Hi everyone!

This is going to be my last blogupdate since my exchange year is over in a few days. It has been an incredible year and such a good experience. I made friends and memories which I will never forget for the rest of my life. It is crazy for me to think about going home soon! I gained a second family here and friends from all over the world I know will always have their door open for me.
So I'm going to tell you about my last couple weeks.
I graduated from High School on May 23rd after I was done with all my finals. We had grad practice the day before where they showed us what we're supposed to do the following day. I was really nervous that I would trip walking the stage or something else would happen. But everything went just fine. I got my diploma and threw my hat in the air at the end of the ceremony. The ceremony was over after a little bit more than an hour. I skyped with my family after I got back because it was also my dad's birthday. That night I went to Project Grad. They have that every year to prevent the kids from drinking and driving. Project Grad was about an hour drive and they set up games for us to play and they had a rockclimbing wall and basketball courts and lots of other stuff. We stayed there until 5am and went back together. I was super tired when I finally got back and just fell into my bed and took a nap. Now we officially had summerbreak!
June 2nd I went on my second trip this year, the WestCoast trip. I was gone for two weeks. I took a flight from Kansas City to Phoenix at 12pm on monday. The first day was basically just arriving and having the rules explained. The following day we went to Phoenix Downtown and did a little sightseeing. There were HUGE cactuses everywhere! We left the next day for the Grand Canyon and arrived at our hotel in the evening. The bus rides weren't even that bad. The whole next day we spent at the Grand Canyon. We also hiked into the Canyon for about 1 1/2 hours. The hard part was going back up...I was exhausted but it was definitly worth it. My legs felt really sore the next day. After the hike we split up and went to different viewpoints of the Canyon. It just amazes you how big it is! We got back to the hotel around 9pm and everyone met outside to get in the hot tub or play volleyball or something. Apparently it wasn't hot at all. Nothing like Phoenix even though it was only about an 4 hours bus ride. Also the scenery changed so fast!
The next morning we left early in the morning to go to VEEGAAAS! Las Vegas was probably one of my favorite places during that trip. We arrived at about 12pm and they gave us some free time on the strip before the brought us back to the hotel to get ready for tonight. We all dressed up and got into a hummer limousine that drove us around Las Vegas. It was absolutely amazing! The next day we had free time on the strip again before we went to the Stratosphere Tower. It's the tallest building in Vegas and it has rides on top. We had tickets to ride all the rides and it was really cool. We were about 350 meters above ground! We went back to the strip after that and had some more time there. I bought tickets for the Cirque du Soleil this evening and I was really glad I went. The show was breathtaking! After the show was over we took a party bus back to the hotel. Next stop was Los Angeles. That was the longest bus rides with about 6 hours. When we got there we went straight to Universal Studios. My favorite part was the Studio Tour. We sat in a tram and drove around the different sets of famous movies or TV shows like Desperate Housewifes. The whole park was really cool and visualized after famous movies.
The following day we went to Madame Tussaud and the Walk of Fame where we had  free time to shop and do whatever we want. LA was really nice but nothing like I imagined. We left there at 1pm and went to the Huntington beach. It was a little bit windy and the waves were huge. We stayed there the whole afternoon and relaxed a bit.
The next day was really exciting. We went to Disneyland!! It was so much fun and the park was really big. There was no way we could see everything in one day. The only sad thing was that they didn't have firework that day because of bad weather conditions even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky!
Beverly Hills and the famous Rodeo Drive was on our plan for the next drive. Everything was super fancy! We went into some shops at the Rodeo Drive like Yves Saint Laurent which was kind of interesting. The prices were pretty insane. And I talked to a cashier at this store who told me that they keep the store open later for stars like Angelina Jolie. This afternoon the bus picked us up for our next stop. The yosemite national park.
We departed from our hotel early in the morning. We hiked for about 2 hours through the national park and then went back to the meeting point to grab lunch and get ready for rafting! Rafting was so much fun and the scenery was stunning! We rafted for probably around 3 hours and when we got back on land we had a little bit more free time before we went back to the hotel.
The next day we headed to our last stop, San Francisco! We got there around 2pm and went to a museum and a lookout first. After that they gave us some free time on Peer39 before we ate dinner together as a group at Bubba Gump. You might have heard from that restaurant form the movie Forrest Gump. The next day we finally rode the worldfamous cable cars and after that had time to explore the city. I saw Lebron James in San Francisco where he was playing basketball. He was just boarding the bus with his teammates. Later the bus brought us to the Twin Peaks but we weren't able to see much because of the fog. After that we had free time in China Town. San Francisco has the largest China Town in the world.
Next day was really interesting. We went to Alcatraz known as "The Rock". It was a high security prison until 1963 I believe. We walked through the prison with headsets on listening to an Audio Tour. After that we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a bunch of pictures and then walked across it. I even spotted a seal from the bridge. After walking the 1.9 miles across the bridge we went back to the hotel and dressed up for our last evening together. We were 49 students on that trip and we had an amazing time together.
Right now I'm down to my last two days with my host family and my friends here which makes me really sad. I can't believe how faster this year went by and I'm really sad to leave but at the same time really excited to finally see my family and my friends in Switzerland again.

Bye, Sandra

Graduation

Grand Canyon

Route 66

Vegas Baby!

Yosemite National Park 

THIS IS REAL! (not Madame Tussaud!)

San Francisco

Hi everyone!

A week after we got back from Hawaii we had Springbreak. I did some sightseeing during this week with my hostmum. For example we went to the Nelson Atkins Museum and the Cheescake Factory and went to a Sporting KC game. It went by superfast!
So the weekend after school started we had Prom. On Thursday we all went outside for the "Mock Car Crash". The simulate a car crash with fire trucks, police, ambulance, etc. It felt so real. All that to prevent the kids from drinking on Saturday after Prom.
On Saturday I got my hair done and then went to a friend's house to get ready. The dance started at 6pm. But before everyone goes somewhere to take pictures. Me and my group went to the Union Station in Kansas City downtown. Our Prom took place at the Arrowhead Stadium our Football Stadium which was pretty cool. We got there and all of the kids sat down on the nice prepared tables. They also set up a photo booth which was very popular. We all danced the rest of the evening. At 10pm the dance was over and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to get something to eat. After that I went to my friend's house and slept over at her house.
Two weeks later AFS organized a Day in the Country for us. We milked a cow, made smores and fished and sat together at a bonfire. We had a lot of fun together. I fished for the first time ever this night and I caught a fish after only ten minutes!
The following tuesday was Senior Night for Soccer. We won our 2nd game that night! We received presents from our teammates and letters and some cute pictures.
This Sunday I went to my first Royals Game with some other AFS-kids. Even tho our team lost we had a great time.
Tommorow will be my last day at school! I can't believe my schoolyear at Chrisman is already over!!

Day in the Country

Bubble Soccer

Royals Game

Soccer Senior Night

Cheescake Factory

Mari and Me

Fake Baby

PROM!

Kat and Me

the foreigners!

Bye, Sandra

Hi everyone

Last week was one of the best weeks so far. I got to go to Hawaii with a huge group of foreigners from all over the world!
Friday the 6th I went to a friend's house so we could go to the airport together. We had to get up at 3am because our flight left at 6.30. We flew over Denver, LA and from there to Honolulu. In LA I finally saw my friend from Switzerland again. 

DAY 1

So after almost 10 hours in the airplane we arrived in beautiful Hawaii. We got to our hotel around 5 and checked into our rooms. I was super tired! I think the time difference was 4 hours. After dinner they gave us some information about the following day. Sunday we were supposed to go surfing but sadly the waves weren't high enough so they replaced it with stand-up paddling.

DAY 2

At 9am we departed from our hotel and walked to the near by beach. The plan for today was going on a 45 minute catamaran tour and surfing. I even saw some seeturtles on our catamaran tour. That was amazing. The other group spotted some dolphins. Later in the afternoon we got some freetime to walk around in Waikiki and do stuff on our own.

DAY 3

Today we will get to know the city and visit one of the only two palaces in the US territory. We will visit the Iolani Palace.'Iolani Palace, the official residence of Hawaii's monarchy, is a marvel of opulence, innovation, and political intrigue. Meticulously restored to its former grandeur, this National Historic Landmark in downtown Honolulu tells of a time when their Majesties, King Kalakaua, who built it in 1882, and his sister and successor, Queen Lili'uokalani, walked its celebrated halls.

After that we went to the North Shore Beach which is famous for it's high waves and one of the best surf competitions in the world. The waves get up to 50 feet during the surfing season. Next to this beach there's a little surfer town where we had our lunch. We drank out of coconuts had some of Hawaii's original shave ice and a pineapple burger.
The next stop was the Polynesian Culture Center. They showed us how to dance the Hula, or teached us how to play the Ukulele. I went on a canoe trip through the Polynesian Culture Center and after that we had some traditional food. Before we departed we watched a movie about the polynesian culture and saw a show.

DAY 4

Today we visited the east side of the island. We headed to the pali lookout. The Nuuanu Pali Lookout ("Cool Height Cliff") overlooks the 985 foot cliffs of the Koolau Mountain Range and is one of the best views on Oahu. It was here in 1795 that King Kamehameha and his warriors defeated the O'ahu armies and united the Hawaiian Islands. It was pretty windy up there but totally worth it.

Then we went to the Kailua Beach. On of the best beaches in the whole world. We had to get our own pirvate life guard because it's more like a private beach. It's also home of worldclass wind-surfing championships. It was absolutly beautiful. No stones, no trash and stunning blue, clear water!

We stayed there the whole afternoon and returned to the hotel around 5pm. We went out for dinner with the whole group and had some free time after that.

DAY 5

Today was a really exciting day. We hiked up the Diamond Head!Diamond Head has been extinct for 150,000 years! It even served as an early Naval Defense Base in the United States Military. We hiked up on sunny trails and unique spiraling staircases. Super exhausted we arrived at the top. And wow you could see over whole Oahu and even catch a glimpse on Molokai and Lanai in the distance. Two of the other islands that belong to Hawai'i. I didn't have too much time on top of the Diamond Head because I had to catch the bus to go kayaking.

So after they showed us the basics of paddling in a kayak we carried our boats to the ocean and hopped in. 4 kilometers were ahead of us till we reached our final destination. We had to make sure our boat wouldn't turn on our way. Especially with the waves being pretty high. While we were paddling we spotted several seaturtles which was amazing. After probably half an hour or more we arrived on the island. We ate lunch and relaxed a little bit. Paddling was pretty tiring!

So the island we were on was a protected one which meant many rare animals! This island was the home of an endangered bird our tourguide told us. We hiked to the so-called "Bath of the Queen". During stormy weather the waves are pretty high and fill this little natural bathtub. It even had some fish in there. I also saw a see urchin. From the "Bath of the Queen" we spotted some whales. Pretty fare away but that was really cool! After we made our way back we had to get ready super quick because the rest of the group was ready before we even came home.

This evening we went to one of the biggest shopping malls in Hawai'i, Ala Moana. We had some free time to shop around and meet with the other people in the group. Around 7 we met at Bubba Gump. You probably heard that before. The restaurant is inspired by the film "Forrest Gump". It's a seafood restaurant and famous for its really good shrimp!

This night I went to bed half dead. I was super exhausted from the hiking and the paddling!

DAY 6

For this day I was really excited. We toured Hawaii's famous Pearl Harbor, home of the USS Arizona, which serves as the final resting place for many of the American battleship's 1,177 crew members who lost their lives on December 7, 1941 after the Japanese attack. I got to talk to two Pearl Harbor Survivor who are coming back to Pearl Harbor 3 days a week to tell their stories. We saw a little movie about this attack before we went on a boat to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. It was absolutly quiet on the boat and the memorial. It was a really sad place. You could still see pieces of the USS Arizona battleship. At the end of the memorial was a big white wall which had all the names of the fallen soldiers. You were still able to smell the oil from the boat. We had a little bit of time to walk around before we left Pearl Harbor. Our next stop took us to the National Cemetery. I've never seen something like this before. White monuments evenely lined up as far as you could see.

We made a citytour before we returned to the hotel and had some beachtime. I don't know if any of you watches Hawaii-Five-O but we made a quick stop at the statue they show.

DAY 7

The plan for today was snorkling. I went out with a friend and we spotted some pretty cool fish!

We also saw an eel who was sticking its head out of a rock. The beach we snorkled at was an old volcano. It was kinda hard sometimes because the rocks were so close to the surface. I got some scratches on my bellie and one of my friend got a really bad cut on her leg. So this was our last day. Unbelievable how fast this week went by! Because it was the last day we went to a Luau at Paradise Cove. A luau is a traditional Hawaiian Party which is accompanied with entertainement like the Hula. The main dish of a luau is pig. We just enjoyed our last evening we were able to spend together. I met such amazing people from all over the world this week!

We got home around 10pm and everyone pulled out their shirts they received here or their flag they bought so everyone can leave a nice little message. It was really sad to leave the whole group. I was in the first shuttle to the airport at 4am. We traveled the whole day and finally made it back to KC at 11pm.

At the airport waited and amazing surprise for me. Two of my bestfriends actually came to the airport with banners. I was so happy to see them!

Well, that was basically pretty much all about Hawaii. I'm really happy that I got to do this awesome trip and see a whole different way of living in the same country.

Bye, Sandra

Shave Ice

our daily meal ;)