature of the information went right over my head, but I did enjoy seeing the images on the atomic microscope (just like all of the elementary school students who visit).  The farewell dinner was fairly anticlimactic as not everyone went at the same time.  I hope I get a chance to say goodbye to everyone tonight since those of us going through Amsterdam have to leave the hotel at 4:20 tomorrow morning.  Before we leave in the morning I have to finish my paper for Dr. Shook which is proving to be more difficult then I had expected.  I don't want to be working on it right now, but I am glad to have to think about the trip in terms of how it will help me in my professional life.  To those who out there reading, I hope you have enjoyed the blog, and to my classmates who are continuing their European adventures, have fun and be safe,

Kate

Last Day of the Program

Our last day in Latvia and the first thing we did was listen to Bruce speak about how he acquired his job at an investment bank with a theology degree. He told us about a typical day in his past position and the stress involved with it. After his talk we were shown a YouTube video of the Minister of Finance telling an interviewer that the cause of the economy decline was “nothing special.” We then took a tram to Lido where we ate lunch. Lido is a big buffet style restaurant with an amusement park outside focused on young children. The food was really good and at a great price. Next we rode the tram out to the Institute of Solid State Physics where we listened to a professor speak about the projects going on. Then a few students showed us several laboratories throughout the facility. After the lengthy tram ride back to the hotel we settled down from the day and prepared for our farewell dinner at the University. At the dinner we could choose from assorted fruits and vegetables, salads, some meats and juice or water. We filled out a survey on how we liked the program and said goodbye to Agnese, our guide for the week. Some of us are sad to leave, but it's very bittersweet. A few of the students will continue to roam around Europe while others will head back to the States. It was a great trip and I know all of us are better people for experiencing it together. A big thanks to Dr. Shook for making this possible for us! Signing out of Europe... Whitney

Riga Shopping

Next to our hotel in Riga there is a great shopping mall. One thing that I find different about this mall compared to one back home is the grocery stores and pharmacies found in them. Rimi is a common grocery chain and is the one found in this mall. Just like a Kroger or Publix, Rimi has a produce section, bakery , frozen items, and reading material among other things. Also in the mall there is a pharmacy. It is called Atieka. They are very common especially in Riga. I had an ear issue so I went and explained my situation in English to the pharmacist and she gave me ear drops. There are over 10 different shoe stores and clothing shops throughout the mall. When trying on clothes the lady sizes are like American bra sizes which measures just under the bust. So for example a person who measures 34 would most likely fit into a size 34 top or dress. This is true for the shop I visited, I’m not sure if all the stores size the same way. AS well as clothes and shoes there were a lot of jewelry stores, especially amber stores because this region in famous for their amber. Sounds like a woman’s paradise right? Not only do they have a large selection at this mall, but every store is selling at 50% off! One last interesting thing about the mall is that there are many exits and they all lead you to some different part of the city so you could use the building as a landmark to find your way back to the hotel if you were lost.
-Whitney

Here is a short video we shot on our train ride from Majori to Riga on Tuesday. We have supplementary videos and photos we would like to post, but due to Alex's bedtime, she is kicking us off the internet now. Enjoy the video, and we will try our best to get some pictures up soon!

-"the gang"

P.S.-Alex has redeemed herself! She is giving us just enough time to upload some of the most relevant photos of our day. You rock, Alex! Anyways, here they are...enjoy!

Below: The most important photo belongs to the category of "European swimwear." This pup is modeling the latest Latvian fashions, strutting his/her stuff along the boardwalk of the Baltic Sea. You go, girl...or boy!


This picture of the railroad tracks we traversed to and from Majori demonstrates the tact and wit of the Soviet Union. Not wanting foreign armies to invade by rail, the government created tracks and trains that utilized wider rails and wheels. It is not the most time efficient export tool today, but it is a pickle that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.


For brave young men (and a brave young Whitney...not pictured) rough the freezing ice-filled waters of the Baltic Sea for fifteen (or five, most likely) minutes of glory. In all honesty,the temperature was around 60 degrees, but it helps to exagerate tales such as this.

Finally, the nimbled hands and feet of the fabulous few (alliteration intended) work their magic on the swing set Jeffrey broke five minutes earlier. Cameron, Whitney, Brandon, and Jeffers were accompanied by Alex, Karen, and Dr. Shook, just outside the range of this photo. Woo hoo!

Monday in Riga

Our day started at 9:30 am when we met our guide Agnese and walked to our first company visit, Stenders. Stenders was established seven years ago in Riga and now has franchises throughout Europe and Asia. They hand make their own soaps, lotions, body oils, and scrubs. Not only do they make luxurious bath products, but also their own special towels and robes. They have a very unique way of wrapping gifts as well. They have personalized boxes that protect the most fragile items complete with dried flowers and scented straw. This company sells products for the emotions and feelings it brings to their customers, not just to sell a lotion or a soap. Standardization is key for Stenders. Each franchise must have a similar floor plan with fixed lighting and music which sets the mood of relaxation for their customers. They are continuously working on market research to find new recipes that are high in quality and healthy to their consumers. Stenders was the first company to sell these high end products and is now the largest in their industry.The girls really enjoyed this company visit and with the ten percent discount, they bought a lot to take home to take home with them. The boys didn't seem to mind it much either, especially when they got hand massages from the cute employee. Notice Dr. Shook in the picture!

Then it was time lunch. We were all really excited about trying the noodle bar, Macaroni. Here's half the group that sat inside, afraid to brave the cool air outdoors.
It's still freezing here, but we were lucky enough to avoid the rain today. The food was delicious, even if we weren't sure what some of it was. They made their own variety of noodles to choose from along with whatever sauce you could imagine. They also had really good sushi and the infamous Bangkok soup. Afterwards. it was time for ice cream. (It will never be TOO COLD for us to eat ice cream!)
Afterwards, it was back to our hotel, Hotel Riga, where we were serenaded by Karen and Brandon on the piano. Their specialties were Titanic and Love Song, respectively. (Sorry we don't have a picture/video of that!) It was then time to head to our second company visit of the day. Lattelecom delivers integrated and innovative IT&T business processes outsourcing their services to residential, SMC and corporate customers. This company offers services in Internet and television, as well as mobile phones. The mission of the company is to provide people with more opportunities in the age of information. They were very informative and even gave us a special gift: a delicious chocolate bar and a 1 GB USB key. We were really excited about that! After the visit to Lattelecom, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Agnese is really good about planning our days where we have free time to really explore the city.

This is one of the bridges we cross everyday. The scenery around it is absolutely breathtaking. Riga truly is a beautiful city. For most of us the free afternoon meant napping and laundry. For dinner, several of us went to the grocery store for bread, cheese & wine. We're getting a little tired of eating out and really ready for a home cooked meal. Below is a picture of our feast! We're going to the beach tomorrow, so hopefully the sun will decide to come out!

(WhitneyBarnwell&CameronStallworth)

Lithuanian Gems

Reflection is a powerful tool. Many people often look back on things they have done or places they have been, and say, "Man, I don't know why I did that/why I went there." We have decided to take this opportunity to review some of our memories from Lithuania. Memories that will last a lifetime, crack smiles on our faces and maybe you'll even get a little chuckle from reading these. I'm sure you've heard of people referring to the good, the bad, and the ugly; we're going after the ugly in this post.

To recap our time in Lithuania we flew into the capital city of Vilnius on Monday, June 1st sat down in the bus and headed across the country to the sea-side city of Klaipeda. We arrived on another cobblestone street at an old Bed & Breakfast without internet... To make things more interesting, we headed out on a tour with a guide to rival Ben Stein. Klaipeda's history involves a lot of being bombed (as does Vilnius'); thus many places do not exist there anymore. To make up for these disappearances we got to see the following:

We were fortunate enough to see a mouse:

Here, someone decided to paint a map of the city on the wall:

It wouldn't be a city tour without seeing the local gutters (yes, that is a dragon):


Day 2 was able to live up to the drastically high standards set from this tour. We started out our day by taking an 8 minute ferry ride to the local Dolphinarium. This facility housed penguins, adult as well as new born seals, an array of fish, sea loins, and obviously dolphins in an old Latvian armament (logical). So, our group of business students went to the aquarium:


After getting to see the sea creatures a few of us decided to see what weapons they used to defend the country. First a look from the other side of the hill, see anything?:



Now a picture looking at the heavy artillery:

The afternoon called for a lecture from a professor that did not particularly care for the great country of the United States of America. To end a busy day a few of us headed to a restaurant that was apparently "American" according to the travel book. Check it:

Boo yah kasha. We cannot say that we even expected to see the Stars and the Stripes, especially joint with the Confederate flag providing a back drop to a bust of a Native American... Klaipeda did provide us with plenty of the wondrous Svytury's beer, but all good things must come to an end. Friday, we drove back across the country to Vilnius. Speaking of vehicles, the Lithuanians were able to think of the one thing the fabled German engineers at Audi could not:A gorgeous, phallus resembling trailor hitch... We'll keep you up-to-date on when this will be available in the United States.

Vilnius has been named The Cultural Capital of Europe this year. Our tour guide, Margharita, was much more affluent here, and we began at the beautiful Vilnuis Cathedral. She informed us that there is an entire system of underground tunnels in Vilnuis, and recently they had been excavating some behind the cathedral:


See anything out of place? Take a closer look:


Yeah, that's what we thought to; but we wont dwell on that. Although this post is meant to focus on the humorous aspects of the trip we will end it with a visit to one of Lithuania's newest monuments. A group of Lithuanians wanted to test out their new democratic system in an attempt to understand their new freedoms. They all had a common hero in their lives and decided to commemorate his life. He never actually had the opportunity to visit the country, but that's not the point. As we leave you with this picture we hope everyone enjoyed reading and we continue to follow our excursions for the duration of the trip. Ladies and gentlemen, in memory of an American musical legend, the one and only Frank Zappa Monument:


Thanks for reading,
John & Thomas

Sveiki!

Hello from the Double Coffee across from Hotel Riga!  We arrived in Riga late Friday evening to find a city buzzing with Brits on stag weekends and Russians.  After checking into our former communist hotel/hostel (Payton and Thomas were kind enough to switch their hotel room for Cameron's and my hostel room) a few of us Americans ventured out to an Irish Pub for an Indian meal (with the exception of Cameron who ordered a burrito).  Saturday, Agnese lead us on a two and a half hour walking tour through Riga during which we saw the famous Statue of Freedom, the beautiful Art Nouveau buildings, and many many churches just to say a few and then continued on to the Museum of Occupation.  Later that day we went to the University of Latvia where the SGA gave us a presentation on the university and then sent us on a scavenger hunt/trivia game through the building; the No Names won (contrary to what Brandon may tell you) by being first back.  The SGA provided a great meal and conversation.  This morning (Sunday) Alex, Brandon, Dr. Shook, Karen, and I attended an Episcopal service at a local church and met a few Canadian expats.  The afternoon was spent doing laundry, or attempting to do so, by all.  It's hard to believe that this time next week some of us will be back in the States and the rest will be dispersed across Europe.    

Kate

Latvian Dreadlocks

Greetings from Riga!  Here's a video that Karen, Alex, and I filmed earlier today.  We talk about some photos in the video, so here they are.  And no matter what Kate may tell you in her blog about the contest at University of Latvia, "Bruce the Wise" WAS the winning team.  

-Brandon (along with Karen and Alex, although they make no claim to the validity of my "winning team" statement)

This is the infamous duck...poor thing!
This seal was in Klaipeda...he was looking at us as if saying, "Please get me out of here!"
 This is a view of the city of Riga...along with some cool scientific instrument that measures the sun's presence in the sky.

On the Move

7:00a.m. came early this morning, but to a comforting sight. The trip from Vilnius to Klaipeda was interesting considering that our group, along with our luggage, was shoved into a passenger van for four hours on the rough Lithuanian highway. This morning as we opened the door from our cozy bed and breakfast, a beautiful charter bus was waiting there. There would be no more clinch-ing to the armrest in an effort to stay in your seat. Each person had their own two seats and John spread out in the back. We pulled the curtains to keep the morning sun out of our eyes, and completely missed the dark clouds in the sky as we came into Vilnius (let me remind you that 7:00a.m. is 12:00a.m. ET & 11:00p.m. CT...).

Anyway, we boarded the bus and dozed off with dreams of Skybar and what was going on back on the Plains (only one stop for coffee and "to take a leak" in Bruce the Wise's terms). Thoughts of the dolphinarium (if that is a word) and the odd creatures around Kliapeda were gone.

The bus was great, but the next part left us stunned. We arrived a little after 11:00a.m. and had 30 min to get ready. Our local leader met us in the hotel lobby to give us the keys. The elevators were small, and we didn't know what to expect turning the door. Before us lay two double beds, a TV larger than 12", wireless internet, a bathroom that we didn't have to share with a bathtub and a shower, two chairs around a table, along with a small bench. Thoughts of going out to see the town evaporated in thin air while the thoughts of a comfortable bed and a spacious room filled our heads. Walking over to the window that was larger than our first hostel room, those clouds we didn't see were dumping sleet on the Europe's "Cultural Capital."

The schedule was tight, and we all changed and rushed back downstairs. The plan was to have a company visit at 12:00p.m., then visit Parliament at 2:00p.m., lunch at 3:40p.m., free time, and a city tour at 5:00p.m. We began with a laser manufacturer, Light Conversion Ltd. (www.lightcon.com). Founded in 1994, they manufacture two major lasers but alter them for specific customer needs. Their first laser, a.k.a. TOPAS, caters to a small market of femtosecond and picosecond parametric amplifiers (we we're lost too). PHAROS, the second laser, is a femtosecond laser system combining millijoule pulse energies and high average power. Our host, Dr. Algirdos Juozapavicius, explained that the company enjoys its independence and looks to continue to grow. At the moment, Light Conversion is split into two facilities, but they are preparing to consolidate into one building. We were allowed the opportunity to tour both facilities (about 5 minutes apart), viewing both laser systems and the manufacturing process.

The group left Light Conversion impressed and headed to Parliament. Tragically, we were not allowed to go due to mis-communication. We had been told that passports were not needed, but in fact they were. Instead, we found a pizzeria and got in just before another band of rain moved through. The extra rest time was well deserved, and needed before our tour. The tour was a walking tour, and required some determination to make it to the end.

Our guide had a daughter that lived outside of Chicago. The tour began at the Vilnius Cathedral, we trudged through the rain and more sleet, saw more cathedrals than I can count, and ended up on the complete opposite side of main city. Whitney was splashed by a passing car, while Bruce, proving his name, was wise and bowed out when the rain began. The jackets got zipped up after the rain and sleet brought cold weather. We made it through two plus hours as we walked through the Gate of Dawn at the remnants of the old city wall.

The last story we heard was about the beginning of Vilnius. The legend tells that the Grand Duke of Lithuania was out hunting. After a great hunt he decided to spend the night in the forest. As he closed his eyes, he saw in his dreams a great iron wolf standing at the very top of the hill he had just hunted. The iron wolf let out a howl as it reared its head toward the heavens. Accordingly, the howl sounded as loud as a hundred wolves. Upon awakening, the Duke went to his pagan priest to reveal the dream. His priest told him that the gods were telling him he was to found a city by building a castle (the iron wolf) to become the capital of Lithuania and fame of this castle will spread (the howling). And thus, Vilnius was founded.

Thanks for reading,
Thomas

A completely different world...

......We are finally in Lithuania after waking up at 4:30 a.m., getting on a bus at 5, and flying out at 7. Then, we took a bus (an extremely small bus at that) from the capital city, Vilnius, to the Baltic countries’ largest port city, Klaipeda Lithuania. We have left Estonia for good. Hopefully Lithuania will be half as fun as Estonia, but I know it will be hard to beat.


These two places (Klaipeda, Lithuania and Tallinn, Estonia) are worlds apart. First of all, we can't get the internet here at our hostel, so we are sitting in a small office room all trying to let everyone know we made it here in one piece. While Tallinn was a more "westernized" city with its ties to the English, Finninsh, and the other Scandinavian cultures, Klaipeda is a world in its own. It has a small influx of German tourists, but for the most part it is Lithuanian or bust. It is a cool "little big city" meaning it has a larger population than a small town, but you would think you were in a medium sized town at best. Hopefully we can find an internet cafe but until then, we are in Lithuania with no internet so there is nothing we can do but become one of the locals.

I sveikata!

(John Harris)