November is officially wrapped up

Throughout the month I have been going to my Hip-Hop and Modern Dance group. We were going to have a recital in December but it got cancelled. I love all the girls, and it's so much fun to dance. I've always wanted to dance but it was always too expensive back home and here it's just a relaxed group. I'm very excited to see what December brings! We have my room all decked out for the holidays. I got an Advents calender but instead of your normal cardboard calender with chocolates I have small buckets hanging in my room for each day with a little treat inside.

St. Nikolaus Visited!

On December 5th we had to clean our shoes and put them by the front door. The next morning we woke up with lots of treats filling our shoes! Good ol' St. Nikolaus came and visited us during the night!! We got lots and lots of chocolate. I got some body wash. And the best one? We got a ticket to the Dresdener Weihnachts Circus! I'm very excited to go see it. Thank You St. Nikolaus!!

Birthday Reunion

And today we went to go visit Micheal's(my host dad) parents. They live here in Dresden. But Micheal's dad had a birthday a day before Micheal's so it was a small family reunion. It was nice because I was hanging out with Nele and her two cousins and we got into a tickling fight and it was as if I was one of the cousins. I felt so at home it was amazing.

Happy Birthday Micheal!

Friday was my host dad's birthday! We went to an Italian restaurant with our family, which was very delicious. On Saturday he had a small dinner party with friends as well. But I went to go see my first German Film! Let me say, the theater was huge! It was more than double the size of one room you go see a movie in. And it was weird because you have reserved seats. So you can order your ticket online and reserve seats or when you buy your tickets and the movie theater you have a certain place you have to sit like when you go to an orchestra or a theater. It was really hard for me to understand the film, but it is a movie so I got to see what was going on and I got the jist of it. 

Sushiiii

On Thursday I went to go eat Sushi with my friend Alex, and her friend! Afterwards we hung out at Alex's house for a couple hours. It's so nice to have a friend here that I can go hang out with. I'm very lucky because some exchange students aren't lucky enough to find a really good friend right off the bat. And she only lives 10 minutes away from me which is even better! 

Wiehnactsmarkt

This last Wednesday I went to the Christmas market with my host sister and my YFU Representative. It was so beautiful! We had kinderpunch (kids punch) it tastes like a sweater apple cider. And I tried gluehwein. It's hot wine and it's really good! It's very sweet. 

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Oh and Happy late Thanksgiving!! I was able to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for my family and some friends. I cooked the whole dinner, except the apple pie my host dad and sister made. But I chose to cook ham instead of turkey because, who doesn't love ham? I ended up cooking for 15 people and it turned out great! For the first 10 minutes of eating no one talked. My host dad said that means it was really good! It was a lot of fun to be around my German family and friends. We even made a Christmas video for my host families daughter in Florida. Everyone was a teenie bit drunk(not the kids), so when they started singing (i was recording) I started laughing because my host brother was laughing and everyone was messing around and it was just...funny! Everyone was in a good mood and that's what matters the most. And on your Thanksgiving day I was able to skype with my Grandparents on my dad's side to say Happy Thanksgiving. My Grandpa thought it was the best thing! I even found out from him that some of our ancestors come from a small town 30 minutes from Dresden so my family and I are going to go visit!!

MusikPark

The Tuesday after we went to a club called Musik Park. We had a free day on Wednesday so a bunch of us wanted to go hang out and dance. It was awful. There were SO many people there that you had no place to dance, and it was just crowded. When it was time to leave to catch our tram we ended up waiting in line to get our purses and jackets for 80 minutes. And it wasn't just a normal standing in line waiting. People where pushing up against you and I honestly couldn't move for about 40 of those minutes. A girl had to actually move my hair out of the face of the guy behind me...it was a nightmare. We were lucky our friend could drive, so he brought us home. 

Lili's Geburtstag

The weekend after that I went to my friend Lili's birthday party! She only had a few people come over to her house to celebrate. It was funny because I asked her if I had to dress nice and she said no. And as an American I think "okay there's going to be a fire in the backyard and i don't have to dress nice" so I put on some older jeans and just a couple sweatshirts. And here I get to her house and they all have nice pants and a nice shirt! It was fine no one cared, but now I know that whenever I go to someones house or a party "casual" means dress nice! But it was a lot of fun we danced and hung out by the fire. And everyone was having an amazing time!

100 Days with nothing but Celebration

And on my 100th day of being in Germany, we had a very nice dinner with some family friends. It wasn't for the celebration of my time being here, our friends just happened to be hosting a small dinner party on the same day! It was very delicious! We had a very well cooked goose. I left the dinner a little early to go to a friends birthday party. It was at a Hookah Bar. A hookah for those who don't know is also known as a water pipe that you smoke flavored tobacco out of. But it was a lot of fun! I met a lot of new people. I even met a German boy and we had a VERY loud discussion on why the Packers were better than the Bears (sorry Bears' fans...but it's true). 

Photoshoot

I went to have a small photo shoot in front of the Frauenkirche (Woman's Church).  

Lili and I