Exams/Christmas

The past few weeks were crazy with exams, papers, and projects all coming up. My last exam ran on Monday, December 20 and since then I've been trying to relax and work a bit on some papers. I was able to relax and also get a little bit of traveling in. I went up to Köln, hoping to catch the last day of the Christmas Market, on a very snowy Christmas Eve, however, for reasons I have yet to understand, it was closed. I was under the assumption that the Christmas Markets stay open until Christmas Day, but I feel as if I was mistaken. Either way, it was a great trip to see the amazing Cathedral and just walk around the town, even though Germany seemed to be closed for the weekend.

From here I traveled on to Kleve to see my family who lives in Nijmegen and celebrate Christmas. For Christmas eve, nearly everything was closed so we stayed in, watched a few movies, and saw the snow as it kept falling. On Saturday, for Christmas, we went to Nijmegen and celebrate Christmas Dutch style. This meant that it was much less about presents, and much more about food and family. We had a wonderful dinner with ham, deer, pork, roasted potatoes, cabbage, cooked pears and apples, and of course some waffles and ice cream for dessert. After we were fully stuffed, we hung around, talked, and watched baby Ebbe as he opened his presents.
For second Christmas (December 26) we had a German lunch in Kleve before heading to the Africa museum near Nijmegen. Unfortunately, we had Motte, my family's dog, with us, and he was not allowed in the museum (which was strange, as he'd apparently visited before) so we could not see much outside of the gift shop of the Africa museum. So instead we went over to family friend's home, talked and continued eating until it was about dinner time, when we went out for Greek food before heading back to Maastricht.

Hopefully, if the trains are running in Germany, today I will be heading to Munich. From there Switzerland, and then back to Maastricht before Barbie and I visit Paris and Brussels. Winter break is going very well.

Winter Market/Sinterklaas

The past week and a half or so have, like most of my other weeks, been filled with schoolwork. The period is winding down so exams, papers, and projects are coming up quickly. Maastricht also had it's first snowfall of the year and has stayed below freezing for the better part of two weeks. However, that just made it more beautiful and made the opening of the winter market (Kerstmarkt) magical. It has really helped for getting into the Christmas Spirit, even with the amazing amount of work I've been doing.

I was able to get out of town a few times. I went to Aachen with friends from Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal to experience the Christmas Market there, which I have to say is a lot nicer than the one in Maastricht. In Germany, the Christmas Market is really just like a market, it feels very traditional, with wonderful food, stands selling anything you can think of, and gluhwein. We spent a few hours there exploring, until we got to cold and returned to Maastricht.
As you can see, the Maastricht Kerstmarkt is much more showy, but less like a markt and more like a carnival. It is pretty fun, although I think it is a bit absurd to have a ferris wheel when it is below freezing outside. However, they do have a pretty great ice skating rink, something that I haven't seen since I left the states, so I'm glad to be able to have that again!

After another week of work, this past weekend (December 4-5) was Sinterklaas. For this holiday we have to come up with gifts and poems to share with one another. I was able to celebrate twice, once with my Aunt and her family in Nijmegen and again with my Rotary family just outside of Nijmegen. With my family, we had wonderful Pannekoeken with beer for dinner, and even Ebbe (my Aunt's nephew's son) enjoyed it thoroughly.

With my Rotary Family, I found out that aside from the gifts and poems, you are supposed to add in a "surprise" this is kind of like a riddle or game that people have to play to find their present from Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet. However, I didn't know this beforehand and, as such, missed out on that aspect when making my present. For mine, it was hidden in the house and I had to go around and use my "worldly knowledge, athletic ability, and problem solving skills" to find mine. It was quite fun.

Unfortunately, all the fun had to come to an end and I returned to Maastricht to continue work on papers projects and exams. On the upside, just two more weeks of this period before Christmas Break when I can travel and start to think about my thesis.