Week 38: Build-a-bear and Austrians

Week 38:

In the weekend I went to Clifton Hill with my friend and saw this store. Its called build-a-bear and its a store where you can build your own bear (i know very mature). I just wanted to do it, so I did!!!
Its so awesome! I could pick what bear I wanted, what color, what he wears, I could name him and put a scent inside him (i picked cotton candy hehe).

Well, so that's my bear.

On Sunday, my family and I had dinner with two Austrian Friends of my host grandma. I loved it! Their English wasn't fluent so they spoke German to each other, in the Viennese accent, that I missed so much! It felt so good hearing and speaking German again, even though I feel weird speaking German and sometimes can't find the right words. English almost feels like my mother tongue now. And I love it!

I had an awesome weekend!

Week 37: NEW YORK, BABY! ♛

Week 37:

I still can't believe it, but i actually went to New York City on my Sweet Sixteenth birthday! This was the best weekend of my life!
Sorry if this report is too long but I just have so much to talk about!!

On Thursday at night, I went to Fonthill to stay with my Japanese Friend and a Rotary member to drive to Buffalo on the next morning.
Day 1: On Friday (my birthday) we had to get up at 3:30 pm to drive to the Buffalo Airport to meet up with all the other exchange students and the leaders. WE actually didn't take a plane to New York; we drove in two Vans for 7 long hours!

In the van

Best Friends ♥

Every few hours we stopped to get something to eat and my exhchange student friends made me a cute flower crown, a card and a cupcake for my birthday! I love them so much.

the card and cupcake they made for me

On Friday at 2pm, we finally arrived in New York City!!!!! You can't imagine what we all looked like: faces pressed against the videos taking 100 pictures a minute like crazy tourists! ;)
The first thing we did was we got dropped of at the museum of Arts. We only had half an hour to look at all the amazing things in this museum, because our schedule was packed!

Me and my friends at the museum / me and my flower crown that they gave me

After the museum, we walked to the Central Park. It was beautiful, because it was a bit foggy which made the park look so pretty. We took a long walk and i saw some places in the park were actual movies were recorded! 

We were in the place were "The Happening" was recorded

At the place were "Home Alone" was shot

I also loved the image of the park, the trees, the grass and all the nature in a huge city like New York. You could see the nature combined with sky scrapers, which impressed me.

After walking through the central park, we walked through the upper west side to the Subway. I missed all these big buildings and big cities so much! These buildings were huge and slowly disappeared in the fog the farther I looked up.

At night we went to China Town to grab some dinner. I imagined China Town being prettier and busier but it wasn't very impressive. Soho in London, UK is more beautiful.

Day 2: We also went to the place were the twin towers used to stand. They built a Sky Scryper called the Freedom Tower. Unfortunately I couldn't see the squares that were made to springs (where the twin towers used to stand) because it was under construction. 

9/11 memorial

Freedom Tower

After that, we walked through Highline Park. It was sooo interesting because the ground was made of stone, but all around you are different plants and trees growing around railway tracks. The railway tracks were used may years ago to transport things around the city with trains. Now its only used as a park and once again you can see the nature and human creation uniting. 

Highline Park

Then we went straight to the Chelsea market with hundreds of stores, restaurants and bakeries. There was also an elevator which leads you to the Youtube Business place, right across the street from the Google Building! Its just so amazing how many crazy and really important buidings are built in New York City! 

No matter where you turn your head, there is always something amazing to see!

At Lunchtime, we finally went to Grand Central Terminal! It was as beautiful as in all the music videos and movies I've seen it in.We had lunch there and ate delicious ice cream! I loved the "room" where you could stand in one corner of the room and whisper and the person standing in the other corner can understand you clearly! 

The paintings on the ceiling show the star signs and the stars of the sky. It looks so beautiful! 

Madi and Me in Grand Central Station

The afternoon of this sunday even got better, believe it or not. In the early afternoon we maid our way to the Broadway to watch a Broadway musical called "Newsies". 

The story was about around 20 boys who called themselves Newsies, selling newspapers in New York every day to earn a little money to feed their families. These boys are very poor and don't get paid well. As the government cuts their payments, the Newsies go on strike and that's how the whole story starts.

I was so impressed by this musical; these 18-25 year old guys could sing, dance, do acrobatics, act and were just the most handsome guys I've ever seen! This is my favorite musical of all time!

So when the musical ended, all girls were of course fangirling and we couldn't wait to go outside to get pictures and autographs from the boys. I was standing in line and almost got a picture with the main actor Corey Cott, when our leader told us we had to leave. I was so upset, you don't even know. So I was screaming: "NOOOOO!" and Corey Cott made eye contact with me for a few seconds! He totally thought that I was a mental fangirl but I loved this moment!!! I know I'm crazy hahahaha.....

my favorite actor Corey Cott 

A song from Newsies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBfmAZaGyRM

After this amazing musical, we went to Times Square to do some shopping. Times Square was just overwhelming, all those lights and advertisements were so exciting and I couldn't take enough pics! We had an hour to shop and walk around which of course isn't enough for Times Square.. All the people also keep you from walking fast and we had to stand in lines to pay. 'It was amazing how many different people were walking on the streets, from different countries and backgrounds, some in costumes, some business people, some tourists and all so open minded and nice!

My friends and me went to the M&M store and to some souvenir shops. I bought a few little souvenirs and of course an I ♥ NY sweater ;)

                           

At night we ate at a restaurant close to the Times Square. It was a very long and exciting day and I absolutely loved it !! 

Day 3: 

Sunday was sadly a very short day because we had to make our way back at lunch time. In the morning we hopped in the vans and drove right to the Rockefeller center. We didn't go inside but we took pictures of it. I honestly don't even know what its purpose is but it's a very cool building.

 Right after that we went up the Empire State Building. When I first looked down on the city of New York I just thought: "Is this real life?", because I felt like I was looking one of these postcards or pictures on google, because the view was so amazing. I could see all over the city, thousands of buildings covering the ground. And in the middle, this huge green area. The Central Park. I couldn't actually believe that this view was real life. 

Our last stop was the Statue of Liberty. We hopped in the Vans again and drove right to the place where the ferry would pick us up and take us to Liberty Island. The Island is actually pretty small, and so is the statue. I mean it's not actually small but from all the pictures I've seen of it, I thought the Statue would be gigantic. It was smaller than I had expected but still so beautiful! It was a pretty little island with a tourist shop, a food place and a view point to the skyline of New York, which was pretty gorgeous. 

I honestly had the most amazing weekend of my whole life. I finally got to visit the most beautiful and exciting city in the world and I would have never wanted to spend my birthday anywhere else. I'm in love with this city and I can't wait to come back as soon as possible.

Week 36: Me (ME!?) in a Fashionshow and Rotary Fundraisers

Week 36:

On Sunday I was modelling in a fashion show, a fundraiser for the Rotary Youth Exchange program. It was the first time for me doing something like this and I honestly was so scared! Towards a bunch of people in one room I am very shy and feel uncomfortable. This fashion show was at a restaurant, so everyone was sitting at tables, eating their lunch while I went up to them in my outfits and talked to them.I wasn't sure what to talk about but everyone was so nice and complimented me on my outfits and asked me about my exchange life!
I had to try on at least 10 outfits and the whole fashion show was 3 hours long! I modeled with about 8 other models all 30-50 years old which made me the youngest model. There were 2 little girls modelling too- there were so cute! But apart from that I was the youngest model. It was a very fun experience and somethig completely new to me!

Only two hours after the show ended, I went to a pasta dinner for Rotary. It wasn't as I expected. Everyone dressed casually, ate pasta, had fun, made jokes, walked around and taking part in auctions. The whole event was a sponsoring dinner for "Red Roof" (i think it was called) and the attending people took  part in auctions to fundraise for this organisation! They raised thousands of dollars! Its impressive how much money they could raise and I am happy to be a part of that. There were also 50/50 tickets sold and I won a 20$ Subway giftcard! Now I can eat subs at lunch between my classes ;)

I had a very busy weekend and I can't wait for the next weekend! On Friday will be my birthday and I will go to New York City! I am so excited!

Week 35: Rotary Jamestown Weekend!!!

Week 35:

On Friday at lunchtime i packed my suitcase to spend the whole weekend with my best friends from around the world; the exchange students.

This weekend we were spending time together in Jamestown, New York. All the Canadian In- and Outbounds (Inbounds: students who are currently on exchange in Canada/US, Outbouds: Canadians/Americans, who will go on exchange next year) took a school bus over the border to Jamestown. It was so good to see all my friends again after 4 months.
Over the weekend, we were staying with host families, every outbound from a country with an Inbound who will go to that country. For example I stayed with a girl who will be going to Austria on exchange so I could tell her about Austria and exchange.
Our family was really nice, an elderly couple from a nice part of Jamestown, living in a big house. They were very kind and even accepted me and the other girl being vegetarian! On the last morning  they said they have a surprise for us; and served us vegetarian bacon!

Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Belgium, Austria

On Saturday, we went to the countryside to see an Amish village. It was so interesting too see people living this very strict and conservative religion! We saw people driving horse carriages, tiny shops without any electrical light or any other devices (no fridge, till or radio). All Amish women were wearing long dark dresses pinned together and very long hair covered with a little white cap or hood.
Men wear shirts, long pants, suspenders and hats, everything without buttons because they are forbidden in their religion. Amish even have their own schools and don't like to leave their community or have contact to  our world.
We even went to an Amish blacksmith were we saw young man fitting horseshoes on the horse's hoofs. Because they weren't married yet, they were shaved neatly. An older man had a long beard, which showed that he already has a wive and has joined the church.
Our last stop was an Amish store, full with handmade things. They had incredibly big handmade blankets with traditional Amish pattern, bags, cloths and other beautiful things. I bought a souvenir; a little handmade pillow with an Amish design on it.
It was a really neat experience! Unfortunately i don't have any photo's because the Amish don't like to be photographed, but I will always remember this day.

Venezuela, France, Germany, Austria with Amish caps

At night we had a dance for all the students. It was a lot of fun and I got to know many more people I have never talked to before! There was a DJ and a photo booth! It was a great night.

Photo booth at the dance

On Sunday, we went through the city of Jamestown and went to church in the morning. I really liked the mass, because the program was more for young people, very happy and entertaining. We sang many popular and modern songs which were about god, which was a new experience for me.
In the end of the weekend, we all got a Rotary Jamestown-Weekend T-Shirt, which everybody signed on with their name.

It was a fun weekend!

Week 34: Easter ✼ ❇ ❋

Week 34:

We only had 4 days of school because of Easter break. On Friday, we got off and my host family and I had dinner with many family members. It as nice meeting them for the first time even though I was a bit nervous to be honest. :)
For me as a vegetarian it was a bit hard to find something to eat but fortunately my host grandparents made traditional Austrian Potato salad, which tasted delicious! They immigrated from Austria about 50 years ago and they still speak german!! Its so interesting to hear their stories from way back and hear where they come form because I know all these places!
On Sunday, we had a second family dinner with the father's side of the family. We had dinner together and had a big Easter Hunt too!! We got so much candy and traditional food! It was a great day!
Although the break was very short compared to the 10 days in Austria, but it still was fun!

Week 33: Coffeehouse, Rotary and Easterbaking ✼

Week 33:

On Monday was a big event for Rotary; the Paul Harris Dinner. Paul Harris was an american lawyer, who founded Rotary International in 1905. Every year, special Rotarians receive the "Paul Harris Award". At this big dinner event, many Rotarians from different clubs join together for this event. Even the mayor came! It was a good night and the food was very good too!

On Thursday we had an event in school called coffee house. It was like a little talent show where students could sing or perform something in front of others watching. There were about 50 students from my school performing, some solos, some duos. Some of them were actually very good and I enjoyed watching some of my friends perform!

In the weekend, I went to my friends house to bake for Easter. It was one of the first days in Niagara Falls and I actually regretted that I didn't wear shorts that day! It had over 20°C that day, which was a big change after 5 months of freezing cold winter.

Week 32: New town, new family, new life!

Week 32:

On Monday I packed all my suitcases (+ 11 plastic bags and two bags) to move in with my new host family. For me, the hardest time in an exchange is changing host families. Living with a family for 3 months makes me feel so attached to them that I would rather not leave them.

A few days before, I was informed that I will live in Niagara-on-the-lake for my last three months, which surprised me. Since I come from a big city (2 Million inhabitants), I am not used to living in a little town without public transport or places to go to. In my first seven months, I already made this experience in Niagara Falls. Niagara-on-the-lake has less than a quarter of the population as Niagara Falls, so its a pretty small town. Even though I am not used to this, I embrace change and cherish my new home town. Because that's what exchange is all about, right? Adapting, accepting and embracing change.

However, my family is very nice! I am living with a mum, a eighteen-year old brother, a fifteen-year old sister, a dog and two cats in a cute little house. Even though I really miss my old family, I couldn't be luckier to live with a family like the one I am living with now!

my hostfamily's dog Skippy