Weihnachten/ Christmas

With Michael Bublé singing us carols, the lights on the tree shimmering, and the smell of lit candles and Rotkohl filling the air; I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. 

I'll be posting a vlog entry about the differences between German and American Christmas and link you to it at the bottom of the page. But here on this lovely blog that y'all have been missing (hi dad), we're going to talk about the exchange student aspect of it all. 

First things first, a few weekends ago, I met up with my friend Isabel. This is a really great example of how small the world is. I met her in 2012 while she was on an exchange of her own in Bowling Green, and she spent half a year with us at Bowling Green High until Christmas came and she had to leave. Now, a year later, I've gotten to meet back up with her. Not only did I move to her country this year, but I moved about 15 minutes away from her. We live in neighboring towns. It's such a coincidence that of ALL cities in America, she was placed in BG and of all the places in Germany, I ended up a quick bus ride from her. So we figured we had to take advantage of that, and met up in Dusseldorf to see the Christmas markets. It was a great night, because we hadn't spent so much time together in BG so in a way, we were getting to know each other and it was a night so full of laughter that I went home with my stomach hurting. It was really nice getting to see her again, and we're hoping to meet up another time, maybe even in Hilden. :)

So, as an exchange student, of course Christmas is seen as a time that you're going to get a little homesick and sad. But as an exchange student in Germany? I don't think it's physically possible for me to be homesick during Christmas. I'm too busy learning all these new things about the culture, eating new foods, and laughing with my family. I do miss my dad, and I do hope he doesn't feel too alone this Christmas, but I wouldn't say I'm sad. No, definitely not sad. Germany is the best possible place to spend Christmas, y'all have no idea. My family decided to do a crafty Christmas this year, and it was perfect. Everything was so thoughtful. Some were funny (i made reinbeer for Jakob), some were delicious (basically everything Miriam made but SHE MADE ME NUTELLA <3), but all of them brought smiles and gave us new memories. Even Hundihund got a gift. We didn't get snow, but it was beautiful anyway. I feel very blessed that I've gotten to spend the holidays in this Christmas wonderland with my second family. I don't think I've ever felt quite so filled with love. Thank you all for taking me in, (Miriam and Sami especially for hand-picking me), and I hope everyone back in America has a blissful Christmas and a happy happy new year. 

Enjoy these photos of me with my lovely siblings. :)

For those of you who still aren't sure; Left to Right- Sarah, Zoë, Miriam

Jakob and I showing off his "reinbeer" that I gave him for Christmas

And now, here's the video:

http://youtu.be/3KKd-bqB0cY

Thanksgiving and Christmas Markets

Last Friday, I went to my first Weihnachtsmarkt. :)

It was in Mettmann, and it was exactly how I hoped it would be. Lights, decorations, and the smell of toasted almonds. I thought I was going alone, but I ran into a few of my friends in front of the stage and  spent the night dancing, singing, and enjoying the fact that Christmas has already begun here in good ol' Germany. Pictures are at the bottom. This weekend I'm going to one in Dusseldorf with my friend that I met while she was on her exchange year in America. Everything here has been fairly Christmas-y for a while, but now? Even my school has Christmas decorations! Germany is perfect. It's already pretty cold, but hopefully that means we'll have snow on Christmas. :) In all seriousness, it is so cold that I get brainfreeze from walking outside. I need a full-on-all-over-face-hat, and Miriam agrees. They say it'll get a lot colder and I'm debating hibernation. But hey, at least it's pretty!

Sunday was the first day of Advent. You know, like advent calendars with little doors and chocolate inside? Well apparently it's not JUST a countdown to Christmas. I'm still sort of confused on it, but I know that we have these daily presents that were brought to us by the "Christkind" and we open one every morning until Christmas. I'm actually gonna stop writing about this so that I can make a "German Christmas traditions" post. Sunday was also Thanksgiving for my family. Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here (obviously) so we didn't get out of school, so no one had time to cook all day on Thanksgiving day. Therefore, we figured we'd just move the date and call it German Thanksgiving. I found out that pecans are an exotic nut in Germany and are impossible to find, and fresh cranberries are also nowhere to be seen. BUT. My host dad is brilliant, and he grabbed some dried cranberries and told me that if I left them in water to boil, they'd come back to life. And whaddayaknow, once again, a father who is right. :) I used them to make my own cranberry sauce, and I also made my own stuffing from scratch. Oh, and my first ever turkey to cook on my own? About 15 pounds. Still amazed that I managed to cook this stuff without burning the house down! I will admit, my pumpkin soup did over boil and spill all over the stove top, but who cares. Big picture, y'all. It went so well, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 

Thanksgiving day itself was a mix of bad and good. Of course it brought on some homesickness and whatnot, but I also almost got hit by a careless driver and got lost walking home after going down the wrong street. On the bright side, during a break in art class, a friend came over and hugged me to make me feel better. I'm telling you, you can not understand the impact of one single hug on a day like Thanksgiving until you spend a week feeling alone in a foreign country and start to get a little homesick. It really does make a difference in your attitude. After getting home, I was so upset because of the almost accident, and then Miriam came out of the kitchen. "I have a present for you so you don't have to feel so homesick. There's no Thanksgiving things here but..." she says, as she pulls a candy cane from behind her back. I'm still amazed I managed not to cry right then and there over just how sweet of her that was. In all honesty, I could have let that day be a wave of awful emotions and a swell excuse to get wrapped up in homesickness, but there were also positive parts, people who reached out to me- I chose to focus on that. 

I am so thankful to have thoughtful people in my life that care this much. A gesture as simple as giving a candy cane, it absolutely made my day. I can't imagine my year with any other family, and I wouldn't want to. <3

That's enough for tonight. Sorry I don't post as often as planned, I'm a bum. 

Weihnachtsmarkt:

Thanksgiving:

And as I mentioned on Facebook, I'm trying out this whole vlog dealio. Link is below. Brendan, I left the end part in just so you could point and laugh at my stupidity. :) 

PS. Brendan is coming to visit later this month, so subscribe to my YouTube channel that the video is posted on to see our reunion in Germany!

Linklinklinkliiiiink>>> http://youtu.be/dptuv94jgm8

If for some reason, that link doesn't work, here's the one to my channel>> http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC842QUCtz6QNEaFrdaEqTXA