Sorry for the delay! Here's a few points:
I decided that Wednesday/Thursday just wasn't the best day to post. That's why this post is on Sunday. From now on, I will be posting every Sunday. This way, I can write about my week in its entirety. Sometimes things will happen on Thursday or Friday and then I have to wait a whole week to post about it.
Since the last time I wrote, a few notable things have happened outside of school. The day after I wrote last, Zoe left for Chile. She left early in the morning so Noelle and I had breakfast together before we both went on our way. Then last Saturday, I went with my host family and a couple of their friends to see Saturday Night Fever on Saturday night. The show was in German but the songs were in English and the dialogue was simply enough (and I could take it in context) so I was able to understand what was happening. While I was there, I got s really amazing pulled pork sandwich that made me thing of my dad. A week later (yesterday), I went with my family and the second family I will be with to see where they make the cruise ships. Gabby, the other Rotary exchange student was also there, and her host brother, Philipp, who's 14 and has a very similar personality to me. Some time since I have written (I don't know what day), I went shopping. I spent so much money on new clothes but I got amazing jeans so I'm happy. I went shopping with Ulla, my host mom, and Noelle. After we were done shopping, we got fries that came with a little fork and it made me happy.
Noelle and I are actually pretty close now; kinda like sisters. We started watching season 3 of 13 Reasons Why together because we both saw the first two seasons and wanted to watch the third. In the first episode, some one said the line "we're all in this together" and at the same time, we both started singing the High School Musical song. On Friday, we baked some cookies before our almost nightly viewing of the show. They actually came out pretty good.
The school situation:
School is school. I have a class called Sport where we start off the lesson by running a lot (which is terrible) but then we end by throwing spears. Like the long pointy sticks. We throw those at the ground and it's so fun. My other classes are fairly easy for the most part but mostly because there's not too many tests and teachers don't check homework.
The reason that school goes until mid-July is because I have the whole month of October without any regular classes. There's a 2 week break at the beginning during which I will spending a week travelling around Germany with other exchange students from Rotary. During the second 2 weeks, I will be occupied by something called Practicum. This gives all students in grade 11 a chance to get experience working. Tomorrow I am going to a bakery to get some papers signed so that I can work there. I already have arrangements made so I know that I'll be able to work there. I love baking and I'm going to get to work in a bakery!
The whole "friend" thing is proving to be quite difficult. I and the other exchange students are each others closest friends. Rotary tried telling us that the other exchange students would be our closest friends, and at the time I thought that seemed crazy. But now that I'm living it, I'm realizing how real it is. Don't get me wrong, these other kids are so great and I'm glad to have them as friends but I just wish that it was easier with the German students. I'm going to keep trying though. Everyone's already really nice and helpful, something I'm super thankful for, but I'm determined to become actual friends with some of them.
Rhapsody:
I was pondering today on how fast life actually goes. Next year is 2020; I will be 17 years old. I have no idea what happened to the time, it went by so slowly as I was living it. But yet when I think about it, it went by so fast. I remember being in Kindergarten and going over to our neighbors house almost every day (and getting on the bench to look through the window). I remember playing with these colorful shape toys with Julia in 1st grade and having Mrs. ABC take pictures of us. I remember Eilie calling her mom almost every day to see if we could play together. I remember biking to Adrienne's house, going to theater camp, my last day of 7th grade. I remember the whipped creme pie fight and sleepovers with my cousin, Eric. I remember zip lining with Olivia in the pouring rain for her birthday, playing Cards Against Humanity at sleepovers, movie marathons, my book club with Grace. I remember moving to Colorado, actually liking school, making friends, movie nights, sleeping at Jovi's because I was too tired to go home. I remember so many good things about life. Of course I still remember some bad things, but life is filled with its ups and downs. In the moment my pain seemed that it would never end, but looking back I've realized that it was just a moment. It didn't last.
"Life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it," is a quote from the Titanic but I really believe that it applies to my new mentality; or the one that I'm trying to create for myself. I have this bracelet that symbolizes inevitable death (perfect for me, I know), but it shows that we must learn to appreciate every moment in life and understand that we are alive. The bracelet has actually been helping me because every time I see it on my wrist, I am reminded to appreciate everything that is happening. Even if it's not the best moment, I am living it and I am alive.
Photo Gallery:
Pictured below is: Pizza from an Italian restaurant in town (my mother told me that I would not get any good Italian food, but this pizza was good), a coin that I got pressed from the place with the cruise ships, Gabby, Philipp, and I, in front of the the Norwegian Encore cruise ship, the building where they make the ships and the inside where a ship is being built, me and Donald Duck and then me and a shiny gold boat propeller, an amazing pair of Nike running shoes that I got for 30% off, a street in Leer where I went shopping, Saturday Night Fever, my pulled pork sandwich, and lastly, the best picture ever taken. There is so much wrong in that picture and no one looks good but oh man, it's perfect.
