Christmas Holiday!

So my Christmas vacation (or holiday as they say here in the Czech) got off to a slow and rather unplanned start. My last class was on Thursday and after taking in some fun Czech Christmas parties my roommate Leah and teammate Emily and I packed up and headed to the train station to catch our train to Budapest, Hungary. Well.......we got there and the train was 40 minutes late. So if we would miss our connection in some other random town that I can't pronounce. So we decided to go home and wait for another train that would get us in to Budapest around 2:30 am. 2:30? Not that bad right considering. Oh, but no! We take a closer look at we realize that we would have to spend 3 hours at the train station in Brno and get in to Budapest around 8:30 am. So we X that idea because none of us want to spend 10 hours on a train and 3 at a station. So we opt for number 3: leave at 2:30 AM from Ostrava and head straight to Budapest and get there at 8:30 am. At least we don't have to switch trains and it's only 6 hours. And we all agreed that it will be nice to get into the city while there is light outside and no night buses that only run once an hour. I can only shake my head and laugh at traveling in a different country.

So my plans for this Christmas break is to spend the first couple days (and Christmas itself) in Budapest with my roommate and some other ESI teachers. First Christmas away from home...but it's looking to be a good one! On the 23rd we are planning on spending the day shopping in Vienna (I love that I can say that-"Oh I'm just popping over to Austria-no biggie") and then on the 26th Leah and I will be going to Bratislava to spend some time with our ESI friend Ashley. Then Leah, Ashley, Ashley's friend from America and I will all being going to Salzburg, Austria where we will meet up with another ESI friend Deanna. I'm pretty excited to see all the fun places from Sound of Music and to visit the church where Silent Night was written. It's going to be a great break! Then Leah and I will be going home to Ostrava on the 1st of Jan. Gotta rest and relax and prep for classes to begin again. So those are my plans and I will keep up updated on whatever happens! Have a very Merry Christmas!