November Happiness

Hello from the other siiiiiide (of the computer),

This year is going by fast, November is behind us, which means it’s time to let you know what I’ve been up to this month. Let’s start at the beginning of the month when all the exchange students in Indiana got together to volunteer at Election Day. It was a local election, not the big presidential one that’s planned for 2016. Cassidy and I had to be downtown Indianapolis early in the morning and since we didn’t know exactly how to get there, we used our phones as GPS. Once we were in Indianapolis some of the roads were blocked off, so we ended up driving in circles… but we got there… eventually, haha.

We all had to wear a T-shirt with “Vote for Sam Goldstein” on it. Dora and I were placed to hand out pamphlets together. We had a fun time and managed to pass out quite a lot of the pamphlets. We weren’t the only ones there trying to gain votes. There were a couple other people who were in addition to us, very competitive. Dora and I managed to ignore their behaviour and decided to just laugh about it and have fun together. It was a long day and the last part was the most fun. Well… sort of. It was only until the evening that all the girls were able to get together, but when we did, we had a great time. We all get along well, which is great. When Abby tried to start her car so she and Rose could go home, her car wouldn’t start. We tried to jumpstart her car, but we couldn’t get it to work. We were pretty sure there was something wrong with the cables, so those weren’t really any help. Even when a man who just got off work offered to help us, it didn’t show any progress. Abby’s parents came to pick them up and they got home safe.

In the beginning of November Becca and I went for a workout in Mooresville park a couple times. This was really fun and we tracked our run with an app on my phone. Lucky for us we run very similar, so we didn’t have any trouble adjusting to each other’s speed. One time we were so focused on our run that when a squirrel jumped out of the bushes it caused both of us to scream a little. I know… it’s just a squirrel, haha.

Debbie went to Tennessee for a couple days to handle some business. While she was gone, her cousin Beth stayed with us. It was really nice to finally meet her!

November 11^th was Veterans Day and that’s a pretty big deal here. The whole school got together in the gym and we had a few guest speakers sharing their stories. One of them served in the army for a long time and he told us about his experiences. It was very interesting to hear. Every time we are in the gym it amazes me how many people fit in there. At my school in the Netherlands we don’t have such place, but here in America, we fit all elementary kids, middle school students and High School students in one gym. It’s fun though, because to me it really feels like we’re ‘one’ when we’re all together.

One more time. At the volleyball banquet the whole team got together for one more time. It was only then, while we were all sitting at the table talking, joking around and having fun with each other, that I realized how much I missed them, the sport and being part of a team. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always played a sport, so now that the volleyball season is over and I’ve chosen not to play basketball (because it takes up too much time), it feel strange to come home early after school every day and not have any plans for the rest of the evening. I must say that there’s nothing wrong with being lazy sometimes. On the other hand I also miss being active and burning the calories of all this amazing food. Don’t worry I’m not turning into the size of a sumo wrestler. At the volleyball banquet our coaches talked about every player and rewarded them for their specialties and improvements. A couple weeks before the banquet the whole team voted for three award winners. One award would be for the most valuable player, the other one for most improved player and the third one for player with the best attitude throughout the year. My team voted for me as most improved player, so I got home that night with a real award (picture will be uploaded). I was (and still am) so happy. It’s just so cool to win this award. I want to thank my team again for helping me to get better. If it wasn’t for them I would never have been able to learn the things I have learned and to have as much fun as I’ve had. They supported me at all times, showed me new things and practiced with me. I can’t believe how awesome this season has been!

The team got presents for the seniors who will be graduating this year, and because I’ll be leaving too, they got me some (well actually a lot of) presents too. One of them was a great big scrapbook. Every player made a page to go in the scrapbook and I got tears in my eyes when I read all the kind things they wrote about me. Another great and creative gift was a big photo frame with messages written around the edges. I will upload a picture that shows what other gifts they got me. I can’t thank them enough!

As you probably know, or actually, as you should know, the movie Mockingjay part 2 came out in November. It’s the last movie of the ‘Hunger Games’ series and together with Becca and Bre I went to the movie theatre to watch it. It was amazing! I’m not only talking about the movie, but also of the movie theatre itself. The screen was huge, the sound was perfect and we had the most comfortable chairs ever. Afterwards we had a sleepover at Becca’s place and later that evening Courtney and Alicia came to join us.

That Sunday Cassidy, Olivia, Becca, Courtney and I went to see our school perform a school play (musical). It was really cool to see our fellow classmates perform and sing on stage. The performance was great and I can’t believe what great singers they are. It was just so creative and the decorations were all made by hand. It was kind of weird though, seeing my friend from volleyball on stage like a whole different person. They all did an amazing job! This school play is another typical American thing. At my school in the Netherlands we don’t have anything like school plays, but there’s other schools that do.

Time for Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is a special day in the States and it’s celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It’s a time to be thankful for all the things that we have. On beforehand we were warned for all the food that was going to be there. Cassidy and I went to three different Thanksgivings because the family is split up and we wanted to see everyone. In the morning of Thanksgiving Cassidy flew in from Florida where she had spent the last two days. I’ll explain, so let’s go back in time. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, Beth told us she was going to go to Florida to visit a family member. Since Beth didn’t want to drive down there on her own, Cassidy offered to go accompany her. That’s what they did. They drove all the way down to Florida, which was about a 16 hour drive. On Thanksgiving morning Cassidy flew from Florida to Indianapolis and when she arrived at the airport her grandparents were waiting for her.
We went to her dad’s house first. A big part of the family had gotten together and just like in the TV shows and movies, you eat turkey. There were also many side dishes to choose from. After we had all eaten, we nominated people for the Turkey award. The Turkey award goes to the person who has done the most funny, stupid and or awkward things in the past twelve months. It was a lot of fun hearing all the funny things people had done. It went from breaking your arm in a fight to backing out of your garage and damaging your car.

Now it was time to go to our second Thanksgiving. Debbie was also there. It was really nice to finally meet Annelize and Jim. Annelize is originally from the Netherlands, so we could communicate in Dutch. It felt really strange in the beginning, because we could hear the other people in the room speak English and then there was us, speaking Dutch. It was also a strange experience for her because the only time she would speak Dutch was when she called her mother. Considering the fact that she had been living in America for quite a few years now, her Dutch was still really good. I walked past all the cakes and pies that were on the kitchen table and my eyes got caught on a something that looked a lot like a Dutch apple pie. I was right, it was a Dutch apple pie and Annelize made it. Hmmm it was delicious!

Up to our third and last Thanksgiving. We went to Cassidy´s cousins house and hung out with Jalon. We had seen enough food for the day, haha.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is called ´Black Friday´. On this day stores have really big sales that start at midnight. At 2 am. Cassidy, Leighann and I went to Plainfield where I bought the last book of my favourite series. I got it for only 10 dollars instead of 20. What a great deal and I can´t wait to read it! What we didn’t get to see, but what is very normal for ‘Black Friday’ is a huge crowd in the store, fighting for the products. You’ve probably seen this in movies before.

A very exciting day, not only for the football players, but for all of Monrovia, was when the boys got to play the State Championship game in Lucas Oil Stadium. This was also their last game and it was very special considering they were now playing on the field where the ‘Colts’ usually play. I must confess that football team weren’t the only one nervous for this day. I was too. It looked like the whole school and town were there to support and watch the game. I hope you’ll be able to see how big the stadium was on the pictures I’m about to upload. It was huge! I won’t keep you wondering who won no longer. We won! The Monrovia Bulldogs won! This was the most exciting part of the day, it was just amazing. The end score was Monrovia 33 – Whiting 6.

After the game Bre and I went to the zoo with Becca, her brother and her mom. Her mom has a special pass and with that pass she can take up to four people to the zoo for free, so guess what, I went in for free. Not only did we have a great time walking through all the different sections, we ended the night enjoying the dolphin show. Apart from the fact that I worked in a zoo, back in the Netherlands, I hadn’t been to the zoo (for the animals) in a really long time. It was only now that I remembered how much fun it can be. We saw polar bears, monkey’s, sea lions, snakes (venomous and nonvenomous), tigers, turtles and so much more. Since Christmas not very far away, the zoo was lit up with strings of coloured lights. I can’t believe how much excitement I had that day. First the Football game and then the zoo!

In the beginning of the month Debbie and I volunteered at the animal shelter again and this time we had a lot of work to do. There was a long list of things that had to be done, so we both helped out as much as we could. Debbie loves to work with the dogs, so she took care of those chores. I prefer to work with cats, so I spent the day cleaning the cat rooms. It´s hard not to get distracted when all those little, soft and cute cats climb all over you. Whenever I would pick something up from the ground, a cat would jump on my back, find its way up to my neck and just lay down there. At those very moments I hoped there would be a camera filming all of it, haha. ´ll just have to replay that moment in my head.

Last but not least, Debbie and I have been cooking quite a lot lately. We made a bunch of Christmas cookies, that are slowly disappearing from the freezer, I wonder who’s eating them…
The healthy thing we cooked was a Dutch dinner with asparagus, ham, eggs and potatoes. Debbie and Cary were a really big fan of the Hollandaise sauce.

Now November can be considered ‘history’, I have one more full month left to enjoy and live the American dream. There’s a lot to look forward too. A concert on the 9^th of December, a Christmas carol on the 12^th, Christmas itself and an awesome American New Year’s Eve!

Love,

Tasha

The Netherlands vs. America

Hallo / Hello,

Over time I created a list of differences between the Netherlands and America. Some of the differences I’ve noticed are just my opinion, so not all of them are facts. If you have something in mind and you’d like to know whether that’s different in one of the countries, leave a comment and I’ll let you know.
It´s best to view this blog post on your computer, because all comparisons are lined up. Your phone might make it look strange...

The Netherlands America

Traffic lights close to stop line Traffic lights much further away from stop line

Only overtake a car on the left Can overtake on the right and the left

Forbidden to call/text and drive Call and drive allowed (18+), text forbidden

A 2 hour drive is considered long Driving 12 hours through the country is considered normal (with shortstops)

Metric System (meters, kilometers, Imperial Units (feet, inch, miles,gallons,pounds
liters, kilograms)

Euro Dollar

People look younger for their age People look older for their age

Tax is included in price Tax is not included in price

Roundabouts Traffic lights

Few STOP signs Many STOP signs

Dinner at home Get take-out

Fast food restaurants couple times a year Fast food restaurands regularly

M&m’s (chocolate, crispy, peanut) M&m’s (chocolate, peanut, almond, peanut butter, mint, birthday cake,pretzel)

Sports and School are separated Sports and School are connected

Licence plate obligated front and back License plate obligated on the back
- Yellow turn lane (lane where carscoming from both directions can driveand wait until they can turn)

Many traffic lights Few traffic lights

Mayonnaise with French fries Ketchup with French fries

Use of GPS Rarely use of GPS

Forbidden Turning right with red traffic light isallowed

Bikenstocks (sandals) without socks Birkenstocks (sandals) with socks

Birthname Many people go by a nickname

Burp softly followed by “Excuse me” Burp really loud and then “Excuse me”
(This is actually really funny, because people in America burp really loud what makes it kind of disgusting, but then it’s followed by a really polite “Excuse me”, which makes up for it.)

- Garbage disposal

- Teepeeing houses is a traditionsneakily decorating someone’s housewith toilet paper)
(One time my teacher blamed me for teepeeing his house, because he thought it would be something on my bucket list.)

People take their time in a shop People move quickly through the shop

Driver’s license about €1300 (almost the same in $) Driver’s license around $60

Snap fingers is not a common thing to do Snap your fingers and hands is verycommon

Changing lanes is prohibited by traffic lights Changing lanes is by traffic lights isnormal

Most cars have a gear box Most cars are automatic

Mail comes through a hole in the front door Mail box next to the road

Houses have one front door Houses have a front door and a
second door

Houses are close together Houses are far apart

Houses consist of bricks Houses have horizontal slats

Houses are small but have many floors Houses are big, but have one floor

Bread is bread Hotdog bun ONLY for hotdogs (Ilearned my lesson, don’t put Nutellaon a hotdog bun! Haha)

No permission needed from school when you get a job Permission needed from school whenyou get a job

Fence around the yard No fence around the yard

Video's

Hi there,

I've been trying to get a couple video's uploaded to my blog, but unfortunately I couldn't get it to work. If you copy the links down below, paste them in your search bar and press enter, it should work.

Dolphin Cruise (part 1): https://youtu.be/F7NBE5XbyU0

Dolphin Cruise (part 2): https://youtu.be/sGSA2_PDjpo

GIANT Family Photo, made by Blake Grigsby: https://youtu.be/vLe3mbZH1DM

Let me know what you think?

Love,

Tasha

October Activities

Hi everyone,

First, let’s take a moment to realize I’ve been in the United States for 3 months now. This month’s blog post is full of many different activities. My adventures in Tennessee and Alabama are already online, so make sure to check those out. A lot of things have been crossed off my bucket list this month.

Let’s start with Halls Haunted Halls. Halls Haunted Halls takes place in an old school, decorated to make it a really dark and spooky place. The five of us had to wait in line for about an hour and a half, so we had plenty of time to discuss who was going to be the first one in line. Well… that took us about 3 seconds… They voted me to go in front, which in the end turned out to be the most fun. I’ll explain in a minute. Becca was behind me, followed by Bre. Erica (Bre’s sister) and her boyfriend Carter were the last two in line. We were waiting outside when suddenly a skeleton/ghost walked through the crowd. Okay here comes the funniest part! When we went in, there was a lady waiting for us on the stairs. She disappeared for a second, so we were left there… on our own… standing… waiting… in a dark room. When she came back she told us it might be smart for the first person in line, me, to keep your hands out whilst finding your way through the maze. Oh, and if we felt anything touching us, it wouldn’t be anyone from the school (the actors weren’t allowed to touch the visitors).

I wasn’t scared, but I knew that the four people behind me were, so I decided to have a little fun and frighten them a little bit more. I had to lead our way through the maze, but because it was completely dark, which I loved, it wasn’t very easy. I decided to take some more turns, what led us to a dead end over and over again. At some point we got stuck at a dead end and when I turned around to tell the group we had to go the other way again, I saw a sixth person in line. He was dressed in black, but had a scary mask on. Before I could even tell the rest that someone had joined us, Carter, who was last in time, turned around and looked the guy with the mask straight in the eye. It scared him so bad, but for me it was the funniest thing ever. The guy with the mask told us to follow him, because he was going to lead us out of the maze.

I must say that they did a really good job decorating! There were skeletons, dolls, spider webs and ‘dead’ people on the floor. When we found our way to the slide, I told the group I wasn’t going down by myself (going down a slide, not knowing what was waiting for me, frightened me). There wasn’t really space for two people, but Becca and I made it work, haha.
We walked through different rooms, but sometimes we ran because a ‘ghost’ was following us. My favourite part was when I would just randomly scream, to scare the others, and they started screaming too. It was just too funny! I’m not sure if they would say the same thing, haha.

All right, enough scary stories for now. One day, Cary’s sister came over and together with Debbie and Cassidy, we went to see “The Interview” in the movie theatre. Great movie, I can definitely recommend it!

As most of you have seen on Facebook already, we had a family photoshoot. We went to the house where Debbie grew up, because we thought the woods behind it would be the perfect place. We had a great time and took a lot of pictures. The photographer was really nice and also quick in sharing the pictures. We’re all really happy with the results. I’ll upload some of the pictures on my blog soon! The most of you will probably have seen them on Facebook already.

On October 24^th Debbie, Cassidy and I woke up early to drive to Chicago. We were meeting some of the other foreign exchange students in the Science Museum. Our local representative arranged this get together and it turned out to be a really fun day with a LOT of fun stuff. The Science Museum was big and very interesting. There was so much to see I could barely stay focused on the information right in front of me. It was a really beautiful museum. If only I’d had the time to look at everything. Because everyone went their own way, we didn’t really have the time to get to know each other. I loved the museum, but I was also very interested in what everyone else’s exchange life is like.

Good thing the day wasn’t over yet. As a group we went to the train station to ride the train to ‘The Bean”. Does that sound familiar? It’s a famous piece of art in Chicago. In my pictures you’ll see what it looks like. It’s basically one large mirror in the shape of a bean. What better place to take selfies right?

Okay, you ready to hear what made my day? Suddenly someone of our group notice people were gathering. There was this guy asking random people to join him for a “family photo”. The crowd got bigger and bigger, so our group of exchange students decided to join the group. When the picture was taken and the guy turned around to thank everybody, I could finally see his face. I recognized him, I was sure of it, I knew him! Who was he and where had I seen his face before? Only way to find out was to ask him, I guessed I must have known him from YouTube and I was right, he was from YouTube. That’s when we took a bunch of pictures with him when at the same time some of his friends were filming. A few days later he posted a video online with all of us, the exchange students in there. Even my host mom was in there. It was just the perfect video.

We had dinner at a pizza place and I had my first ‘Chicago pizza’. It kind of looked like a quiche to me, but it tasted like pizza. We rode the bus back to the car and went home. I’m happy that I got to meet the other exchange students, because I loved hearing their stories, their accents and hearing them speak their own language.
Where were all of us from?
Rose from France, Dora from Tunisia, Mizuki from Japan, Israr from Pakistan and Akshay from India and me from the Netherlands. Cassidy and Abby are born Americans.

Debbie, Cassidy and I got tickets to a concert called “Jingle Jam” on December 9^th. The people performing will be: Walk the Moon, Rachel Platten, Pentatonix, Becky G, Max Schneider and Tori Kelly. You might not recognize them right away, but go to YouTube and listen to a couple of their songs. I’m sure you’ll recognize a couple from the radio. We’re all so excited to go see them perform! I can’t wait!

October is the month of Halloween. I heard some people were wondering how I spend my Halloween. I’ve never celebrated Halloween in the Netherlands, so it was very special getting to see what it’s like in America. A couple days before Halloween, Cassidy, Hannah and I carved our pumpkins, which was a lot of fun. It was also the grossest thing ever, because the inside of the pumpkin was wet and slimy and …. just gross, haha. It made me think of a tv show where the candidates are blind folded and they have to stick their hand in a box in order to guess what’s inside.

On October 31^st Cassidy and I went to her grandparents’ house to see the trick or treaters. By the time we got there a lot of kids had already been there, so we only saw a couple of people ringing the bell. To me it looked exactly like what kids do in the Netherlands at November 11, only difference is that people dress up for Halloween.

(Pictures will follow soon!)

Love,

Tasha

Gulf Shores - Alabama

Hi everyone,

In my previous blog post I told you about my stay in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Right now I’ll tell you all about my fall break adventure, 12 hours away from home.

The title of this blog post already gave away the surprise, but guess what… I went to Gulf Shores Alabama. With a fully packed car the six of us drove straight to the south part of America. Just to clarify who the six of us are, Gregory (Cassidy’s dad) and uncle Scott were driving, Emma and Austin sat behind them (Scott’s children) and Cassidy and I sat in the back seats of the car.

To summarize the car ride: tingly feet, regretting being tall, no sleep, too cold, too hot, dark outside = no view, having to pee all the time but only being able to do that when we stopped every four hours, McDonald’s for breakfast, listening to music, loving my pillow and comfy blanket, sunrise = nice view, beach, sun, sea, starting to count down the minutes and YESSS WE’RE HEREEEEE!!! (I’m exaggerating a little bit. I mean yeah it wasn’t the most comfortable ride, but it wasn’t that bad at all.)

We left in the middle of the night and arrived Sunday around 2pm (local time). That meant we still had the whole day to enjoy the beautiful weather and relax on the beach, whilst getting a tan of course. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach. And to make it even better, we stayed on the 11^th floor, so we had a great view. Cassidy and I shared a bedroom, but had our own beds. When we came in I was like “Is this bed just for me? But it’s so big?!”. I guess I should get used to the fact that it’s normal to have a big bed in America, haha.

This vacation was quite different from the vacations I’m used to. I’m usually very active and go sight-seeing, take hikes through the mountains, drive through the country and spend time at the pool instead of laying on the beach. I’ve always prefered to lay down by the pool, because all those animals in the see creep me out (just wait for my story about that!). One thing I have learned is that my exchange year means ‘things are different’, so I was ready to just do ’nothing’ every day. I must admit that it was really nice to just lay on the beach, watch the waves and listen to the radio that we brought with us.

Are you ready for my ‘spectacular’ sea story? It started off by us just getting in the sea to feel how cold or warm it was. It wasn’t cold at all, it was actually really nice to swim in. We walked further in the sea, but we could still feel the sand underneath our feet. The water was very clear and you could see the fish swim around you. I was ‘okay’ with that, because they were just small fish. I just thought “at least they’re not stingrays or jellyfish”. But then… someone on shore, next to where we put our beach chairs, was excitingly yelling he caught a stingray. I thought I knew what those were, but I wasn’t sure if I translated that right. Greg, Cassidy and I walked up to see what exactly he caught and then I saw it. Jup, there it was… a ‘baby’ (that’s what they called it) stingray. Well, that got me excited to swim in the sea again… Not really. So I guess the fish and that stingray were the first animals I’ve seen there. That same evening I could add sand crabs to the list. A lot of people like to go to go ‘crab hunting’ at the beach at night. All I’ve seen them do is walk around with their flashlight and look for sand crabs. I joined Cassidy, Emma and Austin one night to go look for crabs and we saw a couple, but one night was enough for me, haha.
… To be continued …

That same evening I brought my pillow and blanket outside to enjoy the colourful sunset from our balcony. Oh and I shouldn’t forget to mention that we ordered pizza and it got delivered to our hotel room (all the way on the 11^th floor). It’s probably normal that pizza delivery people do that. I just thought it was cool.

I was like, well why not sleep on this comfortable wicker chair outside tonight. It wasn’t that cold in the beginning, but after about an hour I gave up and decided that I liked sleeping in my big comfy bed better than sleeping on a small wicker chair. It was a good decision! The following morning I woke up early to watch the sunrise. Guess what I never expected to see that morning but saw anyways?! DOLPHINS! I’m not kidding. Why didn’t I know about that before? Scott was like, “yeah they’re here and you can see them almost every morning.” Well, that was a pleasant surprise!
I noticed how close they swam to the shore, so I got kind of crazy, forgot about all the creepy animals that swim in the sea and proposed to wake up early the next morning so we could swim with the dolphins, since they would be so close to the shore. Just to let you know how it turned out… We didn’t see any dolphins the next mornings, so I didn’t actually do it. Afterwards I’m happy I didn’t do it, because I found out what other animals would be in the sea with and beside me…
That’s where I’ll continue my story about the creepy sea animals. Emma and I went swimming in the sea. We only took a few steps in sea when I saw something under water. It looked like the shape of a stingray, but it was see-through like a jellyfish. It turned out to be a jellyfish. Greg and Scott had the courage to walk up close to take a picture, but unfortunately the only thing we could see was water.

Wednesday afternoon we did something very exciting. Something I’ve been dreaming all my life of doing. This is where the dolphins come into the picture. We went on a dolphin cruise for about two hours. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining bright. It was so pretty and relaxed to be on the boat. We got to see the dolphins in the beginning, so like the first 30 to 45 minutes, but then they were just gone and no matter where we sailed, there was no sign of dolphins. The rest of the time we were on the boat, we just looked at the nice houses on shore and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We were a little disappointed, because we expected to see more dolphins, but in the end it doesn’t matter to me, we got to go on a dolphin cruise and I’ve seen the dolphins from up close, so that’s already more than enough for me! I’ve seen dolphins before, because there are dolphins where I work in the Netherlands, but this was even more awesome! It was hard taking pictures, so I’ll try to upload a video on my blog soon.

One evening we went out for dinner at a restaurant called ‘Pink Pony’, where they serve unlimited shrimp. As most people know, I’m not a seafood lover, so I just ordered a delicious club sandwich. I did get myself to try the shrimp anyways and it wasn’t that bad. They had fried, grilled and blackened shrimp so I tried all of them, but I was happier with my sandwich, haha.
It was also a good night to take pictures, so we took some family pictures at the beach.

I think I told you guys about everything now, so it’s time to put this fall break story online now.

I had a great time, so thanks again so much for taking me! It was an awesome experience!

(Pictures will follow as soon as possible!)

Love,

Tasha

Gatlinburg - Tennessee

Hi Dutchies and Americans,

The last few weeks I travelled through America and got to see a couple more states. My host mom, Debbie, owns two condo’s in Gatlinburg (Tennessee), so we decided to stay there for a couple of nights.

We drove to Tennessee at night and arrived early in the morning. After we took a nap we had American Pancakes for breakfast and went sight-seeing. We drove through the Great Smoky Mountains and I was excited to see the view from the top of the mountain. Well I soon found out it’s called ‘Smoky Mountains’ for a reason. There was a lot of fog, so we couldn’t see that much. That didn’t mean we couldn’t see anything at all. Also, there were streams through the mountain and we could even see small waterfalls beside the road. I got the feeling of being on ‘vacation’, because there are no mountains in the Netherlands and the only time I would cruise through them would be when I went on vacation to France.
In the evening we drove around the city to find a nice place to eat. The Ferris wheel was decorated with lights and changed its colour every few seconds.

The second day, we went to a huge scrapbook store. There were so many kinds of paper, stickers and decorations, all in different colours, shapes and sizes. I am going to make a scrapbook about my exchange year, so this was the perfect place to look for materials. Now, I just have to go through all the pictures I have and select which ones I would like to put in my scrapbook. Help! Speaking of pictures, I won a 25 Euro gift card to print pictures. Thank you so much Travel Active!

We took our time in the scrapbook store and went shopping for the rest of the day. I guess we can say we succeeded, haha. There were quite a few bags in the car when we got home that evening. I bought a sweatshirt from the Smoky Mountains and got my shot glass from Tennessee. It’s not what you’re thinking! I am not an alcoholic, I’m just collecting shot glasses from all the states I go to. It’s quite a common collection okay…

Sunday, we got up early and cleaned the condo together. The rest of the day we spend in the car driving home. It was a 7 hour car ride with a beautiful scenery!

Sun, sea, beach and dolphins? New blog post online soon!

Love,

Tasha

September Memories

Helloooo friends and family,

It’s been a while since my last blog update and I’m sorry for that. I know you’re curious to know what I’m doing. To make up for last time this blog post is going to be very long, haha. Every time I do something that is awesome (which is all the time), I write it down on my list so I know what to mention on my blog.

Let’s get started! I am just going to write in a random order, which means I will go forward and backwards in time.

Breanne turned 17 this month and she celebrated that by taking Becca and me to an awesome go-karting and mini golf party place. Breanne’s mom, sister and her sister’s boyfriend came along too. We started with race course. We were all very competitive and raced as if we were professionals. Whenever we speeded in on each other you could hear a devils laugh. We alternated racing with mini golf and water boats. Before we went on the water (each one of us in a small boat) Breanne told me there were two buttons. One of them was to move forward and the other one to spray water. She didn’t want to get wet so told me not to use the water button………
You know me guys… guess what happened… that button is meant to be pressed….
We had a water fight and it was so much fun! Every single one of us was soaked (don’t worry, our valuable items weren’t with us on the boat).
We ended the night with gambling, because we got some free coins. I learned I should never start gambling, because it is VERY addicting! The three of us ended up with two or three chocolate bars a person. (Yes, even the chocolate bars in America are good!) Afterwards Breanne’s mom took us to Fazoli’s which is a Italian restaurant with UNLIMITED bread sticks. We got there around 10.30pm and were the only ones in the restaurant, haha. If you ever plan on going to America, make sure you go to Fazoli’s! To finish this fun night, we had a sleepover.

On Labour Day we were free from school, which meant we had a three day weekend. The weather was perfect, just like any other day. Gregory’s (Cassidy’s father) best friend had a three day pool party so we came over on Saturday and Monday to swim in his pool, relax in the sun and to play volleyball in the yard (he has a volleyball net next to his house). When we played volleyball I got to serve a lot, which was a good practice for me since I still have to learn that skill. This practice turned out to be very helpful in my volleyball game two days later. I usually don’t serve in a game, but this game we had to adjust which meant I suddenly had to serve. I was so nervous and my hands were shaking so bad. I took a deep breathe, served and YES the ball went over the net and was in! I was so happy, even though my serve looked nothing like the awesome jumping serves other people have, but that doesn’t matter, the ball was in. I got to serve three times in a row because the other team messed up. After my third serve, the score was something to 15 (points for us). My team started jumping with a big smile on their face and walked towards our opponent to shake hands. I had no idea what was going on, because we usually play to 25 points so as far as I knew we hadn’t won the game yet. I followed the rest, shook hands and asked my team mates what was going on. That’s when they explained to me that JV (Junior Varsity teams) play until 15 point in the third game when both teams have won one game. It was very funny!

Two weeks ago I was taken out of class and taken to a hallway where about 30 other students were waiting. They told us we were randomly picked to be drug tested. They do this every year at school. I don’t do drugs so I had nothing to worry about, but still I was freaking out. We had to pee in a cup, and then give the cup to an employee. Very comfortable as you can imagine…. Now it’s over and they told me my results were negative (which means there’s no trace of drugs in my system) I can laugh about it, haha.
The fact that I was “randomly” elected wasn’t that credible since everyone thinks of weed when they hear I live close to Amsterdam, haha.

As you might have seen in movies, most people in America have a school ring to remember their High School years. I decided to buy one of those too, since that would be the perfect item to remember my high school experience. The cool thing is that you can design your own ring online. I will upload a picture of the design on my blog. The ring is partially handmade, so it takes a few weeks before it’s delivered. When I have it, I will definitely make sure to upload a picture on my blog.

One day I walked in to my 7^th period when a girl came up to me, introduced herself to me, told me she was from the school newspaper and asked me if she could ask me a couple of questions. The next day I checked the school papers website and read the very nice article she put online about me. The website is: http://thebulldogfetch.blogspot.com/2015/09/foreign-exchange-students-of-2015.html

(If the link doesn’t work, go to www.thebulldogfetch.blogspot.com scroll down click on “older posts” and you will find the article called “Foreign Exchange Students of 2015”. (There’s one other exchange student at school, she’s from Brazil. I haven’t met her yet.)

Okay, let’s talk about volleyball. It’s awesome learning a new team sport and making new friends. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. A difference between the Netherlands and America is that sports are played during the week instead of on the weekends. Also, we have about two or three volleyball games each week. When I played field hockey we only had one game a week and it was always on a Saturday. I have always loved being active and to lose my energy by playing sports. It isn’t easy though, there are quite a few things you have to think of when you’re in the game. I make it even harder by wanting to make progress too fast. Even though I know it takes time to get better…
Yesterday my team (JV) had a volleyball tournament in Cloverdale. When I woke up I was super excited and I was ready to play some volleyball. Only when we got there and coach changed the line-up and told me I was going to play a different position, that freaked me out. What would I have to do, how should I rotate, does that mean I have to serve? I had so many questions…
I learned now that next time I would find myself in a situation like that, I should forget about all of that and just stick with the basis. That way I can keep myself focused and still manage to have fun. I have to work on not letting things go to my head like that.
Let’s just forget about that and be happy about the fact that we ended in third place and got a lot better as a team. I am so glad to have such an awesome team, who supports each other and cheers each other up. We have two great coaches who support us, try hard to improve our skills and make us better as a team. We are going to have so many more games to play and I’m ready for this week’s games (Tuesday and Thursday)!

One time in the school bus I was asked to teach my team mates something in Dutch. My friends from the Netherlands told me to teach them the following sentence: “Er is een kabouter in de gang”, which means “There’s a gnome in the hallway”. We had a lot of fun and the next day Lexi came up to me, pointed in the hallway and said “Er is een kabouter in de gang”. She remembered well and had a funny accent. It was cool she remembered how to say it.
A lot of times I am surprised to realize how many English words are spelled similar in Dutch or look a lot like the Dutch word.

Okay, just a random comment now. I just wanted to say how confusing age is in America. It is hard to explain and you’ll have to see it for yourself, but American people look older than they are. It always freaks me out when people mention their age and it’s so different than what I expected, but it’s also funny.

Back to the story now. This week was Spirit Week which meant every day had a different theme and the Homecoming football game was on Friday. The themes were:
Monday: Hawaiian
Tuesday: America
Wednesday: Old People Day
Thursday: Throwback Thursday
Friday: Green & White
Every day there were people dressed up in creative ways. Not everyone, but definitely a lot of people wore something according to the theme.

HOMECOMING ON SEPTEMBER 18^TH
On FRIDAY’S (September 18) all the football players wear their jerseys to school. Every period ended a couple minutes earlier than usual, so that we could watch the Powderpuff game. Powderpuff is a game where the girls play football ( a different version though). That was quite funny to watch. At 7pm we got to see some real football. I borrowed a shirt from Cassidy to fit in the cemo theme (camouflage clothes like you’d wear when you go hunting). Before homecoming we all got to vote for homecoming princess, prince, queen and king. The top four candidates came to the game and during the break the winners were announced. It was really fun to experience an American Homecoming!

In the weekend of September 11,12 and 13 there was a festival in Monrovia. Cassidy, Lindsey, Taylor and I went there on Saturday and walked around for a while. That was the first time I was actually cold in America, haha. I thought it wouldn’t be necessary to bring a jacket, but that was a mistake. We went home early and had our first bonfire at the fire pit next to the house. It was a clear night so there were quite a lot of stars to see.

Yesterday after the volleyball tournament I went shopping in Greenwood with Breanne and Becca. We tried on some hilarious outfits. Becca looked hilarious in her fancy outfit which was a leather skirt, a fur coat and a shirt that said “I just did it…”. We had a great time and ate chicken teriyaki for dinner (again… food in America is GOOD, not always healthy though, but sooo good). We should definitely do that again, haha.

To end this story I want to talk about another thing I crossed of my bucket list. I WENT TO THE MOVIES! We went to the movies with some friends to see the movie called “The Visit”. We all thought it was going to be super scary and already pictured ourselves walking out of the movie theatre scared for our lives. It turned out to be a really funny movie with a couple of scary moments. We had a great night.

Recently I saw a post on Facebook that talked about what it’s like to be an exchange student. I could totally relate to it. I would describe my life as an exchange student as:

Being an exchange student is AWESOME and everything I could ever wish for. It’s throwing myself out there, adjusting to a new life style, making new friends because I’m starting from scratch and barely having anything that’s familiar around me. It’s new, exciting, adventurous, fun, awkward and a DREAM all together.

At the same time being an exchange student is hard, frustrating and scary. It’s making mistakes using the language asking people to repeat what they just said, even when they’ve already said it twice. It’s wanting to text someone, but not knowing who. It’s pointing, describing and guessing.

But when all of that comes together, I lay down in bed at night and when I finally have the time to realize where I am, what I’m doing and who I’m living with, the only feelings I have are happiness and gratitude.

I am so most definitely living my American Dream, a dream I will never ever forget!

P.S. I told you it was going to be a long blog post, haha!

Talk to you soon!

Bye,

Tasha

Pictures Online!

I uploadedmore pictures :)