a Happy Time and a Sad Time.

Soooooo, as some of you may know, I am coming home. The date is not yet final, but I am going to be in America in the next week or so. I'm happy to see everyone I've missed for so long, but sad that I'm gonna have a whole other group of people to miss now.

My birthday was also last week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes and gifts you all sent, that was really sweet. I initially planned a birthday party for Saturday because my birthday was on a Monday, and it just seemed like a good time. Then within the week, we decided to call YFU about an early return date, and they said it would be soon, so we very quickly (two days) turned my birthday party into a 'happy birthday, sorry you're leaving party'. The turn out was pretty good for such short notice. I mean because my shoulder is killing me, I'm not in school a lot, so I was surprised so many people still came, and didn't hate me for missing school.







Ohhh, the party. So, there was maybe 20 people there. The party started at 19 uhr (7 o'clock) and ended at 7! Seven o'clock in the morning is when the last loud loud people left my house, it was great. The only thing that wasn't so good, is that mom and Julia were upstairs trying to sleep, and I can't imagine there's anyway they were able to get that done... Auf jeden fall, the party was a alot of fun and everyone had a good time. It was a good going away party I would say, especially for being planned in 48 hours.

My life has actually been sadly uneventful because of my shoulder, I spend a lot of time at home, doing sudoku puzzles and drinking tea. So there's not a lot to update, I'm doing a lot of last minute, last-things-I-wanted-to-have-before-I-came-home shopping. Trying to stay in some sort of budget, since I am NOT going to be able to get all this stuff home the same way I got it here... This should be fun. I miss all of you, and I'll see you soon.♥

Update: Frohes Neues, Winter Wonderland

Alrrright, so, dear everyone who's been keeping track, sorry I suck at updating this blog. I think this happens to everyone with a blog-statistic from another exchange student- but trotzdem, Happy New Year (Frohes Neues Jahr) and Merry Christmas...

So, what's happened since last time? Well, the Countdown to Chris is now alot bigger than it was. aka, he's came and gone, sorry you missed him. It was arguably the best two weeks I've had in Germany. I've missed him so much. We went to Bayern and Nürnberg and saw the most beautiful winter scene I've ever seen outside of a Bob Ross painting. It was gorgeous. For cold weather, I loved it. The first day in Nürnberg, it was super cold and I got sick, so that made for a not-so-fun next few days, I was really stuffy and the weather wasn't doing anything for me. But we still had fun. We stayed in a Ferienwohnung, which is normally something like an apartment that you can rent for the time that you're on vacation, but for us, we had a house that on the top top floor was like a flat, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room area, and Chris and I had a separate hotel like suite. The house atmosphere was really nice.

Florin went skiing everyday that we were in Bayern, Chris and I tried snow-shoeing. I say tried because, although he may disagree, I was sick, and the whole experience for me was miserable. We got halfway up the hill and I quit, not planned, but going up where people have a hard time breathing anyways and being stuffy wasn't my game. So we went for a walk somewhere else with dad and Julia, while mom took care of gramma who's about to turn 90 in February.




The Christmas holiday was awesome. I got alot of warm socks from my American and German families, that was wonderful. I am SO much warmer :]. Oh, and P.S. thanks for any of you that sent me greeting/Christmas cards. That was so awesome to get mail! I actually had my host family beat as far as receiving Christmas cards, and thanks to those of you who sent a special one for them, that was sweet... and alot of work for me to translate :] On the note of Christmas, thanks again to everyone that participated in my Christmas video from Chris, that was the best Christmas present he, and any of you could have given. It was a nice reminder of everyone at home that I've been away from for six months now.

This also marks the half-a-year point for me, which is an accomplishment in itself. Comparing myself to who and how I was when I got here, I've learned and grown a lot from this experience, and I can definitely say this time was not wasted. I have a wonderful family here, and some pretty cool friends, and another place to call home, and I feel really lucky for that.

While Chris was here, he bonded with the whole family. That made his vacation here, that much nicer. He left me quite a few times to go hangout with dad, and ride bikes, as expected. He played games with the family, like we always do, and tried to school Florin in Wii MarioKart, but it so didn't happen. My family misses him almost as much as I do. Florin says he has a new brother in America. I thought that was cool. Chris also got to meet all the "extended" family, aka dad's siblings and niece and nephews. We played a game like Bad Santa, and Chris and I totally won a Sandwich Maker, which he took back to America with him, and it's waiting for me :].

Schulter Update: I would like a new shoulder for my birthday. If anyone finds one, that would be great; I would start looking on eBay. My shoulder is getting in the way of me having fun quite a bit, I never really thought it would actually get any worse. But don't worry your little hearts, I'm not dying, nothing some Tylenol can't fix, more than anything it's just annoying. It could end up being the reason I would come home early, but I'm just not so sure yet. We're going to see an Orthopedic doctor here sometime this week or so, auf jeden Fall, before my birthday. Speaking of birthday, I'm getting excited to plan my party. Doin' it up German-Style for the big 1-9. I feel like a gramma. Everyone in my class is like, wow, you're old. Thanks guys. That's helpful.

Silvestre. New Years was a blast. A very bittersweet day, because Chris went home early that morning. There were some tears until the party here, and everyone tried their best to cheer me up. We had about a good 60-70 people in our house! And I promise you, we live in no kind of palace. In the basement, we had the "teen party", with Florin and a bunch of kids from my class. It was lots of fun. There were fireworks in the streets at midnight. That was crazy. And when I say in the streets in mean like right outside of our house, like, things that are illegal in Illinois for sure. Boom Boom fireworks, not just sparklers. It was awesome, and cold.

The thing that's still killing me about this breathtaking cold weather, and I mean breathtaking in the worst way possible, its just cold, is that I never really know what temperature it is. For example, in the morning before I go to school mom tells me, oh Bri, it's -5 degrees, maybe you should put on warmer shoes. And I freak out. NEGATIVE FIVE?! Then I'm like, wait, noooo, it's like 20 something. I'm alright. This is the difference between America and the rest of the world. Literally. And if you having caught on, I'm talking about the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit, and for those of you that are like, "OHHH, I get it now," you need to be more cultured.

So December has been, Chillen in the Alps, Celebrating Christmas (get it? Chris-tmas, cause Chris was here, oh I'm funny) with my boyfriend and family, and starting the new year with the biggest celebration I've seen here. Not bad. I miss you all so so much, and I'll be home soon. ♥