IL NEIGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cute little French family :) 

Snowy- and windy!  

These people are incredibly smart- they lure potential customers like me with lots of sparkly Christmasy things!

BNU and snowmen someone made

This weekend, breaking from the trend of misery of the past week, was absolutely AMAZING.  It was mainly so amazing because it snowed!  Twice!!!  Now, you all know how much I adore snow- you would think that, having lived in New England for all of my life, I would be sick of the fluffy white stuff, but not so!!!!  When it snows, I am probably about as excited as someone who has never seen snow before.  So the fact that it was snowing on Saturday morning made me get dressed and ready in record time and practically run out of the apartment building.  (Side note: after almost a month of not working, the even-numbered elevator is FINALLY fixed!)  It was snowing pretty hard when I left, and I huddled under the overhang at the tram stop at the end of my street.  Luckily I didn't have to wait too long for a tram, and I took it until Place Broglie, because I knew I wanted to get pictures at the Cathédrale.  I was not let down, because after a brief stoppage, the snow started back up again in full force- it was snowing really hard!  It was sort of funny, because EVERYONE had an umbrella to fight off the killer snowflakes- I guess they've never lived in New England, and, thus, have not learned that a few snowflakes never killed anyone!  Wimps!

After walking around for a little bit and being caught in the heaviest of the snow, I made my way back toward Place de la République and got some really cute pictures- of a cute little French family out for a walk, and of some adorable little snowmen (see above).  From there, I headed over to Café Brant, my favorite café in Strasbourg, where I was supposed to meet Jinah to do work.  I ordered a cup of tea to warm up (2.50 €, a.k.a. total rip-off) and started working.  I am almost finished with the second of my 700-page books, so I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, despite the fact that I still have a lot to do.  

On Sunday, I planned to go to the Gregorian Chant mass at the Cathédrale, because I've never been to one and thought that it might be cool.  However, my plan was foiled because yesterday happened to be the anniversary of the liberation of Strasbourg (from the big mean Germans, who else?), so instead of singing at the 9:30 mass, as they typically do, the Gregorian chant group sang at 11:00 mass. Oh well.  After church, I wandered over to the gym, followed (after a shower) by yet another trip to Café Brant for hot chocolate and more studying with Jinah.  Apparently, it's the place to be on Sunday nights- oh wait, maybe because it's pretty much the only place that's OPEN!!!  On my way home, it started to snow again (!!!!!!!!!!), only this time, it was downright freezing!  And windy too.  It literally did go from a pretty moderate climate on Friday to absolutely freezing overnight, because it really started to get chilly after the first snowstorm.  So, contrary to my previous plan of sending my Uggs home, I will be keeping them.  However, for packing purposes, I think I need to send my heavy sweaters home.  Layering will have to be the name of the game, I guess...

So now, there are really only 3 more days, until Thanksgiving, until it's appropriate to get really excited for Christmas.  Of course, I've been listening to Christmas music for over a week (I'm listening to the master, Bing Crosby, right now- he is my unrivaled favorite for favorite Christmas musician), but the fact that it's almost Thanksgiving is really exciting.  When I was Skyping with tout le monde this weekend (that's the other part that made this weekend so great!), everyone asked me how I was celebrating the holiday in France, and I told them that the whole Georgetown group and our host families are going out to a restaurant on Thursday night, and then, I think on Saturday night, some friends and I will be cooking an ACTUAL Thanksgiving dinner (minus the turkey, since one of the other girls besides me is a vegetarian), because my mom sent me stuffing mix, pumpkin pie mix, and, most importantly, cranberry sauce.  Yum!  I can't wait.  And ALSO...the Christmas Market starts this coming weekend, and I am pretty much giddy with excitement!!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope all is well with all of you!  If I don't get a chance to talk to you in person, I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving with your families, whether it be your actual family, your host family, or a group of good friends.  Hopefully, I will see many of you very soon!

Sending you my love,

Kristen