Bratislava? Weih nacht?

Big Sword in Bratislava
Bratislava!
Me with my professor, acting dignified and poised.
The girls


Okay so back to Thanksgiving...it was a lot of fun! IES took us out to Baden in the country side and we had dinner at a little restaurant. I set up a talent show (the first ever) and it went very well, lots of fun. Some guy played the banjo, there was a sweet performance of "the final countdown," and "Amadeus," which of course everyone knew the words to. The horn quartet played, I wore a silly hat....yeah good times! I ended up sitting with most of the girls from 1812 and next to my professor, Dr. Solvik and had a lot of fun talking about non-school things. Jacy prompted me to tell him a few stories of my band camp misadventures, which I'm sure tarnished my gleaming innocent reputation in his eyes, hahaha.
How is it already December?!!! I have been gearing up for the day when my girls take off and I'm freaking out a little bit-but Mom and Erin will be here soon, and then my friend Renee is coming...so it will be just fine.
1812 had a family dinner for Heiligen Nikolaustag and lit the advent wreath, and it was SO much fun, I haven't been so full this entire trip. Jacy and I made a recipe from the Austrian cookbooks we bought. It was a chicken with stuffing, and I thought it was going to be a dumpy disaster, but it was actually way tasty! Julia and Natalie made potato salad, Katie made green beans and bread, Lindsay provided champagne, and Amanda made toffee and Punsch! There were tons of desserts to eat...lots of candy and Reeses bars from Jacy.
We did a secret Santa; I had Katie and I got her some ornaments, a Punsch mug for Schoenbrunn, chocolates, and a letter stamp with wax for writing letters.
Julia was mine and she got me an awesome green scarf with music notes, and these really good chocolate liquor candies it was totally sweet.
Sooo much fun!
The next day Natalie, Jacy and I went to Bratislava, which was really cheap and easy and a nice day trip. This is the last month they will ever be on the Euro, so there was a little bitterness when we tried to pay...understood! Most people were really nice about it. The coolest thing was St. Michael's gate, where they have an armory museum and a great view from the tower 7 stories up. The Weihnachtsmarkt was really cool there, and we went to a chocolate cafe, where they served us melted chocolate in a bowl....not fondue. Chocolate bowl.
Finals are coming up shortly, I'm trying to finish up strong! I just don't want to put so much time into things that I end up missing the last couple days I have with my amazing friends.

Thanks for reading!
Bis Spaeter <3