Thanksgiving:
I actually had a Thanksgiving. Well, to be more exact, it was two Friendsgivings. On the actual day of thanksgiving, my best friend Julia took me to lunch after school. We walked to the hotel where she worked for her Praktikum, and she bought me lunch, we took pictures, and talked. After we had finished eating I made a joke about getting ice cream and being the angel that she is, she responded "since I know that it's thanksgiving and it's sad for you not being home, I'll buy us ice cream too" so we got ice cream. We then walked back to school so she could catch her bus and I could get my bike.
The next day was my actual thanksgiving dinner. My other US friend, Atticus, and I decided to celebrate thanksgiving together with authentic thanksgiving foods; such as pumpkin pie, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallow, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. In the days prior to Friday, we had bought food and organized who would cook what. He came over to my house on Friday and we finished everything up. My cranberry sauce was actually red currant sauce because the store didn't have cranberries. Ulla made chicken which came out very nicely and filled in for the turkey. The mashed sweet potatoes, like usual, were my favorite, and the stuffing was good. I had some reheated pie today and it actually tasted better than when it was fresh. Fun fact, I made the pie from scratch; I used actual pumpkin, not the puree from the can. Atticus and I cooked and mashed the pumpkin. Surprisingly, the crust worked and for the most part, the pie did what it was supposed to do, and it solidified in the oven. We sat down to eat and the whole family enjoyed the meal. I'm really happy to have been a part of their first thanksgiving.
In honor of my thanksgiving section, here's a short and very condensed list of everything and everyone I'm thankful for: my parents, my bro, my grandparents, extended family (especially Eric), my friends (especially Julia and Paulina), Rotary, my host family, my class at school, chocolate, food, my phone, my bed, Netflix, trains, the opportunity to share my travels and thoughts with all of you.
Weihnachtsmarkt:
On Saturday, my friends and I all met at the Bahnhof (train station) and took a train to Oldenburg. There, we walked around the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) before meeting up with other exchange students. The Weihnachtsmarkt was perfect. It was what I thought of when I thought of my exchange year to Germany. The streets were lined with little carts and people selling things. It was like a wintery farmers market; people selling food, jewelry, beeswax candles, rocks. There was also a very tiny ferris wheel that I didn't want to pay the money to go on but was very cute. The sun was shining and I loved walking through the little streets and seeing everything that was being sold. I wish I had more time there and more money because I probably would've bought something. But alas, I am a broke exchange student who had other things that I had to do. [Speaking of broke, if anyone wants to send me a chrismas/hanukkah or birthday gift, money and JIF peanut butter would be greatly appreciated] After we walked around for about an hour, we met up with other exchange students to hang out. It was great seeing and getting to know more people. I actually met another jew who had a really good sense of humor; so saturday was good.
Plans for this week:
School. Workout. Learn. Sleep. The weather has been making me crash, mentally and physically, but I'm determined to change that. I don't want to be stuck at home all sad. I got 13 hours of sleep last night so I am ready to go. It's gonna be a good week. I'll be studying German, as well as math and English stuff, and whatever else the SAT requires me to know. I need to take the SAT's here and I can feel my IQ decreasing, so I'm determined to study and do good. I need to get into a good college so I can get a good job and have enough money to travel and visit all of my friends all over the world. That's the dream and I plan to make it my reality.
Gallery:
Here's a slideshow of recent events. The Weihnachtsmarkt, my two Thanksgivings, and a birthday party that I went to with my host family for an extended family member. I drank there because I was with my family. I still don't like beer. More pictures on my travel Instagram within the next couple days :)
