My vacation in Vermont is over now…
I am sitting at home again writing this post. While I was in Vermont, sitting on the sofa on a snowy day, I thought about making a little video about my time there. I enjoy making movies on my laptop even I am not that good at it.
So just lean back and watch my little creation. I hope you like it
PS.: My workout/diet week starts tomorrow and I am super excited for it. I am sure it will be good for my body and I will hopefully feel better after this week.
Click here for the video
Friday, November 29, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Vermont
As I told you all, the time came when I flew to Vermont for Thanksgiving
But before I talk about that, I have to tell you the sad news that we lost the football game on Thursday. We played against a private school so technically we are the best public school of Iowa what is pretty impressive.
Then I went to the movies with my friend Jasmine. We watched Catching Fire and it was one of the best movies I have ever seen!!
I also got the confirmation that I am on the tour and it brightens up my life! I am looking forward to it, because it will be such a unique experience with so many friends I already know (some students from my district travel too) and with friends I don't know yet… Can't wait for it!
Now to Vermont:
We started our journey on Saturday morning with a 4 hour drive to Chicago. We left the airport there to Manchester, New Hampshire and it took about two and a half hours. Then we drove to Stowe, Vermont. Becky told me that we got into a snowstorm, but I can't remember, because I was sleeping all the way.
Here we are living in an apartment, kind of, with Becky's sister Sarah and her husband Don. Becky's grandchildren Izzy and Isabella came too, but left today.
On Sunday we drove to the downtown of Stowe and went a little bit of shopping in the local souvenir stores.
Monday was the ski-day for Sarah, Don and me. The "mountains" are more like hills, but it was ok. It's good for skiing and it was a lot of fun! It is not the same as skiing with my dad and I miss him, but better than no skiing. The ski lift is made by Doppelmayr, an austrian company! Two people talked with me about my skiing skills and it made me a little bit proud.
Today, Tuesday, we drove to Burlington, the biggest city of Vermont, to go shopping!! I got a lot of new stuff for Christmas from my new hostmum Becky and it was a really good day. I have been in the store "Urban Outfitters" for the first time and it was awesome! I love it and have seen so much of their stuff on fashion blogs before, but we don't have it in Austria, so I have never had the chance to get into one.
At this point I want to thank Sarah and Don for taking me skiing and Don and Becky (yes we have two Dons here) for taking me on this trip and buying me all the things today! THANK YOU!
I also want to congratulate my dad. It was his birthday on Friday the 22nd. He is the most amazing man I know and I love him to death. I have always been "Daddy's girl" and I also look like him. He will always be the man number one in my life and I am sad that we couldn't spend his special day together, but we already decided that we will make it up when I am back. He did so much for me in my life and I am thankful for every moment I can spend with him. Thank you dad for being who you are - my dad!
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| Theresa & I Yes I look tired, because I was sleeping on the way to the stadium |
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| Lost… Don't care |
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| Sadness Yepp, orange hair that day |
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| I am proud to be a Demon! Good job guys! |
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| Catching Fire! Oh my god?! |
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| Aaaaaah! |
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| Little Chicago over there |
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| I feel so free when I fly. I love taking the airplane... |
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| Okay this needs a little explanation: My best friend and I decided to take a split picture everywhere we go. As America is such a huge country, we said one state counts like a "country", so here it is, the first split picture in the series! |
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| Photobooth with Isabella |
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| Innsbruck? Is that you? |
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| I am one lucky girl to be able to say I am from Austria, where the mountains are! |
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| The "mountains" |
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| Skiing! |
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| Notice the american flag. It's everywhere |
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| Burlington mall |
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| I really liked the buildings in Burlington |
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| Thank you! |
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| Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks Love their winter collection |
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| Just chilling on this thingy |
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| *-* |
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| Found this wall in Burlington. I would guess it was about 20 meters long |
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| Oh beautiful Vermont... |
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
New Family and School Update
I realized that I only wrote three posts in October. It's the 20th of November now and I only wrote one single post for November until now, so even it is after midnight right now and I am really tired, I decided to write a quick update as a lot of things happened since I last wrote a post.
First things first: The guy from the tour answered me. They told me that they still need the signed trip rules sheet and a copy of my insurance card. I did everything and sent it on Monday, so I really hope that everything is ok now and that I get a place. Originally one bus with about 50 seats was planned, but they decided to add another bus, so the chances are bigger now. I keep my fingers crossed.
I totally forgot to tell you that a new Term started, which means that I have new subjects!
Right now I would be in 10th grade back in Austria. When I go back I luckily won't have to repeat the class, I will go straight into 11th grade. I will have to learn everything my classmates learn this year until the end of the first semester. That means summer time = study time!
To keep at least a little bit in my brain, I asked if I can take "Independence study". I just sit in the library and learn by myself. It is a great way to learn and repeat things that they do in Austria. For the last three weeks I repeated Italian what is helpful to communicate with my exchange buddies from Italy. This week I started Latin (what makes me feel depressed, because I don't really like it, but yeah). We will see how that goes.
Then I have Choir, like last term. My second block would have been English Reading, as I had English Writing before. It is required to have both of them, but as I am an exchange student I can take basically every class I want to. I wasn't motivated for English Reading, because people told me that it isn't a lot of fun and that it is kind of boring. So I dropped it, but didn't really know what to take instead. My Counselor at school told me that Kinesiology is still open. I thought that it will definitely be better than Reading, so I agreed and now I am glad I did. Kinesiology is the study of bones and muscles of the human body. We also learn about movement, Physical Activity and much more. Every Wednesday we have a workout. Two weeks ago we did Zumba, last week we had something else going on (I can't really remember), that's why we didn't do a workout and today we did T'ai Chi. It is so much fun! I love this class to death, because it is super interesting, but challenging at the same time!
After that I have PE. We do things like floor hockey, basketball and much more. I haven't heard of some of the games, but it's still fun. I can say nothing against it.
Last I have Drawing & Paint. It is cool and I like it. What I learned so far is looking at the object I want to draw much more precisely. I worked about 6 hours on my final project and I am super happy with it.
I think I have told you that I have always wanted to be a cheerleader, right? I might have also told you that they didn't want to let me try out what made me sad, but I couldn't change it. Well, on Monday two girls came into my class and told me they need to talk to me. I got out of the class and they said that my lovely teacher Miss Riley asked if I want to be a cheerleader for basketball. It made me jump around and of course I said yes. It is actually harder than I thought! There are about 30 different cheers and it's hard to spell things and to move your legs and arms different to each other at the same time. I have two weeks to learn it. I can do it!
So on Tuesday I had a test in Kinesiology and for the first time ever since I am here I studied very hard. I studied for about four hours, because the names of the bones wouldn't go in my head. At the end I got 95% in my test and that's ok.
Some exchange problems: You gain weight. A lot of weight when it comes to me. I have always been skinny and underweight and at the beginning of the summer I had 42 Kilos. Guess what… Now I have 49.4 what is not a lot, but a lot for me. I really need to start eating healthy and to exercise. It's not that I feel really fat (well, some pants are hard to get in. I put all my new Kilos on my hips and thighs), but I feel stuffed all the time and just not healthy at all. That has to be changed! Getting back to my old weight - challenge accepted!
Another event is that I switched families today. Rotary wants us to have at least two different host families, because they want us to experience different lifestyles. My second family consists of Don and Becky, a lovely couple. Their children are already out of the house. I was with them for my first week, so I know how it is to live with them.
I was really sad to leave my first family, especially my host sister Mary Kate. She became my real sister and we told each other everything, shared every secret and helped each other out with advice and clothes. I will miss living with this crazy and wonderful girl…
So now I am laying in my new bedroom and it feels weird, but the new home also has some positive points: I have my own bathroom (instead of sharing with two other teenage girls), it is silent (what is good and bad at the same time), I am the only child and I have a treadmill in the basement where I can exercise. I tried it already and it is so much fun! Losing weight here I come!
Tomorrow is Thursday, game day. I am totally excited for the final game and I still haven't lost the believe that we can win this! I'll keep you updated.
First things first: The guy from the tour answered me. They told me that they still need the signed trip rules sheet and a copy of my insurance card. I did everything and sent it on Monday, so I really hope that everything is ok now and that I get a place. Originally one bus with about 50 seats was planned, but they decided to add another bus, so the chances are bigger now. I keep my fingers crossed.
I totally forgot to tell you that a new Term started, which means that I have new subjects!
Right now I would be in 10th grade back in Austria. When I go back I luckily won't have to repeat the class, I will go straight into 11th grade. I will have to learn everything my classmates learn this year until the end of the first semester. That means summer time = study time!
To keep at least a little bit in my brain, I asked if I can take "Independence study". I just sit in the library and learn by myself. It is a great way to learn and repeat things that they do in Austria. For the last three weeks I repeated Italian what is helpful to communicate with my exchange buddies from Italy. This week I started Latin (what makes me feel depressed, because I don't really like it, but yeah). We will see how that goes.
Then I have Choir, like last term. My second block would have been English Reading, as I had English Writing before. It is required to have both of them, but as I am an exchange student I can take basically every class I want to. I wasn't motivated for English Reading, because people told me that it isn't a lot of fun and that it is kind of boring. So I dropped it, but didn't really know what to take instead. My Counselor at school told me that Kinesiology is still open. I thought that it will definitely be better than Reading, so I agreed and now I am glad I did. Kinesiology is the study of bones and muscles of the human body. We also learn about movement, Physical Activity and much more. Every Wednesday we have a workout. Two weeks ago we did Zumba, last week we had something else going on (I can't really remember), that's why we didn't do a workout and today we did T'ai Chi. It is so much fun! I love this class to death, because it is super interesting, but challenging at the same time!
After that I have PE. We do things like floor hockey, basketball and much more. I haven't heard of some of the games, but it's still fun. I can say nothing against it.
Last I have Drawing & Paint. It is cool and I like it. What I learned so far is looking at the object I want to draw much more precisely. I worked about 6 hours on my final project and I am super happy with it.
I think I have told you that I have always wanted to be a cheerleader, right? I might have also told you that they didn't want to let me try out what made me sad, but I couldn't change it. Well, on Monday two girls came into my class and told me they need to talk to me. I got out of the class and they said that my lovely teacher Miss Riley asked if I want to be a cheerleader for basketball. It made me jump around and of course I said yes. It is actually harder than I thought! There are about 30 different cheers and it's hard to spell things and to move your legs and arms different to each other at the same time. I have two weeks to learn it. I can do it!
So on Tuesday I had a test in Kinesiology and for the first time ever since I am here I studied very hard. I studied for about four hours, because the names of the bones wouldn't go in my head. At the end I got 95% in my test and that's ok.
Some exchange problems: You gain weight. A lot of weight when it comes to me. I have always been skinny and underweight and at the beginning of the summer I had 42 Kilos. Guess what… Now I have 49.4 what is not a lot, but a lot for me. I really need to start eating healthy and to exercise. It's not that I feel really fat (well, some pants are hard to get in. I put all my new Kilos on my hips and thighs), but I feel stuffed all the time and just not healthy at all. That has to be changed! Getting back to my old weight - challenge accepted!
Another event is that I switched families today. Rotary wants us to have at least two different host families, because they want us to experience different lifestyles. My second family consists of Don and Becky, a lovely couple. Their children are already out of the house. I was with them for my first week, so I know how it is to live with them.
I was really sad to leave my first family, especially my host sister Mary Kate. She became my real sister and we told each other everything, shared every secret and helped each other out with advice and clothes. I will miss living with this crazy and wonderful girl…
So now I am laying in my new bedroom and it feels weird, but the new home also has some positive points: I have my own bathroom (instead of sharing with two other teenage girls), it is silent (what is good and bad at the same time), I am the only child and I have a treadmill in the basement where I can exercise. I tried it already and it is so much fun! Losing weight here I come!
Tomorrow is Thursday, game day. I am totally excited for the final game and I still haven't lost the believe that we can win this! I'll keep you updated.
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| My project for Drawing & Paint |
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| Packing. I think it's ok for 3 months |
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| Main entrance |
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| The living room |
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| The kitchen. Looks like in the movies |
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| A spectacular table haha |
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| My new room. I pushed the bed to the wall, because I hate sleeping in the middle of the room |
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| It's kind of messy right now, but I just arrived |
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| My own bathroom. All for me! |
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| Don't be sad Mary Kate, I am not out of the world :-* |
Saturday, November 16, 2013
3 MONTHS
So guys! It's time again! Happy 3 month anniversary!!
Two days ago was the 14th so I am a little bit late, but I had no time at all to write a post. The reason? I'll tell you later.
I always wrote a little paragraph in the anniversary posts about the last month, ... kind of...
Knowing that I say it every time, I have to mention that I can't believe that over a quarter of my exchange is already over. It makes me sad. Even eight more months sound really long, I am sure it won't be long! Look how fast 3 months passed and the beginning is the worst part I think. I avoid thinking about leaving all the lovely people I've met so far. One of my best friends said she will definitely cry when I leave and I am sure I will too. It won't be the same as leaving my friends and family in Austria. I knew if everything will go right, I will see everyone of them again, but when I will leave Washington, I have to fear that I won't see many people again. (That was probably completely unenglish, but you know what I want to say). I try not to think about it though!
I have to say that the last month was pretty good! There were nearly any bad things. Some things really bothered me, especially something that I will mention later.
I can say, fall is amazing here. I feel like in Austria we don't really have a long lasting fall. It goes more from the heat-attack into the snow storm.
Here the leaves become really pretty and colourful and it smells so awesome! I love it! Fall is just my favourite season.
And then ... the snow came. It already melted, but still! I experienced my first "american" snow! ⛄
So, I had another sleepover with Franzi. I have to say that I am so happy that she is here too. I was at her place in Mt.Pleasant which is about 40 minutes away from Washington. Her host sisters, some friends, she and I took the car to a restaurant and then drove to Burlington (I think) to this huge game arcade. We played laser tag and I swear! - it's the funniest thing I have ever played. Back home we had so much fun!
I know some of you may think now that it's bad when we speak German, because it gets me back into German-Thinking, but that's not true. I started to think in English about three weeks ago. Before that I thought some things in English, especially when I wanted to say something, I created the sentence in my mind first. Now I really think in English and I don't have to think about the things I want to say, I just say it. When I first came here I always thought carefully about the grammar I use and that stuff, but I can tell you all one thing: There are worlds between learning English in school and talking to a native!
However, I can switch between English and German what is pretty cool. It's like I have a little switcher in my head: When I talk to Franzi I go back into German thinking and speaking, but when somebody interrupts our conversation, I switch back into English and don't mess up.
Now the reason for not writing a post on the 14th: Our football team is really good this year. We won a lot of games and also the one that made the winner taking part in this championship (I hope I tell you the right thing, but I am pretty sure I do). We won the quarter finals too, so there was the semifinal on Thursday.
I came home from school, changed my clothes into orange and black and then Katy picked me up. We drove to another friend's house to do face painting and then met with Katy's grandma, her mother and some other family members. The drive to the stadium took us about two hours. It was just amazing! The hall where it took place was huge! There were so many people and you could really feel the Demon-spirit.
The game itself was exciting! It seemed like we would lose, but five minutes before the fourth quarter was over, we had a touchdown. It was thrilling until the end, because three seconds before the game was over the other team nearly had a touchdown. When it ended I was shaking all over my body and couldn't stop screaming and laughing. I lost my voice that night. We finally arrived at home at 01:45 a.m. and I was dead the next morning. I couldn't keep my eyes open and had a hurting throat. The main thing is that we won though. That means we are going to state! The finals! I forgot the name of the team we will battle, but they had their semifinal game before us and won 40:6 what scares me. I will stay positive though! GO DEMONS!
The reason why I couldn't write the post yesterday was the one thing that really bothered me: Rotary offers a tour through America from mid June until mid of July. You come to states like California, Texas, Florida, New York and much more. It is awesome. I sent my application and the money order two months ago and didn't get any emails back. I asked the other exchange students and they all got a confirmation that the people who organize the tour got their money and the application, except for one girl from Spain. I wrote an email to the organizing person about a month ago, but didn't get a response. I just got so mad yesterday and wrote a new email saying that I don't know if something went wrong, but I am very worried not only because I really want to take part, also because I don't know where my money is - no response. We are talking about a lot of money (I don't want to mention the exact amount) and I can't understand how somebody can be so irresponsible. I think there should exist a base of trustworthiness, but my trust into this person is definitely gone. And even if he didn't get my application and money, he could write me an email saying that he didn't get it. Seriously, writing an email doesn't take that long... This kind of ruined my day and I wasn't in the mood to write a post, so I am sorry.
Whatsoever, it's picture time!
Two days ago was the 14th so I am a little bit late, but I had no time at all to write a post. The reason? I'll tell you later.
I always wrote a little paragraph in the anniversary posts about the last month, ... kind of...
Knowing that I say it every time, I have to mention that I can't believe that over a quarter of my exchange is already over. It makes me sad. Even eight more months sound really long, I am sure it won't be long! Look how fast 3 months passed and the beginning is the worst part I think. I avoid thinking about leaving all the lovely people I've met so far. One of my best friends said she will definitely cry when I leave and I am sure I will too. It won't be the same as leaving my friends and family in Austria. I knew if everything will go right, I will see everyone of them again, but when I will leave Washington, I have to fear that I won't see many people again. (That was probably completely unenglish, but you know what I want to say). I try not to think about it though!
I have to say that the last month was pretty good! There were nearly any bad things. Some things really bothered me, especially something that I will mention later.
I can say, fall is amazing here. I feel like in Austria we don't really have a long lasting fall. It goes more from the heat-attack into the snow storm.
Here the leaves become really pretty and colourful and it smells so awesome! I love it! Fall is just my favourite season.
And then ... the snow came. It already melted, but still! I experienced my first "american" snow! ⛄
So, I had another sleepover with Franzi. I have to say that I am so happy that she is here too. I was at her place in Mt.Pleasant which is about 40 minutes away from Washington. Her host sisters, some friends, she and I took the car to a restaurant and then drove to Burlington (I think) to this huge game arcade. We played laser tag and I swear! - it's the funniest thing I have ever played. Back home we had so much fun!
I know some of you may think now that it's bad when we speak German, because it gets me back into German-Thinking, but that's not true. I started to think in English about three weeks ago. Before that I thought some things in English, especially when I wanted to say something, I created the sentence in my mind first. Now I really think in English and I don't have to think about the things I want to say, I just say it. When I first came here I always thought carefully about the grammar I use and that stuff, but I can tell you all one thing: There are worlds between learning English in school and talking to a native!
However, I can switch between English and German what is pretty cool. It's like I have a little switcher in my head: When I talk to Franzi I go back into German thinking and speaking, but when somebody interrupts our conversation, I switch back into English and don't mess up.
Now the reason for not writing a post on the 14th: Our football team is really good this year. We won a lot of games and also the one that made the winner taking part in this championship (I hope I tell you the right thing, but I am pretty sure I do). We won the quarter finals too, so there was the semifinal on Thursday.
I came home from school, changed my clothes into orange and black and then Katy picked me up. We drove to another friend's house to do face painting and then met with Katy's grandma, her mother and some other family members. The drive to the stadium took us about two hours. It was just amazing! The hall where it took place was huge! There were so many people and you could really feel the Demon-spirit.
The game itself was exciting! It seemed like we would lose, but five minutes before the fourth quarter was over, we had a touchdown. It was thrilling until the end, because three seconds before the game was over the other team nearly had a touchdown. When it ended I was shaking all over my body and couldn't stop screaming and laughing. I lost my voice that night. We finally arrived at home at 01:45 a.m. and I was dead the next morning. I couldn't keep my eyes open and had a hurting throat. The main thing is that we won though. That means we are going to state! The finals! I forgot the name of the team we will battle, but they had their semifinal game before us and won 40:6 what scares me. I will stay positive though! GO DEMONS!
The reason why I couldn't write the post yesterday was the one thing that really bothered me: Rotary offers a tour through America from mid June until mid of July. You come to states like California, Texas, Florida, New York and much more. It is awesome. I sent my application and the money order two months ago and didn't get any emails back. I asked the other exchange students and they all got a confirmation that the people who organize the tour got their money and the application, except for one girl from Spain. I wrote an email to the organizing person about a month ago, but didn't get a response. I just got so mad yesterday and wrote a new email saying that I don't know if something went wrong, but I am very worried not only because I really want to take part, also because I don't know where my money is - no response. We are talking about a lot of money (I don't want to mention the exact amount) and I can't understand how somebody can be so irresponsible. I think there should exist a base of trustworthiness, but my trust into this person is definitely gone. And even if he didn't get my application and money, he could write me an email saying that he didn't get it. Seriously, writing an email doesn't take that long... This kind of ruined my day and I wasn't in the mood to write a post, so I am sorry.
Whatsoever, it's picture time!
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| Beautiful fall... |
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| Snow snow snow... |
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| Blue light effect |
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| My laser tag team. We won! |
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| Weirdos in action |
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| ^^ |
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| We had a sleepover on the 8th of November, the International Hug-An-Exchange-Student-Day! |
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| Football fans |
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| My teacher is the best! Demon Spirit! |
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| Student section |
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| Excited!! |
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| My best friends |
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| Go Demons! |
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