Week 22: Halftime

Hello out there,
this week there is not a lot to tell.
On Monday it was my first day in Weights-class and it was pretty good except of that I can't lift as much as all the others can since they have done it before. In the evening we had our rescheduled Winter Concert and it was actually better than we thought it would go.
On Tuesday after school and during Homeroom I went to the Off-season workout and it sucked, even more because I was not feeling well. But the others pushed me through the workout which was probably one of the hardest, if not the hardest, in my entire life.
On Wednesday I my whole body was sore and then on top of that in 3rd hour I started not feeling good. I got picked up by my hostdad at the end of 5th hour and I started a fever and could also not go to school Thursday because I wasn't feeling better.
From Friday on till Sunday at noon the weather forecast predicted an ice storm so all the schools around here canceled school for Friday so we had our first "Snowday" this year. Luckily it didn't hit us that bad at allso we still had electricity the whole time. My hostfamily and I played a lot of games together and watched a bunch of movies I've never seen before. Especially Friday I slept a lot as well because I was not (still not am) feeling good.

Today is halftime for me here in the USA! I am here since 5 month and I have 5 more to go. I changed a lot during this time. In the past 5 month I've met amazing people, visited breathtaking new places and found a second home at the other side of the world which I love so much that I don't even want to think about leaving them. I already know that a part of my heart is always going to stay here. I am so grateful for everything and I can't even imagine what would have happened if I wouldn't have got the amazing chance to go on an exchange year and you can probably also say the travel to find myself. I love my life here and I don't want to miss a single second of it but I will not act like my exchange year is perfect. I have my struggles here, with my friends, my hostfamily and also with myself. But I truly do believe that everything that happens to me has a reason behind it and it'll make me grow. I do miss my German life with all it's freedom and my family and friends but I will try to make the next 5 month here perfect because that's the only time I have left here in Lamar, with exactly this people. And I will try to make the best out of it and live every single second as if it is my last here in the USA.

Love,
Isabel :*

Week 21: 2nd semester

Hello guys,
this Monday and Tuesday I just stayed at home and prepared myself for getting back to school on Wednesday. We played a lot of games together and just enjoyed our last days of our break.
On Wednesday school started again and with that my 2nd  (and last) semester during my exchange year. I changed my schedule for one hour and wanted to change another but I wasn't allowed to.
On Thursday was my second day of this semester and it was pretty good as well. In the evening we were supposed to have Show Choir practice but since there was a lot of Snow that day it got more or less cancelled. So my hostfamily took me to Liberal to watch College Heights play against them. The CHCS Varsity boys won against Liberal by one point so it was a super exciting game.
On Friday during homeroom all students that were interested in doing Track and Field had a meeting and I went there because I really want to do another sport during my exchange year. So I went to the meeting and the whole room was full with people. The two coaches talked a bit about who is doing what, when practice starts and that we are supposed to go to weightlifting class two times a week until practice officially starts. So I signed up for doing Track and I'm probably going to do discus and shotput but if I'm going to be horrible in it I might be the manager. The I went to councelling center and asked the teacher for the second time if I could not change from Anatomy&Physiology to Weightlifting and then she allowed me to change. So from tomorrow on my schedule is going to be:

1. Language Arts III
2. Photography
3. American Government
4. Spanish II
5. Marketing
6. Strength and Condition aka Weights
7. Show Choir
8. Homeroom: Mon,Wed, Fri:A Cappella Choir, Tue,Thur:Weights

So overall I only changed 2 hours this semester and tomorrow is going to be my first time in Weights and I just hope that I manage to improve a lot while I continue doing it over the semester.

After school I went home for an hour and then my hostmom drove me back to school because I was volunteering at the Basketball Concession stand again. In between I sometimes went in the gym and was able to watch a bit of the girls and boys varsity games. They both won and the boys game was super exciting since we were losing till the end of 3rd quater but then we came back and won the game! 

On Saturday morning my hostsister and I had an appointment to get our hair cut and I cut 5inches. After that I had Show Choir practice from 10 to 2 and we worked on our choreography since we have our first competition next Saturday. Then we had an exchange student trip (mid-year orientation) and my hostmom and my local coordinator took us students to Incredible Pizza in Springfield. First we had to talk about stuff and then we could eat from the All-you-can-eat buffet. Afterwards we went to the gaming area and played games, drove Go-Karts just enjoyed our times as our exchange student squad. I really enjoyed that day and I am once more so grateful for all the people I met here. 

Today my hostsister and I slept pretty long and I did my homework, read and relaxed for the rest of the day. 

I wish you guys a good week,

Isabel

Girls Varsity

Boys Varsity

Guljemal and me

Exchange student squad

*love*

Sofiya and me

Week 20: New Year

Hey guys,
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! I hope you started good in 2017 and that your year is going to be awesome!
This week I still had holidays so I didn't have to worry about school. On Monday my hostmom, my hostsister and me got up really early in order to be in Joplin by 6am to start Christmas Shopping. We shopped at many different places and just interrupted for Breakfast and Dinner.  We came back home really really late in the evening but it was an awesome day.
On Tuesday my hostmom and hostsister took me to Springfield and we went shopping in the Mall and got ice cream at 10pm at ColdStone. On our way home we stopped at Walmart in Carthage and Lamar so that we were home around 2am.
Wednesday and Thursday we just stayed at home, relaxing (what I really enjoyed) and I continued watching Netflix.
On Friday I slept in and at 1pm I went to the Lamar Greenhouse and Florist and volunteered for a few hours. Now I have my required 50 hours done (50.5 exactly) but I would really like to do 100 so I will see what I can do.
On Saturday was New Years Eve and in the afternoon we went to Pittsburg in Kansas for late Dinner and watching the movie "Sing". When we came back home at 9pm we played The Settlers of Catan and simultaneously watched the New York Time Square celebration. At midnight we wished each other a Happy New Year and that's about it. New Year is nothing special here but I got to know a new way of spending New Years Eve.
On Sunday we went to church and afterwards we drove to Joplin and ate at the Texas Roadhouse. Then we went to the Mall and when we came back home we played games that my hostmom bought till 2am. I really enjoyed it, although I always lost the one game because my vocabulary in specific areas is not the best.
That's it from me for this week!

Isabel :)

Ice Cream *-*

Week 19: Christmas

Hello guys,
this week was pretty awesome for me and a lot of things happened.
On Monday I had finals in my odd numbered classes which meant Language Arts III, American Government, Marketing and Show Choir(where we didn't had to write one). I did good in LA III and in Marketing with 100% in both but in Gov there were two parts and I got a D on the second part.. but with extra credit my total grade stayed an A. In the evening I went and watched the Basketball Varsity Girls and then Boys playing.
On Tuesday I had finals in all even numbered classes which meant American History, Spanish II and Anatomy & Physiology and I got 100% in all of them. So my GPA for this 1st Semester is a 4.0 (the best you can get) so I am super happy with it. This day was my last time in History and maybe also in A&P and we had Senior Candelighting instead of Homeroom. They do it because some people (6) already graduated this semester so it's the last get together of all Senior's 2017. First a group performed 2 songs with bells and then all Seniors that are in Choir (including me) went to the middle of the gym and sang Silent Night, while all the other Senior's were standing around us and lighting their candles. We choir people also had candles and we actually sang one verse of Silent Night in German! After it was over everybody took pictures and then my first semester at Lamar High School was officially over. I went home with Brynna, a friend of mine and Tara, the other German and after a while we went to Joplin for doing some Christmas shopping.
On Wednesday was the first day of Christmas break and I just stayed at home and read. Although it was a lazy day I really enjoyed it since it was pretty stressful with the finals.
On Thursday morning I volunteered at the Lamar Greenhouse & Florist for 3 hours and stayed at home the afternoon read and started a new series on Netflix.
On Friday we went to Joplin in the morning to get something done and afterwards we went to Arkansas for visiting a part of the family for Christmas. We stayed there the whole day and ate a lot (comparable to eating on Christmas in Germany!). After we came home at around 11 we went to Walmart for me so that I could buy Christmas gifts for the family. We came home around 1 am.
On Saturday we went to another part of the family and ate a lot as well. On the way back we went to Joplin and at 6 we went to church here in Lamar.
Today is the 25. so it's the day when they celebrate Christmas here in the US. In the morning I video called a part of my family in Germany and around noon all my hostparents children came over and we ate and exchanged gifts with each other. Over all I got awesome gifts. A shampoo set, a parfum set, a selfmade blanket, souvenirs from California, giftcards from Forever 21 and BurgerKing and the best of all from my hostparents. They got me a Kylie Jenner lipkit and a ticket for the Ariana Grande concert in Kansas City in May. When I got the ticket I actually started to cry because I was just so happy since I've never been to a concert.
It was an amazing Christmas for me this year but I also missed my family and friends.
I hope you all also had an amazing Christmas 2016 and  I will put some pictures down there.


See you next year,
Isabel *-*

German Candy as gifts for my friends here

Lamar High School- American History 2nd hour

Alecia and Me

And again..

me and Sophia

LHS- Anatomy and Physiology

Dava and me

Me and Katelyn 

Cassidy and me

Brynna and me

me and Hattie

me and Shelby

Tara, Christian, Brynna, me and Carmen

German power of weirdness

*proud* *thankful*

*overhelmed*

My second family

part of my gifts

Week 18

Hello guys,
this week was Christmas Spirit Week at my school but I just did Monday, Pyjama Day, because I didn't have stuff to wear for the other days. And also my package from Germany (that took nearly a month) finally arrived.
On Monday during first hour we had an assembly in the gym, because the teachers had a breakfast for Christmas. So they were playing Dodgeball and served cookies for every student. I stayed in school a bit longer because I helped a friend of mine with his Math assignments as well as on Wednesday.
On Tuesday I left school because of Show Choir at 11:45 and we went and sang for the Rotary Club in Lamar and got back to school a bit before 7th hour started. After that we had our German Club again and at 4:40 my hostdad picked me up and took me to Liberal, where the Lamar boy's and girl's basketball teams had a game. So I could watch the girl's and the boy's Varsity games, while he was refereeing (both won against Liberal).
On Thursday I didn't even get home from school till 9.30pm. Right after school we had our German Club again and then I volunteered at the Concession Stand for the boy's basketball home game this day. I helped till 7 but then I had Show Choir practice until 9. During this time we ran all 10 minutes to the gym to check the score of the Varsity game that was going on this time. This was pretty fun and a lot of people were looking at us like we are crazy but oh well, that's when you're artistic but at the same time interested in sports. In the end Lamar won really really close so it was a pretty close game.
On Friday after school I started studying for the finals on the coming Monday and Tuesday, which I also continued over the weekend.
On Saturday we should have had our Winter Formal but sadly it got cancelled, because it was icy and later also started to snow. Now it's going to be together with Basketball Homecoming, which is not sure that I am here that day but I hope! So about 5 we went over to my Local Coordinators house and decorated christmas cookies that his wife made (they are delicious!).
Today we stayed at home since the weather is so bad that even the Winter Choir Concert (that counts as my Show Choir Final) got cancelled. So we cleaned the house and also managed to set up the Christmas tree.
That's it for this week and tomorrow and the day after I'm going to have my first finals in my whole life so I'm nervous but also glad when it gets over and we are out for Christmas brake on Tuesday after school.

Isabel :)

Senior's  vs. Freshman

On our way to the performance

Liberal-Lamar (in red)

Lamar (in white)-Harrisonville

Christmas Cookies *-*

*SNOW*

Week 17

Hello out there,
this week I had a whole lot of tests (I guess 8 or so) so I was busy with that during the week.
It was also my hostmom's birthday this week and I made her something the day before.
On Thursday I went on a Spanish Field Trip. We went to Webb City High School for a concert from Justo Llamas and it was pretty amazing. After this we went to a Mexican restaurant in Joplin and we were back in school for Homeroom. In the evening I volunteered by judging the floats of the Lamar Christmas Parade and after that I had Show Choir practice again.
On Saturday I went to Branson with my Local Coordinator and we visited kind of a "portable hospital" and  went to the Landing and the Ferris Wheel afterwards.
Today after church my hostfamily took me to Joplin for lunch and we went to the Mall and Sam's Club.
This week (I guess it was Wednesday) we also had a bit of snow here but it didn't stay.
Next week is going to continue to be full of tests and on Saturday we are going to have Winter Formal which I am pretty excited for.

That's it for this week,
Isabel

Me and the singer Emir

Just a random drawing in History...

"Portable Hospital"

Branson's Landing

Fountains

Merry Christmas everywhere

Trolley 

Ferris Wheel