First things first, I AM IN AMERICA! And it is awesome! I can hardly believe I'm here for only such a short time, because I already feel at home. This is my third day in Utah and this is the first time I've been able to just sit down and write my blog, because I've been crazy busy!
Okay let's start at the beginning of my journey. Two weeks before my departure I went back to Veldhoven to say goodbye to all of my friends. I made short videos of everything I did, which was a lot! Park Hilaria, Stratum, watching movies, not sleeping enough, eating and most of all just making memories. Saying goodbye was really hard. When I got back to my house in Haarlem I had only three days to pack my bags. But luckily I was finished on time.
After a year of preparations and waiting, finally the day of my departure had arrived. I was so excited that getting up at three a.m. wasn't even that bad. We took the bus and at five a.m. we were at Schiphol airport. Saying good bye to my parents was the last goodbye I had to say. When I walked past the customs with Julia I was relieved that I had left everything behind and I could start my adventure.
My first flight was from Schiphol, Netherlands to London Heathrow, England. At Heathrow we met about thirty other exchange students with who we were flying to Chicago. The journey from London to Chicago took nine hours. I watched three movies and luckily the food was good. I was really glad I could stretch my legs when we were out of the plane. It felt awesome to be in America!! I could see Chicago's skyline when we travelled by train to the other terminal. Only five exchange students were travelling to Salt Lake City. We had enough time to change our bright yellow STS t-shirts for nice clothes and to put on make-up. Eventhough we looked like zombies with red eyes and messy hair, we got on the plane to our host families. On the plane I sat next to Alice, a very sweet girl from Italie. After four hours we finally saw Utah for the first time. It was sunset and the mountains looked beautiful in the pinkish light. Just half an hour later I saw my host family for the first time. They are so nice! Very very friendly and sweet.
After two hours (of sleep) we arrived at my new house. It's a log house with a huge garden, two cats, a dog, lots of chickens and pigs. I sleep with Saige in one room which is a lot of fun! The following days I wasn't been given the time to get over my jet lag. With five host sisters there is always something to do. We went shopping, to a restaurant, to my new school, to their grandparents, out biking and to cross country. On the second day I had to run five kilometres, which didn't go very well, but luckily Jackie ran with me. This morning I had to run for the try outs for the Cross Country Running Team. I had to run 10 kilometres at six in the morning without stopping. It went really well! And Ky and I made the team!! Furthermore I did nothing today.
Sweet sweet nothing.
Sweet sweet nothing.