Lübeck Christmas Market

Saying I went to Germany on Sunday to shop at the Christmas markets would be a serious understatement. I should have known things were headed south on Friday when I received an email from DIS saying Denmark was bracing for a storm over the weekend with rain and high winds. But of course my brain told me everything would be fine, since I would be going to Germany.

The day started at 4am when the fire alarm went off in my residence hall. Don't worry, it was a false alarm. Then I woke up at 6:30 to make the bus for the trip, so I think it's easy to say I had an early morning! To get to Germany from Denmark you have to take a ferry (to get there quickly). I was so seasick on the ferry, I couldn't wait to be off and onto the bus again! The ocean was really rocky and the boat kept swaying, I've never been seasick before that and I hope I never am again.

Once we were off the ferry we had another hour on the bus, so we watched Love Actually (quite possibly the best Christmas movie ever) until we arrived! I'm really glad the market had enough to entertain us for a while, because the weather on Sunday made me want to run back to the bus and sit there until it was time to go. But my friends and I explored the stands filled with ornaments, food and mittens. We ate way more than we thought we could. Every time it started raining again we'd buy something else to keep us warm and happy! I ate so much traditional German food because of this!

After we bought what we wanted and ate one last thing (doughnut poppers with confectioner's sugar on top - delicious), we piled back on the bus and started to head home. The only problem was the wind was so strong the bridge leading to the ferry dock had been shut down, and our bus driver had to cross it illegally to catch our ferry. On the other side we were in a huge traffic jam and missed our boat. Because of this, we waited for an extra hour at the ferry dock. I didn't mind this so much because we were watching Slumdog Millionaire (another one of my favorite movies) and that passed the time! Thankfully my friend had dramamine with her and I took it before we got on the ferry. That was probably the best decision of my day - the water was so choppy everyone was swaying and stumbling around the boat and one older woman fell! Definitely not a fun way to spend my evening, but it was an experience.

Scarlett about to eat her pile of doughnuts... so delicious.

On the last part of our trip home we passed a car fire, just to top off our evening I guess! Thankfully it looked like everyone was safe and not hurt. On my bike ride home from DIS I was sweating and could barely catch my breath because the wind was so strong I had to peddle in the lowest gear and only went about two miles per hour. But after all that food I guess I needed a workout... Needless to say I was very thankful to arrive home safe and sound with my purchases unharmed! I had such a fun and interesting day in Germany, and am definitely now in the Christmas spirit!

I can't believe I only have three more weeks left here in Denmark (20 days - yikes!). I have so much I want to do and see while at the same time I can't wait to start packing and head home (mostly because I love the challenge of packing). This week I'm catching up on work and prepping for finals, but this weekend I have some great trips planned! 

- Devon