My thanksgiving break just ended (sadly enough), and I'm back to school and tests. It was nice to have a few days off because apparently American schools don't really like holidays. ;) I've only had 5 days off school so far. 2 days for fall break and 3 days for thanksgiving break. I had a great time together with my host family! It was awesome to celebrate thanksgiving for the very first time. This blogpost will be all about what I did during thanksgiving break.
For the ones who don't know what thanksgiving is: it's the fourth Thursday in november, when people give thanks for all kinds of things in their life. It originates in the 17th century: native Americans had helped Pilgrims with their harvest and they held a big feast to celebrate that, the first Thanksgiving day.
After writing a blogpost about A day in my American life, I thought it would be fun to write about a typical week here as well! I won't tell much about specific classes but I'll mostly tell the activities I did after school. I'm not going to start on Monday but on Friday, since I want to write about my weekend as well. My week was filled with a retreat, exchange student meeting, lacrosse practice, birthday and much more! Hope you enjoy reading. :)
Hi there!
Just a short post to let you know that the second video of the EF Student Video Crew is online! This one is all about the Welcome Days. It brings up some really good memories since I loved my time there. Please let me know if you have anything you'd like me to film during my year here. Enjoy watching!
It's november already and I can't really believe it. I've been here for over three months now and it's crazy to think about that. I've done a lot of fun things but during the week I also just go to school and do homework. Last weekend was Halloween and it was awesome! In the Netherlands Halloween isn't a big thing, and no one goes trick-or-treating. But here in the USA it's an important time! Lots of houses are decorated and all the kids go trick-or-treating. Even though I'm not a kid anymore I still went trick-or-treating with Julia, a German exchange student.
As most of you know, I'm a member of the EF Student Video Crew! If you don't know what this is: the crew consists of 31 EF Students who make all kinds of videos about their exchange year. We send all our footage to EF and their editors make professional videos out of it.
If you want to read more about it and how I became a member, click here to read my blogpost all about this.
The reason for this post, is that our first video is out! This video is all about the preparations, saying goodbye to our family and friends and leaving our home countries. On the website The Exchange Life our new videos will be posted, which will be every month. And there are also a lot of videos on the website that EF already made, so check it out if you're interested in an exchange year yourself!
Last weekend was a really exciting one for me, because it was homecoming weekend! For the ones who don't know what this is: it's an annual tradition in the United States to welcome back alumni of a school. It includes a lot of activities, like an homecoming football game and homecoming dance. It shouldn't be confused with prom, since homecoming is mostly in fall and prom in spring. I went to both the game and the dance, and I had a lot of fun! In this blogpost I'll show you some pictures and tell about my experience.
The great group of girls I went to the homecoming dance with!
In this blogpost I want to describe a typical day in my life here. I usually write a lot about special or fun things I do, but I realized that I haven't talked yet about a normal school day. An exchange year is not only fun, because I have to do homework and take tests as well.
7:30 - Rise and Shine! This is the time I usually wake up. I'm glad that my school doesn't start really early, since I need all the sleep I can get. Being an exchange student is really tiring, especially speaking another language all day. I notice that when I'm tired, I often confuse Dutch and English. The result of this is that I accidentally speak Dutch to my American friends.
Two weeks ago it was finally time for the first holiday of my year here: fall break! I'm used to having a fall break of one whole week, but in the USA you only get 2 days off school. Luckily there's a weekend right after that so we had 4 days without school. And we spent those days in the best possible way: by visiting Disneyworld in Florida! It was my first time there and I absolutely loved it. This blogpost will be all about our trip.
Last week was a really important week for Eastside High School, because it was Spirit Week! For the ones who don't know what this is: it's a week where the school raises money for a good cause. All week there are a lot of activities and things to buy. Every day has a different theme in which the students have to dress up. The week ends with a big football game and the reveal of the amount of money raised. It was my first and last Spirit Week ever, and I loved it! It's awesome to see how much the students are involved in organizing events and supporting the school. Of course I participated in some events myself! This blogpost will be all about that.
The Junior Girls team during Powderpuff, together with the boys who coached us.
Hi everyone! Here's an update with some things I did lately. My life here in the USA is starting to feel more and more 'normal'. It's been 47 days since I left the Netherlands, and everything doesn't feel new anymore. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy it though! I'm still happy with my choice and I love living in the United States :)
With the other exchange students
A week ago, my exchange organization EF organized a picnic for all the exchange students in the region. The picnic was at the Greenville Zoo which is pretty close to my house. In Greenville itself are 3 exchange students with EF. Many of the other exchange students came from the states Georgia, North Carolina and some came from other places in South Carolina. I'd met a few of them already, but it was great to meet the other ones as well! Every family had taken something to eat with them. Together with the exchange students and an IEC we talked about our first weeks here, adapting to a new school and homesickness. I feel like the beginning of an exchange year is the hardest, because you don't know anyone yet. You have to make friends and adapt to a new life. During my year, there will be more activities with our 'exchange group', so that will be nice!
