The Indian Summer With Incoming Erasmus+ Students and Their Mentors
On October 6th-7th about sixty people: Erasmus+ students and their mentors had opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful parts of Lithuania. Bus started its journey early in the morning from Kaunas. Heading west to the seaside, Klaipėda and Neringa.
The first day was already marked with great success because of the sunny and warm weather. When we arrived in Neringa the first place we visited was Hill of Witches. Strange, mysterious place where pagan and folklore traditions come together in woodcarvings symposia with Lithuanian myths and fairy tales. After some kisses on witch’s tongue and finding our path to hell and from it, Nida was already waiting us. Students had opportunity to try local food, especially fresh fish from Curonian Lagoon. Later a short city tour and Parnidis dune took place. It is, without a doubt the most impressive and unique place, where you can see, when the sun rises out of the water in the morning and again sinks into the water in the evening. As soon as the sun started to go down, we were already in so-called ‘Lithuanian Sahara’. A sandy paradise, where the stunning view of red sunset took our breath away, even the wind blew silently there. Indian summer was on our side.
When a day was moving to the end, we arrived in Klaipėda. Students had opportunity to relax or to continue the adventurous weekend in the city, full of entertaining places.
On Sunday morning, after amazing breakfast we started to discover Klaipėda. The city offered us a combination of ancient and modern, a little bit hipsterish, modern art places together old town atmosphere. Sightseeing tour around the city helped us understand, how historically close we are to each other. In the diverse city, where different cultures, languages even religions lived and flourished together. Students surprisingly could find connection with their own country and historical figures. The same connection we found with each other through this trip and Erasmus opportunity that enable us to see how similar we are.
After two memorable days, finally we arrived back to Kaunas, our new home. We, students, would like to thank our amazing guide Rasa, who was with us two whole days and showed us, how even a small country like Lithuania, could be so different in its nature and history. Our gratitude also goes to coordinators, Agnė and Eglė from International Relations and Study Center, for making this trip possible and managing our big group, which was not very easy to handle.
Erikas Vasiliauskas, Mentor of Incoming Erasmus+ Students
Photos: Agnė Jašauskaitė, International Programme Coordinator
