For Participants

The climate and clothing

The summer is warm were, the average temperature is 17 °C (63 °F), so you don’t need to take woolen sweaters and warm boots, but we would still recommend to take jacket and closed footwear in case it gets rainy or windy. During the summer, 20 °C (68 °F) is common during the day while 14 °C (57 °F) is common at night. If you are planning to come at the winter, late autumn or early spring please not that it might be cold at that time, so jacket and sneakers is not enough. Average temperature in January is −6 °C (21 °F). Some winters can be very cold, −20 °C (−4 °F) occurs almost every winter. Winter extremes are from −30 °C to −35 °C, but it doesn’t happen every winter and if it does it lasts for a short period of time. We recommend you to take a winter coat, winter boots, gloves, scars and a hat, especially if you are not used to cold. Even in autumn or spring, the temperature might be below zero, sometimes at the winter time it might get very cold and snowy. Weather forecast: www.meteo.lt

Basic phrases in Lithuanian

Some food-related words:

Mobile phone and Internet

There are three basic service providers of mobile connectivity: Omnitel, Bitė, and Tele 2. You can get the prepaid cards (refill): Ežys (Omnitel), Labas (Bitė) or Pildyk (Tele 2) at all newsagents or designated trading places. Each of them offers different tariffs and terms, so you will be able to choose one which best suits your needs. There are phone service providers that can mail you the sim cars straight to your flat (Labas kontraktas), or you can buy it in kiosk, store. But if you are here for a short period of time we would recommend buying a refill card, you can easily top them up your card online or in the kiosk or supermarket as well. (Note: it shuold include texts, calls and internet.) To phone Lithuania from a foreign country, you will need to first dial the code of the country (+370) and then the code of the city and phone number.

Getting around Vilnius: Public transportation

Vilnius trolley buses and buses start running at 5 in the morning and stop at midnight. For bus timetables visit www.stops.lt, www.vilniustransport.lt TICKETS: There is available E-Ticket (Electronic ticket, “Vilniečio kortelė”). Vilniečio kortelė is credited with an appropriate amount of money and/or the selected public transport tickets. With a valid ticket in the card, properly activated on board of public vehicle, if necessary, it is possible to change the public transport for free and for unlimited number of journeys. New Vilniečio kortelė costs 1,5 EUR. If you came to Vilnius for a short visit, you can buy a one-, three- or ten-days ticket. You can buy and top – up Vilniečio kortelė in all venues marked by sign Vilniečio kortelė. For more information visit www.vilniusticket.lt. There is an option to buy ticket from the driver of public vehicle. It costs 1 EUR). This ticket is valid till the last stop of the route. For more information visit www.vilniusticket.lt Electronic tickets prices:

Prices may vary, please check: http://www.vilniustransport.lt/en/pages/prices Orange bike rent Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, Cyclocity Vilnius is a self-service bike rental system open to everyone from 14 years of age. With 37 stations and around 300 bikes, it enables you to travel through the city centre, commute between home and work and get out and about to enjoy Vilnius city at your leisure. All stations are equipped for Cyclocity Vilnius Card, Vilnius public transport card and 3 Day Ticket users. Once purchased, you can use the 3 Day Ticket similar to the Cyclocity Vilnius or Vilnius public transport Card to rent or return a bike from any station in the network. The first 30 minutes of use is free on every bike. After this first half-hour, a service charge applies. More info: http://en.cyclocity.lt/ Bus and rail station: http://stotis.lt/en/ International bus services: http://www.simpleexpress.eu/en http://ecolines.net/en http://www.luxexpress.eu/en and more

One month in Vilnius is gone already and more than ever I feel I made one of the best choices in my life. That’s for sure an essential experience everyone should make for his/her own education.

I found myself on the other side of Europe, alone and at the mercy of town known to me just for its name. You might thing: wow, that’s hard! But it wasn’t so!

Since the very first moment I had the support of “EU Trade” guys, always ready to intervene and to make me feel at home and among friends. They gave me the chance to share a flat with 2 wonderful (French) girls and living with them taught me the importance of mutual respect which is essential to living in harmony.

Serena participated in Marco Polo Clear project

Serena