Hello, hi, szia, hola, whatever your language of choice may be!

Well yes, it's already January and I am just now sending a report for December in, but hey, better late then never!

 Well, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays, and I hope everyone made the best of it whether you are at home or away! Alright, now I'll get to the point! I left off in the middle of November, so I'll fill you in from there! On November 23, the day after Thanksgiving, was my birthday. So as you can imagine, it was a bit tough for me. Not only was the Thanksgiving celebration non-existent, but my B-day was lacking my old friends and family as well. But despite being homesick, (yes I admitted it!) I still had fun! My host family had a cake and champaign for me, and some of my friends and I all went out to have fun. I won't go into details, but it was cool!

Between then and Christmas, life went on as normal. I went to Vienna twice, once was with Rotary and I was able to hang out with Jamie and a few other exchange kids. After hearing that none of the exchange kids from Hungary speak Hungarian yet, I think Jamie was glad to be learning German, she was very good at it to, I might add! Although Vienna was nice, I like the familiarity of Budapest and the life I have come to know here!

Well the Hungarian Christmas starts early. On December 6th, they have Mikulas (sorry if I misspelled that!) day. On the night before the kids go home and clean their boots and then put them by their windows. At night Mikulas, aka Santa puts candy in them. Then his helpers can be seen throughout the city the next day. On each of the four Sundays before Christmas, when lunch, our main meal, is eaten, one candle is lit on the wreath. These celebrations along with the huge Christmas market in Budapest and the famous hot wine, continue until Christmas Eve. On this day, most families buy a Christmas tree, (some families buy earlier), then after lunch, the tree is decorated with a special type of candy (chocolate with filling inside) that doesn't exist in the states, along with the normal decorations, except candy canes which they don't have. It is a popular tradition that for the Christmas lunch, you chose what you want to eat, and often times that is the only time you eat that meal. Since I am a picky eater, I was happy with mashed potatoes anduntiles, while my host family had Salmon from Germany! After the tree is decorated and lunch is eaten, the gifts are exchanged. Then they sing a few Christmas songs and everyone is content until midnight when they go to church. Because I was sick, I was not allowed to attend. Yes, for those of you that know me, I am still sick. I know, I know, I should take vitamins and wear a hat when I go out, and eat proper, and stand on my head and juggle apples and bannans with my feet, ect, ect!!! Anyways the next few days following Christmas, we travelled to visit the rest of the family and celebrate.

After a few days of Christmas it was time for the parties again. I went out almost every night with different groups of friends. Before Christmas there were many parties as well, so I will have to admit that when school starts again it will be much needed rest! I also saw five really good theater performances...the nutcracker, the Jungle Book, an English performance I can't remember the name to, another show I don't know the name of, but an old exchange student who was in FL, Miklos, was in it, and Padlás (the attik). They were all great, and I thank everyone who took me to see them! Despite the difficult language, I absolutly loved Padlás, a Hungarian performance and I am hoping to see it again sometime! I owe many thanks to the wonderful parents and sister of current inbound Ben!

Well, for New Years, known as Szilveszter here, I went with my host sister to a little city called Szeged. Everyone in Hungary parties like there is no end on New Years. There were fireworks and lots of drinks. It was alot of fun but very very exhausting!

So that was my life in general! I cannot believe I have been here for over four months....what an experience! Well, I apologize to all of you that I haven't written to in a while, and as I always say, I will try to write more soon, but even if I don't I am still thinking of you all! I hope all other exchange students are enjoying their lives as well!! Miss you all!
 

Love Kelly!!