The last couple weeks have been pretty cool. Last weekend Kaija, Joanna (from Poland), and I went on a trip to Mainz. A guy that studied at Coe last year invited us to come with him. The trip was set up by some kind of local government official in his town so for nine Euro we got a bus trip to and from Mainz, as well as a tour of a government building and a tour of the second biggest television production center in German. Kaija, Joanna, and I decided to skip out of the tour of the government building and go see the Christmas market and the church in downtown Mainz.

The city center was really nice and we even found a Pizza Hut to eat lunch... it was so good! I’m beginning to miss some of the food from home... especially my mom’s cooking. The tour of the television center was pretty cool too. We had a guided tour and, although I didn’t understand everything our guide said, it was still fun to see where everything was filmed. We even got to watch them film something that was shown on T.V. later that day.

This last weekend I did a marathon! Karlsruhe Friday, Strasbourg Saturday, and Heidelburg on Sunday. I went Christmas shopping with Mario (from my trampoline class) in Karlsruhe. We didn’t see very much of the city but we got a lot of shopping done :-) On Saturday Tina invited me to go to Strasbourg, Alsace (France) with her and her friend. We went and saw the church and the Christmas market, but by the time we were done, we were so frozen that we decided to just go shopping rather than sightseeing (as there was a huge indoor mall right by where we parked). I found two sweaters and a pair of jeans, which have already come in handy! I went to Heidelburg with Kaija and Joanna. We saw the Christmas market there too and we would like to go back sometime because there is so much more to see. It is really a beautiful city...

I am going to spend Christmas with Urs and his family. We have classes until the 22 and on the 23 I am taking the train to his house. I’m not sure what my plans are for the rest of the break yet but I’m sure I will find something to do :-)