Christmas In Austria!

Christmas in Austria is celebrated on the 24th, not the 25th, like in the United States, so that was different!
On the 22nd I had a Christmas party with my Austrian friends, and it was a blast. We lit a whole bunch of candles and shut the lights off, and sang Silent Night. I sang it in English, Mercedes from Argentina sang it in Spanish, and my Austrian friends sang it in German. It was very lovely.

Then on the 24th, Christmas Day, my family slept in, which was awesome, then we all bundled up and went to a church service in Altmünster at 4:00. It was in a beautiful old Catholic church, actually the same one I visited when I was in Language Camp in August.
Afterwards, we came back home and ate this delicious homemade lasagna (the best I've ever had) and then opened presents. My host family is really awesome and got me a documentary about Austria which I'm really excited to watch, and my host sister got me a book in German with pretty simple German for me to practice, which is so thoughtful. Then altogether they got me a really nice art set because they saw how much I love to draw and paint. I had a perfect first Christmas away from home. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Hope everyone had lovely holidays. xx

Salzburg Weekend

Last weekend was one of my favorite parts of this year so far. All the exchange students met up in Salzburg on Friday, and it was so nice to see everyone again. I didn't realize how much I missed them.
One of the first things we did when we arrived was take a German test. There were three different groups of tests, and you the one you took depended on which level of German you took during Language Camp in August. I was in the highest German class so I had to take the hardest test, which happened to be the same test that all the "oldies" (or exchange students that have been here since last January) had to take. Which i thought was a little interesting but oh well.

Then on Saturday, we all took a bus, all ninety of us (you should of seen us trying to squeeze onto one bus) to the center of Salzburg, where we hiked up this giant hill to one of the oldest castles in Vienna. It was breathtaking.

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After that, we ate lunch at a really nice restaurant, and afterwards we had free time, and Jess and I went to some of the Christmas Markets, that are the most famous throughout all of Austria

 And we also saw Mozart's birth-house, and got to walk in!

Later, we met up for dinner and after the meal was finished, each country had to make a presentation describing how their country celebrates Christmas. It was really lovely. Then all the oldies received their leaving certificates, because most are leaving in a week or two.

I'm so lucky to have met all the oldies I have, and I'm going to miss them all. They've been such a blessing.

I'm so glad I'm here in Austria, and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas

xx Erica

View From My New House

I just thought I'd post some pictures of the view from my new house and around town, just so you can get an idea of how picture-perfect it is here.