It’s not that difficult, I will claim, to discover something interesting and likable in a foreign place. “Uuuu, look at the temple”, “mmmm what is this food?”, and an occasional “woah, that is one good-looking guy…” come out of me more often when I’m not at home.

Home is…well, home. What surprises can it possibly hide? Well, apart from the movie-like decision of my parents to slowly turn my bedroom into a storage room of sorts.

However, this summer – which has only just begun, when I think about it, woohoo! – has already given me a nice discovery. It’s a discovery that I made at home, and it is, in fact, about home.

How can I put it…

Lithuania is f-in’ awesome!

(I thought of multiple ways, way more sophisticated than my previous sentence, of how to keep it brief and precise; I reckon I did a good job)

You see, last year I only spent one month at home while this summer it will be whole four. And, as I shortened my stay in Thailand to come back here, I thought I should use my time here wisely. Wisely, as in “have a good time”, “see stuff”, and “remember what Lithuanian beer tastes like”.

And wise indeed I am. I got a lot of this wisdom while sort of working and definitely hanging out with my old – and new! – friends, mostly in Vilnius, our capital (“our” – look, it’s good ol’ nationalism speaking! Imagine me after three more months here).

I had such an awesome time in Vilnius that I even forgot to take photos. OK, I admit, it felt a bit strange taking pictures in some pub at home. Spain, Laos, Morocco were fine, but home, out of the sudden, embarrassing! The photos I’ve posted here are from some years ago, a.k.a. the time I wasn’t appreciating Vilnius fully , with its narrow streets, old churches, and cosy (i.e. nicely shady) pubs. I think you can easily guess which one out of those three is my favourite.

You know, I even had a truly bizarre thought creeping into my head: I would…I would…kind of…want to live here (I’ve never wondered whether thoughts could be so secretive and silent).

Let me calm you down here: the fear of settling down in one place for a longer time hasn’t abandoned me, so I will see where life takes me. Hmmm I guess Mr Nationalism has brought his friend, Mr Determinism, with him.

But so. I found several projects as a freelance writer, I do hope they will provide me with enough money to repay my parents for my new backpack (wow, how old am I?) and to sustain the flow of enjoying cheap wine with my friends. This week I’ll be volunteering at a music festival (why? coz I can), and in the near future some other trips and youth exchanges are awaiting. I’ve told myself that this summer would be as awesome as I want it to be. I’ve put some effort to steer it towards various projects, let’s see what will come out of this.

“What is this? Why are you blogging about your home country, shouldn’t it be about your travels?”

Once again – screw you, this isn’t a typical (travel) blog. I would be way more polite otherwise.