Graduation, and saying goodbye!

Saturday may 29th already. The day of graduation. Graduation is a day many teenagers have been waiting for and others never thought they would ever experience. The ceremony was very long. First they had the presentation of the colors, then the national anthem, followed by the pledge of allegiance and tree speakers. After about an hour and 15 min it was finally our turn to go up on stage. We were organized in alphabetical order, and by the time they were doing the I's I already wanted it to be over. With a graduating class of 470 students they hit a new record for the school.

After the ceremony i went to my friends graduation party, her whole family and some close friends were there. We had a lot of fun singing karaoke eating and talking and taking pictures. Sunday I went to a gaduation lunch before i went home to start my packing.

Monday we went to the airport to see Renan leave. The time have gone

by so fast and tomorrow it's my turn to leave already. The rest of the day I spent with my friends. We made scrapbooks so we can look at all the silly and funny things we did together also when we are apart. Two of my closest friends Carolina and Adan left out of town that day so it was the last day i had with them. For any little thing we would cry because we knew that we wouldn't see each other in a long time. Carolinas mom and sister even called her, and said that they were crying because I'm leaving and I had only met them twice before.

On Tuesday I went to the movies one last time with some friends before I leave. We saw Shrek in 3D. It was pretty cool and my first 3D movie. To day I spent the day trying to finish packing before I went to the mall with my friend Maria. I bought a lot of stuff so I had to repack and take some stuff out of my suitcases.

Tomorrow is the day I leave and I still can't believe it. It feels so unreal. Many people ask me "do you want to go home already?" and I always answer "Yes and no. Yes because I miss my family my friends my house and everything else. No because when i leave im gonna miss my family, my friends and everything here". Sometimes I ask my self why would i do this to my self. It's just a whole lot of missing, but then I remember all the fun I've had and it really is worth it.

Party in the USA

May 24th was the day i turned 18! I really can't believe I'm an adult yet :o I still feel like a child not really ready to grow up. I had been asking my friends for a long time what we should do for my birthday, but we never came up with anything but my host parents said that we would have a little BQQ at the house, because it was my host grandfathers birthday too.

When I got to school the the day of my birthday my friends told me "We already know what we are going to do so you cant say no! and we already talked to your hostmom and she said it was okay." They told me they would take me to the mall and give me money to go shopping. I think that was really nice!. After our little shopping trip we were going to go eat out. They wanted me to call my hostbrother Renan and ask if he wanted to go too. I told them no because he probably wouldn't want to go. They ended up calling him and said we were almost there and he had to go with us. When we drove down the street i noticed that there were a lot of cars parked in front of my house. When i opened the door all of my "Texas family" and many of my friends were there "surprise!". Wow I did not expect that at all! It was very nice of them. Definitely a birthday I will always remember.

PROM

And then it was spring and time for PROM something I believe all teenage girls are very exited for, and with it comes a lot of preparation.

1. Find the perfect dress- Well I already had a dress that I had only worn once in Norway it was a nice dress and since no one here had seen it before I decided not to waste money on a new dress. I asked my parents to bring it when they came down and they did.

#1 check

2. Get the nails done- Tuesday before prom me and my two 0f my best friends here went to a nails salon and got our hands and feet polished.

#2 check

3. Get the flowers- Here in America you buy your date flowers that matches the girls dress. The guy wears his on the tux- jacket and the girl wears hers around the wrist. My hot mom was so nice as to order mine for me.

# check

4.Hair and make-up- My friends aunt is a dermatologist or something like that so she agreed to do our hair and make-up, and of course we had to test try it first so we did that on Tursday.

#4 check

I was all ready for prom. When the day finally arrived we had a few problems:

1. My hostparents weren't home so they couldn't take me to my friends house where I was going to get my hair and make-up done

2. My friends truck was stolen so they could not pick me up either.

3. When my hostparents finally came home and were ready to take me we were just going to stop by the bank so i could get some money out. My card decided to stop working (and it hasn't been working since)

My date who was also my neighbor came driving down the street in his truck followed by his younger brother and his two sisters. We took pictures and then it was time to leave. We went to my friends house and took some more pictures there (some of the guys found it a little embarrassing as her whole family including two sisters, one brother, her parents, three of her aunts and 5 of her cousins were there to judge them). And then..

4. When we were ready to go me AND my hostbrother remebered that we had forgotten our tickets at home, so we had to go back home and get them.

5. My dates friend who we were going to follow to the actual location had gotten the wrong flowers for his date so he had to go back to the flower shop and get the right ones.

When we after some problems on our way got to the ball room we had a lot of fun talking, dancing and taking pictures.

My date doesn't go the same school as me, so I went to his prom the week after. I was afraid that it was going to be weard because I didn't know a lot of people there, but it was actually not at all. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet many new people.

Track & Field

Two weeks ago we had District for Track and Field which is the most important meet of the year. As usual I ran the 400 and 800m runs. I was very nervous, it was going to be my last meet in Texas and my coach expected me to do well. I ran the 400 first and PRd (personal record) by 6 seconds! I was so happy, 6 seconds is a lot! Then I was going to run the 800. I gave it my very best and used every trick my coach had taught me. It really payed of! I PRd by 20 seconds! I could not believe it! It was definitely my best meet.

I'm done running now, but I try to run a little on my spare time to stay in shape. Track really gave me more muscles than I have ever had before. I really hope I will continue to run when I come home. I didn't get fat as an exchange students as many others. I learned to like sports and got in shape.

Friday march 26 my family came from Norway to visit me here in Texas. My American family and I went to San Antonio to pick them up at the airport there. It was so good to see them again after 8 months. I even shed tear of happiness. I had missed just to have them around me in my daily life. Finally I had them all to my self for 10 days.

We went to Austin that Saturday. We saw the capital which btw the only state capital bigger than the National capital Washington DC. We also went to see the Texas Longhorns football stadium. After Austin we went to Gruene, the worlds cutes little town. In the evening we went to the River Walk in San Antonio. On Sunday we went back to the River Walk and got on one of the little tour boat. After that we went to the Alamo, and then we headed back home.

I had to go to school the week they were here, but we still got to do many things together.They went to see me in a track meet, we went to the outlets and in the beginning of the weekend we spent at the beach. Easter Sunday we had a big easter party with humonguos amounts of food an egg hunt and a piñata.

On Monday I took the day of from school to say goodbye. It was harder than I had thought to see them leave again, but at least this time I knew that I was going to see them again in less than 2 months.

Crazy week

This week has been crazy! My host dad told me and my Brazilian brother to go to our counselor first thing in the morning, and we did. Our counselor told us to go wait in the office for the principal. Our awesome principal told us to come in to the conference room where 10 other students where waiting. “We are up for an award and I want all of you to help represent the school” she said. If we win our District gets a lot of money. Our district is 1 of 5 school in all of Texas that are chosen. First we were going to have a power point presentation and then a tour around the school.
We practiced our presentation over and over.

Later that Monday a solider came to visit the school. We had a project called “project Christmas cards”. Many of the students wrote Christmas cards and they were sent to American soldiers in Afghanistan. The solider that came to visit us was one of the ones that received the cards. We greeted him in the auditorium. The band played and the cheerleaders cheered. After that a small group of students got to come to the library and ask him questions and eat cake. He had many interesting things to tell. Chanel 5 was there too, and I actually came out on TV. Wow I'm famous :p!

Tuesday and Wednesday we practiced more. And when they came on Thursday we were fully prepared. We were really spirited and bragged as much as we could about the school. We did a good job, when they announce the winner on May 2nd I really hope we are the winners !

On Thursday I also had my first track meet. It was so much fun. I ran 400m and 800m. I was very nervous before I ran. I was afraid that I was going to be last and way behind everyone else because this is the first year I'm in track. I did ok, for a first timer. At least I wasn't last.

On Friday the principal got me out of class again, this time we went on the buss. We went to get measured for a letterman jacket. The jackets are in your school color and has the first letter of your school it. You can get your name and patches on it. The patches are for the sports or clubs you are in. These jackets are worth $200. You get them if you have been in a club or in varsity (the a team) in a sport for 2 years. I'm only here for one year, but my principle wanted me to have one, so she is going to pay for it!

After practice on Friday we went to Mercedes to a cook of. It is only about 20 min away, but still we went in the RV and spent the night over there. My host dad was awake all night an put the first meat in the bbq pit at 4 am. He cooked chicken, brisket, fajitas, beans and ribs. It all tasted so goooood! I ate and ate all day! We didn't win any prices, but it was a fun experience and a lot of good food!

There was a little competition for children too. It costed $35 and they gave the kids two pork chops a little bbq pit and an apron. My hostsisters joined. Also in the picture are my hostsisters friends who came with us.

Finally an up date

I have been real bad at writing, and a lot of things has happened since last time. We had Christmas break an new years it was Nice to see how they celebrate the holly days in another country. What i noticed was that it's not as formal as in Norway. Some of our guests even came in warm ups. For me Christmas is all about traditions but they didn't have very many here. They invited a lot of people over for Christmas eve and my host dad made a real good meal.

In the break i also went to San Antonio on s field trip to see the lion king musical. I was so good and i was really impressed about the creative costumes and the actors were really good too!

Today i had my last basketball practice and to morrow is my last game! I cannot believe that the season is over already. I have had so much fun and i have learned a lot. I'm very grateful to all my coaches and team mates for being patient with me and teaching me everything I know about basketball.

Today was also the varsity team's last home game and parent night. They presented all the varsity players with their parents. At the end they said "we would also like to recognize another young lady for her dedication to basketball, an exchange student Linn Boldevin from Norway. I didn't know anythig about it. They also gave me a poster with my picture on it. I Think it was very Nice of them.