I don't feel good. I'm starting to think maybe I'm sick again. It feels like the flu. I think its the weather cause it went from warm to really cold super fast recently. And im always in that weather cause i walk everywhere and ride my bike to school. speaking of, my bike broke today. idk how. after school i went outside, put the key in, and right before I got on...i realized that the pedals were almost totally unattached to the bike. I'm not sure if someone kicked it or what. so i had to walk 2.5 km from the school to my house, with the bike. it was fun. and very very cold lol. Deutsch lesson in an hour.

Exchangestudents get together was fun. But we stayed up all night talking so I am exhausted beyond recognition. Only slept for an hour once I got home. Thought I had a Rotary Meeting today, but Herr Künstler finally figured out that the brasilians are not here. So it is rescheduled for later. Going to bed early tonight and waking up late tomorrow.

Yes I did actually have a few of them watch that clip from hookwinked. They thought it was hilarious of course. Yesterday school seemed to drag on. Not particularly sure why. Maybe I was just ready for the weekend. I never used to look forward to the weekend, but now I do. hmm :) We went to that birthday party thing in the evening. It was all girls and we just sat around and talked and drank a glass of champagne, etc. Eventually we danced a little. We were only there until 11:30. Then I came home and slept like a rock after my nightly work out. I had been tired all day long. Set my alarm for 11:30 this morning because of the semi late night, but my internal alarm went off at 11. So I woke up 30 minutes early and came upstairs and ate a little breakfast. Then talked to Maria some. She just left to go shopping with her friend. I was gonna go but we were afraid that we wouldnt make it back in time for the exchange student get together later today. So now I decided to blog and check my facebook and such before I go and get ready for the day. I don't have to be ready until 5 technically, but ill probably get ready early and be done a few hours ahead. maybe wait to put my makeup on until a little later. Then David comes over at 5. And we'll meet Lindsay at the bahnhof McDonalds at 5:30. After that we'll take the bus over to Raesfeld at 6, its only a 15 minute drive with bus. And then we'll be at the get together. yay!! lol It's supposed to be the best one of the year so I'm pretty excited. I don't go to these that often. They have one like everyweekend, but I've only actually gone to one or two. It's too expensive to be going all the time. I'm really not sure how panda does it. He must have like...unending resources. but ya... so....im gonna go check my facebook and stuff now and then get ready for the day!

I'm getting excited for the weekend! :) sleeping in and hanging out with friends. It's gonna be a good one. I just have a feeling. Today I'm gonna study my deutsch a whole bunch and then relax. Maybe watch a few movies. I don't want to have to deal with studying over the weekend or worry about it. But right now I'm gonna go eat noodle rice, cheesy potatoes, and schnitzel. yumm :)

nothing too much happened the last couple days. I should have all my paperwork done by sunday. then ill send it off. I already told this to the lady i have to send it to. she said that all is good. so im about set for euro tour. on saturday im gonna hang with the exchangies at a rotex girls house. on sunday is the meeting with herr künstler. Besides that theres nothing really going on. I'm going swimming with maria today. and thats the extent of my plans.

ahhahaha i know im boring right now. but not a whole lot of major stuff has been going on. Its pretty much just smooth sailing at the moment. And what? wear greens, reds, and pinks as a redhead and look like that crazy woman from Nanny McPhee? No way. Today I met the new Australian exchange student. He's cool. Big redheaded guy named Lindsay. We got along well and there werent any awkward silences so its all good. AWW and Meghan's boyfriend Tim wrote me this little peotic story thing today. It was meant to cheer me up and it did. It was so cute. When Meg was here, she would draw him pictures and write stories (the both have a love for stick figures) and he would write songs and poems for her. So it meant alot that he spent the time to write one for me so we can feel better about her leaving. Cause hes a really quiet reserved type of guy and we arent real close or anything. I'm gonna take Lindsay to get a phone card tomorrow and then get a german friend to set him up on flatrate. On Sunday I have a meeting with my rotary guy to welcome all the newbies. And on Saturday theres a sleep over at a rotexers house with a whole bunch of exchange students that I want to go to.

Relaxing again today. Went to Maria's handball game and dyed my hair. Now I'll be doing nothing and liking it. Going to bed early cause I have to actually get up early tomorrow. On my big sleeping in day. Tomorrow is the day I'm meeting the new exchange student and getting him situated.

Nothing much to do today. Want to dye my hair. We'll see. Nothing else besides that. Time to relax I guess.

Ok so I think I'm finally getting my hair cut today. yay!!! but then it started snowing so im not too happy about that. I think I'll buy hair dye while in town also. Then tonight I'm going out to dinner. The rest of the weekend is pretty cleared out. I get to relax :). The new Australian student comes soon. I'll meet him on Monday and show him around the school. Play orientor like Meg did for me.

Nothing new today. Well, I think I'm going out to dinner with my sister and her friends tomorrow. But only because they invited me and no one is spending any of their own money. They are using the profits from the new years party. And since I helped alot with setting up and such, I'm going with them. But thats about it for today. Don't think I have any other plans.

Later I'm going to show my host family a whole bunch of pictures from home cause they really want to see :) I think I'm also going to one of Heiner's handball games today and maybe Maria's dance thing. No plans yet for the weekend. Once again the day seemed to go by pretty fast. Maybe its the obscene amount of reading I've been doing. I've ripped through two very long books in about a week. And these aren't easy reading. They are adult books. Murder mystery type books, which is odd because I've never liked this kind of book before. I guess when you're desperate for English reading material then you'll take anything. Good thing I have a whole bunch of books on my nook still to read.

Finally went to the bank and paid for euro tour. Whew... now on to the paperwork!! Bring it on. I'm actually almost finished with it. All I have to do is sign the rules, have the parentals sign a paper, pick up my official school paper, make more copies of my passport and residence permit, get my rotary club to sign the permission form, and send it all away. That sounds like alot now that I've typed it all out....but you have no idea how long that list was before. When it comes down to it, most of that can be done in about five minutes. Well...it can be put together quickly, if everyone does their part. Today school went by quickly for once. I got my quarterly report done today also. And my deutsch homework. Man I'm good :). Then in about an hour my deutsch teacher will arrive for our lesson. And David just a little before her. Then I'm going to relax with a book or a movie and food. Bernd bought two boxes of oreos just for me yesterday :D. What a nice brother.

I haven't sent any packages home yet lol. I'm still looking for the other part of Rebecca's gift since I messed it up the first time. And theres another gift I need to buy and I'm not sure what to do about it either. And I wanna send all my packages at the same time. Bank closes earlier than expected, so paying for eurotour tomorrow now. early. Deutsch lesson today. It was fine. David and I have lessons together again. Makes things easier on everyone. And I stress less. Afterwards we just kinda hung out and watched Hairspray. That's about it for today.

Party last night was fun :) I didn't really know many people though...so it could have been better. But the setting was cool. Tons of people and lots of lights and stuff. It was kinda like a disko. Relaxing today.... I think we're going to a restaurant later for dinner. And all of my siblings have/had handball games today. So idk...maybe we're going to one of those? Right now Maria is taking a nap and I'm gonna go downstairs and watch a movie and drink hot chocolate. I guess it's actually OK for us to take naps in this family :D.

So tonight I'll be hanging with Maria and her friends. I was gonna go transfer money for euro tour today, but apparently the banks are closed. :( guess I'll just have to do it monday. But I'm not too terribly worried, cause supposedly not one single person is completely signed up for eurotour yet. So all I have to do is the paperwork after this. Pretty simple stuff.

Düsseldorf was fun :) There was like 30 ppl that showed up. Thats almost half of our exchange group. Kinda crazy. Everyone loved Maria of course. Pity we had to leave at 1 though. Everyone else was staying there alot longer. Other than that my day was uneventful. School, home, food, get ready for Ddorf, etc.

More rain today...but better than snow. I'd definitely vote for rain before snow and ice. Although riding a bike in the rain isn't the most fun thing I've ever done. Singing was cancelled today so I got to be home for lunch. And in Physics they had a class test so I didn't have to go. I spent those two free periods reading my book and listening to my ipod. Nothing else particularly interesting today.

Went to school today. Ran into Jasmin during my free period so we hung out before class. After school I rode my bike home in the rain, getting very wet in the process. Then ate some of the best lasagna in my life after I changed my clothes. At 3 I walked into town and met up with David and Meghan. We went out to eat and then to Meghan's house so she could pack some. Then we went to Mcdonalds because they sell beer at McD's in Germany. We've always thought that was funny and promised that one day we were gonna go and get a cup simply to take pictures and say we bought beer at McDonalds. So we did all that....then it came time for Meghan to go because she had to say her goodbyes to her second host family. We all cried and hugged and said our very sad goodbyes and promises to keep in touch. David, Meghan, and I. Right in the middle of that McDonalds. Then kept crying outside. Then she got in Tim's car and they drove away. That's the last I will probably ever see of Meghan.

So today nothing much happened. Went to school, had rotary, etc. But on the way home I think I must have broken alot of biking laws.... cause ppl driving their cars got mad... sorry people. I am just happy I could ride the bike! I have no idea what the biking laws are. And I'm pretty sure that Germany has like a million. Cause David got pulled over from the police one time cause he was talking on his phone while riding a bike. Plus they have like...special stoplights and stuff for bikes. But how are we supposed to know what all the biking laws are? Why can't it be simple? oh well. I didn't get pulled over or anything. And I know for next time. On friday and saturday I have some plans with friends and my sister. This should be a fun weekend :). Gotta do something to get my mind off Meghan leaving. Deutsch lesson today at 5. fun stuff....

First day back at school today. And my first day riding my bike. It wasn't so bad. I didn't crash or anything. My biggest problem came after I had already gotten home. I couldn't figure out how to lock up my bike. Cause here each bike comes with a key. And the key locks or unlocks the back wheel. School was normal. Except a little more sad cause I had english and thats my class with Meg. And it's one of her last days of school. She goes back to Australia in four days. In the early morning on Saturday. I really want to go with her to the airport to see her off, but I can't figure out a way to get there. Her car is full unfortunately. I'm going to be very sad when she leaves :(. She's been one of my very best friends since the beginning. She oriented me and told and showed me what I needed to know to survive here. Except for the things that I needed to discover on my own. In that case, she knew just when to step out. She isn't just a friend, she's alot like a sister. And I'm going to miss her dearly. And if she doesn't come visit me in the USA in like five years then I'm gonna go to Australia and drag David with me and we're gonna kick her butt all the way back to the USA where we will go eat mexican food and drink good soda and eat cheap college kid food like mac and cheese and ramen noodles :). This will happen. But besides all that...not much going on this week I don't think...

ok so I did just hang out and watch. I read a book, listened to my ipod. It was fine except that it was freezing. Then later was Meghan's party....sad...but fun :) Slept in Meghans room that night. Then got up early the next morning and walked home. After that I showered and made myself presentable again and went to Köln with my sister, mom, and some family friends. There we walked around, did a little shopping for new shoes for my sister...not me for once lol. Then went out to eat and went home. We were home by 1 in the morning. Needless to say, I was exhausted. I totally konked out last night and woke up today at 12. Then had breakfast and now I'm writing to you. No other plans for today I think. But we'll see :)

Going to go hang out with my sister and her girls today. We were gonna go to Köln, but the traffic is bad. So instead I think we're going ice skating. Which means I'm bringing my ipod and a book to hang out and watch them ice skate cause I'm really bad and I don't feel like breaking any bones on my exchange. Call me crazy. Then later is Meghan's party :/. It has come so fast. I can't believe I'm nearly half way through. I'm gonna be an oldie soon :O! So tonight I'm spending the night at Meg's place and then tomorrow going home in the morning and then I think I'm going somewhere with my host family. I forgot where. Frankfurt maybe? I don't know.

Nothing much going on today. Gonna go change my address officially. Thats about it. Probably gonna veg and watch movies or something. Meg's party is tomorrow. And I need to go get hairdye and get my hair cut...but thats all I can think of.

Yesterday was fun :) we went to Oberhausen and hung out in the mall for a long time. But it was fun! just me and Bastian (spain) and Maria (my sister). I ate soooo much lol. And we actually waited in that line to Hollister that took eternity. It was worth the hour and a half train ride there :P. I don't have any plans really today except to relax, watch movies, and call my darling mommy!! Love you!! Have an amazing birthday!! Bastians last day here. Then friday is meghans going away party :(. oh and on friday im going to koln with my sister. fun stuff!! sorry about the no entry yesterday. not gonna lie, i totally forgot till i was in bed.

nope none of my new friends go to my school i think. Went on a nice walk on a nature trail around a lake today :) very pretty. there was this cute dog that went out on the iced over lake just to chew and tug and play with this big branch. it was so funny. it was bendy so he kept going back and forth...and snapping it lol. letting it go and chasing it again. then we came home and pretty soon we'll go to some families house i think for dinner. Tomorrow Bastian is coming for a few days. I think we'll be pretty relaxed tomorrow. Maybe go to a movie in town. Maybe try to go to Oberhausen the next day. Thats about it.

Hey happy new year everybody!! Hope you all had a good one. I hung out at the party going on at my house with my sister and all her friends. It was cool. made alot of new friends :)