December started really great! The weekend bridging November and December we were in Berlin visiting the parents of my host mom which was really nice 😊 It was only for like a day and a half but I was able to see some of the “big” sites to see in Berlin and on Sunday for the last day we went to this really interesting art museum, Museum Barberini, and saw the Impressionism exhibition which is one of my favorite art styles so it was quite impressive to see in person. And I got another point for new experience; I took the bus alone from Berlin to my town Bamberg. It wasn’t bad I had a booked seat and was lucky no one was next to me and I knew I had to get off on the second stop so that’s what I did.
I then went to go and bake plätzchen (Christmas cookies) with the Roteract which was really nice and we donated them all to the Bamberg hospital 🎅
In Germany they celebrate St. Nicholas day on the 6th which is when their tradition says St Nick comes they, at least in my part of Germany {I’ve heard from others it differs from region to region} believe the Christ kind (Christ child) comes is the one who comes on Christmas. So you put your boots outside your door and St Nick comes and fills it with chocolate, nuts, and an orange.
Buckle in this is only what happened until the 6th 🤣 on the 7th I had a big party with my Rotary club as they were celebrating their 70 year anniversary! It was really nice and I was able to meet a past World Rotary President as well as lots of people from its sister club in Austria. 🎊🎉
Good news friends I’m officially documented!! It’s been giving me so much stress but I finally got my official ID from the German government!
My Rotary club also has a really cool fundraiser that they do in the Christmas time that I was able to help volunteer with it twice. It’s called the “tree of hope” (in English) and you give a donation of however much you want/can and you get to hang an ornament on this big Christmas tree that’s standing in the middle of the Christmas market. All the money goes to charity and I really think that it’s was a really great idea and adds so much life to the square 🎄
NEXT! The exchange program had a little get together with the Rotex (people who went on exchange and now are back home and they volunteer to help out the kids actively on exchange-side note but I REALLY want to start this program up when I go home) in Miltenberg. We did so many nice things visited the Christmas market and explored the city we were in as well as lots of games. A really sweet girl from Argentina wanted to cook for us one night so that’s what she it, it was delicious! We also baked so cookies as well as a gift exchange which was basically a white elephant but with German rules so a bit different.
Rotary also does a short term exchange which is only about either 2-3 months and there was an amazing girl from Brazil who was here for December through January and was in my town which was fantastic and I hung out with her and her host sister a lot.
I also met up with some other exchange friends and went to a bigger city near us to buy presents for our host families and see the Christmas market there. It was really nice and to hang out one on one as well as get presents for my host family was great.
Then… winter break started! (Mind you I was still doing school and afterschool sport during this) The day break started we went and drove down to the Boden see which is the German name for Lake Constance. That’s where my host father grew up and his mother still lives near there. Oh I forgot to say so but my host sister was in town from mid December until early January, she was with us this whole time. We had packed all the Christmas decorations with us and we decorated everything in the Airbnb we were staying at for Christmas. Christmas was pretty chill. BUT SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT! Germans celebrate Christmas very late night Christmas Eve which has to be some sort of blasphemy *joking but it felt a bit weird. I got some pretty nice things from my host family and I think that they like the things I got for them. One of the presents was an invitation to a new year’s concert for the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra which is really well known and Bambergers are very proud of. Another was an invitation to go SKIING in the new year with my host dad and sister. But like OMG so sweet and I was so excited to do/see both!
After that we went home for a bit to repack and rest then head to Munich to visit my host mom’s family. I ended up going shopping with some exchange friends because apparently in South America it is a tradition to wear something new and something white on New Years.
But the weather was awful and my host parents really wanted to get out, they also are thinking about buying a property near the Czech and German border so we took a little trip went there and to check out the property and go on a really nice hike. It was so perfect there was snow coating everything but the sun was shining and everything was sparkling and the temperature wasn’t too cold.
Now on to Munich which was really nice but we were only there for a day so we did a small walk in the main park and hung out with the family so not too much sightseeing.
For New Years we went to the Concert which was really nice but a bit funny because it was a more American themed concert with an American conductor. After which we went home and had Raclette for dinner. Then we took a hike to Michaelsberg a beautiful church on a pretty tall hill in the middle of the city to watch the fireworks and have a Prost at midnight. The fireworks were absolutely incredible, instead of having only a few big firework shows they don’t have any but every neighborhood has a show! It’s a little crazy, like an active war zone but above it all it’s quite spectacular to watch 🎆
Well that’s it for December! I’ll try to write again soon because there is lots to tell but I’m switching host families on Sunday so I’ll have to make it through that first 🥲 Love you all hope your having an excellent January 🫶🏻
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