Lithuania: know it, love it

Lithuania, that little country you thought was Latvia, has a flourishing economy, a burgeoning cultural scene, and a surprisingly prominent international profile in world affairs. Despite this, my lovely Baltic homeland remains an enigma to a lot of my friends outside the country.

One big reason for this is a lack of resources about the country for outsiders. If you try to find information about what Lithuania is all about online, you’ll soon notice there aren’t a lot of great introductions to the country for those who are curious. So, a friend of mine and I came up with a solution - we decided to start a podcast that will feature interviews with some of Lithuania’s brightest leaders and thinkers in a format geared towards an international audience. What better way to introduce a nation to the world than through its people?

Also, to be honest, after living abroad for the last 10 years, I am getting a little tired of explaining where Lithuania is and why is it unique.

So, we’d like to introduce our new podcast, Lithuanian Dream, a podcast by Lithuanians but for the world. We hope you’ll follow us here on Soundcloud or Facebook. But before you do, whet your appetite for all things Lithuania by checking out some of the best introductions to the country below.

Here are my top 5 links for those looking to learn a little more about Lithuania:

1. Business. Learn more about Lithuania’s key business sectors such as Global Business Services & ICT, Manufacturing, Technology or, if you’re a bit more visually oriented, start by watching this summary video by Invest Lithuania:

2. Movies. Did you know that Lithuania has a booming film industry?

Netflix’s The Last Czars, HBO’s upcoming Catherine the Great, and my personal favourite, Chernobyl, which is currently nominated for 19(!) Emmys were filmed in Lithuania.

Check out this capital region webpage to learn more about how Chernobyl was filmed.

3. Politics. Lithuania, for understandable historic reasons, is the most outspoken country on national security threats coming from Russia. One of the biggest security threats to many post-Soviet nations is energy sovereignty from their much larger oil and natural gas-rich neighbour. Lithuania is the only country so far that has a taken a big step to counter Russia’s energy bullying by buying $500 million ship that imports natural gas for domestic consumption, instead of relying on Russias.

After Lithuania built the ship, the price of liquid gas has dropped a few times and the country’s energy independence has increased greatly.

Freedom doesn’t always come from marching in the streets — sometimes it comes from a big orange ship. See below:

Technical overview of the ship “Independance”

4. Language. Lithuanian has deep roots. The language is one of the oldest in the world with striking overlaps with ancient Sanskrit.

Amongst the European languages, Lithuanian is grammatically the closest to the ancient language and shares several notable bits of vocabulary.

There is even a team of scholars at a university in Delhi studying the connection between Sanskrit and Lithuanian. For one of my favourite looks at the country as a whole (with language included) take a look at the clip below.

A lot of facts about Lithuania in one video

5. Sports. Lithuanians say that we have two religions: Catholicism and Basketball. However, any Lithuanian knows basketball always goes first.

The sport unites all the nation and is a major social bond Lithuanians share across all age and social groups.

For a great movie night, check out “The Other Dream Team,” a look at how a small nation became a basketball powerhouse. (in tie-dye jerseys, too!)

One of the best movies about the history of Lithuanian Basketball

There are many facets of Lithuanian culture and language that could not fit in one article. If you want more, I would suggest you watch this awesome video overview (almost 1 million views on YouTube!) with some breathtaking shots.

There is one good place you can find it all, though…

If you are looking for one place to give an in-depth look at Lithuania’s politics, culture and economy for an international audience, I would encourage you to join us on our first episode of the Lithuanian Dream Podcast.

Every week starting the 12 of September 2019, we will be conducting interviews with the most exciting personalities our nation has to offer.

Join us as they tell the story of today’s Lithuania. What topics would you like to be covered in the podcast? Let me know in the comments.