Leaving on a jet plane... (Wed Sept 1-Thurs Sept 2)

Yes, I am purposely skipping talking about all my good byes at home because it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’d rather not re-live it yet. Sooo let’s start with the plane trip. Actually getting here was an adventure itself. I flew from STL to Chicago and after getting off the plane, I spent a few minutes wandering around O’Hare until I finally asked someone where the international flights were. Turns out I had to take a tram over to a completely different terminal (and on the way there I actually got caught up in a revolving door, which some of you know I have a history of doing! And unfortunately T-Bone wasn't there to save me this time! Lol. :)). While getting my ticket from the Polish airlines, I was able to sweet talk the worker and get an exit row window seat which in my book is a double jackpot because I had more leg room and a window to lean against for sleep! After being delayed about an hour and making all my last American phone calls and texts, I finally made it on the plane. My seat was pretty good and after seeing the non-exit row seats I was very grateful for my extra leg room. However, I do have to say that the first class seats were on an entirely different level of comfort. For those Seinfeld fans, picture Jerry up front with his champagne and blanket while I was Elaine in the back, getting stuck behind the food cart on the way back to my seat! Ha. Luckily it wasn’t that bad. The plane food on the other hand was not that great. I was proud of myself for trying what I considered my first European dish (most of you know I am not the most open to trying new foods), but later on regretted my decision when I had stomach pains that kept me from sleeping. Oh well, you live and learn. The food situation was also another little (and humorous) culture shock. Here’s what went down when she came around:

Her: Rattling off a good 6 sentences in Polish

Me: (with a deer-in-the-headlights look) Sorry, do you speak English?

Her: Chicken or Beef?


Obviously there was some stuff lost in translation but we made do. I would say out of the 9 hour flight, I probably slept for 2-3 hours. I kept myself occupied with reading some notes that my good friend Mallory had given me last week with instructions not to open until I was on the plane. It was hard to wait that long, but I’m glad I did because they made the flight more enjoyable! I also watched the movie Love & Basketball on my computer. I know, I know, “I would”. Haha. For those of you that don’t know, L&B is a story that follows a girl’s experiences with, you guessed it, love and basketball. The cool part is that towards the end of the movie, she goes overseas to play basketball so that was pretty sweet to watch as I was on my way to do the same. When we finally got to Poland I was able to find my flight on the schedule board and glad to see that it was also a little delayed and that I would have no trouble making it. On my way to the gate, I finally fulfilled the dream I’ve had ever since I first saw the movie While You Were Sleeping- I got a stamp on my passport! :) After checking in at the gate, I went to find a pay phone to call my parents and let them know I had arrived. I had bought an international phone card in the US before I left and even called the company, explaining my situation and getting explicit instructions on how to make the call. Of course the phone card didn’t work but after my first encounter with currency exchange, I was able to make that call, wake my parents up at 4 AM and let them know I was in Poland. I got back to my gate just in time to board, or at least what I thought was boarding. Turns out the door at the gate just led down to the runway where we had to get on a bus that then took us about 2 miles away to a separate runway where we boarded a small propeller-operated plane through a door at the back of the plane (weird). After not getting much sleep on the long flight, I was glad to put on my eye mask and sleep literally the entire flight to Lithuania. As we taxied to the gate, I had a surreal moment where it hit me that I was actually in Lithuania. Ever since I was little, it has been a dream of mine, at the top of my “Bucket List,” to visit Lithuania so it was pretty cool to actually be there.


Someone from the team, Justas (pronounced “You-stas”), who is not a coach but in his words, “just helps the team out”, picked me up from the airport. Since the airport was in Vilnius, we had an hour and a half drive to Kaunas ahead of us. We first stopped off at a sports store where we picked up a box of basketball shoes for the team and then set off for Kaunas. Justas speaks pretty good English, so we talked most of the time, with me asking him every possible question about the team and the city/country. They are supposed to provide housing for me, but apparently there are many universities in Kaunas so it’s a hard time to find an apartment with so many of them going to students. So until then, they are putting me up in a hotel, and yes I feel a little bit like Rick Majerus. Haha. But it is actually a blessing in disguise because there are always people around which helps me not feel lonely and I eat all my meals for free in the hotel restaurant. For my first meal they just brought me the “dinner special”. Keep in mind, as most of you know, I have a pretty plain palate- i.e. I eat salads with no dressing, burgers plain, pancakes without syrup….you get the picture. Knowing this about myself, I am determined to try new foods here and expand my horizon. However, this first Lithuanian meal was not a good start. The first course was some sort of egg salad concoction. Throwing my picky eating habits out the door, I dove into the salad only to have it wanting to dive right back out of my mouth. After this experience I avoided even trying the beet-like soup that was the second course (and no it looked nothing like Saltibarsciai). Not knowing what the rest of the food was going to be like I chose to avoid leaving more full plates of food untouched on the table and asked to have the rest boxed up. Turns out it was pretty good. Some kind of fish, broccoli and potatoes- all things I recognized and enjoyed. After eating, it took me about 2 hours and countless help from the front desk workers to get my internet working (another reason why I’m liking the hotel living- all the workers here speak pretty good English and have been my saviors as far as helping with internet, electrical converters, etc). I was then finally able to call my parents through Skype and let them know I was safe and sound. After a little chatting, I crashed into bed, luckily so tired from my long day that I wasn’t worried about my first night in a new place...

 

The "chicken" I chose on the plane

 

 

Air freshener in Justas' car. 2 things Lithuanians love- Basketball and Lithuania

 

 

My first hotel room

View out of my hotel window