My last day of school was on Friday, the 21st. Our break, which I am still currently enjoying, was a welcome interruption in my busy daily routine. We did have a long break back in October, but that was filled with a German course I took at the local Community College. This was my first opportunity to catch-up on some sleep, complete a few things on my To-Do list, enjoy the holiday season, and watch NFL games till my heart's content. And I did do everything I wanted to. I have been enjoying being able to sleep in everyday, not having to worry about Chris Brown's "Don't Wake Me Up" playing every morning at 6:00 sharp. During my free time I have also begun the search and application for college scholarships, took care of banking, cleaned my room, organized my clothes that were thrown into my closet after I suddenly changed families, planned a couple trips, and most importantly took some time to catch of with family members through Skype. I have also spent some time with friends, whether in be at Celle's beautiful Christmas market, in a Mexican restaurant in Hannover with two Spanish-speaking fellow exchange students, or watching NFL games projected onto the living room wall until early the next morning at my house with a bunch of people from my Flag Football team.
But after all, the reason we had these days off from school was to celebrate and enjoy the two holidays that fall during this time of year. Christmas was celebrated in what I believe is a very traditional German fashion. Unlike in the United States, I've been told and observed in my family that they bring their Christmas Tree inside and decorate on the 24th, not earlier. The 24th, not the 25th, is the day Germans go to church, have a family dinner, and open gifts. The 25th is just another day to the Germans. The tree decoration, which took place around midday, is also different. Our tree had real burning candles. Perhaps it was a little bit of a fire hazard! Later on, around 17:30, we went to the old church in Nienhagen for "Gottesdienst", the Christmas service. We were there for about an hour, during which I had an extremely hard time singing the German words of the Christmas songs and following the music at the same time. At one point at the peak of my good-natured frustration I even resorted to singing the German version of "Silent Night" in English. We proceeded home and ate the traditional German Christmas dinner. No, it's not ham or turkey, but rather wursts and potato salad. After dinner we moved on to the exchange of presents. I gave my host brothers NFL football jerseys of their favorite players and a gift certificate to my host parents' favorite restaurant to Anita and Patrik. I received assorted Middlebury College swag from my parents in the US, cookies and other goodies from my grandmother on Cape Cod, a CD from my host brothers, a long weekend trip to München, (Munich for you Americans), from my host parents, along with a ticket to an Imagine Dragons concert in Köln, (Again, Cologne for you Americans). 'Twas a very festive and overall wonderful night.
The other big event happened just last night, New Years! But before you all get excited, I wasn't at some huge party with hundreds of people, but regardless I had a good time. Philipp was at a friend's house and my host parents were invited to another party, so Fabian and I spent the night at the house with a classmate and fellow Nienhagen resident. Our night consisted of several episodes of Two and a Half Men in German, doughnuts, and fireworks. Who can ask for anything more?
That's about it. I have several more days of vacation still and I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Perhaps I'll take a day trip to Hamburg. That would be fun. I go back to school on the 7th, and after only two weeks of school I'm going on a week-long ski trip to Austria with my school. There're a lot of exciting experiences coming up that I'll be sure to write about when they come nearer. Now I can continue watching the Rose Bowl. Until next time!
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| Me with my host brothers, (Left to right: Philipp, me, Fabian), modeling their new football jerseys |
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