Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I forgot my camera. :( oh well. And no I didn't eat any cheese.....but I had really good hot cocoa! Nothing much to say about today. It is getting down to below zero celcius. It's really cold. And it continually snows. Really really glad I brought my ugg boots...I wouldn't be able to live with out them.

Nothing much to do today. Went to school. Gonna have a deutsch lesson today. Reviewing everything I've learned so far. It's been snowing all day. It's beautiful....but so so cold. Snow is covering everything. And it isn't fun while waiting for the bus to come. But it happens. Maybe we'll have a snow day tomorrow. That would be good :) Oh and thank you Kaykay for your emails of encouragement and love :) I really appreciate them. An email like that can really turn a girl's day around.

Went to Munster today. It was really really cold. Rebekka ran her marathon thing and then we went to the christmas market. I didn't get all of what I needed so I'm going back next weekend. There was this guy that was dressed really funny, and he was cleaning the steps to the city hall with a tooth brush. There was loads of bottle caps on the steps. Hartmut explained that this was because he turned thirty that day. And he isn't married. So he has to clean these steps with a toothbrush and wait for a virgin girl to come and kiss him. Idk but I thought it was hilarious. He was wearing a tutu after all....

Project went fine today. People just kinda came in and out and watched the picture slide show and such. I actually happened to meet my next host family by chance. They walked into the room and after talking for a little bit they put two and two together and everyone got super excited. I'm so so excited for this next family. I think they hugged me about four times. We traded numbers and emails. They were super nice. Apparently, they don't even have to take an exchange student. They just wanted one before their daughter left. So they are taking me in out of the goodness of their hearts and nothing more. :D That's about it for today.

So after eating cheese fondu and skyping with the fam, Stefan came and picked me up and we went to McDonalds and hung out. I had a Mcflurry and he got actual food. It was kinda spontaneous and surprising. He just popped me an email at 6 and said that he would be driving around where I live that day and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out for an hour or two. So we did. It was fun :). Then I got home at like 10. While we were out it started snowing! So I had my first snow in Germany on Thanksgiving and with a friend. It was nice. Then I got on the computer for a few minutes and then went to bed. Today was project day at school so I spent the entire school day on the computer putting together a presentation to promote foreign exchange. Whatever. It was fine. Tomorrow I have to get up at 7 am again though and go back to school to present the actual thing :(. I hope I get to nap!

Thanksgiving today! To my surprise, a few german girls in my grade remembered and they called me over and gave me a huge group hug and told me happy thanksgiving. I was so happy I almost cried. I'm so thankful for so many things, but for now we will settle with my family, my friends (old and new), God being on my side and always there, and this amazing opportunity thats been given to me. I was in the netherlands today on a class trip to a college. I think it would have been alot cooler if it wasn't raining and freezing outside. But it was still fun in it's own way. Skyping my family tonight. :)

I must be out of my mind lately. I totally forgot to blog yesterday. Sorry guys! Last hip hop class today. I'm also planning on calling Naoma today. We need to talk desperately. I had an english exam today. I hope I get a good mark. I wrote...five pages for 3 questions so I hope that is sufficient. And I don't think my grammar was too terrible, but you never know. Today is my three month anniversary of being here. Wow...so much has happened in that time period. It feels like its been so much longer, and yet it still flew by. Crazy. And nothing really happened yesterday. It was my day that I had nothing to do.

lol everything happens at night. Nothing much to report today. Meghan is picking up my book for english today in Bocholt because I couldn't find it in Borken and she was already going. I hate how you have to buy your own school books here. Deutsch lesson at 5:30 today because my deutsch teacher couldn't make it on time....again....At least I didn't have any plans. Some guys in my physics class invited me to hang out with them on friday. Or kinda anyway. I think that's what they were doing. They were like...hey did you know theres this soccer game here this friday. And one was like..ya I'm gonna play. And the other was like....ya so you can cheer for him with me :D lol Then later I made all the girls in my music class get together and take a picture with me. It was cute.

Yesterday was kinda busy so I didn't have time to blog. Yesterday I went to the store and made another house key with my host family and then we went to a little town in the netherlands because they opened up their market thingy. It was cool and I found purple fanta and I bought some dried fruit. The dried fruit here is sooo good. Then we went home and we skyped with my host brother. After that I got ready to go out because me and a few friends made plans to go to Oberhausen that night. So we did and it was awesome! I went with Kacie (Hawaii), Kaleigh (Nevada), David (Chile, but you know him), and Stefan (a really awesome rotex that went to the US). I must have mentioned all these people before, but I figured I would add that so you don't get confused. We had a really good time and I already got an email from Stefan saying that he had a great time and we should definitely hang out again. So ya :D I was so happy to go out. I hate being all cooped up at home.

Sorry. I forgot to blog yesterday. Not sure how. Just a bad day. Harry potter was good. Once again very accurate with the book so it was easy to follow. Thursday wasn't the best day of my life, but it's minor so I'll get over it. Today was good. I thought I was going to the movies tomorrow, but I'm not anymore :(. So...nothing to do this weekend. Again. At least the christmas rotex weekend is coming up. That will be fun.

Meghan and I are no longer living in the same host family for a couple weeks. I'm going to a different family. But they sound awesome so it's all good. Hip hop class today and then harry potter!

Found Dr. Pepper today!!! I was sooo excited. Tasted mostly the same too. Not as different as the Mountain Dew was. Made my speech. I actually got lots of compliments on it. It was the appropriate length and I told them what I needed to. Meghan said it was good. David understood it. Which means everyone else understood it. So that was comforting. Cause he speaks almost no english. Then I went to meg's house to pick out pics to show as a slide show to promote exchange students at school. Then I walked David to the bahnhof to meet some other exchange students and a rotex and ended up staying and hanging out with them. We were gonna go to a museum in borken, but then i dont know....we didnt know where it was or something lol. We didnt end up going. Maybe we just got sidetracked. haha

Went to school today, drank four cups of coffee. Little ones in plastic cups, don't worry. I'm starting to drink coffee alot though. I didn't drink it at all until deutschland tour. I drank coffee every day, numerous times a day. But what can you expect? We were up until at least 1 in the morning every night and had to get up at 6 or 7 every morning. For two weeks straight. You end up needing coffee. Everyone was drinking it. By the end of the day Meg and I decided we wanted to do something. So we went to the movies today. I saw Stichtag. I'm not actually sure what the movie is called in english. Something day. It has Robert Downy Jr. in it and that hairy guy from the hangover. But ya. Saw that in the theater today, in Deutsch. Fun stuff lol. Before that I had a deutsch lesson. But thats it for today. Just got back from the movies. I'll be going back on Wednsday to see harry potter. That should prove to be interesting.

So today was a bit crazy. Decided to get with my friend after the soccer game today. She ended up arriving way way before I thought she would. So I left the soccer game a bit early and walked about 3-5 km in about 10-15 minutes. Adrenaline I guess. When I saw her I was like, I know your one of my best friends cause I just walked all this way really really fast on the spur of the moment for you and I am NOT an athletic person. Oh well. I still was super glad to see her and get to spend some time together. We went and ate pizza and ice cream and just walked around talking. (yes thats right, more walking) I feel terrible though cause the guy I went there to watch play, I didn't even get to see him play cause he accidently injured himself warming up. He was limping really bad. He must have torn or pulled a muscle in his thigh really bad. And I didnt really get to say bye either because I was so stressed about meeting my friend. It didn't help that for some reason the battery on my phone died. It was fully charged when I left. But as soon as I was with my friend the stress was totally gone and everything got way easier. I finally put all my pictures up from the netherlands on facebook! So it's all there. The ball will be put on soon hopefully by Meghan.

Was actually yelled at today for peeling the poisonous skin off my slice of cheese instead of cutting it off with my knife. Seriously? Come on. The skin is peelable! Why on earth would it matter? Thats been really bothering me all day.

Ball yesterday wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was low stress. And there were many guest performances from high up people. There were performances by dancers who were ranked 3rd and 5th in the country and two were ranked in the world. One I think was ranked 42 in the world. The other I couldn't understand. And those were dancer dancers. Like jazz dancing was what most of them did. But there were a few guest groups who did a routine for us that was ball room dancing. That was amazing I have to say. All of it was. Meghan and David and I were dressed perfectly. We didn't stick out at all. There were people dressed much fancier than us and people dressed in jeans and tshirts. So it was fine. I forgot my camera :(. And David forgot batteries for his camera :P. But Meghan had us covered. So there will still be lots of pictures on facebook.

Deutsch lesson. All is going well. Ball tomorrow. I'm going to Meg's after school and getting ready with her. So probably no entry tomorrow. But I'll write about it on Saturday. My Physics class was cancelled again today :(. I should be happy about that, but I'm really not. Maybe it's cause there's people in that class I actually like to talk to. I don't know. Tomorrow I have Religion and English. Bleh. I have friends in both of those classes though so it should be alright. And for the record, the reason I don't like religion class is not because of the subject material, not that I understand what they're saying...., but because the teacher is really creepy. He's a creepy creeper. Says not only me, but all the students, and teachers too. So I'm not alone. You don't want to know why.

Got a dress and shoes today! Good prices. I can't believe I found them. I'll make sure and take pictures the night of. I'll have to borrow some sparkley jewelry from someone cause the dress and shoes arent too dressy. But the heels are pretty high so I'm gonna have loads of fun in those. I was hoping to find some cute, closed toed kitten heels that match my dress, but no such luck. Only high heels. Oh well. Hope I don't fall on my face or brake an ankle like mom used to always say.

I'm so glad I got a planner. My schedule seems to fill up so fast! I have lots to do and it helps to write it all down. Shipping is outrageous btw. It's 35 euro to ship a 5kg object! How crazy is that? Not to mention the humiliation I had to go through to send it. It was so frustrating. And I'm still mad about it so I don't even want to type about my embarrassment. Basically, I have 20 euro to buy a dress and shoes. This will be fun. At least I'm going to a bigger city where I can find stuff for cheap! Nah. Thats no problem. I'll figure it out.

No we're still 7 hours apart. We had it a week before you guys actually. So we were 6 hours apart for a week. I had a really bad nightmare last night :(. About zombies. I'm not sure why. That's never happened to me before. But it was really scary and now I don't really want to go to bed tonight...but I don't have enough cash on me to go crazy on coffee tomorrow if I don't sleep. Goodness. Had a deutsch lesson today. It was good. But I caught on to the concept fairly quick and I kinda wanted to do more. Maybe it was because I studied the lesson before she taught it. I'm gonna start doing that every time. Study everything we learned and then study the next lesson before she comes. Makes it easier and I learn faster. Therefore I am speaking better quicker. Which is what I need. Wednsday I am going dress shopping for the ball on friday. And since I'm dragging Meghan and David with me, Meghan is buying shoes for herself. I might need to do the same...but I dont know yet. I don't want to dance in heels. But maybe theres a compromise? We'll see I guess. When I get a dress of course. For cheap. I found out the email of a boy from Australia who is coming in January when Meghan lives. He'll be going to my school and living with my first host family so I figured I would shoot him an email and give him a heads up that we would be spending a lot of time toghther. And said if he had any questions he could ask me. Hopefully I'll get a reply back soon or he'll add me on facebook.

So today i went to my dance lesson. I also found out that it was my last one. And the only thing left to do is a ball. On friday. To show what we've learned. bleh. But I get to bring Meghan and David haha. My host parents told me that as soon as I mentioned Meghan in conversation at all. It was cool cause I never would have guess I could bring anyone, but apparently I can bring them :D. The other thing...I have to wear a dress....I don't own a dress. So I'm gonna go look for cheap ones. Tomorrow and then if I don't find anything, Wednsday with Meg. That's about it. For dinner we had these cooked apples filled with marzipan and rainsins and cranberrys and oats, all topped with vanilla. It was good. We went to a festival today after the dance lesson. There was a market and music and a guy all dressed up in Medival clothes on a big white horse leading a parade of little children with homemade lanterns. It was interesting. I have no idea what it was for :D

New phone! Well not new...but new to me :D. My phone I was borrowing from my host parents freezes up all the time and has a huge crack on the screen. Last night I finally got fed up with it because it froze when I needed it. I was locked out of my house in the rain because of a miscommunication. That happens sometimes when they speak in German to me. It just comes with the exchange student package. Happens to everyone. But anyway, I was locked out in the rain and my phone froze up and I couldn't use it. I was lucky that my friend Felina was with me and she lives a couple minutes away so I just went back to her house until we got it sorted out. Meaning we went back and started watching Ice Age 1 until my phone unfroze and I called the house phone and Benni had come home and was able to let me in. So Felina reminded me that she had a phone that I could have for the year. Which is awesome because I was gonna have to give the phone I got from my host parents back when I left their house. Then I would have needed to find another one. This phone doesn't freeze, flips, has a camera, and a huge screen. It's not the newest phone out there, but definitely works better than the other one. Thank you Felina! So I just got my "new" phone sorted out. I had to add all my contacts in again manually and delete all her old stuff. Then I made sure it worked ok. All thumbs up! Yay new phone! Today I am going to my host grandmas house because it's her birthday. I might sing her a birthday song in spanish. I think they would enjoy that. I wish I could have gone to Cologne with all of my friends today...but I didn't realize it was a legit thing and that everyone was going until after I already told my host parents I have no plans and said I was coming with them. I don't want to go back on my word and I figure that this is more important in the long run anyway. So no friends for me today. Oh well. My friends Kacie and Meghan didn't go either so I don't feel so bad. I'll go next time. Not tomorrow, but next Sunday, apparently I have to showcase our ball room dancing to my host parents :(. I don't wanna....I think we both aren't looking forward to it. Benni and me. Grrr....I hope its not like...an actual ball. Like where I have to dance with my host parents and stuff. I really really don't want to do that.

At this point...i think I would take the chores lol. Today was a day of mixed feelings. I don't really want to write about it. I went to felina's house. That was good. But everything else was just kinda bleh. Not terrible. just not good. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'm exhausted for now.

Well the hip hop class was hard, once again. And I'm definitely sore today. But it was good and I'm glad I'm going. I liked this combination better than the other. Today I went to school and the first two classes went as planned, but the last 6 did not. After my first two math periods I found out that my physics class was writing a test so I didn't actually have to be there. Then I wait through those and find out that my last four classes were cancelled because the 12 grade is in Muenster. And none of this was on the board. Oh well. I tried. I took the next bus home and now here I am.

Hip hop class today. And this time I'm wearing the proper apparel so hopefully I wont feel so out of place. It's really hard work, but I'm determined to get through it! For my health, for the sake of staying in shape, and for something to do. LOL Meghan attacked my newly covered planner. Since it was construction paper she wrote me little notes all over it and colored it, so now its all decorated. She said she isn't done though. Just doesn't know what else to add yet. She also left me little notes all in the inside. Put important dates in there too. I'm also pretty sure she wrote a letter in there in the week she leaves for me to have and read. A pretty long one at that. I'm really glad. A friend has never done things like that for me before :D

Nothing much today. Went to rotary. Didn't have to make my speech. I do it in two weeks. David is doing his the same day. But it only has to be five minutes long and in Deutsch because no one understands Spanish and he doesn't speak very good English. Poor boy. At least my speech is completely prepared. I don't have to worry about it now. After that we went to a book store and I purchased an exercise book for my Deutsch. I would like to learn faster and practice. I also got a planner and a book cover protector for my new Deutsch book. Unfortunately the only planner I could find that had 2010-2011 was Hannah Montana. So now I have a Hannah Montana planner. But it works and I covered the outside with paper. I really needed one for any school activities or plans with my friends or parties and etc. Exams. Things like this. Then we caught a bus home. That's pretty much it. Hip hop class tomorrow. Then Deutsch lessons start back up next week.

Don't have much to say today. Went out with friends last night. After the train left we found out that the person we were going out to see and the whole point of going out was ditching us for a different group of kids in a completely different city. So we were on a train to another city with a small group of kids that wasn't going to get bigger like we thought. It was still ok though. I'm really mad at panda for ditching us though. If he had told us where he was going, we could have gone with him there. But no. He told me he was coming with us and then changed at the last minute and didn't call us to tell us. I'm going to chuck a phone at his head next time I see that boy. Oh well. I ended up staying the night at Meg's like I planned. Then today went to mcdonalds and then took the next bus home. It's a holiday so no school today. No school tomorrow either because its a teacher inservice thing. But I have rotary so I have to do that. And we're going to get me a bus schedule tomorrow. I think tomorrow is the day I have to make my ten minute speech about america, but I'm actually not sure. So I'm going to prepare it and bring it, and if I make it then fine and if I don't then cool. That's all I have planned.