Sorry about the delay writing. I'm noticing that most of my reports start like that...hmmm...anyway. I've had a really busy month. Christmas eve I went to m friends house and helped to decorate her tree, since I was feeling very seasony and my host family didn't have a tree. We went to a friends house for Christmas Eve dinner. They had candles on the tree. So do all Austrian houses. Real ones. No one here worries, but I, being paranoid, was just waiting for the Christmas tree to burst into flame. Christmas Eve is more important here than Christmas day, and it is when gifts are exchanged. I got a cd and some chocolate from my host family. Then on Christmas day we went up to friends' cabin. We had to walk up and down a very slippery, snowy mountain to get up and down from there (an hour each way), but once there. The only down part of the evening was when I crippled our host accidentely, by swinging a ski into her knee. I was walking around in skiis to get a feeling for them. I felt pretty bad about the injury. She limped around the rest of the day. Oops. 

I went skiing over New Years with my host family. I was supposed to take a three day lesson course, but it ended up being half a day at the end. The first day we were there my host mom showed me how to stop and turn. I wasn't very successful. Second day I slept past lessons, so my host dad showed me again how to stop and turn. I did better. I was able to stop and remain standing. Sehr cool. That was New Years Eve, and I didn't go to sleep till 7 am New Years morning, so I didn't go to ski class that day either. Then the next day I finally did. We learned how to stop and turn. Hmmm. I did well. Then we went home.

My mom then visited for a few days, and I showed her Feldkirch. I got a big ol' bag of college brochures from her, as well as some books and stuff. The day she left I switched host families. My new host family lives right in the center of Feldkirch, and I have a host sister. It's just the host mom and the host sister living at home. They are really nice. 

I went to Vienna again overnight last weekend. My friend got her purse stolen, but it was otherwise fun. We had to go to the airport at an ungodly hour to say goodbye to the departing Aussies, the reason for our trip. Then we hung out some more before heading home. I missed my stop on the train, so I had to wait till the next one back, so I got home pretty late.  

Yesterday I went to my first matura ball. It's kind of like prom, I guess. It's for the graduating class, and they have a performance, and parents come. After the performance there is dancing though, and it was a lot of fun. We got home at like 4:30 in the morning and slept till noon. I have another one on Friday, and I think I will go straight from it to school. I won't be the only one.

That's basically my month right there. January was pretty busy so far. I'm visiting Italy for a week in February, which I'm excited about. I'll tell you how it went in my next report.

 
Luky