tirsdag den 26. maj 2009

May 27th

Hey everyone!

Sorry I'm being so lazy with updating. Life is just crazy now that I only have less than 5 weeks left until I am back in Copenhagen.

So I had my final Chinese exam on Wednesday; which went just fine, not because it was easy actually, but because I studied my characters well. I am very proud of myself actually. I only forgot how to write 2 character (homework) and that was it. Other than that, I am pretty sure I dominated that exam. 
On the other hand, since it was my only exam, I didn't have to stress about studying for a million different classes. Just one.

Friday, after the last exams - sciences (Physics for freshmen, Chemistry for sophomores and Biology for juniors - excluding the one that took AP Chemistry and AP Biology/ people that are crazy smart), we took off for THE LAKE. 
Shelby had invited a group of girls to her Grandparent's lakehouse in North Carolina, to celebrate her 16th birthday. It was an absolutely awesome weekend. We had soooooo much fun. Great time. Great times. And the house is so big and so pretty! They even had a boat! Maaaaaan it was fabulous.
We had yummy food, went kayaking, swam in the lake, hung on the dock, went tubing, saw eagles and their nest, ate a lot of flavor ice, had dance parties at night, decorated t-shirts and just enjoyed each other's company. 



Tubing. Shelby, me and Anna G (who's about to fall off)

Everyone! Maddie, Maria, Katie, Baggy (Shelby's grandma), Shelby, me, Anna G 
2nd row: Claire, Peyton, Hayley & Anna W

Girls chilling on the dock

Hayley!

Shelbs! 

Shelby, Peyton and Hayley eating flavor ice.. O, How I love them.

I ate blue flavor ice.

pretty sight from their dock

the house. yes, it was big!

The "pretty kayak" (Maria, Shelby, Anna W and me)

to get down to the dock. so so so so so nice and pretty!

The view. YAY North Carolina!


and their boat, of course.


It was a fabulous weekend that i thoroughly enjoyed with my amazing girls!

Marina came back from her Costa Rica trip, and is now working at the Westminster summer camp.
Carolina just found a job, tonight, at a mexican restaurant, as a waitress.
Agnes' mom is coming from Spain on monday. That's what's going on.

I'm just trying to enjoy my last few weeks. It's crazy to think about saying goodbye. Bahh, not yet. 4 loooooooooooong and beautiful weeks. Right? I can't realize it's going to end. It makes me so indescribably sad !!!!! :(  It just seems like such a short amount of time. 

Oh well, as I already said;
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

I hope y'all are great.

søndag den 17. maj 2009

May 18th

Sorry it's been so long since my last update!
Well I don't think it has been that long, but all the events makes it feel like its been  forever..
I'm not even sure I remember all of them.

One thing I do remember; school is out. 
Friday was our last day. It's so weird.
This week is exam-week though, so it isn't completely over YET. I only have one exam - my Chinese exam on Wednesday. I think I'm gonna try to go most days though. I love Westminster too much to waste that precious time at home, sleeping.
The thing is that classes are over, and THAT is sad. I liked it a lot!
We got our yearbooks on Thursday at school, for freeeeee - yay Westminster crazy expensive tuition! I got mine signed by several people. And I've looked through it; there a a bunch of pictures of me. WIN!

And then there were a gazillion senior events. Well, three actually.
Thursday was Seniors Honor's Night - where they recognized some seniors that have some kind of outstanding talent or did really well in a class or just do a lot for the school/society and so on.
Then there was a little buffet-dance-chill thing, followed by "the senior video". The senior video is a tradition here at Westminster (maybe at other schools too, I'm not sure)  where the parents (I think?) put together an hour long video with pictures, music, videos and all that stuff with the gradutating grade. It was fun for me to watch, although only seniors were invited to watch it, because it somehow also summarized my year here in many ways.
Friday, after school, was Baccalaureate. Basically they just had speeches, prayers, songs by the emsemble and chorale accompanied by the orchestra and other fun stuff like that.

Saturday was Graduation. Quite a lot went wrong that day..
First of all, the school had spent 60,000 $ (yes, they actually did) on setting up bleachers and a million chairs for the big event, OUTSIDE (because Westminster is so pretty). But of course, Friday night, the weather was crappy, and it looked like it would be pourring rain all day Saturday. BUT, you never know, there was still time for it to clear up.
Anyways; the whole ceremony thing was supposed to start at 9 am, so Agnes and I left the house at 8.30. Halfway there/ after 2 minutes of driving, we saw that the little road was packed with cars. I was wondering how many people could possibly be attending graduation (we were still 2 minutes away from the entrance, and trust me, it takes at least another 2 minutes from the entrance to the parking lot. The campus is HUGE).  Just as we slowed down, someone in a car going the opposite way rolled down the car window and informed us on the situation: there was a bomb threat, police on campus, and the whole ceremony was to start at 11 am in stead.
So we went back home, and I slept for another hour and a half.
"The bomb" turned out to be a box with some ceramics stuff a kid left on campus. Way to go.
Finally, when we arrived, we saw a huge crowd of people walking from Pressly patio - where it was originally supposed to be, to Turner Gym. We immediatly understood that it was going to rain, and so it would all be held in the gym to prevent us all from getting soaked. Great, huh?
Once inside, the Brigmans (Glenn's family) got me one of their 8 passes (every graduating senior gets 8 passes for their family or such to sit down at the graduation. Other people, without passes, have to find somewhere else to stand, where they usually can't see anything), and so I sat with Katherine, Glenn's younger sister who is in my grade, and some other kids from my grade with graduating siblings.
The guy who did the speech, Tom Moak, pointed out in his speech, what his friend had said earlier that day, and I think it's worth putting it in here. I thought it was great. "Well, at least now we can say our graduation was the bomb!" Ha ha ha ha ha. I thought it was hilarious. 

So there they were, in their funny gowns, being called up to recieve their diploma and a bible. It took forever, but it was fun to watch. I took a few pictures. I'll post them ASAP!

Since Saturday was Marina's 22nd birhtday, Agnes, she and I went to a Korean bathhouse in Gwinnett - 30-40 minutes from Atlanta. At least I think so.. I'm not too sure, since I slept all the way there and back.
Carolina was at the beach with some friends for the weekend, and Steve was somewhere else with his Republican buddies, talking crazy talk ;)
It was very nice and relaxing! Saunas, warm an cold pools, scrubbing, other saunas, korean food, relaxing.. Yumm. Perfect! Some great family time.

At night I went to spend the night at Torrey's house. She's one of my good friends from my grade.

Then today, Marina went off to Costa Rica for 9 days! SO jealous.
Oh well, Atlanta's cool too.
6 weeks.. I can't figure out how I feel about all of that.

We had our pre-return orientation the previous weekend. We went to Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech, a university here in Atlanta.
We talked a lot about reverse-culture shock, saying goodbye, taking advantage of our time here, and so on.
Afterwards, we went for a long walk on their campus, until we got to "The Varsity". The Varsity is a fast-food kind of place that is really popular here in Atlanta. The food was okay, but saying goodbye was weird. It was our last AFS- get together. Some of there are going home earlier because of exams, so maybe I won't get to see them again..
These people have been my best friends this year. They were the ones with the same emotions, that went through this same experience as me. With me. 
We have such a special bond. Especially because there are only 11 of us.

Well.. I read a quote by Dr. Seuss saying "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"
I just have to remember that. Because hey, it is true!

I think I've written enough for now.
I'll post the pictures from graduation and our AFS P.R.O. soon
andddddd yeah. uhm, wish me luck on my Chinese exam on Wednesday! (Although studying might help me more than luck..)

I hope y'all are well!

fredag den 8. maj 2009

May 8th

Videos requested by Philippe:

- Goofing around

- Chinese interview. SUBTITLES NOW WORK!!!
when you watch the video, click on the pointy thing
in the bottom right corner, then on the "cc" icon.
Then you'll have the English translation! Yay
(they might already be on .. so make sure you're
not actually turning them off)


I'll update more later.


søndag den 3. maj 2009

May 3rd

Okay, pictures. Finally, yes.

From Texas
On a walk

Coloring at the restaurant

pretty Victorian house

Harley Davidson

this used to be a jail

Steve and Agnes!

Downtown Dallas

Steve and Agnes, downtown Dallas

JFK was shot from the square window, up top

goofballs! Agnes and Cindy - Steve's sister

Me, Alice, Mary, Jennifer and Steve

Downtown Dallas

Southfork Ranch - from the TV show "Dallas"

more ranch

Southfork Ranch

There's a tornado here, so I'm gonna finish this later.
It's super scary actually.
We might even go to the basement.. 
I just wanted to finish this before it got too bad, and the we loose the power (it has happened quite a few times)

Okay bye!