So last day in germany. I might do maybe one more post once I get home to tell you that I'm safe and such, but otherwise this is probably the end. Theres not really a need to blog and this was supposed to just be about my year. I'm pretty proud that I even made it through the whole year blogging. Usually with diarys and such I get tired out and stop after awhile. But my diary and my blog made it through the whole year. Tiff left earlier. Hopefully she can make it to the airport tomorrow. I'd rather it wasnt goodbye. but we'll text all the time back in the usa. My plan for today: shower, get dressed, triple check packing and bag weight, run to atm for money to check my bags, ..... actually thats all. pretty sad for my last day in the country right? I'm sure theres more planned by my host family somewhere in there, but I don't know what. Dinner and eating is in there at some point. oh and sleeping. I'll sleep at night. hopefully. Then tomorrow I'll get up early and get ready. Gotta leave the house at nine. be at the airport at ten. Then my plane boards at 11:40 and takes off at 12:10. On the plane for 8 hours and have a layover in new jersey. then two more hours and then home in KANSAS for a night. I'll get there at 6:40. Not sure what the plan is from there.

So my last day of school was uneventful. My teacher was sick so I ended up having three lessons free in the beginning of my day. Then I had religion then my day was done. sad huh? so i didnt really see any of my friends from school to say goodbye. a few though. The problem was that the teacher that was sick was herr rose. And he had to give me my paper from the end of the year with all of my courses and report for the year. So I was really worried. But then he called that night and worked it out so he was supposed to come by the next morning to give it to me. I got up early so that I could meet him but he never showed up. I didnt have his number to call him so i had to text all of my friends to see if they did. Luckily one did and I finally got ahold of him the next day on friday. I was worried maybe he had come earlier than I got up but it turned out he literally never showed up. He said sorry and asked if I was at home then. I said I was and would be and so he came over a couple hours later and gave me the papers. Right before Tiff came over and we closed my bank account, then made tacos. We just hung out all day and then left for the party in bocholt. Then we took the first bus home afterwards. It was my last party here so I had to say goodbye to everyone. Of course we were all exhausted from the all nighter and no sleep and emotionally crazed because it was the last time we were all together. It was like 7 in the morning. I was crying pretty much the enitre time saying goodbye to everyone. I can't believe I probably wont see these people again. It seems so unreal to not see a person or a place again. Especially these people I'm so close to. The thought of living without them for the rest of my life is so bad. Then I came home and slept for about four hours with tif and lindsay. then we got up and got pizza. Then came back home, watched half a movie, ate the pizza, slept four more hours, got up, watched the rest of the movie, started another one, and ate ice cream. Just me and tif btw. lindsay left after we picked up the pizza. Now we're chillin and prob gonna go to sleep for the night pretty soon. last night together. Hopefully she can come to the airport on monday with me and my host mom and maria and david and hopfeully lindsay. Got everything packed pretty much. gotta check in for my flight tomorrow with the help of maria and google chat with mom. wow...

So tomorrow is my last day of school! I'm feeling good. Today was my last rotary meeting and my last german lesson. I had to make my speech today. I wasn't nervous... just anxious until about the time when it was time to make it. Then I got nervous. I just had to remind myself that its only talking. But they seemed to like it and I somehow made these old buisness men laugh quite a few times. I recieved many many compliments on a speech well done and when we traded flags in front of everyone afterward the speaker complimented my german and asked if i had had lessons before coming because it was so good. They gave me three flags. One for me, one for my club back at home, and one for the district back at home. They also gave me a book all about the NRW. (the state in germany that we live) And they signed it and left me a note inside. I got through my speech without any serious mishaps except that i had a powerpoint and in the middle of my speech it stopped responding and i had to start the program over. And my computer took awhile to start up. But they were patient with me and we all got through it. I think I was glowing with all the compliments they were giving me about my german. I was really nervous that the speech wouldnt be good or not what they were looking for but it was the right amount of time and they seemed to like it. Apparently I looked alot more confident than I was, and like I wasnt reading off the cards (which it felt like I was, but apparently it looked like I was just looking at them a few times for reference. I guess I did some good eye contact.) So ya. I have that huge thing off my chest. And with german lessons over and only one day of school left... I guess all there is to do at this point is hang out with friends, take pictures, pack, and party :D. But not too hard cause I don't wanna get the flu or something like a friend of mine had recently. I'm worried she was gonna get me sick cause i was just getting over my sickness when I was with her and she got super sick. So my ammune system wasnt what it normallly is. And she had to go to the hospital so I don't want that. I just wanna come home healthy and happy :)

Speech tomorrow! I'm not exactly nervous... but I hope I get all my grammatics right and such. So wish me luck! I timed it and its 15 or 16 minutes long. Tiffany said all speeches get longer when you actually present them too... so hopefully thats true. But I'm sure that it will be long enough. Exactly one week until I come home. Time has definitely flown. But this last week has actually been quite slow. I only have three days of school this week cause we have thursday and friday off so my last day at school is wednsday. Theres a party on friday I'm going to but I'm not sure what I'm doing besides that. And I know theres a girls night thrown in there somewhere also.

So there was the party on Friday. More people came than I thought would. They just kinda came with their friends. It was awesome and everyone had a really good time. I cut my finger on a glass bottle though. not smart. Then most everyone slept for a couple hours and then we got up and ready in about 15 minutes. all 14 of us. some people even showered in that amount of time. amazing right? Then we left for district conference. We were there all day. But the last couple hours they took us to a movie theater and paid for us to watch a movie :D. it was awesome. Then I lost my bus home by two minutes. So I was going to have to wait two hours by myself in a strange city in a chair at the bahnhof. my friends completely saved me though. Panda, Al, and Gavin asked me what i was doing and I told them. They were completely surprised, asked why I didn't say anything, then said I had to go with them. So I did and we hung out pretty much all day. Then I took the train with them and went home. It was a goodish day. I wanted to go to the party with them after but i had to stop by home first and there werent any buses and trains there any more. So I slept. Then today is my host moms bday so we're going out to dinner.

Had to add alot to my speech last night. Hopefully its long enough now. I'll do it again outloud today and practice so I know how long it is. I can't think of anything else I could possibly say. I've covered all my bases. Currently I am eating strawberry shortcake and planning my party for tomorrow! yay!! And... i have absolutely nothing else to do today. I wanted to go to muenster but my friends backed out :(

Finally printed off my speech and cut it out and pasted it to notecards all in order so i dont get confused. Even double spaced and made it 14 size font cause i really dont wanna get lost. I'm really worried its not gonna be long enough though. Even after all this work and I have it all perfect. I'm probably just gonna have to comment on a few extra things that wont be written it. like explain a picture or tell a short story. So more people seem to be coming to my party :) hopefully it will be something around 20 people. not all staying the night of course. ok well im gonna go practice my speech in front of the mirror with the powerpoint presentation so i know how long it is and get it better flowing. Besides that I really dont have much to do today. Maybe I'll watch a movie or something. And shower def. i kinda need to even up my hair since i cut it myself the other day.

Went to amsterdam today with Alexandre, Lindsay, Joanna, and Bruna. Our teacher Herr Rose took us. We went to the Anne Frank Museum. Her house. It was so sad but completely interesting and I read I think every possible thing I could read and watch and look at. I touched what I could touch... just so I can say hey... I touched the same sink handle that Anne Frank did. The same walls she spent so long pasting pictures on to make it seem more lively. I couldnt take any pictures though... i was really upset about that. but i understand why they would make that rule.

Sadly we're already having a problem with the party. Most of my exchange student friends dont wanna come cause we have district conference the next day earlyish. I don't see the problem as long as they bring their blazers and we all leave the next day together. but then jaime pointed out that everyone needs to shower. I was like... well cant they shower right before they come over? the party starts at night... but he said that everyone stinks after a party. which is true. but are they really gonna stink THAT much that EVERYONE would have to shower right away in the morning? they can't wait until they get home after district conference?

So I'm having a party at my house on Friday with maria! We decided we needed a reason to party so it's gonna be my goodbye party since I'm leaving a little over a week later. Officially only two weeks left. time flys. I'm actually really excited for it. I'll probabaly wear a dress and stuff since its technically my party now. Tomorrow I don't have school so I'm not sure what my plans are for tonight or tomorrow. I should probably get on packing but that wont take two days. If I actually get on it and do it then it will be done in like one night. Then I'm all packed for two weeks. I'm not sure if I should wait a little bit longer or not. I'm packing a year but I already have one suitcase packed. And I'm not sure if I should just leave out one weeks worth of clothes and pack the rest or pack it all and live out of the suitcase. my toiletries would be the thing I'd have to leave out but I'm not bringing those with me anyway. My toothbrush and toothpaste ya I guess, but I can get new stuff. same with deodrant. but my shower stuff stays. my razor I'll bring. I finally finished my speech yesterday I think. So now its just time to print and practice it.

Added some of the latino music to my ipod haha. i had alexandre write down the names to the songs they always play. Not that anyone will know the difference except me but still :D. long weekend this weekend. I think I'm gonna chill in my room and watch movies. Theres a party tonight but i opted out. it was gonna be mostly spanish speakers.

Finally went to the doctor today. I have some antibiotics and now I'm ready to go! A little over two weeks left and I'm finally ready to come home. I'm just gonna write my speech, pack my things, and enjoy the time I have left in preparation. I'll go to parties when I can and keep hanging out with my friends. Hopefully I can go to amsterdam on tuesday and see the anne frank house. Nothing else really to do today except this speech. Time to really get it finished up!

hey sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I don't really get on the computer when I have friends over. So there was the week with victoria. We had a really big sleepover at my house with ten people during the week when we didnt have school but thats really all to say about it. We went to oberhausen earlier that day and then met some exchangies there and they tagged along. The next day we laid out in the sun in the back yard. I got a sunburn on my back and a little color everywhere else haha. The sunburn looked really bad but it faded a bit each day so it wasnt so bad. it was just sore. Then it was adventure weekend. I was camping with all the exchange students in my district and some from out of my district that were on our euro tour. There were also the german kids going on exchange next year there. So maria was there. We went canoeing and swimming and had big bonfires and went to a beer garden. But we were only allowed one beer. I'm pretty sure some people drank more than one though haha. That night I got sick though and threw up :/. not from the beer. I had apparently had just way too much sun. We had been laying out pretty much all day and walking. So ya. sun exhaustion. its not fun. I was freezing but my body felt steaming to the touch and I was grumpy and my stomache hurt. The next day everyone went home and when I got home I slept pretty much all day. Then got up and threw up again. Then teddy came over cause he needed a place to stay the night until he could take the train in the morning. I threw up again while he was there. I was so sick and I felt terrible that he chose my house to have fun and stay at and I was too sick to really hang out. We ended up falling asleep during the movie and just going to bed. I've been sick and in bed pretty much ever since then. My throat hurts too though and im not sure why. I'm gonna try to go to the doctor tomorrow since the rest is ok now. I cant imagine what my throat has to do with sun exhaustion so that must have been a separate problem. like a sickness i got while i was sick cause my body was weak. Today I felt well enough to leave the house. So I went to a small get together of the exchange students at my school and our teacher at his house. we bbqed and ate ice cream and swam. hopefully on tuesday we'll all go to amsterdam and visit the anne frank house since the england trip wont work. monday i dont have school. thats about it.