Some Photos from Winter Break

Chriselle(nicole's host mom) making lasagna noodle. You can see the rounds on the right, and then the awesome pasta machine. There is a dial on the side to make them get thinner each time you run the pasta through. By the end, it was almost paper thin, and so fresh and yummy.

Homemade bolognese sauce bubbling away on the stove

Lots of work to make that pasta, plus lots of counter space, but totally worth it. You can also see Joesph(nicole's host father) chopping up hard-boiled eggs, which he mixed with the Parmesan cheese, before layering it in with the lasagna.

A beautiful, fresh piece of fantastic lasagna. It was so big, but so good that I had no trouble finishing it.

Since it is vacation, there are often little surprises. Joseph went to the bakery to buy bread, and came back with a special treat too, just because he felt like it. Nicole had this cake, filled with pastry cream.

Theo enjoying his chocolate éclair. I had a coffee éclair, which was great.

Beautiful Cologne, with Nicole's host parents in the picture too. In the next picture nicole took of me, they are dancing and making funny faces, but she was laughing so hard that she couldn't hold the camera steady so the picture turned out blurry.

Nicole and I in front of some very typical German architecture of the neighborhood. I would tell you what is written on the buildings, but I honestly have no idea. We saw a postcard later in the day with these exact four buildings and were like, "Ha, don't need to buy that postcard. We have the exact picture, plus with us in it, so it's even better."

One of the many booths at the Christmas Market

The ice skating rink and ferris wheel at the medieval Christmas market.

As you can see, I'm really enjoying my German, soft, lightly-salted pretzel.