So it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas....

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

So this day was another rotary activity, a visit to the Aachen Christmas markets!!!! I mean, a day trip to Germany. Amazing. I was stoked to go there, I heard that Christmas Markets are just adorable, and there are some pretty cool things to buy. So in anticipaticion, I took out quite a bit of money from my bank account... :)

School was boring that day, as usual, considering htat I have 4 hours of French in a row, and that's it. Then Tedde and I went into town, waited for Katie to get there, and then left on the train. We got there like an hour early, but we didn't exactly have anything better to do. Someone arrived about 15 minutes in who lived in Welkenraedt (where we were meeting up to take the bus to the markets...), and she gave us directions to a bank because Katie needed to get money out. And get a lunch. By the time we came back, basically everyone had arrived. We had to wait a bit longer for the bus, taking up the entire interior of the train station (which wasn't all that big to begin with....), and then an entire bus when we got shuttled to Aachen. Rotary was so cute, giving us all Santa hats to wear while we were there. And that's when it hit me, that it was December, and that Christmas was soon! On the bus I sat by the Aussies and talked to a new girl, Jillian. She was one of the 2 people in our district that was in the German speaking region. Which happened to be right next to Aachen, so she knew the city really well and had even already been to the Christmas markets.

When we first got there, we got dropped off a ways away from the Christmas markets, so we walked through the city a bit and got to see the sights. And then we went into this government building type thing, where they talked about the history of Aachen and stuff like that. I honestly don't remember what was said, I was too excited to get to the markets and start looking at everything! But it was a really cool building, and we had the chance to explore it if we wanted to. I wish we would have had the time! It was really a choice between that or seeing all of the markets, and well, I can go back at anytime and be a tourist. It's only like a 30 minute train ride from me!

Pretty building!!!

On the walk there... Love the holidays!

I was so excited once the talking stopped and we were released to go do as we pleased. Jillian and I were literally the first people out of the building. and to just see the little wooden house-like markets, decorated with garland and lights, it was like a mini heaven. Each little market had something different to offer! There was some really cool stuff. I had to limit myself on how much I would spend... I did get all of my Christmas shopping done though, for both my host parents and my family, and I got other cool gifts to give people once I get back home. After going to those Christmas markets, I swore that I would go to as many as I possibly could over the break. Seriously, they are just so cute and get you so much into the Christmas spirit. Looking back on the holidays, being at the Christmas markets was probably the only time that I even felt like it was actually Christmas. Really, without my family and our holiday traditions, it isn't truly Christmas.

But, yes, the Christmas Markets were awesome and I had a really fun time racing through the markets with Jillian, trying to get through all of them before we had to meet back up with Rotary. If anyone is thinking about coming to Europe within the next year, either A) Come now and visit me!!!! or B) Come during Christmas time and hit up the Christmas Markets in Germany and France. I heard that's where the are the best (the ones I saw in Belgium were lame in comparison....)

Giant Gingerbread Man!

The Markets <3

Their name in German...

Corey, Me, Jillian. Yay for Canadians! And we would go to Germany on the one day it rains... Oh well, at least I am used to it.

Becky and I! It was very cold...

I have recently realized how lucky I am to be in District 1630 in Belgium. The other districts, they never have any Rotary events and don't get to see each other unless they plan it out. Us, we have something literally about once a month, and you get to know and become really close to practically everyone. And you do this while traveling around and seeing cool things in Belgium and the surronding countries! All of the Rotary leaders are really nice too, and they really just want the best for our exchange. And, on top of it, I get the chance to learn a truly beautiful language: French. Even though Belgium wasn't my first choice, I can't imagine myself being anywhere else.