Skiing/München/Skiing

No. You didn't read the title wrong. Skiing is there two times. The past month has been only vacation for me. :) From December 8th to the 15th, I was in Italy with the other exchange students for a Ski tour! It was amazing. We were in an area of Italy called Südtirol. It belongs to Italy, but everyone there speaks German. That area of Italy wants to belong to Austria. The history for the region is simply crazy, and you should look it up if you have the time. :) Anyhow, it was great. I learned a lot about skiing. The ski teacher was convinced that I had to learn so much. He even gave me 'homework'. Haha. Here are some photos:

After I got back, I went to school for two days, and then Christmas break started! We started it off with a trip to Munich! It was women of my host family, 10 of us in total. And it was so much fun! We spent the weekend just doing what we wanted: sightseeing, sleeping, eating, etc. :) 

After getting back from München, it was already Christmas eve! I went to a really nice church service, ate homemade pulled pork with barbecue sauce (best meal ever), and opened presents. I received wonderful presents from both my host family and my family in the US. I was surprisingly not too sad, mostly because it was a nice time here as well. 

After Christmas I went to Austria for ANOTHER ski vacation with my host family! :D It was fantastic! We skied for 3 days, went tobogganing one day, went swimming, and I went Paragliding! It was so much fun, and a great way to get to know my host family.

And now, it is back to school. Ahhh. Wonderful. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Beth

The Big Switch

Hey everybody! Sorry it took me so long to respond, it has been a busy couple of weeks! So, I changed host families on the Second of December, and it was a crazy weekend!

On Saturday, I went hunting. HUNTING. For those of you who don't know, I was a vegetarian for four years before I came to Germany. My parents hunt a lot, but I never went with because it wasn't really my thing. But, you can't say no to an experience like hunting in the forest in Germany for wild pigs! It was very interesting. We did a type of hunt where there were people who would "storm the forest", chasing all the boars out of the brush and such, and then there were the hunters who would shoot them as they ran by. It was one of the coolest things I have done here. The day started out freezing, but as we walked around the forest (yes. Around. We walked a VERY long way), I started to warm up. I saw 4 deer (which where very small compared to the deer in Minnesota) and countless wild pigs. By the end of the day, the hunters had shot 56 boar! They will sell the meat from the pigs, which is supposed to taste pretty good. My legs were all cut up from the thorns we had to walk through, but overall, it was worth it.

After the hunt, my parents picked me up. (The hunt lasted from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.!) and we went to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in a nearby city. It was really beautiful.

The next morning, I had to say goodbye to my host family. I was actually quite sad, but also excited to move to the next host family. I had to hurriedly pack my belongings, as I was procrastinating. :) It finally snowed on the day I had to move, so my host sister and I  went out and took some pictures in the snow:

Then I moved! It felt weird, having to change. I wasn't really ready for it. I keep thinking about things that I should have done while I was still there. Or things that I didn't learn there that I should have. C'est la vie, I suppose. 

Anyhow, new host family! It is really exciting to be here and I am really grateful that they are so wonderful! They are a lot like my family back home, a.k.a. BUSY. :) But I am definitely used to that, so it is no problem. Plus they also have a great sense of humor, which is awesome for me! It kept snowing through the week and we ended up having a snow day on Thursday! :D It was excellent. Here are some photos from that:

I am having a great time, and actually just got back from a ski trip in the Alps with Rotary. I am sick, unfortunately, and staying home from school today. I will make a different post about the Ski Tour!

Tschüss!
Beth