Homecoming

Homecoming was September 23rd :) had such an awesome time!! The homecoming game before it was almost just as good. Cardinal huskies won.. just as well ;) haha!! Oh and Julia got to go to the game ;D yay! CASSI, JULIA & I went with the 'oreo dress theme' Black&white!!! smart :P Our friendship bracelets went along with the same theme too :) :) I had started to get the cold everybody else at school and i'm pretty sure all around Ohio was getting just before homecoming night!! >>>Just my luck.

We had a long night at the football game which i know wouldn't have helped, but having a good time at the dance made me forget about how sick I was.. so actually it all turned out well :)

Dedicated to Julia :) 

October 9th >> Happy Birthday Suzanne <3 i love you!!

Dear Alison & Daniel Morris!!! hahahahaha ARTWORK :D

♥

4th week of school.. still got 12 more before it's all over with, there's still time and a bunch more stuff all planned out way before then!!
Went zip-lining end of August during the long weekend that included fair weekend and labor day. Zip-lining was very awesome, had a lot more fun than i had actually expected to have. I'd definitely do it again, our guides Dan&Dan were pretty sweet!! hahaha, they were tryna teach us all about.. 'trees' ;P My experience there reminded me of the movie, 'yellow brick road' especially when we were driven on what appeared to be a golf cart up through the forestry area. After around 3 full hours zip-lining having a good time.. we stayed in a castle over night. yesss, literally a castle hidden away.. we had to drive through a bit of Nashville state to get there which was cool ;D

The bathroom in our hotel was pretty sweet looking,
cannot forget to mention the tiled floor that you could
adjust the heat temperature for :)

Went to the football game!!!

With Cassi I had the chance to go to one of the very
first football games, I HAD A BLAST!!! so much fun. Only thing missing.. was Julia, so wished she could have been there with us, but we all know Julia.. an extremely dedicated lil' worker :) For my first ever American football game, i was impressed. Really looking forward to the homecoming game this friday!!! Julia will be there :)

Julia and i went to THE FAIR, sadly Cassi wasn't with us :/ we had a really awesome time though, ate so much fair food and finally got to try a fried snicker bar.. didn't like it all that much. The fried cheese stick still wins for me as the best fair food to get :) I brought a hotdog.. Julia was trying to be sweet and give me a hug for paying for her fudge and knocked the hotdog out of my hand. We went back to the lady who sold it to us and happily (well i think it was done happily hahaha) gave us another hotdog.. to make up for the lil' incident with Julia Goshhhh hahaha!!!

So there was this car stuck in the parking lot.. which btw.. was in the middle of a field
and Julia and i decided to video these group of guys get it unstuck.. we just thought it was funny that the owners of the car all sat inside the vehicle while these young guys  tried to get it out, getting all gross and muddy.

The fair looked so amazing from the Ferris heel ride Julia took me on. I'm pretty sure
that was the first Ferris ride i'd ever been on. It reminded me of the movie: 'The Notebook'
:)

3 more months ;/

My Mum called me the beginning of this week to tell me that the tickets were booked for my flight going back home to New Zealand and for her visit to Ohio.
On Wednesday 30th November, my Mum arrives in Cleveland airport at 6:15am, she will have the chance to meet all my family and friends here and see where i've been growing up for the past year :) I leave with my Mum Friday 9th December 4.45pm, arriving in Wellington Sunday 11th December at 1pm. I got kinda emotional and upset, just hearing from my Mum that she really was going to see me here in December, i miss her so much and can't believe how much i've got through without her being right there next to me. I got thinking a lot about home, leaving the family and friends i made here and the thought of actually being back to where it all began!! For me, it was hard to hear all of this.. i'd been waiting so long to find out the date i'd be leaving America with my Mum, i actually wasn't sure if she really would be visiting after all the drama we'd gone through to be allowed to make separate flights from the EF program. Just happened to be the first day of school the next day..

So I wore my church looking outfit while Julia had her.. hmm how should i put it ;) well mature looking outfit haha. First week of school went pretty well. I was informed that first day of school is ALWAYS a very big deal. I've got government, american studies and economics all in the same semester so yeah, i'm not too excited about that.

If anything, right now.. i'm really missing home. I love what i have hear but it's the hardest thing in the world to be away from where you belong. As wonderful as this american life is, i know it's not forever, it's not permanent and it's not where i'm supposed to stay. I just can't wait to be with everyone again.
i love you guys :') xox
Me and Alison's song :')

haha, we wore matching boots, our new pj pants and "THESE AWESOME SHIRTS!! ;D" (julia.. with the new zealand one, of course!) WOOT WOOT!!! 

'Summaaahh is ovaaaaah' (summer is over.)

Gross, school starts back tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd August) I have my schedule for my classes which will clearly need to be changed.. there's no way i'll be taking some of the boring subjects already chosen in my schedule. Summer break has been very eventful, if there's one time that i can seriously say changed the person i am today i would blame this American summer break on it all!!! I've been able to travel new places, meet more new people, become emotionally attached to the friends i've made here, and have a better cultural understanding of where i am :) I really truly do believe that the best memories made here were during summer, i'm lucky..
THIS IS WHERE IT ALL CHANGED (:

Julia & I made a heart shape <3 

The homesickness deal is different now, i've been so far away from my family and friends back home that in a way.. i'm sort of used to it. Everyday is something new so it's not like i'm going to be spending my day thinking about them and what they must be up to. It's just a normal feeling now, not having them around. My friends back home all had their school ball this last weekend.. everybody looked so beautiful :) and it's what made me really begin to miss them again, just another reminder of what i left behind when deciding to live in another country for a year.

I miss you guys xox
it's not the same without'cha

Canada

 August 8th: Julia, her co-worker Laura and I made the 3 and a half hour long car drive to Canada. We went through New York and Pennsylvania to get there which was pretty cool. We got stopped at the Canadian border line. Because i'm from New Zealand I was supposed to bring this J1 paper thingy, i wasn't aware that i needed this. I was told that I might get stuck in Canada without the J1 info since after the September 11 attacks USA become more strict on who they let back into the country. Either i was going to get kicked out of Canada, be stuck in Canada or get a special stamp confirming that i was not a terrorist but a safe foreigner. While we waited for conformation.. we took photos of the Canadian flag, didn't know if we'd get a chance to have photos that proved we were in fact in Canada even if it was for only a few minutes before getting kicked out :P Things worked out alright in the end, since i came through LA before Cleveland airport from New Zealand they received confirmation about my status ;) what drama..

 So we had a really full day in Canada, saw the falls which was so amazing and picture perfect :) It doesn't matter where you really stand, you know the falls are close by, if you can't see them, well you can definitely feel them. With the falls near by, it's almost like being by the sea.. you feel the spray of water and gusts of wind :D The weather in Canada was real nice, we had a lot of rain driving there but once we found a hotel and had a swim it had cleared up well outside.

I found it funny how much American souvenirs Canadian shops sold, i was tempted to buy an American flag and tell everybody i got it from Canada, i guess it's just because the countries are very close beside one another. I didn't even need to change the money currency, Canada accepted American money too!! it just meant that they try to rip you off when you're buying things.. with American money you end up paying more.. not because Canadian money is worth more but because that's how they can make more from tourists :P

We had an amazing time in Canada, i know i sure did. Maybe one of my most favorite places to visit so far :) :)

Summer high

Almost the end of another month.. the time between now and middle of december (possibly the time I go back home) seems so much closer and easier to imagine now. This really gives me the most confusing feelings.. summer break has been the most eye opening time of my life. I didn't fully understand why people looked forward to that long break off school during summer until i really lived it. I think Julia is relieved to hear me tell her how right she was.. SUMMER IS ABSOLUTLEY AMAZING and I never want this to end!!
I have so much more respect for people in America now, the kind of weather they have to live through is crazy, i'm experiencing something i never knew existed. People are very stereotypical about other cultures.. expectations of how they think the other half live, but it's not until you meet somebody from "that group" that you really do find a new meaning and respect to the name.. "Americans."

So innocently I am chill'n in the lounge ("living room", as I am told to say.. since the term 'lounge' sounds too british, posh and now to "them" New Zealandish) watching the bachelorette :P and suddenly Obama takes over with a global/national report about how America owes all this money.. all these issues with democratics and repulicans not agreeing on anything to solve the issue ObamaReport.cbsnews.com Really..
I just wanted to mention this because it was unexpected.. and i guess Obama is just that important that he had to take over the bachelorette :P but, it's a serious matter.. i realise that, i still don't fully understand why America owes so much money and has got in this much trouble. My biggest question is.. if they owe so much money, why are they using what they do have for other countries.. shouldn't you help your own country before helping others.. no that's right, this is where bible terms come into it.. "help others before yourself"?
♬is that right♬ The-American-National-Debt-Who-Do-American-Owe.com Fact: America currently owes $2.7trillion.. DAYUM GURL!

Chatroulette: there are some major creepers online.. so we mess with them and give em' sexy facials aha!!

Chatroulette (CLICK TO ENLARGE) I was eating an apple and sharing it with random strangers ;)