neverland

20140128

Halftime

I survived Final Exam Week! The finals were actually not as hard as I expected and after that we had a five-day weekend before the second semester starts on Wedneday, so it has been a pretty chill week. (Literally, with wind-chills of -18°F)

On Friday, our Dad took Maya, Quentin and me to see the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Yeah, I am born to be a car model....

Saturday night, I went to see Future Stars, Pioneer High School Theater Guild's newest production (that I wasn't in, because I wasn't feeling like it, but I will be auditioning for the Spring Musical "Rent" next week!) with a friend. The show was amazing - so many talented singers and dancers! I was positively surprised.

Sunday, I spent the day at home with my little sister. We painted our nails and listened to music in my room and just had fun together and later that night, I had a girl's night/sleepover at my house!

I ♥ These Girls!!

On the 22nd January, I have been in the Unites States for exactly five months! That is just amazing, it still feels like yesterday, when I first arrived here. And just like I can't believe how long I have actually been here, I don't want to think about how the rest of the time is going to fly and how soon all this is going to be over. I am so glad, that I had this opportunity and if I could go back in time and change things, I swear, I wouldn't. Every single one of my experiences here has been a gift and I wouldn't want to miss any of it! And I know, I will be going back to Berlin and to my old life with very mixed feelings, because of course, I will be so, extremely happy, to be with my friends and biological family again and to be in Berlin and my old school, but I have a second family in Michigan now and new friends and Pioneer High and an second home and it will be like leaving home and my secure environment all over again, just like when I left my home in Germany to come here.

But oh well, enough sentimental crap.

Love

20140108

Happy New Year

2014

Happy New Year, crazy people.

I hope you had a good New Year's Eve! Mine was very relaxed, nothing exciting happened. I was in Vancouver with the family and spent the evening playing Mahjong with the kids.

I don't really have a very exciting New Year's Resolution so I'm not gonna post it here!

I'm gonna be busy studying for finals the next couple weeks, so there won't be many posts.

The weather has been acting crazy. It snows a lot, we had a blizzard and the temperature went down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit. We just had three snowdays in a row, thanks to that, and I have been spending my time very productively, watching New Girl and drinking tea. To all my Germans: a snowday is like Hitzefrei but for a whole day.

By the way: I have accepted the 100-Day-Challenge. It works like this. For 100 days I have to excercise every day for at least 20 minutes and at least 3 times a week, the excercise has to be cardio. If I miss a day, I have to pay 50 cents for every day that is still left! Almost the whole family is doing this so when the 100 days are over, we're all gonna compare results.

20131229

Lynn Canyon

My family took me to this place in Vancouver, called Lynn Canyon Park. It has a suspension bridge and a waterfall and the most beautiful turquoise water I've ever seen. I wish I could have stayed there longer, just walking around, admiring nature.

Those trees were sooo tall!

This is actually the only picture of me on the suspension bridge that isn't blurry, because either me or my dad were shaking - it was actually pretty scary...

You can't see it on the picture, but this tree stem was really high up on a hill and I was walking on the pathway when I saw it and just jumped up there without thinking.. It's a little out of focus because I had to zoom in because whoever took the picture was standing somewhere a little more safe.

Perfect Day.

Xoxo, S

Candycane Lane

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013

So Christmas was very different this year. It was the first time I spent the holidays apart from my family but my new family kept me way too busy to get homesick.

New Years Day itself was extra busy. We were in Seattle in the morning and in Vancouver in the evening. We (my hostmum's sister Gale's family, auntie Gina, my hostparents, Maya, Quentin and me) left from Seattle early in the morning and went on a roadtrip up to the grand parents' house in Vancouver. In the end we were like 27 people. The food was fantastic, I got the best giftts from my family and it was just a really fun christmas.

A few nights after Christmas we went to a street in Vancouver called Trinity Street. The houses in Trinity St are famous for their Christmas light, in fact, they enter a Christmas Light competition every year! It reminded me a lot of Candycane Lane in New Girl, so that's the explanation for the post title. I should actually start explaining the titles because I heard from people that my post titles are confusing..

The grand-children. From left to right: Matthew, Quentin, Nathalia, Nathaniel, Faith, Maya, Jennifer, Trinity, Me, great-aunt, Sam, grand-mom, Mycah grand-dad, Jack

Those were my favorite houses in Trinity St. The lights were just amazing. The third one was so creative. They had their own radio station with music that matched the lights (or did the lights match the music) and you could tune in from you car and listen to the music while watching! Sorry for the bad quality, I was too lazy to get out of the car, so I shot the pictures as we drove by.

And sorry about the blabbering in the background, but I just had to share this video.

Me + Computers = ??????????

Sorry, I don't really know what I did there, but the Vancouver post and the Seattle post got posted in the wrong order.
So I want to make it clear, that I was in Seattle first and then in Vancouver, just so you guys don't get confused.

xxx

Emerald City

HELLO SEATTLE

Seattle has been top of my bucket list of places I have to visit since forever! It is the home of Macklemore, Grey's Anatomy, Jimi Hendrix and Starbucks, I mean.. Need I say more?

I am so lucky, that my mom has family here, so we all came here to visit her side of the family over Christmas. We're going to spend Dec. 20 - Dec. 25 here and then we (mom, dad, Maya, Quentin and auntie Gale with husband and kids) are going to go on a roadtrip up to Vancouver to spend Christmas and New Year's with the rest of the clan. (We are going to be 25 people!)

This city is a really beautiful place and finally, I am back in a big city! It is really cold, but I am having a great time. On the 21st, we went to all the typical touristic places, like the Space Needle, the Public Market and the Seattle Waterfront. It was really interesting and I got the awesomest Seattle Sweater ♥

Seattle Space Needle

Guggenheim Museum Seattle

The world famous Pike Place flying fish market

Seattle Waterfront

New Fav Sweater ♥

Seattle Space Needle at night

VAN CITY

On the first day in Vancouver auntie Gina and my dad took me, my sister and two of our cousins on a sight seeing trip. I love this city, it is so full of life and the people are really nice and welcoming. We took the sky train around the city to get an overview of the city and of the harbor. After that we took the sea bus over to Lonsdale Quay Market to get lunch and to see the skyline of Vancouver.

Back in the city we went to see the waterfront and the Olympic Fire monument.

Awesome day!

SkyTrain

Vancouver Skyline (View from the SeaBus)

Maya and me

Maya, me, auntie Gina, Nathalia and cousin Faith

The Olympic Fire

20131219

Etwas Altes

Ich hab noch alte Fotos vom Sommer gefunden, die ich nie geposted habe.
Passt grad nicht so richtig aber besser spät als nie.

Ich übertreibe nicht, wenn ich sage, das war der schönste Sommer meines Lebens.

Soulcandy

Vance Joy - Riptide (FlicFlac Edit)

American Authors - Best Day Of My Life

ASTR - Operate

Hundreds - Song for a Sailor

The Decoration - There With You

The Weeknd - Devil May Cry

Ein bisschen Soulcandy für´s Ohr, und wie immer gibt es keinen besonderen Zusammenhang zwischen den Songs, alles ganz ~~random~~, wie ihr es von mir gewohnt seid.
Das sind einfach Lieder, die mir gefallen, die ich zur Zeit rauf und runter höre.

Viel Spaß,

S♥