Best study break EVER

Yesterday morning I had a final and then I was planning to study in Starbucks for the rest of the day. That plan went partially out of the window when I found out that Michael Bublé was performing Christmas songs at the Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt. 


It. was. amazing. Seriously, I can't explain my emotions other than joyous. Pure Christmas joy. And the fact that I was ridiculously close to him just made me wonder, is this real? This doesn't feel like real life. 

Michael Bublé

At the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church Weihnachtsmarkt

Ku'Damm

Attempting a picture

Blurry but cute at the medieval Weihnachtsmarkt in Spandau

Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt

Here are some more pictures from the Weihnachtsmarkt - they are literally irresistible! Only one more final stands in the way of my week. Tonight? I'm going to see the ballet Swan Lake. And only 4 more days until I'm in Vienna with Sally!

My day just got a million times better.

Even though I'm in the middle of my finals (1 down, 2 to go!) - I just found out that Michael Buble is performing at a Christmas market here in Berlin for free. Skipping on studying for a few hours to go see Michael Buble...so worth it. And I managed to upload a couple more videos, hopefully they work?

Inside the Colosseum

Vatican City

Study break!

I was trying to upload more videos but they were taking too long, so I decided to upload some more pictures. I have my Transatlantic Relations final tomorrow, so I'm studying for that. I have another final on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I'm done! Michelle and I are planning a bakery hopping day on Thursday where we hit up all the best bakeries in Berlin and making a stop at the Hofbrauhaus.

Thanksgiving beers in the airport? Ja, bitte!

In front of the Schloss Charlottenburg

Please make note of my bare feet -- I'm not freezing all the time anymore!

Attempting to upload some videos...

At a beautiful beach in Ibiza, Spain

At the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy

On top of Mount Vesuvius near Naples, Italy

Please excuse my narrations! And uploading videos is taking a lot longer than I thought it would, so those are the only videos I will post right now. 

Why Weihnachtmärkte are the greatest things in the world

1. Germans go all out with decorating these markets. They make sure to include every small, intricate detail to make it look amazing. All the lights and decorations? Absolutely amazing.

Weihnachtsmarkt at Schloss Charlottenburg

2. There are so many delicious drinks! My new favorite drink might be Baileys in hot chocolate. No wait, it's a tie with Glühwein. And they serve it to you in these precious cups that you can keep (as long as you don't want your security deposit back). Perfect souvenirs!

Delicious hot chocolate in my cute cup!

3. All the shopping is amazing! There are so many vendors that have handmade jewelry, decorations, ornaments, toys, clothes, accessories -- and some of these things are incredibly detailed and beautiful. When I walk through these booths, I literally want to buy everything.

I may or may not have gotten a present here...

Some outdoor stalls selling wonderful German goodness

4. I'm surprised at how authentic everything is. It's pretty cool to see them brewing your Glühwein right in front of you while listening to a band play Christmas music and talking to a vendor who hand carved all their ornaments.

Brewing up some Glühwein

5. FOOD. Can I just pick up a German Christmas market and transport it to California with all of its food? I definitely had a gigantic chocolate covered pretzel. That's right, I said a chocolate covered pretzel. so good. And I got to sample some very expensive chocolate covered Lebkuchen. And there was a Polish stand selling pierogi and the lady thought it was very entertaining when my friend and I freaked out when we saw it. Any type of German cuisine is there from pretzels, cheese, sausages, roasted nuts, candy, chocolate, cookies, and cakes. 

My big chocolate covered pretzel

My mission is to hit up as many of these markets as possible!

Thanksgiving in London

That's kind of a lie. Technically, my Thanksgiving dinner was a beer, burger, and fries in the Berlin airport. But I did get to spend some time in the airport with Michelle and Danielle before they left for Switzerland, so that was nice! After trekking it from Luton airport and King's Cross, I finally made it to my friend Jillian's flat in East London.


Hyde Park & Kensington Park - After picking up a map, I decided to see London from West to East, starting with Kensington Park. It was so beautiful! Kensington Palace was under construction, so I couldn't go in, but the gardens outside were so pretty and peaceful.

Kensington Palace

They came right up to me!

Harrods

Harrods - This place is fancy. Real fancy. I definitely had my pinkies out when I was sipping tea in the Harrods Tea Room. And the scones were absolutely delicious! I honestly don't know how we call those things scones in America. When I saw a sign that pointed to Christmas World, I immediately thought "Yes. Take me to Christmas World!" It was the most decorative Christmas section I have ever seen - each part of the floor had a theme like candy cane, traditional, winter wonderland, etc. It made me so excited for Christmas! And outside, the window displays had these gorgeous Swarovski gowns that were something like 25,000 pounds.

Christmas World

'

Having my cuppa tea in Harrods

Buckingham Palace - Definitely not as big as I thought it was, but still cool! I think the Queen was in, but no sighting!

Buckingham Palace

Parliament Square, Big Ben, & Westminster Abbey - I have seen pictures of Big Ben, but nothing compares to seeing the real thing. The area surrounding the Houses of Parliament were very busy and there was a ton of tourists. I loved Westminster Abbey and I wish I could have spent some more time there!

Big Ben and the London Eye in the background

Westminster Abbey

Tower Bridge at night

Thank goodness the Brits had a Chipotle!

Going to Hogwarts!

This actually isn't a vacation.

Despite what you people think, I actually have to do some school work. Some. I will compromise and say that studying comes first and traipsing around Europe comes in at a close second place. Good news? I got great grades on my term papers. Bad news? I had my German final exam yesterday and adjective endings will be the death of me. I'm going to have to take the route of "what sounds right", instead of actually learning the adjective endings in combination with the genders of each noun. For all you non-German speakers, all German nouns have a gender that is important to the word and sentence structure. Some nouns make perfect sense, many do not. It doesn't matter now since I am done with my German exam!


I swear I'm going to upload my London pictures today and give all the details! I have been super busy this week with studying and preparing for the rest of my finals next week. It's really starting to hit me that I'm leaving in 2 weeks. And it's really hard to focus when you're in a city that LOVES Christmas and has a million Christmas markets all over the city. I went to my first  Christmas market on Monday, as an excursion for my class, and I loved it! It's so cute and perfect for walking around, browsing while drinking gluhwein. I'm already scouting out all the gifts I want to bring back for everyone.


And I still have a list of things that I need to do here in Berlin, I need to get on that ASAP! Alright, maybe I should study a little bit for my exams...