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

Week 16

Hey guys,
this week was my hostdad's birthday so we went to Jopin for dinner that day. During school this week I had a few quizzes and tests but nothing spectacular.
On Friday there was the Miss Merry Christmas "election" in Lamar and I went there with a few friends.
On Saturday I had Show Choir practice from 10 to 1 and we are still studying our choreography till it looks perfect. After that I had a performance with A Cappella Choir at the Young Miss Merry Christmas. We performed two songs, during the time the judges were considering the winner, and then we could leave. My hostparents took me to Lookwood afterwards, for the last day of the 56th Annual Lookwood Basketball turnament and so we watched 3 games till finally, at 8.30, Lamar played Lookwood. Lamar won the game 61-43 and with that the whole turnament.
Today we are staying at home because I have to study since I have lots of tests the next weeks before Christmas.

That´s it for this week,
Isi :)

Twins *-*

Miss Merry Christmas

After the performance

A Cappella- Squad goals

College Heights-Golden City

Exchange students: Eduardo, me and Vlad

Exchange students: Guljemal, me and Eduardo

Go Lamar! (in white)

Lamar Cheerleaders

Final score: 61-43

Week 15: Thanksgiving

Hello out there,
this week was awesome again and so many things happened.
On Monday Tara and I did presentations in 6 classes of American History and Sociology and I really enjoyed doing it once again. So now I have done 20 in total and I think that´s it for the moment but I would really like to do some more.
On Tuesday we had an activity day since our school collected over 3000 cans (2000 were required) for a food drive (donation). So at the beginning of the day we had an assembly in the gym and they explained how everything works and the "Warm Fuzzy"-Day that was going on that day. So everybody got yarn and you give one small piece of it together with a compliment to another person and tie it around their yarn-necklace. The Senior´s were dismissed first to go to an activity for the first four hours and I chose to watch "Lord of the Rings" with some of my friends. During this time they also had "Group Picture Day" so I had to go when the called out DECA and the German club (which nobody expected). In 5th hour we had our normal lunch and then regular class, which meant Marketing for me. We went to Walmart to look up some toy prices for Black Friday. After that, means 6th and 7th hour, we had to chose and activity again and so I chose to go to Karaoke. During Homeroom we had a Pep Rally because our Lamar Football team was going to State on Friday. The band and the Cheerleaders performed and in the middle of it all the lights went of and they had blacklights set up so it was just amazing. Some of the football players came down to the gym floor and danced together with the cheerleaders to "Juju on that Beat", "Watch me" and finally everyone to "YMCA". This is one of the moments in my exchange year where you could really feel the school sprit and I enjoyed it so much. After school I had to get in line for buying tickets for the game and then Tara and I did our German class again. The rest of the day I just spent relaxing since I was still not totally well.
On Wednesday was my first day off for break and I just slept long and stayed at home till the early afternoon when my hostparents took me to Joplin for dinner.
On Thursday was Thanksgiving! I was super excited for my first one and about noon we arrived at the house of relatives where we had our Thanksgiving meal. It was so good and they had a whole lot of desserts as well. We left around 3:30pm from there to go to Webb City´s Walmart for Black Friday Shopping. First we got the last wristband for a Hatchimal and then we got in line for other stuff since  they started it at 6. So we had to wait about 1.5 hours and grabbed other things as well afterwards. When we wanted to check out we had to wait again for ages but when we finally were done we went to JCPenny and to Kohl´s and we got back home at 3 in the morning. I only got a few hours of sleep because at around 8.30 my hostmom took me to Joplin again for continuing Black Friday shopping at the mall. I bought a whole bunch of things including my dress for Winter Formal. At 12.30 my hostdad picked me up and we went to the State Championship game in Springfield. They played against Trinity Catholic and they won 26-18. This made them the winners of the State Championship
in 2016 which is the 6th time in a row! GO TIGERS!! It was an awesome game but it was freezing cold outside. After the game we drove back to Lamar and waited at the football field for welcoming and congratulating the players when they arrived. I am so proud of the team and I am sad because my first and last football season is over now but it was amazing, breathtaking and unique for me. THANK YOU!
On Saturday my hostparents took me to Joplin again and we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel. After that we went to a few stores and Starbucks. In the evening my area rep and his wife invited me and my hostparents to come over for playing "The Settler of Catan". We played 4 rounds and it was super fun.
Today I skyped with my family in the morning and then we went to church. Now we are just staying at home and getting ready for school tomorrow.

Presentation (2nd hour; my class)

Choices..

Lord of the Rings

Watch me

Juju on that beat

Yummy *-*

Waiting in line at Walmart

State Championship

Band performance

Congratulations 

Eduardo and Me

Last game for the Seniors

Starbucks love

Settlers of Catan

That´s it for this week,
Isabel :*