Family in Greenville & the play!

First picture together after more than 7 months! 

On March 21st the day I'd been waiting for finally arrived: my parents and sister came to visit me in my American town, Greenville. I was really excited to finally show them my school, house, friends and host family. They had heard all my stories but they never really knew what it was like, and I'm so happy they could experience it too!

Hugs and tears! 

The last day at school before my parents and sister came was the longest day ever, haha. They landed at the airport and drove to my school immediately, where my classes had just finished. The moment they drove onto the parking lot and came out of their car was awesome! Of course I cried because I was so happy to see them again. The first thing I though was: 'They're so tall!'. Americans are generally smaller than Dutch people so I had to get used to their height ;-)

I had play rehearsal that day so I just decided to take them with me. In that way they could meet a lot of my friends and see how an American play works. I also took them on a tour through the school and showed them the gym, classrooms, hallways and lockers. They liked seeing an American school!
After that we went to a soccer game since one of my host sisters was playing. At night we ate together with my host family!

The American lockers

On the second day of their visit I decided not to go to school (don't tell anyone, haha) because I wanted to spend the day with my family. South Carolina has a lot of beautiful nature so we decided to go hiking. We saw some pretty views and had lunch together. After that I had to go to play rehearsal (again) because our play would be on the next day! My parents happened to be here the week of the play so I was excited for them to see it. :)

Hiking in beautiful South Carolina!

When I came home from play rehearsal at about 6:30 my parents and sister were working hard in the kitchen. You might not know this, but my parents own a restaurant together. So they couldn't leave South Carolina without cooking at least once! They made a huge meal for my host family and family friends, it was delicious.

My own parents and my host parents

On Wednesday we had our first play performance! We actually performed twice that day. In the morning for middle school kids and in the evening for high school kids and all our friends & families. The morning show was more of a practice show so it was great to do our play once with all the costumes and music. My part as fairy was really fun!

We were great fairies ;-)

Love all these awesome people!

In between the two shows I took my parents downtown. Downtown Greenville is (as I've written before) a beautiful place. We had some ice cream, did some shopping, had lunch and walked around in Falls Park. They all loved it! It was so weird to talk Dutch again for the whole day, and also to have my parents around after not seeing them for so many months.

Jumping in Falls Park!

My sweet dad <3 

On Thursday, their last full day in Greenville, I did go to school. That's because I took my sister to school with me for 1 day! I had asked permission to bring her to my classes and luckily it was okay :) In this way she could experience an American high school and meet my teachers and friends. It was a pretty boring day at school but we had fun together. She helped me with my math and sang along in my chorus class. After this day we performed the play for a very last time! This time my family came to watch as well (they've seen it too many times). It was sad for me to perform it for the last time, because I loved being a part of the play and meeting new people. I'm happy I auditioned since it was an awesome experience. I still miss going to play practice every day!

Right after our last performance

A low quality picture of all the fairies! 

This was all that happened during their time in Greenville. But they didn't go home after that, because we went to California together! In my next blogpost I will tell you all about our trip.

If you're an exchange student too, has your family visited you yet?