Weihnachts Markt

Christmas in Germany is so different than in the United States. I find that it is much more festive and there is more to the Holidays for people than shopping and running around everywhere. It is a time of family, friends, Celebrating the birth of Christ and the spirit of joy and happiness that this season brings.

On Sunday my family and drove down to the Stuttgart Weihnachts Markt (Christmas Market), our favorite one. The downtown shopping center and courtyard is packed with stalls of food, wood engravings, warm weather accessories, kitchen goods, candles, smokers, nutcrackers...etc. and even an ice skating rink. We took the U-bahn down to Koenigsstrasse and had an enjoyable bratwurst on brotchen with mustard once reaching the market. I ran into my good friend Tamara and her family downtown and we caught up later that evening before my family returned to Ramstein. It was great to see her. I miss her so much. I need to get better at calling and e-mailing people. One person I did not see but wish I had was Michelle W.

We walked around the christmas market for at least 2 hours; enjoying the smells, food, hand crafted goods, decorations and gluhwein. Gluhwein is a traditional spiced wine that is drunk warm at christmas time. It warms one from the inside out. I also ate a nice helping of cheese spaetzle...it was delicious. To end out the night, it started snowing, which simply added to the whole experience.

Elf Yourself

This is the funniest website in the world.

So I was bored one night and decided to Elf my roommates and myself. Here is the link to our video

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/vyDYC52RVy3fHd9K?cmpid=ey_fb_friend

Hope you enjoy it and laugh as hard as we do every time we see it.

Cookie Exhange

It's almost the end of the week and I fly out tomorrow to go home for Christmas. I'm sooooo excited. I can't wait to see my family and friends, go to the Christmas Markets, drink Gluhwein, enjoy the snow....it's going to be so much fun :)

Tonight I was invited to Norm and Cheryl's house for a cookie exchange. There were sooo many cookies, I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with them all or if they will even let me take them on the plane. (Maybe I can bribe the guards and flight attendants with them.) Anyway, I made Pfeffernusse, a German cookie. They are basically flour, molasses, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg shaped into balls and baked, and then rolled in powdered sugar. They are really good. The other cookies consisted of gingersnaps, sugar cookies, maple cookies, jelly cookies, peanut butter graham cracker chocolate cookies (made by Alissa Graham) and clumps of pretzels coated in chocolate (can't remember the name). They all looked delicious and it was a lot of fun. Norm and Cheryl are such hospitable, funny people and they have such a cute log cabin house.

So today was my roommate, Alissa's first time melting chocolate and it was a disaster. First she tried a double boiler, but she didn't realize that the water was not supposed to touch the bottom of the top pot, so the chocolate just formed a clump. Then she tried putting it in the microwave and it just got worse from there. Needless to say it was a funny spectacle.

If you have never done or been to a cookie exchange, you should definitely do one. It is interesting to see the and taste the different cookies and it is fun fellowship time. 

Hectic, hectic weekend

This weekend is going to be hectic, hectic hectic. Tomorrow begins the women's bible study for the college students. I am taking my American Government CLEP test on Friday morning, which I have yet to study for. There is also our leadership meeting on Friday morning and then preparing and getting everything ready for the Christmas party. Then on Saturday I am going to the Boston Pops Orchestra with Micah, Elyse, Kyle, Hannah and Melissa. I also have to do homework, read and other things. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I don't know how my mom did it at times with 5 kids going in 5 different places at all times. Props to her and all the other moms.

Froehe Sankt Nikolaus Tag!

St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6th in Germany as well as in other European countries. On the evening before the 6th, children place their newly cleaned shoes in front of the door in the hope that Nicholas might fill them with nuts, fruits, chocolate, and sweets. If the children have behaved well, their wishes will be fulfilled. Children who have caused mischief will receive only a switch, which symbolizes punishment for their bad deeds.

Every year I have done this for my roommates to give them a little taste of other traditions, but also as a way to remind me of home. My parents always did this for us and I want to continue it in my Christmas traditions. I remember being so excited on December 5th for the surprises that we would find the next day in our shoes. This year is no different and I am even more excited to do it this year because of the roommates that I am blessed to live with. Their shoes contain chocolate ornament bells and balls that one would find in Germany, a wooden heart ornament with their name on it and a mixed CD.

What are some holiday traditions around this time of the year that your family does?
Are there any that you want to continue in your holidays?

New Trimester

Hey Everyone,

I hope your Thanksgiving was good and you had a great and memorable time with friends and family. I know I had a great time with my relatives, sister and dad. I am thankful for many things, people and all the gifts and blessings that God has bestowed upon me this year. One of these blessings this past break was a car. I am very grateful to have one. It is so much easier to get around to the grocery store and CSF and things like that. Now the whole big thing is finding a job.


There are a lot of changes happening this trimester. First there are new classes, Acct., Hosp Law, Beverage, and Contemporary Issues in the Food Service Industry. Then there is the fact that we do not have a campus minister anymore and so all the leaders at CSF are going to have to step it up a notch and take on more responsibility. We are planning a lot of new things for CSF this year, different ideas to switch up our weekly meetings and also ways to get people from the church and students to interact with each other.


My classes this tri I think are not going to be hard and I am looking forward to my Beverage class the most. We are going to be tasting different types of drinks; water, coffee, tea, wine, beer, spirits, liquors, sparkling wines, etc. You get the idea. But this stuff fascinates me and I enjoy it a lot. I also like the class because there is no homework except for a project. My law professor is a fun individual who has tons of stories to tell about his time as a lawyer and all the cases he did or remembers. His head also contains a lot of facts and dates that you would not think someone could remember. I know I had trouble remembering dates of things if it was not important.

It rained all day today and so around 4pm my roommate Alissa and myself decided to go for a little drive to Smithfield crossing. We found the cutest Christmas hanger for out door at Kohls and then when we walked outside it was snowing. At that moment it finally seemed like December. Earlier this week it was in the mid to high 60s. When is it ever in the 60s in December in New England. This led to a night of hot chocolate and crafts.

Trimester is finally OVER!!

This tri officially ended for me today! YES! So excited for this break. It will give me a chance to just get away from Providence and think about what has and is going on in my life and here on campus. There are going to be many changes in the rest of the year to come.
I am now a member of Grace Harbor Community Church and am so excited about it. There are a lot of good changes happening within the church and I am excited to see where they go. Pastor Kevin has been talking a lot about church membership and the importance of being a church member and also the importance of the church. This is something that I have never heard before and has not been talked about ever, since I started as a Freshman.
This past week has been crazy. Monday and Tuesday were our "reading" days or study days before finals, so we had no classes, and my roommate Alon, our friend Hannah and myself went to the outlets for some shopping. I have to say, I did pretty well. I only got one thing for myslef and the other things were christmas gifts. Tuesday was our last TNT for the break and was out study TNT. We don't actually study during this time, it's more of a hang out. We talked about the mission opportunities for Spring Break, Florida & Russia. I am so pumped for these and am planning on returning to Russia to continue what has been started there by the students who have gone in previous years. Then we played a game of Cranium and ate pizza.
Wednesday morning I had a 9:20 final and woke up at 7. I just layed in bed for a while and then heard my roommate Alon in the kitchen exclaim "Oh my gosh." I knew it had to do with a mouse. We have been getting little visitors lately because of the cold days every now and then. So we had bought traps. They are plastic ones that react the same as the regular ones inside, except you don't see the dead mouse. Well this mouse was not dead and was trying to push the red flap down inside that was holding it back. We didn't know what to do because we didn't want to let a live mouse outside because it would come right back in. And we are cheap and wanted to re-use the trap. So Alon's fiance suggested first that we drop it out a window hoping it would die because we are on the second floor. We thought that since the trap didn't kill it a drop like that wouldn't either. Them he suggested we stick it in the freezer. So we put it in plastic bags a stuck it in the freezer. Needless to say when we went to empty the trap that night the mouse was not coming out of the trap so we had to just throw the whole thing away.
Today was a nice ending to a long day. I had a 7:10 final this morning and then another at 11:30. I then walked around the mall and bought some christmas gifts. Later tonight my roommate Alissa and I babysat Silas, our pastor's son, the cutest 2 year old ever, for a couple of hours. When they got back it was nice to sit and talk with Kevin and his wife Melissa about things and watch the Office with them.
I am really ready for this break. I cannot wait to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, sister and my dad. I am really excited to bake and cook and just to relax with no pressure, homework or running around. It will be refreshing. Hope you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!