Nice and lazy...
So I basically spent my winter break being reaaally lazy so far. Kinda nice sometimes but I'm definitely ready to go back to school and be busy again (and I know that then I'll miss these quiet times again :D).
On Friday night I went to the movies with Gary, his friend Garrett, Randy (he's in my Precalc class) and Randy's friends Alex and... oh man, just can't remember her name. It was a difficult name. Had never heard it before.
We watched Sweeney Todd, the new Tim Burton movie.
GO SEE IT!
It is so awesome... It's a cool story and Tim Burton definitely made a masterpiece out of it. He's amazing.
Basically, the movie is about this barber in London a long time ago who had a beautiful wife and a little baby girl, then the powerful judge of the city fell in love with his wife, banned the barber into a different country or something and takes the wife and the daughter. Years later, the barber comes back to London with the fake name Sweeney Todd to have his revenge... muaaaahaha. Not telling you anything else, you have to go see it. It's scary. And creepy. And partially funny. I LOVE it. It's my new favourite movie.
Today was a lot of fun. After I had come back from church with Sheila (everybody else went to church yesterday for the 4 o'clock mass), we got ready and then we went ice-skating on one of those public ice things. I haven't been ice-skating for more then a decade ^^ so I was figuring out how to do it most of the time but still it was just a lot of fun. Later, we had a hot chocolate there and then we went back home (watching Aquamarine in the car for the 1000000000th time... well, okay, the 3rd).
Tomorrow's New Year's Eve already... that's hard to believe. Another exciting, awesome year with so many important experiences is over. Mostly, I'm looking forward to 2008 though:
I'm gonna be in the school play, have 6 more wonderful months in the US, I'll have another concert with band, we're going to Florida during spring break, I'm gonna have lots and lots of more fun experiences here, after an extremely hard saying Goodbye here I'll meet a lot of people that I miss again, I'm gonna turn 18, I'll hopefully start driver's training and get my licence back in Germany, and who knows what other surprises God will have for me in the upcoming year!
12/30/2007
12/28/2007
Adventskalender
Zur Feier des schoensten Weihnachtsgeschenks ein Eintrag auf Deutsch! :)
Jaaa heute ist doch tatsaechlich der Adventskalender angekommen, den meine Mama schon Ende November abgeschickt hatte. Dass es ein Adventskalender war, wusste ich schon, das hatte ich mir so erraten. Dass es ein ganz besonderer ist, weil so viele Leute daran beteiligt waren, wusste ich auch schon, denn nachdem es schon so aussah, als wenn das Paeckchen verloren gegangen ist und nicht mehr ankommt, hat mir meine Mama ein bisschen was verraten.
DAMIT hatte ich aber ja nun gar nicht gerechnet!! :) Ich war davon ausgegangen, dass wohl hauptsaechlich meine Familie beteiligt ist und Chrissi, weil sie mal meinte, sie wuesste, was in dem Paket ist. Also mache ich den ersten Umschlag auf (da Advent ja nun schon vorbei ist, hab ich das ganze einfach als Weihnachtsgeschenk angesehen und alle auf einmal aufgemacht) und finde eine Karte von meinem Bruder und einen Brief von Guenter und Heike, worueber ich mich sehr gefreut habe. Als ich dann aber den zweiten Brief aufmachte und darin eine Karte von Fri fand, war ich natuerlich erstmal baff - wie hat Mama es geschafft Kontakt mit Fri aufzunehmen?? Sie kennt sie doch kaum, wenn ueberhaupt ^^ (spaeter wurde mir dann klar, dass Chrissi ihre Finger tuechtig mit ihm Spiel hatte :D wie Mama mir dann auch im 24. Brief erklaerte) Ich hab mich also tuechtig gefreut und dann den naechsten Umschlag aufgemacht, in dem ich ein suuupersuesses Foto von Nils und eine Karte von Nicole und Andre fand. Beim Aufmachen des vierten Briefs erkannte ich schon an der Schrift, dass die Karte von Simon kam, bestaetigt von dem "Hey Mary :P"... Wow, ich war echt ueberrascht und hab mich soooo gefreut und es nahm einfach kein Ende ^^
So viel von meiner Familie, meine Oma, Walter und Renate, Jochen, all meine Brueder...
Und dann Sabine, meine Reitlehrerin, und Traute, meine "2. Mama" ;)
Am meisten ueberrascht war ich vermutlich ueber die grosse Teilnahme meiner Freunde :) Da waren natuerlich Chrissi, Swenny und Eileen, Jana, Hoppi, Lisa und Lea, Freddyyyyyy :) und Theis, sogar Jens, Christian und Colja! Uuuuund Christopher!! Mensch, ich stand echt nur noch mit offenem Mund da und hab gelesen und gelesen...
Jetzt hab ich bestimmt irgendwen vergessen ^^ hab das ja alles erst einmal durchgelesen... wer immer es ist, sags mir sofort und du bekommst einen extra eigenen Eintrag :D
Chrissi, danke fuer die Fotos :))) ich hab schon einige Male in letzter Zeit gedacht Mensch, sie sieht schon wieder anders aus bei SchuelerVZ und ich sehs gar nicht wirklich... :) Hab mich sooo doll gefreut :-* Lieb dich so sehr Suesse!
Mensch Swenny :D immer so ein Aufwand... da musst du gleich ein Winterbild aus Finnland anschiffen lassen ^^ :-*
Und die Eileen hat auch wieder so fleissig gebastelt :) Ich find die Karte so suess... wow wie haeng ich die nur alle auf ^^ :-*
Euch dreien auch nochmal ein gaaaaaaaaaaaanz dickes fettes Dankeschoen und 1000000 Kuesse fuer das tolle tolle Weihnachtsgeschenk :) das Foto hat einen Ehrenplatz auf meinem Nachtschrank bekommen ;)
Hoppi, du hast auch sehr schoen gebastelt :) Irgendwie wusste ich allein von der Karte schon von wem sie ist :D
Genauso mit Jana, als ich zuerst das Kleeblatt entdeckt hatte... :)
Lisa und Lea, ich besuche bald endlich die Jackson-er! Ich fahre vom 4. bis 6. Januar dahin, A.J. holt mich sogar ab :)
Fri, deine Karte hat mich daran erinnert, dass ich deinem Daddy ja noch die versprochene Postkarte schicken muss :D Sag ihm ich habs nicht vergessen, die kommt noch ^^
Christopher, das Gitarrespielen hat leider in letzter Zeit ein wenig unter Klavier und der neu errungenen Querfloete fuer die Marching Band gelitten, aber es wird wieder :) Hab jetzt auch suuupercoole original Hard Rock Cafe Plektren aus dem Hard Rock Cafe Chicago!
Freddy, ueber deine Karte musste ich einfach nur ganz breit Grinsen ^^
Jens, fuehl dich geehrt, dir habe ich jetzt extra ein Gaestebuch eingerichtet :D Du hast Recht, man kann zwar Kommentare schreiben, aber das fehlte ein wenig. Also, leg los :P
Colja, ueber deine Karte hab ich Traenen gelacht :D:D:D meine Hostmom haelt mich jezt bestimmt fuer verrueckt... "... in Latein habe ich das Ruder uebernommen und werde sicher dafuer sorgen, dass das Boot mit alle Mann kentert."
Mensch, Mensch, mir fehlen echt die richtigen Worte. Obwohl ich wusste was in dem Paket war, mit sowas unglaublich tollem hatte ich ja nun gar nicht gerechnet :)
Ich bin einfach nur ueberwaeltigt und total geruehrt, Mann Mann, ihr alle habt mich echt fast zum Heulen gebracht ^^ (Colja hats geschafft, allerdings weil ich nicht mehr konnte vor Lachen xD)
Ich hab euch alle sooooo lieb :) und vermiss euch ganz doll... obwohl ich meeeega traurig sein werde, wenn ich alle meine Lieben hier drueben im Juni verlassen muss, werde ich mich aber mindestens genauso meeeega darauf freuen, euch alle wiederzusehen :) Ihr fehlt mir wirklich!!
Jaaa heute ist doch tatsaechlich der Adventskalender angekommen, den meine Mama schon Ende November abgeschickt hatte. Dass es ein Adventskalender war, wusste ich schon, das hatte ich mir so erraten. Dass es ein ganz besonderer ist, weil so viele Leute daran beteiligt waren, wusste ich auch schon, denn nachdem es schon so aussah, als wenn das Paeckchen verloren gegangen ist und nicht mehr ankommt, hat mir meine Mama ein bisschen was verraten.
DAMIT hatte ich aber ja nun gar nicht gerechnet!! :) Ich war davon ausgegangen, dass wohl hauptsaechlich meine Familie beteiligt ist und Chrissi, weil sie mal meinte, sie wuesste, was in dem Paket ist. Also mache ich den ersten Umschlag auf (da Advent ja nun schon vorbei ist, hab ich das ganze einfach als Weihnachtsgeschenk angesehen und alle auf einmal aufgemacht) und finde eine Karte von meinem Bruder und einen Brief von Guenter und Heike, worueber ich mich sehr gefreut habe. Als ich dann aber den zweiten Brief aufmachte und darin eine Karte von Fri fand, war ich natuerlich erstmal baff - wie hat Mama es geschafft Kontakt mit Fri aufzunehmen?? Sie kennt sie doch kaum, wenn ueberhaupt ^^ (spaeter wurde mir dann klar, dass Chrissi ihre Finger tuechtig mit ihm Spiel hatte :D wie Mama mir dann auch im 24. Brief erklaerte) Ich hab mich also tuechtig gefreut und dann den naechsten Umschlag aufgemacht, in dem ich ein suuupersuesses Foto von Nils und eine Karte von Nicole und Andre fand. Beim Aufmachen des vierten Briefs erkannte ich schon an der Schrift, dass die Karte von Simon kam, bestaetigt von dem "Hey Mary :P"... Wow, ich war echt ueberrascht und hab mich soooo gefreut und es nahm einfach kein Ende ^^
So viel von meiner Familie, meine Oma, Walter und Renate, Jochen, all meine Brueder...
Und dann Sabine, meine Reitlehrerin, und Traute, meine "2. Mama" ;)
Am meisten ueberrascht war ich vermutlich ueber die grosse Teilnahme meiner Freunde :) Da waren natuerlich Chrissi, Swenny und Eileen, Jana, Hoppi, Lisa und Lea, Freddyyyyyy :) und Theis, sogar Jens, Christian und Colja! Uuuuund Christopher!! Mensch, ich stand echt nur noch mit offenem Mund da und hab gelesen und gelesen...
Jetzt hab ich bestimmt irgendwen vergessen ^^ hab das ja alles erst einmal durchgelesen... wer immer es ist, sags mir sofort und du bekommst einen extra eigenen Eintrag :D
Chrissi, danke fuer die Fotos :))) ich hab schon einige Male in letzter Zeit gedacht Mensch, sie sieht schon wieder anders aus bei SchuelerVZ und ich sehs gar nicht wirklich... :) Hab mich sooo doll gefreut :-* Lieb dich so sehr Suesse!
Mensch Swenny :D immer so ein Aufwand... da musst du gleich ein Winterbild aus Finnland anschiffen lassen ^^ :-*
Und die Eileen hat auch wieder so fleissig gebastelt :) Ich find die Karte so suess... wow wie haeng ich die nur alle auf ^^ :-*
Euch dreien auch nochmal ein gaaaaaaaaaaaanz dickes fettes Dankeschoen und 1000000 Kuesse fuer das tolle tolle Weihnachtsgeschenk :) das Foto hat einen Ehrenplatz auf meinem Nachtschrank bekommen ;)
Hoppi, du hast auch sehr schoen gebastelt :) Irgendwie wusste ich allein von der Karte schon von wem sie ist :D
Genauso mit Jana, als ich zuerst das Kleeblatt entdeckt hatte... :)
Lisa und Lea, ich besuche bald endlich die Jackson-er! Ich fahre vom 4. bis 6. Januar dahin, A.J. holt mich sogar ab :)
Fri, deine Karte hat mich daran erinnert, dass ich deinem Daddy ja noch die versprochene Postkarte schicken muss :D Sag ihm ich habs nicht vergessen, die kommt noch ^^
Christopher, das Gitarrespielen hat leider in letzter Zeit ein wenig unter Klavier und der neu errungenen Querfloete fuer die Marching Band gelitten, aber es wird wieder :) Hab jetzt auch suuupercoole original Hard Rock Cafe Plektren aus dem Hard Rock Cafe Chicago!
Freddy, ueber deine Karte musste ich einfach nur ganz breit Grinsen ^^
Jens, fuehl dich geehrt, dir habe ich jetzt extra ein Gaestebuch eingerichtet :D Du hast Recht, man kann zwar Kommentare schreiben, aber das fehlte ein wenig. Also, leg los :P
Colja, ueber deine Karte hab ich Traenen gelacht :D:D:D meine Hostmom haelt mich jezt bestimmt fuer verrueckt... "... in Latein habe ich das Ruder uebernommen und werde sicher dafuer sorgen, dass das Boot mit alle Mann kentert."
Mensch, Mensch, mir fehlen echt die richtigen Worte. Obwohl ich wusste was in dem Paket war, mit sowas unglaublich tollem hatte ich ja nun gar nicht gerechnet :)
Ich bin einfach nur ueberwaeltigt und total geruehrt, Mann Mann, ihr alle habt mich echt fast zum Heulen gebracht ^^ (Colja hats geschafft, allerdings weil ich nicht mehr konnte vor Lachen xD)
Ich hab euch alle sooooo lieb :) und vermiss euch ganz doll... obwohl ich meeeega traurig sein werde, wenn ich alle meine Lieben hier drueben im Juni verlassen muss, werde ich mich aber mindestens genauso meeeega darauf freuen, euch alle wiederzusehen :) Ihr fehlt mir wirklich!!
12/25/2007
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays to all of you!
On Sunday, Keith's 16th birthday by the way, we went to church for noon mass and in the early afternoon, we went to Sheila's dad's new house (it's so beautiful, it's kinda in the woods and has this big, stone fireplace) to celebrate with some family. It was very nice, we had veeery yummy food and we already got some presents (I got a Yatzee game and a pair of golden earrings from Grandpa and Grandma and another pair of earrings from Uncle Mike and Aunt... Shelby? Man I'm so bad at names...). Later, we played a form of poker, it was so much fun... I just learned it but in the end, I actually wasn't that bad.
Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, we went to church with Grandma and GG for the 6 o'clock mass where Jacob was singing in the choir. He even had a solo in the Hallelujah part, he was so good! I was really proud of my little brother :)
After church, we all went right to Uncle Bubba's house where we celebrated christmas with Doug's family. The people I had gotten to know at Thanksgiving were there, Grandpa was there and another brother of Doug and his wife whom I hadn't known yet. It was a really nice night, again we had yummy food, I met their cute dog and Courtney and I played with the kitten they had just got 2 days ago. Again, we all got some presents... I got a drawing kit, a drawing pad, graphite pencils and charcoal - from Santa ;) We left late and got home past 11. We kids all got into bed then, of course, so that Santa Claus could come and do his job...
Then, this morning around 8, the little ones came in my room, all excited, "Maria, wake up! It's christmas morning! Santa Claus was here!" It was so cute... So I went downstairs into the living-room, everybody was getting settled, Sheila made coffee, and when we were all there, including Grandma and GG who had stayed over night, we started opening our presents - one at a time.
We had sooooo many present to open - and, oh my God, I got so many!! I'll try to list it, I really hope I don't forget anything... I probably will.
a Michigan State sweater
socks, a pair of fuzzy socks, a scarf, a hat, gloves
AVON body wash, hand lotion and peach body lotion
2 cases of AVON eyeshadow
AVON nail polish dryer spray
an AVON goodie bag with all kinds of foot care stuff in it
AVON birthstone earrings
a purple toothbrush
two bags - an H&M bag that u can flip over, one side is black with red H&M logo and the other is red with a black logo... the 2nd bag is a Michigan bag with all kinds of Michigan stuff on it
an international calling card
cell phone stickers and a cell phone case
a beautiful little snow man ornament that has a picture of Doug and Sheila in it and says "2007 daughter"
flip flops
hair stuff
popcorn
a Michigan pen
CDs from my mom
leg warmers from my mom
selfknitted socks from my mom and a selfknitted cellphone sock from my mom :)
lots of earrings from my mom and from Nicole
a really warm hand warmer thing from my dad and Ulli
a supercute yellow top with a black short sleeve sweater and another striped sweater from Grandma and GG
a sugar cookie scented and really yummy like vanilla smelling candle from Grandma and GG
a book series containing of 3 books from Grandma and GG
Okay, I really hope I didn't forget anything.
Then we had the German pancakes for breakfast (not like I know them, but really yummy!) and cleaned up. Later, Grandpa (Doug's dad) came over. Sometime in the early afternoon, I took a shower and later, I had a really nice conversation with Doug, Sheila and Grandpa about college. Grandpa has those neighbors or something... they're from Germany, and the first time the husband came here was during high school as an exchange student, like me, and then he came back for college, and now he lives there up North with his family. And so we talked about the fact that I'm thinking of maybe doing a semester or 2 over here in college... well, I have those conversations with people a lot and it really makes me think that I gotta get my butt up and get my future planned.
I'll soon be 18, man. Oh my goodness, that's just scary.
On Sunday, Keith's 16th birthday by the way, we went to church for noon mass and in the early afternoon, we went to Sheila's dad's new house (it's so beautiful, it's kinda in the woods and has this big, stone fireplace) to celebrate with some family. It was very nice, we had veeery yummy food and we already got some presents (I got a Yatzee game and a pair of golden earrings from Grandpa and Grandma and another pair of earrings from Uncle Mike and Aunt... Shelby? Man I'm so bad at names...). Later, we played a form of poker, it was so much fun... I just learned it but in the end, I actually wasn't that bad.
Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, we went to church with Grandma and GG for the 6 o'clock mass where Jacob was singing in the choir. He even had a solo in the Hallelujah part, he was so good! I was really proud of my little brother :)
After church, we all went right to Uncle Bubba's house where we celebrated christmas with Doug's family. The people I had gotten to know at Thanksgiving were there, Grandpa was there and another brother of Doug and his wife whom I hadn't known yet. It was a really nice night, again we had yummy food, I met their cute dog and Courtney and I played with the kitten they had just got 2 days ago. Again, we all got some presents... I got a drawing kit, a drawing pad, graphite pencils and charcoal - from Santa ;) We left late and got home past 11. We kids all got into bed then, of course, so that Santa Claus could come and do his job...
Then, this morning around 8, the little ones came in my room, all excited, "Maria, wake up! It's christmas morning! Santa Claus was here!" It was so cute... So I went downstairs into the living-room, everybody was getting settled, Sheila made coffee, and when we were all there, including Grandma and GG who had stayed over night, we started opening our presents - one at a time.
We had sooooo many present to open - and, oh my God, I got so many!! I'll try to list it, I really hope I don't forget anything... I probably will.
a Michigan State sweater
socks, a pair of fuzzy socks, a scarf, a hat, gloves
AVON body wash, hand lotion and peach body lotion
2 cases of AVON eyeshadow
AVON nail polish dryer spray
an AVON goodie bag with all kinds of foot care stuff in it
AVON birthstone earrings
a purple toothbrush
two bags - an H&M bag that u can flip over, one side is black with red H&M logo and the other is red with a black logo... the 2nd bag is a Michigan bag with all kinds of Michigan stuff on it
an international calling card
cell phone stickers and a cell phone case
a beautiful little snow man ornament that has a picture of Doug and Sheila in it and says "2007 daughter"
flip flops
hair stuff
popcorn
a Michigan pen
CDs from my mom
leg warmers from my mom
selfknitted socks from my mom and a selfknitted cellphone sock from my mom :)
lots of earrings from my mom and from Nicole
a really warm hand warmer thing from my dad and Ulli
a supercute yellow top with a black short sleeve sweater and another striped sweater from Grandma and GG
a sugar cookie scented and really yummy like vanilla smelling candle from Grandma and GG
a book series containing of 3 books from Grandma and GG
Okay, I really hope I didn't forget anything.
Then we had the German pancakes for breakfast (not like I know them, but really yummy!) and cleaned up. Later, Grandpa (Doug's dad) came over. Sometime in the early afternoon, I took a shower and later, I had a really nice conversation with Doug, Sheila and Grandpa about college. Grandpa has those neighbors or something... they're from Germany, and the first time the husband came here was during high school as an exchange student, like me, and then he came back for college, and now he lives there up North with his family. And so we talked about the fact that I'm thinking of maybe doing a semester or 2 over here in college... well, I have those conversations with people a lot and it really makes me think that I gotta get my butt up and get my future planned.
I'll soon be 18, man. Oh my goodness, that's just scary.
12/18/2007
Snow Day, Holiday Concert, Last Day of School and Joe Dumar's
All in all, a fun week.
So, on Monday when we had no school because of the snow, all of us kids went to this big sledding hill with Doug. It was so much fun - the hill was really steep on the side we went down and Courtney and I had a sled together so we were even faster... my butt hurt a couple days after that though coz there were some really mean bumps in the ground.
Tuesday was one of my best days ever. Not because we had school again... the snow day was very nice of course ;) ... but it was the day of our holiday concert in which I was going to play with Symphony Band as a flutist and with Jazz Band as the piano player. Since the Symphony Band is split (one half in 5th hour, one half in 6th) we were supposed to have a combined rehearsal in 5th and 6th hour on Monday - which didn't happen because of the snow day. So we had a shorter combined rehearsal on Tuesday in 6th hour. In the beginning of the hour, I had just put my flute together, one of the teacher aids came over to me and told me that Mr Conaton wanted me in the office. So I went there, expecting something about Jazz Band (I was right about that) and when I entered the office, Mr Conatan goes "Maria! I have some music for you!" And I was like "... Music?" "Yes, for tonight!" "Oh..." "You think you can learn it by then?" "I really don't know..." "You know what, why don't you just take this hour to practise in one of the practise rooms and I'll come and help you so then you'll be fine for tonight." "... This hour." "Yes, this hour. What are you doing right know?" "Erm, playing the flute?" "Aaaah right. Well, anyways, just take this hour to practise this." Oookay. This one big American thing: spontaneity. So I did as I was told, practised that piece full of chords (I always hated chords... they make me mess up), didn't get to practise with the whole Symphony Band, went home after school, got home at like, 2.40, ate, packed my stuff and had to be back at the school at 3.30 to pick up my uniform. After that, I went back home (Doug gave me rides all day, I felt bad for kinda surprising him with that), changed into my concert uniform and shortly after that, we had to leave again because I had to be at JAPAC (John Armstrong Perfoming Arts Center, belongs to the Pankow, a building that belongs to L'Anse Creuse and has some of its classes in there, it's about a 15 to 20 minutes drive from L'Anse Creuse I think) at 4.30. At JAPAC, we (meaning the members of Jazz Blue - the Jazz Band I'm in - who had to be there first) set up everything first and then we rehearsed a little - that's when I actually finally got that new piece although it still was far away from perfect. After that, we kinda hung out and watched Jazz White and the Hand Bell Choir rehearse. The concert started at 7 and Jazz Blue were second to perform after the Hand Bell Choir. I was really nervous, but then when we started playing, I just had so much fun that I calmed down and everything went really good, even that piece I had only known for one day. We played "Silent Night", "What a Wonderful World" and "Feliz Navidad". After our perfomance, we had to get right back to the back room were we kept our stuff and were the Symphony Band had already set up for tuning and a last rehearsal before our performance. Then after the intermission, we got out on the stage to perform "Christmas Calypso", "Nimrod" and "Hallelujah Chorus". It was awesome.
After this perfomance which was my last for the night, we kinda just hung out in the lobby of the JAPAC, talking, messing around, having fun and all that. Gary was their, too, to drive his sister home later I guess. The whole night was just amazing. I don't like the uniforms for the girls though - they kinda look like dresses but are actually pants which is comfy and sweat-pants-like but it looks kinda weird. And they make every single girl, no matter how skinny, look pregnant.
Oh, and I also got my christmas gift from Sam on Tuesday :) it was a USA flag and a baseball - so cool! I'm gonna put that up in my room in Germany somewhere.
Wednesday was our last day of school. I had a Chemistry quiz and a Precalc test and because of the concert, I didn't really study for any of those... but I think it still went pretty well. Later that day, I talked to my mom on the phone.
I don't think anything exciting happened on Thursday...
Yesterday, Courtney and I did the rest of our christmas shopping. Sheila gave us a ride to a new mall around here - I love that mall, it's kinda like an outside mall and really pretty. And they have an H&M store, and a Claire's, and a reaaaaally really cool store called Love Clture (yup, without the first u) which has incredibly cute clothes. I didn't buy clothes though because we spent all our time on christmas presents... but next time I need clothes, I'd like to go back there again. Oh, and they also have a Levi's store.
Sheila met us in the mall when she came back from taking Michaela to a birthday party and we finished our shopping. When we went out to the parking lot, we suddenly saw the van moving as if it had been hit by something really hard - and yes, a girl, probably younger than me, had hit Sheila's van. Her dad just arrived on the scene that moment, too and so Sheila and he figured everything out... that girl left a big dent in the van, though.
The car still worked though, and on our way back home we stopped at Walmart for some last christmas gifts and groceries.
After dinner, Courtney and I went to bed right away because last night, we had our Youth Group Lock-in at Joe Dumars, some kind of sports and activities center. I got up at 9pm, and around 9.30, Sheila drove us to Ashley's house (that's where we had that pool/hot tub party in summer where I met Meaghan). Some of Ashley's friends, including Meaghan, were already there. Later, Ashley's mom took us all to Joe Dumars where we were locked in with our Youth Group and a couple other groups from 12 midnight to 5.30am. It was okay, there was a lot to do but unfortunately, Meaghan and I were kinda the only ones our age there. Well, except for the employees maybe. So we just hung out together, talked a lot, spent some time DDRing, kinda non-seriously played volleyball with the others in between, did the minigolf course and played lasertag with the other girls. Oh my god. That is definitely one of the most FUN games ever! We probably have it in Germany but I never noticed it. I thought I'd probably be really bad, and there were some guys playing who were showing off and telling us that they were going to shoot all of us, and then I ended up getting 2nd place ;) hehe... not bad for my first lasertag game ever!
About an hour before the end of the whole thing, when everyone was pretty tired, we found some of the ex-Thecla girls (who had been at Ashley's house earlier) talking to those 3 black guys in the volleyball area, so we joined them and had a pretty funny conversation because Meaghan's sister Sarah was talking a looot because she was so tired and everyone was making fun of her.
Doug picked us up in the morning, we arrived home around 6. I ate something because I was really hungry and then I went to bed and slept until about 1.15 pm.
In the afternoon, we cleaned the house and I helped Sheila with some cooking for the next days (all the christmas celebrations). Later, I wrapped christmas presents with Courtney. Now they're all under the tree already :)
Tonight, we watched Pirates 3 all together. I LOOOOOVE that movie. Although the first 2 are better. But this one's pretty awesome, too.
And nooow I gotta go to bed.
Happy Birthday, Ronja! Hope you had a wonderful 8th birthday :) :-*
So, on Monday when we had no school because of the snow, all of us kids went to this big sledding hill with Doug. It was so much fun - the hill was really steep on the side we went down and Courtney and I had a sled together so we were even faster... my butt hurt a couple days after that though coz there were some really mean bumps in the ground.
Tuesday was one of my best days ever. Not because we had school again... the snow day was very nice of course ;) ... but it was the day of our holiday concert in which I was going to play with Symphony Band as a flutist and with Jazz Band as the piano player. Since the Symphony Band is split (one half in 5th hour, one half in 6th) we were supposed to have a combined rehearsal in 5th and 6th hour on Monday - which didn't happen because of the snow day. So we had a shorter combined rehearsal on Tuesday in 6th hour. In the beginning of the hour, I had just put my flute together, one of the teacher aids came over to me and told me that Mr Conaton wanted me in the office. So I went there, expecting something about Jazz Band (I was right about that) and when I entered the office, Mr Conatan goes "Maria! I have some music for you!" And I was like "... Music?" "Yes, for tonight!" "Oh..." "You think you can learn it by then?" "I really don't know..." "You know what, why don't you just take this hour to practise in one of the practise rooms and I'll come and help you so then you'll be fine for tonight." "... This hour." "Yes, this hour. What are you doing right know?" "Erm, playing the flute?" "Aaaah right. Well, anyways, just take this hour to practise this." Oookay. This one big American thing: spontaneity. So I did as I was told, practised that piece full of chords (I always hated chords... they make me mess up), didn't get to practise with the whole Symphony Band, went home after school, got home at like, 2.40, ate, packed my stuff and had to be back at the school at 3.30 to pick up my uniform. After that, I went back home (Doug gave me rides all day, I felt bad for kinda surprising him with that), changed into my concert uniform and shortly after that, we had to leave again because I had to be at JAPAC (John Armstrong Perfoming Arts Center, belongs to the Pankow, a building that belongs to L'Anse Creuse and has some of its classes in there, it's about a 15 to 20 minutes drive from L'Anse Creuse I think) at 4.30. At JAPAC, we (meaning the members of Jazz Blue - the Jazz Band I'm in - who had to be there first) set up everything first and then we rehearsed a little - that's when I actually finally got that new piece although it still was far away from perfect. After that, we kinda hung out and watched Jazz White and the Hand Bell Choir rehearse. The concert started at 7 and Jazz Blue were second to perform after the Hand Bell Choir. I was really nervous, but then when we started playing, I just had so much fun that I calmed down and everything went really good, even that piece I had only known for one day. We played "Silent Night", "What a Wonderful World" and "Feliz Navidad". After our perfomance, we had to get right back to the back room were we kept our stuff and were the Symphony Band had already set up for tuning and a last rehearsal before our performance. Then after the intermission, we got out on the stage to perform "Christmas Calypso", "Nimrod" and "Hallelujah Chorus". It was awesome.
After this perfomance which was my last for the night, we kinda just hung out in the lobby of the JAPAC, talking, messing around, having fun and all that. Gary was their, too, to drive his sister home later I guess. The whole night was just amazing. I don't like the uniforms for the girls though - they kinda look like dresses but are actually pants which is comfy and sweat-pants-like but it looks kinda weird. And they make every single girl, no matter how skinny, look pregnant.
Oh, and I also got my christmas gift from Sam on Tuesday :) it was a USA flag and a baseball - so cool! I'm gonna put that up in my room in Germany somewhere.
Wednesday was our last day of school. I had a Chemistry quiz and a Precalc test and because of the concert, I didn't really study for any of those... but I think it still went pretty well. Later that day, I talked to my mom on the phone.
I don't think anything exciting happened on Thursday...
Yesterday, Courtney and I did the rest of our christmas shopping. Sheila gave us a ride to a new mall around here - I love that mall, it's kinda like an outside mall and really pretty. And they have an H&M store, and a Claire's, and a reaaaaally really cool store called Love Clture (yup, without the first u) which has incredibly cute clothes. I didn't buy clothes though because we spent all our time on christmas presents... but next time I need clothes, I'd like to go back there again. Oh, and they also have a Levi's store.
Sheila met us in the mall when she came back from taking Michaela to a birthday party and we finished our shopping. When we went out to the parking lot, we suddenly saw the van moving as if it had been hit by something really hard - and yes, a girl, probably younger than me, had hit Sheila's van. Her dad just arrived on the scene that moment, too and so Sheila and he figured everything out... that girl left a big dent in the van, though.
The car still worked though, and on our way back home we stopped at Walmart for some last christmas gifts and groceries.
After dinner, Courtney and I went to bed right away because last night, we had our Youth Group Lock-in at Joe Dumars, some kind of sports and activities center. I got up at 9pm, and around 9.30, Sheila drove us to Ashley's house (that's where we had that pool/hot tub party in summer where I met Meaghan). Some of Ashley's friends, including Meaghan, were already there. Later, Ashley's mom took us all to Joe Dumars where we were locked in with our Youth Group and a couple other groups from 12 midnight to 5.30am. It was okay, there was a lot to do but unfortunately, Meaghan and I were kinda the only ones our age there. Well, except for the employees maybe. So we just hung out together, talked a lot, spent some time DDRing, kinda non-seriously played volleyball with the others in between, did the minigolf course and played lasertag with the other girls. Oh my god. That is definitely one of the most FUN games ever! We probably have it in Germany but I never noticed it. I thought I'd probably be really bad, and there were some guys playing who were showing off and telling us that they were going to shoot all of us, and then I ended up getting 2nd place ;) hehe... not bad for my first lasertag game ever!
About an hour before the end of the whole thing, when everyone was pretty tired, we found some of the ex-Thecla girls (who had been at Ashley's house earlier) talking to those 3 black guys in the volleyball area, so we joined them and had a pretty funny conversation because Meaghan's sister Sarah was talking a looot because she was so tired and everyone was making fun of her.
Doug picked us up in the morning, we arrived home around 6. I ate something because I was really hungry and then I went to bed and slept until about 1.15 pm.
In the afternoon, we cleaned the house and I helped Sheila with some cooking for the next days (all the christmas celebrations). Later, I wrapped christmas presents with Courtney. Now they're all under the tree already :)
Tonight, we watched Pirates 3 all together. I LOOOOOVE that movie. Although the first 2 are better. But this one's pretty awesome, too.
And nooow I gotta go to bed.
Happy Birthday, Ronja! Hope you had a wonderful 8th birthday :) :-*
12/16/2007
SNOW!
We got a loooot today...
So, we knew a snow storm was coming last night, so we went to church yesterday for the 4 o'clock mass (we weren't the only ones with that bright idea, the church was PACKED). And at night, while we were all watching Hairspray together (awesome movie, go watch it as soon as you get it!), it started snowing.
So now, we have a couple inches snow outside, it was snowing most of the day, and then we got the amazing news after dinner - school's cancelled tomorrow! Yay!
So, you guys... have fun in school and at work tomorrow :P
So, we knew a snow storm was coming last night, so we went to church yesterday for the 4 o'clock mass (we weren't the only ones with that bright idea, the church was PACKED). And at night, while we were all watching Hairspray together (awesome movie, go watch it as soon as you get it!), it started snowing.
So now, we have a couple inches snow outside, it was snowing most of the day, and then we got the amazing news after dinner - school's cancelled tomorrow! Yay!
So, you guys... have fun in school and at work tomorrow :P
12/12/2007
I Was Sick.
But I'm well again.
The last two days were pretty unexciting. Monday morning, when I woke up, my throat hurt and I felt kinda dizzy. It got better under the shower but afterwards, I felt even worse. So I took my temperature, realized that 100.2 Fahrenheit doesn't really tell me anything because I'm pretty much still thinking in Celsius and so I waited for Courtney to come down who then told me that the usual body temperature is like 98.6 or something like that, that I had a fever and that I should stay home. I fell asleep on the couch just were I sat and didn't wake up until Sheila woke me up to tell me she was taking the kids to school and wouldn't be home all morning but that I could call her whenever I needed anything.
I somehow managed to make some breakfast and eat it, then I fell back on the couch and slept some more. Later, I watched a movie (Marie Antoinette, it is really good), then I slept some more, then I watched Joyeux Noel (a movie about a true story in World War I where German, French and Scottish soldiers made an armistice over the holidays to celebrate christmas together, it was cool because there were actually German actors like Daniel Bruehl in it and they spoke German most of the time) and slept more. Everytime I got up to go to the bathroom or get something to drink, I couldn't really stay up long because I was so dizzy. At night after dinner, I fell asleep on the couch again and before I went to bed later, Sheila told me I should stay home the next day as well.
I didn't want to, but when I got up on Tuesday morning at 5.10 like usually, I still had problems standing and walking, so I just went back to bed. Again, I spent most of the morning sleeping, in between I watched A Nightmare Before Christmas (amazing movie, but, oh well, it's by Tim Burton so it has to be) and later Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (not that I don't know that one by heart already...)
Wednesday, I was finally ready to go back to school although I still had a headache. The day started pretty awesome: Before 1st hour, I met Keith and Katie by my locker, and Keith told me that I am in the school play! I have a small part as one of the forest Lords, that means I have about 2 or 3 lines maybe but I think I'll be on the stage a couple more times. And Mrs Ethridge is using the Lords and other small roles when she needs crowds. In Precalc I realized that I'd missed a lot in only 2 days and I didn't get what they were doing at all.
On Thursday, I wasn't in my classes again because Mr Bilen, the German teacher, had invited the two other German exchange students, Eileen (I met her for the first time yesterday) and Finja, and me to be in his classes all day to talk to his German students. It was alright, although it got really boring after a while because he gave the same sheet of questions to all of his classes. But there where a lot of fun moments, too.
After school, I went to the first drama read through. It was so much fun! The group, maybe 15 or 20 people, so not many, is just awesome. It's gonna be an amazing time until the play in April. And Keith is in the play, too! I had to skip Jazz Band for that... that made me feel really bad since I had already missed it on Monday and Tuesday but Mr Conaton was okay with it. Thursday night was also pretty cool... While Sheila, Doug and the little ones where at St Thecla for the school's christmas show and Courtney was babysitting, I stayed home to get my Precalc stuff done and after reading it again and just trying the problems, I finally got it. Actually, it's easy. I've just never done it before... but, oh well, now we started the easiest stuff ever, for some reason we're doing the first chapter of the book now. Prime numbers and sequences and stuff like that.
Today wasn't too exciting. I finally went to Jazz Band again, that was fun. I'll have to practise all my flute and piano and whatever else music this weekend a lot.
Our christmas concert is on Tuesday already!!
The last two days were pretty unexciting. Monday morning, when I woke up, my throat hurt and I felt kinda dizzy. It got better under the shower but afterwards, I felt even worse. So I took my temperature, realized that 100.2 Fahrenheit doesn't really tell me anything because I'm pretty much still thinking in Celsius and so I waited for Courtney to come down who then told me that the usual body temperature is like 98.6 or something like that, that I had a fever and that I should stay home. I fell asleep on the couch just were I sat and didn't wake up until Sheila woke me up to tell me she was taking the kids to school and wouldn't be home all morning but that I could call her whenever I needed anything.
I somehow managed to make some breakfast and eat it, then I fell back on the couch and slept some more. Later, I watched a movie (Marie Antoinette, it is really good), then I slept some more, then I watched Joyeux Noel (a movie about a true story in World War I where German, French and Scottish soldiers made an armistice over the holidays to celebrate christmas together, it was cool because there were actually German actors like Daniel Bruehl in it and they spoke German most of the time) and slept more. Everytime I got up to go to the bathroom or get something to drink, I couldn't really stay up long because I was so dizzy. At night after dinner, I fell asleep on the couch again and before I went to bed later, Sheila told me I should stay home the next day as well.
I didn't want to, but when I got up on Tuesday morning at 5.10 like usually, I still had problems standing and walking, so I just went back to bed. Again, I spent most of the morning sleeping, in between I watched A Nightmare Before Christmas (amazing movie, but, oh well, it's by Tim Burton so it has to be) and later Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (not that I don't know that one by heart already...)
Wednesday, I was finally ready to go back to school although I still had a headache. The day started pretty awesome: Before 1st hour, I met Keith and Katie by my locker, and Keith told me that I am in the school play! I have a small part as one of the forest Lords, that means I have about 2 or 3 lines maybe but I think I'll be on the stage a couple more times. And Mrs Ethridge is using the Lords and other small roles when she needs crowds. In Precalc I realized that I'd missed a lot in only 2 days and I didn't get what they were doing at all.
On Thursday, I wasn't in my classes again because Mr Bilen, the German teacher, had invited the two other German exchange students, Eileen (I met her for the first time yesterday) and Finja, and me to be in his classes all day to talk to his German students. It was alright, although it got really boring after a while because he gave the same sheet of questions to all of his classes. But there where a lot of fun moments, too.
After school, I went to the first drama read through. It was so much fun! The group, maybe 15 or 20 people, so not many, is just awesome. It's gonna be an amazing time until the play in April. And Keith is in the play, too! I had to skip Jazz Band for that... that made me feel really bad since I had already missed it on Monday and Tuesday but Mr Conaton was okay with it. Thursday night was also pretty cool... While Sheila, Doug and the little ones where at St Thecla for the school's christmas show and Courtney was babysitting, I stayed home to get my Precalc stuff done and after reading it again and just trying the problems, I finally got it. Actually, it's easy. I've just never done it before... but, oh well, now we started the easiest stuff ever, for some reason we're doing the first chapter of the book now. Prime numbers and sequences and stuff like that.
Today wasn't too exciting. I finally went to Jazz Band again, that was fun. I'll have to practise all my flute and piano and whatever else music this weekend a lot.
Our christmas concert is on Tuesday already!!
12/09/2007
15 Days Til Christmas
And I don't even have all my christmas shopping done yet...
So, what exciting things happened this week?
I got a big package from my aunt and uncle Elvi and Albert filled with the YUMMIEST German chocolate, German gummy candy (Haribo) and Marzipan Kartoffeln. I LOVE those... my mom must have told them! :) Dankeschooooooen, alle und vor allem ich haben sich so sehr gefreut ;) und netterweise moegen die meisten hier Marzipan nicht so gerne, somit hab ich die Marzipan Kartoffeln fuer mich alleine :D
Jazz Band went on, and it's still fun.
Sam, a guy in band - he's not in my band class, he was in battery during marching season - , his name is Sam and I don't really know him since although battery and pit kinda hung out together a lot, I never really talked to him, well, he came up to me between 6th hour and Jazz Band in the band room one day and asked me what I wanted for christmas. I was just like well, I don't know... And he goes "I'm gonna get you something, what's your name?" and he put me down on a list ^^ Later I saw him asking other people for their christmas wishes and he told them this year, he was going to get a christmas present for everyone... oh my god, that's just crazy :D but awesome, in a way... about 2 days later he passed me in the band hallway, calling "I got you a present!"
I got my first B in Precalc, we had a quiz and I got 5 wrong (just stupid mistakes, so it bothers me a little, but, oh well, my grades don't count anyways and I know what I did wrong and won't make those mistakes on the actual test). I didn't lose my seat, though, because Mr Curtis only rearranges the seating chart after tests.
I also tried out for the school play. They are doing "As You Like It", a Shakespeare piece, in April and the try-outs were on Friday. Courtney tried out, too. Since she had cheerleading (a game) after school on Friday, we asked Mrs Ethridge whether we could try out before school. But unfortunately, we had a really stupid sub busdriver Friday morning and so we arrived at the school just in time for first hour. So we went to the auditions after school anyways and explained our situation to Mrs Ethridge. She seemed mad first, probably because we didn't tell her earlier in the day - definitely should have done that - and she said "So what do you want me to do, cancel all this for you guys??" That shocked us a little, but then we just asked her whether we might be able to try out first and that was okay. I hope I'll get a part, it would be so much fun to be in the play. I think we find out about it on Tuesday.
We were done so fast that I still made it to Jazz Band rehearsal in time. After that, I waited for Sheila and we stayed for the first half of Courtney's game. So I got to see my first High School basketball game. It was only a Freshmen game, though.
Yesterday, we made christmas cookies! Grandma Tina came over and she and Sheila got started; Courtney and I were stuck sorting Sheila's recipes first. We got them pretty organized :) After that, we helped with the cookies and made chocolate candy cane cookies.
All those cookies are reaaally yummy ;)
For dinner, a friend of Sheila, I don't know how to spell her name, came over. Later that night, when Grandma and Sheila's friend had left and everyone except me had gone to bed (I had been tired before but suddenly I was totally awake, it was weird because the tea I had had was decaf) I finished watching Step Up on some TV Channel and after that, I started watching Marie Antoinette on Starz OnDemand (some kind of menu were you can choose from a list of movies that you can watch for free), assuming that I'd get tired while watching it, then go to bed and finish it some other time; but the movie turned out to be so good that I didn't fall asleep and actually finished it. It was nice.
Today after dinner, we went to mass at St Claude's because Courtney and I had our Youth Group meeting. It was alright.
Oh, did I tell you that Doug's been gone since Monday morning? He's up North, testing the cars his company builds in the snow and ice up there. I think he'll be back by the middle of next week or something.
Alright, I'm gonna go to bed soon. Good Night!
So, what exciting things happened this week?
I got a big package from my aunt and uncle Elvi and Albert filled with the YUMMIEST German chocolate, German gummy candy (Haribo) and Marzipan Kartoffeln. I LOVE those... my mom must have told them! :) Dankeschooooooen, alle und vor allem ich haben sich so sehr gefreut ;) und netterweise moegen die meisten hier Marzipan nicht so gerne, somit hab ich die Marzipan Kartoffeln fuer mich alleine :D
Jazz Band went on, and it's still fun.
Sam, a guy in band - he's not in my band class, he was in battery during marching season - , his name is Sam and I don't really know him since although battery and pit kinda hung out together a lot, I never really talked to him, well, he came up to me between 6th hour and Jazz Band in the band room one day and asked me what I wanted for christmas. I was just like well, I don't know... And he goes "I'm gonna get you something, what's your name?" and he put me down on a list ^^ Later I saw him asking other people for their christmas wishes and he told them this year, he was going to get a christmas present for everyone... oh my god, that's just crazy :D but awesome, in a way... about 2 days later he passed me in the band hallway, calling "I got you a present!"
I got my first B in Precalc, we had a quiz and I got 5 wrong (just stupid mistakes, so it bothers me a little, but, oh well, my grades don't count anyways and I know what I did wrong and won't make those mistakes on the actual test). I didn't lose my seat, though, because Mr Curtis only rearranges the seating chart after tests.
I also tried out for the school play. They are doing "As You Like It", a Shakespeare piece, in April and the try-outs were on Friday. Courtney tried out, too. Since she had cheerleading (a game) after school on Friday, we asked Mrs Ethridge whether we could try out before school. But unfortunately, we had a really stupid sub busdriver Friday morning and so we arrived at the school just in time for first hour. So we went to the auditions after school anyways and explained our situation to Mrs Ethridge. She seemed mad first, probably because we didn't tell her earlier in the day - definitely should have done that - and she said "So what do you want me to do, cancel all this for you guys??" That shocked us a little, but then we just asked her whether we might be able to try out first and that was okay. I hope I'll get a part, it would be so much fun to be in the play. I think we find out about it on Tuesday.
We were done so fast that I still made it to Jazz Band rehearsal in time. After that, I waited for Sheila and we stayed for the first half of Courtney's game. So I got to see my first High School basketball game. It was only a Freshmen game, though.
Yesterday, we made christmas cookies! Grandma Tina came over and she and Sheila got started; Courtney and I were stuck sorting Sheila's recipes first. We got them pretty organized :) After that, we helped with the cookies and made chocolate candy cane cookies.
All those cookies are reaaally yummy ;)
For dinner, a friend of Sheila, I don't know how to spell her name, came over. Later that night, when Grandma and Sheila's friend had left and everyone except me had gone to bed (I had been tired before but suddenly I was totally awake, it was weird because the tea I had had was decaf) I finished watching Step Up on some TV Channel and after that, I started watching Marie Antoinette on Starz OnDemand (some kind of menu were you can choose from a list of movies that you can watch for free), assuming that I'd get tired while watching it, then go to bed and finish it some other time; but the movie turned out to be so good that I didn't fall asleep and actually finished it. It was nice.
Today after dinner, we went to mass at St Claude's because Courtney and I had our Youth Group meeting. It was alright.
Oh, did I tell you that Doug's been gone since Monday morning? He's up North, testing the cars his company builds in the snow and ice up there. I think he'll be back by the middle of next week or something.
Alright, I'm gonna go to bed soon. Good Night!
12/03/2007
CHICAGO
I was so frickin TIRED!
Okay, so on Friday, I could actually kinda sleep in a little. After I had had breakfast, Yuki from Japan and Liise from Estonia, two other exchange students (Yuki goes to L'Anse Creuse North and Liise goes to Henry Ford II in Macomb) arrived because Sheila was going to take all of us to the bus stop in Ypsilanti. We left around 10 and arrived there a little early, but some other exchange students and two of the chaperones were already there. So we checked in, Sheila left after a while, then the bus arrived and we took off for Chicago.
Most of the exchange students on the trip were German or Asian (the Asian people were from Japan, China, Thailand and South Korea), but there were also some students from Skandinavia (Sweden, Finland and I think even someone from Denmark) and well, Liise as the only Baltic student. Oh, and there were a couple girls and guys from South America... from Chile and Mexico. They were fun, but they spoke Spanish almost all the time which was kinda annoying.
When we arrived in Chicago in the afternoon, we went to the Christkindlmarket first. It's like one of those German christmas markets, it was funny to see that... but everything's way too expensive, exspecially the food (they had German chocolate, marzipan potatoes, gingerbread hearts,...). We also had time to go shopping. I went with Liise and Ai (South Korea I think) but I didn't buy anything because the stores in that area were pretty expensive.
We met back at the bus and went to Navy Pier next. It was so beautiful in the dark because it was decorated for christmas. I love that place. We had dinner at Bubba Gump which is this really cool place that is kinda connected to the movie "Forrest Gump". They had stuff that's in the movie all over the walls and on the tables, they had this metal signs that said "Run, Forrest, run" and if you wanted something, you would flip them around to "Stop, Forrest, stop" and one of the waiters would stop by. We could choose from chicken sticks, chicken salad, veggie pasta, something else that I don't remember and fried shrimp, all of that served with fries, dips and some salad. I got the shrimp, it was really yummy :)
After dinner, we had some free time at Navy Pier and I went shopping for souveniers with Liise. I also found some christmas presents already ;)
Later, the bus picked us up again and we went to the hotel (Springhill Suites by Marriott) which was about a 20 minutes drive away from the city's center.
The hotel was awesome. I shared a room with the two Japanese exchange students Midori and Moyu. We had two huge beds like in the hotel in Washington (I shared one with Moyu) but our room was bigger than the rooms in Washington. We even had a little kitchen area! Of course, we didn't really need any of those extras for only 2 nights, but, oh well, a little luxury is nice. The hotel also had a little pool but I never used it... I don't know, I don't really feel like swimming when it's freezing, raining and snowing outside :D
The next morning, we left at 9 after having breakfast in the hotel lobby (their breakfast was good... it was kind of buffett like, and they had many different things... fruit, cereals, bagels, waffels...).
First, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was cool to go there again... I remembered the fun time we had in there years ago when I got lost with Lisa. This time though, I didn't get lost ;) since we only had about an hour to walk around in the (huge!) museum on our own, Liise, Soo-Jin, Jinny and I didn't go to far away from the entrance area. In this area, they had a special christmas exhibit: Christmas trees from all over the world! We found the South Korean one for Soo-Jin and Jinny, the Estonian one for Liise and the German one for me and took pictures in front of them. However, the German christmas tree didn't look too German to me...
We also went to some kind of cookie baking show... not because we wanted to see how to make cookies from all over the world but for the free cookies xD (they were good)
Then, we met in the entrance area with the whole group again and we visited the special Star Wars exhibit that's there at the moment. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be... they had costumes and other stuff from the movies in big glas cubes, but that was pretty much it.
When we left the museum, it had started snowing. When the bus took off, there was already some snow on the ground and it was getting more and more. It was so pretty! We rode around on the campus of the University of Chicago and our tour guide told us some interesting facts about it. That university is amazing... the campus is so beautiful, the houses are built in a rather old style and it is close to the lake as well as to the city's center. The tour guide (she was German, by the way, and her accent was HORRIBLE!) said that it's a very expensive university but that they give scholarships to very bright people. Of course, that made me curious... :P I mean, even if it's that hard to get a scholarship... you can always try! She also told us that the university is a very well protected university. Not only the usual Chicago police cares for the students' safety there, but also a special University of Chicago police. That's because it's so expensive, and the area is so expensive to live in, so the people that live on the campus are rather wealthy.
I don't know if that university has a good engineering departement, though. I'm gonna find out about that.
Next, we went back to the city's center for lunch. The bus dropped us up in an area where there was the Hard Rock Cafe Chicago, a Mc Donald's, a hot dog and other stuff like that place and something called the Rainforest Cafe, so we could choose were to go. Since I didn't want to pay that much money for food but I also didn't feel like going to Mc Donald's, I went to that hot dog place with some people. That place was so cool... inside, it looked like an old, dim street in the West with two big food stands on the side of the street. The tables and chairs were on the "street", and the "food stands" were the counters where you could order your food. Above those foodstands, there was even a facade with windows and clotheslines hanging around. I got some really good spaghetti for lunch, I was hungry since I hadn't really eaten much for breakfast.
After eating, we still had enough time to go over to the Hard Rock Cafe. This place is just sooo cool. Of course, I bought a Hard Rock Cafe shirt (you can't go to a Hard Rock Cafe without buying a shirt!).
When the bus had picked us up again, we went to Michigan Avenue for - shopping! We had a couple hours to experience this amazing shopping street with all it's malls and huge stores - everything from incredibly expensive to rather cheap. Unfortunately, the snow had turned into a slight rain and it was very windy between the skyscrapers, but it was still fun. I got a really cute scarf at H&M (it's creamy white with tiny golden stripes and goes perfectly with my coat), we went to Starbucks for some really good speciality coffee (I had a caramel macchiato), I got 2 pairs of original Levi's pants (we just went into the Levi's store to look at the stuff, I mean, it was incredibly expensive... but then I found those cord pants in a corner and they were on sale - they had dropped the prize from 70$ to 9.90$! So I got a creamy white and a grey pair - 2 pairs of LEVI'S!! jeans for less than 20 bucks... awesome deal I guess!) and I got some more little souveniers at Wallgreens.
Everyone was pretty exhausted from the long day, the weather and the shopping when we got back on the bus around 8 or 8.30. We went back to the hotel and had pizza and salad for dinner which the chaperones had ordered. After dinner, I talked to Midori in our room for a while, then we went down to the lobby to play cardgames and soon, many other exchange students had joined us. It was so much fun, and we played until we had to be in our rooms at midnight.
Unfortunately, Midori and Moyu decided to talk Japanese when we got back to our room, that was kind of stupid because of course, I couldn't understand a word. But around 1, I went to bed anyways.
After breakfast the next morning, we had to leave our hotel rooms and get our luggage on the bus already. Then, we went back to the city to go straight to the Sears Tower. It was still raining a little (sometimes a little more) but that was alright since the bus dropped us off right in front of the tower. Just like 2 years ago, I watched the movie about the construction of the Sears Tower and then went up to the 103rd floor by high speed elevator. It was amazing to be up there again although this time, we didn't have such a good weather... it was really misty and foggy outside. I took a lot of pictures anyways.
When we left the Sears Tower, we headed out for Chinatown. To keep up with our schedule, we only had an hour there so we didn't really see much of it. With Liise, Peggy, Soo-Jin, Jinny and other - I think all Asian - exchange students I went to a Chinese supermarket. They had all kind of Asian food there and I got some Japanese rice crackers. They are really good... kind of sweet and salty and ricy at the same time.
Then, I went to a really cool Chinese restaurant with Liise. It was very modern-looking and bright. Since we weren't hungry yet, but had to get some lunch for the long ride, we got some Chinese food to go (I got some spring rolls... love those). We also met the South American people in there.
On our way back to the bus, we stopped at some little stores - they had really cute, but expensive purses; Chinese looking ones as well as brand name ones - and took pictures of the gate that leads to the old and historical part of Chicago's Chinatown. But then we went back to the bus really quick because this scary homeless guy came over and started talking to us and begging us for money for a bottle of water and he wouldn't leave us alone... fortunately, the bus was parked only one street corner way and so the chaperones helped us to get rid of that guy when we got their. I mean, I did feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for every homeless person, but he really got pushy.
The ride back was ridiculous.
About an hour after we had left Chicago, we hadn't even reached the first bus stop - Paw Paw - yet, our bus broke down (something was wrong with the brakes) and we got stuck in the middle of nowhere at the roadside in Indiana. They told us the bus would either be repaired or there would be a replacement bus in 1 up to 4 hours. It got really hot in the bus after a while without the A/C, then the bus driver told us we could just open the emergeny exits for some fresh air, so after a while, it got really cold, we closed them, and it got hot again...
It took more than 4 hours until the replacement bus finally arrived. I think we were stuck there for over 5 hours actually. At some point, the chaperones decided to order pizza and have it delivered to a gas station we had passed about 1 or 2 miles before we had gotten stuck, and so some of the chaperones took the people who needed to go to the bathroom the worst and walked back to the gasstation with them. When they finally got back with pizza and pop, we had a kinda weird dinner on our stuck bus and then we waited a couple more hours.
When I finally got home 7 hours late (Yuki's hostmom gave me a ride home because that's what we had planned anyways), it was 2 in the morning. I went to bed immediately after setting my alarm and deciding that if I could somehow get up the next morning, I would go to school, and if not, who cares.
I actually was able to get up after about 2.5 hours of sleep, don't ask me how. Sheila was shocked, she said I should stay home ^^ but I had already taken my shower and was getting ready, so it didn't really matter. I made it through the day with coffee, coke and caffeine mints and that was alright. Last night, we decorated our big christmas tree that we got on Thursday... it is so pretty! It's decorated mainly in white and silver.
The prize for ignoring my tired body yesterday was that I overslept today. So did Courtney, and we ended up missing the bus so Sheila had to take us. But we weren't late for first hour, so it was alright.
I'm still uploading the pictures, it's taking forever. If I get that done tonight, I'll put them on here, if not, you'll probably get them tomorrow.
Okay, so on Friday, I could actually kinda sleep in a little. After I had had breakfast, Yuki from Japan and Liise from Estonia, two other exchange students (Yuki goes to L'Anse Creuse North and Liise goes to Henry Ford II in Macomb) arrived because Sheila was going to take all of us to the bus stop in Ypsilanti. We left around 10 and arrived there a little early, but some other exchange students and two of the chaperones were already there. So we checked in, Sheila left after a while, then the bus arrived and we took off for Chicago.
Most of the exchange students on the trip were German or Asian (the Asian people were from Japan, China, Thailand and South Korea), but there were also some students from Skandinavia (Sweden, Finland and I think even someone from Denmark) and well, Liise as the only Baltic student. Oh, and there were a couple girls and guys from South America... from Chile and Mexico. They were fun, but they spoke Spanish almost all the time which was kinda annoying.
When we arrived in Chicago in the afternoon, we went to the Christkindlmarket first. It's like one of those German christmas markets, it was funny to see that... but everything's way too expensive, exspecially the food (they had German chocolate, marzipan potatoes, gingerbread hearts,...). We also had time to go shopping. I went with Liise and Ai (South Korea I think) but I didn't buy anything because the stores in that area were pretty expensive.
We met back at the bus and went to Navy Pier next. It was so beautiful in the dark because it was decorated for christmas. I love that place. We had dinner at Bubba Gump which is this really cool place that is kinda connected to the movie "Forrest Gump". They had stuff that's in the movie all over the walls and on the tables, they had this metal signs that said "Run, Forrest, run" and if you wanted something, you would flip them around to "Stop, Forrest, stop" and one of the waiters would stop by. We could choose from chicken sticks, chicken salad, veggie pasta, something else that I don't remember and fried shrimp, all of that served with fries, dips and some salad. I got the shrimp, it was really yummy :)
After dinner, we had some free time at Navy Pier and I went shopping for souveniers with Liise. I also found some christmas presents already ;)
Later, the bus picked us up again and we went to the hotel (Springhill Suites by Marriott) which was about a 20 minutes drive away from the city's center.
The hotel was awesome. I shared a room with the two Japanese exchange students Midori and Moyu. We had two huge beds like in the hotel in Washington (I shared one with Moyu) but our room was bigger than the rooms in Washington. We even had a little kitchen area! Of course, we didn't really need any of those extras for only 2 nights, but, oh well, a little luxury is nice. The hotel also had a little pool but I never used it... I don't know, I don't really feel like swimming when it's freezing, raining and snowing outside :D
The next morning, we left at 9 after having breakfast in the hotel lobby (their breakfast was good... it was kind of buffett like, and they had many different things... fruit, cereals, bagels, waffels...).
First, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was cool to go there again... I remembered the fun time we had in there years ago when I got lost with Lisa. This time though, I didn't get lost ;) since we only had about an hour to walk around in the (huge!) museum on our own, Liise, Soo-Jin, Jinny and I didn't go to far away from the entrance area. In this area, they had a special christmas exhibit: Christmas trees from all over the world! We found the South Korean one for Soo-Jin and Jinny, the Estonian one for Liise and the German one for me and took pictures in front of them. However, the German christmas tree didn't look too German to me...
We also went to some kind of cookie baking show... not because we wanted to see how to make cookies from all over the world but for the free cookies xD (they were good)
Then, we met in the entrance area with the whole group again and we visited the special Star Wars exhibit that's there at the moment. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be... they had costumes and other stuff from the movies in big glas cubes, but that was pretty much it.
When we left the museum, it had started snowing. When the bus took off, there was already some snow on the ground and it was getting more and more. It was so pretty! We rode around on the campus of the University of Chicago and our tour guide told us some interesting facts about it. That university is amazing... the campus is so beautiful, the houses are built in a rather old style and it is close to the lake as well as to the city's center. The tour guide (she was German, by the way, and her accent was HORRIBLE!) said that it's a very expensive university but that they give scholarships to very bright people. Of course, that made me curious... :P I mean, even if it's that hard to get a scholarship... you can always try! She also told us that the university is a very well protected university. Not only the usual Chicago police cares for the students' safety there, but also a special University of Chicago police. That's because it's so expensive, and the area is so expensive to live in, so the people that live on the campus are rather wealthy.
I don't know if that university has a good engineering departement, though. I'm gonna find out about that.
Next, we went back to the city's center for lunch. The bus dropped us up in an area where there was the Hard Rock Cafe Chicago, a Mc Donald's, a hot dog and other stuff like that place and something called the Rainforest Cafe, so we could choose were to go. Since I didn't want to pay that much money for food but I also didn't feel like going to Mc Donald's, I went to that hot dog place with some people. That place was so cool... inside, it looked like an old, dim street in the West with two big food stands on the side of the street. The tables and chairs were on the "street", and the "food stands" were the counters where you could order your food. Above those foodstands, there was even a facade with windows and clotheslines hanging around. I got some really good spaghetti for lunch, I was hungry since I hadn't really eaten much for breakfast.
After eating, we still had enough time to go over to the Hard Rock Cafe. This place is just sooo cool. Of course, I bought a Hard Rock Cafe shirt (you can't go to a Hard Rock Cafe without buying a shirt!).
When the bus had picked us up again, we went to Michigan Avenue for - shopping! We had a couple hours to experience this amazing shopping street with all it's malls and huge stores - everything from incredibly expensive to rather cheap. Unfortunately, the snow had turned into a slight rain and it was very windy between the skyscrapers, but it was still fun. I got a really cute scarf at H&M (it's creamy white with tiny golden stripes and goes perfectly with my coat), we went to Starbucks for some really good speciality coffee (I had a caramel macchiato), I got 2 pairs of original Levi's pants (we just went into the Levi's store to look at the stuff, I mean, it was incredibly expensive... but then I found those cord pants in a corner and they were on sale - they had dropped the prize from 70$ to 9.90$! So I got a creamy white and a grey pair - 2 pairs of LEVI'S!! jeans for less than 20 bucks... awesome deal I guess!) and I got some more little souveniers at Wallgreens.
Everyone was pretty exhausted from the long day, the weather and the shopping when we got back on the bus around 8 or 8.30. We went back to the hotel and had pizza and salad for dinner which the chaperones had ordered. After dinner, I talked to Midori in our room for a while, then we went down to the lobby to play cardgames and soon, many other exchange students had joined us. It was so much fun, and we played until we had to be in our rooms at midnight.
Unfortunately, Midori and Moyu decided to talk Japanese when we got back to our room, that was kind of stupid because of course, I couldn't understand a word. But around 1, I went to bed anyways.
After breakfast the next morning, we had to leave our hotel rooms and get our luggage on the bus already. Then, we went back to the city to go straight to the Sears Tower. It was still raining a little (sometimes a little more) but that was alright since the bus dropped us off right in front of the tower. Just like 2 years ago, I watched the movie about the construction of the Sears Tower and then went up to the 103rd floor by high speed elevator. It was amazing to be up there again although this time, we didn't have such a good weather... it was really misty and foggy outside. I took a lot of pictures anyways.
When we left the Sears Tower, we headed out for Chinatown. To keep up with our schedule, we only had an hour there so we didn't really see much of it. With Liise, Peggy, Soo-Jin, Jinny and other - I think all Asian - exchange students I went to a Chinese supermarket. They had all kind of Asian food there and I got some Japanese rice crackers. They are really good... kind of sweet and salty and ricy at the same time.
Then, I went to a really cool Chinese restaurant with Liise. It was very modern-looking and bright. Since we weren't hungry yet, but had to get some lunch for the long ride, we got some Chinese food to go (I got some spring rolls... love those). We also met the South American people in there.
On our way back to the bus, we stopped at some little stores - they had really cute, but expensive purses; Chinese looking ones as well as brand name ones - and took pictures of the gate that leads to the old and historical part of Chicago's Chinatown. But then we went back to the bus really quick because this scary homeless guy came over and started talking to us and begging us for money for a bottle of water and he wouldn't leave us alone... fortunately, the bus was parked only one street corner way and so the chaperones helped us to get rid of that guy when we got their. I mean, I did feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for every homeless person, but he really got pushy.
The ride back was ridiculous.
About an hour after we had left Chicago, we hadn't even reached the first bus stop - Paw Paw - yet, our bus broke down (something was wrong with the brakes) and we got stuck in the middle of nowhere at the roadside in Indiana. They told us the bus would either be repaired or there would be a replacement bus in 1 up to 4 hours. It got really hot in the bus after a while without the A/C, then the bus driver told us we could just open the emergeny exits for some fresh air, so after a while, it got really cold, we closed them, and it got hot again...
It took more than 4 hours until the replacement bus finally arrived. I think we were stuck there for over 5 hours actually. At some point, the chaperones decided to order pizza and have it delivered to a gas station we had passed about 1 or 2 miles before we had gotten stuck, and so some of the chaperones took the people who needed to go to the bathroom the worst and walked back to the gasstation with them. When they finally got back with pizza and pop, we had a kinda weird dinner on our stuck bus and then we waited a couple more hours.
When I finally got home 7 hours late (Yuki's hostmom gave me a ride home because that's what we had planned anyways), it was 2 in the morning. I went to bed immediately after setting my alarm and deciding that if I could somehow get up the next morning, I would go to school, and if not, who cares.
I actually was able to get up after about 2.5 hours of sleep, don't ask me how. Sheila was shocked, she said I should stay home ^^ but I had already taken my shower and was getting ready, so it didn't really matter. I made it through the day with coffee, coke and caffeine mints and that was alright. Last night, we decorated our big christmas tree that we got on Thursday... it is so pretty! It's decorated mainly in white and silver.
The prize for ignoring my tired body yesterday was that I overslept today. So did Courtney, and we ended up missing the bus so Sheila had to take us. But we weren't late for first hour, so it was alright.
I'm still uploading the pictures, it's taking forever. If I get that done tonight, I'll put them on here, if not, you'll probably get them tomorrow.
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