I'm HOME!!!

So I'm home now! YAY~ I had a nice flight with Riley to LA and it was an ok flight back home.
I'm so excited, I hope I get to see everyone soon!

Mansfield weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first weekend in march was a long weekend because on the monday was labor day so we had the day off of school! That weekend was a VERY busy but fun weekend! On the friday after school i went over to my friend Serena's house. Later Kara and Aj came over, the 4 of us were suppose to meet more people at the towns rodeo, but it was Raining Buckets! NO JOKE! that we didnt go to the rodeo, but instead played video games and hung out at her house for the night. So i spent the night there with them, and then the next morning i was picked up and went strait to mansfield. There were 2 of the exchange students who were having a combine birthday party. It was for Lara from france, and Anabel from Germany. I believe the final count was 16 there, so sadly not everyone showed up but most did, and we got to meet our 2 newest members to our 'family.' our last Brazilians left us Mid Jan, and the two new ones came so it'll be fun. Well that weekend we were suppose to be sleeping out in tents, and really what happened it was like 8 of us in the small one, and 8 in the big one. didnt make sense, but whatever. Anyways it Poured so much and thundered it was insane, we had to sleep inside. But luckily it was fine weather for the satuday when the pool party was planned. So that was fun, and we were swimming all day and good portion of the night. Plus we were dancing by the pool, We learned a bunch of brazilian dances, and between everyone we showed each others countries dances and such. Sooo many laughs out of that it was insane! On the sunday, the plans to climb up mount buller fell through because of the weather, but instead we hung out at the house, and then went to the park after it cleared up, and it ended up being a really hot day. After that we went swimming.... of course(we did basically anytime we could.) Then later that night we went to the movies and saw Alice in Wonderland 3D. Itw as fun going, didnt exactly love the movie, it was okayyy. but anyways. We got back and as you can guess we went swimming. :) Then on monday morning we just hung out and had fun, but pepole were leaving throughout the day, so nothing was really planned. But it was still raining that day. Over that weekend there were 70 + mls of rain. There was actually a tornadoe in Shepparton (which is close-ish to where i normally am, but i wasn't there during the tornado. BUt there were huge winds of 157+kms and it tore up a bunch of houses, trees, parking lots, lots of things were destroyed, but no one got hurt luckily. Well overall was A LOT of fun!

Swimming Sports

On the 18th of February at my school we had the school swimming sports. At the sports each student has been put into a house. And I've been asked so many times like in harry potter?!?! yes in a way, we get put into a house and the four are green,yellow,blue and red. We don't have names like in harry potter, some schools do, or anything else, but we have colours. During the swimming sports, we go down to the kyabram pool, and everyone is dressed up pretty crazy in they're house's coulors. All my friends and i painted ourselves in our colours and 5 showers later i stil have green on me. It was completley worth it though. During the day they have different races going on. I participated in the 50metre breast stroke and the boat races. I came 1st in the breast stroke, and in the baot races you work as a team of 8. You have 4 guys and 4 girls on a team. One person's in the boat, and the other's behind it and pushing it. Each pair paddles 25 metres. As a team we technically came 4th, however since one of the other teams were disqualified we ended up coming 3rd. Which worked well since the 3rd ribbon is green, and we were the green team! This day was a lot of fun! and quite warm! Wish we did this back in NY!

2 Birthday parties, and footy game - 1 weekend

This past weekend has been pretty busy. It was lots of fun though. On Saturday morning/early afternoon, i managed to keep myself busy skyping with my family, and some friends, and getting ready for the night. Around 5 i went over to my friend Kara's house. Our other friend Serena was already there and we just were waiting out our other friend Aj. After she came we got ready for the parties, and then went to the Kyabram Club for the first birthday party. It was for our friend Ebony who had flown down to visit her dad, from Queensland. That was lots of fun, but then the time came and we went to our other friends party. Kara's mum drove the 4 of us to Scott's house for his birthday. Was very loud, is basically how i can sum it up. We had fun though. After his party, the 4 of us went back to Kara's house for the night. We got about 6 hours of sleep that night, and then i was going to Melbourne afterwords. When i got picked up, we stopped back at the house to get some stuff to bring with us, and then we went to Melbourne. Had lunch, and then a Starbucks. then went to the footy! it was sooo much fun! except sadly Geelong lost, but they didn't play they're greatest. they really only had 1 quarter where they were they're full potential, but they also have had the shortest time between seasons since they won the grand final. The team they played against (north Melbourne) had lots of time between the seasons, and were a lot more prepared for this game. After the game we came back home, got home around 10, watched house for a bit. and then around 12 i finally got to bed. I'm still very tired and during school today i kept falling asleep.

Dookie Weekend

On the 13th of feb we had a dookie day which was for the rebounds and inbounds. It was more for the rebounds to get back to see everyone and such, but all of us inbounds came and we talked more about our rock to reef trip. Which is by the way in less than 6 weeks! It was a great day, sadly it wasn't an overnight one, but we did get to see the exchange students we had met back in our home countries. Sicne it was mostly for rebounds all the inbouunds we got to hang out and just talk most of the time. and truthfully all we ever want to do is just talk and hang out.

First weekend of Feb

The first weekend of feb was beyond amazing! i was able to skype with my family so that was a lot of fun. I helped zoe out on an audition piece she needed to prepare. Later on saturday i had some friends come over and stay. there were 3 from school, and we had lots of fun fun playing board games. After dinner, it was about 7:30-8 we were going to go swimming but we decided instead we'd play tennis and then swim. Since we were in our bathers we got a TON of bug bites. The next few days we were all itching so badly, afterwards we swam for a bit. it was a fun night

The First week of feb

So feb has been flying by, and yes i know its the shortest month of the year, but still its just a bit insane.I started school on the first of feb, which was good. seeing everyone again. The part of waking up isn't so fun, but i guess i'm slowly getting into the swing of it. On the 2nd of Feb, i went to my first dance lesson here, which was fun! missed dancing a lot so i was glad to get to do that. I had rotary, and my first rehearsal for the school production. I'm just a singer, but i dance in parts of it, but i wanted a very small part because i will be gone for so many practices.

I know its long, but its the entire month of January in one!

This past month i have been extremely busy with numerous things. Starting with moving families. I'm currently living at my 3rd families house.

It's about 13kms out of town, and the nearest neighbors are more than a kilometer in each direction. It's pretty isolated but it's been good. I moved on the 30th, and then over new years eve we went to Melbourne for the big celebration that goes on down there. The First weekend of the month my family hosted a party and they said i could invite a friend over. I had a friend from school come and spend the night; which was lots of fun! Later that week i had one of my friends who's from Sweden stay over for a few nights. After that i went up to Albury (which is about 3+ hours away but by bus it took 4.) My friend Celia was going back to Brazil and i wasn't going to be able to make it to her going away party, so i went up to say goodbye to her. While we were there we caught up with a bunch of other exchange students. We made pancakes,watched movies and for some reason we walked 30 mins in 40 ºC which is 104 ºF, weather for frozen cokes at McDonalds. However when we got there the machine was broken and so the entire walk was pointless, but we had a great walk and now have a story to tell from it. I was up there for 2 nights, and then i came home by bus. The following day My host family and i were heading up to Cabarita for a week!
Cabarita is a town thats a bit below the Queensland border. It was about a 20 min drive from it, but it felt just as if we were in Queensland. The drive up there was 18 hours each way. It took us two days, and the long day was extremely painful but completely worth it! We stayed at this nice resort, that was in a way isolated so it felt like that was an entire world, but it was also close enough that you could walk to the main street in town. It's not a very big resort, and everyone that comes has a time share so they come from friday to friday. The place felt like a friendly, welcoming enviroment where everyone just had a great time. For kids they had a game room, and being such a family place it was extremely easy to make friends. I made friends with a bunch of kids, from all over Australia and we sorta made a group. During the day we'd do whatever it is with our families we did but after dinner we'd always meet up and swim, play mini golf or play in the game room. That was so much fun, we all became great friends. The last day we were there, most families stayed at the resort, since they were slowly packing up and getting ready to go home the next morning. It was an extremely hot day that thursday, and the humidity was so high! We had previously gotten each others numbers and that morning we texted each other saying we should meet up in the game room! We played cards, pool, and any other game you can imagine all day. I spent over 7 hours in that game room that day. Then at night we had our annual swim, however it was a bit sad since we all had to say bye then, and would never see each other again.
With the family, we kept ourselves pretty busy. We took a drive to visit some friends of theirs and had lunch out there, which was really nice. We also went to dreamworld, went into tweeds head, and pretty much hung out around the town or the resort. It was a really relaxing fun place, so we did spend quite a bit of time just at the resort. We didnt go to the beach to much, but i did see my first surfer! It was a very exciting moment!!!
When we got back from Cabarita, i had one night and then i had to go stay with a Rotarian in Kyabram because my family had a wedding to attend and i needed to stay home to attend a Rotary breakfast. I spent a bit of time catching up with some friends i haven't seen in weeks. Which was really nice, both sunday and monday i did. It was finally tuesday the 26th of January. This is Australia day, and the Rotary Club of Kyabram hosts the annual "Australia day Breakfast." Being the exchange student i was there bright and early at 7am. I wasn't exactly awake but i was enough that i could manage to help serve breakfast and carry on a decent conversation.
Later that day my host family came home, and i spent rest of Australia day with them. The next two days i kept myself doing my summer homework. I had lots of it to do, but i managed to get most of it done in time. Sadly to say the last weekend of holidays had came, and we were going to Melbourne for a birthday party, and a meeting my host mum and sister had to attend. On Saturday, my host father and i went out shopping, but i went out looking for a birthday present. When i was walking around Melbourne i ran into two other exchange students, so then i went shopping with them.
The day we got back i went directly to my friends birthday party. I went to bethany and shinara's birthday and they are identical twins that i still have so much trouble telling which ones which. I feel bad but hopefully by the end of my time here i can get it strait. The birthday party was lots of fun, and i spent hours trying to find them a present but they seemed to have really liked it so thats good.
Today was the first day of school for me. I'm in year 11, and taking VCE courses. It's definitly a lot harder than 10th grade, but it seemed closer to my regular pace in America. It wasn't fun waking up at 7am, but it was great to see everyone again! To get to the bus stop i must ride my bike 2.5kms. It definitly feels like a lot more than that, and feels as if the road just keeps going on and on, but i guess i'll be getting some good excersize done with this. Thats pretty much the only bonus.
I know i say this every letter but i still cannot believe its February. It's going by so fast! The dead line with the travel agency for the date home is the 15th! So soon! i remember last year at this time i was just starting orientations, and now i'm already confirming flights home. The flight i was given before i left america to come home is the 17th of June, and i do believe i'm keeping that flight. My friend who's also in my district here in Australia, is also from America, and traveled with Bookoff-Kaplan, and has worked it so her flight is the 17th too. So we'll be flying home together! Which will make that long trip just a little bit better, also i wont look so weird being at the airport in tears, if theres 2 of us, its not so bad. I hope all is well, everythings great here! Loving every moment, and hopefully time will slow down and i can actually have some time to breath and catch up with more people. Till next time.

Cabarita Beach

Sorry this is so late but i didnt have internet when i was up at Cabarita besides my phone, and i've been busy since.

Thursday the 14th of January we left to start driving up to Cabarita. It took 18 hours, 2 days, and it was a long painful drive, but it was completely worth it. When we got up there we had so much fun! We stayed at this resort that i grew to love! It was a place that was still a beach town, and didnt have all the high rise hotels and buildings all over. It was a family place, where you could just go out and cook on the barbie and then eat our on the balcony. I made this goal to make one friend when i was there, since it was one of those places where you make friends and go hang out with them in the day or night. They had this game room where all the kids hung out and you basically could just go join and doesnt matter who you were. People started recognising each other and by the end of the week pretty much all the kids recognized each other, if not knew each other. I had a group of friends that we sorta just formed. Every night after dinner the same group of kids went to the pool, and in the end we all became friends. We all started talking and then one night we all hung out, played mini golf. (which let me add, playing mini golf in the dark with no lights is EXTREMELY hard!) but it was loads of fun! (oh forgot to mention the resort had a mini golf course there.) The group i was with were kids from 12-16. The 12 year old hung out with us because he was brothers with the 16year old. But it was Cameron, Luke, Cassey, Claree, Abby, Courtney, Lauren and Me. Claree, Abby, and Courtney were staying together, Cameron, Luke and Cassey were staying together, and Lauren is Cameron and Cassey's cousin, but they were staying together. Between them they had 3 rooms, and they happen to all get put right next to each other. on the floor there was one more room, which would have been fun if we were in it, but it was a bad location. we basically had the best location for a room. no Joke! There are 4 buildings at the resort each one having 12 rooms. We were in the main building, that had the game room, kids room, and our balcony looked out onto the pool. There were a few distinct groups there, one was the younger one of kids from 8-12. and there were us. There were others, but they don't matter in this story right now. haha. well we didn't really associate with them all that much. The game room was great, because it was easy to make friends there. They had a pool table, and ping pong, and foose ball. So you could just ask someone wanna play? and then you get talking and meet people. I meet everyone except Cameron at the pool though.
During the day all the kids spend it with their family and do whatever they do, and well we went and visited friends of the Symons who live about an hour from where we stayed. We went to Dreamworld which is an amusement park, We went to tweeds head, i have photos of me standing at the Queensland / New south whales border, and we just did whatever we felt like doing. However one of my favourite days was the one we spent at the resort. it was the last day everyone spent it there, and basically I spent it in the game room playing cards, and different games with my friends, and hanging with the family up in our unit. It was a ball. The whole trip was great! and i was actually a bit sad leaving. i was thinking if that week was that great and i was sad to leave there, it'll be SOOO hard to leave in June! i can already feel it. Just yesterday, i was talking to Rhonda and she was saying how in a little while i should start thinking about sea mailing a box home. Time's flying by soo fast! I start school next week! Crazy!

Albury

Yesterday i got back from going to Albury to visit my friend Celia. She's from Brazil and is going home before i get back from my trip so it was my last time seeing here. We had a great time! but not much sleep at all! The first night we meet up with another exchange student Heather. Then the following morning, the 3 of us plus Jordin, and Sven meet up. WE had a great day, didnt do too much because it was too hot. but we did take a 30 min walk to McDonalds for Frozen Cokes and then the machine was broken!!!! We were so mad, it was 109.4 degrees with HUGE winds,, that were extremely hot. and we walked in that for 30 mins each way, and what we wanted we couldn't get. we were t mad. but we had fun. That night i went with celia to her rotary meeting, where Jordin was there too since he's the outbound from that club. That was alright and a bit fun, but afterwards the three of us went to the movies, which was a lot of fun too. Overall the few days were great! we kept ourselves quite busy!

New Years Eve in Melb!

This past new years eve i was in melb with the symons. We went to the whole shibang thing at fedsquare! it was so much fun! it wasn't as crazy and wild as last years times square one. but it was very wet! it rained buckets! however i was still in shorts and a tshirt!