Thanksgiving

One of the theaters in the Festival House

One of the views of the Christmas Market

Another view of the Christmas Market

And a third view

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
This week has been full of work. I have finished two papers, along with other homework, but still two more to go. I am planning on a big ski trip this weekend with my host brother Zach. It should be amazing! Also this week I visited the Christmas Market and the Salzburg Festival House. The Salzburg festival is a festival of different Operas, plays and music that goes on in Salzburg every year. It was started in 1920 by Max Reinheart. It was pretty cool to tour the facility which includes three different auditoriums and a really cool reception hall. We also visited the Christmas market. This is a really cool place, but if you thought Christmas started early in the states... we have been inundated with it here for almost two weeks now... and its not even December. The market was quite a place, including hundreds of shops colored in green, with decorations, lights, Christmas trees. And the entire city has been decorated with lights. Its pretty magical. I am really excited for the first snowfall, then things will really look beautiful. There is also a skating rink, a cool hangout area, and lots of Glühwein. This is simply regular wine, combined with cinnamon, spices, oranges, and other secret ingredients. It is famous in the region and all other Christmas markets in Austria. Last night was our final cooking class. We cooked hundreds of cookes and numerous pies and other sweets for our "Thanksgiving meal" Thats right! We actually are having Thanksgiving here, we are cooking Turkey, have apple pies, and mashed potatoes (not the same as home, but still nice). We meet at 6 for dinner, and my host buddy Silvia is even going. It should be a lot of fun, and a nice time to just relax and enjoy everyone's company. Last night they were filming again for "Knight and Day". My friend Anne and I were walking down the street with a chopper flying over us, and different lights illuminating everything in sight. We walked into a police baracade, and just as we did, a man yelled "action!". The chopper swooned overhead, shining a spotlight on a building across the river. 4 actors dressed as the Police jumped out of their cars and pointed their guns at the building, a man was jumping on the rooftops... maybe Tom?? Who knows, we didn't stick around long, because after this 30 second shoot they took a 15 minute break, and we were already cold. Rumor has it that Tom jumped from one of the buildings into the Salzach (the river) I guess we will have to wait until the movie comes out. Tomorrow we are planning on playing basketball with the Austrians again, and last week two of the guys from our school were interviewed for it and got their names and a quote in the paper. My recital is a little over a week away, and I have just finished memorizing all of my pieces. I am excited, but I still have to write the 10 min lecture about them... gah. I think that's everything. Thanks for reading, and again, Happy Thanksgiving!
-Chris-