Oh I forgot!!!

ok ok ok this is going to be really short, but I forgot to write something yesterday, which is actually pretty interesting: You may know that EF offered several different countries to choose from in the past, like Hongkong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, France, Denmark, and so on. BUT NOW after I found out a while ago that the EF offices in almost all countries except the USA, UK and Ireland closed you can't go anywhere else than those countries! It's os weird and pretty sad because especially Australia and France went pretty good, but when the offices in those countries close down nobody can go there either. That's it.
And also the prices for the remaining countries increased so badly! I mean when I went the USA was the cheapest option, even cheaper than Ireland and UK! And now it's he mpst expensive country you can book with EF! CRAZY!!
But since my exchange is already over I'm not too concerned about ll that anymore. It's sill really weird.
Good night!!

Orientation Meeting- it gets better every time :)

Alright guys!!
Here i am back from my long writing break. It's not that i forgot it or something but it's simply that nothing really exciting (what actually matters, and what has something to do with my exchange) happened. Well but here i am again ready to tell you a new story.
A few weeks ago (not sure if I already told you guys, probably not) I wrote an E-mail to EF regarding the ways you can earn points (because when you have 7000 points you can get a flight back to your hostcountry! Unfortunately I only have like 100 or something cause I'm waaay too lazy to do presentations at schools, or  stuff like that but i really wanna earn points. So the EF lady wrote back and asked me if I wanted to participate in the next EF Orientation meeting and i was like "Hey, yeah could be fun!" so I agreed. i was pretty excited about that, so many memories came back and it was so nice- before the journey is after the journey.
Alright today then (on a SUNDAY!!!!) I had to get up at half past 7 already, because I had to be in Linz at 9:15 (45 before it started I have no clue why i had to be there so early but anyways). In the end I ended up getting there half an hour too early so i had to wait. But not long the EF staff came and the other Returnees. We were 5 Returnees including myself, four had been in the USA and one in Ireland. Yeah the EF stuff told us what was going on, what our job would be in the whole thing but I actually knew it already from my last Orientation Meeting last year. WU I was so excited back then.
Anyways then we Returnees had time to chat for a little while and it was really great to talk to people who understand you and who experienced similar things and who never get tired of your stories and awkward situations. They're great guys. I already chatted with one of them on the Internet and it was nice to meet her in real life.
When the actual students came in it finally began with some delay and I remembered how felt the year before. Was so exciting!! We had almost the same procedure this year one of the EF ladies talked about some general things, about how the students were going to be placed and then about what they can expect. Where the Returnees were asked about their experience and from then on it was just us Returnees talking about our experience, to what school we went about our hostfamilies and so on. Wui I felt so wise, when parents asked stuff and we I could answer and knew more than them and WOW! And I can remember that I really envied the Returnees last year, because they had such an awesome experience I just had been sitting there getting really excited. Now I envy the students going in a few wees because their experience has not even started yet. That's weird.
Well the rest of the meeting was a workshop , which was new, and basically consisted of more talking of the Returnees, this time in smaller groups. It was pretty awesome it was like I lived through my exchange again remembering more and more details :)
Then the meeting was pretty much over, the Returnees stayed a little after talking about how we all miss our hostcountries, it was so good talking to people who feel the same!! We exchanged cellphone numbers and yeah, it was good, and i hope we gonna meet again. Just to talk :)
The Ef lady i also talked to said she had been in Australia once, for a few months and MAN what she told me sounded so cool. I really wanna go to Australia. Like badly. :D
Yeah now I'm spending my evening writing THIS, listening to music which reminds me of the USA  and i really dont feel like school tomorrow. urgs.

Well anyways gotta go now it's getting pretty late for a school night already :/

I don't know what to say about that :P

OK guys the impulse of this post is a ridiculous one. I was just washing my hair and there i used a shampoo I got from my hostfamily and I still have it ;) which I didn't use in a while. But when I was using it, it smelled like, my first few days in the Grand Island. This might sounds weird but just because of that SMELL I remembered in a few seconds all the impressions of my first few days: That I probably wasn't a really exciting exchnage student in the first few days: I was really sick from the flight (especially on the first day), I hardly understood anything, didn't say much and when somebody asked me something I just answered in a few words. I also remembered when I first went to a restaurant and hardly ate anything. Bu I wasn't homesick. And i also remembered how AWESOME my hostfamily reacted to that weird and not very communicative behavior, they just made me feel better every day and I spoke more and in the end I really felt like they were my second family in the US (they actually still are) and I really feel homesick to my american home. :(  well it's really weird that only a smell can remind you of that much. So to all the people out there who are in the USA now: you better enjoy your short time over there because otherwise you might probably ( actually for SURE) regret it afterwards. It's too short to complain about trifles.

Alright because this post can't end yet (this would totally be against my tradition) I'm gonna tell you about my first few days of school back in Austria, since I'm back to it for about 2 weeks.
First of all I have to say that I was really looking forward to Austrian school again and I was counting the days till it started again, I also looked forward to seeing my old and new classmates :)  The first few days were actually really fun and it was so nice to see all my classmates again, but I also already noticed that school in Austria is completely different that American school. the biggest difference: I have normal classes for about a week now and I ALERADY GOT SO MUCH WORK TO do, it's CRAZY! I don't even wanna think of how it goes on for months and months and when we have the first exams and stuff. I mean I had work to do in the USA too but it usually was so easy that I didn't do anything of it at home, seriously. That's now a bit.. overwhelming. Also the first few days (and still actually) people I knew better ( or not even that) just came up to me and asked me how my exchange was. Old classmates, teacher, just people I talked to a few times and I always answered "Good! :)" but in retrospect this in not a good enough word for it.
Yeah now I have regular classes again and I'm surprisingly doing not that bad!! :) I mean in maths I'm a bit confused cause it seems that I missed something and I honestly didn't study in my holidays at ALL, although I really wanted to, but in the end, my laziness won :) but we're repeating  lot anyways so i'm not that bad :)
It turned out that the other classes didn't matter at all, it doesn't seem that I missed ANYTHING, really.Which is great :) But it's not that my exchange year didn't influence me and my school achievements at all. Gosh like the first Spanish lesson this year. When we sat down (gah in Austria you usually stand up when the teacher comes in and I absolutely forgot it at first :D ) and then the teacher asked me "Qué tál? (How are you?) and I was not prepared at all and automatically  I thought in English to answer in English too. But then i was like ANNA WE'RE IN AUSTRIA HERE, but still ended up saying something which sounded like a weird mix of German and English. In the same lesson we spoke Spanish (of course :D ) and not mentioning the fact that I didn't seem to know ANYTHING from my Spanish class, even the one in the  USA anymore, I was pronouncing the Spanish words really weird. Because in the USA they spoke an English- Spanish accent, which i must have picked up eventually, against my will. The teacher laughed and even she said that it's going to be a funny year with me. Well, embarrassing ;)
Hahah but I also have good changes to report: I'm really good in English now :) was kind of predictable, well but I didn't really notice my English getting that good!! And the teacher somehow seems to notice that I was in the states only from the way  I speak, before I even tell them that I was gone.  The one teacher kind of asked ME all the questions about the US presidents and if I have been there and there and I didn't even say anything to her. It's kind of cool but I must have picked up a LOT of the american English! Which was my goal,so yay SUCCESS! My classmates always laugh when i speak up in English because I apparently use "Yeah" a lot (which I don't really notice) and  I just have a funny accent, they say. I'm  really happy about it! :)      

Also my exchange influenced even my normal GERMAN! I occasionally say " Alrght.." "Whatever",              " Nevermind", "Are you serious?", "EEWWW!!" and short phrases like that my friends are always like ahm ja that was not german :) I really don't care, perhaps I never get rid of that and that is good! It'll always have an impact on my life, either way you turn it.

To cut a long story short, I'm having a good time here again, school is alright again, but I still miss my american life and family... and I still get in a lot of awkward situations :P

huh that's it now after I wrote the whole text twice cause I kinda deleted the first post, but not on purpose. :O

Love,
Anna

hach..... things I miss

So after a long time I'm back to write in my blog. The internet here didn't work very well for a while. It's really annoying that when you want to look a picture up on Google, and it needs 20 minutes to be fully loaded :S  However I don't wanna complain about how things are not working. THis time I wanted to write of things I miss here, which I had in the USA. It's crazy that I needed like 5 months to miss Austria but not even 2 months to miss the USA. I often think about Grand Island, they have the Nebraska State Fair there right  now, I really would like to get there, what people tell me about it sounds so cool. It seem to me that in he 2nd halfyear more things are going on in Grand Island somehow. Hu. I really envy you guys who are in the USA right now that you get to celebrate all the awesome things like thanksgiving and stuff like that whit is coming up right now. Hahah I'm getting to my list in a minute, hold on. Oh ya since school holidays are almost over now I can say that all the people i got to see in the holidays, are really curious. You know like every person I meet that actually knows me asks me "Hey, you're back, how was it in the USA?" and I'M like "Awesome, duh?!" hahah I feel so wise when they ask questions about how it is living in the USA and if that and that rumor you hear is true. When I explain it, it always makes me feel like I wanna go back really bad. :(  AND I feel like I have to vindicate the whole American lifestyle. Even the things that aren't that great. Weird. But NOW I'm getting to the list :) :
 So I really miss:

• american school. Although the Austrian school didn't start yet i really wanna start school in GI, not here, and it's really hard to see everybody post normal stuff about school again :(
  
• ice cubes in literally every beverage. Loads and loads. Here you have to order it with ice in it and you only get a few. Not even at McDonalds.  It's funny that I miss it because when i was in the USA I was always complaining about it that it#s too much and makes your throat hurt. I guess I got used to it in the end :)

• That you get straws with every beverage. How are you supposed to drink it without them!?
  
• Free refills on your drinks. It's really annoying that they charge you here for a second or third one. I'm still thirsty!  
  
• the songs you hear on the radio. Even the ones that were really annoying. People once asked me what  kind of music there is on Austrian radio and I answered "Pretty much the same than in the USA". Wrong. It's only a couple songs you hear here as well as in the USA. And the ones they don't play are those, which I really miss. They weren't really my favorite songs  but now I think that I liked them! Fortunately we have Youtube theses days . Makes everything easier.

• Alright, I also miss my hostfamily. A LOT!
  
• The american lifestyle. It's that you just go out and do something spontaneously.
  
• American grocery stores. That you have a variety of things to choose from, every kind of everything. Also the checkouts where you can do it yourself, when you only have a couple of things.
  
• Oh gosh speaking ENGLISH! that's one of the main things I really miss. Meanwhile I got used to the German radio moderators again and Austrian TV and writing German or Austrian dialect in the facebook chat. And I can express myself  well again. Ready for school to start, I suppose.
  
  
• The friendliness of random people. I still think "Gah what kind of problem does this lady have?" , but then I realize that it's normal since nobody else seems to be bothered.
  
  
• The landscape with no mountains. The sunsets in Grand Island were so much prettier! And you had sun longer since there are no mountains that block the sun ages before it really sets.
  
•  Nobody smokes in the USA. I think one day I've seen as many people smoke as in the whole time in the USA. I can't stand it, Austria.
  
• The kind of cars they have in the USA. you know where you just have a brake and  the accelerator. Here it's so complicated.
  
• Also the american cars. They're so big and comfy. You can't really move in the cars here. Although I didn't like it at first that I always had to climb in hahah  

ok can't think of more for now. I'll be back though
bye bye!

Here we go again

OK this post is because of several reasons:

1. I'm terribly bored. Like seriously. It's too early to skype with anybody from America, cause hardly anybody is up. The weather is awful, it's Sunday, so there's nothing to do. I really miss the Nebraska summer. Before I left I was kinda glad that I'm not here for the summer heat, but here the "summer" this year is So terrible and rainy and cold (today we really had 15°C in the afternoon!!!!! (59°F)). Gah this is considered to be summer. In Grand island we had hotter temperatures in MARCH! Oh well that the weather is so much worse makes it worse that I miss the USA. I really do and I still speak some parts in English. But my dreams got more German again which is so stupid. 
2. A few days ago I got a letter from EF because of the Returnee club. It really sounds interesting! There they have that you can earn points for doing something for them (for example going on a Orientation Meeting as a Returnee, get new students to sign up,....) and when you have enough points you can get a flight ticket, or an ipad or an ipod and stuff like that. But it kind of is a rip of because the flight ticket you get for 7000 points (which is the highest)  is only 700€ and that isn't enough to go back to Grand Island. But at least something. EF also organizes meetings with the Returnees where ouy can meet new people and so on. Sounds pretty interesting, but I don't even know when they are, so.... 
3. Next point is that I really wanna go somewhere again. I saw that you can't do an exchange year again (which would be too expensive anyways), but now I have another country on which I have my eye on, now.  Australia. i really wanna go there. I've already heard so many people saying that Australia is so great. So I'm going there, when I got the money for it :) 
4. I hate people. I seriously do. It's just that Europeans are sometimes pissing me off so badly because they are just not american and don't have the lifestyle and spirit like the Americans. They can't even help it it's just me, I guess. And furthermore I absolutely hate when people come up to me, I didn't speak to them in forever, they ignored me, didn't give a crap about me going to the USA and stuff and suddenly when I'm back, they start to talk to me again. Just because I gave away a lot of presents to people I know from the USA. That sucks. But I don't wanna write about that right now, it makes me mad.
   
   Oh well that's pretty much it for today. have a nice day everybody!! :) 

I know I'm kinda late.. 1 week at home

K guys I actually wanted to write that post earlier like when I had my first day at home or so but i didn't feel like writing about it at all, now I do so I'll now do that. It's not gonna be a happy sunshine post.

Well ok now I'm at home In Austria. For over a week already. And seriously it feels like waay longer. My feelings for coming home were so mixed. When I was at the airport in London, first entering Europe again I was so sad and pissed. Seriously. the people at the airport just weren't as nice, speaking BRITISH english and so reserved. Everybody's minding his/her own business. Before I never really noticed it but now I do. I didn't like being back and I thought that this one hour in Europe was already enough.  I wanted to go back to Grand Island.
Next Airport in Munich. My mod still wasn't he best but it got a little better and I actually was a little bit excited for home. With one little thing. I wasn't in an english speaking country anymore. It was Germany and that fact hit me right at the passport control. People around speaking Germany German, Austrian German and I had problems understanding them at first. Had to concentrate so hard. And the fact , I thought that could never be possible also applied: I had problems SPEAKING it! Everybody around was speaking German with me and I'm just confused and spoke English. It came naturally and German just FELT weird. The car ride home was so long and I felt asleep in the car. The day was just soo long. But we had to eat so we quickly stopped at McDonalds. I still didn't speak German of course so when we came there to order I naturally told her what i wanted in ENGLISH and expected that it was alright. It wasn't. What a weirdo. My mum translated it to her then and I was feeling so stupid. I just couldn't say it in German. The weird thing about that day was that at the McDonalds there were people in traditional Austrian clothing all over the place and I was like "Oh great,  as if I wouldn't get that we are in an German speaking country people."
Then the moment I had been excited of. Coming home. I noticed the landscape as we came closer and nothing changed. It was like I had been driving this street like las week or so but not 6 months ago!
When I then arrived home everybody was there. Even my brother who I don't see that often. I got a lot of hugs and German questions, which i still answered in English. I was totally thinking in English. But they forced me speaking German. It was pretty bad, but got better through speaking it. And home was weird too. It was incredibly normal but in my memory everything was bigger, but that's probably because, for some reason, the dimensions in the USA are generally bigger. Really weird seeing that everything was so normal- But my mood still was pretty...... annoyed. I swear if anything would have gone wrong I would have freaked out.

Well the next few days I just had to get used to the food again, which i really missed, get my sleeping pattern back somehow, getting used to German again and went to school the last day. It was a good decision. It felt so good seeing my class again. I got A LOT of hugs, I didn't even know that they've missed me that much. They were surprised that my German was that good though. ;)

Now I've been home for over a week already and my life in definitely NOT back to normal. I mean a little bit it is I'm doing some of the stuff I've done before too but it's not the same. I take a lot of things for NOT granted ( for example the home shower, the first shower here was amazing :D ) I do so much more English things, English is my second language now and I enjoy speaking it, I try to stay in touch with all the people, skype with them and compare EVERYTHING  here with the USA. MY family must get tired of hearing "Oh in the USA that would be better,...." and I appreciate the things people here do for me. And I get along better with my siblings. Also the people I hang out with are different. And I call our cats the wrong name.

The exchange may be over but I'm thinking and working everyday to go back to the USA. Already after 1 week I miss it so bad, miss the possibilities there and make plans what I can do to get back as fast as possible. But I wanna go to Australia first, where a lot of people, that became important to me, live. I seriously wanna go to Australia and the USA so bad, that it hurts. Not one day is passing so far, where I don't think about that. I hope it gets a little better soon because i don't know if i could stand the fact being stuck in Austria for a long while. Oh ja and it it so hard to hear from the people going for a whole year now that they're starting in 2 weeks to the USA. It makes me sad. (Nevertheless I wish you guys an awesome year, and that you will miss it as much as me when it's over, because that means that it was great. ;) )

K people how can that be that a person you didn't even know half a year ago, on the other side of the planet can be stuck in your mind, and be so important to you? HOW?! :/
Because he worst thing about distance is, that you don't know if the people miss you or forget you.
I will NEVER forget it.

I don't know when the next post will come now because I really don't wanna spam you with my personal life here. This won't be the last post ever, don't worry, but be prepared that you won't hear a lot in the next time.
I just post again when I have something concerning my exchange :) Maybe some returnee thing.
bye bye :')

P:S.: Now some music that it expresses  like what I feel sometimes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSBKPkk4m4  

I have to catch up: Here comes NEW YORK!!

K guys actually I'm 2 posts behind because just so many things happened the last week. I went to New York this week with my family, after they came to Grand Island. 

Right when we got out of the airport you KNEW that you are in New York because there were yellow taxis EVERYWHERE! We stood in line for a little bit to catch one but then we had  an hour ride to Manhattan to our hotel. It's crazy how far away the JFK airport is from the actual city!! We went to get the luggage to the airport checked the hotel out and then we got on the Subway already. It's so like in the movies. Really busy, pretty, people play music down there for money. The first tip in New York this day was only to get food actually. We ended up in a restaurant eating pizza and watching baseball but i had to explain the rules. I'm so proud that I understand this game. 
Second da we got up waaay to early! We went to Starbucks for breakfast and right after that we took the subway to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. When we got on the Ferry there was a security check like on the airport as well as on all the other famous sightseeings. Weird.

This day pretty windy and I think there was a thunderstorm- or at least it rained. But the statue of liberty  is So huge and impressing when you see it. Unfortunately you couldn't go in, because they fixed something. That#s tooo bad but so you could take a lot of pictures. There were a lot of other people too but not too many. It was fine.   Ellis island, the Immigration museum was quite interesting we had an Audio Guide there. THis day we also visited Ground Zero, where there are 2 waterfalls instead of the towers. And you can see the new WTC towers right behind them. I also saw the 9/11 memorial. THis day we also went to Bodies- the exhibition, you know this body exhibtion with real human bodies you can see.... urgs. And after THAT we went to the Empire state building. Went to the 86 th floor with an elevator which was really fast. The view was amazing but you had a fence in front of you, which was a little bit annoying.
Next day we went to a cruise round Manhattan, we tried at least. When we took the subway it turned out that it was the wrong one, so we had to walk forever to get there. But we passes timesquare and I was so excited. The cruise around Manhattan was great i saw so much. New Jersey, Skyline of Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge, apartments and the tour guide told us interesting stuff like that there are 11 000 taxis in NY, that an apartment in Manhattan is 3 000 $ per month and history stuff.
The other days I saw all the famous sightseeings, went ot Madame Tussauds, went to Times Square and went shopping. I really like it But you have to walk sooo much there, every day i was so tired in the end....

New York is a great city, you should have seen it once. :)


Oh well people I'm outta here I think the post would be longer if I would feel like writing right now. But I don't :D
Well see ya in a little bit because I have to write about my ACTUAL situation!

Times square

NY Skylie with the new WTC to be built

Leaving Grand Island is stupidly hard :(

You know it sucks when you leave the people that meant the most to you for the last 6 months, and when you couldn’t even say goodbye to all of them because the time just flew the last few days. I’ll just tell you how they went. Friday night my family came here. I was so nervous the whole day and everytime I didn’t have something to do, I was so close to freak out. But then the moment came when they got off the plane.  I was crying because I was so happy!, although I swore to myself that I wouldn’t cry. But that also was the moment when I wasn’t alone with my hostfamily anymore. Made me realize how close it is to end.   MY family was tired but they still talked to my hostfamily for a while and I was so happy because they seemed to like each other. My hos family is amazing, they were so nice. Saturday and Sunday, were the best and worst days of my life. On the one hand it was great because my  2 families went to the store together, cooked Austrian food (which everybody liked btw ;) ) together, laughed together, chatted, played together, we had a BBQ and the first sweetcorn of the year outside and sat out until it got dark, my host and real siblings and me played together and it was just perfect!!  And they got  know each other and we had fun. I visited my IEC for a last time and planned on visiting the whole family again, but not everybody is here, which is depressing because so I couldn’t really say goodbye to some people that really mean a lot to me. Also some of my friends. Sunday was my last whole day in Grand Island. It was even better than Saturday, we went to church, to eat,to the car lot, so that my family could see all the animals there, then I finished the photo album for my hostfamily , me and all of my siblings went on the fouwheelers to the cornfields to go in the mud we all got terribly muddy but it was a blast and when we cleaned ourselves up a little bit we ended up having a waterhose fight and everybody got soaking  wet. The rest of the day I spent packing my stuff together, visiting some people to say goodbye. And there the horror started. I finally realized that it so close to be over and that I have to leave. I couldn’t help crying after every goodbye. MY hostfamily was as sad as me, we took a whole bunch of pictures together then my family gave them some Austria presents and then I had to say goodbye to a big part of my hostfamily because we had to leve at 6 oclock in the next morning and only my hostmum brought us there. It was the worst experience, I hugged everybody and tears just kept coming out.   At midnight I got done with all my stuff packed, and I knew that I had to go to bed to get up the next morning. The cat layed on my bed for the last time and I was so sad.
Then the day of leaving- today. Got up, got ready packed the last stuff and then I left the house. I won’t see all that stuff for a while. It’s upsetting. But I didn’t cry- yet- But after we entered the airport got to the checkin, realized that my suitcase has overweight and put some stuff in my carryon I had to say goodbye to my hostmum. At first everybody was just standing there awkwardly. Then she began to speak to thank ME and I was  like what the heck I just came here. And then the tears just kept running down my face. I don’t wanna leave. But the thought that exchange isn’t worth all THAT never came to my mind. It is worth it. Then I hugged my hostmum, gave her the promise to stay in touch and come back after graduation, she cried, I cried, my mum cried but we didn’t leave until they said we should go to the security check.  I couldn’t turn around anymore. Now I had to leave. After a little bit we could already board the airplane and when I got ot he airplane my hostmum was still standing in the building waving. I waved back and looked at her as long as I could.When I got into my airplane seat I started crying. I didn’t want to stop crying, I didn’t want to leave Grand Island, I didn’t want to leave all the people here. And I don’t wanna go home, I don’t wanna speak German.
Meanwhile we already left Nebraska, who knows we’re probably somewhere in Kansas. I already miss everything. I love Nebraska. I don’t care if Nebraska is the most boring place ever, I love it. And I’ll miss it.

Exchange is over now, but My life won’t go back to normal yet. It will never be the same, being at home in Austria, it just changed everything. 

There will some posts following, since I'm still in the USA for a while. I'll write ya..  

1 week :O aka What a terrific day!

OK guys now it's seriously seriously SERIOUSLY scary. I mean today in a week it's my  last day in Grand Island! And this was the last weekend I'm all on my own here in Grand Island. Are you kidding me? It can#t be over yet, it's just is the best time I've ever had! And I have so much stuff to do until i leave! Seeing all my friends one last time, making the goodbye photo album for my hostfamily, packing my stupid stuff for going to New York AND I should figure out what we're gonna do in New York. Oh great  don't even wanna leave. When I say, that every day it's getting better and better, I'm not even kidding. I love love love  it and don't wanna let go. It's gonna be so sad. sad, sad ,sad sad sad. I'm already getting scared about leaving. I really hope that I get some distraction in Austria. I'm gonna play Tennis. At least SOMETHING!

Well but now I want to tell you about the GREAT average, normal,funny stuff I did today on my last Sunday on my own in Nebraska.
Well today was Fathers day. In case you didn't know ;). But it was actually pretty normal. We went to church at 11 o'clock. THis week was vacation bible church so a whole bunch of children sung. It was actually pretty cute. After church we went to Perkins, my favorite, american food restaurant since the first time I went there. I hope i can go there next week with my family too. One last time :)  Well then we went to hy-Vee ( a food store ) really quick and then home. Just really fast to change clothes because then we were going to St. Paul Nebraska. There where the river is :) Since today was a perfectly nice day i sat on the patio facing th river, listening to the river- noise and reading the newspaper. SOO peaceful!
a while after that somebody got the idea to walk halfway through the river to an island there. You could really walk there, the river is just not deep so that you can walk. I manged to trip because the sandy ground (JAAAAAAAAAAA it's sandy not stony like in Austria and sosososo warm like bathtub water ) was very bumpy. I hunted for polliwogs in the water with my little hostbrother it was so much fun walking through the mud with no shoes on, and he wind was messing up my hair.  i got my toenails done a few days ago (for the first time in my life) and they survived all that. After a while all the other people, who were just watching us on the island got onto the airboat and picked us up from the island, to go for a ride. i had to lay in the front, because there was no saet left but I was perfectly fine with that, laying there and getting tanned that's how it goes. And all my favorite people on the boat.It was amazing, Then we stopped and we went playing in the water for a while.Ahh i absolutely loved it and managed to get not too wet ( i was a little bit wet anyways because when I was laying in the front water kept splashing up) and then when I last ran to the boat to get in, I tripped on the last 3 meters and got wet all over. And full of sand. When we finally got back to the house I was laying on the floor of the patio, trying to get my clothes dry again. It was not too successful. I kinda got distracted when I had a chat with the australian guy living at in my family. It was so cool, and I can now understand his accent, I'm so proud of me. Australia (ns) is/are awesome. Then we ate hamburgers with mac and cheese and chips. And I still wasn't dry. But we went on a ride on the golfcart for a while with the dog sitting in the front on the seat. It was so fun, so nice and so FUNNY! During the cart- ride we saw a tree with some sort of berries I've never seen. They were good but i stepped on some and it made my feet go all blue. I ran the rest home because people were goofing around too much. We pretty much left then and now the rest of the evening is psent with playing checkers and watching TV.

And now at last a question for you guys: What is that when you already miss people, when you#re still around them? It's confusing. Now some music again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzxwOrT6Beo :)

Bye bye I think my next post will be pretty much the leaving one. Not a nice thought.

Things I miss

Ok guys this post will be about things i miss, except the obvious, family friends, pets,..... because although I love the US and I don't really wanna let go I'll be glad to have all this things, which are really weird sometimes and things i didn't really like that much before, but I still miss it. And now that the year is almost over for me, it doesn't matter if i write it down now, because when I get homesick now it's not to bad. Just to let you know I wasn't really homesick, since i'm here, which is kinda weird. Whatever.  Let's just start.

1. my mums cooking, also the things that weren't my favorite things.
2. Austrian dishes, definitely
3. My bed
4. my room in the 1st floor, where you can't hear anything but the birds
5. my PIANO! OMG SO BADLY! 
6. Austrian weather which is less hot and more rainy 
7. lakes, where ouy can swim in. here I see a lake and I'm like "Can you swim in them?" and everytime the answer is " No, what do you think!?" 
8. Well i kind of miss Austrian rivers too, because they're icecold in any time of the year and here they are already so warm! 
9. Just the freedom i have at home! 
10. having a big family party with all the relatives coming on every birthday
11. hedgehogs
12. Austrian birds, they sing more beautifully 
13. bread, fresh baked and warm 
14. just the different kinds of breads! 
15. berry bushes behind the house which are full of berries at this time, where you can just go and pick them and eat them
16. blue roadsigns
17. Austrian flowers
18. the not perfectly perfect yards
19. individually yards! here in a street every house looks the same 
20. different kinds of houses! 
21. tiled stoves 
22. going for a short walk in the neighborhood, just for fun
23. going hiking
24. doing sport with the family outside 
25. playing games with the family 
26. riding my bike to friends houses
27. Austrian farms with ANIMALS! 
28. Forests, I haven't been in a single forest here!
29. My class in Austria 
30. European newspaper 
31. Euros (dollars are so ugly) 
32. castles 
33. German TV (but  not the american series they  just translated they're dumb in German)
34. Austrian candy!! 
35. in comparison, little stores
36. going to a restaurant once in a while 
37. understanding everything people say!! 
38. understanding all the jokes without getting them explained
39. not every building is freezing cold in the summer 
40. water from the sink that doesn't taste kind of weird 
41. the water in hotels in the shower is NORMAL 
42. deodorants you can spray and not only the roll-on's
43. not needing 30 minutes from 1 town to the next one
44. public transportation 
45. trains! 
46. buses 
47. a really nice school website you can find stuff on 
48. the last school week is a project week 
49. school's practically over 2 weeks before it's really over  
50. Austrian Ice salons (although they're getting so expensive) 
51. Leberkäse 
52. people that are NOT afraid of germs  all the time 
53. milk, not fat reduced
54. Austrian yogurt
    
    So people that's pretty much it, not that i wouldn't like the things here like they are but it's just..... different. :) Well I suppose there will be a few posts soon when the time gets shorter and shorter..

That's it for today! Have a nice day! Oh ja  music i almost forgot ;) OMG that is so american and SO IN! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWAdb1vgoik&feature=related <------- 

D:

Ok guys now it seriously gets scary. I mean you know when I said 3 weeks to go?  Now it's only a little more than 2!! And i can remember as if it was yesterday, that I got to Munich to the airport, was super scared and sad to leave, had serious doubts about the whole thing a the airplane, got to see my hostfamily and my new home, finding everything super exciting, going to school the first day, finding new friends, getting used to the language, and thinking that 6 months is a pretty long time to stay here.
And now? Now Living with my hostfamily is the most normal  thing ever, i like them so much, have so much fun, having my return flights booked already, seeing my  family again in 2 weeks, all doubts are gone, I just enjoy being here, schools is done already, my friends left for vacation, the other exchange students already left here, English is the most normal language ever, German became weird, and I think that WHERE TE HELL DID THE LAST & MONTHS GO?! i seriously don't know. Time went by incredibly fast. Now I look at things in the house and think how I saw it for the first time and I realize  that a lot happened. I have tons of memories.
But not everything about leaving is bad. Today when somebody was cooking in the house, it smelled exactly like one dish my mum at home makes sometimes. It was never my favorite food, but here they don't have that. And I wanted to have it. So BAD!! I really miss my mums cooking. And Austrian food. Even the stuff I didn't really like that much. Maybe i should make a list of things i miss. In a different post people. I have enough time.
i really miss Austria I guess. I never thought that I thought Austria is the most boring country on earth. But people who travel there love it and i've heard so many people respond when they find out that I'm from Austria "OOOHHh I've been there! It's so pretty I love it!" And other people really want to go there. And then are the people who don't even know where it is :P Hm I think when my family come here it should be perfect I even miss my siblings, although I never thought THAT either. A few days ago they skyped with my best friends from America and they were so cute :') Oh well they are not that bad.
There are just so many things i learned and got clear about so many things. People say that americans are shallow, but SCREW IT I love it.
I'm seriously worried that when I'm back in Austria people I really liked are really dumb and worried about little things. Let's see how it goes guys. :) But it's not quite over yet people! So I will get back on explaining you the sweet american time I have left!
Well I did:

• visiting my first american Zoo in Omaha, it's kinda different and they have animals I've never seen + a HUGE scary turtle. (It was not one of the cute od-grandma faced ones it was scary. Like monster. I almost screamed. but I didn't take a picture it was dark.) hey I looked it up on google: it was abig huge one of this kind + it was dark!
  
  
  ggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 
• Ok then I did visit a friend from EF. She's from Austria too. I went with her to the mall and then to a goodbye dinner with her and her friends. It was so nice! :) And today I went with her to see a movie. It was "What to expect when you#re expecting" adn we were to only ones in the movie theater. :D That is so cool, like a private cinema. You can talk and scream and laugh and nobody stops you. It was absolutely awesome. But that was our last meeting, she#s going home in 2 days. And so I'm pretty much the only foreigner left in grand Island. Well at least I'm special ;) 
• And today i watched a softball game from my hostsister and I actually understand the rules now. I'm so proud ;) They won. After that we went to eat Frozen yogurt at red Mango (remember that Yogurt place i tod you about earlier in Omaha? They have it here too now I'm soo happy. It opened  less than a week ago and I practically ate there every day. The day it opened twice ;) Goood life.
  K guys I'm coming to an end too. 

Well I'm also coming to an end now. I'm listening to old songs (and from last year) and they remind me about how excited I was. Sometimes it feels so wrong, to be here, while everybody else is living their normal lives. And maybe need somebody and I'm not there. But like the EF motto: "It's nor right, it's not wrong, it's just different" :)

And like every time. MUSIC! THis time it will be on older song. Nothing especially american. But actually it is kind of. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1VTcJfL7RE

Bye guys! See ya later!!

  

3 weeks guys. 3 weeks.....

Well people out there. His post will probably will be really short or stuff but just HAVE to write down what's going on. Today I realized something dramatic, when i was on facebook. I saw people who i know from my exchange, who were at my school. They're from Europe too, but are already back. And i was like ( in my head) "Man poor guys, they're already back in Europe. I'm so glad that I have on month left. But then I realized  that today is june 1st. And on JULY 1st I'm at home. I kept saying, "Oh I leave in one month" but actually that is so NOT true. In 3 weeks my family is coming, and In 3 weeks and 3 days I'm leaving Grand Island for a long long time. Leave the place I feel so at home right now. Where I have all those amazing american friends. Al those american stuff. American school, american home, memories, friendships, all that stuff. i will leave a whole LIFE behind! It feels weird. THis text I'm now putting in here EXACTLY expresses it :') :
‎"In a couple of weeks we will reluctantly give our hugs and, fighting the tears,we will say goodbye to people who were once just names on a sheet of paper to return to people that we hugged and fought tears to say goodbye to before we ever left.
We will leave our best friends to return to our best friends.
We will go back to the places we came from, and go back to the same things we did last summer and every summer before.
We will come into town on that same familiar road, and even though it has been months, it will seem like only yesterday.
As you walk into your old bedroom, every emotion will pass through you as you reflect on the way your life has changed and the person you have become.
You suddenly realize that the things that were most important to you a year ago don't seem to matter so much anymore, and the things you hold highest now, no one at home will completely understand.
Who will you call first?
What will you do your first weekend home with your friends?
Where are you going to work?
Who will be at the party Saturday night?
What has everyone been up to in the past few months?
Who from school will you keep in touch with?
How long before you actually start missing people barging in without calling or knocking?
Then you start to realize how much things have changed, and you realize the hardest part of being an exchange student is balancing the two completely different worlds you now live in, trying desperately to hold on to everything all the while trying to figure out what you have to leave behind.
We now know the meaning of true friendship.
We know who we have kept in touch with over the past year and who we hold dearest to our hearts.
We've left our worlds to deal with the real world.
We've had our hearts broken, we've fallen in love, we've helped our best friends overcome eating disorders, depression, stress, and death. We've lit candles at the grotto and we've stayed up all night on the phone just to talk to a friend in need.
There have been times when we've felt so helpless being hours away from home when we know our families or friends needed us the most, and there are times when we know we have made a difference.
Just weeks from now we will leave.
Just weeks from now we take down our pictures, and pack up our clothes.
No more going next door to do nothing for hours on end. We will leave our friends whose random e-mails and phone calls will bring us to laughter and tears this summer, and hopefully years to come.
We will take our memories and dreams and put them away for now, saving them for our return to this world.
Just weeks from now we will arrive.
Just weeks from now we will unpack our bags and have dinner with our families. We will drive over to our best friend's house and do nothing for hours on end.
We will return to the same friends whose random emails and phone calls have brought us to laughter and tears over the year.
We will unpack old dreams and memories that have been put away for the past year.
In just weeks we will dig deep inside to find the strength and conviction to adjust to change and still keep each other close.
And somehow, in some way, we will find our place between these two worlds.
In just weeks.
Are you ready?". ---> No I'm not what do you THINK!? 

By Ulfar Viktor Bjornsson




I love you AMERICA :')


Well guys and i want to add that this won't be the last post about leaving probably. I don't wanna leave but I'm also excited for my family to get here. This feeling sucks. But just read the text people. Just read it :) ......


And now some MUSIC again! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rplmd1afK5U

Pictures!

So lovely people today is the big day where I post some pictures of the previous posts, I promised you ages ago. That's because I'm alone at home my hostparents are working and my siblings went to the waterpark but i didn't want to go because t's not really hot and I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to go swimming when it's just warm and you are freezing when you get out of the water :)

Class  of 2012! 

 Congratulations!

 Class of 2012 exiting :( 

Jeeea awesome laundry bag ;)

Hallway

and finally lockers!!

K guys that's all for today, probably there will be another post pretty soon just because I feel like it. ;)

And now some MUSIC again because I always want to do that now!
haha i don't really like this song but it's so American and I didn't even know it before. And it's kinda weird ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePtoxDhJSw  :D

Bye bye guys!!

Last day of school DONE

Ok guys now follows the promised post about the last day of school. When i look back o actually have to say that the last week was the best week I had. There were no tests and quizzes left, I was done with finals and it was so good being at school with all your friends and everybody is so excited. We watched a movie the last week in Spanish, Religion and Chemistry. And then there was it. The last day of school. A short day in the middle of the week. noon release. I got up the last time at 7 o'clock. Turned the alarm of for one last time. Put my uniform on for the last time. Hang out in the little theater with my friends for the last time before school started. Everybody was so excited when the bell rang for the last time this year, ti make school start.
I went to my locker which was so empty, except  few books I had to turn in sometime this day. It broke my heart. So I went to Geometry for the last time. The desks were organized in a different way, so we were allowed to sit on the shelf on the back. I heard morning prayer for the last time with this teacher because she's quitting and then we have the flag salute stuff, which I never do because I feel awkward. But it goes like this: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.". I'll miss that.
Then I took pictures to remember that all but didn't take a picture of the teacher. She's leaving too. We can see our grades, get a sucker, chat a little bit and then the short 25 minutes are already over. Geometry is over and I don't like it. The next mod is English. Only have to bring my my book. Nothing else left. We only have some presentations of what we learned this year and then we watched the video Eva and I made. They liked it and I like it too. we didn't finish it though. Then we were done with English. next mod P.E. we had open gym a last time and we played 4 square. A ball game. The boys played basketball.  I started feeling worse and worse after every mod.  Next mod American Government. One last time the teacher that loves my voice. That's so sad. We continued going over our final together and we could change answers to make it right Then we got a little IQ tests kind of with tricky logic questions. We had no lunch this day. So the next mod was Study hall which was soo chilly and  nice. We were in the library, the computer were unplugged, and nobody had anything to do, so we just chatted joked around and had a good last Study hall. The teachers were also really funny and nice I really love my study hall teachers. I'll miss it. Everybody was so relaxed. next class was Spanish. For one last time. I love my Spanish class. I'll miss them. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean, got our finals back (i did amazing got 70.5 out of 70) and then we did a group hug and  group jump. I liked it. Then, sadly, Spanish was done too ,hugged the teacher and then left. Went downstairs for one last time. Next mod Chemistry. Although I often didn't feel like going there, I'll probably miss it. It was so funny and chilled. We watched a movie in Chemistry. And took pictures. It kept getting worse. Then we had our last mod of this day. Everybody was so excited only me was, I don't like it to be over! Religion. We prayed and stuff (I won' miss  THAT!) And then we just watched old pictures, pictures of this year, i was in some, and then we were heading to the old gym to take a new picture for next year to watch. And suddenly I wasn't like that depressed anymore I was like "I'm so happy that I experienced that and I'll never forget it." It will always be a part of. me.When we were in the gym we took the picture I wanted the teacher to take a picture with my camera too but suddenly THERE WAS A BAT IN THE GYM! A few people were freaking out I thought that it was pretty cute :) We had to leave though, because they had to catch it. It can't live forever in the gym. Although the girl from Germany told me that in her previous American Highschool ,there was a bat living in the gym :)  
My classmates had a countdown in the last mod. Every minute counted. And then it was over. School. was. over. All the hours I spent here, sometimes happy sometimes depressed but most of the time fascinated, all the tears of laughter, the hours of testing, the hours of relaxing, chatting with the teacher and students, excitement and boredom and memories. All was over. But I always will keep the memories. :)
After school I went with my German exchange student friend to the Humane Society to walk dogs then we played with the baby cats at my house and had fun,since she's leaving so soon. Then in the evening I went to the goodbye party of the 2 other exchange students from Sweden and from Denmark. It was really nice, there were a lots of pictures, hugs, laughter, parents from the exchange students and siblings, Oreo, Swedish  fish, Daim, Danish gummibears, vegetables, cheese, sausage, games, basketball, teacher  and I got my hair curled. I hope that I'll see a few of them today at the other goodbye party but I won't see a few of them again. In. MY .LIFE!. I'm just happy that I know them and I have lots of memories. And pictures. And I'll miss each and every one of them. Because when it's over you kinda forget the bad memories and keep the good ones. <3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqKa942QtzQ

Well and right now the weather is cold, I'm waiting for my family to go on skype and the water in the house now is off. We have no water for a few hours, because they're working on it to fix that and I feel dirty. I . Need. Water. And my hostsister is in Phoenix/Arizona where the weather is probably fine. Nice.
k guys I think the next time I finally post some pictures. See ya :)

It's coming to an end :(

K people as the title already tells you, my exchange is slowly coming to an end. I'm in my last week of school now, already had my last Friday, today was my last Monday and while everybody else is really excited for summer and for school to end I get more and more anxious. All the other exchange students of my school are having their last week in Grand Island, because they're leaving right on the weekend after school. I would be so depressed if I would have to this week. I'll miss all of them when I remain here in grand Island for another 4 weeks. And I'm pretty  sure that I'll miss school.
You really can feel that this are the last days before summer. In the most classes we're already done with finals. In Geometry we have it tomorrow and on Wednesday but I don't have to take the finals because I have an A in both quarters. I'm glad I don#t have to :). In English we have not really a big final test, but everybody has to present 10 things they've learned this yea in English. I made a video with the exchange students from germany. I hope the teacher accepts it. In P.E. we don't have a test either. I have no idea how I should get a grade there, all we did this quarter was gamedays and open gym. Well who cares, maybe everybody gets an A then This week   we are cleaning and are not even doing something with sport. haha. In American Government we#re taking our finals, which is open book over the constitution. I'm really behind, but I'm pretty sure that  I'll catch up. In Spanish we took our final last week, which was super short I was done in 20 minutes. :P hahah and that should be the hardest test of all. ;) Chemistry we don't have a final either, we just have an Take home test . Oh wow what a hard test :D
Ja Religion we just had a chapter test, nothing too big with Multiple choice questions ALL THE WAY.. now we're pretty much done and we are watching "Narnia". Did you know that that is a religious/christian movie?? I didn't .
I'll miss school so much but I guess I will make an extra post for that when school's over. :(

But on the bright side now is my brightest hour!! I'm going greatly at school, with the people, I'm more outgoing, and I really enjoy the most being here now. I'll miss my exchange friends so badly, but i till have the Americans who won't move hopefully. Furthermore next weekend I go to Omaha with my hostfamily I'm so excited. And I finally made peace with Austria. I think I'm kinda curious to go back there. And My family is coming here anyways so i don't care about the school permission... just spent the evening sitting with my hostbrother in front of the TV, watching "A bug's life" (he's never seen it, I can't believe that) and i can speak with them and predict what will be happening in a few seconds. I just love it.

So I'm having a bittersweet time, and now it's time for some music:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fAZIQ-vpdw&feature=endscreen ENJOY! :)

See ya! <3

America: 347283472384728 Austria: -1

Ja you read right. Austria has -1, point and America is winning. ALL THE WAY RIGHT NOW!!

k may be a little bit confusing because in the last few posts I was talking about that I have no problem with going back and how I realized that Austria is not that bad and annoying and boring. But this weekend to now changed my attitude. Let me explain it and i'll begin with this weekend.

Friday.
We had school , but not real classes but mass and then a senior program. All the seniors were dressed up like at graduation. then we had an introduction of all the seniors. what they're doing after graduation, their favorite memory of HS and a few other nice things. I really liked it. After that we had school awards. That measn they gave awards and certifications away, when you  are good at something and that. I think almost everybody got one they give a lot away. Also for perfect attendance :P I got an award in American Government for "Most improved". I was so surprised but also very happy about it. The awards took forever and after that we watched the senior video, They always make it really nice it's a video with all the seniors and they show baby pictures of them, and you can guess who it is and show pictures of the senior trips.  Its so sad though, because I really will miss them. Seniors are the  friendliest people on earth :)
Saturday.  got up late, so late that I couldn't go to the graduation party of that dude that has the same last name than me. Well kinda sucks because I've been to a friends house the day before and we went to the mall and got presents. Os the one present was pretty much for nothing. So I can keep it! ;) I pretty much spent the saturday, skyping with my family, sitting at home and visiting several places. Pretty chilly.
Sunday. The big day of graduation. I'm not graduating but i was so excited, because this was my first and last graduation EVER! Everybody really wore that cool hats and clothing and our schoolband really played that song when the seniors came in! Like in the movies! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_doAV8bx0xg

Then a whole bunch of people spoke, teacher, random people and of course the senior class president and the senior speaker. And after THAT they called all the people out on the stage and they got they diploma. Like in the movies :) It was so cool, the whole thing lasted for about one hour and a half. then the seniors exited and then you could congratulate them and take pictures and stuff. It was pretty nice, but also sad becasue i wold never see most of them again. School without the seniors is kinda weird, quiet and  not that funny. Is just that something's missing. I also got to some graduation parties, which is not really a party usually you go in, get something to eat, congratulate the people chat a little bit with them, give them your gift and go to the next  one. I've been on 4 this afternoon and i was full after that. Full, but it was fun though. And something really american happened to me :)  

Today was the first day without the seniors at school. It's really weird. But it was a fun day though, I love americans. I can really notice that the school year is coming to an end. Teacher don#t really do anything. we watch movies, review for finals, talk to priests in Spanish, have study halls, or are supposed to work on a worksheet in chemistry which basically nobody does. And nobody cares. People get more relaxed to when the seniors are done for some reason. I had an early release today but I have to work on my 100 projects that are due pretty soon, and i honestly didn't make any good progress in any of them. After I wasted my time on trying to get something done, i went to finally send to package with my winter stuff and American candy and American stuff home. the package was really heavy, big and had a lot of drawings and differnt types of ducktape on it, because me and my hostsister got bored. At least it's pretty in the end :P But when i brought t to the ups store, the guy who did my package was a graduate from my school. I really expected a really high price for it and that it would take really long, but I was surprised about what they told me. It was a 26 pounds package to Europe and it costed 130 $ and is expected to arrive in 6-10 workdays. I'm positively surprised. The people in front of me had a smaller package also to Europe, and had to pay 200$,

I had a nice day, the weather is nice and sunny and hot, its supposed to stay like that for a while and I'm enjoying my exchange. today I got a parcel from EF (I think that is the last one in the USA) and it had a letter in it with instructions what i have to do before I'm going (pay when i owe somebody, give books back, bla bla bla) but the bigger surprise was the gift the brought with it. It was a laundry bag, with the EF motto and everything on it. i will upload some pictures, but right now I can't find my camera.

Ok and now I'll tell you why i decided to give Austria -1 points. You know that my family and my siblings want to visit me here, in the week before the last schoolweek in Austria. Nobody ever does something in thi week so in my opinion an awesome idea. But guess what. My stupid and crabby school doesn't wan to allow my siblings to go there!! i have no idea WHY they have to spend the most unproductive week in the whole year at school, but it's so stupid. My mum now has to ask the really big boss of the state for permission to go. And the really unbelievable thing is that when my mum and my siblings leave without the schools permission they will get sued or something, that you get in trouble. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. That's why I dislike Austria (or at least the stupid Austrian school system) at the moment. Because it's not fair, doesn't make sense at all and because they should be as the schools here. I'm pretty sure nobody would say anything. They are more relaxed and not that crabby, strict and more understanding. Take that. :/

Ok guys I'll keep you up to date! Bye bye! <3
  P.S:: As I said before, picture will be coming so you can see it all, when I find my camera back ;)

heyyo!

Heyy guys, I haven't been blogging since forever ;)  i don't even know why,  as usual.  But I willl change that right NOW and I will start with a few things that i noticed in America.

• OK first of all: everybody has a middle name. Really. Everybody. Because a few days ago we got a new sit arrangement in religion and we had to stand in a line from A-Z after your middle name and then the 2 standing together came on a table (because in the religion room we have the rare pleasure to have a desk where 2 people are sitting at which is so good, I hate the small desks) and I was the only one in 25 students who didn't have a middle name!! I felt so foreign :) So everybody who has a middle name- that makes you already a bit american ;) 
• secondly a really cool fact in my opinion, When you attend a sports team, or any activity you get a T-shirt. Everytime. It's pretty cool because it's a good souvenir :D But I love it so you have a memory :) I even saw that the people who went to post prom got a tshirt from it (jaa I know it's a shame that I didn't go but I'M  sophomore and only juniors and seniors can go o..O I was quite upset for a while but it's over now) 
• today I found out that school is apparently not that easy for everybody who is from a foreign country! Because today the other exchange student from Austria was asked by somebody how he liked his year and he said pretty good BUT IT IS A LOT OF  WORK??! I was like really "Are you kiddding me, that's a joke right it's so easy" - he responded "well you're smarter than me then"- I almost wanted to answer well you don't have to be very smart for that- are you in kindergarten at home or what?- but I didn't do it then. I was too shocked that American schools are hard...  Ok but finals are coming up in the next 2 weeks and I don't think that I will study really hard. In American government we have the big end test as an open book test that means you can use the books for the test it's ridiculous, what's the TEST about that.. but nevermind.. 
• And at last is AGAIN the thing about going home. In 2 months I will already be outta here and I'm quite concerned about that. Just got my first packet home done today and I'm really not prepared for going home. I can't even fit all y stuff in my suitcase!! I have so much more stuff. I've heard people saying that they leave stuff here but I want to take everything home I have so many memories in that .:((( But on the other hand I'm so excited to be in my old environment again because it's just a difference. And so many things at home changed. I wonder if I changed.
  
  But let's not talk about going home I have s many things before I'm going home!! Doing stuff with my friends, going to the mall, going to Omaha and this weekend is graduation which I really have to see and then I have a ton of wedding parties/reception and I don't now how I should manage that all, but it will figure out in any way.
  Ok I don't feel like writing a long entry right now, I have to get ready for school tomorrow and I have to watch Hannah Montana the movie- in english (it's so much better) 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmKsCMgROCQ <--- that song was just in the movie, I like it btw ;) 

school...

It's rainy today... but it's matching with my state of mind today. Maybe the weather influences it... who knows...
Well I'm at school now and I'm writing from the school computer. In study hall and i only have aboput 20 minutes left , but I'm so bored and done with my homework.
Weather out is really....... nasty. Seriously it wasn"t THAT bad in the morning and yesterday was pretty nice it wasn"t that sunny but humid though, and now BAAAM terrible wweather. It"s puring with rain, Tennis practice has been cancelled and also the High school track meet, which was scheduled for today had been cancelled. Everybody is tired. I"m freezing cold, tired, my contact lenses hurt and I"m not mitivated for school. At least I can go home after school.... We have a Goodwill day ay our school today that means that you can wear whatever you want (almost). sweatpants and athletic pants are not allowed though but people wear it. My maths teacher said that today to the people wearing them and that "next time she will send them to thee office". That"s so ironic it"s the last goodwillday this year (we have it every last friday in the month) and next year this teacher will be gone :P It"s pretty different because teacher here seem to change schools every couple years. And when in Austria a teacher does that it's like really unlikely. That's kinda sad I wouldn't like changing teacher that often.... well prom is tomorrow. Good luck guys the weather is terrrible :D 
Oh well and on Sunday i have the meeting at my IEC's house. I'm so excited. Will write you how it went. Will be a pretty short post probably ... AS THIS IS! Really short and really for nothing but hey I'm too bored.... Well see ya laer then when the weather is more motivating, I don't wanna live in Denmark where it's raining very often.

I love you America!!

Ok this post is really spontaneous, because today I had no Tennis practice because the varsity girls had a match, I have all my homework done AND i can't get out because it's really hot out. Well actually it's nice but I feel not like going out and being crowded of moths. They are horrible here right now. When you open the door they fall on the floor from I don't know where. Awful. But I don't want to talk about moths I just wanna tell you   what an awesome day I had although it wasn't really extraordinary--- I think good weather makes me just happy :)
School today was nice. We hardly did anything in any subject but I do't even know why.. we had a few sub's today and we had assignments everybody got done after 20 minutes. So I had plenty of time to do my homework and I only got homework in Geometry so I had plenty of freetime too. lunch was kinda weird nobody was here and I talked to the german exchange student and she told me that SHE IS HERE SINCE AUGUST AND SHE DIDN'T BUY ANYTHING AT ALL IN THE USA! I was like "Whaaaaaaat?" and couldn't believe it. Still can't.

Rest of the day was pretty chilly and when I got outta school and I stepped out I was like overwhelmed in the first place. I was wearing long pants and shoes and socks and my uniform and a sweater and at school I was fine but when I stepped out I felt so hot! I looked at my ipod: 35°C. Oh nice and that at the end of April! It was so hot hardly any clouds, and no wind. It was literally that the air was still. and  the air felt heavy and hard to breathe. Everything was hot. Then changed my cloths and we're leaving to the grandmas house.... it was hot there too, but at least I wasn't in the really hot school clothes anymore.
It  was a pleasure, and I could enjoy the weather finally! At their house they have 7 little baby geese :) and they let them run outside and swim in a kids pool, it was so cute :) They're just adorable...
Suddenly my hostbrother started spraying them with water and I sat next to them---> so I got wet but only a little bit because their water hose has that awesome "Mist" function it's really cool :P But it felt good and after a while we had  a waterhose war. It ended up that everybody got soaking wet.. but it was fun and it was SO good! I was freezing and for the first time of the day I was looking for the sun ;) fortunately I had a black shirt on so it didn't took that long to dry. Then I got water from the freezer and it was frozen in the bottle. It was kinda funny so I had so lick it in the bottle. At least it was cold ;)
After i was a little bit dryer somebody had the genius idea to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream, probably the best thing on a day like today. So we went there, and I found out that I'm stll back on my back. Damn it, We went through the Drive thru. PHEW!  
when we returned the weather wasn't that hot anymore, it was absolutely the right chill temperature. That's what o did then. Lying on the warm stones outside in the sun is awesome. And THEN I saw something so American although I think it's not really famous. I saw a Monarch. butterfly! They are so pretty and so huge and so awesome and it was so amazing! For some reason I was totally freaking out about that :) When he was gone I calmed down a little bit and watched the cute geese walking around in the garden, the dog in their backs :D Totally adorable. We returend home, ate supper (BBQ chicken with grilled potatoes and asparagus I love it) .then visited several places, I went to the chocolate bar in grand Island with my hostsister, had hot chocolate which tasted like melted chocolate, went to the Gasstation, went home and now I'm already sitting in bed. It took me a few hours to finish that post.. :P but it's still nice out, kinda like in summer. I found out that i will be gone when the corn they planted to eat a few weeks ago will be ready to eat when I'm gone. Totally sucks, the cool things are going to happen when i'm gone :(
Have a meeting with all the other exchange students in the area this sunday I'm so excited, we're at my IEC's house and they have a horsefarm :)    But we're talking about going home which sucks. Really bad.I'm thinking a lot about going home recently. I have phases on which I'm looking forward to it, and phases where I dont. Like it was when i came here. I think about what I will see again and do again and have again. Just today I really wanted to have a "Mohnweckerl". Really fresh out of the oven. For german people it's clear what that is but for my foreign friends: it's a certain kind of bread, white with poppy seed on the top. You can't compare that to anything else. And to no bread in the world. Especially not in America. Excuse me but their best bread is like the cheap ones in Austria. I love bread. Oh well but there's so much I will miss when I'm back. I just wanted to say that I love you America <3 and I'm sure i will miss you so badly.
I already learned so much! And I'm also kinda afraid of going bad because I fugured some stufff out. About some people I really liked once. And now *poof* they're like ignore me. Its a pity but I think the exchange also took some of my shyness, and always want everybody to like me away. It's great. Hopefully the rest of my 2 months here are as great as today. :)

O well that should be a happy entry it got kinda depressed at the end, sorry about that... but I think you have to except that that's more often now ;)
See ya next time!!

Finally!

OK guys I finally have  time ti write that post about easter, I wanted to write weeks ago but then I had to write other posts first, the layout of Blogger is really confusing now (oh yes new should always be better but it's not) and I think I started this post already 5 times, but could not finish it SO THIS TIME I FINISH IT I GUESS! ;)

K my easter! First of all it started not really good: I found out in the week before that we have no real Easter break where you have the whole easter week of like I always have in Austria. Oh nice. That means I have school on monday Tuesday, Wednesday and almost everybody else has no school. Thanks  lot school. And I thought i's catholic. But then at Wednesday, the last day before my 6 day weekend because of Ester, my hostmum told me that we make something super exciting this weekend WE ARE GOING TO MINNESOTA AND GOING TO THE MALL OF AMERICA!!! So they picked me up right after school and then we went on the road heading towards Minnesota- next stop Minneapolis- I thought. But a 8 hour road trip in the car isn#t that nice and short as it sounds. I think the first 2 hours when we were still in Nebraska I was ok and quite   excited. I was excited too when we entered Iowa and I found out  that it looks quite similar to the area in Austria where I live. I saw so many windmills there- must be something of the state or something because I've never seen so many before. About over 50 in one place.

Iowa windmills 

But after w while it got darker and darker and we still kept on driving... an still more than 4 hours left. Oh great. I've never been a fan of driving too long, and in the dark it's even worse. So boring. I was listening to my iPod but after a while, that made me mad so I put it back and was more bored than before.
But fortunately we stopped then to get Gas. And went eating at the iHop (=International House Of Pancakes) restaurant. I've never been there but I have to say it's delicious. Their pancakes are awesome. Tasted a little bit like "Kaiserschmarrn" in Austria. After eating we kept on driving for 2 more hours and I really fought against falling asleep. Bu then we looked for a hotel where we could spend the night.
The next morning we had 2  more hours left to drive but it was sunny again and so I could stare at the landscape. When we entered Minnesota the landscape changed pretty soon. Instead on hills and trees there where lots and lots of lakes. No wonder why it's called "the land of 10 000 lakes) , it was really pretty. 

Then finally we entered Minneapolis/St. Paul (St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota did you know that? It's right next to Minneapolis that's why it's called the twin cities). We stayed at the waterpark of America (the biggest water indoor park of the USA) but we just dropped our stuff of thereand then went directly to the Mall of America. It was literally right next to where we stayed. And a big IKEA :P . So we went there and I was so excited! Of course I researched before we left and it says 520 stores there on 4 levels. Plus and Amusement park. Oh yes and they didn't disappoint me when I walked in! 4 levels, stores wherever you looked, noise, smell like coffee from starbucks, people, this really colorful and huge amusement park "Nickelodeon Universe" and just too much impact than I could imagine.   

I can't describe what  it was like without giving a whole wrong picture that's why I just insert pictures and you see for yourselves! 

 The 3 main levels of The mall- every level is like a big circle 

 Amusement park! It is soo cool :) 

 Lego store! All the statues are 100% made out of Legos 

 AAAANd again the huge amusement park which is the center of the mall 

 you see the shells? crabs are living in there 

 See? ;) 

 Sealife Minnesota - in the basement of the Mall 

 worm fishes coming outta the sand :)

 you see all the white litttle ´dots in there? that are really tiny  dwarf- seahorses <3

 Doll store with Doll- hairsalon, doll restaurant, it's crazy 

the layout of the rides is really special 

Jaa we spent 8  hours in this amazing building and we really came through everything! I bought lots of stuff because there was easter sale that measn in all the cool stores 40% or 50% ff the whole store :) ahhh I was in heaven ;) and there were all sorts of stores, a store only for socks, a store only for Flip-Flops and a Lindt chocolate   store :)
The next day we spent going on all the rides in the mall and exploring Minneapolis and in the evening we went to the Waterpark... for everybody who knows the biggest waterpark in Austria (Aquapulco) parts of it are the same. Seriously.
Ja well and when we went home we stopped in Des Moines (capital of Iowa) and went shopping :D. The mall was pretty big too but after the mall of america everything seems ridiculous ;) And we went to eat at the cheesecake factory got  red velvet cheesecake as dessert I was amazed by the awesome landscape there and then we went to a place quite at the border to Nebraska, watched a movie, and stayed at a hilton hotel for the night.
The next day was Easter Sunday and it was really fun for me because... I spent almost the whole day on the highway, getting back to Grand Island, discussing Aliens, immigrants with my hostdad and eating at a country restaurant and thinking it's the best breakfast I've ever had. :) When I got back to Grand Island I realized that this was really easter and it was the perfect weather for that...And I really got an easter basket ith my name on it, and lots of stuff in it..... and then I found out that here you don#t hide real eggs you hide plastic eggs filled with sweets. :D 

Well ok I finally made it! Wow proud of myself.   

I will give you a short report of how I'm doing here since there is only 1 month of school left and 2 months until departure :( K I really like being here I  really don't wanna leave but in the other side I can#t wait seing my family and friends again. In real.

Ok guys byye I'm going now because I don't feel motivated to write any longer! Hope you like the post though!