Christmas Time is Here

Well, it's Christmas time in Germany!!! I mean I guess it has been since November (these German's start really early), but it's now actually Christmas time! Honestly, it doesn't really feel like Christmas. Yes, there are tons of Christmas markets, but I don't know. It just doesn't feel like Christmas. I feel like time is going by so quickly here and the holidays just kind of snuck up on me!

Christmas Market in my city, Goeppingen

The other day I received two packages from my family! One from my grandparents (Thanks Gramma and Grampa Kunkel!!!) and one from my parents. In them were a bunch of christmas presents. Although it kills me not to open them, I will wait until Christmas. I find it strange that my host family doesn't have the Christmas tree up. Are we even going to put one up at all? Also, I learned from my host mom that they don't do stockings from Santa here. Santa doesn't even come here! What they do have is St. Nicholas. He comes on the 6th of December and tells you if you've been good or bad. He's basically Santa, except for he always has two black men with him. The black men are the supposed bad men that will reprimand you if you've been naughty. St. Nicholas is the one who tells them what to do. Little kids all over are scared to death of those black men. They are honestly really creepy.

St. Nicholas and the two black men

I know it's a little late to be posting this, but here is a picture of me on Mt. Titlis in Switzerland.

I absolutely love getting together with the other exchange students. We always have so much fun together. Eurotour is going to be absolutely amazing. This past weekend we got together in Ueberlingen to celebrate Lake(USA) and Pietro's(Brazil) birthdays.

Running to the other group of people who were coincidentally also wearing onesies

Picture with the other people in onesies

With the other American girls at a Christmas market

I have gotten so lucky with my new class. They are so nice and welcoming and I'm so thankful for them. On the last day before winter break we did Secret Santa and I about died when one of the guys received a pack of beer. Only in Germany. I personally got a small stuffed reindeer and some chocolate. I'm always ready for chocolate. Maybe that's why I'm gaining all this exchange weight. Oh well!

New Month, New Family, New Experiences

I have officially been gone for 3 and a half months now! My lack of blog posts are due to somedays not having anything to say, and then others where I have too much to say. Well, I began my 4th month of exchange in Switzerland where Delfi(exchange student from Argentina) and I were staying with a Swiss Rotarian and his family. It was probably one of the best weekends I've had on my entire exchange. Delfi and I missed school on Friday the 5th and took a 4 hour train ride to Zurich, Switzerland where we met Roman and Susy Fuglister and one of their daughters. We spent friday going around Zurich and it was so beautiful, but so expensive. On saturday we went to a thermal pool that had half of it indoors and half outdoors and it was amazing. It was so relaxing. That night we went to a christmas market in town. The next day we went skiing on Mount Titlis and the view, although cloudy, was amazing. It was so beautiful. That night we were supposed to take the train home, but due to traffic conditions, our train pulled away just as we were running to catch it. So we ended up staying another night there. Apparently all of Germany seems to think that Christmas starts in November. Although weird, I'm not complaining! I love going to all the Christmas Markets because they are so beautiful. My favorite would have to be the one in Ulm. It takes place right in front of the Church and it absolutely stunning at night. I also switched families this week. I chose to switch families early for a variety of reasons. Although I knew it was for the best, telling them that I was leaving felt like a lot like we were breaking up. It was not a good feeling. But I am much happier in my new host family. I will stay in this family until May. I'm sorry if this posts lacks interesting content, it's just that I find it very hard to sum up everything. I will try to post more regularly, but no promises. As always, thank you for reading! I hope to be more interesting in my next posts.