Spontaneous Travel and Classic Literature

What a whirlwind weekend!(Appologies for the cheesy expresion, but really, where did it go? And was it real? It was too good not to be a dream?!)

First off, I started doing some reading and homework Saturday morning -- unreal enough, I know. But I knew that I was doing group project work, cleaning,having a skype date with Ian, and then meeting with some local high school girls who are coming to LCC next year and wanted to practice their conversational English. So I wanted to get a head start. Plus, we're reading Scarlet Letter in American Lit, which I could read over and over again.

Also, there was a vague fantasty-notion in my head that maybe, just maybe, I could afford and organize a little outing to Vilnius -- about a 4-hour bus ride from Klaipeda -- on Sunday to see Onegin - the opera by Tchaikovsky based on the poem novel by the Father of Russian Poets, Pushkin.

Reasons I wanted to go:
1. I LOVE Vilnius. I'm looking into becoming the US Ambasador to Lithuania so I can live and work there. Also, I hear the American Embassy is beautiful, and located by the river (Juro, in Lithuanian).
2. I have always wanted to see an opera!
3. We read Eugene Onegin, the poem novel, in my Russian Lit class last semester, and I really loved it. Like really.
4. Tchaikovsky is a favorite of mine.
5. My Ballet final last semester was to the waltz from the opera, so I knew one of the songs.

This was obviously meant to be.

No, really it was, because it happened! My fellow Study Abroad students, Paige and Anders took the plunge with me, and we met a friend who goes to LCC, but is from Vilnius, Ruta, went to lunch and went to the opera!

It was beautiful. It was so exciting to see my first opera. The singers were just magnifico! It was in Russian (of course), and they actually had Lithuanian "subtitles" on a screen above the stage. Since I had read the poem, it was relatively easy to understand. So far, it was probably my favorite experience while I've been here.

PS, for those who are wondering, or at least expecting -- yes, I cried.