Dear friends,
It is said that you should prepare for the summer during winter, and so, with winter fast approaching, we in the Lithuanian Tolkien community are planning our events for the summer of 2013. One such event would ideally include you as well. What would you say to an offer of a week-long hiking and camping trip in Lithuania with fellow Lithuanian Tolkien geeks, with most of your expenses paid? Intrigued? Well then, read on for more details!
As a Tolkien society, we have a few defining attributes. We go out to nature for summer camps while discussing Tolkien and learning about Arda. We go on hiking trips, where we thread Lithuanian forests and fields for days on end. We sing around campfires until the early hours of the morning. And most importantly, we are doing all that for almost ten years! Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of our society, and the annual hikes and camps are already a well established tradition. We‘ve been thinking for several years now that we should invite foreign tolkienites to some of our events, but it is only now that these ideas are turning into more well-laid plans.
So, what we are proposing is this: next summer, provisionally on the 20th to 28th of July (that is a Saturday to the following Sunday, nine days in total), we are organising a hiking and camping trip among the majestic forests, rolling fields and scenic villages of north-eastern Lithuania. The hike itself will last five days – Monday to Friday – with both weekends dedicated to travel, meeting and greeting, and some preparation work. We are planning a host of activities, including learning some Rangers’ lore, playing campsite games, performing creative exercises and so on, during the hike. And then we will all make a short documentary about the experience, to share with friends and future generations.
The view from Hill of Lada - one of the places we intend to visit.
Does that sound interesting? Wait, I haven‘t gotten to the best part yet – all of this would be (almost) free! How come? We are writing this idea up as a project for the European Union “Youth in Action” programme and, if successful, this will provide funding for most of the expenses. The only payment foreign participants have to make is 30% of their travel expenses. In addition, there may be some other expenditures that are deemed “improper” by the programme administrators, for which we would all have to share the expenses. However, as things stand right now, we hope to be able to justify all our finances as abiding by the programme‘s requirements.
Of course, there are some other requirements and limitation imposed by the programme. The major one is that the event has to be aimed at people between 13 and 25 years of age. Up to one-fifth of the participants can be between 25 and 30 years old, but any more than that (or any older participants) would have to pay for their own travel and other expenses. Also, there should be at least 6 participants from each country, provided that three countries are participating; this is what we are aiming for; we are currently inviting you and Slovenian tolkienites to the project.
Our road goes ever on; will you join us?
We are still working out the various details of the event. So for now, I cannot give you much more information, although I will try to answer any questions you might have.
And my question to you all is – are you at all interested? I noticed that Hungarian members are discouraged from posting here, so feel free to respond by private messaging me.
Ammárë mermi (Best wishes),
Laiqualasse, on behalf of „TL Draugija“, the [url=http://www.tolkien.lt:fakyn4tm]Lithuanian Tolkien society[/url]