After Christmas I got to travel throughout Germany a little bit, and it was so much fun!

First, I went about 5 hours south to Bamberg. My cousin lives in Bamberg, and I stayed with her. I got to go sight-seeing throughout the town, eat at an American diner (absence does make the heart grow fonder), and play in my first German snowfall! Bamberg is a really pretty city with lots of historical buildings and cathedrals. I got to go to museums and go bike riding throughout the city center. I even got to hang out with my cousin's cat who slept on my legs every night. My mom, sister, and brother then met me in Bamberg. Seeing them was the best Christmas present ever! My mom sent me a package for Christmas, but unfortunately it got stuck in customs, but I finally got it on the 31st. That was really fun because it was filled with stuff from home.

I got to see how Nürnberg celebrates New Year's Eve, and it is the craziest thing I have ever seen. I think it is crazy all over Germany though because fireworks are usually illegal, but on New Year's Eve they become legal for 24 hours. There were so many fireworks coming from all directions, so it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

After Nürnberg, I went to Munich for the second time this year. I visited a lot of the places that I visited last time such as Neuschwanstein Castle and Marienplatz. I also got to see the toy museum, Dachau, and Hohenschwangau Castle. There was even more snow in Munich, and it was very nice. Coming from Tennessee, I will never complain about beautiful snow; however, I never miss out on a chance to complain about cold temperatures and windy weather.

We visited my great aunt in Wiesbaden and walked along the Rhein river. We also went to a vineyard in Johannisberg. There is a restaurant that sits overlooking the vineyards, so we had tea above the vineyards and watched the sunset.

On our way up to my host home in Stemwede we stopped in Bad Laasphe. I showed my mom Schloß Wittgenstein where my language camp was. It was really fun to see it again, but it also made me really miss language camp. There was snow there too, and our GPS decided to take us on a scenic route through the woods. My mom even said "Wow! This is so much nicer than the autobahn." Then our car got stuck in the snow and we were in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, two very nice people saw us and met us in their jeep. They got out with their shovel and started shoveling the snow for us. My sister and I kicked snow out of the way while my brother and mom used coffee mugs to scoop the snow away from the tires. Then my sister, brother, the two strangers, and I pushed the car while my mom steered down the hill. Once we were back on the road my sister said, "Sometimes you meet people who are so insensitive that you question humanity, but then you meet people like that who drive through snow to help strangers push their car." They even drove their car in front of ours to help us find the right road that was free of snow.

Once we got back to Stemwede we had dinner and handed out some belated Christmas presents. My family stayed for a couple days and then went to Amesterdam when I started back to school.

Christmas break was really fun! I spent so much time relaxing, exploring, and visiting museums and cathedrals. I remember being really nervous about the train system when I learned more about it at language camp, but now I feel super confident traveling alone. I definitely am able to stay calm when I am lost and remind myself that every mixup and misunderstanding is just another adventure that I'll get to tell someday. At the moment I am getting ready to get back on the Deutsche Bahn and head to my midyear seminar on Thursday. It will be near Bonn, and I am so excited to see all of my friends and hug everybody that I haven't seen in months! I'll definitely post some pictures from midyear, and there will be a ton on facebook because most exchange students are huge shutterbugs!