Why Lithuania is Cooler Than the USA and Visa Versa

Living in the US my whole life, I constantly find myself comparing every aspect of my life in Lithuania to how I live at home. I decided this is actually a terrible thing. The best way to enjoy yourself living abroad is to completely let go of every expectation you have that your new country will be anything like what you're used to. The same goes for traveling. I first found myself frustrated whenever I came across someone who didn't speak English here. Then, I slapped myself across the face and told little, stubborn old me "you're living in THEIR country, you need to try and speak THEIR language, and not visa versa". When visiting or living somewhere else, take advantage of how different and unique each country is and rather than compare it to your life and your familiarities, just soak it up and be grateful for a new experience.

With that said, I'm going to attempt to do just the opposite in this post. I'd be lying if I said I never thought about how drastically different my life is when I live in Lithuania during the basketball season and sunny Florida during the summers. Here are a few examples of things I like better in each:

• People dress better in Lithuania. I absolutely love walking down the street here and just admiring what everyone wears. I always tell Deividas that I just want to go up to people and compliment them on their wardrobe choices, but he told me it's best to keep quiet and not creep them out. Men and women alike really take pride in how they look, even for something as meaningless as a trip to the grocery store. While I find this somewhat irritating when I just want to throw on a pair of lululemons and call it a day, I also embrace the fact that I will never be judged for being overdressed. Also, I can never use the excuse "I have no where to wear this to" when contemplating over a new purchase. It's a beautiful thing.

  

  What better woman to illustrate Lithuanian's great style than my sister-in-law :)

• Customer Service is way better in America. This one is a toughie for people to adjust to in Europe (as this is the case pretty much all over the continent, not just in Lithuania). Customer service over here is nothing like what we're accustomed to at home. You know how you order your burger "no tomato, add avocado, ketchup on the side, substitute for a veggie patty"? Well, that shits not gonna fly here. You'll get exactly what you ordered and often, quite opposite of what you ordered but frankly, that's something you just have to deal with. You'll wait forever to get the check, your meal won't be comped if you don't like it and you will most certainly not be seated if you come in twenty minutes before the restaurant closes. That's life here and the sooner you accept it, the easier it becomes.
• Lithuania's rich history and architecture>ugly strip malls in FL. As my husband so eloquently reminds me "My country's been around way before anyone even thought about America". Growing up in the newness of South Florida, I've never lived somewhere where I'm constantly surrounded by history and old architecture. I remember traveling to Boston in fifth grade and being amazed at seeing buildings from the 1700s. Now, my apartment in Vilnius is sandwiched in between a castle and a gothic church built in the 1400's. The buildings in Old Town have so much history and although my dog misses his walks on the Florida beaches, I find myself wishing he could appreciate how cool it is that he's peeing on ancient battlegrounds.  

  

  Gedimino Castle

  

  Right behind our apartment

• Americans smile. This has probably been the hardest thing to adjust to. I am a happy person and frankly, I enjoy smiling. At home, we're expected to give the "courtesy smile" or the "hihowareya" to anyone that we come in contact with. Do that in Lithuania, you'll get a blank stare and a woman pulling her child closer to her. People here have told me that my smile is a dead giveaway to others that I'm not Lithuanian . I've tried repressing my smile while walking down the street, but I have a lot to be grateful for; so, I'm happy to say, it isn't going anywhere anytime soon :)

I could go on and on with the differences between these two places. Perhaps another day I will continue. But for now, I'm celebrating this country and the things they do well while simultaneously appreciating what I miss back home.

Trip to Belgium

One of the greatest parts about living overseas is that I have someone to share all this madness with (not including my own husband). One of my best friends, Stevi, is also living overseas with her husband, Luke, while he plays professional basketball in Belgium. Luke and Deividas were roommates at FSU and Stevi and I became such good friends through them that we both served as bridesmaids in each other's weddings while the guys were each other's groomsmen as well. I think Stevi and I have grown even closer as friends the past year as we always relate to one another and share what we're going through over here. We laugh constantly at each other's awkward grocery store experiences, stress out about our husband's games and stats, understand and comfort each other when we are switching teams mid season or are just missing home and most importantly, reap the benefits of being able to travel Europe together.

Last Tuesday I went to Belgium to see Luke & Stevi and their new digs. After feeling like Jennifer Lawrence on the Hunger Games trying to board a Ryan Air Flight (the whole no assigned seats thing really brings out your inner neanderthal and any sort of class or manners is automatically left at the security gate), a quick two hour flight had me landed in Brussels. Luke & Stevi live in a little town called Londerzeel right outside of Brussels. Londerzeel reminded me of a town out of Stepford Wives. Residents are required to sort their trash at home into 4 different trash cans depending on what they are discarding which I'm sure helps the place stay as immaculate as it is. I'm fairly certain Londerzeel has a 0% crime rate and it's filled with a bunch of cute shops and cafes so perfectly constructed out of brick that I began to think they could all be a painted mirage. During my week long trip, we traveled all over Belgium and even went to Amsterdam for a day. Belgium is an amazing country, it's so centrally located that you can get to basically anywhere in Europe in a 2-3 hour train ride. The Belgian people were great, too. They speak a different language depending on what city you're in, and most of them spoke anywhere between 4-6 languages. I was extremely impressed and equally as embarrassed that I'm struggling so hard to learn a second.

On my first day, Stevi and I met one of her new American friends in Brussels. She showed us around the city and we did a little shopping. (Side note: Mannekin Pis is the size of my 5 lb chihuahua.. really expected a large peeing child...biggest let down since needing my binoculars  to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre). We wrapped our day up by watching one of Luke's games in the city. He won at the last second and it made me realize my fluctuating stress level and inability to contain myself from screaming profanities at the referees goes beyond just watching my husband's games.

Mannekin Piss

 The following day Luke had off so the three of us went to Bruges, a gorgeous little town on the water with a ton of canals. Bruges was one of the highlights of my trip. The buildings were beautiful and everything was so quaint and charming. We also had the most incredible hot chocolate I've ever had in which you dropped in a bowl made of chocolate and filled with chocolate chips inside a cup of hot milk and whisked it yourself. I'm still daydreaming about it.

Bruges, Belgium.. How gorgeous is this city?

Early Friday morning, Stevi and I woke up and took the train to Amsterdam. As great as the public transportation is in Belgium, it's just as confusing. Not realizing our tickets wouldn't tell us where our train changes were and what platforms they were located at, we boarded the train having absolutely no clue where we were going. All I could remember was thinking one of our stops may have been in Rotterdam, and we were both completely ignorant to where the other stop may be. While everyone else boarded the nice leather seats in the car to our right, we went to the left and sat in these bright orange, tweed chairs that looked just like a suit you'd see your grandfather wearing to church in the 70's. Come to find out later by the train employee,  the grandpa suit chairs we were sitting in belonged only to first class passengers and the leather seats were for the second class... go figure. Amazingly enough after finding a nice Belgian girl to help us, we realized where we were supposed to change trains and made it to Amsterdam.

As soon as we got off the train, we were immediately welcomed to the city by the overbearing smell of the famous "coffee shops". We decided to give the Red Light District a few hours to wake-up and get interesting so we headed to the Rijksmuseum first. This is where I first realized my Amsterdam wardrobe may not have been the smartest idea. As I'm walking through the very quiet museum, all I can hear is the sound of my heels and the swishing of my leather pants. Perfect. After checking out the likes of Van Gogh's, Rembrandt's and Vermeer's, we were museumed out and decided to grab some lunch. We did some shopping and explored the city and after loosing both maps, we were faced with the daunting task of asking someone how to find the Red Light District. As it didn't seem really proper to inquire as to which area of the city the prostitutes were located in, I asked a shop attendant which way to the Red Light District as I had to "meet up with a friend there". She stared me down, casting judgement and shame upon me, like I'm sure she has many tourists before, and told me she didn't know. Fantastic, I was forced with again having to ask someone else this embarrassing question. After buying a few souvenirs in a gift shop, I had the brilliant idea of asking the lady behind the counter where the Red Light District was, so that "I knew which area of the city to avoid". Well, clearly, she saw right through my BS as she walked me to the door and gave us street by street directions on how to get to the center of the Red Light.

Outside of the Rijksmuseum

The Red Light District was unlike anything I'd seen in my life. Women, of ALL ages, are just standing inside these windows looking to solicit some "business".  (This would also be the second time of the day I regretted my outfit, as black leather was far too common in this area.) On our first walk through, Stevi was gripping my arm like she was in a haunted house and one of the women were going to jump out at her with a fake chainsaw. But soon after, we were both amazed and found ourselves with about 500 questions about what goes on in there. We even contemplated paying the 50 euros for a 20 minutes sit down with one of these gals to pick their brains, but couldn't fathom taking the walk of shame out of one one of those doors. Instead, we preferred just shaking our head in disapproval at every man that came out. Something tells me they weren't just in there to get the details we were yearning for.

Ohh the coffee shops.. an interesting destination even if you aren't participating in the festivities.

After feeling like we needed to shower simply by walking through the RLD, we decided to go visit the Anne Frank House to provide our brains with some sort of stimulation after the debauchery we had witnessed all afternoon. It was an amazing experience to actually be in that house and see how they hid in silence for all of those years. And again, for the third time of the day, I was regretting my outfit choice as my pants were swishing in the complete silence of people, many of whom were extremely emotional, touring Anne Frank's home. Next time I'm wearing flats and tights.

Anne Frank's Diary.. what an incredible experience

After our long day in Amsterdam, we spent Saturday traveling to Holland with Luke's team for another one of his games. They won (again) and I'm starting to feel like I'm the good luck charm. On Sunday, we went to Ghent, another city in Belgium where all of the buildings look like they are straight out of Harry Potter. It was here that I would have my first Belgian Waffle and realize my life would never be the same. On Monday, we spent the day in Antwerp which was also amazing. The Antwerp Central Station is an incredible building and the shopping was to die for.

The crew in Antwerp

Overall, my trip was wonderful. Belgium is one of my new favorite countries and I'll definitely be back visiting them again this year.

I came back home to Vilnius Tuesday evening and soon realized Lithuania made the decision to skip Fall altogether  I'm already cold and it isn't even October yet. Pray for me.

I'm Baaaaaaaack!!!!

Last year I started a blog to keep my friends and family informed about my life overseas. It recently came to me mid-treadmill misery (these are where my greatest ideas are born) that because I will not be living in Lithuania forever, my blog title should be more universal.. therefore mccALL Around The World Was born... see what I did there..? By February of last year, wedding planning took over every ounce of my existence and my desire to blog went out the window. At the end of the month, Deividas got loaned out to a team in Riga, Latvia so within a day's notice, we were packing up our life in Vilnius and moving to a new country. I'll fill you in on what you missed....

Riga was an amazing experience for us. I got to live in the same city as one of my good friends (another basketball wife) and be there for the birth of her second child. It was so nice having her there and she really eased the pain of leaving my life and comfortability behind in Vilnius. It was also really great for Deividas' and my relationship. Previously we lived in his home country, where he knew the language and had friends/family, so although he was always sympathetic, I think it was hard for him to totally understand what I would go through on a daily basis living somewhere so unfamiliar. They speak Latvian and Russian in Riga so I was excited for D to experience firsthand the game of charades necessary to ask a grocery store employee what aisle something was located on. Unfortunately, D's Russian was better than he let me believe all of these years and as soon as we pulled into a gas station on our drive over to Riga he had a full-blown Russian conversation with the gas station attendant.... "I'm sorry...you speak Russian now??" I asked.... It took a few days of convincing before I was completely sure he wasn't some sort of spy (I mean who whips Russian out of their back pocket...) 

Riga is such a beautiful city and we had a blast living there. It was tough leaving behind new friends and our family in Vilnius but we struggled together, adapted quickly, made new friends and can now add Latvia onto our list of countries we've taken on and conquered together :)

Towards the end of the season, I left early to head home and get to work on tying up loose ends for our wedding. I had an incredible bachelorette party in Las Vegas and the weeks leading up to the wedding with friends and family flying in from all over the world (8 countries to be exact) were some of the happiest moments of my life. 

Today marks the three month mark since that amazing day and I'm happy to say we have outlasted the marriage of Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries (I hope no one reading this is surprised). It was the most perfect day of my life and I feel so grateful for everyone who contributed.  Here are a few pictures from our wedding day:

It was really hard leaving my friends and family behind to head back to Europe after such an unforgettable summer but in actuality, I was ready to go back. It's hard for me to explain but you get so used to this lifestyle and the constant challenges you face everyday, that a life back home in Florida seems to easy for me at this point. Of course I miss my friends and family when I'm here but I love living alongside people totally different from me, learning their culture and realizing how very small minded I can be. If anyone ever asks me advice (doesn't happen often), I urge them to travel. I feel like I have grown so much as a person by being constantly put in uncomfortable situations, eating foods I wouldn't normally eat, attempting to learn one of the hardest languages on Earth, practicing different countries' traditions and customs.. I wouldn't trade it for the world. If you don't trust me, at least trust Pinterest:

As of now we are back in Vilnius, settled into an apartment in Old Town and re-adjusting to life back overseas. For all the perks that come with this lifestyle, there are equally as many downfalls. It definitely isn't for everyone. To start with, it's been tough for me to adjust to the "stay at home wife" lifestyle and trust me, this won't last forever. I always did very well in school and had dreams and aspirations to be a career woman but over here living in a country where I don't speak the language, (FYI- I've upgraded to Lithu-English now.... I'm big time thanks to my wonderful Lithuanian teacher and our daily Skype sessions) it is impossible for me to get a job. It's easy to feel inadequate as I watch my friends all in the beginning stages of their careers, but I know my time will come. You do crazy things for love, and I'm willing to be here to support Deividas achieve his dream while I try to figure out what mine is. I've thrown some ideas around about some possible online business ventures so we will see where this year takes me. For now I'm grateful for a loving husband and being able to watch him live out his dream every day, the ability to travel the world and make amazing memories, and having time for myself to figure out my own passion. As all my time last year was spent wedding planning, I vow to devote this year to bettering myself.. continuing my Lithuanian languages in hopes of becoming fluent as soon as possible, continuing to workout and eat healthy, volunteer my time around Vilnius to charities who may need help, and figure out God's plan for the rest of my life. Please keep reading to be a part of my journey :)