Last Day

Christmas and the New Year flew by, bringing my exchange to its end.

Me being me I am too lazy to type up something and really don't have the time before I fly out, so I have copied a section from my last Gumtree Gazette - although there is a little more added on the end!
I jumped back onto a train to head home, and unfortunately before I knew it my weekend
was over and my train was early, which was a drawback because it meant I had to wait for
10 minutes in -14°C weather (not a thing I would recommend to anyone!!).
I found myself back at school for the last three days before Christmas celebrations, and had
a lot of fun with my class trying to convince teachers for a ‘Weihnachtsstunde!’ (Christmas
hour) which failed most of the time...
The last day of school, I spent at my host sisters school attempting to get across the fact that
Christmas in Australia is in summer (it’s a fact that they find really hard to comprehend) as I
made a presentation about Christmas and school in Australia. That night I went out with my
other host sister to celebrate the end of school, and almost Christmas with some of her
friends and I was really glad to have bumped into a few of my school friends that night, as
well as two other exchange students!
And along came Christmas, and unfortunately, the day rained so it wasn’t a completely white
Christmas (if it was only three days earlier...) but there was enough snow to say it was! We
celebrated by heading to the Host Grandparents house for a huuuuuuge Jause (a cold
spread of meat and bread!) and the singing of the traditional Austrian Christmas Carol, Silent
Night!
Heading back to our house we then found that the Weihnachtsmann had visited and put all
our presents under the tree and we got to open all of them... which was strange for me as
this was all on the 24th!
The next day my host family was just relaxing at home and I went to (as my host sister put it
one day) my ex-host family to have a second Christmas! Here we did almost the same
things, although my 10 year old host brother was completely put out (as they had normally
celebrated the night before and just a few presents from me were under the tree) and he
yelled across the room – “Aber es ist da 25. nedd da 24. warum offen wir Geschenke?? ES
IST NEDD WEIHNACTEN!!!!” (‘But it’s the 25th not the 24th, why are we opening presents??
IT’S NOT CHRISTMAS!!!’)
I think that being in Australia would get him just a bit confused!!
After our little 2nd Christmas we headed to the movies and watched Alvin und die Chipmunks
2, and I am very proud to say I completely understood it!
After a little relaxation along came New Years, and with it a PARTY!! I celebrated with my
host family and some close friends of theirs, and learning some hilarious Austrian songs,
setting off fireworks, drinking Feuerzangerbowle and dancing the Waltz as the clock struck midnight, true
Austrian traditions.
Which brings me to now, looking around my room wondering how the hell I will pack all of
this stuff and get it home in the two weeks I have left, with all the plans in between now and
then, ranging from skiing to going to Munich.... AHHH!!!
I think packing all this collected junk will really be the biggest challenge for my year away...
And even though it’s been a whole year away, and that my time here has absolutely flown by
I still have to say I’m in a dream and just haven’t woken up yet...
I hope I can get as much done in the next two weeks as possible before I jump on that plane
(AT 6am!!!! I think it’ll kill me) and head back to reality... and the heat...
Happy New Year 

Tomorrow is my last full day in Austria and I can't believe how fast this year has flown by.
I managed to become the 'Ice Finder' when we went skiing, managing to crash on the ice no one else hit :) (We skiied Tauplitz Alm!)

I went and played 'Kugln' (almost exactly the same as bowling) with both my host families and had an amazing night with them.

I said goodbye to my class and fed them cake which I was surprised disappeared so quickly!!

And I've been packing.... one thing i really really really dont want to do. PACK :(

Oh well, Im off to my last Rotary meeting then to see Avatar 3D tomorrow so I'm pretty jam packed for my last day.

Much love.
xoxo