Awesome last weeks in Europe...now Home at last!

So the last bit of my stay in Europe was awesome(with the exception of final exams but by God's grace I made it through them!)...I got to go ice skating in City Park which was a blast... Then on Friday,Libby and I went back to Vienna one last time to see the Christmas markets there with Lisa, we had such a fun time...it has been so neat to experience Europe at this time of year and to see all the Christmas markets, they are such a huge part of the culture and so much fun!
We were so sad leaving Vienna and saying goodbye to Lisa...but hopefully one day we can visit again!

So then we got back to Budapest by train and I checked out the christmas market by Parliament on my way home, it was pretty awesome, Parliament is definitely one of my favorite sights in Budapest and it was so close to where we lived!

I had finals up until Thursday night so those days were pretty busy and stressful but I discovered that baking and cooking helps relieve my stress haha...and I made lots of yummy concoctions in the mean time...

On Thursday night we had our last Bible Study and it was so great, I will really miss everyone there so much but I am just so thankful that I got a chance to do it and I am so excited that it will continue in the future for the other students going over! A group of us girls stayed after and watched home alone and then by the time it was over we realized the public transportation had stopped running, whoops, haha you would think we would be on top of such things by now, we were just having so much fun so we had to walk back...I'm actually really glad we did though even though it was freezing, we were frolicking alongside the river haha and singing christmas carols along with random songs like "Thousand Miles" and some kelly clarkson songs haha....such good memories, by the time I got back I had to pack and clean up some around our place and we had been planning to go see the sunrise at the fishermen's bastion in the morning so I never really got to sleep...I took like a 2 hour nap and then we were on our way to the castle district...

(unfortunately my camera died before the sun actually came up but I'll be able to share pictures with Libby and it was kind of nice just to relax and watch it and not worry about taking pictures...)Seeing the sunrise was one of my favorite experiences, it was incredible, God really blessed us too because it was our last day and just about every other morning had been foggy and rainy but it was clear and so beautiful! I will never forget it...we brought gummy bears and cookies with us too, haha what a healthy breakfast...well then we were off to school to turn in our keys and everything, it was so sad leaving our directors Dr. Mandy and Margo, they were like our host-moms, they were so sweet and helpful, I hope to see them again someday! After saying goodbye we went to Tesco one last time and did some last minute shopping and then we went to get a kuroskulacs, a turkish honey cake for the last time, we will miss those, they are so good and they make them right there so they're still hot, my favorite is the one with hazlenuts on it! If you ever go to Budapest you cannot leave without trying one of these! Then we got the ever so popular chicken gyro for lunch and we headed back home to continue packing and getting stuff together, at around 4 it started snowing, and the snowflakes were the biggest i have ever seen, we had so much fun running around the streets and trying to catch them in our mouths! So we wanted to hike up Gellert Hill where their lady Liberty is to see the view of the city on our last night! It was incredible and quite an adventure getting there too!

Then we went to the Christmas market at Vorosmarty ter one last time and I got my last giant pretzel, I will miss those!It was such a good way to end our stay in Budapest though and I decided I have to return one day, hopefully with some of my family so I can show them around...Budapest really did become like my home away from home and I loved the whole semester, I am so thankful to have had such an experience! Now I am home safely and yesterday i had such a good time seeing family and friends and celebrating my 19th birthday, I missed them all so much and it was such a great day...I'm still getting used to the time adjustment but enjoying my nice soft bed at last, haha, those hungarians like to sleep on rocks...I learned so much though this semester about people, other cultures, myself, life....one thing I do know is I could never live that far away from my family, it would be entirely too hard, I am so blessed to have the family that I do and I'm so glad to be home where they aren't so far away!