Hi 😊

 😓😦 oops… well it’s been quite a while but I’m back from the dead… and my New Year’s resolution is to get better at doing this 😑 this is also going to be quite long, sorry.

Every since the beginning of November we have been in full winter season! The Germans REALLY like Christmas. Christmas markets are the thing here but they are so cool and everyone goes there to hang out. They are so beautiful especially at night with all the lights. In every Christmas market there is also a big spinning tower of wood, lights, and intricately carved statues that represent the Christmas season. It’s call a Weihnachts pyramid and the one in my city is so pretty, I’ll put a picture at the end 😊

(This was from when I started writing a draft for the blog and I like the story so I’m including it here) Yesterday was the first snow it wasn’t too much and ended up melting within the next hour but I heard there was a lot in one of the small towns next to my city (one of my friends lives there). It felt like ushering in the Christmas season as well as they are already setting up the Christmas market which is a big deal here. Today was also a very exciting day for me because it was a holiday, which we got off school for! It’s really nice since I’m in Bavaria so we get more days off, the down side is school goes way longer. However, I still ended up having to go to school to film for my P-Seminar; that is kind of like a project group, my group is called Deutsch and we are making a film about the year 1968. What we did yesterday was we have a bunch of old photos from our city in that year so we are recreating them. Something that was really interesting to me was we went to the justice building to take some of our photos and quite a few security officers actually came out and started to question us. Our teacher made us stand off to the side while she spoke with them but we learned later that apparently they thought we were actual protesters there had been a protest a few days ago and they thought we were there for more protesting. Our teachers resolved it but it was a crazy experience. But the whole photos thing was super fun and I had a great time. Later that night too I had volleyball! Back home I play and it's something that I really enjoy. I have been talking to people, trying to find a club here and finally a few days ago I was invited to go to a practice. It was so fantastic and it felt so great to play after so long. Today was just back to school again, but we only have a few more weeks until Christmas break where we get 2 weeks and a day off!

Okay so back in time I went to Freiburg and had a great time but it was a little sad because they don’t really celebrate Halloween and I didn’t realize how much fun I actually have and I kinda missed it. But it was cool being in another city and we explored it for a few days. The other days we did some day trips.

One day we went to France! We went to a town called Colmar which at least to me still felt very German but it was gorgeous. After exploring the city for a bit we went on a really scenic hike around the mountains and lake Le Lac Blanc. Which I was totally unprepared for and ended up doing in a skirt and tights. Somehow managed to not rip it which takes some incredible skill 😊 

Another day was to Switzerland! We went to Basel for the fall festival which so stunning! In hindsight it’s a little bit like a Christmas market but with a little bit more of a fall vibe. It was really nice and I had a blast. We also took a little boat along the Rhein which was pretty even though it was super cold. I also went on that ride with the swings that go super high up which was quite incredible and gave me a great view of the entire city and of the Rhein. 

Then on our way back we stopped in Stuttgart where I was able to meet with my super cool cousin Katelyn. Where we went to the Mercedes-Benz museum which was quite interesting and they had everything in both English and German and lots to see. It was really awesome being able to see my cousin 😊

Something I also want to talk about that I think is really intriguing is the election. At least in my experience we don’t talk about it quite as much as the Germans. For the end of October and all of November we talked about it in almost every class and every was talking about it and wanted to know my opinions. It was actually so wild to me how much they talked about and how some had really strong opinions about it even though they aren’t American. My French teacher is a bit crazy and the day after the election he basically blamed what happened on me and spent the whole class talking about it then finally at the end he asked me what state I was from and didn’t believe me when I told him Colorado was blue and then he had another student fact check me. That entire week was actually so unbelievably crazy.

But besides that I also celebrated my birthday here! I’m 17 now which is actually so crazy and for me it’s quite unbelievable how fast time is flying but but I have also done so much so… Yeah 🥳 So for my birthday it was pretty chill. Normally my birthday is over thanksgiving break but they don’t celebrate that here so I still had school. After that I went out with my friends and we hung out for a few hours at the Christmas market, talked, and ate. In the late afternoon we had my second host family as well as my YEO and counselor over for dinner. It was really nice 🎊 and that’s how my November was 🤩

(I haven’t written in a bit so I’ll break this into two parts November and then December and I’ll post the other in a few days 😊) 

Also happy late Christmas and New Year!! 🥳🎉