My first month

Hi there! I know it's been a while since I've updated my blog, but I have a good reason for that: I've just been too busy to sit down and write a long blog post. The main reason for that is school, because all the new experiences (and the amount of homework!) are really tiring. In this post I want to tell you about what's going on in my life and what kind of things I did lately!

I'm starting to get used to going to school here, and I still like my subjects a lot. It gets easier to understand everything that's been said and I've met some nice new people! A hard thing about the American school system is that I have the same classes every day. So I can't procrastinate anymore, because homework is mostly due the next day. And we get a grade for all the homework we do! In this way I'm forced to make it.

Football game!

Last Friday I went to my first official football game! My high school played against one of their big rivals. Here in the USA football games are a very big deal, so a huge amount of people came to support the Eastside Eagles! We were all dressed in white clothes and had white paint on our faces, because that was the theme color. Some people even threw baby powder in the crowd! Everyone was cheering, clapping and screaming the whole time. The football game lasted really long and I still don't understand the rules, but it was a lot of fun! The night before the game there was a big bonfire at school, which was nice as well. I love how people here support their school and are really passionate about watching sport teams play.

My room here! With, of course, the Dutch flag with sweet messages from my friends!

Even though I'm having a great time here, I also experience homesickness! I think (almost) every exchange student is homesick sometimes. What I miss the most are the 'normal' things from home, that I always took for granted. For example my bicycle, because here I always have to ask for a ride. And I miss talking Dutch with my family and friends. Another thing is the food, like the Dutch cheese. This may sound weird, but American cheese tastes a lot different! Oh and 'Pepernoten'! I know it's not even autumn yet, but they are probably already in the stores and I would love to have some of them right now!
Something really cool is that my host mom found 'Stroopwafels' in an American store called 'Trader joe's'!! Here they are called 'Dutch Caramel Bites'. So if your Dutch as well you know where to go now :)

Let me introduce you to Duffy! She is my host family's dog and she's adorable. 

A fun thing I did here was hiking in the mountains! I live really close to the mountains here which is so nice, because in the Netherlands there are no mountains at all. We had such a beautiful view when we arrived at the top! I've also lasergamed for the first time, which was awesome! And another thing I've done is riding gokarts.
With my host family I visited downtown Greenville where we saw a marriage proposal right in front of us! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. The family of the bride and groom held up signs saying 'Will you marry me' and of course she said yes!

So, that were some things going in on my life right now. If you have any specific questions for me, leave a comment and I'll answer them in a separate blog post. On September 5th it's been a month since I left, which feels so unreal! I've already learned and experienced a lot. And even though it's hard sometimes, I'm glad to be here and have the opportunity to live with an amazing host family!