Back in Switzerland

Hey everybody =)
For all of you, that didn't know yet, I'm back in Switzerland, for about a week now.

The last few weeks in Las Vegas were busy and a lot of fun. I did a lot of stuff with my boyfriend (yeah, I do have a boyfriend, if I haven't mentioned it before) and other friends.

On Memorial Day weekend, I went to Grand Canyon with Dad and YFU Las Vegas. It was great! On Friday after school we left Las Vegas on our way to Williams, where our hotel was at. Then on Saturday morning after breakfast we left for the Grand Canyon National Park. Once we were there, and took some pictures, we started hiking down into the Canyon for about 1.5 miles, and then back up again.

In the canyon there was no wind at all, and it was pretty warm. Back up again, it was very windy (you could lean against the wind without falling) and kinda cold. After we ate lunch, we went on a bus that took us to different points along the rim, to take pictures. Then at night, when we were back in Williams, we went to eat dinner all together. This night, Franny, Zayra and me couldn't sleep, so we decided to go downstairs to the Lobby, where we ate popcorn and drank coffee. It was so much fun.
On Sunday morning, we left on the way back to Las Vegas.



Then on Memorial Day my Mom had a party at our house. So Katrin, Franny and Zayra came over, we had so much fun. In the end we all ended up in the pool, with our clothes on, which was so much fun. I'll never forget that day, it was great.



The next weeks were just pretty normal school days, and there was not much eles going on. After school I usually hung out with my boyfriend and friends almost every day after school.

One night we had the EF-Graduation Ceremony, I had to hold a speech. Luckily I wasn't the only one, but probably the one that was the least prepared. Well anyways, it was good, and fun to actually wear cap and gown and all that stuff.

The last week of school, we had semester tests, which weren't even hard. After that Summer finally started, with a really busy weekend.
On Friday afternoon I had the International Club Banquet at Circus Circus, it was great to see all the people again. Then on Saturday I was supposed to go to three party, I ended up only being at one, and that was the one that was at our house anyways. It was so much fun with Katrin, crazy as always =) Then on Sunday Juliane had her Birthday and Good Bye Party, where I went as well. It was grear =)

The last week was pretty boring, since most of my friends already left to go back to their country. But I still got to hang out with some of them and say Good Bye to them...


After another Party at our house and then cleaning up the next day, my last weekend in Las Vegas was over. And I finally decided to start packing on Sunday, 3 days before I left.

On Wednesday morning then, I had to leave. After saying Good Bye to my Mum and Nikki, my Dad brought me to the airport, where I had to say bye to him as well. It was not really easy, and I didn't realize what it means, until I was sitting in the plane all by my own, on the way back to Switzerland.

After 15 hours of travelling, I finally arrived back in Switzerland, where my family was waiting for me. It felt good to see them again, even though it was sad at the same time, because it meant that I'm really back and that I won't return to Las Vegas so soon again...

Fabii, Carneval and Spring Break

So, there's the second post of tonight, since I just feel like writting everything down.

Sunday morning after Prom, when I got up Fabi was in Las Vegas, so I went, for sure, to the Strip to see her :D
After my mom dropped me off at the Luxor I went to find her at the main entrance, which I surely did, it was soooooo amazing to see her after about 8/9 months again, and I was just happy. We walked the Strip, hung out at the Fahsion Show Mall (the one mall in Las Vegas, that is like my home, because I was there soo many times) and for the last thing went to see the water show at the Bellagio. It was an awesome afternoon, and I had some much fun, hearing about all the stuff that happend in Switzerland, since I was gone.

The following Thursday we had CARNEVAL :D
This is an event, organized and executed(:P) by the international club, and since I am a member of that club, I had to be there. So that day, I stayed after school to help put up all the decorations and signs and whatever else, so we would be ready for the people to come in the evening. It was really tiring and sort of boring, but also fun.
At 6 the carneval begun, that means people started to walk in and play the various game we prepared and buy food and drinks. Dion, Juliane and I had to sell water, what a boring job. So no wonder, I went off the booth all the time, to walk around and talk to friends. I had so much fun with Max and those other kids I met. It was a really amazing evening, and I wish I would have had my camera with me to take pictures, but nooo silly Johanna has to forget it, whenever she need it -.-

Well anyways, after the carneval there was only one day of school left until SPRING BREAK. One week off of school, and not really any plans.
So on Monday, Katrin came over to my house and we went to the Fashing Show Mall, with Mom, Nikki and Sierra. We shopped there for a while and then went back home. There Katrin and I went into the pool, and since it got pretty cold, went into the hpttub afterwards, where Nikki and Sierra joined us too. In the evening, we all watched a movie together, one was supposed to be really scay, but it wasn't that bad, and the other one was a romantic comedy. For sure, we didn't went to bed right afterwards, but we painted our nails, it was quite a mission :P but they looked pretty afterwards, so who cares :D
The next morning we for sure slept in, and then in the afternoon Leticia came over to my house, when Katrin was still there. Since the weather was really nice, we went again into the pool, and just kinda hang out. It was a lot of fun :)
So then on Wednesday I didn't do anything, but on Thursday, since two of my mom's friends came to see her in Vegas, we went to the Rio for one night. Lilia came with us as well as Sierra. We went to the pool, but it was kinda cold, and there were too many kids jumping and splashing with water, so we decided to go hang out in the hottub. At about 1 we left to go change, eat lunch and then go to the Nathan Burton Show. It was soo much fun, and we took pictures the whole time. If you get a possibility to go see Nathan Burton, go ahead and do it :D

So the next day we all went home, and for the rest of the weekend, I didn't do anything, execept relaxing, and for sure doing some homework, gosh I hate those!

So, I think you are all pretty much up to date then. I'll write soon again, or maybe a bit less soon, only time can tell :D

Prom

Hey guys :D

So, I guess I was supposed to write sooner about PROM, but since I'm kinda lazy it took me about 3 weeks, to finally write about it... I'm sorry, well not really, but you know what I mean.

Okay, now aout Prom:

On Saturday, April 9 I woke up, like it would be a regular Saturday, yeah I know, this is really interesting :P
But you are reading it so shussh :D
Around 2 in the afternoon, my mom started to do my hair and make up, she's amazing! It look so pretty. I absolutely loved my hair and the make-up was really nice too. I did my nails by myself, and everybody who know me, probably think it look horrible, but NO, it didn't. it actually looked really nice, but it took a long while to look like that, and I was REALLY proud of it.
Then around 4:30 my mom drove me to Juliane's house, who was just finishing to get ready. When she was all set with make up and jewellery her host mum drove us to the Olive Graden, where we met all the other girls and Bruno ^^

At olive Garden then we ate, kinda obvious^^, dinner. It was really good, and we had fun. But the coolest thing is to come:

After dinner, we were picke up by a LIMOUSINE! It was sooo cool, but for sure, before we left we all had to take pictures, since, at least I think so, it was the first time for all of us, to drive in a limo. Then we left Olive Graden and went straight to the "Welcome in Las Vegas"-Sign where we took some more pictures, it was soooo much fun.
As next thing on our list, we went to the actual Prom, but not before we got lost, and didn't know how do get to the Groove, the place where Prom actually was. Well in the end we found it and all went to dance. Honestly, it wasn't that great, most of the songs were for couples, so if you didn't have a date, like all of us girls, you couldn't really dance, but anyways. Half an hour before the dance officialy ended we started taking pictures.
And yes, we took an awful lot of picture that evening, but you shouldn't forget it's PROM.

Then we left in the limouusine, to go get to my house. We got lost again...(Gosh, that driver doesn't seem to know where he's supposed to drive to) but anyways, as you can all guess, we ended up savely at my house. There we just hang out for the rest of the evening. Sofia, who stayed for the night, and me even went into the hottub, and afterwards started to put the pictures on facebook until like 4 in the orning, well yeah :D

That was all I have to tell you about Prom, and I have to admit, I am kinda glad to have it written down now, so I have ine thing less to do....

LosAngeles

Hellouu there :D

So, after I returned from my trip at the east coast, I got to know my hostfamily better, and I have to admit, I love them! I really enjoy my time here, and somehow I wish I could stay a bit longer, than I actually do. Well, I can't :(

On the first weekend in April, YFU Las Vegas had a trip to Los Angeles, mostly organised by my dad. So this made it possible for me to go with them. It was awesome!

On Friday after school, we left Las Vegas for the 5 hour drive to LA. We were the first car of 3 to arrive there. When we were settled down in our rooms, we were looking for something to eat, but it was already past 9, so most of the restaurants were closed. But the nice man at the registrar gave us the menu of a delivery service that was still delivering. So we ordered food, mmhhhh, food *.*
The rest of the group arrived before our food arrived. They were all really nice, and I even met a girl who goes to the AKSA, and lives in Reinach. Well that was fun :D

So, on Saturday morning we got up and left the hotel at 8 am to go to the beach. It was windy and kind of cold, so nobody went swimming. But most of us got theur feet wet, since the waves unexpectedly jump on us, whil we were tajing a picture. I think they didn't like us too much :P
After the beach we went to a DODGERS baseball game. It was a lot more interesting to me, than the first one I saw, while in Norwich. There was not much more happening, and the Dodgers lost 0:10 but it was fun. We got unlimited food for free (it was included in the ticket^^) and we saw Nick Jonas. He was projected on to the big screen and then we went looking for him with binoculars and eventually found him all the way on the other side of the stadium. We saw him though :P
When the Dodgers lost (agains the Gians, btw), we left the stadium and made our way to the Walk of Fame. It sounds so glamorous and all, but it actually isn't. It's just and old, boring street with some Stars on the ground. But nevertheless it was really interesting to see and I had a lot of fun.
We got back to the hotel at aroun 8:30, so this time, there was enogh time to go get something to eat, with any problems. But most of us had leftovers from the evening before anyways.

On Sunday morning we checked out and left the hotel at 8:40 and not like planned at 8. Since the GPS we used, didn't really work the way it was supposed to, we neede almost the double of time to get where we wanted. We ended up not going there in the end, because we had to get to the Universal Studios in time, to avoid a long line.

The Universal Studios were awesome! The actual Studio Tour was really entertaining and afterwards we went to a coupke of rides and other shows, all about movies. One was about special effects and another was about the animals used in the movies. Even though I had a lot of fun, it was all very tiring, and when we left in the late afternoon I was almost glad about it. But before we went home, we actually went to that place, we didn't go in the morning. It was just a platform where from you could se the whole city of Los Angeles and also the Hollywood sign, everybody knows :D

After that we went on our way back to Las Vegas. It was a nice, long trip and we all, except Dad, slept. We arrived around midnight at home, and after I dank something I went straight to bed. Nevertheless I missed the bus the next morning.

The Capital...WASHINGTON DC

Hellooouuuuu :D

How are you all? Because I am absolutely great :D
I ahd an awesome day in Washington DC, but now I am tired and also kinda sad, because in a few hours we're all gonna leave to the airport.

We just had two days in Washington, and they went by way too fast. Yesterday, we arrived after a 5 hours drive from New York. We were all really exhausted, but we didn't get a break. As soon as we arrived, we went to the Capitol building, where we had a tour and we also went to see the library. After the Capitol tour, which was actually really boring, we went shortly to the Supreme Court, but only from the outside.
Since there were a lot of people looking for souvenirs, we went to a souvenir shop, where we even got 20% on everything, except food. Then we were headed fo dinner, at the Union Station, a really beautiful, and also old building. We got, like on the first, a voucher, so we didn't had to pay for it.

Time for Memorials! But the traffic was really bad, so it took us a while, and we had to cut off on of them. We went to the Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and at the end to the Korean War Memorial. It was really interesting, but also kinda sad to see all these names of people, who died in those two wars.
That was the end of our day, so we just went to the hotel, where we shortly checked in and then went to bed.

Next morning we got up early, and left soon after the breakfast. We went to the Arlington Cemetery. It is a HUGE!! cemetery outside of Washington with more than 300'000 burried military people. You probably saw that cemetery in movies before. We also watched the guard changing ceremony, which was performed in absolute accuracy and no mistake. It was pretty impressive. Then just before we left the cemetery, we went to John F. Kennedy's grave and the one of his two brothers.
We also went to see the Iwo Jima Memorial, where you have 6 soldiers pulling up a flag. You have seen that one before too, I guess.

For lunch we went to a building, of which I forgot the name. I just know that we had to go to security. and the my lunch was really good. But anyway, we went straight to the White House, after everybody was full. We went to just one side of the White House, the one where you can go closer to it. On that street, which is blocked for cars, is a protest, going on for 30 years. There was also, just today, a little kid with his father protesting about the Unchristianity the Obama brings to the USA and that homosexuality and abortion. It was actually rather said, because this kid was just about 9 or 10 years old, and he was yelling about all that stuff. I guess, he wasn't even aware, what exactly he was protesting against, but nevertheless he was doing it.

The next thing was the National Mall, the park around most of the Smithonian Museums in Washington DC. We had free time, to go to which ever museums we wanted. So we went to see the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights and as well the Natural History Museum, where they have hte Hope Diamond.

In this free time Fabiola and me somehow managed to get our grandparents and Mary Ellen to the National Mall, so we could meet with them. It wa soo AWESOME :DD
It was just so cool, to see my grandparents after 8 months again, and then also Mary Ellen, who I saw last, when I was 2 and a half years old... So it was like really really great!

Then the last dinner of that trip we had at the Hard Rock Café in Washigton, it was tasty and a lot of fun, but also sad, because it was the last dinner :'(
But anyways, after dinner we went to see the last two memorials, the World War 2 Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. They were also really nice, especially the World War 2, it is beautiful.

On the way back we had the last 2 national anthem, so we heard quite some during the trip, because every evening on the way back to the hotel, some people went in front and sung there national anthem. It was cool, and also interesting to hear all those different languages and songs.

Now we are all in some hotelrooms, waiting to leave. I don't think that there are a lot of people asleep, but there are surely some who fell asleep. We'll see who fell asleep and who not at 3 in the morning, when the first of 2 buses leaves.

If you want to see some pictures, just check out my facebook profile, I have them all on there.

New York.... NEW YORK :D

Hey there =)

First thing to say: New York is one of the most amazing cities ever! It is busy, full of tourist (at certain places) and a lot of fun!

So, from the beginning, or other said from Boston. In the morning of March the 16 we got up, and after breakfast we left to New York. After 5 hours in the bus, and a lunch break, we went through 5 different states and finally arrived in New York.

First, we drove a bit throughout the city, on the way to Central Park, where we had our first stop. We went off the bus and into Central Park, where we started walking through Straw Berry Field, the John Lennon Memorial, since it is just next to where he died. Then we walked a bit more and went to 5th Avenue, where this amazing Toy Store is, with a walk-on-piano. It was a lot of fun!
After 5th Ave, we went to dinner in a nice restaurant. We we're in a room with another EF tour group and it was way to noisy, but at least the food was really tasty :D

For the end of the day we went to TIMES SQUARE! The most amazing play, you can be in New York. M&M Store, Hard Rock Café, Hershey's Store, Disney Store and whole lot more! It was so much fun, but since we had a long day and I was really tired, I was actually glad to get back to the hotel.

Then on the 17., St. Patrick Days :D, we left the hotel at 9, to make our way to the city. We got off the bus near Walstreet. That means we walked to Walstreet (it's so boring to see, just a building, since you can no longer get in as tourist) and the Bull. A little bit further there was the World Trade Center Site. Today, it is just a construction scene, not really interesting. Close by though was a little church, with a lot of memorial stuff in there. This church, called the St. Paul's Chappel, was used as a place for all the workers to rest. They had hunderds of volunteers, helping the workers on the site. They gave them food, a bed and also phisical and psychological assitance.

After this we went to eat lunch. So said, we went to the Rockefeller Center, we got one hour and a half to eat lunch and also hang out at the St. Patricks Parade a bit. It was a really crazy place there, since all the people came out, dressed up in green and most of them were also drunk. It was loud and fun to see. The part of the parade I saw, was actually rather boring, mostly just cops walking and some marching bands. When lunch was over, we had a tour through the NBC studios. It was fun to see the studios and Fabiola and me even go a video, isn't that awesome!?

The next thing planned, was a visit of the Empire State Building. I really enjoyed being up there and to have a view over whole New York. But we already left after 20 minutes to go get to dinner.

Where? In Chinatown :D It was really tasty, and a lot of fun getting explained how to eat properly with chop sticks. For the end of the evening we had free time in China Town, Soho and Littler Italy, actually everywhere you wanted, as long as you were back at the meeting point at 9:15. Chinatown is a lot of fun, and you always get to bargain the chunk you're gooing to buy. You usually got it cheaper, especially when you said, you wouldn't buy it, if you're not getting it cheaper xD
So after this exhausting but fun day, we were all really happy to get back to the hotel, where we could finally go to bed.

The third and last day in New York was perfect. We had really nice weather and a lot of fun, even though everybody was extremely tired.

After breakfast, we immediately left to go to the ferry to go to the statue of liberty. We went onto the island, but not up the statue, because it is expensive, and there is a waiting list to go up to the crown of ca. 30 years... so well yeah. But it was still fun, and we took a lot of pictures. After about an hour on that island, we left to go to Ellis island, the actual place where a third of the nation stopped, and immigrated to the US. They had a nice museum but we didn't really had time to look at the whole exhibition...

From Ellis island we had a ferry right to lower Manhatten where we boarded the bus and went to 5th Avenue for the second time. A part of our group went also to the Grand Central Station, the train station out of Madagaskar. It is a beautiful building!

For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant, which had really good food. For the rest of the evening then, we had free time on Times Square, we bought some more souvenir and also got 15 seconds of fame:

When you buy something in the American Eagle on Times Square, then you could take a picture and they would project it on their huge billboard for about 15 seconds, for 2 or 3 times. It was a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we sadly have to leave New York, and also really early. But since we're moving on to Washington DC, it's all good. I'm really looking forward to go there and hopefully also see my grandparents there :D

Boston =)

Holaa :D

As you all should now, I'm in Boston now, and tomorrow we're already leaving for New York :DD
So yesterday, Monday, March 14th, in the morning I went to the airport, there I checked in, and my tracel to Boston began. It was a five hour flight to New Mark and then a connection flight of 37 to Boston. At the airport, my lovely twinsister was standing right behind the door so when I came out, I was almost thrown onto the floor... From the airport then, we went to QUNICY MARKET to eat dinner and shop a little. It was fun! Then at 9 in the evening we went to the hotel, where we were told with whom we have to share a room. Guess what, I'm in the same room as Fabiola :D and also with Ronja and Ulli. We soon went to bed, since we were all tired.

Today, Tuesday, March 15, we got up at 7:15 and went to breakfast. Then after breakfast it was time to board the bus and go into the city, where we met a tourist guide from Switzerland xD

We walked through the North End and then got into the bus again to drive around the city to see some more sight seeing attraction. Then we went to HARVARD!
The tourist guide told as some facts about Harvard, and then we were free to walk around in Harvard Square for about 2 hours. It was a lot of fun.
The next thing on our list was a short visit of the EF Office, where we met shortly with our representative and then also took a picture, it was actually not even that interesting :P
Then we went to the USS CONSTITUTION. This is a ship used in the Independence war, and unlike other ships, didn't burst, when they were hit by a canon bullet. Today it still is taken out on July 4.
After that short stop, we drove around in the bus for a little longer, seeing some more attraction, for example we stopped at the Battle of Bunker Hill Memorial and BOSTON COMMON, the oldest park in the US.


Around 5:30 we went to eat dinner at a pizza place. I was surprised on how they managed to place 50 people in the small room we had, but somehow they did it.
With a full stomach we went on to the rooftop. That means, we went to the Prudential Building, one of the highest building in Boston, if not even the highest on. There we had time to look around over the whole city and then go down and shop for a bit in the mall beneath the SKYWALK platform.

At 8:45 we went back to the hotel, where we're now just hanging out after a quite exhausting day =D
Tomorrow at 8:30 we're leaving here to go to NEW YORK :DD

Lots of news...

So in the last month there happend a lot, and i didn't really feel like writing about it all then, so it took my more than a month to make a new post... well here it is:

First of all I had to change hostfamilies, because it didn't work out anymore. On Thursday evening after I came home from the last Softball practice before tryouts, Julie came to pick me up. It was one of the worst moments during my whole exchange.
But then, the next two weeks I lived with Julie and her family.
One weeek after leaving at Lorena's house I finally got all my stuff back. So, I didn't had any of my things, except for a few t-shirts and the stuff I just packed for the weekend. So I didn't had anything for school either, but all the teachers were so understanding and I didn't had any problem at all. It was just annoying for me, but yeah, that's life as an exchange student.

On the first saturday I was living at Julie's house, there were the Softball Tryouts. I got up around 6:30 in the morning and Jonathan, Julie's son drove me to the school, what took about 30 minutes. It was freeying, raining and windy, nevertheless I had fun there. It was a good day for me too. After the Tryouts I went to Shelby's house, since there was no point to go all the way across town and then back around 1 to get the results.
At one Shelby and me went back to school, where all the other girls were too. Then they told us whether we were in the team or no. Unfortunately, I wasn't.
I miss Softball, because I had so much fun there, even though it was hard. But even though I hope I can go to some of the games, it would so much fun!

Living with Julie was awesome! I felt like home there and if it wouldn't have been for the school, I would have stayed there for the rest of the year. I just didn't want to change school for the last three months. So I had to start lookin for a new hostfamily. How i did that? I just ask all of my teachers, if they would know somebody. Mrs. Salb, my chemistry teacher then referred me to Dr. Aten, an astrology teacher at Centennial. He has hosted exchange students for several years, and they have some good contacts. So two days later on the career fair, his wife had a stand for exchange programs over summer, and they were also looking for more/new hostfamilies. So they decided they would ask around for a new hostfamily and there were quite a few people who said, they would talk to their families and think about it.
There was one, really nice family, but they weren't sure whether to take me or not. Last Wednesday then, when Julie picked me up after school, she told me that they would have found a family for me. At home then I started packing all my stuff. I thought I would have a lot, but referring to Julie and my new hostmum I don't. Well then xD
On Thursday then, Julie picked me up from school and we went directly to my new family! I was so ecited and also nervous, because I practicly didn't know anything about the family. So when I arrived there I first met my mom. She is from the Philippines and works as a cocktail waitress at one of the casinos. Then later my sister arrived, she's going to 8th grade, and also really nice. In the evening I got to know the third and last person of the family, dad. As I found out, they used to host for YFU, and they still organise some of the activities for the YFU students un Las Vegas. But from next year on, they will be doing that for EF.
So far I am really happy here, and I know, that the rest of my year here will be awesome!

So long good bye and read you soon (okay, you actually read me, well my blog, but anyway, you know what I mean)
Next week I'm going to the East Coast Tour, and hopefully keep you updated. If not, for sure when I'm back :D
and then I will also finally post some pictures again, since I'm gettin my new camera on Monday =)

Picture of the dog

This is our awesome, really cute dog!

Btw, did I mention, that I finally got my Unicycle? It's so freaking awesome, and I'm very glad, that I got it! It's still so much fun to ride it, even though it was more fun when I could go with Fabiola...

Semestertests and Softball

Hey you =)

So I finally found some time to make another post. The last one of South Dakota was supposed to be posted earlier, but as it looks like it didn't work, as I wanted it to work...

Since I haven't posted anything for quite a while, this one is going to be longer.. I may should post more, so the posts aren't that long, but anyway, here we go:

First of all, we got a dog! It is a one year old Lahsa Apso, named Kipu. He has way too much energy, but he is really really cute. We also have some troubles training him, he chewed on a library book for example (the book was actually about training a dog :P), and he has he likes marking around the house. So he is usually outside or unde the close look of Lorena.
School is still as boring as always, but since we had semester tests at the end of January these three weeks were all about preparing for the tests and school was pretty easy. Then the week of semestertests began. On Monday we had a free day, because of Marthin Luther King Memorial Day and then on Tuesday we had the first two of all the eight semestert tests. For me it was Algebra 2 and Mythology. After those two rather easy tests, I still had to go to 5th and 7th period, which were for that matter of fact shorter than usual. The next three days I had the remaining 6 tests. After two tests a day, we got out at 10:40, which was really nice.
On the last day of semestertests then, after school I stayed there with Selin, for her to withdrawal from Centennial so she can start the new semester at Moapa Valley High School. After 3 hours of waiting in the office it was finally done and I went home with Selin. We just hung out and enjoyed the last few hours we could spend toegether in Las Vegas.

On the next Monday the new semester started and we had a C-day. I like C-days because we only have around 30 minutes of each class. This makes it more interesting, and C-days are usually also pretty easy.

After school then I had Softball for the first time. There were around 50 girls, we had to run quite a bit, and also had some strageties told. Not that I would have unterstood them really well, since I didn't even know what Softball is, when I came to the US. (For all those of you, who do not know what it is, it is actually Baseball for girls, and with a bigger ball) But I continued going there and I started to understand what the coaches were talking about. By now I have a far better understanding of Softball, even though compared to the girls I'm playing with, I don't know anything. On Monday, the second week, they split all the girls into to groups, Varsity and JV. Since I am a Junior, I had to go to the Varsity group. This is the group which is usually better and has more experience than the JV team... The intermurals will continue through February 24, and on February 27 the tryouts will take place. Until then I have to do some more fundraising, this time wwe have to sell Candy. This is way easier than the cookie dough, since we can take it to school and sell it there between classes, sometimes even during class and also during lunch. It makes it a lot easier and the stundents are mostly up to buy something.

So I think that's it =) I try to keep you updated, but as you probably already saw, I don't really succeed in it all the time...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I will see Fabiola in 5 weeks and 2 days again =)

South Dakota 3

Heyho =)
My first Christmas in the US was finally here:
So on the morning of the 25th we got up rather early, at least for Fabiola... Well okay, for me too, but it wasn't as bad for me as it was for her. Then we went up and even had to wait, until Sandi and Bill got up. After they got up, Sandi suffed the Turkey, and we helped her. It was so much fun =)
While stuffing the turkey, Sandi started to talk on the phone to some relatives, so we had to wait even longer to open up the presents. But when Sandi, finallly, finished talking on the phone, we started to open the gifts. There were a lot of presents and everybody go a lot of stuff. Then after the present opening we were just hanging out, watching TV or playing games on the iPad.
Around 5 in the evening, we started to eat. It was si yummi, and my first stuffed Trukey =)
Then after eating we we're watching a bit TV and then played again "Apples to Apples". It was a fun night.
On the 26th, we went all the way to Pierre, the state capital. In the capitol there, they had a lot of christmas trees and one of them was from EF South Dakota, and they had a picture of the familiy Figg on it as well. After we saw the tree we went to eat lunch and then went to a museum in Pierre.
Before we went home we went to Walmart, even though we didn't need anything.
The last few days in Rutland weren't that spectacular. Fabiola and Mano had Basketball practice every day, so I stayed at home with Bill and Sandi. I went another time shopping with Bill, and Fabiola and me made Spätzli for dinner.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Tabea finally set up her webcam and sign up in Skype, so we could talk to her and see her after more than 5 months! It was awesome, especially because Gianna was online too, so we had a conference call with video. It was just perfect!
The last evening we went to Sioux Falls, to watch the light show in one of the malls. It was pretty cool. After the light show we went to Olive Garden for dinner.

The next morning, we got up at 8 in the morning, and made coffee. Bill told us the evening before, we would need to leave at 8:30. But he wasn't up then, so we went wake him up with a cup of coffee, and he told us then, we wouldn't have to leave before 10:00. Thanks for that :P
But we eventually left to Sioux Falls, were we went to eat breakfast at Denny's. They had the most horrible coffee! But anyway, after breakfast we unfortunately had to go to the airport. Saying Goodbye just never gets easier... =(

But hey, I will see Fabiola in March again, when we go to the Discovery Tour!

South Dakota 2

My third day being here:

Thanks to the blizzard, which eventually didn't even hit Rutland itsself, school wouldn't start until 10 in the morning. And since they only wrote Semester test, and Fabiola didn't had to write 2 of the 3 they had today, she didn't had to be at school before 2 p.m.... So we went with Bill to Madison, to the post office, and then to his work place, the Dakota State University. After getting the stuff done in his office, we went to have lunch and then Bill brought us to the school. I actually wanted to go home with Bill, because the Semester test would be really boring for me, but Fabiola wanted me to stay, so I went with her.
We were a bit too early, so we just hung out in the study hall. Then we went to the room, where they took the test, and they started right away. Luckily I could use Fabiola's school computer, and go on to facebook. It was still pretty boring.
After the loong school day^^ Fabiola and Mano had Basketball trainig.
It was interesting to see it once, but after 15 minutes it was enough for me... well the practice was 2 hours. I just lie there and watched them, almost falling asleep, but it was fun though.
The next day I stayed at home with Sandi and Bill, and since we needed some stuff I went shopping with Bill... quite an experience =)
Then the next day we just stayed at home...
In the evening of the 24th Jennifer and Chris, her husband, came over for dinner. Jen is Sandi's daughter. We ate ham for dinner, and then watched some videos. After that we started to play "Apples to Apples". We had a lot of fun, and oh yeah, almost forgot about that, we also opened some presents, well just the one from Jen and Chris but still. Then we went to bed.

South Dakota 1

Hey hey hey hey hey =)=)=)

As you may already know, I'm in South Dakota now =)
Yesterday morning I got up at 4:30 in the morning, finished packing and all that, and then my hostmum drove me to the airport. At the airport I went through the check-in and then waited until we could board....
When I was sitting in the plane I got really really excited, and when we finally departed I knew, that there is no way of not seeing my twin sister again, except if the plane would crash...

After a 2-hours-flight I arrived in Sioux Falls, and I couldn't wait to get out of the plane. But since I was in the back of the plane, I had to wait quite long to get out. I was so nervous when I walked out of the boarding area and I was so happy to hug her after 5 months!
Her family is so cool and I really, really like them! From the airport we went to IHOP, to eat breakfast. It was around noon by the way^^ It was tasty and I was full afterwards. Then we went to the mall in Sioux Falls to buy some christmas presents and other stuff. For dinner we went to the Texas Roadhouse. Since Fabiola and me had birthday the week ago, but I wasn't here, Bill told the waitress I would have birthday. After we finished dinner, I had to sit on a saddle and the whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday. It was kind of embarassing, but they all had fun. At least I got some free ice cream.
After this we went home, it took us about one hour to get to the house, there we just hang out, drank some coffee and then went to bed around midnight. I'm sharing the bed with Fabiola, and as you can imagine, we had to tell each other a lot... We ended up talking until 2 a.m....
The next morning we got up around 7, or later, depends on who exactly you're talking about, to get to school. The school bus drove into the driveway, so we only had to walk a few steps. As soon as I entered the school bus, the bus driver said: "Welcome to South Dakota, Johanna." It was really weird, since I never saw him before... But as I figured out later, it was just Fabiola who told him...

School was something different... The first class was algebra, there was a total of 10 people, including me. They just went over the homework and then had to do a practice test for the last few minutes of the class. Then after algebra we had environmental sience, where we just watched Avatar. The third class then was computer class, where we actually didn't do anything, except for eating some chocolate, and looking up Mano's and our house on Google Earth. The last class then was Study Hall, where you actually just have to do your homework, or hang out.
Lunch was totally different, we went down to the cafeteria, took our food and sat down to eat. There was enough space and you actually got something warm to eat without waiting half of your lunch time...

Now the coolest thing: There was a blizzard coming, so we got an early dissmiss from school and had free for the rest of the day. When we were home, we hung out at first and then went out to build a snowman and shovel the driveway. The snowman didn't really work out, because the snow wouldn't stick, so we just made a snowpile, with arms and a face =D
We went to bed earlier than the day before, which wasn't that stupid, especially because we were all really tired.

This post was corrected by Fabiola Bregenzer.
I'm the awesome twin sister and I'm just great. =)

Dance...

Hey everybody =)
Christmas break began today, and since it was the last day at school, there was an assembly. So all the classes were 10 or 15 minutes shorter, and at the end of the day we had the assembly. Doesn't really sound like a big deaL? Well it really doesn't if you're no performing there by yourself...

I am in the dance troop, and we had to perform, at the assembly, in front of the whole (ok, not the whole, but almost) school, in front of 2000 students!! That requires a lot of practice, so we had dance every day this week, as I told you before. It was really exhausting, and I got home late from school every day.

Today then was the big day:
I went to school like always. I could leave the first periode earlier, because all the exchange sutdents had a meeting to paint some christmas ornaments. It was fun!
Then I had drawing, were we watch the Simpsons and draw a little. After lunch I was getting nervous, but i still had 2 periodes to go...
Computer class was as boring as always, except that I was really nervous. Then my last class Chemistry was sort of fun. We coated cupper pennings with zinc, so they looked like they would be silver. Once they were silver we burned them, so the zinc would mix with the cupper and the penny looked golden then. Unfortunately I had to leave early, so I couldn't see the burning part of the lab.

We met in the girls' locker room and just got ready for the performance. As soon as I entered the locker room I wasn't nervous anymore. I felt really ready! We went into the gym and shortly just went through all the formation one last time. Then we went to sit down, since we we're like the 5th to perform. When the group before us was performing, we went to get ready for our dance. As we waited for our performance to begin, I was nervous again, really really really nervous!

Then we walked in and the dance began. The beginning was really good. But then, when my group was on, the music stuck several times and then jumped liek 8 beats, and we were totally messed up because of it... We probably looked like idiots. The second groups had no troubles with the music, but the third one had the same porblem, except that their music just stuck and didn't jump any parts... Well yeah, the closing was good again. So I don't feel all to bad about it.

Oh and by the way, it's only 38 hours and 50 minutes left until I finally see my twinsister again! =)

Birthday and other stuff

Heyah =)

Last Sunday was my birthday. I was really excited and at the same time sort of scared of my birthday. On one side I looked forward to it, just because it's my birthday, and on the other side I was afraid of getting homesick. It was my first birthday away from home, without my family.
But it turned out as a really good day. I got up in the morning to do some homework, well that wasn't a good part, but it saved me from staying up very late to do all my homework. Then before lunch Yolanda and Aspen came over, and we had pizza for lunch. After lunch we went to buy a christmas tree. It was really weird, when we went to buy the christmas tree it was 20°C and the sun was shining, so I went in a T-shirt. My first Birthday, I could walk around in a tee outside without freezing. It is a cool (well it was rather warm :P) experience and definitely diffrent from home.
At home then, we started to decorate the tree, we were done pretty fast and it just looks like a decirated christmas tree^^ (no shit, Sherlock)
After decorating the tree I played with Aspen, for quite a while. She had a lot of fun playing games she made up by herself, and which were pretty weird, and which use a lot of imagination. But it was fun though.
Lorena had bought some balloons, which were all over the living room. In the evening Juliane, Leticia and Rory came over. We had a blast, and ate a whole lot of stuff.
The cake we had, was made by Selin and me the day before. It was a recipe of Selin's mother and it was really, really tasty. Actually it IS tasty, there are still some leftovers =)

The Winter Assembly is going to be on Friday and we're going to perform there with the Dance Troop, that means I have Dance evry single day, so we can practice and improve our performance. It gets exhausting, but I think it is good, because I definitely need to do more sports. And when I have dance I usually walk home, so I walk at least 2 miles a day. I'm so proud of myself :P

Oh, and by the way, since winter breaks starts on Friday after school, there are only a few days left until I see my lovely twinsister again =D
And that's just awesome, and perfect and great and.... I'm so damn excited to see her again!!! =)It really is just awesome!

EF-Christmas Party

Heyho =)

Yesterday evening was the EF Christmas Party.
All the students had to bring a dish and a gift, suitable for boys and girls. First we just ate and talk to each other, and then we started the gift exchange game.
That game is a lot of fun. All the participants have to bring a gift, otherwise they can't play. Then the game starts. The first person can go and choose one of the presents. He opens it and shows it around, so everybody can see what he got. Then the second person can decide, if he/she wants to open another present or if he/she wants to steal the present already opened. There are only two rules, you cannot steal a gift back and when a gift has been stolen twice its dead, so the person who has it after the second one, keeps it, you can no longer steal it. When all the presents are opened, the person who began, can steal another present or keep the one he has.
The game is actually only fun, when people are stealing and not only opening a new one.

After the game, we continued talking for a bit and then we all went home. It was a fun evening and I really enjoyed it.

Still alive

Guess what!? I'm still alive after my root canal...
It wasn't the best experience ever, but it wasn't as bad as i thought either. I even could watch dvd during the treatment with awesome video glasses!
By now my tooth still hurts, but it's not as bad as before, and I have to take antibiotics... but I'm glad that it's done now, and it should get better now!

Blubber

Hey everybody =)
As you may all have seen, Selin didn't wrote another post, probably because she was too lazy or too busy (I tend to the first one :P). So I have a quick update for you.

Last Weekend on Saturday, Selin and I went (once again) to the Fashion Show Mall. We met up with Nils and Silvia, but they had to leave already after 1 hour. So most of the time it was only Selin and me. We were looking for some chirstmas presents, but I didn't find any... Selin was luckier though and found somethings.

Then in the evening we just hung out at the house. In the night a terrible tooth ache hit me, and I wasn't able to sleep until around 6 in the morning. Lorena gave me some pain killer and some Thieves, and I went back to sleep for some more, since I only slept for 4 hours. The pain killer did a good job, so I felt good enough to go to the cinema with Lorena and Selin. We went into the last show of "The social Network".
I didn't like the movie that much, it was kind of boring, but also interesting, because you learnt something about the history of facebook. Something almost everybody uses today.

The night to Monday was fine, and I decided to go to school. It was one normal boring day at school, like always. When we came back, the tooth ache began again, and I took some more painkillers. My hostmum told me then, that she already called the dentist. So today, I didn't go to school, I had too much pain and too less motivation to go there. The dentost called at 8, to make an appointement.

At 1 we were at the dentist and Ihad to fill out all these forms, so we could get started. Then I was called in and waited for about 10 min before the dentist showed up. After knocking on my tooth, what awfully hurt, he already knew, what's going on. The diagnosis: Root Canal =(
So tomorrow I have another appointement, at another dentist, to make the root canal treatment. And after that my tooth should stop hurting, until then I just take pain killers, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to do anything else but cry!

Today I'm going to call my dad, to tell him about this not at all exciting news. I think his not going to be too happy about it, but you cannot change it anyway...

You might hear from me tomorrow again, just to tell you how it went.

And at last, one thing my aunt taught me a while ago: Always see the positive things in a bad situation. So at least I don't have to go to school tomorrow =)

¨Thanksgiving and Black Friday =)

Hey there, so now it's Sunday evening and I'll take the time to write another post, isn't that nice of me?
Thanksgiving was cool, different than I imagined it, but still awesome. We got up in the morning around 10 and then just hang around in the house until Lorena took us to a All-you-can-eat Buffet, which is typical for Las Vegas. Like always at such a buffet, I ate too much. Then we went home and got ready for the dinner at Itzel's house. We left around 3:45, so we would be there at 4.... well we turned into the community on the left side, instead of the on the right side, we drove around for 10 minutes, before we actually figured out, that it was the wrong one. Itzel was already out and looking for us, so we didn't had to look for her house on the other side of the street as well, what saved some time!
When we finally arrived at Itzel's house, we were sitting there and just talking to Itzel, which was a lot of fun. Then we ate, there was a lot of different things to taste: Ham, chicken, appelsalad, normal salad, pasta and some more things. For the dessert, they had brownies and jelly, both made by Itzel, it was soo tasty! What a wonder, I ate too much the second time at that day^^

On friday was Black Friday, something they need to have in Switzerland as well. Selin and I got up around 8, so we wouldn't get there too late, then Jana Gronau arrived at our house around 9, and after half an hour we left for the Outlet Mall. There we met up with Kaori and Alina, two other exchange students. We walked through the whole mall, but didn't really find anything, well except in Tommy Hilfiger. So we decided we would go to the Fashion Show Mall, which was a pretty good idea.
At the Fashion Show Mall we went into a lot of stores, and had a lot of fun! But there was a missunderstanding with Kaori and Alina's hostmum, who was suppossed to bring us back home. But in the end we figured everything out, and we came home arounf 9:30 in the evening, so we had a 11 hour shopping day, we both were very tired after it...

Today then, Selin and I went around in the neighborhood to sell cookie dough, for the Softball team fundrasising, in which we're hoping to get in... But NOBODY wanted to buy anything, well at least the one who were at home, except for the last one. He said we should come back on Thursday, after pay-day, and he would buy some then... Well we weren't that succesful, but at least we tried it, and we're going again on Thursday, hopefully there more wanting to buy something then...
After this Lorena asked us, if we would like to go to the Fashionshow Mall (yeah again, but it's like the biggest and best mall in Las Vegas, and it's not on the other side of town, like Townsquare or Galleria...) to see the Christmas Show. Aspen and her mom were there too, what was actually the reason to go there. But we missed the 2-o'clock show, so we had to wait 2 hours for the next one. We were walking around in the mall, going into childrens store, because Aspen needs some longsleeve-dresses and shirts. It wasn't all to interesting for Selin and me, so we went to Starbucks, which was right next to one of the stores they were in. Waiting in the line, we met some swiss people and we started to talk to them. It was sooo awesom to speak swissgerman with people standing right next to you, and not only over the phone, or betters said skype.
Then after the two hours have passed, we went to see the Christmas-Show, which was on the catwalk, which is only up for shows. It was interesting and it gave me sort of a christmas feeling, what I haven't really had and already lost again after the show. But I enjoyed the show and was glad I went there with Lorena and Selin!
By the way, you don't really get into the Christmas-mood, when there is still sunshine and it's around 15° C outside... It makes me miss Switzerland!

So that's it for today... oh you also going to have a post from Selin, or at least you should^^
Johanna

Selin's post =)

Holaaaaaaaaaaa :)
sooo... now... i have to write something.. i think u know, that i am living in the moment with JOHANNA :D the best swiss girl ever :D i know nothing is better than being german :D but i am soooo nice and say nothing against it :D JUST KIDDING :)
i love it to live with her :) it is everyday sooo funny, because we have much or less very much fun during being on the computer :D or laughing about EST******.. he is a strange boy from our school :D and what he wrote was very very crazy and nooot good :D
johanna is awesome and a great hostsister :)
she is sooo nice that she went with me to the mall because of seeing nils(my boyfriend) at saturday.. normally that meeting was not important for her and a little bit boring.. but she came with me.. and like next friday(black friday).. i hope it will be awesome.. i dont think so that i have to explain what the BLACK friday is because johanna did it already :) awesome isn"t it :P We will have lots of fun.. i HOPE :D but i am sure :D when we are together everybody knows for sure that it will be very funny :)

I know.. nobody knows what moapa is :D moapa is the best small village ever :D
u have there a loong street :D with some houses but they are far away from each other :D so at the beginning it is for everyone a culture shock :D but after a time :D U LOVE IT.. like me :D i love it there because u have so much fun there and it is normally never boring when u have the possibilty for hanging out with friends ;P
there are the best people :D with johannaaaaa haha :D
i am so nice i know :D just kiddingb :D

I <3 Moapa :D i think everyone has to visit moapa ;P

sooooooo ;D i am so exited because of thankgiving our first and last.. for the next time hehe :D
we will have so much fun tomo and friday :)
if i have the possibilty to write at sunday after JOHANNA.. i will do it :)

greetings from the german girl :)

JOHAANNA i love uuu :**

seeelin :)