Student Times: April Edition

2010.04.06 Edition Nr. 2

Study AbroAd diAry

So WhAt? A reflection on inauguration Week

Finding peAce on eArth

Who Am i?

Spring cAll For vitAminS

buy/Sell unique And ArtSy StuFF

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[email protected]

It was a week of non-stop action, special guests and flow-

ers on the front reception desk. A week of late nights rehearsing for Parade of Stars and finishing speeches. We asked to borrow Christmas tree lights, amber jew-elry and evening gowns (at least I did). It was inauguration week. Given this stress and the real-ity of Dr. Usrey’s presence since the beginning of this academic year, some have asked, “Why the fuss?” Or, as Dr. Usrey him-self expressed in his inauguration speech, “So what?”

So what? Why bother with this celebration? As a first year faculty member, perhaps I see one answer to this question more clearly than others. LCC has much to celebrate. We have a new president and Dr Usrey brings to

us a wonderful combination of ac-ademic and business savvy and a down home spirit that warms every heart. (We’ll even listen to cowboy poetry). We can celebrate a new dormitory. We can celebrate a new strategic plan for the future.

But it’s more than that. We have something special here. We are obviously an international community; two minutes at the Parade of Stars easily proves. But we also live together as a com-munity, a community that dances the delicate dance of diversity and unity. This too was evident at the Parade of Stars. I watched stu-dents hug each other, wishing each other luck. I watched staff and faculty interact with students in the halls. Every day I watch, in amazement, as we work to see each person as a gift to us. We dare to give each other the “open space” about which Dr. Wall spoke at inauguration. We dare to believe that each person is one of God’s beloved children. We dare to speak of truth—boldly—and yet always with respect for the other.

We do have much to cel-

ebrate. But we also have many challenges ahead of us. In the midst of tight budgets, chang-ing laws, growing competition—in the midst of a globalized world—Dr. Usrey has an immense task ahead. This is my second reason to throw a party. In the Bible, God asked the people to give doxol-ogy, to declare hope with loud voices, especially when times were difficult, that God rules. They were to praise God in the midst of the wilderness. And God wants us to do the same—to celebrate in the midst of challenges. That takes courage. That takes trust, trust that somehow God will not only take us through the chal-lenges but turn those challenges into wonderful opportunities to be more than we ever dreamed we could be.

So why did we bother? We were right to celebrate because there is something special here—and because we needed to cel-ebrate. There is a way through the wilderness. Let the doxology, the party, even the cowboy haikus, continue.

So WhAt? A reflection on inauguration Week

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Andrew Meneses

Ask a study abroad student at LCC why they decided to study here and one answer will un-

doubtedly be at the top of most of their lists. “We get to go to Rus-sia!” It seems that the American cultural mindset has always had an odd sort of love-hate relation-ship with Russia. We have grown up hearing of Russia more as “the former soviet union” than a coun-try with a long and diverse history and culture. Russia has a danger-ous quality to it, as far as Ameri-cans are concerned at least; it is seen as a country of communists and hardened criminals. And yet this is also part of its appeal. It is a mystery, a scary yet exciting place. Those who are less sensa-tionalist though still want to see a grand and unique country, and a chance to visit both St. Petersburg and Moscow offers just that. Starting in Moscow, I saw a city with an assorted mix of differ-

ent cultural influences. I’ve had the privilege of visiting many major cit-ies in the world and Moscow is not like any other I have seen. Though it is true that in these modern cit-ies across the world (are slowly becoming more uniform, Mos-cow still maintains its personality. Of course the area we, as tour-ists, spent most of our time was in and around Red Square. It was really interesting to see the dis-tinctive architecture of the Krem-lin and St. Basil’s Cathedral with

modern buildings as the back-drop. On a slightly more personal level, I found the atmosphere of the people there to be vibrant and fun. Arbat street at night, for ex-ample, was very dynamic and en-tertaining. I am admittedly biased to large, busy cities which is why I liked Moscow so much. St. Petersburg, on the other hand, was a totally different ex-perience. If Moscow is the New York of Russia, then St. Peters-burg would undoubtedly be the Paris. The entire city was built in a neoclassical architectural style. Unlike Moscow, few modern style buildings reside in the skyline. St. Petersburg felt so European that in some ways it almost felt as if we had left Russia. Even still, the great amount of palaces and monuments dating back to impe-rialist Russia were beautiful to look at and intriguing to learn about. The grandeur of St. Petersburg was certainly breathtaking but ul-timately I must say that I enjoyed Moscow more. Regardless of which kind of city you prefer, the chance to explore the great cities of Russia was an unforgettable experience and I would encourage anyone who has never been to Russia to make sure that they do.

Study AbroAd diAry

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Aurelija Kauneckaitė[email protected]

Have you ever heard the sounds of gentle music coming from one

of the rooms of the second floor in Karklu dormitory? Yes, no, may-be? Who’s making those sounds? Thomas Frank. Mr. Frank, a professor of Marketing and Consumer behavior at LCC In-ternational University, plays vio-loncello in his spare time. Isn’t it wonderful how a person can combine two completely different aspects as business and music? However, his life sto-ry reveals even more. Thomas Frank came here in August of 2009 and planned to stay for only one semester but LCC

spirit did not let him go back so ear-ly. This is why we are able to enjoy his company this semester as well. Before he came at LCC, Mr. Frank was a professor at Central Connecticut University for 8 years. You may say that it is obvious because most of LCC professors have teaching expe-rience. However, how many of them were chief executives, mar-keting directors or presidents of international operations in sev-eral companies as Mr. Frank was. Thomas Frank had been in busi-ness world for more than 30 years when he finally decided to become a professor. As he said, “I always wanted to learn how to teach”. As I asked Mr. Frank what would be the name of his life sto-ry, he replied: “I started writing my autobiography in 2000. The title then was Running Scared...Find-ing Home. But now I would call it

Peace on Earth, because I found that peace.” In 2000 he was afraid of the future of his life, but now Mr. Frank has found the harmony of life. What is more, in LCC envi-ronment Frank finally does all the things that he has never had time for. One of them is music. He was inspired to come back to music by grandson who started to play cello. When he was in the States, he wrote a letter to Mindaugas Bačkus, famous Lithuanian mu-sician asking for cello lessons. As a result, every Tuesday Frank is going to City’s Concert hall to learn how to play cello from him. So if you ever come to the 2nd floor at Karklų and hear the gracious sounds of violon-cello, you can be certain –Mr. Frank is achieving his dream.

Finding peAce on eArth

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Gintarė Varankevičiūtė[email protected]

I am beautifully made. I am known and loved by my heavenly daddy, my Abba Father. I am wrapped in His eternal embrace and His sweet, soothing spirit surrounds me all day

-everyday. My weary heart is quieted by His tender whispers of His steadfast love for me and forever I belong to the Creator of all that is living.

My heart longed for a love that is boundless and cannot be shaken by any powers on earth nor in heaven. I searched and searched and found myself lost in the stunning depths of Your gentle presence. I stood still as He drew me closer into His heart and then… I found myself undone. Ruined by His unconditional love.

Taken apart by His faithfulness. Wrecked by His never-ending mercy and grace.I am Yours my God…I am Yours forever…

Closer to You my GodUndone

‘How can I come closer to You my God?’ I asked Him earnestly.Then I stopped, tried to listen and seek Him truthfully.

The Bible. Yes, Your word- it holds Your heart,A Bible study I should start.

I read, I wrote, in His word I basked.Yet still I asked… and though, I know it may sound odd,

‘How can I come closer to You my God?’

Aha! Theology and its terminology I should look intoAnd learn about the different places that Jesus has been to.

I flipped pages upon pages and learned much about Faith Stages and sin wages

My God…Yet, why my heart within me still rages?

You yourself commanded me to knock and knock and knock…So, why then I feel and am so stuck?

Searching, yet cannot findTell me God- am I that blind?

Is there anything I may forgot?And then, once more I prayed ‘How can I come closer to You my God?’

As I was meditating, a sunbeam hit my eye.I jumped to close the curtains and I was captured

And silently began to cry

There He wasGently embracing all my flaws,

With orange, golden rays of rising sunAll I could do was stand all stun,

As I was whispering ‘I am undone…undone…’

Who Am i?

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Tanya Rodina, a distinguished expert of unique and artsy stuff

[email protected]

Almost ev-ery fashion blog

mentions etsy.com at some point. Of course, I’ve checked this web-site 4 or 5 times already but it never took me more than 3 minutes. So, I didn’t have a real chance to get to know Etsy as good, so that I would fall in love with this creative com-munity just like most of the fashion bloggers and other normal people. “Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers. Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade” the official mission of Etsy says. Okay, this is a great idea to start with, sounds pretty exciting. Etsy community is pret-ty big and it keeps growing with every day. Right now it includes buyers and sellers from 150 coun-tries, all possible genders (male, female, alien) and all possible ages (young, in the middle, old). Yes, turns out that Etsy is really BIG. If you start your trea-sure hunt with simply clicking “Buy”, then go to the categories, choose, for example, “Accesso-ries”, then reduce it to “Belt” cat-egory… You’ll end up with hav-ing 8866 items. Can you imagine, 8866 absolutely unique, hand-made belts, with a price range from 10 cents to $3,666.13? Definitely, buying at Etsy may take some of your precious time. You can eas-ily spend hours looking for a lip balm, a chair or, let’s say, lavender syrup. This is a great thing about Etsy: you can find here everything. Another nice thing about Etsy is a personal touch. So, let’s

say I wanna get that lavender syr-up. I go to the personal page of a seller. Turns out, this syrup was made by one girl from the US. It is said there that making syrup is her hobby, and she even designs jars by herself. Also, for each jar she adds a tiny exclusive note where she explains how it is bet-ter to use this delicious syrup that costs only $3 without shipping. And now we are getting to something sad. Not everyone ships to Lithuania (probably not everyone knows where Klaipe-da is located on the world map). Some sellers ship to the USA only, others do some internation-al shipping. Commonly, the cost

for international shipping starts from $4. Of course it depends on size and weight of an item. The good news about Etsy is that you can sell your hand-made stuff here! First, you go and sign-up for free. Then you list your items, then you’re getting paid for them, and after that you’re ship-ping them to your customer. Keep in mind that it costs 20 cents to list an item for four months. When your item sells, you’ll pay a 3.5% transaction fee. Sounds like a plan! P.S. Just for a re-cord: I didn’t intend this article to sound like a super intrusive promo or ad. I just really like Etsy.com. It feels cozy in there.

buy/Sell unique And ArtSy StuFF

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Polina Kostyrya [email protected]

They say spring is a breath of fresh air after wintertime. It erases gloomy face expres-sions and replaces them with sincere smiles. Its blooming nature is calling for change: in clothes, activities, and of course, food preferences. If winter was full of movie-nights with a cup of hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin, spring is a bright beginning of a vitamin season and a starting point for a sport season. Spring also is a great opportunity to change diet and the best way to do it is to lean on vitamins. By that I mean fruits, vegetables and

salads. If you haven’t started your spring yet, here is a recipe to help you with that and if you have, you can add it to your cook book and enjoy!

Spring salad «Vitamin charge»Ingredients:Cherry tomatoesLettuce Grapefruit (Can be subsidised by avocado)Can of corn, 170 g.CrabsticksFor the sauce:Olive oilPesto sauce(you can buy the one in Maxima, from a brand Barilla)Some basilBlack pepperLemon juiceSpices with dried tomatoes (it can be replaced by any spice you like in the salad) 1. Cut all the ingredients: lettuce to small pieces, cherry tomatoes in halves, slice crab sticks and cut up skinless grapefruit into small bits.2. Mix all the ingredients together3. Prepare the sauce. Mix together pesto sauce (around 1 teaspoon) and olive oil so that it was pretty liqudy. Add all the spices and the lemon juice (also around a teaspoon).4. Spill the sauce on the vegetables and voilà your refreshing dish is ready to be served! * the recipe in the February edition was provided by Tanya Rodina

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April 5th A Resurrection Hymn Klaipėda Choir “Aukuras”

April 8th Instrumental Concerti and Symphonic Dances

April 10th The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

April 13th Madrigal operas by Claudio Monteverdi

April 16th Greatest Arias and Songs

April 22nd Giedrė Kaukaitė: About the Present Time and About the Times Gone By

April 24th Sounds from the New World

April 30th Transfigured Night

35th Klaipėda Music Spring Festival

Events in Klaipėda

April 3th 10:00

Japan animation club in Klaipeda organizes cherry tree blossoming celebration ( vysniu zydejimo svente) “Somei Yoshino Cosplay” Tickets for 4lt

Klaipeda Art Gallery

April 10th 11:00

Chess competition in Sculpture Park. Registration needed

Chess competition

March 24th - April 15th

“paintings from the old manor”

Prano Domašaičio Gallery


ARŪNO MĖČIAUS paintings exhibition „ŠALIA“ “Near”

Herkaus Gallery


Nikolajaus Rericho painting reproduction exhibition

I.Simonaityte Library – Gallery

April 8-29th Sound art exhibition by Florian Gruber (Vienna, Austria) “Klaipeda’s Discography Diary 2010”


Exhibition of graphic installations by Žaneta Jasaitytė “Варение” (Jam)

Kulturpolis

April 17th “Darom 2010”

Grand City Cleaning

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April 5th A Resurrection Hymn Klaipėda Choir “Aukuras”

April 8th Instrumental Concerti and Symphonic Dances

April 10th The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

April 13th Madrigal operas by Claudio Monteverdi

April 16th Greatest Arias and Songs

April 22nd Giedrė Kaukaitė: About the Present Time and About the Times Gone By

April 24th Sounds from the New World

April 30th Transfigured Night

35th Klaipėda Music Spring Festival

Events in Klaipėda

April 3th 10:00

Japan animation club in Klaipeda organizes cherry tree blossoming celebration ( vysniu zydejimo svente) “Somei Yoshino Cosplay” Tickets for 4lt

Klaipeda Art Gallery

April 10th 11:00

Chess competition in Sculpture Park. Registration needed

Chess competition


“paintings from the old manor”

Prano Domašaičio Gallery


ARŪNO MĖČIAUS paintings exhibition „ŠALIA“ “Near”

Herkaus Gallery


Nikolajaus Rericho painting reproduction exhibition

I.Simonaityte Library – Gallery

April 8-29th Sound art exhibition by Florian Gruber (Vienna, Austria) “Klaipeda’s Discography Diary 2010”


Exhibition of graphic installations by Žaneta Jasaitytė “Варение” (Jam)

Kulturpolis

April 17th “Darom 2010”

Grand City Cleaning

taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgita/3722660421/

Promotion teamVaiva Pelanytė

Šarūnė TilvikaitėIveta Railaitė

Aurelija Kauneckaitė

Head of Promotion teamVaiva Čekatauskaitė

DesignAdomas Žudys

EditorsErik JohnsonSteve Hanson

Editor-in-ChiefIryna Velykokhatko

For any questions or sugges-tions, please, contact us at [email protected]

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Student Times: April Edition