i know, i know its Jan. 21st. but hey better late than never is what i say. so um lets start with Thanksgiving..

Thanksgiving: I had to at my apartment. I think i fed 21 people? People came all throughout the day on Saturday bringing the food they made and some cooked while the rest hung out watched football and talked about things. We ate some delicious turkey (compliments of Katie buying it in Sofia to make sure we had Turkey on Thanksgiving. what a team player), stuffing, mashed potatoes, lots of desserts, and whatever else  you typically have on Thanksgiving. After this eating-all- you-can eat fest we went to the discotec in my town. We stayed for a total of maybe 45 mins. You see, Turkey makes one tired and the discotec sucked. A lot of people left early the following morning and when i woke there were 2 people in my apt.: Tobias and Angelo. Oh and I also woke to a sink full of dishes, food all over the kitchen, and no electricity. awesome. so glad these boys stayed. we took care of the electricity issue, watched Primal Fear, cleaned the kitchen, ate the leftovers all day long (this is a necessary for the day after thanksgiving), then procecced to watch some more football.

Christmas: Neil kindly hosted Christmas this year. haha probably wont do it next. He lives in a town called Knezha (Kene-sha). pretty little town. Everybody got there on Christmas Eve and we had dinner at what is called a Mehana. I think it can be described as a restraunt/bar/hostel. We had a White Elephant exchange and just sat around and enjoyed each others company. The Mehana allowed some of us to sleep there because Neil's apartment couldn't hold the amount of people that came. I was one of the "lucky" ones to sleep at the Mehana. I slept on a bench that had a beautiful curvature to make one feel good in the morning. Next morning, went to Neil's apartment and hung out all day. did nothing really. Some people played some football in the first snowfall we saw in Bulgaria!! (sidenote: it snowed Christmas Morning!! my absolute favorite. Some of the other volunteers had never seen a White Christmas. i liked being apart of thier first experience of what a White Christmas is). Next day, hung out again and enjoyed the bliss of doing nothing. Next morning, went to Billy's place. He lives in a town north of Knezha called Nikopal. Cozy little town super close to Romania where one can see the Danub. pretty awesome. Billy very well may be the best host i have ever had (i think it may be his Texas roots). i hope you are reading this little shout out to you.

New Years: Day before New Years Eve i get a call to go to Varna. you know me, i cant pass up sponantaity. so of course i went. hop on a train and 4 hours later i am standing in front of the Black Sea admiring the splendor of it all. be jealous right now. After all this excitment of being in a bigger city and seeing legit clothes stores, McDonalds, coffee shops, and KFC we trek to the hotel. And by we i mean Ashley, Neil, Tobias, Billy and I. Get ready for a night on the town and enjoy the nightlife that Varna provides. At midnight (literally running out to the center) we catch some fireworks that go on for what seemed forever. which i am way more than okay with... got back to the hotel late and slept in only to wake up to hunger pains for McDonalds. hooray. you know i never really liked McDonalds but until you dont get the freedom to have gressy frenchfries and what may seem like a day old hamburger you will miss it. After munching down on a Big Mac (go big or go home, right Brit?) i got to enjoy the sauna that the hotel had. awesome. After this we went to the Varna mall. drank some coffee and went to the Bowling alley. i love me some bowling. i am awful but i love it! after the good times went back to the hotel to get up early the next day to catch the train back to what now seems like boring town compared to what i did for my holidays.

love you and sorry for the silence,
Jenna