New Beginnings

Countdown..

2009-12-11T23:07:00.000+01:00

The countdown has begun. Only eight more days until we are flying our way home!

Thankful Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T18:17:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving...and Thanksgiving food in Germany is hard to come by! We were able to find a small little turkey, my dad made mashed potatoes and apple pie! Yum! I was very thankful for our little feast but I do miss our annual holiday traditions with our family! I'm very thankful for all my family and friends and for this oh so wonderful opportunity of living abroad and seeing the world! Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and delicious!

xoxo

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2009-11-15T00:43:00.000+01:00

Today as we were walking through the city I was amazed with the amount of Christmas decorations already put up! But then I remembered that there was no Thanksgiving here...and right after Thanksgiving is when Christmas really is in swing and decorations are put up in the States...I guess I'm just not used to everything out so early! But it did get me excited for the Holidays!

A little taste of Italy...

2009-11-09T18:14:00.000+01:00

3 Days

2009-10-12T19:59:00.000+02:00

....until no more school and

ITALY!

I am so excited to go to Italy! We are going to Rome for 6 days and to Florence for 5 days! I'm wishing for good weather, but nothing more than a good trip :)

Just another Fall Sunday...

2009-10-11T11:34:00.002+02:00

G.I.N. Rotterdam 2009

2009-10-06T21:07:00.001+02:00

Last Thursday my G.I.N. group and I left on the last period of the school day and headed off to Holland! After a long, but fun, train ride we got to Rotterdam late at night, found our hotel, and set our for dinner.

The next morning, though our actual school had the day off, felt like a normal school day to us. We got very early that morning making sure that we would be right on time at the school for the first day of the conference. The theme of the G.I.N. conference this year was 'Water Water Everywhere'.

Students from all of the international schools present, which was just around 5 or so, gave presentations on anything and everything to do about water...privatization, shortages, pollution, intake, statistics, etc. We also had many guest speakers come and give presentations to us about many different water subjects as well. Later that day the conference ended around 3ish and we headed back to our hotel, cleaned up, and hit the town! We walked to the river and looked in some shops and around 6:30 met our fellow students from the other schools at a restaurant in the city. It was a really nice meal and it was fun getting to know the other kids better too!

Saturday morning was another early one, waking up before the sun, we set off for the school once again. The conference only went until 12 that day, but was also filled with informative presentations and activities all about water! When the conference was over we huried back to the hotel, got our luggage, and we were off to the train station, boarding another long train ride back home.

My Math teacher Mr.Tun came with us on the trip

One of my roommates, Miriaj

My friend Lauren and also one of my roommates

Weronika

Ann Kristin

Rotterdam train station

City

The whole group in front of the school before the first day :)

Daniel and Lauren

The stage and screen where the presentations were given

Cheetah bike!

Funky art work by the water

River and cool bridge

The World Trade Center

Cool building and lots of bikes :)

I had a lot of fun in Rotterdam and learned a lot. But one thing I was very disappointed in was that there were absolutely no souvenir shops..but I think I have plenty of pictures to remember the trip by. :)

In 2 days

2009-09-23T17:08:00.000+02:00

our house will be full!

Three out of four of my just wonderful aunts are coming to visit us in Germany! My mom is showing them around Europe while they are here with a side trip to Spain! :) I'm excited to see all of them again and to hear a little more English!

Watch your step!

2009-09-20T11:44:00.000+02:00

Today as I was doing my daily backyard chore I had to be very careful.

Watching my every step, not only to pick up the doggies droppings, but because frogs are hopping around everywhere! They are so cute and so small but they come out of no where!

Simply Saturday.

2009-09-19T20:18:00.000+02:00

G.I.N.

2009-09-03T17:52:00.001+02:00

Have you ever heard of the Global Issues Network? (a.k.a G.I.N.)

It's a group that debates/speaks/presents and learns about things taking place all through out the world. Things such as water shortages, global warming, etc.

Every year several conferences are held in Europe. The conference is held by students of international schools through out Europe, concerned about international causes and finding solutions for them.

On October 1st to the 3rd thats where I'll be.

There are many reasons why I wanted to join the group.

One: because I am interested in international problems and situations going on in other countries.

Two: because it looks really good on college and work applications :)

Three: because it would be a great experience, presenting my school and a topic I care about in front of students.

Four: because this year the conference is taking place in Rotterdam, Netherlands..and well, I've never been to the Netherlands. Why not give it a shot then? (and get a trip out of it too!)

One problem. The presentation is presented by the G.I.N. group at my school...infront of ALL the other groups from international schools in Europe. That's A LOT of people.

I have butterflies in my stomach already.

Just over night

2009-08-28T15:36:00.000+02:00

As I was riding my bike home from school today I was shocked with the sudden splash of yellow, orange, and red! I thought the tree's were green on my bike ride home yesterday..and now there is color everywhere!! I guess fall is comin sooner than I expected!

xoxo

"Summer's Over" blues..

2009-08-21T15:35:00.003+02:00

School started on Wednesday.... and I'm already wiped out!

Probably just not used to waking up sooo early, thank goodness its the weekend!!

Summer raced by so fast! I can't believe it's already time for alarm clocks, school lunch, and loads of homework...

I have the "Summer's Over" blues.

New Jersery!

2009-07-27T15:18:00.002+02:00

We got picked up on Friday night by my aunt and cousin at the airport, after an extremely long flight! Went home and rested up!

The next morning we woke up before anyone else! Talking with family and planning our daily excursions! Through out the day we just rested, hung out with family, caught up with conversations, and had a good time! Later that night we were reunited with some more family as we had a big old family BBQ!

Then Sunday rolled around and we all got up bright and early! It was time to go shopping at Woodberry Commons! It was SO nice to be back in a regular mall, my mom and I could practically hear the angels singing again! We were there from about 10 to 3 and everyone was s9 tired after. Worn out from the shopping all day we cooled off a little, picked up my cousin, went to a normal American grocery store! We had a delicious dinner and after went and saw the Ugly Truth! It was nice to be back in an American theater and to see a movie in English again!

We have had such a fun time so far and look forward to the days that come! :)

Tomorrow....

2009-07-23T09:59:00.004+02:00

is the day I will be flyin my way home...well, first NJ, then home! :)

And I haven't even started to pack yet! My mom and I feel like we are already running behind, we usually are the type of people that begin the packing process around two days before...but not this time! I'm not sure why we didn't begin with our usual ways....maybe just avoiding the all day process?

Well, enough wasting time....must pack!!

xoxo

Today I....

2009-07-22T17:46:00.003+02:00

Went shopping with my mom!

Had to bathe the dog...

And then, in some mysterious way got cut by the wheel of a wheel chair on the bus!

Not really sure how something round can cut you the way it did to me, but it happened!

Wishing all a fun and wonderful day! :)

xoxo

Thankful

2009-07-20T15:01:00.004+02:00

Last year today...

I left my life, all that I ever knew, my family, and my friends behind and my family and I started a new experience.

Today, looking back at the year, that I thought would last a lifetime but truly sped by, I am thankful for the experience that I have had so far. I have met so many wonderful people, seen so many beautiful places, and have learned so many things during the last 12 months.The knowledge and understanding of other cultures and languages that have come to me during this time is something I will always cherish.

But everyday I think of family and friends back home, wondering What they are doing? How are they doing? and What kind of experiences I would be having with them if all of this never happened? Though I miss everyone and everything so much I am thankful for my families situation.

My life changed, and so have I during this first year, but as our 'New Experience' continues, I know that it will be something I will look back on in the future, something I will grow off of.

Not everyone has the chance to change their life like my family did, though it was hard at first, my family has grown from our experience and we are all glad for the memories we have created so far on our journey.

What a great day!

2009-07-13T17:37:00.011+02:00

Today we were blessed with absolutely perfect weather!

The rain finally stopped and the clouds went away, letting the sun shine back in and the blue sky show!

It was a bit breezy out but just the right temperature, a totally perfect day for being a tour guide through out Bremen!

We took my Grandparents and my cousin into the city today.

Walkin to the bus stop!

Waiting at the bus stop!

On the bus

Market

Allie

My Grandparents!

A church in the City Center!

Random smelly Toilette!

Allie rubbing the Bremen Town Musician's legs for good luck!

xoxo

Update!

2009-07-12T17:25:00.002+02:00

Well so far since the fam. has been here we haven't really done much at all!

Last night we went to an early dinner at a nice little place down the road and got back just in time before the travelers eyes gave up to sleep!

All slept in this morning and had a nice late breakfast...

We got ready for the day, with the idea in our head that we would go to this pretty park along the tram line....when the rain decided to start falling once again!

It has been raining ever since!

To pass the time we played cards, read and have been sitting around catching up.

So it's been a pretty calm first day so far, good rest for their jet lag!

xoxo

The fam. is finally here!

2009-07-11T16:13:00.003+02:00

Their flight landed in Bremen right on time this morning!

My mom made her way through the rain and went and picked them up at the airport.

They all crammed into a taxi and drove through the city all the way out to our house.

So far we have sat around, talking about everything...

My dad and I took my cousin, Allie, on a walk with Sophie on our county walk route right when the rain broke its never ending fall!

We came back and played a game and now the tired little travelers are having some issues keeping their eyes open, fighting the time difference. I think my cousin gave up and let her heavy eye lids win, I hope the time doesn't affect them too much! :)

Enjoy your day!

xoxo

Ready to go!

2009-07-10T16:04:00.009+02:00

Tomorrow is the big day!

And we've been getting ready for it pretty much all day!

The day started off with German! My mom had her German lesson first thing in the morning...

and while she was learning I had the honor of cleaning my room and bathroom.

Then my mom was off to Sophie's grooming appointment.

While she was gone I....continued cleaning! Vacuuming, dusting, striping the sheets and changing the towels, all that fun stuff! :)

Sophie arrived back looking so pretty for her guest's tomorrow!

Before:

After:

With Sophie all pretty as can be, the house clean, and only grocery shopping left it seems like we are totally ready for tomorrow to come and our visitors to arrive! So excited!

Now only if the rain would lighten up a bit! :(

It's been raining all day, hasn't stopped once! We all hope it clears up so the fam can have a nice, warm, and sunny summer trip! :)

Scary skies!

Isn't Germany green enough? We don't need anymore rain!

Puddles everywhere....the rain just keeps fallin. :(

Hope everyone else' Summer is bright and sunny like Summer weather should be! :)

xoxo

Count down!

2009-07-09T22:38:00.003+02:00

Only two days left until the family arrives!

We are all soooooo excited to be able to show people around and let them see what our new life is all about!

My Grandparents and my cousin, Allie, (my same age) are coming on Saturday morning...

so you know what that means:

CLEAN! CLEAN! CLEAN!

My mom started the ordeal today!

Dusting every surface downstairs. vacuuming, etc. And tomorrow it's my turn to help with the upstairs!

Though I strongly dislike the cleaning part of all this..

I really like the family visit part of it and am super excited!

I guess we won't be getting any Summer sun today :(

2009-07-08T18:20:00.004+02:00

A week in review

2009-07-05T17:21:00.009+02:00

As another Summer week past by my mom and I used up the freedom of no school or homework with relaxing along with busy days of getting things done!

On Thursday we went into the city. We did a little shopping and went to Starbuck's, of course!

On Friday we started early! We left the house at 10:30 and made our way down town again with the buses and trams. Already sticky and hot from another day of crazy high humidity we went into the train station and bought our tickets for our trip to Bavaria with my cousin and grandparents next week. After purchasing our tickets, that took a little longer than expected, we ate lunch!

Ready to go out again and face the heat we were off on yet another tram then a bus to get to Ikea. It took us about 50 minutes to get out there. Once inside we raced through the maze of furniture and got everything we needed!

Our cart was just a little to full to take the trams and buses back home...

so we took a taxi, which was also much, much faster!

That night we met some friends for dinner at a restaurant in the oldest part of Bremen, called the Schnor. The restaurant is called Schroder's. It has wonderful food and a wonderful atmosphere. But we had a small problem. Most of the restaurant is outside and right after we arrived it started to downpour!

We were seated under an awning in a very nice outdoor place of the restaurant. It was raining so hard at times that it would splash up against everyone's feet. It died down a bit and finally stopped once we got our meals...but the rain did not help the humidity! You could feel it get higher as everything started to dry up..not so good for curly hair when the person with the hair is not expecting curl at the time!

All in all it was a great time with friends and delicious food!

Statue soaked by the rain...

My Dad

My Mom

On Saturday we did our daily chores. Biking to stores here and there. Later in the afternoon we met on of my Dad's coworkers for dinner near the river. We ate dinner, people watched, talked, and later went for ice cream. The weather was perfect. Temperature not too hot with just the right breeze, clear skies and beaming sun, all made the city look so beautiful!

City Hall (Rathaus)

Later that night we came home and celebrated the 4th of July in the only way we could...

Sparklers!

The things you miss....

2009-07-02T17:42:00.006+02:00

On the 19th of July will mark the one year anniversary of my family living in Germay.

We miss so many things from home, but have learned to love so many things living here.

One major thing we miss are the American holidays!

We were home for Christmas, and Easter is the same here as anywhere!

But holidays like...

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Valentines

St. Patrick's

and the 4th of July are really missed!

The 4th of July is coming up this weekend and it will be weird not to celebrate it in our usual way! Our family, like any family, has their yearly traditions..

Parade with the extended family..

Dinner party with the friends....

and so on!

I will defiantly miss the fireworks...

red, white and blue decorations...

and the patriotism that goes along with the holiday!

But we are going to celebrate the best we can! Making cookies, meeting friends, and wearing our colors! It will be different but our spirit's still the same!

Wishing you all a joyful and sparkling red, white, and blue holiday!

I have....

2009-07-01T15:33:00.004+02:00

a hot and sticky body that cannot cool down...

Curly hair that used to be straight...

and a mind that is set on never leaving the house again with out a portable fan!

All because of 85 degree weather and 100% HUMIDITY!

I love Summer. Hate humidity!

Summer Lovin'

2009-06-30T21:18:00.003+02:00

Today was a wonderful Summer day!

The sun was shining..

no clouds to be seen..

and birds cherping..

I also discovered a pool near by my house.

I went with my friend and her family.

We soaked up the sun, splashed in the pool!

All in all it was a great Summer day!

I hope you have the same!
xo

Is that dust?

2009-06-29T10:33:00.003+02:00

I live with a woman who seems to love cleaning.

I don't.

But yesterday I had to suck it up, put on the rubber gloves, and scrub! scrub! scrub!

The house does look better and I must admit that I too like having a clean house....

...when I'm not the one cleaning it! ;)

Organization is also a must in a house of little, or no dust! So my room is the most organized it's ever been. There is a place for everything, all neatly stowed, stacked, or folded away. Maybe the cleanest room a teenager has ever had....

won't last long! :)

Wish you all a neat and dust free day!

UGG

2009-06-26T17:34:00.005+02:00

The picture above may be an item on this coming Christmas List!!

I just found them today on the UGG website, and I fell in love right away.

I already own some UGG's, in a dark brown with fall color flowers on them, but I think these may be the perfect pair to brighten up a cold winter's day!

But then again...

I also am thinking something plain.

I could wear brown with a lot of things, and I think they are cute.

I already have flower UGG's aswell.

But I love both..

Tell me what you think!

???

Check!

2009-06-23T17:45:00.008+02:00

This past weekend my family and I checked off another city off of our 'Europe List'!

We went to Oslo, Norway!

My dad had gone the past year around the same time with some coworkers and he really enjoyed it. My mom and I weren't really sure what to expect though.

We did know one thing. And that was that the sun would pretty much never go down there! That was because the Summer Solstice was happening!

We had a really wonderful time, the weather was great, and we saw a lot of the city...

Vigeland Park

Statue in Vigeland Park

Viking ship

Scary mask thing in the Viking Museum

Penguins in an Exhibition museum!

My Mom and Dad

Ships in the Harbor

Statue near the City Hall

National Theater

Statues in a park near by out hotel

They had a T.G.I. Friday's there! :)

Nobel Peace Prize Building

I'm Ready

2009-06-17T19:27:00.004+02:00

for Summer!

Surprise!

2009-06-16T19:07:00.007+02:00

I had been planning it for weeks.

Organizing times, dates, who, when, where, all that kind of stuff! And on Saturday was the big day.

My friend, Lauren, has her birthday during the summer, and is always saying how she can never have a party or do anything because everyone is always away.

So my friends and I thought that there would be no better way to make her Birthday special then to surprise her with a party!

I envited all the people that I thought she would want at her party. We had it at my house, a sleepover, with 9 girls! The girls, except Lauren, came a couple hours early and helped me decorate and get ready. She came around 5 and everyone was in there positions. We rehearsed about 4 times and everyone knew their cew!

She walked in, thinking it was just a regular sleepover, with me and two other girls, but as i told her to bring her stuff upstairs four other's popped out from various places! The look on her face was irriplaceable! She was totally surprised!

Through out the night we played games and had a really fun time!

I really think she loved it and had a wonderful time, I know everyone else did!

One of her many silly gifts!

We wanted to do something fun for her...so we filled up a super cute pink trash bin with a bunch of fun, random, and silly things, that we knew she would love!

Weronika and I

Valeria

Valeria, Virginia, and Emily

The Bday girl, Lauren, and Virginia

The partay girls!

Me!

Her reaction to a bunch of girls jumping out at her!

Preparing for her arrival!

Wonderful Wordful Wednesday!

2009-06-10T21:10:00.000+02:00

Since April

life has been pretty busy around here for many reasons. Below are my following excuses for not blogging frequently, or at all, for the past month or so. But I'm back! (and feel really bad for my absence) :)

April:

-Class Trip: My class along with the 8th grade class and the

7th grade class went on a week long field trip! We went to a place called Theaterwerk ( or Theater Work in English!) in Northern Germany. It is only about an hour away from Bremen. While we were there we worked on a play called Class Action, about High School kids lives when not in school! We had a very productive week on our play, including line memorization in one day, scene rehersals, even costumes and props, causing very late nights sometimes!!! The play was about two weeks after this feild trip so that trip was very important for everyone!

-My mom flew to Arizona for her parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary. She was gone for two weeks. :(

May:

-During the first two weeks of school, since the class trip, all the students apart of the cast spent their time in preparation for the play. Busy all the time remembering lines, getting props, and rehersing as much as possible.

- The play was on the eighth of May and went really well! Everyone did so great and the audience seemed to really enjoy it! It was a wonderful

time and experience for us all! :)

-My dad went to Utah/California for about two weeks. Both places for bussness, along with seeing family and friends in Utah!

-My school has a club called The Key Club. This is an international club, many schools all across the world have them. The club is the kids version of the Kiwana's Club. The club devotes itself along with whatever it does to raising money for charities or organization's that help children, in anyway. So around the middle of May we held a presentaion for

all the Kiwanas Club members in Germany. We are the only Key Club in Northern Germany, so we just told them alittle about the projects and fundraisers that we had done so far in 2008-2009. We were presented with 'The Best Key Club of the Year' award.

Pictures while waiting for our time to shine with our presentation!

June:

-Since school is almost to an end, on June 19th, the teachers have been craming in work, tests, projects, etc. Thinking that work would calm because of school ending, it has just kept coming. But since there is only a week and a half left for me, it has been slowing some! :)

Here are some pictures from our Drama Field Trip:

Boys playing their obsession: soccer (or Futball as they call it :P)

My Friend Emily (and Roomate for the trip)!

Aylin!

Relaxing after rehersals!

Having fun on stage!

Now, I know my excuses aren't the best....but I feel guilty. ;) And from now on, blogging will be daily, or an attempt at daily!

Hoppy Easter!

2009-04-11T20:10:00.011+02:00

I wish everyone an Eggcalent Easter,

with a lot of Hoppiness and Joy!!!

xoxo

A delicious day!

2009-04-10T23:22:00.006+02:00

Yesterday my mom and I

spent our day in the kitchen.

My mom made lemon pound cake, one for our neighbors, one for her German teacher, and one for us! While I made Easter cookies!

The lovely baker herself!

The ingredients to her masterpiece!

Not quite done yet! :)

The ingredients to my yummy Bunny cookies!

Sophie sunbathing during all this baking!

The Bunnies fresh out of the oven!

Some of them didn't quite make it though :(

Me making my Bunnies pretty!

The finished product!

Now, I was having issues turning this picture of my Bunny around, but I just had to post my oh so Preppy green and PINK Bunny!

and of course...

The Rainbow Bunny!!!

What's in your backyard?

2009-04-10T22:30:00.009+02:00

When my family lived in Utah

we practically had the mountains at our back door. We lived right on the bench of the mountains, only 20 minutes away from the ski resorts, and totally loved it!

Now, here in Germany, we have the total opposite. We went from tall and soaring peaks to flat and grassy landscape! Just down the street from our house here in Germany we have acres and acres or endless farms, fields, grasslands, etc. Its amazing! My dad showed me what the image looks like on Google Earth and the green never ends it seems. Through out this never ending landscape are various bike paths. They go from big long paths with people enjoying the nature by biking, running, walking, even roller blading! While some are small, dirt paths that lead you through fields of wheat with a random house/farm here and there.

It is actually quite picturesque out there. The fields are so pretty during the spring time, sometimes you pass a quaint little lake, a small community restaurant here or there, and sometimes you can ride for ever and not see a soul.

Looking back I find it quite interesting how landscape affects weekly activities. During the winter in Utah we were up in the mountains constantly, my dad and I loving skiing with a passion, we would be up at the resorts every weekend. During the fall driving up the canyons to see the color change. And during the summer in Utah we would hike in the mountains. Going on family hikes to Lakes, or with friends, we were constantly up in the mountains, using them and enjoying them all year around.

Alright this was taken in early spring last year at my school, and if you ignore the crazy people in this picture you can see the mountains in the background! That's you close we were too the mountains!

But, living in Germany, where endless fields of green and gold are right next door, year around events are scarce. During the winter we rarely rode our bikes along the paths and through the fields, but in summer and fall, with everything blooming and the weather so nice, we take a bike ride out there almost every weekend!

We went on a very long bike ride today! The weather was perfect, we actually got a little hot at one point! The bike paths were a little busy at times, but not too bad! We took a different rout this time and saw some very interesting things! We passed by a small shack, I can't remember the name, but they had picnic tables set up everywhere and the place was packed. It looked like a small snack shack to me, but people were lining up to get their drinks and spicy sausage. (That is what my mom kept saying they were probably eating :] )

We also rode by a small community. There were a few very very very small homes on the side of the bike path/rode. We also rode by a field with tents set up, a camping ground, or a campingplatz, in German! Near the campinplatz was a small river, not one I would personally take a swim in, but there were people there, getting in the canoe's and swimming around.

Here are some pictures from our day!

My Dad!

Horse riders, I forgot to mention that every now and then on the path a few people riding horses pass by! Horse riding is very big here in Germany.

Holy Cow!! :)

Here is my PINK Bike taking a rest, by a pretty flower bush, from all the pedaling!!

My dad having a snack and soaking in the spring weather!

Miss Kathy Safety!

This picture doesn't do justice, but near the end of our journey today we rode along side a small river. On the other side of the river were these beautiful homes. Many of them had docks at the edge of their properties. They were very quaint and picturesque!

And that is my new backyard!

Have you decorated your...

2009-04-10T16:02:00.008+02:00

...Easter Tree yet?

Yes, your Easter Tree, sort of like a Christmas tree, but for Easter!

These Easter Tree's are in almost every front yard, shop, or school here in Bremen. The first time I saw one I was..shocked! I had never heard of, seen one, or even thought of an Easter Tree before!

Whats on an Easter Tree?

Well eggs of course! We have seen these eggs before at the grocery stores, they are little plastic or wooden eggs with looped strings attached to them, in order for them to hang!

Everywhere people have their Easter Trees decorated, I saw our neighbors decorating theirs yesterday! I wonder if my family will ever get an Easter Tree!

Above is a picture of my neighbor's Easter Tree. The picture didn't turn out too well, so I'll post some more pictures of ones that I see around town tomorrow!

Spring Fever!

2009-04-08T22:16:00.004+02:00

For a while now

the weather here in Bremen has been exceptionally good! Spring has arrived, flowers blooming, skies clear and blue, causing the German's too actually smile!

Spring is my all time favorite season! The weather is perfect, flowers are everywhere, and pink is one of the main colors!

I also love Spring because...

It is the season that my birthday is in!

Easter!

Spring Break of course

and...

it means that Summer is just around the corner!!!

I hope your day is blooming with spring joy, blue skies, and the songs from birds!

London

2009-04-05T12:33:00.013+02:00

Last weekend

my parents took me to London for my 15th Birthday!

Packing very light, leaving room in our bags for our new shopping finds, we were off to the land of the English!

The first thing we did once we were in London was the London Eye! It is such a cool ride, you go sooo high in the air (135 Meters to be precise), and you get the best view of London there is. It's a long ride, but the capsules are giant, so we were all able to get pictures of the city from every angle.

This is what we rode in on the Eye

My Mom and Dad

View of Big Ben from the Eye

The day after was my Birthday, so we celebrated it on Oxford and Regents Street, shopping our little hearts away and going in all the American stores we could find!!

After we went shopping we went to dinner and then to a movie! This was my first time, at a movie theater, since Christmas time that we saw a movie in English!!! We saw Slumdog Millionaire, which was very good!

The next morning we packed our bags and got ready to leave, we weren't leaving until that night, so we left our bags at the hotel and did some more sightseeing! We went on a walk through Hyde Park and saw Buckingham Palace along with the Horse Guards.

It was a wonderful birthday and trip!

Kensington Palace

Swans

Gates near Buckingham Palace

Celebrate!!!

2009-03-26T19:43:00.004+01:00

I will be 15

in just

2 days!!!

And....Since my parents surprised me with a trip to London for my Birthday and we leave on Friday (which I cannot wait for!!!), I won't be able to celebrate it on the actual day with my friends!

Sooo....

Today was the day of Celebration! I brought cupcakes into school and shared them with all my friends, spreading the joy and deliciousness!

They were chocolate with chocolate frosting and sprinkles! What color? PINK of course!

My friends loved them, they always find it so fascinating when ever I bring in cupcakes. The reason? Well...The German's don't really have cupcakes, the have muffins. Their muffins are just normal muffins, so they find the sugary treats with frosting and sprinkles quite amazing, while I find their reactions quite funny!

Today is.....

2009-03-19T10:18:00.006+01:00

My Mom's and Dad's Anniversary!!

They have been together for 21 years! I hope that they have a wonderful Anniversary with many more wonderful years to come!

You would have never known....

2009-03-18T21:14:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was St. Patty's Day, but if you were here in Germany, you would have had no idea! Ever since I can remember everyone has worn green on St. Patty's Day, even if they weren't Irish, but here in Germany it's just like another day!

As I was getting ready for school yesterday, wearing anything and everything green that I could find, I was interested to see how the Germans celebrated St. Patrick's Day. In America it's automatic that you wear green, celebrate the holiday (even if you may only be 1/8th Irish!!).

When I got to school I was soo shocked with the little amount of green I saw through out the day. I was the only one in my class wearing green, and in the upper grades of my school there was only about 4 others wearing green, lets just say that a lot of pinches were going around!

Hope you all had a green and lucky St. Patrick's Day!

xoxo

Doodling Dumb?

2009-03-16T19:02:00.004+01:00

From 5th Grade on I have had to do a big project; Either the State Fair in 5th Grade (New York), Country Fair in 6th Grade (Poland), or the Science Fair in 7th and 8th Grade ( Which Soda Stains Teeth the Most/What Affect Does the Location of Bread Have on Mold Rate?). And last year I thought was going to be my last year; turns out not!
About two weeks ago my science teacher announced to the class that the Science Fair was coming up in a couple weeks and we needed to start thinking! My first though; WHAT?! We have to do Science Fair? I thought we were in High School now, you don't do that...right? Well, it turns out at the International School of Bremen, you do, everyone does!
So..I started thinking of what to do, though I wished I didn't have to, I tried to think of something interesting, creative, and new! Well as it turns out that night I was online checking my email and what do ya know?! There is a link to an article on my Homepage that caught my eye! The article explained how some scientist at Plymouth University researched how doodling can affect your memory, how when test subjects listened to a recording; listing different places and people, some were doodling while others were not. After the recording they all took the same quiz, asking questions about the recording, and the results concluded that the people that were doodling while listening to the recording were capable of answering more questions that the people that were not!
After reading the article I decided that this was what I was doing for my Science Fair experiment, it's a new discovery, it's interesting, seems fun, and something totally out of the ordinary!

Kreativ Blogger

2009-03-16T18:20:00.005+01:00

I was tagged by my mom at West Family Adventures to list seven things that I love and tag seven others to do so as well! Here's what I love....

#1. I love my friends soooooo much, old and new, and miss my friends in Utah with all my heart!

#2. My family is my life, I would be lost without them!

#3. I love anything outdoors, if not skiing, swimming, hiking, or just walking and hanging out! Enjoy the world around you!

#4. I love to shop! Shoes, bags, dresses (anything) are my passion! :)

#5. Skiing is my most favorite thing to do! I love the feeling of freedom while flying down the slopes, wind on your face, and the beauty of the mountains surrounding you!

#6. I LOVE PINK! Pink is the color of almost everything I own. Pink is my color. When you think pink, you think Katelyn!!! Ex: Pink Bike, Backpack, Umbrella, endless supplies of clothes and bags...etc!

#7. I love to blog/write, thought I don't get to it a lot. I love blogging because it lets my friends and family back home know what is happening and going on in my life. I love writing because it clears my thoughts and lets my imagination grow!

OK..so there are some/seven things that I love! The task is to tag seven others, but....I say that anyone that feels like letting us all in on what they really love welcome to it!

xoxo

Europe....

2009-03-10T20:05:00.002+01:00

ISB Valentine's Day!

2009-03-08T20:43:00.001+01:00

My School, the International School of Bremen (or ISB for short!), celebrated Valentine's with the Spirit of LOVE in the air! We had a fun time all dressed up in the LOVE Day colors while sweets and Vday decorations were sold, all the money donated to a local heart foundation!

My Friend Lauren and I

Valeria! A new girl in our class (for about 3 weeks now) that comes from Mexico!!

Crazy 9th Grade!

Emily, Lucien, and Aylin!

Emily and I!

Dennis and Max

Birthday Month!!

2009-03-08T20:26:00.004+01:00

March has finally come and it is time for my first German Birthday! I am turning 15 in just 20 days and can't wait! Everyday I tell my friends at school how many days and they often break out singing Happy Birthday!

I love my Birthday and am excited to be 15, but it is going to be strange not having my Birthday at 'Home', without my friends and family, but also a new and exciting experience! My parents told me today that they wanted to take me back to London over my Birthday, to go shopping at some of the American Stores (wahooo!) that they have there and to get in some more sight seeing! I cant wait!!! :)

I'm Still Here!

2009-02-24T20:37:00.005+01:00

I know, I know, I know! I haven't blogged in about....forever, but I've been busy! I had grades to focus of for my Report Card, school itself, and my family went on vacation, but I'm back and I'm going to try to blog more, I promise! So here are the last 2 months or so of my blogging absences....

Austria

2009-02-24T12:51:00.020+01:00

About two weeks ago my family and I went on a Ski trip to Ebbs (Kufstein) Austria with my friend, Emily, and her family! I had never been on a ski trip before, living 20 minutes away from wonderful ski resorts all my life in Utah, we never found them necessary.

We rode the train there, which is always fun and very relaxing, and you could notice right after we crossed the German/Austria border how much the architecture changed. From rooftops to wood trimmings, it was all different and very cute! When we got the the Ebbs train station, while we were still surprised with the small size of it, we couldn't help but focus on the beautiful, yet small, town surrounding us! Every detail on the churches and stores made the place look like a village out of a snow globe, with the mountains in the background, it was picturesque.

We spent the whole week skiing down the slopes and had a blast at a resort named SkiWelt, the biggest in Austria! (containing 91 chairlifts and 70 places to eat!) My dad and I were nearly in heaven, for we had always dreamed about skiing on the Alps, and were loving every minute of it! Before we moved to Germany my dad and I were up skiing almost every weekend, I have skied all my life and had been on a ski team for 5 years, so skiing in Austria really brought back great memories along with making us very homesick!

We had a great time skiing in Austria, the weather was great, and dreams came true!

My Mom and Dad on the train to Ebbs

Dad in Munich Train Station

My mom and Lars in the Gondola ready to hit the slopes!

My friend Emily and her mom

Chairlift, I thought the ramp to get down was interesting...

8 person chairlift, looks like a couch...

I thought this was really cool! I have never seen or heard of a double chairlift like this!

Chairlift with heated seats and bubble!

Dad on awesome heated chairlift

Lars in heated chairlift

On the bus up to the mountain

Emily, Me, and Lars on the Bus!

Emily and I

Mom, Dad, and I!

Yaks! We were just skiing along and randomly there was a farm with Yaks, just watching the people ski along!

(Picture dedicated to Jordan and Ginny!)

Ski Bunnies!

Mom and Me!

Our cute little Hotel!

Kids dancing the traditional Tirolean Dance!

Looks like Hop-Scotch to me!

More of our Hotel Entertainment! :)

Museum/Castle/Fortress of Kufstein!

This was the weather the day and the day before we left, snowed so much that it just piled right up on the swing set!

View from the top of a Gondola on a super nice day!

There's a German way for everything....

2009-02-08T20:41:00.009+01:00

The other day as my class started 'Sport' I was reminded by my friend that we were starting Volleyball! I was happy to hear this news, I had actually played Volleyball before on a team and wasn't that bad at it, finally a sport I could play! As the Gym, or 'Sport', class started I realized that the kind of Volleyball the people around me were playing was definatly not the kind that I was used to! I kept noticing how they would let the ball bounce on the ground once before they hit the ball themselves, while I was thinking to myself "What are they doing? Isn't the whole point of the game not to let the ball touch the floor?"...

As the drills and practice continued I was still trying to get the the hang of this bounce then hit process, never knowing if I should let the ball bounce or just hit it! We finally began a game, while I was still trying to mold this knew way of Volleyball into my head! Wondering if they just got the rules wrong, or if the German's had a different way of playing the game..?

The game had been going well, after a little while I began to get used to my team letting the ball bounce before they hit it, getting used to the new rythm and planning for when the ball was to come to me...Well, the ball finally did come to me! And while it was falling from the sky, getting closer and closer, my mind was racing and all I could think about was whether to let it bounce or hit it right away! Of course my team members were absolutly no help at all, all the while I had a ball flying at me some were screaming 'Hit It!" while others were saying "Leave it, Let it bounce!", which really did not help the tramatic situation I was already in with this new method.

Well, what goes up must come down, and when the ball finally did make its way down to me it didn't end up happening like I had played over in my head just moments before. My team for sure didn't appreciate or really understand my confussion, for this was the way they had always played it said my friend!

....

The next week I wasn't looking forward to Gym as much as I had been the week before. Now knowing what I was in for, scolds from team members, confusion while the ball was falling above me, how excited could I really get?

But, this week ended up differently... Before we began the game my Gym teacher asked if we wanted the game 'with bounce' or 'without bounce'! I realized that this wasn't the way that they really thought you played Volleyball, where the week before I figured that the German's had changed the sport a little to their liking, but it was really just a way to get used to the flow of the game! They had been playing the 'easy' way the whole time, well, easy for them that is! So, when my Gym teacher asked what way we wanted to use, I was the only one that yelled out 'With out bounce!' while the rest of the class screamed 'With!' ,and sadly won with glory, while I tried to focus on 'bounce and hit, bounce and hit!'

Saying Goodbye

2009-01-28T19:41:00.009+01:00

When I first found out about our move to Bremen, the first thing I thought about and dreaded the most was saying goodbye to my life long friends, and family. I had lived my whole life in Utah, only moving once to move to a different house, but never really having to say goodbye to my friends. Everything had been so familiar my whole life, life was comfortable and safe, and I was looking forward to going to High School with all my friends.

But, as I learned more about our move to Germany my concerns of goodbyes got higher and higher, thinking it was going to be nearly impossible for me to leave my friends and family and trying not to think about it as much as I could. It was hard to leave and a hard thing to go through, still is, but today my views on goodbyes have changed. I now know what it feels like to leave your whole life behind, your friends and your family, everything you have ever known. Now that I go to an International School friends are leaving all the time, never really knowing how long anyone is going to stay I have found myself to be more open and excepting of goodbyes.

Hearing about friends leaving and moving in my school now is something I have grown to know and except. I think this move has changed me and taught me something important. I have learned that change is hard but happens all the time, true friends are with you where ever in the world you are, along with family is always at your side. These past couple of months have been hard but I have realized that in every negative situation there is always a positive. At the beginning of our move all I saw was the negative, leaving my friends, family, and life, what could be positive about that? Looking back I can now find many positive aspects of our move; traveling around Europe has been a wonderful experience, meeting new friends and being tested on true friendship with one's I've left while learning how strong friendships really are.

Though life has changed in drastic ways, negative times and things have occurred while positive ones are had along with lessons of life and friendship, I would have to say that this experience has been a positive one for me. I have gotten to learn and see so much of Europe that I would have probably never had a chance to see, I have learned more about my friends and friendships have been made stronger by being apart, I have realized how much I really appreciate my family, and I have been blessed with meeting new people that I know I will have contact with for along time. Many days have been full of sadness and wishes to go home, sorrow for family and friends, and tears of memories, but in the end thoughts come up of fun experiences, memories made because of the move, and fun times had, passing by all the sad feelings and sorrow. Because of the move to Germany my family has endured many negative times but through ever negative time has come out a positive memory that we will forever remember through our new experience's in Germany!

Mystery Meat

2009-01-19T21:24:00.006+01:00

Day after day my friends and I await our lunch in the long line of kids wondering with fear at what we will be served today! My school is known for its terrible lunches with interesting sauces, desserts, salads, potatoes, and its ever-so-famous 'Mystery Meat'! We are never quite sure what we are eating, all we know is that is sure doesn't taste normal and some days, when it's really bad, we end up saving ourselves at the 'Student Store'!

Apparently my school received a better, 'gourmet', lunch service this year, but from what my friends have said it seems like nothing much has changed from previous years. O well, what ever will we do about our daily little mysteries? I guess it adds some excitement and thrill to the ever so long lunch line, although sometimes mysteries don't taste as good as they sound!

Connection Obsession!

2009-01-16T18:27:00.013+01:00

For a while now my friends have been constantly bugging me about Facebook and Myspace, saying I should get it, it's really fun, and a good way to stay in contact with people! Well, I finally gave in and have been consumed and obsessed with it ever since! I do agree though, it is a wonderful thing for staying in contact with people, seeing there photo's, and a lot more, but can distract me from things such as homework and an occasional chore or two!

Today I have controlled myself with them, only checking them a few times and trying to catch up on my blogging (Due to family pressure!) , emailing, and more! But, it is hard not to spend hours on end on the websites! They've pulled me in with "Flairs", tests, "Chatting", and more, its all so overwhelming and fun! Examples below;

A Little Taste of Home...

2009-01-16T18:00:00.005+01:00

Ever since I can remember my family has had the tradition of 'Home Made Pizza' every Friday. But that tradition slowly faded as the moving process started near the end of May '08! Friends and family constantly would tell my Dad how delicious his pizza's are and always looked forward to it! I personally have to agree! He is quite the master of the art of pizza making and it was greatly missed during the summer months of our move!

Other complications were brought forward though, all the ingredients we needed would take a while to find at the store, seeing they are all in German! But that's where Google Translate comes into play! Out of all the ingredients we couldn't find yeast so decided to use our handy dandy Google Translator and found it translated to Hefe in German! Now that we knew our word we could find the ingredient for our ever longed for, famous Craig's Pizza! Yummy Yum...

The finished product!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

2009-01-10T18:09:00.008+01:00

Over the past couple of month's my family and I have been surviving pretty well without a car! We have figured out the bus and tram schedule's and have made our way's around with our bikes...But winter has finally come to Bremen, and it's a whole different story!

Every time the door is opened just a crack, chills are sent down your spine! It is so cold here in Bremen that our weekly routine of taking bottles on out bikes to the drink department store down are street and taking the bus to pick up our groceries has gotten harder and colder and a much less exciting and appealing job! There is no snow here but the humid bitter cold forces you to extremely layer up!

I am usually one that is fond of winter. I've grown up with snow and cold weather all my life and every weekend during the winter I would be up at Snowbird or Alta skiing away! But, this cold is different! Bitter, humid, bone chilling cold is not my kind of winter! Bring on the sunshine, shorts, and summer! I've had enough of the Bremen winter!

Our Visit Home

2009-01-03T18:09:00.013+01:00

Our German Christmas Tree

Mom and Dad while we were opening our "German Christmas" gifts

Sophie

Friends Together Again

Game Time!

Fun Times

Christmas Eve Party

Family

My Grandpa and Grandma

Expert Wii bowler

Mom have trouble with the game

Mom and I

Dad on Christmas Morning

Hayley and I

Crazy Girls

Ginny and Sarah

Connor, Andrew, Nate

Sarah and I

Alex

Dance Party

The whole gang on New Years Eve

Mom and her fancy Champagne on the plane back

to Bremen!

Home Sweet Home

2008-12-22T12:36:00.015+01:00

Finally we are home, after a long and stressful journey my family and I can now look out our window's, seeing the mountains and landscape of the place we have missed and love so much! But, although we are peaceful now and enjoying our visits with family and friends, we had to travel 6,000 miles to get here, the journey was not always peaceful with negative and positive times through out....

The day before our plane set off we were going through the day packing our clothes and getting last minute authentic German Christmas presents for everyone back at home. The day had been going good so far, we had just taken Sophie on a long and beautiful walk and opened up presents from our "Germany Christmas", then suddenly my clumsiness strikes again! As I was making my way up the stairs my foot slipped, causing me to fall on my knee and elbow and spilling my drink everywhere! Usually, I fall down our stairs and not as I am going up them! Yes, this has happened twice before, once holding my computer and the other with a drink in hand too!

After my tragic and clumsy event we all went to bed with the excitement of going home the next morning.

Waking up was one of the easiest thing, along with getting ready to go with speed and excitement of finally making our way back home! All was going well, Sophie was picked up early to go to the "farm" and we were all ready with enough time to get the luggage out to the front porch before the Taxi came. The rain was pouring down hard and our joy went higher when a van taxi pulled down our driveway. We had 6 suitcases plus a ski bag and it all fit perfectly! Though our taxi driver only spoke German, my dad got along just fine, attempting to speak and understand him and while we slowly made our way out to the airport.

Finally we had made it to the airport, checked in all of our luggage, went through security, and made our way to our terminal, which didn't take long considering that the Bremen airport is so small that there are only around 5 terminals to choose from. Our flight had been delayed about 15 minutes, giving us time to relax while my mom found time to worry about the luggage, the dog, and house. Our plane was off and it took us only about 30 minutes to get us to the Frankfurt airport.

But, because of our delay in Bremen we had to rush through the Frankfurt airport, making it just on time with the worry of our luggage not making it on the plane racing through out all of our heads. After making it to our terminal, thinking we had actually made the flight we discovered that we didn't even have a plane yet, creating another delay, and making out layover in Chicago an even shorter time period. Once on the plane and in the air we all relaxed and rested, tried not to sleep so we could get adjusted with the time zones, and watched a lot of movies.

Landing was hectic...we got ready to sprint off the plane once the plane touched the ground! We were prepared to run as fast as we could to catch our flight to SLC. We had to go through customs, recheck all of our luggage in, go through security, go on a train to get close to our terminal, and sprint to the terminal in all of 20 minutes. We had No problem going through customs, we were one of the first people of the plane and didn't have to wait in a long line, but after customs is when the stress started to really build up! We then had to go get our luggage and then recheck it in. Problem #1: luggage from 2 planes were all going onto one carousel, causing massive luggage overflow where the workers (not sure if they even knew English to help anyone) had to climb onto the machine to organize the luggage so the carousel could keep moving...well, that didn't work to well because there were at least 5 or more time were we saw the workers climbing on the carousel to untangle the luggage overflows. Finally, we had our 6 suitcases and it was time to go fetch the ski bag and check everything back in again.... Problem #2: There was No ski bag to be found! It was still somewhere in Frankfurt and didn't make our flight to Chicago. Finding someone to help us in order to tell us this information took another 10 minutes out of our extremely minimal time limit.

Forgetting about the ski bag and taking the luggage we had we rechecked it all in...Problem #3: Long lines at the check in counter causing my inpatient and totally stressed out family to freak out! Leaving ALL of our luggage with some man walking around with a luggage scanner as he promised us he would check our luggage in for us, he did work there so we trusted him. This action was probably our biggest mistake, seeing that we didn't get our luggage for 3 days after we made it home! (But I'll get to that later!)

After we left our luggage with the "man with the luggage scanner" we ran to the train stop in the airport. As we came up to it the train drove away and we had to wait another 5 minutes for the next one. We got on the train and impatiently rode it to terminal F. Once there we then had to sprint through out the terminals trying to find ours. The signs led us through out the airport, up stairs, elevators, then down stairs, in long hallways, tunnels, and more exotic pathways and we finally made our way to the terminal we needed. As my mom and I were huffing away my dad begged the lady at the desk to let us on the plane. As she went to check with the pilot of the plane to see if we could board my mom worried about the luggage and we all asked our angles for help. She came back with bad news...we could NOT get on the plane! As we talked over what we would then do, she told us that there was another flight later on that we may be able to make. We were all starving from our long adventure of getting to our terminal so we decided to go get some dinner when an "airport guy" ran after us telling us that the pilot changed his mind, we could now get on the plane! (WAHOO!) But, there was one problem, the plane had already pulled away! So, we had to go down the ramp thing, go down some stairs to get us outside. When out side we had to walk to the plane, while it was snowing, and then go up the slippery stairs (Clumsy Katelyn Hazard) and finally onto the plane. When we were all settle on the plane we had to wait another 30 minutes before we could go because they had to "de-iced" the plane....

Attemption at sleep was ruined during the flight for my mom and I, do to an annoying father-daughter duo seated in front of us. As we leaned on our trays to try to get some sleep the two found it OK to lean back, squishing my mom and I in between their seats and ours. We would have leaned back away from the two sleep deprives in front of us but were unable to because we were seated in front of an Exit row. As we attempted to sleep while being constantly awoken by the restless people in front of us we were also excited to be on our final flight and actually be home!

As we landed we was nearly "attacked" by welcoming friends and family that came to greet us at the airport. We waited for our luggage to come out while we talked and caught up with the people we had missed so badly over the last couple of months. When we had been waiting for a little to long, everyone else from our flight had left and had their luggage and we didn't we came to the conclusion that our luggage had never made the flight from Chicago to SLC. Sadly we left the airport, having really no idea where our luggage was, and rethinking over our decision of leaving all of our stuff with the random "luggage scanner guy".

For about 3 days we were all wearing the same clothes, although we did take showers. We were worried about our luggage's, which were full of presents and all of our favorite clothes and shoes. We finally got a call that our luggage was all in the US, 3 of the suitcases were in Chicago, 2 in Denver, and the skies were on their way to San Fransisco! The next call we got from the airport was that our luggage had all arrived in SLC and that they could deliver them to my grandparents house, but we didn't want to wait any longer or take the risk of losing our luggage again, so my mom and dad drove down to the airport and got all of our suitcases, relaxing us all with the comfort of different clothes and making us happy that we would be able to give people their authentic German Christmas presents.

Now suitable to go out in public and not be seen where the same clothes once again we still had a lot to do for Christmas. We had to get more gifts for family and friends while wanting to see people too! Christmas was a blast and we had a really fun time visiting family and friends and seeing all the people that we missed so much.

When it was time to leave and go back to Germany we said our sad goodbye's to friends and family and spent almost 3 hours on New Years Eve trying to cram all the we had brought, bought, and had received in 6 suitcases, as the night went on we realized that that was not possible so we had to take one of my grandparents suitcases and tried to put as much as possible into it! All in all we had 7 suitcases, 1 ski bag, a boot bag, my mom and I had 2 carry-on's, and my dad had 1 computer bag, and we managed to fit it all in 1 car, unable to use seat belts because they were all crammed under luggage but we were all tightly seated in the car, using each other and all the stuff surrounding us as cushioning! We did manage to celebrate the New Year! We had a fun night with friends, played games, and barley were able to stay awake to bring in 2009! It was a fun night with people we love and miss and was a fantastic end to our wonderful visit back home.

Our journey back home was the totally opposite from the beginning! We did have some layovers but managed to make all of our flights with out having to run through out the whole airport. We also received all of our luggage at the airport this time, but 1 suitcases didn't make the flight in Frankfurt to Bremen but was delivered later on that night!

We all had a wonderful, fun, and exciting trip! Though some times were stressful we loved seeing all of our family and friends and had a fun time with all the people we missed so much!

Can't wait for the Next trip Home!

Winter Dinner - 2008

2008-12-08T19:29:00.006+01:00

Every year my school throws an event that they call The Winter Dinner. This event is a night where the whole school community comes together and raises money for the school. Performances are held by the choir, Santa comes and presents are handed out to the children, money raising auctions take place, and much more. It is a fun event where people can donate to the school, talk with friends, and meet new people. Below are some pictures from the fun night we had....

Red Nose Day

2008-12-05T17:00:00.006+01:00

This Thursday my school celebrated the German Red Nose Day. Red Nose Day is the day in Germany where people buy and wear red noses and the money used to buy these noses go to a certain charity. Well, my school wanted to do something similar! But because we couldn't get any red noses we did Reindeer Day instead. When we got to school we bought Reindeer antler headbands and had our noses painted red. The money made by this also went to charity. Below are some silly pictures of my class and friends dressed up with the Christmas Spirit:

London

2008-12-03T22:03:00.024+01:00

On our first day of our unique Thanksgiving weekend we walked all around London, exploring the city, gazing at the beautiful architecture through out the streets, and occasionally following the wrong "leader" and getting lost! We got very excited when we found The Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Urban Outfitters, finally some American stores, but had to strain ourselves since we are heading home soon!

Through our shopping temptation we ventured out through out more of London. We saw Big Ben, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens, Harrods, Hyde Park, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, etc...

We discovered a "German Christmas Market" in Hyde Park. London's attempt at a Christmas Market was a little funny, since living in Germany I have had a chance to see the German Market masters do some pretty fantastic fairs. London and Germany's Christmas Markets are very different, and I like the German ones much better, but London did a good attempt at it! :)

All through out our London trip we, sadly, never got our call from the Queen to have tea, but maybe next time! It was a wonderful and fun trip, and a very exciting and unique Thanksgiving.

My Mom in her rain poncho, or plastic bag as my Dad and I called it, on the top of the double decker tour bus!

Trafalgar Square

Harrods: A shopaholics Heaven!

Mom and Santa at London's German Market

The Changing of the Guards Ceremony-Buckingham Palace
Totally interrupted our Tea with the Queen!

That's my kind of Taxi!

Big Ben

The London Eye

At the Tower of London my dad and the birds had a small incident that took a lot of scrubbing to take care of!

Kensington Palace

Gobble-Gobble

2008-11-26T18:13:00.008+01:00

Ever since I can remember our family has been together for Thanksgiving, spending it the traditional way with the big Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pie, etc... But this year is different! We are spending our Thanksgiving visiting Big Ben and the London Bridge in London!

It's the time of year to be with family and friends...spending the Holidays with joy and cheer. Even though we are far away from our home with all of the things that we love about the Holidays we are still enjoying ourselves over here in Germany, visiting and getting to know more and more about Europe every chance we can get!

Keep your eye's out for our unique Thanksgiving pictures next week!

Happy Thanksgiving....

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

2008-11-22T16:37:00.006+01:00

The sun peaked in through the window shades as morning awoke and my Mom came bursting into my room. It was Friday morning and my Mom had to awake me to tell me that it was snowing in Bremen! She opened the blinds, letting in the brightness of the sun, exposing the light, wet, snow falling from the sky. Although it wasn't sticking just yet it was still exciting all the same! Below is a picture of one of the small things that can make my Mom and I happy!

As the day drew on the snow kept falling off and on through out. That night I had a Birthday Party for one of the girls at my school, and as my friend, Emily, and I were making our way back home with the buses and trams the snow got heavier and heavier! Before we knew it we were walking through snow covered sidewalks, full of joy that it was finally sticking to the ground! We were shivering and cold but happy all the same! Below is a picture, from the same place as above, of the snow that actually stuck! Wahoo....

The next day, as my parents, Emily, and I were still enamored with the snow (you'd think that we'd never seen snow before.) My parents decided to go for a walk down a country path near our house. There are some really beautiful pictures of the snow covered tree's and countryside above! Enjoy....

100 Random Things About Me!

2008-11-19T17:41:00.014+01:00

I was just tagged by my mom for the challenge to write 100 random things about myself! I've decided to take the challenge and I think I can handle it! Well, lets see how far I can get....

1. My favorite color is PINK!
2. I'm addicted to Vera Bradley
3. I love talking on the phone
4. I have a dog named Sophie and she is the cutest in the world!
5. 5 is my favorite number
6. I love the smell of rain
7. I love it when I get mail
8. My favorite season is Winter
9. I love taking pictures
10. My favorite books are the Twilight Series!
11. I miss my friends soooo much
12. I am an only child
13. I hate taking tests
14. I hate it when my room is messy
15. I think homework is a waste of time, but I still do it!
16. My favorite store is American Eagle Outfitters
17. I love the mountains
18. I have been a skier since I was 3
19. I suffer from too much Catholic Guilt (I get it from my mom!)
20. I rarely go without jewelry
21. I want to be a Doctor
22. I hate plain white walls
23. I love Fruit Loops
24. My favorite flower is the Orchid
25. I don't like it when my bed isn't made
26. I think I'm a clean freak! (Once again from my mom!)
27. I'm not a fan of scary movies
28. My favorite song is You Make It Real, by James Morrison
29. I love online shopping and window shopping
30. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday
31. I don't have a favorite movie!
32. My favorite subject is Art
33. It bugs me when outfits don't match
34. I listen to music everyday, its relaxing!
35. I check my email about twice a day
36. I like to write
37. I love going to movies
38. I have to leave myself sticky notes or else I would forget everything
39. I like to read
40. I'm a very organized person
41. I love the show LOST
42. I like black and white pictures
43. I hate it when I lose things
44. I would die with out my computer
45. Swimming in the ocean scares me, but it can be fun at the same time!
46. I'm not very good at keeping plants alive
47. It bugs me when people walk slow
48. I think it's gross when people chew with their mouths open
49. I prefer typing over handwriting
50. I don't like fractions
51. My forever favorite/most influential teacher was Mr.Larson
52. I can be very gullible at times
53. I don't like to sleep with socks on
54. I like writing in pencil better than pen
5. I cant sleep with my hair down
56. I love visiting family
57. I have a bad memory
58. It bugs me when the blinds are closed during the day, let the sun in !
59. I hate commercials
60. I get headaches a lot
61. I'm not very patient
62. I hate it when my alarm goes off in the morning and I'm guilty of pushing snooze
63. I admit to singing in the shower
64. I love to swim
65. I love re-reading my goodbye letters from friends
66. I don't like being outside at night time
67. I'd rather be skiing right now
68. I don't like how skirts way below the knee look
69. I wish I was going to Judge (school I was going to go to)
70. I love having candles around
71. I like playing card/board games every once in a while
72. I like getting my hair cut, especially if it turns out OK!
73. I find baths very relaxing
74. I can be competitive
75. I love having my birthday
76. I have the best parents in the world
77. My friends ROCK! hehe
78. I can't wait to drive!
79. I carry my camera everywhere I go
80. I try to save my money, but I end up spending it on shopping!
81. I hate taking out the trash
82. One word: SHOES
83. I have 50+ headbands
84. My BFF's name is Jordan
85. I love days where you never get out of your pajama's
86. I have an awesome PINK bike
87. I love to travel
88. I like rainy days
89. I think that everyday is a good ski day!
90. I like to cook
91. I am shy around new people
92. I like having my nails painted but I don't like painting them!
93. Decorating for Xmas is one of my favorite parts of the Holidays!
94. I love talking online with people
95. I love Christmas music
96. Sugar babies are my favorite candies
97. I prefer Carmel over chocolate
98. Maggie Moo's Cake Batter is my all time favorite ice cream
99. Costco 4 layer chocolate cake is my favorite cake ever! (and Lynda's carrot cake)
100. I am thankful for all that I have and consider myself to be lucky...
I now tag my Aunt Patty-Good Luck!!

2008-11-17T20:36:00.006+01:00

As I was looking through all of my pictures to get an idea of what to write about, I came across this picture of the sunset. I picked this one particularly because sunsets are rarely seen here in Bremen anymore, because the sun rises so late and sets so early they are barley able to catch anymore. The other day as I was walking from the bus into my school I noticed the sun coming up at around 8 o'clock! It made me think of all the beautiful sunsets/sunrises my family and I saw while in Mexico, where the picture was taken, and quickly brought back good memories of our trip. Starting off my day with that sunrise kept my mind positive and open, creating a very good day full of memories of joy and happiness!

Germany...

2008-11-15T17:50:00.000+01:00

Life in Germany has been an adventure from the start. From the first couple of weeks, not yet being used to the time change and falling asleep in the middle of the day to getting lost in the city! It has been an interesting learning experience with a lot of laughter, sadness, and frustration. But now all is well...we are getting around pretty well with the trams, buses, and my ever so famous PINK bike! We have gotten used to the idea of asking people every where we go if they know English and having life go on at a much slower German pace. The food is interesting but I'm managing! Getting to school everyday has been the hardest of them all though. I have to wake up Sooo early so I have time to leave an hour before school starts. I either have to take the tram and bus or ride my bike, and riding my bike isn't fun when it starts to rain and the fog is so thick you can barley see two feet in front of you. But the trams and buses can be interesting too! They are always so crowded and you can barley move, so every morning I take the tram i have to barge through people just in order to get out!

But I guess that it's all apart of the adventure. Dealing with the angry German's all of the time isn't always nice but at some times can be very entertaining! The German's NEVER smile, say 'excuse me', or even say/do anything polite or nice! It is interesting walking down the street, passing people with permanent frowns on their faces! We have ourselves convinced that they were born with frowny faces!!

School has been going well! It is surprisingly smaller than my old school, Cosgriff, but everyone is very nice and was really welcoming! There are only about 15 kids in my class and only 5 of us are girls! One of my good friends is from Texas and another new boy this year is from Georgia! All the kids come from all over the world and it's very interesting to hear about the different cultures. I have friends from Spain/Poland, Germany, Israel, etc.

Although life in Germany has been interesting and fun I still miss Home very very much! I cant wait to see everyone in about 30 days!
xoxo
KW