Welcome Back!
Welcome to the new section of my blog! I've been wanting to get back into writing because I like it, and I also heard some good reviews on my exchange blog. So, here we are. I'm not sure yet how often I'll be posting but there are some good and exciting things coming up in my future that I think people would like to hear about. So without further delay, here are my life updates (this may be a bit lengthy).
Senior Year and School:
It's been a while since I've written and I am now less than one semester away from finishing up high school. For the first time in my high school career, I ended my first semester with all A's; I'm hoping to do the same thing second semester. Personally, I think it's because all tests were open note, but I'm happy with myself so I'm not complaining. Since I went to Germany, I have more school credits than I need but I'm still taking a few classes. As some of you know, I want to major in psychology in college, so I took an AP Psych class. It's been kind of difficult but I really love the subject and what we learn about.
You may be wondering, "hey Leah, you just mentioned college; tell us more about it!" Well, I got accepted into the one place I applied-- Arapaho Community College (ACC). I don't love the idea of being in debt after I graduate and I also don't love the idea of needing to adult at the moment. This way I save money, I'm still getting a good education, and I can live at home and keep my job! ACC has a pathway program which will allow me to have a smooth transition to a 4-year college in Colorado. At the moment, I plan on transferring to Metropolitan State or CU Denver where I can finish getting my degree (after which I will be going to med school, but that's very far away).
School this year has been very different. Despite getting the option to go to school 2 days a week in-person, I chose to do 100% online. It has been wonderful because I can wake up 5 minutes before my classes start and still be on time. However, the school district just announced that they will be offering a 100% in-person option starting in April. If I am given the opportunity to do that, I absolutely will. I never thought I'd be so excited about going to school, but now that it would only be a month and a half before I graduate, I am LOVING the idea. I have had a crazy high school experience: I went to 5 schools in five years and came back to full online classes. But now, I might be able to return to school-- walking there, of course.
New Jersey:
Something that I have been waiting a long time for is seeing my grandparents again. The last time I saw them was the beginning of June 2019, almost 2 years ago. We live 4000 miles away from all of our family so we don't get to see them much. I was in Germany for 8 months and then coronavirus happened. My family and I were planning on flying out around Halloween but we cancelled our trip because of the virus. But thankfully, there's a vaccine. My grandparents were lucky enough to get the vaccine so they said they would love to have me. This is another reason I love online school; I get to go see them and still keep up with my school work! I'm scheduled to leave March 5th and I'll be there for just over 2 weeks. I requested time off from work* (T.J. Maxx) and it was no problem. I also made myself a covid test appointment so I can get on the plane knowing that I am safe.
My grandparents and I don't have any grand plans for when I'm there but my classes won't start until 11am which is really nice. I'll probably cook and bake a lot, as well as get my grandma out walking (yes grandma, you read that right. We're going to go for walks!), and just do things around the house for them. Overall, I'm just so excited that I get to spend time with them and their quarantine cat, Kitty. I don't need to be doing much, spending time with them is good enough for me.
*Side note: I love my job so much. Everyone I work with is so nice, the managers are amazing, and it's just a really good work environment.
Upcoming:
Recently, I've been trying to look at the bright things. Not necessarily in the moment, but I've been trying to be more optimistic about the future. For everyone, as well as me, I think it's been hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We're coming up on a year now (in the U.S. at least) of quarantine and restrictions/regulations. A lot of people have been through so much during that time. Even if you haven't had any major challenges, it's like groundhogs day; we're all living the same day over and over, which can get exhausting. Now that things are starting to look up, I'm trying to see the light.
It starts in under a week when I get to stay with my grandparents and see some other extended family, like my aunts and uncles. After that, I have a week at home before I'm leaving again. My spring break is the last week of March to the beginning of April, so I decided to drive to Nebraska and visit my friend who I met on exchange, Ashton. We actually saw each other in the fall when he came and stayed with my family and me for a few days, so it'll be nice to see him again.
After spring break, I may be going back to school in person for a little under 2 months. And then... I graduate. My 12 years of public school are almost up. My goodness, I am SO excited and happy. Normally, graduation is supposed to happen at Red Rocks but it didn't last year, so I'm really hoping I get to graduate there in May.
For my graduation, my parents' 25th anniversary, and Amelia's Bat Mitzvah (July 17th), my family wants to take a trip-- a grand trip. We had been planning on Europe but timing will be very difficult so we decided to do that next summer instead. Out plan now involves a possible road trip and some beautiful sights (most likely in California). I've been wanting to go back to California for quite some time so I'm really looking forward to the possibility of that happening. However, no set plans have been made yet.
Amelia's Bat Mitzvah is in July which means we'll hopefully see some family during that time. When I'm in Jersey, I probably won't get to see my 2 cousins who are in college, but I will get to see my youngest cousin. Assuming everyone in the immediate Schreier family can come for the bat mitzvah, it will be very nice to have everyone together again. After that, I will hopefully be allowed to attend a concert that I bought tickets for. The concert is July 30th for Tame Impala. I'm looking forward to it. After that, school will be about to start again so I'll be preparing for that, and as always, I'll be working too (gotta get that money). I'm also planning on skydiving.
Other:
In semi-recent news, I am now 18. I did not celebrate. All I did was eat pepperoni pizza (which was cool because we're mostly vegetarian now) and hang out with my family. The most exciting thing so far has been not needing to clock out for my 15 minute breaks at work. I'm just worried about being tried as an adult when I commit The Crime (I'm not really going to, that was just a joke so don't worry).
On New Years Day, my mom and I went to get tattoos together. I got the tattoo I've been wanting for a while-- the mountains and wave, and my mom got an olive branch. I got the tattoo in my wrist and it didn't hurt very much, I thought it was fun and I'm planning my next one.
When Christmas was approaching, my mom texted my sister and me one day and asked if we wanted to decorate the Christmas tree at her office. So the two Jewish girls decorated the Christmas tree. And just for the record, I heard that people in the office all said the tree looked incredible.
Over the past summer, I got to do some fun things. With various friends I went to various places and had a lot of fun. I went to a waterfall in Manitou Springs (close to Colorado Springs), the Royal Gorge Bridge, Bishops Castle (one of my favorite places in the whole world), and I got to go camping with a couple friends too. My family and I went camping quite a few times too. In one camping excursion, we went with family friends and we all rented a boat the following day to get out on the lake near by. On another trip with just my family, we got to go white water rafting, which I loved. It was so exciting and fun; but I wish there had been bigger rapids. The guide told us that we worked extremely well as a group.
My mom, sister, and I also went to the Paint Mines (that's what the colorful rocks are in the picture). On another day, my dad, sister, and I went to the shooting range to go clay shooting. My dad and I tied (we hit the same total amount of clay disks) and I had such a good time. My family also got a year long long membership to an animal sanctuary. The place has foxes, wolves, bears, lions, and a lot of Tigers. It was a really cold day but now we can go anytime for free so I plan on going back and enjoying it on a nicer day.
Also there's a picture of some pretzels I made. I've been baking a lot and so I thought I'd try my hand at pretzels. They came out really well.
Closing:
I'm not sure how often I'll be writing, but when I do I'll try to make it interesting. I've thought about starting another section of my blog dedicated to music recommendations, album reviews, possibly book and movie reviews as well. You all can comment, text, or email me your opinions on that.
It felt good to write again. As always, thank you to everyone who read and made it to the end. It still mind boggles me how many people actually read my blog posts. Nevertheless, I love having a way to communicate with so many people and keep you all updated on my life. Reviews on my writing are always welcome, good or bad.
Gallery:
Most of the pictures are from camping or fun trips :)
