Here I was—finally in Kaunas! The second biggest city in Lithuania and my new home for the next few months. By the time I arrived, I was absolutely wiped out. But after dumping my stuff in my room (a whole other story I’ll spill later in this post), I threw on some fresh clothes and headed out to do a little sightseeing around the city. First stop? The supermarket. Because, let’s be real, food for breakfast wasn’t going to magically appear. As a broke student, eating out every day wasn’t exactly in the budget, so I figured I’d start living that thrifty life from day one. Gotta love the student hustle!

As always—and by this point, it was my third university—I managed to miss orientation week. Classic me. By the time I arrived, everyone had already done the icebreakers, swapped life stories, and made friends. But hey, I wasn’t totally out of luck! I did catch the closing event: a concert by a Lithuanian singer (whose name I totally forgot—sorry, Lithuania). In my mind, she was basically the Beyoncé of Lithuania (?), and honestly, it was a vibe.

Now, back to my first day: I decided to shoot my shot in the group chat to see if anyone was down for dinner. Lucky me, someone replied! Let’s call her Ms. Bully (inside joke—she’s not a bully, just one of the sweetest people ever). We ended up grabbing pizza together. The funny part? It was from a chain we have in my hometown too, so it wasn’t exactly the most adventurous experience. But hey, on Day 1, sticking to something familiar felt like the right call. And pizza? Always a win.

It was already dark by the time I headed back home, but I was excited to meet my flatmates. When I walked in, I saw two girls chatting in the kitchen. They greeted me with a friendly ‘hi’ and asked me to join them. Super sweet, right? Then they asked, ‘Which room are you in?’ and I casually said, ‘Oh, Room 5.’

Cue instant silence. Their faces went from friendly to full-on worried. They even asked me again, ‘Room 5?’ And I was like, ‘Yup!’ with all the confidence in the world. Spoiler alert: that confidence didn’t last. Oh, and here’s the cherry on top: my flatmates told me they lovingly called Room 5 ‘the coffin.’ Yep. Great. Just what I wanted to hear on my first night—I’ll be sleeping in a place people literally call the coffin. A fast start to the Halloween season, I guess? All I needed was a plastic skeleton and some fake cobwebs to complete the vibe. Spooky season came early for me, folks.

Turns out, Room 5 was a literal shoebox. Five square meters. FIVE. Did the landlord assign that number as some sort of cruel joke? I mean, my door could barely open without smacking into the bed. But hey, it was only for a couple of months, right? Right?!

Anyway, after chatting with the girls and getting over the initial shock, I retreated to my little… uh, “room.” I decided to open the window for some fresh air because it was still summer and pretty hot (late August vibes). Big mistake. Like, rookie-level mistake. Within seconds, about 100 tiny flies swarmed in like they were having their annual family reunion in my lightbulb. I panicked, turned the light off, and just sat there in the dark, contemplating my life choices. I almost cried. Instead, I just laid on my bed (aka my entire room) and tried to convince myself, ‘It’s fine. It’s just for a few months.’ Spoiler alert: it was actually fine. The room had a perk I could’ve never guessed. Let’s just say, the coffin had a plot twist.

One of the first things I did—after about two days of settling in—was get a gym membership. At the time, the gym was my happy place, my little obsession. It felt good to have one part of my routine figured out while everything else was so new and different. But the real challenge? Grocery shopping. Navigating the supermarket felt like learning a new language. Everything looked familiar but wasn’t quite the same, and it took me a while to figure out what to buy. Even when I found foods I used to eat back home, they had their own twist here. Take pickles, for example. Back home, they’re salty and tangy. Here in Lithuania (and Europe in general), they were sweet! It was unexpected, but honestly, I learned to enjoy them in a new way. And then there was lentil soup—back home, we only used orange lentils, but here it was a mix of orange and green. At first, it felt so different, but over time, I came to appreciate how every little change introduced me to a whole new flavor palette.

Ah, my first-ever supermarket trip in Lithuania. Picture this: me, strolling into Maxima at the Akropolis shopping mall, feeling like an explorer in a land of mystery snacks and unfamiliar labels. But the real drama hit at the checkout line. I was low-key terrified the cashier lady might yell at me. Don’t get me wrong—nobody in Lithuania had been rude to me or anything! This was just my baggage from back home, where not speaking the language could sometimes earn you a glare or even a ‘what are you doing here?’ vibe. But plot twist—she was an absolute gem! No yelling, no judgment, just hand gestures, some smiles, and a lot of pointing at the conveyor belt. It felt like a game of charades, and we nailed it. Turns out, kindness is a universal language, and that cashier lady? MVP of the day.

After getting used to the city and the people in the program, I really started to enjoy my time in Kaunas. Honestly, out of the three countries we lived in, Lithuania ended up being my absolute favorite. Who would’ve thought? Sure, we had our fair share of struggles—some professors and classes weren’t exactly smooth sailing—but the rest of the faculty made up for it. They were super supportive, always attentive, and genuinely made us feel heard.

I’ll wrap it up here for now, but don’t worry, there’s plenty more strawberry goodness to come!