Memories – ODA IN PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia

Last Wednesday the US history class went to Philadelphia on a field trip, and their teacher Mr. Landis was very nice and invited all the exchange students to come with them. I have never been to Philly before, so this was a great new experience. Since it’s a long drive to Philadelphia we had to leave Somerset at 5:45 am. Around 10:30 we arrived in Philadelphia, and since no one had eaten yet, we walked through the city to a food marked. After lunch we went to Independence Hall, where we got a guided tour. To be honest, the tour wasn’t the most interesting I’ve ever been to, I even think Mr. Landis would agree with me.

America’s first Post Office

Benjamin Franklin’s grave. It’s a custom to throw coins on his grave, so we did 🙂

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Then we went to this museum place, where they had to-scale-staues of famous people. As you can see, Miguel and I had so much fun!

Haha, we practiced for our prom pictures

Next we went to East State Penitentiary, where we got a guided tour of the penitentiary. Our guide was amazing, he was so enthusiastic and he made the tour really interesting. Now I know so much about the history of East State.Al Capone, who was a famous gangster was once imprisoned here.

Gateway Clipper

Es una fiesta en el barco!

Every year the Spanish club goes on different field trips at the end of the year, and the Gateway Clipper in Pittsburgh is a tradition. Right after school drove in to Pittsburgh, where we met multiple other school who also were going on the boat trip. We started of the fiesta by trying different traditional Spanish, they had paella, chicken, vegetables, and some type of Spanish bread. It was so good, and I was sooo full I couldn’t even move. Now it was time for partheey, and dancing to Spanish music. We had so much fun, we even learned how to dance salsa, and Tanner and I pretended to be deaf when we met people from a different school. Hahha, why? Just because it was fun.

Sco Bucs

I would argue that there is nothing better than spending a Sunday afternoon at PNC park, watching the pirates do their thing while the sun is shining surrounded with people I love.

Two weekends ago Teresa, Maria, Matthew, Franzi, a ton of Teresa’s nursing friends, and I had tickets to the Pirates game. I’m so glad we went because I had such a great time! Story time: While we were watching the game, I looked over to the guy sitting in front of me. I had understood he wasn’t a big fan of baseball, because he had been scrolling on his phone the entire time. As I looked down at his phone I noticed that he was using the ‘swap-faces-filter on snapchat, and I thought to myself “Who is he face-swaping with?”. Then I looked closer, and spotted my face in one of the circles. So I turned to Teresa, and whispered “The guy in front of us is face-swaping me!!!”. She started laughing, and as the goofball she is she photobombed the picture. This started a photo session of goofy pictures with Teresa and me in the background, and I can only imagine who crazy and weird this guy’s friends must have thought we were. Oh well, at least we had fun!

The Perogies Run

I got to try dipping’ dots for the first time!!

Whoopwhoop, baseball game!

Let’s go Bucks!

Young Life – Couch club

As I have mentioned before there is a youth group here in Somerset that arranges fun activities every Monday. A couple weeks ago the team was couch club, so we were all divided into groups with one leader, who would drive us around. We were given a list of locations here in Somerset that we had to take pictures by.. While sitting in a chair or couch. So we stole/borrowed the couch from the field house, and looked like idiots running around town hauling a couch.

Into The Woods

Wow, long time no see. These past couple of months have literally just flown, it fells like it was yesterday that we were visiting Judy and her family down in South Carolina, while its actually been over 2 months.

A lot has been going on since last I updated you guys, so here is a recap.

A couple weeks ago was the premier of this years musical ‘Into The Woods’. After weeks of long rehearsals, itchy costumes, run throughs, and mic checks, it was finally time for what we’ve all been waiting for. 7:00pm the lights went on, and the cast went ‘into the woods’. Except for some minor problems with our microphones, the show went excellent and we all had so much fun.

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Cory (Cinderella’s mother in the show) and I took a picture just like this, the next day she showed me this amazing drawing she had made.. WOW

Guess who has the best family ever, they even brought me these beautiful flowers.

Charleston

Maria, John, Kristi, Umberto, Nicole (host cousin), Brent (Nicole’s husband) their little boy Dylan, and I drove to Charleston one day, which is a city two hours south of Myrtle Beach. I really liked Charleston because it reminded me of many European cities, because it is a very pedestrian friendly city.

We arrived in Charleston at 9.15, just in time to make the ferry which took us to Fort Sumter. On this island there is a big fort from the American Civil War where hundres of slaves once worked. The area right by where we embarked the ferry, is known as ‘the Old Slave Mart’, because this is where people would by their slaves.

When we were done at Fort Sumter, we went to a restaurant called sesame which had the most amazing burgers EVER! Nicole had recommended the vegan black bean burger, so I ordered it with onions, guacamole and peppers.. I know, it a very unique composition but OMG, this burger was so delicious! So S/O to sesame.

Afterwards we went to a marked in town, where they sold all kinds of jewelry, baskets, and other accessories. We also walked to a place called Rainbow row, which is a street where all the houses are painted in bright neon colors.

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Broadway at the beach

As you know, my host family and I went to Myrtle Beach to visit relatives, and yes I didn’t post anything while I was there… So here comes a few posts that summes up most of what we did.

‘Broadway at the beach’ is one of the more touristy places in Myrtle Beach, where they have both normal shops but also a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants. So first we went shopping, before we went to te aquarium which also is located there.

This woman was in the tank with the stingrays and (the smaller) sharks

“Hey Pixar, there is no need to make that second movie ‘finding Dory’, because I already found her.” Haha, I’m just freaking hilarious!

There was a tunnel with a conveyer belt that let you ‘walk’ through the tank and really experience the sharks, fishes, and sea turtles.

IUP invitationals

Last Saturday was our last swim meet, and therefore the last chance for the swimmers who hadn’t made it to districts yet (including me), to make the districts cuts.

07:00, the temperature was way below freezing, and the team was already on the bus heading to Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After an hour and a half long bus ride, where we played ‘heads up’ most of the time, we finally arrived at IUP. Since these meets are much longer than our usual weekly meets, all the schools had their own little area to chill and maybe even sleep in between our events.

Since there were more than 7 schools there, but only one pool and so much time to warm up, our warm-up was extremely disorganized and chaotic, but we made it.

10.15, the meet started, however, since I wasn’t swimming until event 9, and each event had about 10++ heats, I didn’t swim until 12.

The events i swam this day was 50 free, 100 backstroke, 200 relay, and 400 relay. The events I possibly could make it to districts in were th

e 50 free (my time: 31.07, districts cut: 29.2) backstroke (my time: 1.28.00, districts cut: 1.17.00)

Here at IUP I broke my personal record for both, as my times were 30.2 and 1.24.09. Unfortunately I didn’t make the districts cuts. Although I am very happy with my achievements and who much I have improved since the beginning of the season! I couldn’t have asked for a better swim season and a better team.

Even though I didn’t make it I couldn’t have been more happy for Becca and Sara G who both made it in the 100 butterfly! Congrats girls, you did it. You flew your way to districts!

I can. I will.

♫ All I do is swim, swim, swim no matter what. I got swimming on my mind I can’t ever get enough. ♪

As you might have noticed school and swimming is basically what take up most of my day. Although practice is super hard, and there are days I really struggle to find motivation, it is somehow always worth it in the end. Whether it is because my body feels stronger. I get to hang out with some of the most amazing people. Or because I can go home and brag about swimming 100 x 100 yards. At times when it hurts like nothing else, and the only thing I want is to stop and catch my breath, I keep going. Because I know I can do it. Every time I push myself a little harder, kick a little faster, hold my breath a tiny bit longer, I become a little bit better.

Friday last week, the coaches rearranged the lanes, and guess what, I switched lanes to lane 5. Which means my swimming has improved. I know it might seem silly, but I was really elated. When I first joined the team, in the beginning of December, I struggled with coordination. To move my arm and legs at the same time, as well as breathing every third stroke, really was a pain in the butt (as my government teacher would say). Today my freestyle is a lot better. I look a lot more graceful as I swim, and I can even do flip turns. This isn’t something I learned over night, it took hours of practices, hour of convincing my self not to skip a single one of the Christmas practices. But most of all determination and an amazing team who always has my back.

I honestly believe joining the swim team was one of the best decisions I have made so far in my exchange year. Because it has taught me so much about not giving up, but also how important a strong team is. This truly is an experience I wouldn’t be without, and today I even appreciate the 50 snakes we had to do. Although I wouldn’t ever want to do them again. From this day on I have a new word to live by.

Determination

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Senior Night

Wednesday was a big day, it was our last home meet and therefore also our senior night. This night we hosted Northern Cambria, which is a small school, so there weren’t that many on the team. They only had three guys I think, so they couldn’t participate in any of the relays. Anyways… I swam three events; 100 backstroke, 200 relay, 400 relay. In the break they announced all the seniors, and we walked to the end of the deck where the coaches were lined up, and the juniors handed us our senior gifts. Over the speakers they read some of our achievements as well as plans for the future and advice for the younger swimmers. It was really nice event, even though it reminded me that we are coming closer to the end of such a great season.

After senior night we continued the meet. I did rather well in all my events, even though my feet were dead after my 100 yards breaststroke.