Viso gero!
I leave for my flight tomorrow morning, and said my goodbyes to my director, Algis, and all the attorneys and staff at Eversheds Sutherland's Vilnius office. So now it feels real. I am leaving a place that I slowly but surely grew to love.
What can I say about my ten weeks here in Lithuania? I learned that whatever a reputation of a city is, you don't truly know what it will be like until you experience it for yourself. After all, each person's lived-in experience can vary wildly due to a variety of circumstances, both internal and external. I headed into this experience thinking that since I had spent some time in another former Soviet state (Hungary), I would adjust more easily into Lithuanian culture. I could not have been more wrong. Lithuanian culture is wildly different than Hungarian culture, and I think if I had not compared the two as much as I did in the beginning, then I would have appreciated Lithuanian culture for what it is a little more quickly.
To an American, Lithuanian people can seem closed off at first. I remember the first time Beth and I went to a bar in Vilnius, we stood for ten minutes, inches away from the bartender, expecting her to come up and ask us what we wanted to drink. She never asked us, and we were so embarrassed that we slipped out of that bar and went to another to try our luck. We soon learned that we had to be more assertive to get any type of service, and over time, we got used to it. After several unfriendly exchanges at the grocery store, restaurants, etc., we felt a little defeated.
But the more time we spent building closer relationships with the people we met, the more we realized how kind Lithuanian people can be once they let their guard down. Our director Algis never failed to ask us if we wanted to "take a beer" during our meetings, and when we would oblige, he would never fail to sneak away near the end to pay for our drinks. Jonas, the managing partner at Eversheds Sutherland's Vilnius office, provided us with the opportunity to meet a former prime minister of New Zealand, celebrate the Fourth of July early at a party hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce, and visit NASDAQ's office in Vilnius to speak to learn about their legal department.
My favorite part of job shadowing at Eversheds, though, was not all the field visits. It was the daily goings-on, such as one day when a bunch of the attorneys and staff gathered around in the kitchen to hear Jonas share stories of growing up during the Soviet era. Or when Manvydas, one of the younger attorneys at their office, would discuss things with us like Lithuanian civil procedure, politics, or even Lord of the Rings. I'll miss how every time I entered or left the building, my favorite security guard would stand up and bow while flashing a warm smile.
The kindness that we experienced from Lithuania and its people took time to develop, and I'm glad I was able to stay long enough to break through my initial assumptions. When I think back on how much we have learned over the past ten weeks, I feel incredibly privileged to have been given this opportunity. Lithuania may not have the immediate tourist appeal of some Western European countries, but its cities have a lot of hidden charm. I also would not be able to finish this blog post without giving a shout out to Beth. I am so glad I had another William & Mary law student to go on this grand adventure with me. Our personalities complemented each other so well, and by collaborating on most of our projects, we were able to produce much better work products than we would have been able to create alone.
I don't know if I will be able to return to Lithuania in the near future, but I do know that at some point, the country and its people will draw me back. However, it is time to take everything I have learned back to the States and use it to better embody the citizen-lawyer ethic. Viso gero (goodbye) for now, Vilnius!