Pennsylvania

Today is my last day being in America! Wow! It's so incredible to think of it like that, but it's really true! So, I thought I would catch all my readers (Hi Mom and Dad) up on my adventures in Pennsylvania and D.C. orientation! So, we left on July 25 for our 4 hour flight which I mostly slept throught (a miracle) then we attempted to get out of Pittsburg, got caught in huge amounts of traffic, and detoured to a Kohl's shopping trip and a meal at Bob Evan's, which I honestly remember having better food, but anyways . . . . the next day me, mom, dad, cousin Edmond, and Aunt Traci (Did I mention how awesome it was to see them again?) went to the Flight 93 memorial. I'm going to assume that even though I didn't know what it was, you all do, and if you don't then you should look it up because it is an amazing but tragic story. The next day we did ziplining which was sooooooo fun! It's scary jumping off, but once your suspended in the air, it's really cool. It went by pretty fast, but there were four in total, so it felt like a long time. In between the ziplines we would have to stand on a platform super high up on a pole, which scared the FRICK out of me! It was worse than the ziplinging because after you zipline and get back on your feet, your legs feel really weird and weak, so every movement was like holy crap! I'm gonna fall off this thing! But it was so cool and I would love to do it again! But ANYWAYS that night we watched . . . . THE OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY!!!!!! It was sooo amazing! Well, okay, it was really cool and interesting and amazing and I loved EVERY (okay almost every) second . . . . but I liked Bejing's better. The London opening ceremony were really out there and fun and like "Wow this is really fun and cute!" But that's exactly it, I don't feel like the opening ceremony to one of history's longest, most respected and world wide traditions should be cute, you know? It should be awe-inspiring and stunning and leave your mind reeling with the incredibleness of human capabilities, which is how I felt about the Bejing Olympics personally. But London took it's own route and I can respect that completely. I mean, I don't really think the Bejing was BETTER than London totally, I just LIKED it better, see the difference? But it was a close call! The London was like nothing I expected or had seen, which was interesting. And Paul Mcartney!!!! SO COOL! Hey Jude is one of my favorite songs! I'm so glad they chose it!
Moving on, the next day was my last day in Penn., so I watched the olympics in the morning and in the afternoon my cousin Edmond took me off roading which was . . . . awesome! I loved it! Well, really I was totally freaking out and closing my eyes and praying to God, but I was smiling the whole time :) It was thrilling and terrifying! He took me to the coal mines which are extremely hilly, so we'd go up and down these gigantic hills without him even using 4 wheels! (He drives a jeep by the way) Then we went down a bumpy road to the river, where Ed got mud all over his shoes, but in the end they matched his car because we went through so many mud puddles! We even found a place to do donuts, which I've always kinda wanted to do:) 
So, I know I said I'd write about orientation, but I'll have to do it tomorrow because my roomates are trying to sleep right now and I don't think the click clack of my computer keys is helping, haha. So gute Nacht!

Going Going Gone

Guten Tag! Tonight is my last night in Nevada. More than that, it's my last night sleeping in my own bed! Scary scary thought, but I'm also excited of course. So, last week I was on the CBYX facebook, and this girl had started packing so she wrote about how she was packing then unpacking then repacking and unpacking . . . . and I was basically like pssshhh, that won't happen to me. And it didn't . . . . for the first week. I packed my flight bag last week, sealed it up and didn't touch until yesterday, when my Mom came in to help me pack my carry on, which led to checking my flight bag, which led to unpacking and repacking and unpacking and repacking and frustration and stress and moments when I just want to toss my suitcase out the window. BUT NOW I'M DONE!!!!!! I am so done with packing, mentally and physically. I'm completely and absolutely FINISHED. That's that.

So, as most people know, (because most of you readers were there) I had a Birthday/Going Away party, and it was AMAZING!!!! I had so much fun with all my friends and family! We rented out a club house in my grandmother's neighborhood, which was perfect. It had a pool, a pool table, a room for tables and food, a seperate room with futons and recliners and a nice flat screen TV to play Kinect Adventures on. Perfect except for ONE detail . . . . the gigantic animal heads on the wall. Yes, two deer thingies, 1 hideous hairy pig-type thing that had it's tounge sticking out, and an ENORMOUS big horn sheep. But, other than those decorations, it was very beautiful! There were strands of paper airplanes, and the centerpieces were made out of candy! (They took forever to make!) But the most amazing part was my cake, which was made to look like a suitcase and looked so much like one that when my grandfather saw it he tried to pick it up by it's handles! Apparently they came off, and they had to reconnect them, haha, but it still looked great! So everybody came in, I greeted and hugged a ton of people, we ate (Olive Garden's lasagna and bread sticks, yuuuuuumm. There was even those little mint thingies!) And then my mother showed the beautiful slideshow that she made which was extremely embarrassing, but sweet nonetheless. Just to give you an image of how cheesy it was, she even used the Natasha Bedingfield song Unwritten. I mean, it can't get worse than that, right? But I loved it, very very much. (And I'm not just writing that because i know she's going to be reading this :) So then we hit the pool, which was really fun. Anybody ever played Ninja in the pool? It's awesome. Then all my friends "sleptover" which really means "stayed-up-till-4-in-the-morning-talking-poking-eating candy-and-playing cards". Then I had to say goodbye to all my friends, which was soooooooo sad. I know I'm going to make great friends in Germany and in the CBYX orientation, but no one can replace my friends or the amazing times we've had together.

So, okay, enough sappy. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Pennsylvania to see my cousin, Aunt and Uncle. I only have 3 days, but I'm sure it's going to be great :) And just because I feel like it, here's a bunch of thing I'm going to miss about Las Vegas:
1. My dogs
2. The heat (No, really, I'm going to miss this 100 degree heat!)
3. My outdoor swing
4. The paper lanterns in my room
5. Going to the Mirage pool with my friends
6. Looking at the strip while we pass it on the freeway
7. English
8. Peanutbutter
9. My bike
10. Being only 6 hours away from the Pacific ocean
11. The New Years fireworks show
12. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day
13. Listening to Jingles Bells at Christmas
14. The PERFECT weather in October
15. Just . . . . everything

But I'm on to new things. Things I'll miss when I come back. Ha, I guess it's just going to be a never ending cycle.
Auf Wiedersehen!

The Count Down

1 day (Technically 1 hour) to leaving for Pennsylvania
5 days to leaving for D.C. orientation
8 days to leaving for Frankfurt, Germany

The count down as of this morning

6 days until I leave for pennsylvania. 10 days until I leave for D.C. 13 days until I leave for germany.

It's crunch time.

Guten Tag

Hello everyone! My name is Hannah and I am a CBYX scholarship winner which means . . . . I'm going to be a foreign exchange student to Germany for the year 2012-2013! I found out about the scholarship in late October and turned the ridiculously long application in by January. February I proceeded to the semi-finalists group and was interviewed. I thought for sure I had screwed up the interview; it was really scary and I felt like everything I said was not what they were looking for, but somehow I got through it and was selected as a finalist. So, now it's almost a year later and I'm FEAKING OUT. I mean, I've been waiting for this for a whole year thinking "someday someday" and now somday is here and it's like . . . . whoa. Really?

But it is happening, and to prove it, I'm gonna start The Count Down. So, thanks for reading my first blog. Only 98 more to go!

The Count Down:

16 days until I leave for Pennsylvania to visit family before I leave

20 days until I leave for Washington D.C. for the orientation

23 days until I leave for GERMANY!