Christmas Time in Passau!

The Christmas season has officially begun in Passau. The Christkindlesmarkt (Christmas Market) opened  on Friday. The whole city is decorated with lights and Christmas trees, it's so beautiful! We even have snow too!

But first things first. 

Below is my make-shift southwest salad. Thank you sooooo much to my parents for sending me southwest dressing! I didn't have tortilla chips, so I used Pringles instead. It was a pretty tasty salad!

My room got a make-over!!! I have a new rug and new bedding. It's so super cute! I love it! 

I also got to decorate for the holidays, thanks to the decorations that my mommy sent me :)

And now....CHRISTMAS IN PASSAU!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is Jaimie and Maria by one of the trees in town. How beautiful.

This little stand has actually been up for about a month now. They sell roasted almonds. Deeeeelicious.

Here is the big Christmas tree in town.

Entering Altstadt (the old city)
Doesn't it just look like a dream world! I love it! so cute

This guy was at the Weihnachtsmarkt wearing an inflatable Santa costume...

Cool brass ensemble playing Christmas tunes at the Weihnachtsmarkt

Below is just one of the stands where they sell 1/2 meter wurst!!! It's so crazy!

Weihnachtsmarkt

Jaimie, Maria, and me in front of the big tree at the markt

The streets decorated with lights!!!

This is where I work! Welcome to the Shamrock. It looks quite small from the outside, but it's actually huge inside. There are 2 levels of seating, 2 bars, and a dartroom on a 3rd floor.

Hope you enjoyed! It's really cool to have all the lights and see all the traditions.

also...
MERRY CHRISTMAS! I will be home on December 12th. I surprised my parents today with the news. It is their Christmas gift from me.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

It's weird not having Thanksgiving. I keep seeing on everybody's facebook "home for Thanksgiving" "love being with family" "can't wait to eat!" etc...
Weird. because here it's just Thursday! haha. Kind of funny though, I have Native American class today!! Though we're not doing anything related to Thanksgiving.
Oh well.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Sending my love from Germany. Hopefully I'll catch the parade! :)

USA! USA!

Tonight was a "Kockabend" (cooking evening). Somehow USA got roped into being the host. Well, Jaimie actually got roped into it, but I ended up doing most of the cooking. She chose the menu. She decided on pancakes. I know that sounds a bit silly, but American pancakes are quite different from European pancakes. European pancakes are more like crepes. They are very thin, not fluffy at all.
So we cooked up a HUGE batch of pancakes. A lot of international students came and loved it! We were even able to find maple syrup! (Not common in Germany...and very expensive. 5 euros was the cheapest we could find)

This is the first batch....
Didn't turn out so well. Jaimie and I ate them!

Now we're cooking!

Cooking up a storm!

Yum yum pancake batter!

Flipping the flapjacks!

Of course....peanut butter and syrup!!!

 We were so glad that so many people came to try American pancakes!!!! (which also meant we had to make A LOT
of pancakes!) hahahahaha. Love the decorations!

 Made ourselves a nice big mess

Jaimie can't wait to eat some pancakes!!

Other than the really fun Kochabend, things have been going well. My new bike is great. My classes are going well...even art history!
My job can definitely be stressful at times though :( I'm making amazing money, so it kind of makes up for it! It's nice to live a comfy life, and still be able to save up some money! :)

I miss everybody from home. Especially now that the holiday season is approaching. I am looking forward to going to Nuernberg with JW. We are going the first weekend in December to celebrate our birthdays. Nuernberg has the most famous "Christkindlesmarkt" (Christmas Market) in the world! It should be a lot of fun!!

BIKE!

What a great day! I bought a bike today!!! :)
I saw an ad for a bike, and I called and they said it costs 80 euro, which I thought was a bit pricey, but I went to look at the bike anyways and it turned out to be BRAND NEW!!!!! There wasn't a spot of dirt on the tires! They had bought it for about 200 euro for the mom, but then her doctor said she couldnt ride it because of her knees or something. So they sold it to ME for 80 euro!!! Woooohooooo
At the moment, the seat is way too low, so it's super hard to ride, but once I fix that I'll be good to go! No more 45 minute walk to and from work! :)
So excited
Pictures to come!