This morning we made our way through the former Jewish quarter of Vilnius, down Zydo Gavte (Jewish Street) to Vilnius University, where we entered the Vilnius Yiddish Institute to register for the program. We met friends of ours from New York there, Julie and Benjy, encountered a friend of mine from my internship at the National Yiddish Book Center, and set about to chatting and becoming aquainted with folks. We were impressed by the age and geographical range of the participants - we appear to be among the younger students, though there are a healthy number of students about our age, and the students come from 18 different countries including Israel, Finland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Lithuania, Britain, and Canada. After registering, we took a walk and ended up in a coffee shop to read our books, where I ordered a magnificent coffee with melted chocolate on the bottom. The program reconvened at a restaurant close to the University, where we heard brief opening remarks reminding us of the weighty joy that the organizers feel in continuing Yiddish in the city that came to symbolize the language and its literature and scholarship. We heard from organizors as well as some members of the Lithuanian Jewish community. Also, our friend Benjy, a talented Yiddish musician who will be leading music sessions during the program performed some songs about food. Then, we ate some delicious food while talking to participants in the program, all of whom seem very friendly and interesting - I think the relationships we form here with other participants will be highlites of the experience. On our walk home we stopped in a museum of contemporary art, where we saw work from the Fluxus Movement, as well as some terrific international artwork, including a jarring exhibit on the Virginia Tech shootings, which I was surprised to be viewing so far away from home.
Tomorrow morning we begin classes at 9:30 AM - can't wait to tell you all about them.
In the meantime, check out some pictures of our visit here.
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