The last 3,5 months in the States

Im so sorry. Didn’t update my blog since November 2nd.. Im the worst blogger ever haha. But here it finally is..

I have no idea anymore what I did from November seond till the 15th.

Friday the 15th of November I went to the movie theather (bios) with France, Felipe and some exchange students of France and Felipe’s organization. We went to Chucky’s. It is a movie theather where you can eat dinner (or a snack) during the movie. Everybody sits in a seat on a table. The seats were like car seats. Really comfy. We had to choose a movie that was fun for the girls and boys. It was fun but not my kind of movie. That night I slept at France house. Saturday evening we planned to go to a ice hockey game. Saturday morning France and I wanted to buy the tickets online.
We had to print the tickets but we both didn’t know how the printer worked. So we had to wait till France hostmum came back. In the afternoon France, Felipe and I went shopping. After shopping we wanted to buy the tickets online but it was too late to buy them online. We just went to the ice hockey stadium and should buy our tickets there. While we were waiting in the line to buy our tickets a woman came to us. She asked us if we already had tickets...(well.. it was more like screaming) We said no, we are going to buy them inside.. She asked us with how many people we are and gave us tickets and free tickets for a tshirt. We thought that we had to pay for the tickets inside.. But we just went to our seat without paying... Maybe we had to pay afterwards? But no, we were really lucky and they just gave us free tickets.. Lucky us 

Friday November 22my hostdad and hostsister and Iwent to a birthday party of a friend of my hostparents. For the first time I had an American birthday cake. Sooo big, sooo much icing, sooo much sugar.. Saturday evening, after shopping with France, France, my hostdad and sister and I went to eat at 5Guys. Typical American fastfood restaurant. Huge fat burgers.. They were good though.. haha. Sunday my hostdad and sister went to Boston. My First time in Bostonnnnn. It was nice and warm in the morning. At 8 am it was -7 Celcius/ 19 fahrenheit. Welcome to New Hampshire. It was too cold to do stuff outside so we visited things inside. Around 7pm we were back in Hollis cause the both of us had to do our exciting homework

Monday Nov 24th and Tuesday 25th I just had normal school days. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we had off. Thursday it was Thanksgiving. It’s a day people thank for what they are greatful/thankful for. Tuesday in the evening my hostdad and sister and I drove to New Jersey to my hostmum’s sister’s house. My hostmum was already there. Wednesday Cassie and I made crêpes with the help of a cook (my ‘host’ aunt). Thursday morning my ‘aunt’ prepared that food for the day cause it was Thanksgiving . Thursday we watched the parade in New York on the TV. People walked with huge balloons. Soooo big. After the parade we watched a dog shop. So strange.. a show for dogs.. Each dog had to walk a ‘parkour’. Before that a man of a woman brushed the hair of the dog so it looked good.. omg.. In the afternoon we drove to the house of another familymember. Finally we were there with about 50 people.. I was introducing myself to all of them. After some names I already didn’t know the names of the first people anymore.. So after a while my hostdad just shouted through the room.. ‘Okay guys, this is Sofie..’ That was a lot easier.
The family is half Italian so a lot of people with dark hair. I was almost the only blond girl. When we arrived, there was already food on the tables, like chips and cucumbers etc. People told me that this whole day was about eating. I expected a lot of food but thiss.. At 3 we really starting eating. We started with 2 types of salads. After the salads we got lasagna, meatballs, other meat and bread. All very good. After this we had a short break. After a while we started with the real meal. Turkey, mashed potatoes, creamed onions, string beans, cranberry jelly and sauce, stuffing and more. After the salat and lasagna I actually already had enough food haha. But I thought.. This is the only time I have Thanksgiving.. So I just ate and tried everything. It was really really good.. But sooo much. After a while waiting we ate the last and best part. DESSERT. Awesome. Soooo much. But sooo good. Saturday we drove back to Hollis.

Monday France moved to her second hostfamily. She had to pack all her stuff out of her room and pack it in suitcases/other bags. It was so sad. That family was and still is such a great family.
Thursday it was 'Sinterklaas'. Sinterklaas is a celebration on the 5th of December (In other parts of Europe it’s the 6th). Sinterklaas looks maybe the same but there is a big different between Santa Claus here and Sinterklaas in Holland.
Santa Claus delivers presents on December 24th but Sinterklaas arrives in Holland during November, does some sight seeing, delivers presents on the 5th of December and returns home in time to enjoy a quiet Christmas. Also, Santa Claus rides on a sledge pulled by 12 over worked reindeer but Sinterklaas rides a white horse. And, Santa Claus puts presents for children under a Christmas tree but Sinterklaas puts presents in children’s shoes even if they are smelly haha.
Sunday December 8th I had a Christmas party of my organization with all the exchange students.
The next weekend it was time for Jingle Ball, finally ! Jingle Ball is a concert of the radio station KISS 108. It was in Boston. Enrique Iglesias, Fall Out Boy, Flo Rida, Robin Thicke, Fifth Harmony, Selena Gomez, Paramora and Miley Cyrus. Well.. That was how it was planned. Finally Miley Cyrus didn’t show up.. She was stuck in New York at the airport. Despite of that.. it was an awesome concert.


Thursday December 19th Felipe, France and I had a party from an exchange student from last year. She was from Denmark and went to the same school as us. She came back to Hollis with her parents and brother to show them everything here. It was a really nice party.
Friday December 20 VACATION. The last week in foods we worked on making a ginger bread house. Ginger bread tasted a little the same as Speculaas (for the Dutch readers) We finished it that week and somebody had to take it home. For me, all this was new. I had never made ginger bread house. I also wanted to take the guitar home so I had to take my schoolbag, the guitar and our beautiful ginger bread house.. (I was actually really proud of it, haha) When we are finally home (part of the powdered sugar from the gingerbread house was on the seat in the car... Oopss) we went out to do shopping. In the evening Felipe came over to have dinner at our house. He is an exchange student from Brazil and loves meat. And ofcourse he is placed in a family who doesn't eat a lot of meat.. So, not a surprise, we had meat for dinner. Later in the evening we had to make pictures for the Christmas card (almost Christmas and no cards sent yet haha ) . My mum sent me with my last package the hat of ' Zwarte piet'. (you never know when it can be useful in America haha). So my host mum thought that it was a good idea to also take a picture with me wearing the hat from ' Zwarte piet' and the all of us eating 'Chocolate letter' (typical for Sinterklaas, each person gets the letter of his of her first name). They actually turned out really well. Saturday I went to the hairdresser. It wasn’t because I wanted to, because I was scared what the American hairdresser were going to do. But I had too.. My hair just looked bad. And I thought.. its vacation now so my hair has 2 weeks to grow before going back to school. Thank god my hair didn't turn out too bad haha. Saturday evening we did the last Christmas shopping.

Sunday we drove to New Jersey. We stayed there the whole week. Sunday till sunday. We slept at my 'grandma's' house. After the Hurricane Sandy she wasn't able to live in her house for a year. Finally we moved her in that week. Monday we didn't do much. So I thought... Let's write my blog.. (I mean, I didn't write it since the beginning of Novermber so I thought I have to) When I wanted to start my laptop I only showed me a grey screen. Perfecttt... I thought maybe after a while it should work again but no... It really was broken.. Great timing. Monday evening my other cousins and family arrived. Tuesday (December 24th) we went shopping for a Christmas tree. (Noooo... Not late.. perfectly on time !!) The advantage of buying a Christmas tree late is that it was really cheap ! Haha. Later in the evening we put on the light and the ornaments in the tree. We also made amazing cookies. Loveee. Wednesday morning it was time for presents. There were sooo many present under the tree (Ohja we also had problems with the present on our way to New Jersey. We almost couldn't close the truck..So many present we had to put in the car haha. But finally we did it) I was so surprised of what I all got. A scarf, earrings, a book, a ski pass, a sweater, a phone, nailpolish (what was broken, so we had to return it later in the week) and more presents. I knew that I should get presents.. but this much. I was so surprised. (And happy of course ) In the afternoon we went the family. The family is really nice, really nice people ! :) Around 4 we started eating.. Sooo much food. It was only the entree and I already had too much. In the evening they put a lot of dessert on the table.. Yeah and of course.. I had to eat that. I mean, I felt sad for the cookies if nobody should eat them. Thursday we went to the Mall to return and exchange some of the Christmas presents. Friday some people came over at grandma’s house. Nice people.. And of course they brought a dessert.. Carrot cake.. Nooo problem. In the afternoon we went to the beach. After the hurricane Sandy the beach had changed a lot (Of course I have never seen it before Sandy but people told me that) It was cold but it was a really nice day. Sunny :). The Saturday we went to Philadelphia (about 1,5 hour from New Jersey). It was a really nice day! We went there with my host parents, host sister and ' cousins'. Philadelphia is a beautiful city :). We went to a terminal market with food are more stuff. They had dutch drop (licorice) So ofcouse my hostdad (Dutch) and I had to buy some. There was also a sign with ‘Dutch food’.. Well.. unfortunately it was German..  In the evening we had to pack our stuff because the next day we should leave back home. Sunday around 11 we left and we came home in the evening. In the evening we watched a movie and I had to pack my stuff for skiing.

Monday morning at 7 we left for a day skiing at Sunapee Mountain. In Holland we always had to drive all the way to for example Austria or Switzerland to ski. Here you just drive about an hour and you are at the mountain. AWESOME ! The snow is really different here though.. A lot of people here are like.. What do you mean snow different? Its just now? But no, its more fluffy snow and its more icy. Much more than I m used to. So that day skiing didn't always go too well. After skiing till 3 we went to the house of friends of my host parents. (We also skied with them) They have a huge lake in front of their house and their view is the lake. Beautiful !! When we wanted to drive back home we got stuck with the car ! We had to make a sharp turn uphill. But there was a hole in the road and it was too slippery to get out. (it’s probably not called a hole but don’t know the right word.. haha) After pushing the car for a while we got out.

Tuesday, December 31 I went to the ‘First night’ in Boston with France and Felipe (exchange students). It was freezing cold but awesome ! We first went to the parade after that to a concert in the church (not my thing blehhh). Then we went to see the ice sculptures, went to the Mall and went to see another concert. After the concert we went to an amazing restaurant. Gooood fooood !! Around 11.30 we took the subway to fireworks! A lot of people were waiting there for the fireworks at 12. Then fireworks were really nice but not what I expected tho. Everybody was like huge fireworks... Uhhhh.. Despite that it was an AWESOME night. Around 12.30 we got back to the car and drove back to Hollis. (Boston-Hollis is about an hour). I slept that night at France house so her host dad didn't have to bring me home. Wednesday was the last day of our vacation (Well.. that's what we thought). Normally we should have to go back to school on wednesday but because of the snow we had a snow day on thursday and friday. So that were 2 more days of vacation (No problemoss). Friday I went out for dinner with Ryan, Felipe and France. Saturday, January 4th, we had a meeting from Pax. The meeting/party was at Steele Hill Resort in Sanborton, NH. We used the TomTom for the route. If we did follow the navigation all the way we had never arrived at the Resort. When we had to go straight, it told us to go right. When we had to go right, it told us to go left. It was beautiful though with all the trees and the snow and the sky. We were with about 14 exchange students in the Resort. We had a suite together. Awesomee. They had a swimming pool so we went swimming, a pool and a lot of other games. They also had a game on a tv screen where you had to stand on a mat and move yourself to move your player in the game (on the screen). It was awesome. Later in the evening we decided to play card games. I learned new card games from other exchange students. It was awesome. We just slept 3 hours that night. So Sunday morning everybody was like BLEHHHH. And in the evening France and I had a lacrosse practice. So when I came back home I thought that it was a good idea to take a nap. That practice was our first real lacrosse practice. We had lacrosse practice 3 times (I think) before but that were just conditioning and weight room practices. It was hard to stay awake but a lot of fun. In Holland you can't play lacrosse. Its not a sport in Holland. I saw it from other exchange students in Holland but never in real. It was awesome. Lacrosse is a sport you play with a stick. Not like a field hockey stick on the ground but in the air. It's a stick with a net (not sure if that is English). You play it with a small ball. During practice we just practiced to catch and throw the ball.

Monday Jan 6 we should have the first time Ski Club. In Ski club we go skiing 5 times on Mondays. Jan 6 we should have our first meeting. It was very icy so they canceled Ski Club. Tuesday I went to a basketball game at school. Basketball with cheerleaders and a band (from school tho).. Wauw. With all respect for cheerleading.. But not my sport.. Wednesday and Friday I had lacrosse practice. Saturday one of the exchange students in New Hampshire celebrated her brithday ! It was really nice. It's really nice to be with people of your age who do the same as you (exchange). Sunday I had again lacrosse practice. Monday Jan 13 we had the first Ski Club meeting. After school we went with about 15 people to the Crotched mountain. We went with a school bus. It was about an hour driving. We stayed there at the mountain till 7.30pm so we had about 3,5 hours to ski. It was very icy and fluffy snow but it was a lot of fun. Around 5pm it was already dark, so the rest of the time we skied in the dark (with light tho). It was the first time for me to ski in the night. It was awesome. One time when France and I were waiting for the ski lift a guy started talking to us. The both of us didn’t understand what he said so we just responded: ‘uhu.. Good’. No idea if it was a good answer but well.. Language struggles... Around 8.30 we were back in Hollis. Tuesday after school I went with France to her house. In the evening we had lacrosse practice. After lacrosse we did watch a basketball from the guys of our school. Also on thursday we had lacrosse practice. Friday Felipe, France and I went to the movies. We went to the movie American Hustle (didn’t play in Holland yet). Saturday I should have a party but because of the snow it was canceled.

Sunday in the afternoon Erwin, Cassandra and I went to Sunapee to stay over and to ski on Monday. We stayed at the house of friends of my hostparents. We baked cookies and played games. Monday at 7 my alarm went off, cause at 7.30 we already should leave to the mountain. At 8 we were already on our skies. It was a really cold day. We stopped two times for hot chocolate and lunch. Around 4 we were back in Hollis. And then I had to start studying for my midterms/finals I had that week. For the Dutch people, midterms are like ‘toetsweek’. The difference between Midterms and Finals is that you have a Final if you just had that class for one semester. I had Foods and Guitar just for one semester so those were Finals. Tuesday I had History and foods. Wednesday Guitar and Science, Thursday I should have Spanish and study but I stayed home from school. Friday I had the last midterm, Us Lit. Friday evening I had lacrosse practice again and Saturday I had a party with fireworks. The party was actually for a Brazilian exchange student who left Febr first. It was a really nice party, a lot of fun. Sunday we went to the IKEA. Well people.. It's the same as in Europe. They also sell ice cream for $1. And they already sold easter eggs.... EASTER... It was January 26th.. After IKEA we went out for dinner.

Monday the new semester started. We only had school till 11.30 because after that there was time to make up midterms/finals. I had to make up Spanish. It was a good thing because school ended at 11.30, the midterm started at 12 and was done around 2.30. We also had Ski Club that day. We left at 14.45 so it was good to combine with my Spanish midterm. Tuesday my dad found out that somehow somebody took 500 dollar of my bankcard on a day I went skiing all day.. That sucked so badddd. Saturday it was International day. In the morning me and 7 others exchange students and our local coordinator went to Exeter high school. (a high school near Hollis). Friday night we slept at my local coordinators house with all the exchange students. That was a lot of fun. Saturday at 9 am we had to be at the school. It was in the cafeteria of the school. A bunch of girls scouts troops were there with their leader. We all had to introduce ourselves. All the kids were sitting on the ground listening to us. So cute. Later on each girl scout troop had an own table. Each troop choose an country and had to do research about it. They all made a bildboard for their country. For each country you could make something that symbolizes the country. It was a really nice morning. In the afternoon we went to the airport to say goodbye to an exchange student from Brazil. It was really sad. She became a good friend in a short time. It was a surprise cause she didn’t know that we should come . Monday, she already had to go to school in Brazil. For us it's not that strange if we leave in June/July cause everybody leaves.. But for her knowing that the rest of the group will stay here till the end of the schoolyear.. That's hard. Saturday morning my hostparents and sister adopted a dog. It's a golden retriever/ australian sheperd mix. A cute dog. In Holland we have a black lab at home so im used to dogs. Sunday my hostsister turned 16. The cousins came over and we went out to the store to buy stuff for the dog. In the evening we went out for dinner. It was a Japanese Steakhouse (or something like that..). It was really fun. They prepared your food in front of you. I also had to eat with chopsticks. I didn’t have to but I wanted to try it. We asked the waiter if he could explain me how to use the chopsticks.. it wasn’t a big success haha.

Monday was had ski club again. Some people there at the mountain made a shark from snow/ice. It looked awesome. That weekend I went snowtubing with the exchange students. I had never done it before and it was really fun. Sunday I watched the Olympics. Holland was doing a great job. Sunday evening I had lacrosse practice. Not a big success this time.. Monday we had ski club again, it was freezing this time. France and I both were tired so we just took more breaks. Tuesday we had an early release. After school I went out for lunch to Panera… (Im almost 6 months here in the US and that was my first time at Panera.. ). Ofcourse I had to eat the Mac & Cheese because according to my friend it’s the best ! And it was.. Love for Mac & Cheese. Im really gonna miss that when im back home. Almost the whole school was in Panera. After that we went to the carwash. First carwash in America.. unfortunately.. it’s the same as in Holland.. Yesterday and today we have a snow day cause of the snow.. So.. time to write my blog. In the meantime Holland already has 12 medals. 4 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze. They are doing an awesome job for such a small country (about 16,5 million inhabitants).

Next week it is spirit week! The week after I have vacation. Sunday till Wednesday we are gonna ski . And in 22 days I leave for a trip to Hawaii <3’. Im very excited. My dutch friend I met in New York who is an exchange student in Minnesota will come in Hollis first and then travel together to Honolulu, Hawaii..

I know it is much too late this blog update, but I hope you guys enjoyed it 
Have a good weekend, or vacation 

xxxx from Hollis, NH