Garmisch Parternkirchen

Last weekend Josh and I went skiing at Garmisch. It was so incredibly cool! It's the resort below Zugspitze, the tallest peak in Germany. It was a huge mountain and there was so much to ski and so much powder! The powder was amazing. I haven't skiied in powder all season and it felt so good. The visibility wasn't fantastic but that meant that the higher Josh and I went, the less people there were. The first half of the day was better but not by much. The whole day was great. We found this run where you skiied through a gap in the mountains with a sign that said, "Please don't loiter. Falling rocks." That led into this long, windy powder filled run that was so cool! Also, there were trees! I haven't encountered any tree skiing until this point and it was so much fun. I just jumped in and was bouncing all over the place and dodging branches and having a great time. Josh followed me half the time. The other half he just let me play and skiied down the groomed stuff. It was one of those skis days that reminded me of Alta and I felt so at home. It was so incredible. The scenery was also incredibly stunning. Josh and I stopped at some points and just stared. The Alps are beautiful but deadly. It's the kind of beauty that takes your breathe away but scares the hell out of you at the same time. I understand why people talk about skiing in the Alps now. Very worth it. Also, a great break from essays and studying for finals.This is kind of a short post, I just got so excited about the ski day that I decided to blog about it. Love ya'll!

Finals Week

Finals week is no fun. I had my first final today and it went well, it just took me two hours. I'm very ready for finals to be over though. My work is slowly getting done. I finished one of the papers and presented it to the class. It went really well and now that's over. The final for that class, Landeskunde, is tomorrow. My Kunstgeschichte paper is halfway done and due on Thursday. Shouldn't take me too long. My Lit paper, whose final was today, is also halfway done but will take longer cuz my brain doesn't want to process any more intense German. It keeps trying to give up but I won't let it. I'm actually really proud of myself that I'm done so well on the work so far. My German has also gotten really good so writing a 15-page paper in German doesn't seem nearly as hard as it would have two months ago. It still hurts.
I'm getting really stoked for Saturday! We're going to Mainz first and then flying to Venice. I'm going to Venice! Still can't wrap my head around that. I can't wait for this trip. It's gonna be a great break. I'm still stressing about this week though. Somehow I'll get through it. It also feels weird to be going through finals right now because we didn't get a reading week and everyone else has just started their second semester. All my friends in the States anyway. I'm just ending my first semester.
I honestly don't know how this much time has passed. Last Friday was the 5 Month Mark and that felt so weird. I can't believe I've been in Germany for five months. It seems like so much longer and so much shorter. I barely remember Oktoberfest and Thanksgiving. I'm still so grateful that I'm here and get to stay here for another six months. It feels really cool and really odd at the same time. I have fallen completely in love with Europe and part of me never ever ever wants to come home. It's been such an amazing experience so far and will continue to be.
Hope everyone back home is doing well. Love ya'll!
Emily