Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Merry Christmas New Zealand,
and Merry Christmas for tomorrow everyone in America :)


I'm sorry for being so slack lately but I've been extremely busy with finals and the end of semester so I'll update when I get a chance, which is not right now unfortunately.. 
I just stopped by to post that I'm thinking of you.


Here's my last ABT assignment, one of my finals for school. It had to be the meaning of Christmas using stykz (a program that's much harder to use than it looks).

Whatever your interpretation of Christmas is, I hope that your day is more amazing than imaginable. 
:)

All things Wintery and Cheer-full.

Veronika and I in our cheerleading uniform

So, just to start off, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. Yesna, a past exchange student now going to college in America, came around and spent it with us and the two days off school were long awaited. Linda and David cooked a turkey and a lot of other food which was delicious and we spent the day thinking specifically about everything that we're thankful for. 


As I think I'd mentioned last week we had our first cheerleading tournament. To say the least, it was interesting. I'm not so sure about the whole manliness of wrestling because the guys wear "singlets" which are tight short bodysuits and then they grope each other inappropriately trying to throw or somewhat twist the other to the floor. I don't really understand the scoring but it looks a lot easier than football because it's one on one. As for us cheerleaders, we went alright, a lot of the cheers were out of time but we survived and hey, it was our first meet.

The past weekend we had the EF Christmas party. All the exchange students that Linda takes care of came around and brought with them a dish of food from their home country. I'll admit, I'm not a cook, and the thought of having to cook something purely New Zealand kinda scared me a bit, but nevertheless I took a stab at making a pavlova. Except these pavlovas were more like meringues because in a group situation they're much easier to share. Mum and NP Nana would be extremely proud of me because surprisingly, it didn't go flat, it didn't burn and apart from having a little too much vanilla essence in it which is practically unnoticeable I made some perfect mini pavlovas. Others seemed to like them too which made me happy. But did I think to take a photo of my master piece? Of course not.

After a concert choir performance,

wearing the gear and looking pretty professional.

Also this weekend, like every Saturday for the next couple of months, I had a wrestling tournament. This is different from a wrestling match because there are a lot more schools there and matches going on at once. We left EHS at 8:30 and got home around 8pm so it was a full day which was filled to the top of cheering. 

In the weekend we had the second concert choir performance of the year, which was our first Christmas concert, we have another in a couple of weeks. I'm not really a huge fan of Christmas songs so it went okay, but I always enjoy watching everyone dress up in their fancy outfits. It's good fun being in choir cause we get to hang out before and afterwards and the teacher is extremely good.

In other news, after finally handing in our history group project, we took a history test last week. It went extremely well and I got 93/88 (109%) which is sooo good for one of my hardest classes. I was extremely proud of myself, hence sharing on here. This, along with other good work recently, has helped me keep my grade at a solid A, overall total of 93% or above. As a side note, today, after i'd finished writing this, my group got our grade back for the project we did. Firstly Ms Strube, the teacher, warned us that most of the projects were low grades because groups didn't follow the marking schedule, so I kinda prepared myself for a B at the highest, but we got an A+! With 105% we got the second highest grade in the whole junior class, the highest having one point more than us! All that hard work definitely paid off. My group and I couldn't be more pleased.

Brittany and Veronika with our over 5 foot project

I also had a psychology test where I got 77%, or a C+ which I was proud of too. This is because I really dislike psychology and just want to pass and hurry up and get out of the class, I'm not interested and it bores me. The teacher's the same as in history so it's not only boring but hard. Though we did talk a little bit about Sociology which is offered next semester and it's meant to be completely different from Psych so I may decided to take that because we'll study other cultures which could be interesting.

My other subjects are going well too.. In Critical Thinking (an English class) which I'm writing a six page persuasive essay in at the moment, I have an A.. In ABT I have an A- because in two group projects I got a B and a B+, which is bad considering we get hardly any assignments. I mean we get big assignments but it's hard to bring your grade up cause there are no little assignments.. In Human Relations I have a solid A, it's a really easy class and all quarter I've missed two points I think, so I've got a 98%.. In Government I also have an A, which is admittedly also decently easy, even though it's a Senior only class. (Only grade 12 students can take it, and exchange students who have special privileges.)

Mara, Hannah and I after the choir Christmas concert

Unfortunately next semester ABT and Concert Choir have been scheduled at the same time and thats the only period they're both offered. After long consideration I decided to stay in Concert Choir. Not only because I enjoy it, I have friends in it who I get to hang out with when we do performances and such, but about every second day I get to use it as a study hall which is handy for me to do my other homework in, other wise I would just have one every second day opposite p.e. This way I'll have one everyday, except when we're practicing for a concert when I'll have choir everyday.

Anna and I in our cheerleading uniform.

The other subjects that I'm taking next semester are U.S History, Junior English (normal english class), American Lit 2 (more advanced than the normal one), Economics, Art, Food Fitness and P.E. Although I'm looking at changing art / food fitness to something, I just chose them to fill up a spot. Except in Art we're meant to be doing clay modeling and stuff so maybe that would be different, and I haven't taken an art class for years it could be fun. I'll see if I can find a better class if not that's how it'll stick.


Other than that, I had a home wrestling match tonight which was a lot of fun, we've definitly improved from last week! 


That's all for now, 
Chat later :)

Briefly Stopping By

So this weekend was thanksgiving and it was soooo good :)
But I will update about that in my next post.. I'm very tired tonight but just thought I'd leave you with a cute picture.. The one above is my host family and I and bellow is a project I have been working on for ABT.. Click to enlarge. We had to make a photo collage on a theme, and the teacher's getting them professionally printed on 28" by 22" photo paper!


Chat soon :)

Four Month Anniversary

Veronika and I today after church.

Today I have been in the United States for four months. Even though I have a little homework to complete, I decided this was worth a short blog update..


At the moment I'm very busy with Cheerleading practice and multiple assignments so this isn't going to be a long post at all sorry.. 

The original photo.

This week is Thanksgiving which I'm excited for. We get Thursday and Friday off school, Thanksgiving is on the Thursday, and Friday is Black Friday where shops have extremely huge sales.

A photo I edited for my ABT Project

Monday the 29th is our first wrestling meet which is exciting. But due to Thanksgiving we only have two practices before the meet! It's a double dual also, which means two people wrestle at once. This means three cheerleaders are cheering for one match which the other three cheer for the other which is a little scary because people notice if you make mistakes a lot more since there are only three people!


That's all for now because my feet are cold so I'm going to put socks on and go to sleep. The temperature has been cold in the past week, it was 18 Fahrenheit all day yesterday! 
(I'm working at putting a fahrenheit to degrees convertor on my blog for everywhere else in the world that speaks in celsius)




Update more later :)

After the Storm

My house with 7" of snow!

Just a quick update, mainly to post some photos of my weekend. The Mall of America was absolutely amazing, and on Friday / Saturday we had the first snow storm! There was snow everywhere by Saturday morning, it took us nearly an hour longer to get to the Mall from our hotel than it would've usually. 


So on Friday after school, Linda drove Veronika, Pete and I to Minnesota. It was about a 2 and a 1/2 hour drive and we grabbed Subway for supper and had a look at the outlet shops. There was a Nike store and they were selling Nike kicks for $30! I didn't buy any though cause I'm buying new shoes for cheerleading, and I'm a Converse person, I'd hate to betray my Chuck Taylors.

I couldn't resist drawing on someones car.

By the time we'd settled into our room the snow outside had built up a decent amount that there was snow on the ground. (The first time it snowed the ground was too warm so it didn't look like it snowed) It was so cool to stand outside and just let the snow fall on you, it felt kinda magical. Of course, Veronika and I couldn't wait to run outside and take photos. There's nothing like being a tourist. 

Inside the Mall of America, near the full sized Ferris Wheel!

Come Saturday morning and it had snowed nearly all night and so the roads were very slippery, and it continued to snow! We finally got to the Mall of America just before 11am but Linda had told us to be prepared to leave early because she didn't want to drive home in bad conditions, and I could totally see her point, if the wind picked up it would be so dangerous! Veronika and I knew this would mean speed shopping, we knew which shops we wanted to visit, we checked out the website before hand, with 500 shops it pays to be prepared. In the end we didn't end up leaving until after 4pm but with our speed shopping early on in the day it was plenty of time. Inside was unbelievable, there were people everywhere despite the snow outside. We'd been told there was a built in amusement park but I thought it was just a small one, so they could say they had an amusement park but this was full sized and huge! They had a ferris wheel, a mini roller coaster and other rides, Veronika and I didn't stop there though, we were too busy shopping. The drive home was long and fortunately the snow and wind died down a bit but it still took us an hour longer. 

Snowman building. 

Today it snowed a little bit this morning but it was warm the rest of the day. Linda and David told Veronika and I that the snow would be perfect to build a snowman, and pretty much before anything else could be said, Veronika and I were outside building a snowman. 


Just a side note here, with it being the first snowman I'd ever built I didn't really know what to expect. 


Building a snowman fitted well because I have to do a photo essay for ABT and so I took lots of photos of the snowman being constructed and boy is it a lot harder than they make it look on T.V. The bottom was so big we couldn't physically roll it any more because it was so heavy and I commend Veronika for lifting the second ball on top because I was struggling with the head. But it was so much fun, and before we knew it we had our very on snowman! A little under 5 feet tall and a bit of a funny shaped bum from one angle, but he's ours and he's even rocking the New Zealand Four Square National Logo :)

My first snow man, equipped with a New Zealand 4 Square Apron!

That's all for now,

Update a bit more later.

Happy Veterans Day for last week too!

I was thinking of you, Pop x

Before going to the Mall of America, some excited EF-ers.

Mall of America sign from outside, with a little snow here and there.

Pre-Four Square Apron. Our November Snowman.

November is here.

BriAna, Jenna and I in our beautiful stage make-up.

It's been a bit since I've written anything substantial on here, so I thought I'd post another big update.. And just a side note is that I went to start this last weekend, but I got sidetracked by homework and other distractions. Nevertheless, it's here now! (Finally)


Tonight is the last night of the play which is sad but it's been so much fun and I can't wait to watch it on DVD! I'll send Mum a copy for those of you in New Zealand and hopefully she'll show you. It's been a really great experience.. I can't remember if I'd explained it but there are around 60 kids in the show, not including the band or backstage lighting and sound which is astounding. The vocal teacher is amazing, he's also a football coach which is why we have a generally even amount of guys and girls in the musical. There are ten main characters and the stories based in the fifties, Elvis era, where everyone is falling in love with everyone. It's set in Emmetsburg, which is a small town naturally, which is very plain and boring because the mayor is very strict, she even has laws against "public necking" (kissing) and loud music. But everything changes when Chad (very Elvis-like) arrives in town, everything gets "All Shook Up" and all the towns people are bitten by the love and music bug. 

The EF Halloween Party. Yes I was cheap and wore my musical costume.

This week Wrestling Cheerleading practice started and it's so much fun! We have practice everyday after school (except if we have a meet that day of course) and it goes 'till 5.30 (at the earliest). We practice with the Basketball Cheerleaders firstly when we warm up, stretch and "build muscles" which is usually between forty minutes and an hour long and then we split up to learn our separate cheers. Personally, and I'm thinking it's thanks to all my years dancing, I find it super easy to learn the cheers cause they're all to a rhythm. But Wrestling Cheerleading is a bit different than normal cheerleading, instead of standing up and cheering we sit on the corner of the wrestling mat and hit the mat and cheer to different rhythms. (See example bellow, this is from 2008 and unfortunately my school isn't in it, but we'll be going here (to State, a four day wrestling competition) if our wrestlers are good enough)

Natalie and I at the last home football game of the season.

Other than that it's getting a bit cooler here, the temperature still ranges but in Celsius it's usually zero degrees in the morning going to school, at eight o'clock and it can get up to ten in the afternoon. Next weekend most of the exchange students in North East Iowa are going to the Mall of America in Minnesota, there are 500 shops and a built in amusement park! Then the weekend after that is Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving we're going to Fort Dodge again to go shopping for all the Thanksgiving sales. Football is nearly finished but our team hasn't lost a game yet! On Monday night we have a play-off game and if we win we'll be in the Semi-Finals for all of Iowa (in our school size) which is so cool! 

I'll update more soon when I think about it, 

'Till then keep smiling :)

I hope you all in New Zealand are enjoying the sun! 

E-Hawk Football :)

Newest ABT Movie

Sorry it's so long, but that's the way my teacher uploaded it to youtube. For Advanced Business Technology, our assignment was to make a film between two and three minutes to go in the hall of fame all about Emmetsburg. We had to work in partners and my partner's video and mine is last.

I also helped two of my friends, Chad and Tyler, make a short advertisement for their marketing class public service video yesterday. They had to do a video on cyber bullying, raising awareness on it. 

Opening night for the play is tomorrow night and I'm so excited :) We get the day off school too cause there's been parent teacher conferences. I'll update sometime during the weekend. 

Enjoy :)

Quick Update

Just a quick update from my ipod to announce.. I made Varsity Wrestling Cheerleading :)

The results were posted today and I was super happy!

Also, on Sunday we went to the Ef Halloween party where I carved my very first pumpkin :) everyone else was carving faces so I carved a peace sign! It's so much harder then it looks.

That's all for now, will post photos soon!

Unreliable Blogging. Sorry.

Brittany, Veronika and I

Not only did I get photos of leaves, but Veronika, Natalie and I decided to be photography for the afternoon and we took some photos playing in the leaves :)


Recently all it seems like we've been doing is play practice, play practice and play practice. Last Sunday we had practice for five hours!  It's still fun but it's very time consuming. 


Last week Linda and David were in Florida from Tuesday so Veronika and I stayed at Natalie's which was really nice. Even if we had to get up early for her show choir. 


It was the end of the first quarter on Friday (like term one in New Zealand) and we will be getting all of our quarter one grades on a score sheet. So far I know that I got an A- in US History and a B- in Psychology which I was really pleased about. In psychology I'm the only junior (year 11) in a class of seniors (year 12.. the final year of school in USA) and US History is a class of only juniors but it's quite difficult.

Fun in the leaves :)

Tomorrow afternoon Veronika, Pete and I are going to a Halloween Party with other EF students. I'm wearing my play costume cause I have it and don't have to buy it, and it's a costume cause no-one wears the horrible big skirts anymore. Then tomorrow afternoon I have play practice again, which we're running through the whole show so it's probably gonna last ages.


But all is okay, next week we're performing! On Thursday morning we're doing a full rehearsal in front of the Middle School and then Friday evening is opening night! I'm so excited, it's going to be so cool.

Squirrel!

Today Veronika and I went to Wrestling Cheerleading tryouts. Wrestling Cheerleading is a type of cheerleading where you mainly sit on the side of the mat and hit it in rhythm. That's really all I know about it anyway. So the squad is made up of six girls, and there were ten girls trying out, it was so nerve wracking. We had three days to learn the school song and the dance to it but we managed to get it down. I really enjoy it! If we don't make the Varsity (best) Squad then we are automatically put on the JV (Junior Varsity) Basketball Cheerleading Squad which is more of your normal cheerleading, routines and dances standing up.


Other than that, everything's been pretty normal. It's meant to snow this week though. I'm so excited! I've never been snowed on before, eek. 

I love Natalie :D

Also, if you want me to explain anything, feel free to ask, cause to me it seems like everything is normal but it probably doesn't to you and I forget who I've explained things to and what not. I don't want you to be completely lost! I promise to update a lot more often. For those that haven't figured out how to post comments yet, you click on the title of the post, for example the bigger "Unreliable Blogging. Sorry" for this post, scroll down to the end and post a comment. From there you can make an account if you wish where you may be able to have my posts emailed to you. I'm not sure though, I've never needed my own posts sent to my email. Otherwise post anonymously, but remember to include your name!


Also, exciting news. If you google "bryant camp ef" my blog is on the first page of results! I hope that's not just for me. Yes, I get excited about little things. 


That's all.
Enjoy the Sunshine :)

Procrastination.. More to Come

You may've noticed I haven't posted for a while, the main reason for this is because I haven't taken photos of the trees yet as I'd promised. I know, very slack and I should get onto it soon before all the leaves fall off, but I'm such a procrastinator. 

On the other hand, I've just finished another ABT project. This one was our choice so I made a movie about New Zealand. You can see it bellow. I don't like hearing myself talk but I had to have heaps of voice-over to have the information cause I don't really like subtitles, just a heads up.

Also, while we're sharing videos, for Psychology a small group had to make a "Choral Reading" on a body system that we're studying. Our group had to do the Endocrine System, so we made a rap. 

This is just a short update so that you know I'm still alive and doing great but haven't had the motivation to be creative as yet.


More to come soon :)

Homecoming Overview

Myself, Brittany, Veronika and Natalie

At Coronation, the Homecoming Royalty 

The week just gone was Homecoming and to say the least it was a whole lot of fun. The whole week hyped up the football game against the South O'Brien Wolverines, which followed the homecoming parade on Friday afternoon.

Concert Choir , I'm at the front on the left.

Although not many people dressed up on the dress up days, it was fun to see those that made the effort. 
My favorite day was superhero day, Veronika, Brittany, Natalie and I made up "The Optimistic Four" 
wearing our capes and happy shirts. I felt pretty super all day. Along with classes we were also given time to decorate the school, it looked fabulous! All the corridors had posters and the windows had drawings on them. Some students even went around town to draw on the windows. My favorite sign was at Mc Donalds that said "Would you like Fries with that McVictory".

On Thursday night we had Coronation, which was a ceremony where the Homecoming King and Queen were announced.

The Marching Band during the Parade.

There were two attendants from each grade, a boy and a girl, who had been voted by the rest of the grade; Freshman (grade / year 9), Sophomores (grade / year 10), Juniors (grade / year 11) and Seniors (grade / year 12) who had four boys and four girls elected for King and Queen that were announced on the night. All the attendants wore extremely formal suits and dresses and had their hair done. Everyone looked so nice! All of the attendants rode in the parade but the King and Queen were last (New Zealanders; think the Famers Santa parade, Santa always comes last because he's the most important). During the Coronation, the Concert Choir performed for the first time of the year. We sung "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis to advertise the upcoming musical, it was really fun and I can't wait to sing in the Musical.

 We were given football jerseys to support the E-Hawks.

On Friday we had the Homecoming Parade. Each class (year level) in High School had a float in the parade, the coronation attendants rode in cars, the high school football team rode on a firetruck, the middle school football and volleyball teams walked, the cross country team rode on a truck, the cheerleaders rode in a truck and the marching band walked among other floats. To top it all off, Pete, Veronika and I got to ride in an "exchange students" convertible, we all felt pretty special. We rode down the main street and we were amazed at how many people were there! 
Both the High School and Middle Schools were there including many other town members. During the parade many shops and organizations gave out free food or things in support of the E-Hawks and it was all very fun. When the parade finished the Cheerleaders did some routines as a "Pep rally" (not sure what that is yet, hopefully will know by the next post, I think it just pumps people up for the game) and everyone else eagerly awaited the game. 

Exchange Kids with Mr Jurrens, the Principal after the Parade

Veronika, Pete, Allen, Hannah and I hung out before the game and went to the tailgating party where we got something to eat and could play some games and hang out with others. The Football game was pretty fun, though I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention but we won nevertheless. Anna came home for the weekend and surprised Jake which was nice and today we hung out at his place and played some Rock Band. For those that don't know it's a playstation game with a guitar (or two), drums and a microphone that you connect up and play songs, similar to singstar but a lot more fun.

The Poster I helped decorate for Homecoming.

This week's back to normal but soon we'll be going shopping for some winter clothes cause it's getting colder pretty fast, the temperatures here and in New Zealand are very similar and before long ours will be dropping faster and faster until it's bellow zero. Wish me luck! At the moment though the leaves are all changing pretty colors, nothing like New Zealand, there are pinks and oranges among dark purples and reds, it's amazing. We had a discussion in Psychology about the leaves changing colors and I was completely confused because I hadn't really noticed the colors of the leaves before then. Why do the leaves in New Zealand just turn brown and fall off, or stay the same green? We're definitely missing out! I'll take some photos and put them in the next post.

Until then, 

Keep Smiling, Live with no Regrets :)
Note: Click on the Picture to make them Larger

My ABT Movie

This is my latest project for Advanced Business Technology.. We used a progam called Stykz which you create animations with, you are able to draw straight lines and circles, like paint. We were instructed to create video clips on stykz to put together with life quotes.. I haven't got my mark back yet but the teacher really liked it.

Uneventful Doings

Pete, Myself, Brittany, Veronika and Chris..
All exchange students except Brittany.

The past week and a bit has been rather uneventful to be completely honest. So I'll explain a bit about school..


So far it's been really good. Most of my grades are really good, except Psychology where I got a couple of Ds in tests, so my overall grade is a C :( But other than that I have an A in Government, a B in US History and I haven't got any other grades yet. 


I got a B on my first US History test, and I have another on Monday, I just had another American Government test where I only got one wrong and on Monday also I have a psychology test that hopefully I'll do better in. Other than that everyone in my classes are really nice, P.E isn't even that bad. 

Making a "The Foreign Exchange Students Love Me" shirt.
We made one for Brittany and Jake.

The overall grade here is completely different than in New Zealand, in most classes we have a test every other day that contributes to our overall grade. In US History and Psychology we have a test everyday, while in Human Relations, which is a much easier class, I've only had to hand in one essay. In Advanced Business Technology I've handed in one assignment, an about me video, and on Monday I have to hand in another assignment, an animation with quotes. We've done a couple of assignments in Critical Thinking but nothing has been put in the grade book (or online) yet.

Cille and I, an old photo from camp :)

Next week is Homecoming, which will be heaps of fun! Firstly during the week we have theme days, on Monday we have homeroom color day (our color is white which is quite easy), Tuesday is Cowboy and Cowgirl day, Wednesday is homeroom tshirt day (every homeroom gets tshirts printed, our homeroom is Fastert's Flames.. Our teachers name is Mrs Fastert), Thursday is Superhero day and Friday is black and gold day to support the E-Hawks. On Thursday evening there's a parade, Veronika, Pete and I are riding in a car because we're the exchange students. The football players ride on a firetruck and there are other floats. There's also a really pumped up game against the Wolverines, we'll all be decorating the windows and halls of the school to get into the school spirit. 


Tomorrow, Veronika and I are going with Brittany to the Spencer fair and then we're staying the night at her friends place in Spencer. We'll also go to Wal-Mart. I like Wal-Mart, it's just exciting. 

Musical and More

Today at 7pm we had the second musical practice for the full cast, but this time was a whole lot more fun than the last.. We started choreography! A whole 2 hour practice, with half an hour focused on singing and 1 and a half hours of constant, energetic dancing. It was a lot of fun, and everyone was pumped by the end of it, not to mention a little sweaty. 

Tomorrow evening is the first football home game of the season against Spencer which Veronika and I are going to watch, which'll be cool. 

This morning Anna left for college so it's just Veronika and I again. 

AND earlier in the week Cohen was born! Leisa and JT's son, and although he was two weeks early he's still as cute as a button. He's so adorable and I can't wait to meet him. I wish JT and Leisa the best of luck with their new arrival.

In unrelated sad news, my ipod broke :'( It turns on but none of the buttons work. I've tried everything, charging it, reseting it, restoring it, but nothing. Now my awesome new headphones have nothing to play but the sound out of my laptop. I'm so sad, I love my ipod. I might have to buy another, but the one I had was working perfectly last week! Argh. 

Other than that, school is good, finishing all my assignments on time. I need to study a bit more for psychology cause it's a bit more challenging but other than that my school subjects are great. I'm really enjoying school even though it's ridiculously long and tiring. There's auditions for the school dance team in two Wednesdays, that might be fun. I guess I'll go along the auditions / meetings and check it out as long as I'm not too busy with homework.

Go E-Hawks (:

Over and Out.

A week of school already..

What an eventful week that has just passed. 


Firstly, as you know I started school ! The first day felt so stressful, because there is so much jammed into a day. I have eight class periods, homeroom and lunch. Thankfully I was able to open my locker, but it took me quite a while so I didn't know how I was meant to go to it during class. When the day finally ended I was exhausted. I decided to move into Advanced Business Technology from Practical English and I wasn't put into American Literature, but it's okay, I've moved into American Government, as well as taking US History, Critical Thinking, Human Relations, P.E and Concert Choir. 


This week has been a lot better, I know where all my classes are and I can go to my locker in between classes too. I've also been getting quite a bit of homework too, it's extra hard in American History cause before now I had no idea about the history of America. It's good to know their government is reliable though. I'm also getting used to overusing z's. Seriously, way more z's are in words in "American English". 


On Saturday, Veronika and I went with Linda to the Western Iowa EF meeting. There were just under 30 exchange students there, along with other IECs and some of their host families. It was really fun. We went to the Grotto of Redemption. In short, it's a bunch of rocks and crystals making up a multilevel building-like structure. The largest in the world. It was exciting. 


In other news, there's another exchange student coming to EHS ! It's exciting. It all started when Jake asked his Mom if they could host an exchange student, since under 100 students still hadn't been found families and the cut off date was Sunday. And after a bit, they decided to become a host family ! So Pete, an exchange student from Thailand is coming to EHS in the next few days. 


That's about all for now, in the next few days hopefully I'll write some things about my subjects, but all are going well at the moment.


Keep Smiling (:

Results from Home

I passed my Level 2 Media Studies Short Film.
Super yay ! 


Even though I thought the final project was totally lame, I had my fingers and toes crossed that all the work I had done would pay off. And it did! I got Achieved for both parts, which is fine because it's a pass. 


For those interested, my teacher emailed me my feedback which is bellow in Italics. 


That's all for now, 
School tomorrow (:


You've got achieved for both standards - well done, you. Pretty impressive when you had to go it alone with such a small time-frame.

AS90765 Achievement - 6 credits 

Clearly structured storyline with a kick at the end. You maintain appropriate tone and angle throughout. Cutting some of the repetitions out would have been useful because it tends to lag a bit and this would have made it more snappy. Design is thoroughly planned to brief and storyboard adjusted to reflect changes. Shots are limited in range and there is a problem with gaps/unevenness in sound, which needed more work. Lighting generally effective. A solid piece of work, Nicole, held back from being polished through the sound and repetition - but it is impressive that you got it done in the timeframe you had.

AS90282 Achievement- 3 credits

Camerawork is steady, well focused. Shots are straightforward in composition. Dialogue is clear but there are problems with the sound which further editing could have eliminated. Sound is straightforward - some effects but not complex mixing. Pace and rhythm is maintained - tighter editing would have lifted mark. Definitely competent use of technology and could have been lifted had you had more time. You did well in the time you had, Nicole.

It's all fun and games until someone throws up.

With only two days left until I start school, I'm enjoying the last of my holidays. 

Ready to enter the fair complete with our excited faces.

So as I'd previously said I went to Des Moines to do some shopping and go to the fair. It was very nice. I bought a pair of jeans, a couple of t-shirts, sunglasses (mine went walk abouts at camp) and a belt. Although short timed, the shopping trip was nice. I can now say I'm well set for school. 

The next day, we went to the Iowa State Fair, which apparently is the largest fair in America. That's exciting ! There were so many different food stalls, selling things from Corn Dogs to Cotton Candy and Funnel Cake. Veronika and I halved a funnel cake, it was batter funneled onto a plate with icing sugar on top. It was so yum, but I definitely couldn't have eaten it by myself ! We explored the fair for a while and went on a ride, though it was pretty tame. It was way too hot though, and since we arrived at 9.30am it felt like we'd been there all day when infact we were home by 2pm.

Showing some pre-season football spirit.

Friday was also an exciting day. A couple of Anna's friends came over and all seven of us went to the Mexican restaurant for lunch which was fun and very entertaining. That evening, Veronika, Anna and I went to the football scrimmage at school which was where our school teams played each other as an introduction to the season. Though there were mosquitos everywhere, it was extremely humid and I don't understand the smallest bit about football, it was fun. There's so much school spirit, and apparently there was a bad turnout compared to normal football games. Most of the crowd was wearing an Emmetsburg t-shirt or our school colours; black and yellow.

Aaron, Zach, Maddie, Myself, Jacob, Anna, Veronika &  Elizabeth
As you can see, I'm not very impressed.

Other than that, yesterday (Sunday) we went to Jake's (Anna's boyfriends) church in Mallard for a youth group where we had Tacos for dinner and then had a "crud war". Basically, they poured a whole lot of mushy food onto a slip-n-slide and we were to slide down it. This didn't appeal to me, but I wore older clothes nevertheless. Even though I didn't go on the slip-n-slide, Anna, Jake and Veronika were kind enough to smother me with hugs so I got covered in condiments such as Salad Dressing and food similar to creamed corn. Disgusting. They tried to convince me to slide but I was definatly not going to slide, unless they wanted me to puke on it. Just the smell made me gag a little. I know, I'm a charmer.

After being hosed off and changing clothes, the four of us older kids (Anna, Jake, Veronika and I) went across the road back to Jakes where we watched Kick-Ass. Hilariously violent. Yes, I was watching it legally cause the rating is only R15+ in America. Unfortunately I had a stinging headache and something in my tummy wasn't feeling quite good and I ended up puking after the movie and on the way home. But all is okay now, I'm recovered and happy thanks to a good nights sleep.

All eager to start school sporting my attractive new P.E gear.

Not much is planned for tomorrow and then on Wednesday school is finally starting, I can't wait. Of the people I had lunch with, Mara is a senior and she's going to be in my Physchology class and Critical Thinking class, and both Natalie, who is a Sophmore and Mara are in Concert Choir with me which is good. At least I know some people. 

Over and Out (: