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)

a little bit of finnish singing

a night at La Bodega in Helsinki

(narration by Graham, singing by finnish twins)