My Best Friend is Pretty and Smart.

A pause from my normal blogging to shout-out one of the best people in my life.

I have this best friend. Her name is Rebecca Wright. I like to call her Bec. Not only is she one of the most beautiful people in the land, she is the smartest too! She just got into the Weber State University Nursing program! HUZZA! She deserves this. I have watched her work so hard to accomplish her goals. She is very inspiring and I love her to pieces. I know you will just be the fabbest (is that a word?) nurse on the whole block. I am definitely bringing my future babies to you Becca Boo.

Congratulations!

Love you forever,

Mikele

When McDonalds is 15$... You must be in Norway

So I went on this super cool vacation to Norway and Sweden. It was also the most expensive four days of my entire life. Let's begin with the night before the adventure. In order to take this opportunity to come to Lithuania, I had to do plenty of sweet talking to my dear folks. They really wanted me to take the fast grad option up at BYUI. That is essentially just fancy talk for no breaks from school even in summer. Ergo, graduation would come a lot sooner. That would be great and all, but opportunities like this don't just come knocking very often. So, we decided to compromise. I promised to take 6 online credits from BYUI in exchange for their Mikele traveling to Lithuania blessing. Unfortunately, my classes started right before we were leaving for this vacation. This was a huge pile of stress for me. Since I am so busy in the week I had almost no time to do my work before hand. I also had to try and work ahead a few days in my classes to ensure I wouldn't miss something important. It was a late night in Mikele land friends. I ended up having to stay up til about 4 am doing my homework. (I can already tell my math class is the bane of my existence.) Then I got a quick nap in and woke up bright and early for our plane.
 The Vilnius airport is probably the smallest airport I will ever see in my life. Us girls have taken to calling it "the hall" because there is only one hallway to really walk in. Our first flight was from Vilnius to Gardermoen, Norway. We got through airport security with record time. The funniest part of security was probably when Hannah brought her full tube of toothpaste. That is illegal in airplane land so she had to surrender her beloved Colgate to the airport police. Classic Hannah. When we were all through, we had a little bit of time to sit and wait for the plane to come. It came on time, (hallelujah), and we went out to the plane. To our surprise, we actually went outside and boarded the plane up the stairs. This was incredibly cool because I felt like an old time movie star boarding their private plane except for there were a bunch of strangers there and I wasn't wearing a classy dress but a girl can imagine, right?
We all pretty much slept on the plane. I was trying to recover from my homework night, and the other girls were sleepy because that is just what young adults are. When we got off the plane, we exited movie star style once again and went inside the airport. From here we had to find a bus to the heart of Oslo. Stupidly enough, it was about an hour away. We bought our expensive 20$ bus tickets and got on the bus. The bus was pretty full. There weren't any seats together, so each of us picked a stranger and sat next to them. I picked the right stranger. His name was Tadas.
Tadas was from Lithuania. He came to Norway to visit his brother who lived in Oslo. He spoke incredible English. I was glad because we talked the whole entire bus ride. He was one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He was a computer scientist who loves to travel the world. Every year, he puts aside the money to go on a grand trip somewhere in the world. He even goes solo. I really admire that in people. He told me all about his adventures, and I told him about mine. When the bus arrived in Oslo, he offered to walk us all the way to the tourist information center. Boy was I lucky to have met him. We were never going to find that place on our own. Tadas, you rock.
When we went into the tourist information center, we found out they had moved it. By this point we were starving, so our new plan was to find food and then worry about the tourist center. Everywhere we looked food was soooooooooooo much money. The only thing we could find for a couple of bucks was bread. I just decided to eat nothing while I accompanied Paige to McDonalds. While I was watching Paige munch down on her delicious Big Mac and fries I decided my hunger would consume me if I didn't eat something. I went inside to order my own. I mean this is McDonalds. How expensive could it be? The answer is  15$. I can't even believe I spent 15 American dollars on McDonalds. Inconceivable.
At the tourist information center, we decided to invest in an Oslo pass. It is the cities tourist pass that gets you in free to all of the museums and public transportation. It was also incredibly expensive (go figure). To get our money's worth we decided to hurry back to the hostel and get exploring every museum our pass would allow us to see. We said thank you to the peeps at tourist information and went on our way.
 We checked in to our hostel and went back to explore the town. We walked around the royal palace, saw the "castle" and went to some cool museums. My favorite museum was surprisingly the Nobel Peace Prize Museum. It was beautiful. I admire so many of the recipients, an it was so interesting to learn more about them. The prize is actually given in Norway, so it was cool to take a minute and learn more. We also went to some not so fun museums. I am a girl who appreciates a cool museum or two, but when you try to see so many in such a short amount of time they become a little tedious. We learned our lesson. Pick one or two important things and leave the rest. Just cause you can get in for free doesn't mean you should they just end up wasting your precious time.

Here are some pics of our Oslo exploration:

This is a picture of the Royal Palace.

The Pretty Bay

Fun interactive museum. We helped add to their installation art!

Museum Dome.

It was a pretty good day. 

XO- Mikele

The Orphanage Project

I have always wanted to help out in an orphanage. Thanks to the LDS church and the wonderful Senior Missionaries in our ward that dream became a reality. For starters the Senior Missionaries in our ward absolutely rock. They started this grand project of making quilts for all seven of the orphanages in Vilnius. Let me tell ya... That is a lot of quilts. When the girls and I heard, we couldn't wait to help out. Unfortunately, right when the ward makes quilts is when we are already teaching. So, Jessica being the  awesome planner she is, planned for us to go to Sister Swiss's apartment and make the quilts on a separate day. Then, to make things even better, she asked us if we wouldn't mind going to the orphanage with them to help paint the walls. Of course we said yes.
Getting to the orphanage was a little trickier than we originally had thought. Luckily Brother Swiss looked up the directions for us. We got up bright and early and got on the local bus. It took a very long time to get to the orphanage. When we finally got off the bus stop, we were all the way up into the small mountains of Lithuania and there were no buildings in sight! We were so confused. God must have been watching over us though. A middle aged man and a cute babushka got off the same stop we did. I went over and asked where the orphanage was. The man, John, spoke English. He told us that the orphanage was all the way back down the mountain and he would take us there. We proceeded down the mountain chatting with John all the way down. He was the biggest sweetheart. He was so impressed that we were willing to go help at the orphanages. We were so impressed he would walk 5 American girls all the way down a mountain to an orphanage. When we finally got down and to the orphanage, John asked the workers if they were expecting us. It turned out that there were about 7 orphanages on that street and it could be any one of them that were expecting us. John stayed with us the whole entire time we were trying to find the right orphanage. We never would have found it without him bless his heart.
We beat the missionaries to the orphanage so the workers showed us where we would be painting. When I first saw the wall we were going to paint I was so confused. It was so small and perfectly painted.I thought we were repainting the walls one solid color but boy was I wrong!  When Sister Swiss showed up, she told me we actually got to paint children's murals on the wall. I was a little nervous because my artistic abilities are non- existent, but Sister Swill reassured me we would be fine. Before she was a missionary she was a middle school art teacher. Boy is she talented. She would sketch the pictures, and we would come back and paint them. My personal project of the day was a cute fuzzy little bumble bee. I had a blast painting him. We got so super lucky with the opportunity to help out at the orphanage by painting the walls. I had an absolute blast. I hope my little bumblebee makes many kids day just a little brighter for many years to come.

My bumble bee. He is pretty cute right?

One of my favorite paintings. 

Mr. Caterpillar.

Mr. Monkey. He should be done sometime next week. I am proud to claim him.

I am also excited to report that we got special permission from the orphanage to come watch the little babies once a week. I can't wait to go and help by giving those little babies some love and stimulation. I am just so happy that all of these opportunities came our way. It really makes my schedule very crazy between teaching, volunteering and 6 credits of college, but I am making it work and am loving every second of it!

XO Mikele

Windows

I am totally obsessed with all the cute windows around here. I love how they are so colorful and fun. If the people inside ever catch me taking pictures of their windows, I'll be the ultimate creep. Oh well, it is worth it. 

XO Mikele

A Tale of Latvia: Part 2

Vacations are always a little tricky to me. You never want to sleep because you are so excited to be there, but you also never want to wake up because you are exhausted from the last day's adventures. That is how I was feeling when I woke  up in Riga. After hurriedly getting ready, we were ready to go out on the town.

The nice thing about the town when we woke up was that we were just about the only ones in it.  We walked all around seeing the rest of the things we had missed the day before. One of the coolest things that we did was go up in the tower of the tallest building in Latvia.

Here are some pictures of my view. 

It was so beautiful. 

My main goal for the day was to get to this one particular cathedral. The whole time we were there, I kept seeing the most magnificent teal steeple. I knew that is the one I wanted to see most. When we finally tracked it down, it didn't disappoint. I loved it. While we were standing there in awe, we saw a few people go inside. We decided to follow them. Inside, they were holding a Catholic mass. One of the girls in my group is Catholic, and she has been dying to go. So, we stayed.  It was very interesting. It involved a whole lot of kneeling, standing and sitting. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if these giant pillars weren't blocking my view of the priest. I did however love the stain glass windows and beautiful pictures of Jesus that surrounded me. It was a great first mass experience in my adorable teal steeple cathedral. 

After mass, we all got a little bit hungry. Hannah had researched a medieval restaurant, and we decided to give it a go.  to get inside, you literally had to walk through underground tunnels. The whole place was dark and lit by candles. It was so cool. Mom, you would have loved it! Rachel and I decided to split the chicken curry. It was alright. I think more than anything you pay for the to die for atmosphere. I am glad we went. It was a ton of fun. 

The last stop of the day was to the Riga Central Market. This market isn't just any old market. It is actually inside these massive buildings that were used as military hangars during WWI. Later, they  converted it to this giant market and it is visited by about 80,000 people a day. I wasn't really feeling the shopping scene, so I pooped out and went and sat at the bus station. I pulled out divergent, ( I know I am way behind the times), and started reading. When the girls we got on the bus and said goodbye to our wonderful weekend in Riga. 

XO Mikele

A Tale of Latvia: Part 1

Hello World! It is me again. I know last time I wrote I said no more excuses, but I am back... and I am full of excuses for my lack of writing. Here they are:

#1 I went to Latvia! We had a glorious time and I fell in love with the city of Riga.  

#2 I am sick.  This may possibly correlate with reason numero uno.When I got home I was okay for the first little bit, but then the man voice and throat pains happened. I think my body is struggling to adjust to the new environment, lack of sleep and lack of nutrients. (Borscht and potatoes just don't cut it if ya know what I mean.) 

#3 I have been busy! Sometimes I feel like from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed I am always working on something. Whether it be something for the girls, Dima, or something for leisure, I feel like I have been gone a lot.

#3 Finally, for the most pathetic reason, I am addicted to Gossip Girl. I want to blame this mainly on Bec and Roma. Bec introduced me to it in the first place, and after my first case of addiction subsided, Roma reminded me that the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite are  in fact extremely riveting. She admitted to her secret addiction and it sprung me back on mine. Once I watched one episode, Serena Van Der Woodsen's perfect hair and Blair and Chuck's steamy romance just pulled me back in. It was inevitable.

Anyways, judge me. We all know that journaling goes on the back burner sometimes. All we can do is just try to be better the next time. I got the willpower to write this post while I'm ill from my special someone. He told me that he checks my blog everyday. It was just the sweetest thing. I wouldn't expect anything less from him though. He's the best.

Alright, on to the juicy stuff. Now I don't know how many of you have been to Latvia, but I am assuming not many. It is an extremely underrated country. I don't really know why. It is breathtaking.  You have all the cute cobblestone and beautiful architecture people love about Europe plus the charm of it being so little you can walk practically anywhere. In addition, you can stay and travel for a relativity cheap price. Once again, we picked a weekend that we completely lucked out on. All around Riga city there were music festivals, games, and tons of happy people. Just in the first few hours we were there I slacklined, sumo wrestled, took pictures in a superhero photobooth, watched a street hockey match, shot a bow and arrow, danced with a stuffed elephant, attempted stilts (attempted being the key word), watched a bride and groom dance in the streets, belted "I'm walking on sunshine" to an old guitarist, and hula hooped. Life just can't get much better than when hula hoops are involved. I think my favorite part about it was that none of it was planned. Everywhere we went, another fun thing was occurring, and we just jumped right in. 

For dinner we went to this quaint outdoor seating establishment. Now I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but I was actually so hungry I wasn't hungry anymore. I doubt that is healthiest thing you could do to your body, but I am a cheapo, and all restaurants that are in Euros are far too expensive for me. Instead, I decided I was down to drink a smoothie or some sort of fruity drink. I have dabbled with fruity drinks in America like pina coladas, daiquiris and mojitos all virgin of course. I really wanted something of the sort. I figured if they gave me a little umbrella-ed drink, it would be the perfect way to begin my night. Since I didn't see any of these on the menu, I proceeded to ask the waitress for a virgin martini. Everyone thought that was pretty funny and I had no idea why. You see, innocent little Mikele didn't know that a virgin martini is essentially just olives in a glass. Way to go Mikele you are clearly no connoisseur of alcohol. I'd say it is a good thing though.

After the restaurant, we went to the opera. I have been to the opera once before. I wouldn't say I am a die hard opera fan, but I think it is a nice/funny time. Mostly I just wanted to go because I wanted to be able to say I have been to the opera in Latvia. That isn't something you hear every day. The opera was pretty intense. The plot was about this babushka who accidentally threw her baby in a fire. Then she ends up raising her rivals son because she thought he was her own child. Her rival has another son who is approximately the same age and they both fall in love with the same nun. I don't even know if that made the teeniest bit of sense, so you get how we were feeling pretty much the whole time. I am glad we went though. Seeing a love affair between two brothers and  a nun makes for a good time.  It may even be better than what I watch on gossip girl. Maybe.

 When the opera was over, we spent the rest of the night wandering around the streets listening to all the different music. There was a different stage with another musician just about every block. It was wonderful. I think what I liked best was that even high school kids were part of it. They came out to the city with their instruments and talent and  just entertained  the people of their city. After wandering around for a little while, we  came to a rather large group of rambunctious teens waiting by a stage. We waited with them.  When the singer came on, we soon found he was actually a rapper and a poor one at that. His rap was terrible, and probably had plenty of  illegal and inappropriate innuendos.  We only stayed because he would steal American songs and rap to them it was a little funny. I didn't know anyone could destroy some of the classics, but he pulled it off. It was still very interesting to see the teens of Lithuania unite even if they do need a better artist uniting them.

When we got back to the hostel we were all fairly exhausted. It had been one crazy good day. The one thing I can remember most about sleeping in the hostel was the fact there was a rather large divot in my bed. It was there because so many people had slept in it and that was the exact spot everyone's  big booties went night after night after night. The other thing that is vivid in my memory was my roommate Paige's hilarious snores and groans. Sorry, but I can't let you live those down Paige. You are just too funny. It was a perfect first day in Latvia.

Street Hockey Anyone?

Slacklining (Reminds me of my Rexburg days)

A snail festival! Someone is finally appreciating our favorite bug Becca boo. About time!

I heart snails

Laughing by a lamp pole

The opera house

Sumo wrestling.

One more cause it is just too funny.

Stilts. Surprisingly a difficult task.

WE LOVE RIGA!!

XO Mikele