Traunkirchen: My First Christmas Away from Home

   Immediately preceding our trip to Rome, Sawyer, Makena, and I had a four-hour train ride that was meant to take us to Traunkirchen, where we would meet the other students and volunteers who couldn't go home for the holidays. Here, (with the help of some generous individuals) we had rented out a lodge to spend Christmas in.  Even though our flight was thirty minutes delayed, we landed and disembarked with plenty of time to make it to the train station, however, our baggage took thirty minutes to arrive. By the time it did, our train had already left. We looked online, but the train tickets had jumped up hundreds of dollars, which we couldn't afford. So, we decided to take the same four connections our original ticket had booked us for, but just an hour later without buying the ticket. When they asked for our ticket, we would show our old one. If it didn't work, we'd buy new tickets. The stressful part about this plan was that we couldn't directly view our connections anymore because we had no ticket for the right time; so we had to figure out the times between connections on the fly. It was late in the day, so if we missed one, we'd be stranded. 

   Well, it was certainly stressful. We were never quite sure we'd make it on time for the next train. On the second train, the conductor came to scan our tickets and we were all holding our breaths, but, by the grace of God and with many prayers, the ticket was valid, and it remained valid for the three trains after. We arrived in Traunkirchen at one in the morning, and I was so thankful to have arrived safely. 

   Christmas was a delight. Everyone pitched in to make delicious meals, we played games, did crafts while watching holiday films, and overall, just enjoyed each other's company. We also did a Secret Santa, which helped make it feel a bit more like Christmas, and we even woke up to stalkings in the morning. Another blessing was that we got snow. It didn't stick, but we got to walk around and see the mountains while it snowed. Most of the people there were from Brazil and/or parts of the USA that don't get snow, and it was so fun to see their excitement. I was excited to, because I love the snow, but it's a different excitement when you love something because it's familiar and not because it's new.

Here is our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Definitely ugly, and decorated 
purely with homemade ornaments, but we loved it. 

Freshly showered and wearing my new jacket (a Christmas present
from Makena and Sawyer) on Christmas Eve. 

Everyone with our Secret Santa gifts


   That didn't mean Christmas wasn't hard. I cried a couple of times. It was hard to be estranged from my family and my traditions. For example, in Brazil, they open presents on Christmas Eve, so that was what we would be doing. Really, it's no big deal when you open presents, and I didn't really care. but I didn't know this fact until Christmas Eve and when I realized I didn't get to wake up in the morning and open stalkings, have sticky buns, and open presents, things started to sink in. I had to go upstairs and cry. I cried again on Christmas day when my family called and I read the Christmas story with them and picked the first present for them to open. What made it even worse was that my entire family was together this year. and I mean everyone. Mama, Papa, Abby, Drew, Gideon, Savannah, Will, Courtney, Beckham, and Annika. 

   But, at the same time, I couldn't have asked for a better first Christmas away from home. I could have been alone in my room at school, but instead, I was surrounded by some of my closest friends in the Austrian Alps. It was such a blessing to watch everyone step up to try and make it the best experience. The efforts taken to fulfill various holiday traditions were beautiful. Like Gerlando and Larissa making pancakes with maple syrup on Christmas morning to give us Americans a sweet breakfast, and making a few special blueberry ones for Karis since that was her holiday tradition, or my friends coming upstairs to watch the 1950's version of The Grinch Whole Stole Christmas with me and allowing me to read the Christmas story before we opened presents just like papa does it at home. And what a privilege to share cultures and traditions with each other too. 

   If I can't be surrounded by my friends and family back at home, then it's these people I would want around me instead. <3

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