Christmas by Me!!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here! A week from tomorrow. I find myself thinking about what I'd be doing if I were at home right now, and sometimes that makes me feel bad. The solution: think about something else. It's really hard to do that though when everyone else is talking about going home for the holidays. For every ten foreign students I talk to, nine of them are going home for Christmas. It feels really odd to know that the traditions at home go on without me and that I'm not going to be part of that this year. It gives me a strange feeling, a feeling as if I'm out of the loop, so to say. I don't fit into the swing of things here at Christmas and I'm definitely not fitting in at home all the way over here.

Yesterday I had a surprise in my mailbox - there was an orange slip there, which serves to tell me that I got a package at the post office. I've gotten these before, so I wasn't unfamiliar with what I supposed to do. The deal was that I wasn't expecting anything. Before, I always was expecting the packages, but this time it came and I didn't know what it was. When I got the package at the post office today, I was really excited to see that Grandma Teresa and Pappy Lee sent it to me. "And what was in it?" you ask. A Christmas tree! I couldn't wait to get home and put it up. My room seems a little homier now.


Today I've been in Germany 73 days. It's the longest that I've ever been away from home at one stretch. When I look at it that way, I'm proud of myself. I'm really becoming independent and able to take care of myself. It's a real learning experience. After Christmas, on December 26, I'm over halfway to coming home. From that point onward, it's "downhill," so to say, until I'll be home at Easter. Today also marks 90 days until I'll be home - exactly three months: rest of December, January, February, and some of March. I'm looking forward to that time, but I don't want to give the impression that I'm not enjoying my time here. Things are going pretty well now that I have somewhat of a routine developed and a few friends. Some days seem really long while others fly by. I suppose that's how life is as well. Last weekend I was in Berlin (I'll blog about that later when I have more time.) and the weekend before that I went to Heidelberg for a day trip. I'll be spending Christmas with a German family in Kassel (about two hours north of here with the train), and for New Years I'm meeting Katie Hetrick in London and we're going to travel around the UK. My time "between the years" will be busy then, and I'm looking forward to it very much. It'll be especially nice to spend it with a friend from home - one who understands you and doesn't need long, drawn-out explanations about personal history, preferences, and so on. I'm really looking forward to it.