Sorry for the delay in posts on this blog - it’s funny how quickly my life can change. One day I’m living my normal life with my family and going to school, the next day I’m at the state championship with my tennis team, and the day after that I’m off to camp for six weeks and preparing for a mission to Belize as well as a year in Germany. It’s all quite hectic because there’s absolutely no time in-between.
After school ended, I vowed to start studying my German as often as possible. I am now on Level 4 of the practice book I ordered from Amazon. (I can speak about greetings, numbers 0 to 100, family members, rooms in the house, plus definite and indefinite articles!) It’s harder than I was expecting it to be; after taking four years of Latin, my two years of high school Spanish were a breeze because so many of the words are similar, and pretty much everything seems easy after Latin J German, however, seems to be very different from any other language I have spoken before. But I am confident that I will eventually understand it!
And before I forget, here’s the most exciting thing of all….I GOT MY HOST FAMILY PLACEMENT!!!! Everyone in my exchange program has been eagerly awaiting their host family info, and last week I finally received mine!! The family I will be staying with lives in Berlin, and they have three daughters: Elisabeth (age 25), Ann-Charlott (age 18), and Emma-Mari (age 16). I am so beyond excited J
And other exciting news…MY TENNIS TEAM WON THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It was probably one of the top five most exciting things that has ever happened to me. Since February this had been our team’s goal, and for the first time in our school’s history it actually happened – the girl’s tennis team got first place in the state. I will never forget how excited I was when we stormed the court and got our trophy; it didn’t even feel like real life. The only sad thing about it was that it signified the end of our tennis season - our team had grown so close, which of course made it practically impossible to say good-bye.
From the championships, my mom and I went straight to our camp, 4 Star. My parents are the owners/directors, and they spend the whole year preparing so that it can be the best possible experience for every camper. My family and I live here with the counselors and campers for six weeks of the summer, which to sum up in two words is fun and exhausting. In past years I have just been a regular camper, but this year I am an official “counselor-in-training”. It’s an important job, and it really makes me appreciate all of the counselors I’ve ever had, because kids are A TON of work. You have to be constantly evaluating situations and counting heads and looking for people in need of help and just making sure everyone’s happy. In addition to being a counselor-in-training, I’m also the assistant office manager, which keeps me very busy (who would have thought there were so many nametags to be made, emails to be answered, and forms to be filled out!). But the truth is that I truly enjoy being busy, so I am happy as can be.
The only downside of living at camp is, to state the obvious, the fact that it is not my good old home. I was hoping to be able to spend the last few weeks before my departure to Germany just appreciating my comfortable and familiar home, but being here at camp is a close second best. I mean, we get to live in the UVA college dorms, which is pretty awesome (aside from the fact there’s no air conditioning and I am constantly sweating). Plus from my window I have a perfect view right down into the camp courtyard, so I can always see what everyone’s up to. And I get to improve my tennis a lot by going to the tennis courts every day!! And I get to talk to and hang out with all of the cool college-age counselors!! And since it’s an international camp, I get to make friends with people from all over the world!! And this weekend we’re all going to New York City!! Okay, I take back what I said about wishing I could be at home – camp is way better.
I guess the only thing I wish right now is that life would slow down a little. As I said before, it’s all moving along too quickly - I really just want to appreciate every single moment as much as I possibly can before I leave for my big adventure in 37 days.
After school ended, I vowed to start studying my German as often as possible. I am now on Level 4 of the practice book I ordered from Amazon. (I can speak about greetings, numbers 0 to 100, family members, rooms in the house, plus definite and indefinite articles!) It’s harder than I was expecting it to be; after taking four years of Latin, my two years of high school Spanish were a breeze because so many of the words are similar, and pretty much everything seems easy after Latin J German, however, seems to be very different from any other language I have spoken before. But I am confident that I will eventually understand it!
And before I forget, here’s the most exciting thing of all….I GOT MY HOST FAMILY PLACEMENT!!!! Everyone in my exchange program has been eagerly awaiting their host family info, and last week I finally received mine!! The family I will be staying with lives in Berlin, and they have three daughters: Elisabeth (age 25), Ann-Charlott (age 18), and Emma-Mari (age 16). I am so beyond excited J
And other exciting news…MY TENNIS TEAM WON THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It was probably one of the top five most exciting things that has ever happened to me. Since February this had been our team’s goal, and for the first time in our school’s history it actually happened – the girl’s tennis team got first place in the state. I will never forget how excited I was when we stormed the court and got our trophy; it didn’t even feel like real life. The only sad thing about it was that it signified the end of our tennis season - our team had grown so close, which of course made it practically impossible to say good-bye.
From the championships, my mom and I went straight to our camp, 4 Star. My parents are the owners/directors, and they spend the whole year preparing so that it can be the best possible experience for every camper. My family and I live here with the counselors and campers for six weeks of the summer, which to sum up in two words is fun and exhausting. In past years I have just been a regular camper, but this year I am an official “counselor-in-training”. It’s an important job, and it really makes me appreciate all of the counselors I’ve ever had, because kids are A TON of work. You have to be constantly evaluating situations and counting heads and looking for people in need of help and just making sure everyone’s happy. In addition to being a counselor-in-training, I’m also the assistant office manager, which keeps me very busy (who would have thought there were so many nametags to be made, emails to be answered, and forms to be filled out!). But the truth is that I truly enjoy being busy, so I am happy as can be.
The only downside of living at camp is, to state the obvious, the fact that it is not my good old home. I was hoping to be able to spend the last few weeks before my departure to Germany just appreciating my comfortable and familiar home, but being here at camp is a close second best. I mean, we get to live in the UVA college dorms, which is pretty awesome (aside from the fact there’s no air conditioning and I am constantly sweating). Plus from my window I have a perfect view right down into the camp courtyard, so I can always see what everyone’s up to. And I get to improve my tennis a lot by going to the tennis courts every day!! And I get to talk to and hang out with all of the cool college-age counselors!! And since it’s an international camp, I get to make friends with people from all over the world!! And this weekend we’re all going to New York City!! Okay, I take back what I said about wishing I could be at home – camp is way better.
I guess the only thing I wish right now is that life would slow down a little. As I said before, it’s all moving along too quickly - I really just want to appreciate every single moment as much as I possibly can before I leave for my big adventure in 37 days.