It's been a while since my last post but I've genuinely been so busy and time is really just flying away in Germany!
Christmas was an absolute blast with my host parents and siblings who came to visit from Munich and Berlin. Everyone was truly lovely and it was so nice to experience a typical German Christmas and compare it to my family's Christmas in New Zealand. Unlike New Zealand, there are 3 days of Christmas celebration in Germany so the fun continued for an extended period of time! We did a lot during these 3 days including playing board games with my host siblings, opening presents, spending time together and arguably the most important- eating A LOT of great food!
For New Years my host parents took me to Hamburg to experience Sylvester (German new years eve) there. It's a beautiful city with great views and plenty of places to visit and shop at. We spent most of our time walking around and exploring the city in the bitter winter cold and when the clock struck midnight we enjoyed some coffee and hot chocolate whilst looking at the fireworks that went on for a good half an hour!
After the school holidays, I had to adjust to daily life in Germany which includes waking up early, going to school, doing my homework etc. There have been times where I've been incredibly homesick and yearning for the familiarity of New Zealand but a good chat with my family back home actually made me feel a lot better. My friends at school have been so welcoming and caring and I hang out with them quite frequently. So far I've baked Christmas cookies with my friends, I've gone to the cinemas and gone shopping, went to a few holiday parties and I even visited the city of köln on a day trip where we went to the Christmas market and did some touristy stuff there!
I got the opportunity to visit my uncle in Witten which is a small town near Dusseldorf so I am grateful I got to see my family here in Germany.
My host family is so lovely and they really try to make me feel at home. There have been some cultural differences but I take that as an opportunity to grow and learn more about German culture.
One of my favourite things so far is to experience the cold and snow of Germany. I haven't been around snow that much in my life so I feel like a little kid seeing this cool new thing for the first time!
