The Holiday Update

Hey friends!! I am sorry it has been so long. I was trying to do sporadic updates, but I think having more structured monthly/seasonal updates will be better. But, I promise if something really crazy happens, I’ll write.

Anyways, happy holidays!! I hope that you all had a safe, healthy, and joyful holiday season. I know I did. I have had a pretty jam-packed Christmas break, so I’m going to start back on December 23rd.

DECEMBER 23

The 23rd was my first full day of Christmas break, and it was desperately needed. I woke up and made “American” pancakes for my host family. We didn’t have maple syrup, but they were still a hit.

After breakfast, my host family and I drove about an hour south to a thermal bath. It was basically a really big, warm indoor hot tub. We swam and relaxed for a few hours, and then we had lunch. I had some yummy currywurst and fries.

Once we got home, my host sister and I took quick showers and turned around to go see Spider-Man: No Way Home with her friends. First, we went to her friends’ house and they did their Christmas present exchange, and then we went to the Cineplex. Cineplex is a German (I think…) movie theater franchise (very similar to IMAX in America), and it’s super fun. Also, fun fact for my Americans: Germans eat sweet popcorn at the theater, how weird is that??? Also, the salty popcorn is not very good, it needs a good dosing of butter.

The movie itself was AWESOME, but I won’t subject you all to my Marvel opinions. Overall, it made my heart very happy.

DECEMBER 24

Another fun fact for my Americans, German’s celebrate Christmas on the 24th rather than the 25th. So, the 24th was basically my Christmas Day.

My host family and I spent the morning just hanging out/relaxing, and in the afternoon, we went to church. The service we went to was the children’s service, and both of my host sisters were in the nativity play!! My younger host sister was Joseph, and my older host sister played a few miscellaneous roles. Overall, they were amazing and Broadway ought to watch out. We also sang a few Christmas songs and then lit candles. My host mom explained to me that there are designated people who travel to Bethlehem to light the fire where Jesus was born, and they bring it back to the bigger churches, and then members of our church drove to the bigger church (Speyer Dom) to bring it back to us. It sounded like a really cool fire hazard to me.

After church, we visited a few graves of my host families’ loved ones and left the candle with my host mom’s parents. We also stopped by a relative’s house to say “Merry Christmas”.

Once we were home, my host sister’s and I opened our presents. I was pretty proud of the presents I build for my host family. I replicated the American stocking tradition and filled them with goodies that I thought each person would like. I also made a photobook of the ast few months for the whole fam.

My host parents bought me a pink easy language German bible, and it is absolutely perfect. I love it. They also got me a Pflaz t-shirt that I can’t wait to wear in America. My host sisters also got my tickets to see the new West Side Story movie and the cutest snowglobe with a photo of us on the inside.

After opening presents, we sat down for dinner. We had Raclette, a German cheese dish. You basically have a small pan that you put Raclette cheese, veggies, and meat in, and then put it in the small cooker. It’s absolutely delicious. For dessert, we had German Christmas cookies/sweets like lebkuchen. I am seriously going to miss German Christmas sweets so much next year.

My host family watched a strange Russian action Christmas movie after dinner, but I opted to read Harry Potter, my recent book obsession.

DECEMBER 25

Since Christmas is primarily celebrated on the 24th in Germany, my host family and I spent the morning hanging out. Later that day, my host family’s family friends came over for lunch. We had noodles, stuffed mushrooms, potatoes, and meat. It was delicious!! After we ate, the parents talked and we kids hung out in the other room. Later we had ice cream with cherry sauce for dessert, and it was delicious.

We basically just hung out together for the day. The younger kids played a lot of board games, and my older host sister and I read. It was cozy and relaxing. After a few hours, we had cheese and bread for dinner, but we were all already stuffed. Overall, it was a nice day.

DECEMBER 26

On the 26th, my host family drove to Bruchsal to see the Bruchsal Schloss. We had driven past it earlier in the year when we went to a wedding in Bruchsal, but we didn’t have time to stop. My host mom is truly the most thoughtful person ever and remembered this and planned the day trip for us.

It was absolutely gorgeous and super interesting. They had a museum about the history of musical machines/castle stuff, and it was very cool. I appreciated the English translations greatly.

Overall, the castle was phenomenal. It is so hard to believe that it’s real. Also, the amount of rooms is insane. I can’t imagine my house being big enough to need a red room, green room, and seven different tea rooms. I will be flying back here for my wedding.

DECEMBER 27

My day started bright and early at 7:00 AM. My first train of the morning left at 7:20 for Cologne. Despite the early morning, I was practically bouncing up and down in anticipation. I traveled to the Mannheim station first, grabbed a coffee and muffin, and then left from Mannheim to the Cologne Hauptbanhof. It was roughly a 2-hour journey all in all.

Once I got to Koln, I could see the Dom right away, which was really cool. I met up with 10 other exchange students, and we started by climbing to the top of the Dom.

I would not recommend if you’re castraphobic in any capacity, but the 500+ steps were worth the view at the top. We couldn’t stop saying “I can’t believe how old this is” and “Is this real?”.

After descending from the Dom, we walked down by the river to the last of the Christmas Markets for the holiday season. We walked around, and I bought the coolest glass ring and Dom pin for my backpack. The seller was seriously the sweetest human ever, so I had no issue handing over the Euros. I also tried fried potato cake things for the first time, and they were delicious.

We made our way into the shopping district, but because of Covid, all the stores had ridiculous lines, so we did more window shopping than anything. After a little while, we headed back towards the bridge and Dom to buy a lock. It is a tradition to seal your love/legacy with a lock on the bridge over the Rhine and then throw the lock in the river, and we made our own little “CBYX” lock.

We walked down by the river and found the best Italian restaurant. I had the most amazing gorgonzola tortellini, and the service was phenomenal. If you are in the area, Casa Nuova is a good eat. A few people had to depart after dinner, and we decided to ride the ferris wheel and then go back to the Christmas Market for ice skating.

The ferris wheel was positioned for you could see the river and the city, and it was beautiful, albeit a little scary. We ended up not going to the Christmas Market, but overall, it was an amazing day. I also vlogged, and that will be coming out shortly:)

DECEMBER 28

In complete honesty, I felt like a train hit me the morning after my trip to Cologne. I was utterly exhausted, but my host family likes to milk out every moment of vacation, so we went to a science museum. Initially, I was not thrilled about this, but it was actually super cool. It was more interactive than boring science stuff, and I felt like a kid in a candy store. My host sisters and I had a lot of fun walking around doing the experiments and playing together.

After the museum, we went to a chocolate factory nearby, which was super cool. You could walk through the production line to see how everything was done, and they had every type of chocolate product imaginable in the store upstairs.

And, on our way home, we picked up Doner for dinner:)

DECEMBER 29

For Christmas, I got my older host sister tickets to the Mannheim Kuntshall because she loves art and feminism and the “Mutter” exhibit there is literally the coolest. So, we spent most of our day in Mannheim.

We left around 11:30 and once we got to Mannheim, we picked up the best bubble tea (I got matcha with tapioca and Miray got something fruity with lemon boba) and walked to our testing appointment. After we got tested, we did some light shopping and headed to the museum.

I had been to the museum about a month beforehand with some friends, so it was fun to walk through again and see my host sister’s thoughts and reactions. The Mannheim Kuntshall is truly amazing, and I would recommend taking a visit to anyone in the area.

Looking through all of the art worked up our appetite, so we found a sushi place to eat at. The original restaurant we wanted to go to was closed, so we settled for another and it was just okay. After dinner, we did a little more shopping and headed back home. Overall, it was a very fun gastschwester day.

DECEMBER 30 So, my house is only about an hour from the French border, and on the 30th we got to go to France!! We went to a small town called Wissembourg on the French/German border. Despite the rain and cold, it was still really cool. I couldn’t believe it was so easy to drive to another country. For my American friends, it is like driving from Indiana to Ohio.

We walked around the town, and I got a cherry coke for good measure (they don’t have it in Germany).

We also ate at a super cute cafe and had the prettiest and most delicious cakes. My host sister and I got a pistachio and raspberry cake as well as a chocolate hazelnut to split. They were both phenomenal but too sweet to finish.

On our way home, we stopped at a huge French grocery store and picked up lots of cheese and bread for dinner. Then, we set the table with all of the bread and cheese and ate together. It was super special, even though my host dad insisted I try stinky cheese.

DECEMBER 31

New Year’s Eve started off strong with a sunny morning. It is always so rainy and overcast in Germany, that I forgot it can be that bright. Naturally, I had to take advantage of the sunlight and go for a walk.

To celebrate New Year, we went to a family friend’s house for dinner and to hang out. We had soup and appetizers first, and I thought that was the meal. I was also full enough for that to be the meal, but I was wrong. We ate, hung out for a while, and then had meat as the “main meal”. All of the food was phenomenal, but I was stuffed to the brim.

We also played a lot of Mario Kart (which I have absolutely no skill in), and my host sister and I played a few games of Yahtzee. I am in no way adept at staying up late, so I was ready for bed at 10:30, but I made myself last until midnight.

At the New Year we sat outside at the fire and roasted marshmallows, played with sparkers, and watched the neighbor’s fireworks.

We also had these little metal figures that we melted and then dropped in cool water. Whatever your metal morphed into determined your next year. My metal morphed into a heart, so I will have luck and friendship in 2022.

JANUARY 1

Happy New Year!! I am starting my first day of 2022 with some productivity. I responded to emails this morning, started on this blog post, and am getting ready to finish editing my Cologne Vlog.

I don’t really love New Years Resolutions, but I do have some aspirations for 2022:

1. Be consistent in my relationship with God

2. Be grateful and mindful of my time

3. Actually learn and apply German grammar

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday season, and have a joy-filled 2022!! If you made it through this entire post, I am very impressed. Sorry it’s a little longer than usual!!

Sending lots of love to y’all!

XOXO,

Bookish Babble