Hobbies: Photo Album Collection Grows with Each New Journey Abroad - MRU
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12 June, 2016
Hobbies: Photo Album Collection Grows with Each New Journey Abroad
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As part of her job, Mykolas Romeris University's (MRU) International Office Sr. Manager Ieva Tondrykaitė travels a lot. From each journey abroad she returns home with at least one photograph album, perhaps a city guide or a city's souvenir photo book.

Currently she has about 50 different albums representing places as far away as China, India, or Portugal, Malta, Scotland.

She keeps the photography albums and city guides in a special bookcase at home separate from the novels she likes to read in her spare time.

Sometimes, after a hard day's work, she likes to pull out one of the photography albums and page through it. The photos bring back memories of the places and cities she has visited.

Her first purchase was the picturesque book, "Portrait of Scotland," that she bought well over a decade ago.

"That was the very beginning," says Tondrykaitė leafing through the book containing spectacular scenes of Scotland.

Often the books are of a very good quality and thus can be expensive. They range in price from 10 to 60 Euros, she said. One of the most expensive books was a photography album from Germany.

The most recent addition to her collection is a hardcover photography album from Prague, which she visited in May.

She estimates that she's visited about 30 different countries in the last 11 years that she's been working at MRU. From some trips she returns not only with an album of the country, but also of the city that she has visited.

Tondrykaitė also has a collection of shot glasses. They include glasses or small cups from Sicily, India, Russia, Slovenia.

But it is her collection of photo albums that takes up the most space in her bookcase.

One of the most unusual books that she has is "Best Sights and Scenes in China. It is special because it contains the autograph of the man who discovered the Terra-cotta Warriors.

Of the places she has visited, she especially liked Istanbul, Turkey.

"The Turks are all very happy, smiling. The food is great. If Turks organize something it's very well done with great results," she added.

Although she has traveled far and wide, Tondrykaitė admits she's never been to London or Rome.

"I'd love to visit," she says with a twinkle in her eye. And someday her album collection will grow to include those cities as well.