Recap, Reflection and Comparison

I am ashamed.  When was my last post?  Like, a month ago?  Crap.  That was NOT supposed to happen!  I've been busy with, as I like to say in German, "Zeug, Kram und Sachen."  Those are pretty much three different words for "stuff."  I may have also gotten a tad bit lazy.  Just a bit.  It's summer, after all!  And I do have to admit, I was getting a little burned-out from writing almost every day.  But yes, a month is definitely long enough of a break to take!  Since this is my last post probably EVER (gasp!) I know I should have posted sooner and gotten it done with, but instead I've left you hanging for a loooong time.

Let me begin with a recap.  I'll try to sum everything up as best I can, but I'm not promising that I'll remember everything.

Before and After: The Flight Home

I haven't posted in a long time!  Sorry about that!  A lot has happened since I showed you the pictures from our Holland trip, and I'll probably leave some stuff out in this post because I've forgotten already. :)

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Today was the Sportfest!  I believe I have told you enough about it in past posts, so I will cut to the chase and tell you how it was. :)

The Sportfest took place at the school and also took just as long as a normal school day, so Lisa and I biked to school like it was any old day.  We spent about five minutes in the classroom, signing the t-shirts of people who didn't get theirs yesterday and discussing the schedule and roles of everyone.  Then it was straight to the back field for six hours outside!

What Have I Been Doing Lately?

I know, I know.  I haven't posted in what, three days?  Don't get me wrong, lots has happened, I just haven't had the time (or the mood) to write about it!  This seems to be happening a lot lately.  Sorry...  But part of it is your fault!  I hardly ever get comments anymore, and I feel like I'm writing to myself.  But maybe you don't comment because my posts are boring because I never feel like writing.  So maybe it's my fault after all. ;) Anyway...

Surprise!

I have the best friends in the entire world.  It's a fact.  Let me tell you why...

I'm not going to tell you about school today because it was boring.  Oh, except for one thing: yesterday two kids in my class were singing the "Ain't nobody got time for that" song.  It was pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Abi 2013

I'm not really sure how to start this post in a clever way, so I'll just start telling you about my day. :)

Since Lisa's bike was at her cousins' or something like that (long story; I don't remember much of it myself), we walked to school, even though the weather was nice.

Liege!

After our nine hour long class trip to Liege, I am exhausted.  The trip, all in all, was okay.

Since I finally had my camera with me at school for once, I was able to take pictures of how many people ride their bikes to school!

Happy, Happy, Happy, Sad

I couldn't fall asleep last night because all the One Republic songs from my new CD were stuck in my head.  Lesson: when you get a new CD, do not play it over and over again and memorize the lyrics to boot.  I learned that the hard way. ;)

This morning Lisa and I walked to school instead of biking like usual because it looked kind or rainy.  It didn't rain AT ALL.  I'm starting to think that it only rains when I'm on my bike.

Then Lisa invited me to go shopping with her, Sara and Celina in Cologne tomorrow!  Yay!  When I asked if we were going to go right after school, Lisa was like, "We don't have school tomorrow."

Whaaa?

A Fantabulistic Birthday Party

Fantabulistic. Yes, it's a word.  Yes, I made it up.

Anyways, yesterday, I celebrated my birthday with my friends.  It was, well, fantabulistic! :D I had an awesome time.

First, my grandma and I set the table and made the food.  I had brought a package of brownie mix with me from America, so I baked those.  My grandma baked a cake, and also bought some cookies.  My grandpa went and got lots and lots of strawberries.  The table looked like this:

A Laid-Back Day

This will be a fairly short post. :) Today was my second day home alone.  Everything went smoothly, and I didn't manage to lock myself out of the house or anything. :)

The morning was one of those nice, quiet mornings where you get all of your crap done and then relax.  First I read in bed for an hour, then ate breakfast, did some homework and a workout, then returned to my book and the internet. :)

At about three my friend Nadine came over.  I showed her the entire house, and then we went shopping.  I love shopping. :) We biked because the weather is, for once, being nice to us.

The Sports Events of the Past Few Days

At first I wasn't going to blog about this, but when I realized I inform you about every boring detail of my school day, I should probably tell you about this, just to keep it in proportion. :)

Friday afternoon was Basketball Night at my school.  Each class can put together a basketball team, and each team in its age group plays against each other.

Lisa and I came two hours before it even started.  I really have no idea why.  Some other kids from class were coming early too, so I guess it was to hang out with them.  But since I'm not exactly a social butterfly, two hours with your classmates and not all your friends can be a little daunting.  Most of the guys (and some of the girls) were playing basketball to practice, and the other girls were standing off to the side talking.  We also made a pyramid just for fun, and I got to be on top. :) I don't have a picture yet, but Lisa is going to send it to me at some point.

The Ultimate Friend Day

Here I am, writing to you on a Monday afternoon, not being in school.  Why?  Well, I have Monday and Tuesday off from school–again.  May is an awesome month to go to school in Germany because there are so many days off!  Thursday two weeks ago, last Monday and Tuesday, this Monday and Tuesday, and next Thursday and Friday!  Yeah, it's pretty awesome. :)  This week we don't have school because of a holiday called what sounds like Finxen.  I have no idea how to spell it. :)

But my post isn't about all the days of school I have off, it's about the awesome day I had yesterday!  I commence:

A Boring Day

Sorry about the lack of a blog post yesterday.  Nothing interesting happened.  At all.  But there is  blog post today, although today, for the most part, was pretty boring too.

It's been rainy for the past few days, and it was kind of cold on the way to school.  What a great mood setter for the school day!

A Day of Thrills

Here I am writing to you, satisfied with the day but utterly exhausted.  I spent eight hours at an amusement park with Lisa, Celina, Celina's younger sister and her two friends.

Movie Park is an awesome amusement park about an hour away from my grandparents' house.  Despite what the name suggests, it is not a movie theater.  One section of the park, called Nick Land, has rides based on Nickelodeon shows, but there are other sections as well.  (If you click on the link, you'll see the page is in English.  Click on the tab 'attractions' and you can see great pictures of almost all of the rides.)

Best Day Yet

Today was AWESOME!  I am so incredibly excited to tell you all about it!!! :D

So.  School.  First period was English.  I've decided that I like the teacher (Frau Fügemann).  Today people had to read aloud their papers about Ground Zero and the buildings that are there now.  After every person, people had to give feedback, and everyone's mistakes were corrected.  Even though I actually speak English, I was slouching in the back corner of the classroom thinking don'tcallonmedon'tcallonme!  Luckily, I was not called on until later, when we were reading a story in the English textbook out loud.  Whew.

Third Day Done

Three days down, a ton to go!  Day three was definitely better than day two. :)

Something done in every class that I forgot to mention until now is the teacher greeting.  After the teacher walks in, all the kids stand up and say in a really slow, bored-sounding way, "Good morning Mrs. (or Mr.) Teacher," or whatever the teacher's actual name is.

"Goooo-ten Morrrrgen Herr Meyyyerrrr."  Like that.  I don't even remember which teacher Mr. Meyer is, but I know I said that at some point, so there must be a teacher named Mr. Meyer.

School: Day Two

Today was...  Well, it really wasn't that bad, but it's raining and I'm in a bad mood, so I'm probably going to make it seem bad.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school, and now my whole German adventure finally seems real.  I'M FREAKING GOING TO SCHOOL IN GERMANY!  Well, the first day really went well.  Let me begin: