The Baltics part 1

After leaving Poland I went with Gem, another gapper, to Vilnius, Lithuania. We were walking down a small street and saw some police blocking an area off. There was also a small crowd of people. We hung around a bit and weren't disapointed. Suddenly a motorcade drove up headed by several motorbikes, then some pretty flash cars and a few more motorbikes for good measure. Some people jumped out wearing military uniforms and some well dressed women. We didnt recognise anyone but they looked important, we thought they had something to do with a government. Turns out it was the Dutch Queen visiting. Some Dutch tourists who were there told us, they were petty excited. After Vilnius we went to a place called the Hill of Crosses. It is just that. A hill covered in millions of crosses. It isnt a very big hill so it is amazing to see all the crosses crammed onto the hill. When crossing the border to Latvia we got checked. Sofar I had already crossed many borders and not been checked so I didnt think it would even happen. My passport was therefore underneath the bus, but luckily easily accessible. At the moment im in Italy so I havent really got too much spare time but ill try to get this updated.

Last weekends

Well my placement has finished now but I have been a bit slack updating so i'll try to fill in some gaps. The last few weekends of my placement were fairly busy. The GAP group had a big farewell weekend in Zywiec. ALmost everyone attended and it was good to see some of the people i hadn't seen since o-week. The next weekend I went to Warsaw to surprise mum and dad. They thought I was going to be in Poznan. I got to see some of the GAPpers I had become good friends with and say goodbye to the ones I wouldn't be seeing again untill arriving back in Aussie. At the train station I surprised mum and dad. Mum and dad spent a couple of days in Poznan. I showed them around a bit and watched Poland get kicked out of the Euro 2008. There was also a rowing regata in Poznan and I watched the Aussie fours row to gold, they were the only aussies I saw. Later I said hi to them but they didnt look keen on having a chat. There was a last day assembly that we (Martin and I) went to. Then we said bye to the people we had become friends with. I then jumped on a train togo to Warsaw to catch up one last time with some of the other GAPpers and so say bye to Poland. On Monday I jumped on a train to Vilnius.