Seven years ago, Kai Schukowski, who received the appointment to manage the Vilnius Grand Hotel Kempinski, did not think that he would plan his future in this city. First of all, various stereotypes about the capital of Lithuania, often mentioned by residents of Western Europe, were running through his mind. He thought that most of the people in the city spoke Russian, and that the country still exuded Soviet nostalgia. Having planned to stay in Vilnius for just two years, today K. Schukowski has purchased real estate here and is raising a family and a newly born business in the city. He says that he would not trade Lithuania for any other country, including his native Germany.
The thought of Vilnius scared me
Residents of Western Europe have many stereotypes about Lithuania and Vilnius. Some refer to the country as unsafe, others as part of Russia, and still others have simply never heard of it. The former manager of Grand Hotel Kempinski Vilnius, Kai Schukowski, says that when he heard about the appointment to manage the hotel in Lithuania, he could classify himself in all three categories.
"When I heard that I would manage a hotel in Vilnius, I had no knowledge of this city and its culture. Almost the first time I heard the place, I equated it with the Soviet Union or Russia. I was convinced that the people living in the city would be angry and aggressive and wouldn't speak English. I imagined Vilnius as gray and repulsive, as if from Soviet vignettes," notes K. Schukowski.
However, as Kai himself says, at that time he was a young professional ready for various challenges. He expected to spend about two years in Vilnius and then continue his career in other countries. "I felt a little calmer when I thought that I was traveling to manage a five-star hotel. I thought that if a city has a place of accommodation of such importance, it means that it must have developed infrastructure and there is no shortage of highly qualified personnel. I also paid a lot of attention to my own development. I was quite young when I decided to embark on this adventure. I thought I would work in the city for a maximum of two years and leave to pursue my career elsewhere. However, everything turned out so that now I have been living here for seven years," says K. Schukowski.
Excludes city security
Foreigners who have lived in Vilnius and are better acquainted with it can easily compare it with other European cities. Many of them are fascinated by the impressive city old town, easy public transport system or the ability to walk everywhere. K. Schukowski singles out a few more aspects with which Vilnius impressed him from the very first moment.
"As soon as I arrived in Vilnius, the attention was drawn to the small and convenient airport. I remember my surprise when I went from it to the city center in just 15 minutes. Later, I saw other main advantages of the city - cleanliness and high security. The latter is especially felt when arriving from other large European cities. I'm from Berlin, where safety is definitely no longer a matter of course, and I haven't felt unsafe in Vilnius yet. Of course, like other cities, Vilnius also has less safe areas, but even they do not really need the same level of caution as is common in Berlin," admits K. Schukowski.
The interviewer singles out another important aspect of Vilnius, without which it would be much more difficult for foreigners to integrate into the city. "I have to admit that in seven years I learned Lithuanian rather poorly, but this is a big consequence of the fact that I didn't need this language while living here. I was able to communicate in English everywhere without major problems. In Vilnius, even state institutions provide most of their information in this language, which really made my part easier. For comparison, I can say that before that I had to live in Switzerland, in the city of Geneva, where the level of English was definitely lower than that of the residents of Vilnius", the businessman points out.
Germans still know Lithuania too little
Although the number of foreigners in Vilnius increases every year, the myths about the capital of Lithuania that have prevailed in Western European countries do not allow attracting an even greater number of foreign tourists. K. Schukowski notices that the Germans he knows still have formed stereotypes about Lithuania, and sometimes confuse the country even with other Baltic states.
"Even nowadays, if you talk to the Germans you know, they still know very little about Lithuania, let alone Vilnius. Some of them confuse all the Baltic states, for example, stating that the capital of Lithuania is Riga. Although change is happening, it is quite slow. At the moment, it contributes the most to the increase of knowledge war in Ukraine and the voice of the politicians of the Baltic countries is heard loudly. But before that, Vilnius was known to very few people in Germany, except from geography lessons," says the interviewer.
He is planning his future in Vilnius
Having spent his entire career in the Grand Hotel Kempinski hotel system, Mr. Schukowski is starting a new phase of his life and establishing his own business. A businessman who has worked in countries such as China, UAE and Switzerland wants to build his future in Vilnius.
"All my life I was dependent on where I was told to be the boss. I want more freedom and flexibility at this stage of my life. My beloved Vilnius will become the main place of my life. In some seasons, I will exchange Lithuania for weeks or months for other countries, but I will always look forward to coming back here. I fell in love with this country and now I feel much better here than I ever did in Germany. For this reason, I am planning my future here," says businessman K. Schukowski.
