This month is the 25th anniversary of my first visit to Lithuania. In July 1986, I traveled to the Soviet Union with a student tour group. I was getting a bachelor’s degree in Russian and East European Studies and expected to see Moscow and Leningrad and, well, Russia. I did visit Leningrad, but Intourist — the official and only Soviet tourist agency — sent me also to Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the Baltic countries. That visit, however, prompted me to start learning about them. And that was how it all started…
I came back to Lithuania in 1992 for a language course and in 1993-1994 to do research for my master’s thesis. I returned in the summer of 2007 — retracing my 1986 steps in reverse from Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn. As my faithful readers know, I spent 9 months in Lithuania in 2009 conducting dissertation research and now I’m back again.
Twenty-five years, six trips. I’ve experienced Soviet Lithuania, post-Soviet Lithuania and Lithuania in the European Union. It’s been quite a journey for Lithuania and for me. I don’t know what the post-Ph.D. future holds, but I am sure that it will include more adventures in Lithuania.
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