The Batlic States, more than a spot on the Monopoly board

Oh the Baltic States in Eastern Europe. They brought me stress and realization that I have a lot to get done before I get back and then even more to get done after I do get back. I loved Helsinki. I think I would live there if it weren't so incredibly cold in the winter. I would imagine the landscape architecture is nice underneath 3 feet of snow, it seemed that way at least. We actually got to see some modern architecture here though. Lots of housing and things like that, but we have been seeing a lot of historical architecture and when we actually see modern design, everyone crowds around and takes a ton pictures. ohhhh modern!

 It seems to me that we did not really do or see much except the inside of a coach and a whole lot of Boroque buildings. Boroque architecture is described as wedding cake architecture. The outside of the building is done up so much that it resembles a fancy, done-up wedding cake.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are a complete blur. We went through them in one week and I am still reeling from it. So pretty much nothing special happened to me in the past week. I started to miss home a lot and with the increasing stress from looming deadlines makes it worse.

In Tallinn, Estonia, I enjoyed Old Town. Old Town is the medieval town that is still quite cozy as it once was. The buildings are all short and close together and there are practically no cars and the ones that do show up actually yield to pedestrians. I could hardly believe it. 

It is very likely that this post will be quite dull and full of my rantings about stress because that is simply what this past week has been for me. The Baltic States are cold, snowy, but everyone tends to speak English.

 A friend of mine was in the Nike store looking for sweatpants in Riga, Latvia and went up to a salesperson to ask if the price was in Lats or Dollars (no idea why he thought they would be in dollars). I think mostly it was becuase the price was so expensive. One Lat is two dollars. The price was the same in Lats as it would have been at home in dollars. So the sweats were 40 Lats which is $80. But at home they would be around $40. So anyway, he lead with the question we have all learned to start with when asking anyone in a foreign country a question. "Do you speak English?" the salesperson answere "Of course" in better English than we speak. It was quite funny and if you do not agree it is probably because of my delivery as it usually is when I tell stories.

Oh! One thing that is noteworthy is that I saw a movie. One of us has been hankoring to see a movie and the two of us thought Riga, Latvia would be a great a place as ever. Mostly it was because we spotted the movie theatre and saw that they were playing Alice in Wonderland in 3D. So the two of us told two others and then the group quickly grew to about 20 without my even knowing it by the next day. I haven't been to a 3D movie since I was 7 in Disney World when I saw Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. So I was pretty pumped.

We asked the guide what the movie situation would be. We figured that since it was an American movie that it would be in English with Latvian subtitles. The guide agreed and so we made a bold move and went to the theatre. All the previews were anamated movies and were in Latvian. We started to get pretty nervous until the Alice in Wonderland started and the title came up in ENGLISH. The entire movie was in English with Latvian and Russian subtitles. It was the perfect movie to see in Latvia. We were all anxious to see it and it was even cheaper there than it would have been in the states. Only $7. No pictures of myself in these glasses exist, so you all will have to settle for my friends, because Jake is wearing mine in the picture..

My spirits were low this week. My computer is giving me some trouble with battery life and the temptation to throw it against a wall is ever increasing. No battery life is just fine when you have an outlet nearby. I don't tend to have an outlet nearby most of the time. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Yesterday we were on the bus from 9:30 am until 10 pm with two bathroom stops, one that doubled as a lunch stop at a convenience store and one bathroom for 45 people and 15 minutes to do it in, and no dinner stop at all. Since there was such a time crunch with the bathroom, most ended up peeing outside in a not so secluded area with cars whizzing by (no pun intended). Oh, life on the road. We arrived here i Krakow in the late evening and luckily knew where some quick food was that we could easily get to from our hotel.

I fell asleep at 11 on Krakow time, which is another hour earlier than my previous time zone in my clothes, minus pants and then waking up at 9am to get the day started. It was a glorious 10 hour sleep that was much needed despite my lack of activity on the bus.

So now, for my lack of energy, I am going to just post pictures because I have no more commentary to go with them. So enjoy.