It has been a long, long time since I've updated my blog. Christmas has come and gone, the new year has began and it's less than a 100 days till I see my parents again.

First of all, Christmas was amazing. It was probably the most American thing I will ever do. On Christmas morning we ran downstairs to the Christmas tree and spend the morning unwrapping presents. My host parents really spoiled me. The entire family came to our house for the Christmas dinner.

New year was very different from the Netherlands. I celebrated New Year with Karin and her host family. We played boardgames, watched a movie, went swimming and drank coffee. At midnight we watched the Times Square Ball drop and we wished each other happy new year. Then Karin and I went outside to see the fireworks, but there were almost none. New Year marked our half way point. Only five months to go!

In January the drama department went to Convention. It's a three day long drama party at Weber State University. We did workshops and went to shows. I did belting, aerial theatre, a magic show, pantomime and improv a musical. I shared a room with Sarah, Emma and Sammy. We went to the shows Oklahoma and Into the Woods. Also there was a lecture on the show 'the Leremy project' and an improv show by two comedians. One of them being Max Madigan from the Nickelodeon show 'True Jackson VP'. I had so much fun! Drama people are the best.

On the eleventh of January we went to Salt Lake to go to a BYU basketball game with Melissa's family. The stadium was huge and the game was awesome. It was super American with the cheerleaders, mascots, crowd waves and the kiss cam. GO COUGARS!!

On the first of February my host sister Saige and I went to Salt Lake for a PAX activity. PAX is my American organisation and every now and then all the exchange students in Utah get together for a fun activity. This time we went to the Utah capital building. I thought it looked like the big one in Washington. We did a tour and afterwards we went ice skating. It is safe to say that Luca, Saige and I were the only ones who ever ice skated. It was hilarious to see all those foreigners struggling.

School dances are awesome, but asking a boy to the dance is the worst. Sweethearts happens to be the Valentine's girls choice dance. I decided to ask Adam Giddings, a senior in the drama department. So a month before the dance I baked a spice cake (which fell apart into twenty pieces when I got it out, so I had to mold it back in shape) and wrote on it: 'Wil je naar de dans met mij?' Yes, it is a weird Dutch sentence, but Google translate will tell you: 'Do you want to go to the dance with me?'
I had to wait for over two weeks for an answer. What if he was already asked? Or what if he didn't want to go with me and just ignored my cake? Or what if he has a phobia of dancing? But one day during French class, I got a big box with velvet cupcakes spelling the word 'YES'.

So Saturday the 15th of February was the day of the dance. In the morning Adam, I and Karin and her date Collin went laser tagging as our daydate. I had the least points, but because Adam and I were a team, I just said that I sacrificed myself for our tactics. Although the real reason for my score was the fact that Karin was a freaking ninja. Also we played pool. In the afternoon Adam and I both had to go to Our Town rehearsal. We were both in the play and performances were in a week. Afterwards Karin and I got ready for the dance in the dressing room and our lovely director Ms Hall did my hair. When we were all fancy we went to Taya's grandma's house to take pictures with our group of nine couples. Then we went to Elements, a fancy restaurant where we had a really good meal. At eight o'clock it was finally time to go to the dance. The orange gym was decorated beautifully in the Gatsby theme. We had a blast!

February 17th I went with my host family to a Grizzlies ice hockey game. I think it's a miracle those players are still alive. They really try to kill each other out there.
I'm desperate here to go shopping, because I feel like I got nothing to wear. That's why I was super excited to go to H&M after the game. So excited that I bought five sweaters.

In the meanwhile I am still trying to raise money for my Ukrain journey this summer. I am now at $310. Far from the $850 that I need, but I'm getting there! I am doing a baking sale again. This time banana bread and poppy seed bread. Americans sure have a sweet tooth.

February 20 till 22nd were our performances of the play 'Our Town'. It's a story about an ordinary town in the nineteen hundreds. It's about living, loving and dying. I was Mrs Gibbs, George's mother. I love performance week! Even though I'm completely exhausted, it's so worth it! I was super nervous, but everyone did extremely well. The afterparty was as always in village inn (they have amazing pies). I am so thankful for my drama family. They always support me and they are all super talented.

We have had a lot of snow. Way too much in my opinion, but people here seem to like ploughing through two feet of snow. Although the chickens went crazy and started eating each other. The pigs however didn't kill each other. We did. And now they have a new home in our freezer. About two weeks ago it started to get warmer and last Saturday I went biking again for the first time in half a year.  I will never complain about rain or biking again, when I'm back in the Netherlands.

The last trimester started. This is my schedule:
1) Precalculus B. The teacher, Mrs Pam, is one of the nicest and sweetest teachers ever. March 14th was Pie day (π=3.14) So we had pie in class. Best. Day. Ever. Flex) I started with weights. The first day I walked in, saw that I was the only girl and walked out again. I don't have French or first lunch anymore. So I almost never see Karin. That's why I decided to take her studyhall for flex. Now we have an hour to talk everyday, because one does not simply study in studyhall.
2) AP Biology. This class is all year round. Biology is my favourite subject and the people in there are super funny.
3) Orchestra. The level of difficulty is pretty high and because I haven't played for seven months, I suck.
4) Social dance. This class is so much fun! We're learning the Foxtrot, Cha-Cha, the Waltz and the Swing. Here people dance ballroom at school dances, because grinding is socially unacceptable, inappropriate and immodest.
5) Theatre 2. This class is a party. Half of the drama department is in here and Ms Hall is just simply the best.

The outdoor track & field (atletiek) season has started. I am going to do javelin (speer) and shot put (kogel). I am super excited, because I've done track all my life and we have meets and competitions every week.

I auditioned for the spring musical, but I didn't make it. Although that wasn't very surprising, because there were only three female roles. I did make it into the variety show. It's a show with several musical numbers, scenes and individual numbers. I am in the assemble of a scene of the 'Crucible' and a musical number from 'Shrek'. I also have some solos in the song 'When you're an Addams.'

When carnaval and CGK camp ended in the Netherlands (I was really sad that I missed it) the 40 days protestant vast period started. I only eat three meals a day so nothing in between and no snacks or sugary drinks. When Mormons vast they eat nothing for 24 hours so a lot of people just stared at me when I told them I was vasting for 40 days.

The 7th of March was the Laurel retreat. It is a sleepover in a cabin with about a hundred girls from the LDS churches around Mendon. We made crafts, ate dinner, played games and watched frozen. The next day we had a really good breakfast and several speakers who talked about nutrition, exercise, clothing, hair and make-up. At the end we all wrote something that we want to let go on a piece of paper, tied it to balloons and let them go outside.

The indoor season of archery has ended. My host sister and I practised for ten weeks. And yes, I feel like Katniss when I'm shooting.
In two week the outdoor season begins and we will start shooting at 3D targets.

Well, that was it for my blog. Tomorrow I'm going for a week to California!

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