Introduction to What I'm Doing, Where I'm Going, and What I'm Doing

I am a master packer. I have filled my medium-sized suitcase with a suit, nice clothes, athletic clothes, and shoes. There's still enough room left to house a small family.

What I'm doing in Lithuania: My school, Walsh Jesuit, has this program called Senior Experience. The purpose of Senior Experience is to ensure that students can experience the 'real world' and can get an idea of what they want to do in life. I want to go into politics, so I looked for opportunities to get involved in politics. Instead of getting involved with local politics, I looked for an opportunity in Lithuania for several reasons. 1: Since all Lithuanians are somehow connected, I knew I would find something in Lithuania. Luckily, my dad use to work for the World Bank from 1993 to 1995.  During that time, he helped establish new banks in Lithuania as Lithuania was going through growing pains as a baby country. (Remember, independence was in 1991). While in Lithuania, he got to know many people, including Stasys Kropas. P. Kropas was working in Parliament as my dad was working in Lithuania. So my dad contacted p. Kropas for an opportunity for me to get my experience in Parliament. P. Kropas no longer works at Parliament, but he knew a man named Jonas Simenas who currently works at Parliament. I contacted p. Simenas and he said he would gladly take me under his wing for a few weeks.

2. I wanted to do something in Lithuania for a natural pull towards the mother country and in a way, to follow my sibling's footsteps. During the post-high school early college years, all my siblings traveled to Lithuania. When I thought about going to Lithuania, there was that thought that I would be going to the Naval Academy, which also meant boot camp starting July 1. Therefore, there would be no other time for me to go to Lithuania as a student other than during Senior Experience. Even if I would not have found a place in politics, I probably would have done some kind of charity work in Lithuania. By the time I found out about the Naval Academy, I had everything set for working with p. Simenas.

Vilnius: Vilnius was established by Gediminas, the duke I talked about in the last post. This is the legend I believe every Lithuanian knows about: Gediminas was out hunting and fell asleep at night. He had a dream of a howling iron wolf louder than any wolf he had ever heard. After waking up, he went to seek the head pagan-priest for how to interpret the dream. The priest told Gediminas to build a city and castle on present-day Vilnius. The city still exists and parts of the surrounding wall and a tower of the castle are still there today. I'll post pictures when I arrive in Lithuania. Eventually, Vilnius became less of a military stronghold and more of an educational and cultural city. In 1579, Vilnius University, a Jesuit school, was established. The University still exists but I don't think it is a Jesuit school anymore. Here's a link to the history: Vilnius University History

The high school is Jesuit, and that's who the Jesuits I am staying with are associate with.

Throughout it's history, Vilnius has been a multicultural city. One culture has not been able to really claim Vilnius as it's own. In the 20^th century, Poland conquered Vilnius, the Jews have always had a strong presence in Vlinius, the architecture is Italian, and until recently, Lithuanian was not the main language spoken in Vilnius. It may not even be safe to safe that it is the dominant language today, but I'll just have to find out. There is even a French connection. When Napolean led his famous march to Moscow, he passed through Vilnius. When fleeing from Russia, the army tried to pass through Vilnius. The weary army was locked out of Vilnius. Many of the soldiers died and massive graves are still being dug up around Vilnius finding members of Napolean's army. Many members of the army left and started families with local Lithuanian women. That is why I am part French.

Svento Kazimiero Baznycia: (St. Casimir's Church). This is the church where I'll be staying. It is the first baroque church in Europe. Svento Kazimiero was named after St. Casimir, a member of the Gediminas family. There has been constant debate as to whether or not St. Casimir was Lithuanian or Polish since the whole Gediminas family was split between Lithuania and Poland. Still, St. Casimir is buried in Vilnius, so we Lithuanians say he's our saint.

All this history from the past 2 days has simply been a reference point if I mention something later in the blog. I promise all the exciting writing and adventures will come later. I'll also try to provide some kind of video, picture, or something else fun to fit the theme of every day. Since today is a further introduction, here is a song I know many of us American Lithuanians use as a type of Lithuanian national anthem, even though it is NOT the official national anthem. It was written for the Lithuanian Olympic teams for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. It talks about how there are 3 million Lithuanians and we can do so much, and we have so much hope for the future of our country. It's called "Try Milijonai", or "3 Million" by Marijonas Mikutavicius.