Thanksgiving!

I can definitely say that last Thursday was one of the most home sick days I've had since I got here! Knowing that my family was together enjoying a wonderful meal and I couldn't be there was pretty tough. So, my friend Katie and I decided to put on our own version of Thanksgiving! I was thankfully able to get through actual Thanksgiving day with occupying myself with class, pilates, visiting a Christmas marketing, and seeing Harry Potter 7. We attempted (successfully, might I add) to make our own Thanksgiving dinner.

Katie, me, and our Thanksgiving dinner!

We ran into so many problems as far as ingredients go...we needed to make a bunch of stuff from complete scratch because Germany simply doesn't have the ingredients we needed! So we made stuffing, apple, and pumpkin pie from complete scratch! Also, it was no easy task when needing to do conversions...needless to say I did more conversions last Saturday that I have ever done since high school chemistry! All we had as far as American measuring went was a tablespoon and teaspoon...so measuring out the flour for our pie crusts required me to spoon 64 tablespoons into the bowl, oh joy! And considering that neither of us has ever made a full Thanksgiving dinner before, it was a great success! My apartment didn't burn down, and we managed to feed 14 people without ruining any of the dishes! We served stuffing, mashed potatoes, a carrot dish, green bean casserole, apple pie, pumpkin pie, bread, cranberry jam, and 2 baby turkeys. All of the cooking was so worth it knowing that I could give my friends a little taste of an American tradition. A few times I found myself running to go "wash dishes" at the sink because I got so emotional because I miss my family a lot, and knowing that I won't be able to see my wonderful Cologne family a month from now. Its going to be so hard to leave, these people have made my stay here the best that it could have ever been..they're the best :) So if any of you are reading this blog, I love you guys! Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. We headed later that night to the Christmas markets in Cologne, which was a perfect ending to our holiday night :) I would try to attempt to explain what the Christmas markets are but we have nothing like it in the States. This is the best picture that I have for now.

Cliona, Katie, and I at the Neumarkt Weihnachtsmarkt

My friend and I are attempting to travel to Hamburg this weekend. Even if it doesn't work out, we're planning on doing a day trip to a big city near Cologne and possibly a party night in Dusseldorf! I hope everyone's holiday weekend brought cheer and happiness :) Bye for now!