Woah. So sorry it has been so long since an update! More than a month! :o
A few of the highlights, then more details to come;
February 10; Carnival with one of my good friends and host mom!
February 15-17; ROTEX weekend!! Hundisburg!
My best friend came back from 6 week physical therapie for her back! <3
FEBRUARY 22;  6 MONTHS IN GERMANY
February 23-24; Another go at snowboarding (fail.. again) And sleepover with some of my girls!
February 27; MY birthday! Yes, a 15 year old is now writing you from behind her screen :)
March 1; SEEED concert!! and my host dad's birthday!
March 2; My birthday party! Texas themed.
March 5; Lena's theatre Premiere!
March 7; Rotary presentation! AUF DEUTSCH! (in german!)
March 9; CeBit (trade fair show) in Hannover

I have been busy! So at least I kinda have an excuse.. ;) Alright so from the start...
February 10. Sunday (creepy because today is also the 10th Sunday... O_o)
Carnival in Braunschweig! The 3rd biggest one in Germany, about 45 minutes away. Carnival is pretty much like a halloween parade party thing. It was really cool! I went dressed as a super Texan girl. My flag on my back, cowboy hat, cowboy boots, fake gun & holster; the whole 9 yards! I must say, I looked pretty cute :)

My friend, me, 2 exchange student friends we ran into, and my host mom! ^^

ROTEX Hundisburg! <3

Finally another Rotex weekend! I look so forward to these weekends :)) They are always so much fun and I get to be with some of the coolest people from literally ALL over the world! We stayed in a CASTLE compared to the normal gym. haha that was pretty awesome. For our activities  we went to check point B (just like "check point Charley" but way less famous) with a guided tour, then went to the old wall/line that separated East and West Germany. Of course we PARTIED also ;) No worries, all totally regulated and safe, because it is Rotary. I dressed as a Unicorn for the costume party :D The theme was Carnival and I wanted to do something a little creative. So I whipped myself up a horn, and got

all kinds of crazy with glitter ;) 

Me with the "Brazil team"! A unicorn and a horse! How appropriate right?! 

FEBRUARY 22nd

6 MONTHS IN GERMANY! 

Holy cow. I actually CANNOT believe it has been a whole HALF YEAR. The things I have done and seen. The places I have seen. The people I have met. The memories, the hard times, and all the good ones. The celebrations and the normal days. The stuggles and the triumphs. The new and the old. 

It is all part of my exchange. THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE. Many many people have said this before, but I will say it now, and again. Exchange is not a year in a life. It is a LIFE in a year. I have really come to understand that. It has not been easy. It is not easy to wear a smile everyday, to not always understand what someone wants from you, not understanding what they are saying. To wake up everyday not having any clue if someone will talk to you in school. Everyday is a new adventure, and that is what keeps me going. You never know what the day will hold, and it is up to you to make the most of it. No one else can live this exchange, or this life except me. I have to seize every moment, because there are only so many left before it is all gone! Only 4 more months....

Do I even have to mention snowboarding again... -_- TOTAL FAIL.

February 26th- March 2nd. 

Let the BIRTHDAY celebrations BEGIN! 

First Lena's birthday on the 26th :) She is 17, and can legally drive in Germany with her parents! It is so funny because now I can do that also :D Cake for breakfast and all that jazz! 

February 27th; MY 15th BIRTHDAY!
Yet again cake for breakfast! It is a really great way to start off the day. ;) In germany you do all your celebrations in the morning before school. Hence the whole cake thing. So I opened all my presents before school! I got new ski gloves (WHOOP), a visit to a castle, a calendar book and Lena made me 2 scrapbook pages for my scrapbook.. (that I still kinda need to start..) :D At school one of my best friends brought balloons and a little present for me to open :D I left to go to my german lesson and even she had a little celebration set up for me! <3 So cute!! After school Melle ( the same girl that brought the balloons) came home with me and helped me set up for my party! I invited the Rotary kids. Inbounds and outbounds, so all together about 7 of us :) Just a little party. We made pan-inis and played card games. One of the coolest presents I got was a voucher to go flying with one of my friends that is working on his flying license! I get to fly with his instructor  behind him. We will fly over the Harz Mountains (where I live) in a little glider plane!!! :D SO COOL! I had such a great birthday, but I couldn't wait until my ACTUAL party on Saturday night!

March 1st;

My host dad's Birthday! YES we all had birthdays in the same week :o We went to a SEEED (yes with 3 e's)  concert today!! SEEED is a VERY german band, and almost everyone knows them! ALL of my friends were super jealous that I got to go :D It was super awesome, and there were over 8,000 people there! I did know a few songs, but since they were all in German, I didn't know all the words and couldn't sing along :( I still had SO much fun. They put on a really great show, and Lena and I enjoyed it to the maximum :)) 

March 2nd;

My Birthday PARTY!! I threw a Texas themed b-day party with all of my good friends, and it was a BLAST! When I say Texas themed, I mean I went all out. HOMEMADE everything! From the Taco shells to the guacamole everything was made by moi! (and a little help from my host mom ;) I made Taco shells, taco meat (w/ seasoning from the USA), fajitas, guacamole, mexican rice, refried beans, and salsa! It was so delicious <3 All of my friends lovedddd tacos!! After we ate, we roasted marshmallows and made smores outside. Just a whole list of firsts for these Germans :D they all had big mouths about the "American chocolate" but those soon got stuffed with gooey goodness squished between two cookies and soon I couldn't hear anymore of that nonsense ;) Although I must say, I ate just a little piece of plain Hershey's also... anndddddd lets just say I DO NOT miss it at all. I can't ever imagine myself eating that now! After everyone was officially stuffed, it was time to get dancin'. That's right folks, you guessed it; Texas two-step!! <3 With "miles and miles of Texas" put on endless replay, I slowly taught each and every one of my friends how to properly two-step. Not everyone got the HANG of it, but they all got the JIST of it.. that's all that matters right?! It was just such an awesome night. I couldn't ask for a better birthday or better friends!! <3

A few other things I have done;

Rotary presentation! All in German. I had to prepare a powerpoint to present to a room full of Rotarians. I was a little nervous! But turns out everything went really great, and I managed to get a few chuckles out of them :)

Hannover Messe; CeBit. I went to the largest trade fair show in the world, CeBit yesterday! With over 4,000 exibitions including IBM, ASP, Samsung, Dell, etc. It was really cool! 

Hanging out with my friends a lot more :D Sleepovers, movie nights, hanging out after school. I love my friends so much, and we are all getting a lot closer <3 

UPCOMING NEWS

I get out for Spring Break this Friday.

 On Saturday I am headed to Austria. 

Thursday Italy. For 10 days.

2 days in Germany

Thursday April 4th Finland.

I AM JUST A LITTLE EXCTED YALL!
I am meeting familt friends in Austria for 5 days and going skiing. Then I will take the train and meet up with my host family in Italy for a family skiing vacation! <3 For 10 WHOLE DAYS! IN ITALY!!!!! AHHHHHHH. Then I come back to Germany for 2 days, unpack and repack, then hop on the plane to Finland! I am going with my school as a little mini exchange that they do every year. We go to them and they come to us! My host dad is the teacher that plans it all and everything from the Germany side, so I get to tagalong! :D SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD <3

My adventure is never going to stop.