Sostinės dienos (Capital days)

Every year around the start of fall a three-day festival takes place in Vilnius with free concerts, a market stretching as far as the eye can see and other random events. This year, I really made the most of it by going to there every day. 

My super cool cousin, who just got accepted into the Art academy and is on her way to becoming an awesome artist who, as she puts it, will own a lot of pretty dresses  and be famous was visiting me for a few days. She couldn't have picked a better time to come, as the city was bustling, the streets were full of people and there was so much to do.

On Friday - the first day, we strode down the market admiring all the crafts (couldn't resist buying an adorable pair of hand crafted earrings) and artwork on sale, chatting with artists and buskers making the most of the crowds. One guy was actually playing Voltaire as I walked by causing me to jump up and down in excitement and stop for small talk, hope to see him busk more often.

We then went on to listen to a few bands and artists including Žalvarinis - a folk rock/metal band that performs Lithuanian and other Baltic folk songs in their own style and G.Storpirštis - a bard who plays such beautiful pieces that basically brought me o tears. My cousin was super excited about another band - Kūjeliai, but sadly I missed that show, will have to check them out next time.

Saturday evening we  went to one of my newly favorite Lithuanian bands - Colors of Bubbles concert followed by a bit of a night out in town since that day happened to be a day of gathering with friends to celebrate my birthday :) Had a blast, the concert was awesome, was amazing to spend time with friends and discover a cool new bar in the process

Sunday started off with a trip to the corn maze where a business bbq networking event was taking place. It was so much fun! We competed in 12 mini competitions including walking through the corn maze, milking a fake cow, collecting tiny flags from haystacks by jumping from one to the next as fast as possible and many others. On top of having a great time, we made some new contacts for the youth healthcare project we're working on and the G.G. art project I am helping out with (more on that in a future post).

In the evening we drove to cathedral square for the last concerts, the first being Liūdni Slibinai- a quirky LT band that uses classical Lithuanian literature snippets among the lyrics of their songs and then a band I had been super excited to hear live- Ewert and the two dragons. Before this week, I hadn't known they were an Estonian band despite absolutely loving 2 of their songs, one of which - Good Man Down was the one they closed with. The concert ended when halfway through the last song a firework display started, literally finishing off the day and the whole festival with a bang.

Until next time, Sostinės dienos, I expect great things from you in the future ;)

Cologne

Another small trip to a city during FSS which I have to write about mostly due to the number of photos I've taken compared with the rest of the program :P

While more than half of the summer school was away on a weekend trip to Berlin 4 of us decided to go to Cologne instead and it proved to have been an excellent idea :D

We arrived at the bus station situated in front of the Cologne Dom- their cathedral and their most famous landmark and so it was our first tourist attraction of the day. It's a gothic cathedral towering to 157,4m and what's cool about it is that you can climb to almost the top (yes, meaning a whole lot of stairs winding up where you can't see how much more you have left to go :P ) But all that struggle to get to the top is rewarded by fantastic views of the Cologne panorama, so definitely worth the climb :)

Just keep climbing

After the workout or possibly a bit of torture for 3.5 euros we proceeded to get a bite to eat agreeing that something traditional should be our choice. We sat down at a restaurant that caught our eye with traditional food specials only later finding out what an awesome place it was. The inside dining area was all decked out with antiques that we had to have a mini photo shoot after our meal, which was very yummy indeed.

om nom nom whole grain mustard 

For more entertainment and a possibility of dessert, we headed over to the chocolate museum built next to an old Lindt chocolate factory. There we enjoyed the exhibition although a bit unsatisfied with the amount of free chocolate (there was just not enough... but then again is there ever?). There was also some sort of African festival going on which was a pleasant surprise so we stayed a bit longer to check out the stalls selling crafts and food while munching on some chocolate from the factory shop which we couldn't pass by without making a purchase at (tempted us and then didn't provide enough samples, disgraceful :P ok, should really let this go...).

The last planned stop was a cable car ride over the river, which gave us another nice view and then we spent the next couple of hours just strolling around town finding more subtly beautiful sites of the city oh and playing around in the park - a must in most places we have been to it seems :P. 

Frankfurt Summer School

It all started on a Sunday. I arrived at Frankfurt airport- a place I had been to many times, but this time I was going to actually see the city, spend 4 weeks there with a whole lot of people from all over the world as part of the Frankfurt Summer School program. From the very first day I met a bunch of awesome people, even turned out to have mutual friends with some, yet again confirming the minuscule size of the planet we live on.

The theme of my program was Biodiversity in the context of global change and included lectures on subjects like invasive species (will never run away from this one again it seems), mycology, water contamination etc. and included some awesome practicals which involved looking at all sorts of fungi under a microscope, walking down a river collecting invertebrates in gum boots that were 5 sizes too big (yes, I managed to stay alive) and walking around the beautiful palm gardens looking at a variety of plants.

A German language course was also included in the program so now I have a very basic understanding of German which might one day help me out :P Hopefully, I don't forget all I've learned, it was definitely a time well spent either way. Our last lesson before the test was spent running around Frankfurt asking strangers questions as part of a scavenger hunt race, had a blast :) The winners could choose a prize which added that level of competitiveness to the whole experience.

Apart from all the studying we had an extensive cultural program planned, where basically every evening, or day off we had activities or trips organized. This gave us a better understanding of what life in Germany was like and let us try out area-specific things such as tasting apple wine (I wasn't really a fan, but I was told it was an acquired taste so maybe next time I will like it, who knows) and other traditional food, activities such as having a picnic by the river. We also took trips to nearby towns- Wiesbaden, Heidelberg (a pretty little city that reminded me of Vilnius with its river running through and castle on a hill), Strasbourg, took a river boat down the Rhine, visited Cologne, while others went to Berlin.

Any day we didn't have anything planned we organized our own fun, hung out in the hotel, shared experiences, made dinner together, went out. I made lazy cake twice! Gotta spread that LT spirit everywhere I go.

We had really good luck with bands performing live or rather one of my newly made friends did. At one concert, nobody was dancing so a friend and I decided to change that by braving the area in front of the stage occupied by only kids at the time. Gradually more friends joined in and then other people followed. The lucky friend got even invited on stage to dance and even sing with the band due to his dance moves and excitement for the song they had started playing. We got quite a few shout outs from the band and took a photo with them after the show. One of the best nights at FSS I'd say :) Similar things happened a couple more times, including another singer coming to perform at our closing ceremony. I somehow got the courage to perform a Lithuanian song for everyone (that's more than 70 people, the largest audience I had ever had, Yikes!) but everyone seemed to enjoy it, so I was really glad I did :) Was a nice way to end FSS 2014

Had such an amazing time, new friendships were made, new places were seen. Thank you to everyone who was part of it and hope to see so many of you again! :)

Wire Wrapping

So, summer is coming to an end, colder, rainy days are upon us. Time to take up another new indoor hobby (yeah, I know as if I don't already have a million...). I have decided to give wire wrapping a try after getting a taste of it while making tiny gifts for friends. It is a growing trend (meaning I can now get supplies in Lithuania) and there is so much potential. Gonna start off with easy projects, but who knows, maybe I'll get hooked and become a master :D

Strasbourg

This summer I attended a one-month summer school in Frankfurt, Germany and had such an amazing time! I will write about it in due time, but first I wanted to post about a weekend trip we made during the program. This was of course to Strasbourg :)

So beautiful, so breathtaking, so French! The canals with their wonderful bridges, flowers everywhere and the mix of German and French culture around every corner have left quite an impression. Thanks to a friend who was there during her Erasmus, I knew exactly where to go to make the most of my short time there.

We started out walking around Le Petite France, the old town area and tourist central with small cafes and restaurants stopping for some Flamkuchen- a traditional dish of the region. Then, after finally being able to check into our hotel we took a walk to the cathedral and hit the grocery store for some bread, cheese and wine for a very French picnic by the river. The night ended with a light show on the covered bridge, unfortunately I did not take so many photos this day, but made up for that the next morning.

With crowds of tourist swarming the old town I didn't feel like I was getting the full experience. So I decided that waking up early the next morning, walk around town and take photos would be an excellent thing to do. I was not mistaken. A friend and I woke up at 6 am and embarked on our undisturbed stroll around Strasbourg while everyone else was still asleep in their cozy beds. 

The town was very different to what had seen the day before. Closed shops, packed up tables and chairs in front of cafes, not a person in sight. Without the distraction of masses of people and the need to watch where you're stepping we could notice so much more. Cute window displays, tiny works of art, the small details that give character to the houses opened up in front of our eyes.

On our way back a bakery was opening up, so we decided to go buy a snack before returning to the hotel. We ordered in French as should be done and ended our morning walk on a delicious note.

Back at the hotel, we had a very French breakfast consisting of mini crepes, croissants, pan au chocolate, cheese and bread. Was so good to have a change from the breakfast at our Frankfurt hotel, everyone was quite excited and we could cross off a few more activities from our 'must do things while in France' list.

We continued our day with a river boat trip that took us around the old town area and all the way to the European parliament, which was nice since I was not intending on going there on foot and so still got to see it. After the tour, we climbed to the top of the cathedral for a panoramic view of the city. After climbing almost double the amount of stairs the week before in Cologne, these weren't so bad and the view was so worth the climb.  

We finished the day by going to a recommended restaurant for some more Flammkuchen. This time, we split a regular one and ordered a sweet one for dessert which they set on fire at the table. Had a relaxing afternoon with 'no plans' and finished the day with some delicious chocolate cake at the ''Beer academy". All in all awesome trip, has made me want to travel more in France, anyone keen for next summer? :)

Dealing with burnout and stress

So, last week I went to an amazing gathering of fellow campaigners in London where I attended various workshops on social justice, innovative projects, building social and environmental movements etc.

The workshop that stood out to me the most was one on burnout and stress- how to identify it and build resilience to it. When campaigning, heading towards burnout can go unnoticed and this workshop has really opened my eyes to things I hadn't realized were leading to burnout even though it is clear that they are. Therefore, I will try to summarize what I learnt here as I believe it can be very helpful not only to campaigners and activists but anyone in any circumstance.

At the start of the workshop, we defined burnout as the point where you are unable to continue with your usual work (may experience symptoms of those similar to depression or anxiety). Where you have reached the point where even everyday activities seem unbearable and you have to spend a significant amount of time to recover. This could be different depending on your situation, may take days, weeks or even months if not years to recover so preventing it from happening is crucial. To check if you are, or are in threat of burning out taking this quiz could be a good indicator:

Drivers of burnout

There are 5 main drivers that lead to burnout, ideals that you are making yourself reach. They may seem like positive goals in some cases, but often come from a very negative place, are impossible to actually achieve and nobody expects anyone to have these traits all the time. They are:

1) Try hard

2) Be perfect

3) Be pleasing

4) Be strong

5) Hurry up

We often feel like we should be doing all of these and when we fail at any we beat ourselves up about it. We say that we're not trying hard enough, that time is running out like this is the time we should be doing everything because we have free time, energy, the conditions are optimal etc. But again we have to realize that there is time, we shouldn't push ourselves too hard and we should be setting realistic goals, not striving for perfection that is unattainable or we will end up burning out. 

The next step in the workshop was to rate each of the drivers in relation to each other in terms of which ones were more applicable to you. This was done by drawing a bar chart where each driver was a different bar and the ones that affected you the most were larger than the ones that affected you less. (Please do this before moving on to the next part)

Now ask yourself these questions:

In what ways do the ones you rated highly operate in your life?

What effect do they have on your wok or social life?

How might they contribute to burnout?

Do you notice giving these kind of messages to others? (For example, telling someone to be strong in situations where they should be able to show their weakness, by expressing emotions and not bottling them up.)

Exploring causes of burnout

Causes of burnout can be split into 4 categories:

1) Personal context.

Your circumstances that affect you in various ways such as living at home or away form home, living with a disability etc. For example, being part of an active society where you feel like you need to be part of everything,  to make full use of the situation you are in.

2) Personal values.

This could include those drivers we mentioned previously, also other values that can cause strain such as putting others needs first, being there for others at your own expense.

3) Wider geo-social context.

Things like climate change and social injustices that can effect you as an activist as you feel the constant need to fight against them. Also, pressures to find work, a partner. Moreover, feeling guilt for being in a position of privilege which gives you opportunities to do more and you feel like you are not doing enough.

4) Daily responsibilities.

Everyday jobs such as paying bills, rent, self-care, keeping in touch with friends and family, maintaining your name in your social circle or on social media.

All of these things put pressure on you to try and do too much of everything which can be detrimental to your well-being. When looking at the causes of burnout it is important to understand whether it is a choice to let them affect you whether you cannot help them affecting you and how they are affecting you. Understanding that all of these things can and do affect you on a deeper level is the first step to building resilience to those effects.

Building resilience

Roots and fruits of resilience - what helps you to build resilience to burnout, where you get your strength and what the benefits are that you get.

Roots:
Letting go of negative thoughts, having a space to go to think (ex. nature), being realistic about time and energy, accepting yourself as you do others, recognizing your thoughts, close contact with loved ones, achievable targets, communal cooking, taking responsibility for your own well-being, meditation... Add your own ;)

Fruits:

Health (physical and mental), self-awareness, confidence, self-belief, sense of direction, clarity, feeling whole, better sleep, better attitude, being understood...

Decompression

1) What things help you leave work behind, unwind and help you prepare yourself for a different part of your life?

2) What things do you do or not do presently which impede your making this transition?

3) What are some other possibilities that you haven't tried?

4) What will you make a commitment to yourself to do in the next week?

So there you have it, hope this was helpful and please do comment anything else that comes to mind be it examples of causes, strategies to prevent burnout or any other ideas. Thanks for reading. :)