Homesick for another kinda home..

It's Thursday night.. 15th of December.. just over 4 days have gone by since getting home
It's been really difficult re-adjusting back to my old life, in all honesty.. much less exciting than what was going on back in Ohio. It was an amazing experience and time in my life :) sad to think that's all over with :/ miss my friends and family so much :( Depression much..
At the end of the day, i got more than i ever expected from this whole "going to America for a year" thing.
I feel like a very changed person now, i can look at all the things i've been looking at all my life but differently after being so far away from it for over 11months.
I'm not kidding,
This was all so worth it!!
Thank you for all the love and support, i think that's what helped me get through it all the most.. support from both homes, New Zealand and Ohio :) <3
Since Julia, i know you'll be reading this..
i love you stalker!! ;D x

FML!!

Cassi and Julia spent the night in Warren with me for the last sleepover for the last time.. maybe the most well behaved we've ever been haha, we were very mature that night :) Julia gave me my Christmas present, i'm just happy i fit the tiny shirt she bought me!! We all went out to dinner that night.. quite entertaining actually :P

Cassi and Julia had school the next morning, we had stayed up most of the night literally just talking and crying.. yeah there's skype, there's facebook and email.. but i'm still leaving and no one knows for sure what's next as much as i remind everyone that i'll be back some day.. how do we know it's truly gonna happen.. Cassi and Julia certainly don't believe it but all we can do is trust that it's true. Even I didn't expect all the life long friendships i gained by being here!!
I walked with Julia and Cassi into the high school.. again :P (omg i didn't think i'd be doing that again!!) It was nice seeing everyone again, i know nobody expected me to be there lol :) Just saying goodbye to Cassi... omg it's so tough, what are you supposed to say to someone at a time like that? See you on skype in another country?? :P I don't know..
It will never be the same without you two..

Skyped my little sisters for the last time before seeing
them at the airport 11th december :D They found a baby chicken and thought they'd be funny by added the chicken flavored noodles to the pic ;)
It's all very scary!! I'll actually be home :O I don't believe it yet.. not till I'm in that airport :) :)

New York & my American Xmas with Mum;D

Julia and I decided that with only a few hours left we might as well stay up all night to make sure we'd be up and ready at 4:30am to leave Warren/Niles to go into Cleveland to pick my Mum up from the airport.. it had been going so well up until I began to fall asleep during the end of our movie: Paulie.. haha yesss that movie is a total cutie ;) After much hitting and pushing.. Julia finally let me crash for the 2 hours left before having to get up to leave for the drive to Cleveland. Probably the worse choice to make.. sleeping for such a short time, made me feel like absolute crap. It still hadn't hit me that'd i'd actually be seeing Mum again, been so long without her.. you just kinda get used to living with her so far away, just a totally new adaption to my everyday life!!

Our first photo after 11 months apart!!

Waiting at the airport at 6:15am with Julia.. we just sat in the middle of the almost empty airport pointing out all the people who could possibly be my Mum, so when Julia said to me.. "Isn't that your Mom".. I kinda ignored it, "Nooo," i told her :P "No seriously Amanda.. that's your Mom right?!?".. "hahaha, ahh noo?" and then my "Mum" was waving as she was waiting on one of those escalators, "Ohhh ****, that is her i think"
I was so confused and mixed up, seeing her felt so strange.. but we hugged and i couldn't help but just cry, she'd gone all this way to in a way.. "pick me up and take me home", it'd been so long.. i couldn't believe she was actually finally standing there right in front of me!! She was convinced that i'd got shorter but then i could say the same about her.. midget :P ahaha!!!
Sheila took us all out to Sugar and falls :) an adorable lil' place to relax and eat out.. Just like Mum had hoped.. it had started snowing the moment we drove into Cleveland to pick her up, so yesss she did indeed bring the snow with her :) lol

The New York trip took around 8/9 hours.. omg i hated the drive there, we were leaving Ohio at 11:30pm which meant we really had to sleep as much as we could before reaching New York in the early morning... so when we visited this really old Church Julia and I sat down and tried sleeping for a bit (everybody assumed we were "really" praying!!) But it was just a good time to take a break :) hahaha!! We got so much done in New York, and in all honesty.. i hadn't really been looking forward to, but having gone there.. yeah, i had a good time :) such a crazy and amazing place to see!!

We had an early Christmas celebration with my host family and Mum. It was a nice night :) :) Good family bonding time.. and even with Julia convinced she was driving back to her Dad's that night.. clearly she was in "my bubble zone" as she left that next morning for school ;)

Thanksgiving break

Julia and I with "Santa" asking for a white pony.. or was it
actually a horse :p

School was off for the last half of the week which meant i got to see Julia :) i don't see her much now that i'm off school and in Warren/Niles like 40minutes away.. I spent thanksgiving day with Rons family, a traditional american holiday i was more than happy to experience. There was so much food and many people asking me about my stay over here in Ohio. Julia felt so sorry for me (and so she should have hahaha) i'm asked the same questions over and over by everyone.. so when Julia meets another exchange student she promised me she would be creative and ask them if they've meet a purple cow yet? or something off the wall like that :p

The Grandparents farm in Pennsylvania :)

I spent the weekend in Pennsylvania with Ron, Sheila, Brent and the grandparents.. i slept most of the 6 hours we spent driving in the car which was nice :) I love Sheila's parents home.. I went horse riding for the very first time which was pretty exciting :D and 4 wheeling took me back home :p almost literally..

My Mum leaves New Zealand in literally just a few hours, i still cannot believe i'll get to see her again.. and actually in person this time. It's been almost 11months since the last time we were together. Early Wednesday morning i'll be seeing her, FINAAAAALLY! I've missed her so much.

My last week of school

If there was one week out of this whole year i was most bothered about.. it defiantly would be picked as this one. I spent the whole week at Julia's dads, who by the way makes the most amazing tasting dinners ever :)
I love her dog Sadie, she's so sweet and adorable!! And ohmygosh, i had my first winter snowfall on Thursday night :p I got so excited, Cassi and Julia were just laughing at me over that :) but they understood that for me.. it was a big deal, we just don't get it like they do in Middlefield ;) Well Cassi, who was in flipflops and practically summer clothes ran through the street with me in the falling snow.. we had fun :)
Gahh, it was such a hectic week, only Julia will fully understand what i mean by this :p hahahaha you freaking boyracer ;)
The school week went by quickly, and for once during this whole year with the closer friends i made here, i broke down crying.. not because they called me a hoe (HAAAA...) but because it was then that it really hit me how hard this all was. Finishing school meant i was closing an old chapter in my life...school. That's it for me. No more high school, and then practically all those people i met at Cardinal i most likely would never see in person again. I know i'm really happy here, the homesickness is only kicking in because i know i'll be home to all the things i've missed soon and i'm thinking about that all right now.
I can honestly say that i met people who really inspired and changed my life from Cardinal. I can guarantee most of the students will think i'm totally b.s-ing right now hahaha!! YOU LIFE CHANGERS ;) ;)
Well, can finally say i lived through high school, got that all over and done with.. about flipping time too :p
Yahh i'm sad about the end of it.. but i think i'm just looking forward to moving onto the bigger and better things after school :) Thanks you guys at Cardinal, i've loved being apart of your school (even if you don't care so much for the place :D haha)

My host Mom and Dad made a big deal about having a leaving party before my mum arriving, so they organized to take us all out to cosmic bowling which was pretty sweet, i really did have an awesome time.. they put so much time and effort into it. I love you both, all you've done for me.. i'm so thankful :)
Because of where i'm living now out in Warren/Niles.. i couldn't have all the people i wanted to, to be there. At least it still went along and everything went well!! Sheila was so sweet, making a video of my time here in America and having it played on the big screens at the bowling alley. It was a good end to a long and stressful week!!

The peeps :) Thank you for everything guys!!

My sister and I, my most favorite person in this whole world <3
feel loved.. dawg hahaha ;p

One final month.

It's November.. still don't believe it ;P School has become a very busy part in my life for now.. not as easy as i'd hoped for the last month here but i'm sure i'll get through it just fine!!
I went trick-or-treating (HALLOWEEN!!!) on Monday in Warren where i am now living. Julia dressed up as a Scottish Pirate and I, a French Maid Pharmacist ;) We chose to take along our pink famous scooters.. "Ohhh we know these girls!! we see em' go pass around here with those scooters!!" omg hahaha i'm sure the whole neighbourhood would assume we were 12 or something ridiculous like that ;p because we definitely fit that category!!
For my first proper Halloween trick-or-treating experience.. i had a great time. It went for about 2 hours and even though it was absolutely freezing cold and just finished raining.. we still made it a worthwhile time.
Half the candy we got was so foreign to me!! and lucky for me.. any recess peanut butter chocolate.. i can just give Julia.. even though i know she'd be proud to see me eat it all on my own.. it is peanut butter IN chocolate!!! there is no way i'm eating something like that ;P i think it's horrible no matter how much the rest of them like it hahaha!!

The Fall

ROAD TRIPS in Julia's car ;D It was a beautiful sunny after school day. Cassi, Julia and I drove around Middlefield, and maybe for the first time I noticed the fall weather. It's so pretty outside now, the leaves have all changed colours of reds/oranges/yellows and browns. It's my new favorite

season :) Cassi was getting upset in the car, just some of the songs that were coming on reminded us all how short the rest of my time here is... Cassi and her tears..of course <3

Julia and I took photos in the leaves this afternoon after school. Laying in the leaves she asks me to help her out (I am her 'magical Godly rope' sent from God, hahahaa!!!) I love this photo >>> like a lot of things.."THIS IS SO US!!" :)  (I know Julia will see this.. so, yo!! I LOVE YOU 'pork-pie')


'YOU'RE THE APPLE TO MY PIE,
YOU'RE THE STRAW TO MY BERRY
YOU'RE THE SMOKE TO MY HIGH 
CALEB&ELI ARE AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES...' - our lil' song :) :)

And so then this last weekend, Sheila&Ron took Julia and I to this Halloween costume shop, they had such awesome things to try on there ;)

We found a JB wig!! Planned on
dressing up as 'Justin Bieber'
for Halloween ;)

Here I am as a monk.. haha yesss, A MONK!! and Julia.. she's
supposed to be a witch or something..