Hello! My name is Živilė Stanionytė, and I came to Madison for a one-year professional internship through the Baltic American Freedom Foundation (BAFF). The foundation selects motivated young professionals from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and sends them to the United States to gain experience in their fields. Later, we bring that knowledge back home to strengthen our countries.
My field is chemistry, and I'm particularly interested in sustainability and recycling materials that are usually considered difficult to recycle. Here in Madison, I'm working in Professor Shannon Stahl's research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a project related to plastics recycling. When I found out I'd be coming to Madison, I didn't know about the Madison-Vilnius sister city connection. I learned about it only later, which now feels like a lovely coincidence.
This is my first time in the United States, and everything felt so new at first. On one of my first walks, I accidentally ended up on Langdon Street during fraternity and sorority "haze" week. I remember smiling in disbelief - loud music everywhere, students playing beer pong outside, young women in dresses gathered around big houses with Greek letters. The houses themselves, like many others around Madison, looked so grand and different from Lithuania. Everything felt straight out of an American movie I used to watch growing up - one of those surreal moments when you realize you're really on the other side of the world.
As the days went by, I started noticing other things: the calm views, the spaciousness, and the vibrant nature all around. Madison is surrounded by lakes and green spaces, and that’s what truly won my heart. It actually reminded me a lot of Vilnius, which also has that special closeness to nature. Back home, you can always find a quiet path by the river or hear birds calling near the city center, and here it’s the same feeling - just with more squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and all sorts of birds I had never seen before! At first, I tried to photograph them all, but soon realized there are simply too many. Even now, I still get delighted every time one of them runs or flies past me.
Over these months, I've met so many wonderful people from different places and backgrounds. The "Midwest nice" is absolutely real - people here are genuinely kind and helpful. What made me feel especially at home is the Lithuanian community in Madison. I didn't expect so many Lithuanians here, and their warmth helped me adjust quickly. Being able to speak Lithuanian now and then helps with homesickness, and the people I've met feel like brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, and uncles, even though we only met here. I even joined the folk dance group Žaibas and I’m planning to participate in Šokių Šventė - who would have thought I'd start dancing when I never did back home?
My time in Madison has been enriching both professionally and personally. I'll return home with new knowledge, great memories, and the comforting thought that, despite the distance, Vilnius and Madison have more in common than one might think - friendly people, plenty of green space, and that everyday closeness to nature that makes city life feel more human.