More than 10 posts ! YEAH! ;)

Dear readers,
10 posts have been written, so I think we should get down to serious business and stop the jokes. So here it is No. 11 in the new SERIOUS blog:












Just Kidding ;) Nothing changed I won't be writting like an almoust dead Lord ;)
So what happened this weekend that made me write this post late (well just 1 day, but some people seem to be crazy about this ;P), to put it shortly: Movie @ home ---> andrean winter formal---> garage ----> superbowl ... ;)
Now to the longer explanation: My school week was long and exhausting as always, but I'm doing good in school and am having fun in all of the classes , ok some are more fun (Mr Clark :D) than others (Music is kinda boring, since too easy but hey, you need a class to sleep/do your homework ;)), but I'm having good grades (not want to show off, but: atraight A's everywhere besides Physics (well NOBODY (seriously) has good grades) and one B in math, because it was the first test and I hadn't really catched up to the class yet), so my school life is going just fine and I'm making some friends .

The weekend though was the part where it got interesting: Friday was still kinda boring since, the first time there was no garage party, since Lou came back home to late, but hey I've saw a movie about the vietnam war in sorround sound, you wouldn't want to miss that ! (Called Platoon (really good by the way :))). So after the rather normal friday my saturday started with quite a shock: I forgot my good black shoes in my locker on fridays, and as everybody knows: suit with shoes other than black---> Never ever ;)
So we headed to school to see if there was a game or something else, so I could get to my locker, but even if I got in (there was a basketball practise) they have gates to lock off some parts of the school, so I still couldn't get to my locker ... So what I ended up doing was getting a cheap pair in the thrift shop for only 7 $ (pair that would have cost 200 new, though), so it didn't end up to bad for me (besides the time used for the driving... ).

So then I headed of at 5:30 to the house of my date ( her name's Maddie) and then went to the house of a different girl to take pictures with some more couples that met there, before we went to the dance at 7 o' clock. The dance actually was not really what I expected (Well it's not really a "formal" dance as you would call it in Germany (no Waltz or anything like that)), but it was a lot of fun (the dancing is like in a dance hall or something...), besides the fact that we had to wait about a hour in line for the professionaly taking photos (By the way, they were 30 $ for 4 pictures and some pass photos and the ticket for the dance was 25 $!! I don't know what a private school needs all the money for, but hey what don't you do for being part of american culture ;D)


After the dance (it ended at 10 o'clock) we headed back to Masie's (the house we took the pictures at) and grabbed some pizza and some drinks (and had some fun playing with the toys of her siblings, some nerf(little arrows) guns ;D)
I really had fun (even if not knowing how to dance, but hey most people weren't TOO good, and I kinda learned it ;)) and am quite sad there's no more formal dance for me till I come back (besides prom, but that's only for juniors/seniors, so....).

The other big event that took place was the SUPERBOWl XLIII on Sunday!!!!
Actually there wasn't anything like a party or something, but Zac + Jun Hi came over to watch it and we had Lous famous tacos again :)
I was cheering for the Arizona Cardinals (not because I liked them more, but they were the "Undergogs" and I liked the playstyle of them in the playoff game I watched before), but they lost ): It was a very good game though (at least in the 4th quarter) with many turnarounds, the longest interception return in Superbowl History and 96 yard penalties against the cardinals (-.-). The Winning team, the steelers from Pittsburgh, played really well though and dominated the game till the 4th quarter. The final score was 27:23...

The Official End with another picture of a nice guy I talk to alot in school, his name's Ivan...


P.S: I did some sports today, some running with jacob, a kid from the bus..

P.P.S: Just for some of you, I don't care if you do jokes in the shoutbox, but there's a line you maybe shouldn't cross, since grown up people are reading this ;P

Elvis's still alive!

As you can see; the almighty Elvis is still alive!

Well, at least he lives on as a paper figure. The picture was taken in a restaurant we went to on saturday: It was in the 50's style and they even had the original "Green River" a soda everybody drank that time. It tastes like a mix of 7up (for the Germans: It is the same as Sprite) and some lime. It also had, besides the very good burgers and the homemade (!) fries, the best milkshakes I ever had, I could have ordered a so called black cow; a mix of Root Beer (this is a very bitter soda, no alcohol ;)) and vanilla ice cream, but I wasn't that eager to experiment with different tastes ;)

So how was my week overall?! Well, I now know for the first time how exhausting five days in the american school system are with 5 days of 7 hours of school each and not enough sleep becausee of the early school bus. In school itself though I'm having really fun and my first grades have arrived too: The first multiple choice test I took, was history and I scored zero points, since I crossed the right answer, rather than blackening it out on the scantran sheet (they use a machine to check your answers and it doesn't understand crosses apparently ;)), but I scored 97 % (which is an A) on the remake of the test :) Some more grades: 100 % in morality (had the questions and the answers from the teacher already though ;)) ; 97 % in Music Theory (I just couldn't remember one word in english ...) , my math test was easy, I haven't got it back though and at last my physics test, which was very hard and I think I didn't do too good, after hearing the solutions ): ...

So how does a typical school day lokk for me: I get up at 5:45 ():):), get ready for school and put on my uniform (which is: navy blue long pants and either a andrean polo shirt untucked (that's what most people, including me, wear) or a white shirt with a tie) and lave with the bus at 6:30. The bus reaches the Merrillville Highschool at about 7:15 and we wait there for about 10-15 minutes before taking the bus to andrean, which then drives for about 10 minutes. So I reach school at about 7:40. I head to my locker to get the books for my first class and then the school starts with a prayer and your oath to the flag of the United States. I have 2 lessons before homeroom, which is supposed to be the time for announcements over the radio, but ends up to be nothing more than a 20 min break. In the 5th lesson you have lunch in the cafeteria, which you can either buy there (pretty expensive though) or bring it with you (what I do most of the time). You have another 2 classes before school ends at 2:45. Then the running starts , since you only have 5 minutes till the bus leaves and you need to get to your locker to put away some books/get the ones you need at home. At Merrillville Highschool we need to wait another 20 min for our bus (our bus driver seems to be the last one every time...) so we reach home, sweet home at about 3:50 - 4:00 PM. Normally you need to do some homework which takes another hour (or more...), so after a day of 9 - 10 h of school you are pretty exhausted then and most days end up to be nothing more than relaxing...

I do have the opportunity to practise the drums now, so maybe the days will be a bit less relaxing (for all of you that want to know what I'm trying to play at the moment: click here )


The best part of my stay here are the weekends and the evenings in the garage though. It's really fun since there's always a lot of people (on Friday there were about 12 people) and I'm learning pretty fast to play pool, I even bet Sol on Saturday and Zac on Friday (only because he scratched though when playing the 8 Ball ;)).


These pictures were taken on Friday, and Sol wasn't there (birthday party ):), but I had fun without her ;P. The people you can see in this picture are Zac (only partly ^^), Erin (the tall girl, somebody me and Sol met on the bus, and she just lives down the street, so she hangs out in the garage quite often :)) and Kat, a friend of Erin's.

On Saturday the garage was pretty empty though, only Sol, Lou, Zac, Devan (a friend of Zac (and btw also a Drummer :))) and of course myself. Zac and Devan left pretty early so we actually went to bed at about 1 already (watched a movie...).

A picture of Devan and Zac.

The End

P.S: No picture of the school, because you're not allowed to have any electonical devices, and they take it from you if you have it, so I don't want to take the chance, since you then wouldn't be able to see anymore pictures :)

About: the MSI, Parties where you don't know anybody and 5 days off of school

America is the coolest country in the world!!!

Ok, at least it's the coolest regarding "snow days" ;) I've had Thursday off, because school was canceled, Friday I didn't go to school, because my host mum thought the way there would be unsafe, then there was the weekend and Monday I'm off because it's the Martin luther king day, which makes it a total of 5 days I didn't go to school :)

My days of school I had this week were fun though, I like all of my teachers and most of the classes are really fun (english not too much (I've just never liked classical books...) and morality doesn't really interest me, though it's easy so not too bad :)) I'm also starting to know my schedule and even am starting to get along with some people quit well (though it's quite hard to get close to people over here, since you often just see them once a dy in one of your classes and maybe lunch). So my everyday life in school is going fine, but...

...you probably now want to know what I did all that time I was off?! So here it is:
On Thursday and Friday I actually just was at home and hang out with Sol, Zac and Jun Hi (even though Zac had to go to school on Friday with only a 2 hour delay (haha ;))), but still it was better than getting up at 5:45 and having to stay in school till 2:45 (that's currently the only thing I don't like about the US: having to get up early and having such a long day of school...). Of course Friday evening was again one of the famous garage "parties" (more of a hanging-out hough, not many people ;)), which I really had fun at, since I the first time played pool, which was fun. We had to go to bed pretty early though, since the next day we wanted to go: To the MSI!

So what is the MSI?! It's the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and it's really really really awesome ! You can spend days (!) in that museum, since there's so much to see, and it's so much fun, 'cause it's all "hands-on" and experiments... Me and my host family, zac, and a friend of Sol went there and had lots of lots of fun...
The coolest thing, though weren't the real, only one captured by the allies, submarine or the models of many different ships or the really awesome Omnimax theatre (even bigger than an IMAX), or the huge model train system, or..., no, it was the really awesome Navy flight simulator, where you even could "fly" on your head, which was the most fun ;) We actually stayed in the museum for about 5 hours, from the opening time till it closed, and hadn't even gone up to the third level !

After having a late lunch at a really cool fast food restaurant, that had every "fast" food you could possibly imgaine (from pasta + pizza to hamburgers + hot dogs) we went home and me and Sol left for a "Goodbye" Party; another German exchange student is leaving on Monday. The party actually was pretty nice, even if I didn't know anybody besides Sol, but there were a lot of exchange students (4 Germans, South korean + belgian) so I had fun talking to them and getting to know people, even if it was just for the 3 hours the "party" (which was actually more a "having-dinner-together" ;)). Aparrently the girl called Danielle (the one who's leaving), has to go through NY on her flight, so her trip will take about 30 (!) hours overall, which kinda sucks...(sry all parents and adults, but it does ;)).

We got home at about 10:00 and then played some more pool (which I'm getting better at ;)) and I got to meet a good friend of the Family, Bryan, who's really nice and fun (even though he had some good amount of drinks ;)).

At last a picture of Sandy and Loui, my host parents, yesterday in the garage:


The End

P.S: I've got much more pictures of the muesuem, but uploading takes pretty long, with the connection I'm using, so that's all you get :P

A new Week, more School and a new blog entry!

Even if it wasn't a whole week since the last entry I think you've waited long enough for some more information... ;)

On the weekend I had some fun with the korean exchange student from across the street, his name's Jun Hi (I hope it's spelled right, this is atleast who it's pronounced...) and he's just arrived three days before me and's a freshmen (9th grade). His host brother Zack( who's been gone on the weekend and came back in the evening of sunday) is also very nice and we are getting along quite good.

Me and Jun Hi actually exercised a lot on Friday/Saturday by shuffling a lot of Snow (there's really a lot of snow overhere..) to a hill and even cleared the driveway when doing it.



I've also but a proper Uniform on the weekend, which was 116 $, and ordered some books, which were just 40 $, but would have been more if I had ordered the physics book (I've asked the teacher about a spare book, and he's looking for one), which is at least 80 (!) $, so I actually got out quite cheap (Sol said she had paid about 450-500 $ total for books/uniforms).

Today was my 3rd day of school and I'm actually able to open my locker now ;) Also I'm starting to remember names and am getting along good with some people. I'll now just give you a little update about my classes and how they are:

• Honor Physics: I like it alot, the teacher's fun and the people in the class too, even if they're mostly Juniors (11th grade) and Seniors (12th grade)
• Music Theory: It's still so easy, but because of that it's fun, since it's really relaxed and there are only about 8 people on the class
• World History: Pretty easy, because I had most of the stuff already in Germany (currently talking about the Frechn rev. + Napoleon), but fun becauese the teacher's nice and the people are okay
• Latin 3: Not too easy (it's latin ... ;)) but I like the people (also Juniors mostly though)
• Honor Alg. 2 + trig. : not too easy, since they're about one chapter farther than we were in germany, but still no problem and a nice jteacher
• English: Nice Teacher + people, but reading shakespeare isn't particularly the most fun experience ;)
• Morality; Only class I had to do homework for, up to now so I don't like it ;) No, actually it's fun and the teacher seems ok

So I'm having a fair amount of fun overhere and really am liking my exchange so far :) Maybe there'll be no school tomorrow (or at least the busses won't drive, which means I can sleep in and my host mum takes me), since there's a lot of snow and a blizzard forecasted for tonight (though I don't see the snow falling yet).

Amother picture, this time of Jun Hi:


Hoping for a lot of snow right now ;)

The End

Weird Schedules, funny lockers and too many names...

Since apparently there are some people actually reading the stuff I'm writing (at least it seems so from the activity in the shoutbox), I decided to give everybody another update on how school went, but that's going to be it, for some time ;)

So after a too shorth night (having to get up at 5:45 because of the bus...) I today took the school bus to school and and talked to the guidance counsellor first. She askes me some Information for the school database before she got to the courses I'm taking. Just a reminder for everyone who doesn't know who the american school system really works: Every student picks 7 classes (some classes of course you have to take), which you have every day. So for now my schedule looks like this (probably staying that way too...) :

• Lesson A : Honor Physics 1 (honor Classes are, at least I think , the "harder" classes) , which I had a lesson in already and it seemed fun (especaially the teacher...)
• Lesson B: MusicTheoryComposition (was ok, but seemed very easy, which isn't necessarily bad ;))
• Lesson C: World History (just basically like history in Germany, even with a German teacher so if I would possibly not beeing understanding something she can tell me in German)
• Lesson D: Latin 3 (Didn't have it yet because of the time in the guidance counsellor office)
• Lesson E: Honor Algebra 2/Trigonometrie (same as Latin)
• Lesson F: English 10 (Just had it for about 20 min. and we watched a film so not much to say (they're reading shakespeare, though...)
• Lesson G: Morality (Religion...)
• "Lesson" H: Homeroom ( Time for announcements and just like a break...)

So now I come to the complicate Part, they have a rotating schedule so my daily schedules for a week would look like this:

Monday: A/B/H/C/D/E/F/G Tue:B/C/H/D/E/F/G/A We:C/D/H/E/F/G/A/B Thu:D/E/H/F/G/A/B/C Fri: E/F/H/G/A/B/C/D

But besides that there is more to know: lunch is in the 5th period and there are three different lunches: A/B/C were A is Go to Lunch/got to class; B: Go to Class/Lunch/Class C: Go to Class/Lunch. So if that didn't confuse you yet, here comes the most complicated thing, the Bell schedules I don't really understand them yet but maybe you do with this picture:

Another thing that I kinda got confused by, was the locker, you had to turn the wheel in a special way and I just didn't get it right, so I even almoust missed the bus, b

But overall I really liked my first school day, especially because everybody was so friendly, and introduced themselves to me, which again was very nice, but on the other side kinda bad, since I have to remember about 70 names I was told from all the kids in the different classes (There isn't such a thing as a class, which you stay together with the whole day) ;)

At last, another picture, this time of the nice garage I told you about yesterday: