Weekend with Nicole: Part One

A few weeks ago I had a super fun weekend at Nicole’s! She is one of my host mom’s daughters and she’s absolutely wonderful.

I overdid the silliness

We started off at Papa’s to celebrate his birthday. Lexa, Luke, Emma and I drove there together, a fun little road trip as it takes an hour and a half to get up there. Emma and I were in the backseat taking silly pictures while Lexa and Luke were sitting in front. We stopped at Sonic to get a smoothie to drink, which was a first for me!

My gift for Papa

We were the last ones to arrive, of course being fashionably late. After we had dinner it was time to give all of the presents everyone got Papa. I was feeling a bit unsure about mine, after all I didn’t really know him well so who wouldn’t?

Luckily, he loved it and my plaque is now part of his living room decorations.

As Rosemary, my host mom (I am not sure if I mentioned her name before) was going to go to Texas for the weekend; I was going home with Nicole and her husband John.

Nicole scared me for life whilst driving home, her driving is horrible and I was happy as never before when we where at their house, safely.

(I put in that part to make John happy, Nicole’s driving is perfectly fine! Or at least when I am in the car :p)

The two of them are so sweet, they have a daughter Lauren, she is amazing, who went away for college and they me sleep in her bed. Pretty much the best bed ever!

We watched a movie with Adam Sandler before going to bed. Because the bed wasn’t made yet, Nicole and I did that together and honestly next time I go to Target I am buying the sheets she has! Heavenly. And that makes me feel old, wanting to have things like sheets. What happened to wanting Barbie dolls?

I woke up the next morning at about half past ten, after telling them I’d be awake at nine the day before… Who was I kidding? But to be fair, I was planning on setting my alarm at nine so that we would have a full day of fun! But the bed was so nice and I couldn’t wake up when my alarm went off so I slept through it.

Dessert at lunch

When I did wake up, I felt a bit guilty. I mean, they asked what time I would wake up for a reason. Surely it was so that they would be awake too but I made them get up whilst I wouldn’t be awake for another ninety minutes. I use minutes because it makes it seem shorter than saying an hour and a half, right?

Fortunately, the couple just joked about it and then Nicole and I left John at the house to go have breakfast, I know… Lunch, at the Aviary!

We got in the car and drove to a couple of places where they had a Starbucks. My mum was in London with my brother, sister and my dad and asked me to see if we had certain cups in America. She wanted to buy them in London but they might have been cheaper here. I think we drove to about three different ones but sadly, we couldn’t find them.

Following, we drove downtown to go eat!

Amazing interior

The Aviary is a neat little placed with lovely decorations and very tasty food! Nicole and Lauren go here quite often so they know what’s good and that was everything!

I went for the Caesar salad, obviously, and afterwards Nicole and I shared the Salted Caramel crepe.

It was delicious and I kept taking pictures of the interior. It was so cute! Definitely a place I would want to take my mum if she is able to come visit me at the end of the year.

My purchase

Moving on, we walked around for a little bit and ended up in a small store with all sorts of little knick-knacks. There wasn’t anything I actually needed but I found a pretty gift bag that says ‘Dreamer’ with an owl on it. I bought that because I thought it fit me quite well. After all, I am a girl with big dreams and everyone knows that owls a
re seen as intelligent. I hope that some of his intelligence rubs off on me!

We visited a couple more other local stores, all filled with Halloween stuff! Excuse me; I thought Halloween was on the 31^st of October?

Ready for the game

And then the great Target came around! A-ma-zing. I love it.

We spent a good amount of time in there and I came out with a good amount of stuff. Including a Cardinals shirt. Comes in handy since all the exchange students are going to Saint Louis for the weekend and we’re going to be watching a game as well!

We were done shopping for the day and continued our super fun day by going to the bull riding that was taking place.

We arrived there at 5.30 pm because that’s when the doors would open and thirty minutes later the show would start. So we both took a seat and we were there early so we watched the guy on the tractor driving circles in the ring for a while.

It was six o’clock but the show wasn’t starting yet. So they were a little late? No big deal. Soon enough it was twenty minutes later and Nicole and I started wondering why it was taking so long. So I stood up and asked the first people that I saw what time the show was supposed to start: eight pm.

Waiting with the beautiful Nicole

The show would start two hours later than we thought it would. We got there two and a half hours early. The people who were there really must have thought we were die hard bull riding fans, just like they were. Not so much.

We laughed so hard, thinking we were there for so long before the show even started and we surely didn’t end up staying there to watch the show for the same amount of time.

It was definitely something I haven’t seen before, only on telly. I don’t agree with using bulls as an object to entertain other people by getting them all heated up and trying to ride them but it certainly is some show.

Games for kids during the break

We were seated underneath one of those huge lights, the same they have at football games. The light attracts bugs and other flying organisms that like to sit on my skin to either suck my blood or freak the hell out of me. This resulted into me screaming and embarrassing myself and Nicole when there was a huge ‘thing’ on my leg. I almost cried: I was so scared that it would do something. We left. It was a nice show, just not nice enough to have flying creatures bugging you for the time you are there. Or longer, what if they are in your hair or clothing and you don’t notice? Just saying.

All together I am super glad Nicole took me their, it was a typical American experience. It was nice to see it together, both of us for the first time!

We went back to the house and back to John who we had abandoned for the day. We brought him some food and watched some more telly. We all went to bed not long after. Back to the amazing sheets <3

Much love,

Naomi 

First Time on the School Bus

The seats are surprisingly comfy!

Everyday, Lexa picks me up to go to school and then at the end of the day, after fourth block, she takes me home again. The second week of the schoolyear, Lexa's teacher announced that she and her other classmates had to go to the Missouri State University every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to take their classes there. MSU is on the otherside of town and she wouldn't be able to take me home. So on those days: the schoolbus it is!

On Wednesday I immediately went to the main entrance and walked out of the door. I didn't want to be late so I walked as fast as possible but at the same time, I was trying not to look like an idiot.

All the busses were already lined up so I started looking for the bus that I had to be on, #38-10. And it was not there. So here we go again: asking someone else. If you only knew how many people I have had to ask for help these past days. Actually I was not sure if it was past or passed, so I had to ask that to someone too...

Sunny weather and
a beautiful view

The girl told me the bus was always ten minutes later than all the other ones. Here I was standing in the burning sun waiting for the bus to come (and that rhymes). It was not too long and I got on, telling the bus driver I was new and I gave her my address.

I was having a headache already from getting very little sleep and wearing nerd glasses all day (remember, nerd day?) so a long bus ride was not really something I was looking forward to. But hey, first time on the school bus is definitely an experience!

It was not exactly what I had expected. No fighting over the backseats, no trash, no food spills and so on. Most important: no extremely annoying children except for one girl who seemed to think that everybody needed to know about her problems!

The bus ride seemed to take forever. Everybody was getting off and it was just me and three other students still waiting for our stops.

After another half hour it was just me.

The bus driving away
after dropping me off

And then the bus driver asked me: ‘Where do you live?’. So I gave her the address again and she said: ‘No, I mean how do we get there?’ Well, I didn’t know! This was only my second week here, mind you. Plus I never paid any attention to where we were going as people who drove me knew where to go!

So we pretty much just drove all through Battlefield, where I do not live so I have my questions there but then finally after two whole hours of trying to get home we were finally there.

Luckily, now that the driver knows where I live I get dropped off as one of the first students and it only takes thirty minutes!

Much love,

Naomi

Spirit Week

In case some of you don’t know what spirit week is: it is a school week where Cabinet, a group of students that organize things in order of the school, decides on themes for each day of the week in which you should dress up for that day.

Monday
Lazy Day

Now I would love to write about the week itself but it is honestly not interesting at all. It was just like any other week but dressed up. So I figured as it still is something of an event. I would tell you about my shopping experience and add photo’s of my outfits!

Prior to this week, I went shopping in Battlefield to buy clothes that would match the themes of this year. My host mom dropped me off at the mall around 10.30 am and from that point on I was on a mission. For a good five hours I shopped my butt off, trying to find some good outfits.

I started in Zumies, a skater-ish sort of store. The staff was super nice, refreshing after the past three days in school. The guy who helped me, Connor, did a good job and stayed with me the entire time I was looking around, asking me questions. I actually felt bad that nothing in the store fit the themes and to be fair, it wasn’t really within my budget either… As soon as Connor’s workmate called him over, I snuck out of the door…  

Tuesday
Twin Day

I went into the next store: Hollister. I’ve never bought anything there before but it’s the closest thing to Abercrombie & Fitch so I thought I’d give it a shot. I prepared myself for the whole: ‘Welcome to Hollister, here are your gasmask and your flashlight…’-thing. It was not as bad as I was used to, meaning I was able to breathe easily and my sight was clear. Right after I went in, I found the first thing on my list: a plaid shirt. One day down, four more to go.

Whilst shopping I kept texting my friend, together trying to come up with ideas for good outfits.

Charlotte Russe was not as amazing as I thought it would be. Lots and lots of clothing items splattered across the store and honestly not having an good clear view on what they have freaks me out and makes me think their collection is just rubbish so I didn’t spend more than five minutes in there.

Wednesday
Nerd Day

Of course, Forever 21 saved the day. It’s been one of my favourite stores for a while now and they never disappoint! Again, that means if the staff does a good job of tidying the store. I bought most of my outfits here. That includes all the gold accessories for colour day, a laidback pink shirt for lazy day and glasses for nerd day as well as a collared shirt.

Here I was walking around the mall carrying all of those bags with me, and god knows there were a lot, when I walked past a card store. It was almost Papa’s birthday so I had to go in and see if they had anything suitable for him. Papa is my host mom’s dad and everybody knows him as Papa, it is basically his name. It is a bit strange writing it down, as papa is dad in Dutch so I call my dad papa, you just pronounce it differently but let’s not get into that.

So I went in and when they asked me if I needed any help I told them I was looking for a card for an older man who I didn’t know very well, or at all, and the card had to mention God as that was the only thing I knew he would love. So they sent me to an isle and told me to look there.

Thursday
Color Day

I can tell you now: looking for a card for someone you don’t know is one of the hardest things in life. No, but really it was hard. Every single card mentioned either being family, being someone’s everything, loving someone or how you’ve known that person for so long. I am not exaggerating when I say I’ve been in that store for over half an hour looking for a suitable card.

The last store I went into was Old Navy. This is not a store I would normally go into but as I have been to the mall before with Lauren and Nicole and enjoyed it then I figured I might as well go and check it out.

Friday
Plaid Day

Good thing I did because I found my last two items there! A simple pair of sweats and a white tank top with gold detailing on the shoulders. I didn’t want to go all out with an all gold shirt, it would be too much and honestly, am I ever going to wear something like that again? No. And that is how I bought all my items. I asked myself the question: am I going to wear this again? Because what is the point in buying something you’ll only wear once? Besides your wedding dress…

Much love,

Naomi

First Day of School

Excited.

That is the only word I would use to describe the way I was feeling on that first day of school. Not nervous or scared. That’s not me. I don’t do nervous and I am not scared for new things.

We had to be at Village Inn for breakfast 5.30 am, a tradition the Doran family has had since forever. I do have my questions by that tradition. For example: who on earth enjoys getting up that early?! No worries, I absolutely love the Doran family!

We met up with Lexa, who is my host mom’s granddaughter, and Emma, who has been Lexa’s friend for years and also goes to Kickapoo high school! Such a lovely girl. I am glad I got to meet her because now I already knew two students of the nineteen-hundred that go to Kickapoo.

Because our food was served very late, Lexa, Emma and I had to eat extremely quick and for me, being an extremely slow eater compared to the others, had a hard time doing that!

I drove with Emma to school with Lexa behind us in her car. When we got out, the first thing I noticed were bagpacks: they were everywhere! And lunch-boxes, again: everywhere! And purses, on the girls: everywhere! And here I was standing with my leather shoulder-bag, no special lunchbox and my personal belongings just in my bag with all of my other stuff. I was different. O Lord...

Although I was given a tour of the school when I signed up for my classes, I was completely lost. Thankfully Lexa and Emma walked me to my first class: Creative Writing. The teacher of the class is mrs. Fraser, a cute little blond woman who is obviously very creative. I was the first at the table but soon enough a boy and a girl came to sit with me: Trevor and Shay.  I am absolutely sure I am going to love this class! Mrs. Fraser just lets us do our own thing but with her assigned directions. She is so supportive of us and keeps telling us we’re all doing so well. (of course I didn’t know this at the first day but I do know and I felt like it needed to be said)

For those of you who haven't seen Twilight: Bella is the newbie of the school and walks around using a map to find the rest of her classes, looking like an extreme loser. Yes, the loser using the map, that was me in the process of trying to find my next class.

This school is freaking huge so please forgive me but after walking all over the second floor, I finally found it: Math Functions with miss Nance. The class was so extremely loud, I was just hoping it would not be like that the entire time. Nobody talked to me, nobody looked at me and I felt like shit. It is weird that being ignored, intentionally or not can hurt you so much within minutes. Luckily, Miss Nance is very nice and I am sure it will be a lovely having her as my teacher although it will be very hard as all the different terms are so confusing .

This time I actually got so lost in the school that I had to ask a teacher to please show me where my classroom was. Because I was so confused I walked up to the first person I saw in the room and asked him: ‘Excuse me, is this Journalism 1?’ The boy had a very bored expression on his face when he answered me: ‘Yeah..’ Me, still trying to stay optimistic and friendly: ‘Okay, so what do I do? Just take a seat wherever?’ and the boy, named Mason as I read from his ID badge, looked at me like I was retarded when he said: ‘Yeah, like it says on the board...’ bitch... I could just hear him thinking the word but he didn’t say it out loud. Great...

I just took a seat at his table and there was another boy there. Zayn Malik 2.0. Seriously he looks like Zayn (from One Direction) did at the age of sixteen. But his name was Aymen, would have been cool if he had the same name. He just laughed with Mason and then went quiet. Their reaction made me feel insecure, what have I done to make them act that way? I expected the two guys to be open and nice, not act like I was some stupid *c-word* who was too stupid to be in their presence. I am not stupid, actually far from actually...

The teacher went to stand in front of the classroom and the first words she said were: ‘Welcome to Journalism 1 everybody, I am very happy to see you. This will be the best class you have ever had. Why? Because I am the one teaching it.’ Miss Orman, everybody! Honestly, I was blown away by her. Amazing. She was beautiful and definitely knew how to keep the attention to herself. She was so sure of what she was doing, I loved it. And I hoped she had the right to be.

When it was time to go to lunch, it took all my courage to ask the two guys who had just been so unwelcoming to help me. ‘Hey guys, can I ask you something? I was wondering if you could help me with lunch? I don’t know anyone and I don’t know how it all works.’ I honestly said to them. Even though they knew by that time I was a foreign exchange student, as it was announced in class, Aymen just looked at me but didn’t say anything and it was Mason who answered me: ‘Yeah... Probably... You might want to find some girls to eat lunch with though.’ and then they both walked away. Once again I was blown away, but this time not in a good way. How unwelcoming can you be?!

I know you all are probably wondering why on earth I asked those two to help me and the answer is simple: I literally don’t know anyone and they are the only people who had said something to me in that class, although it was a bit rude.

I was not planning on giving up that easily and I just followed Rude and Ruder (I thought that fit them better than Tweedledum and Tweedledee as they are rather good looking boys) to the cafeteria and when they split up I decided to walk after Aymen to ask him what I was supposed to do. He reacted very kindly, walked me to where I needed be and then after a short explanation on what I needed to do he disappeared again. I was surprised about how nice he was to me in that brief moment that I needed him and I appreciated it so much.

Back in class there was more that needed to be explained and what not before the bell rang again and it was time for my fourth and last class of the day. We have classes of 90 minutes, that is why we only have four on a day.

Interior Design, a class my mommy definitely would have chosen if she had had the opportunity. She would have chosen Creative Writing and Journalism 1 too but I needed a new introduction to this class....

There already were a few other students in the room and I just took a seat at an empty table. Then a girl with long brown hair turned around and said to me: ‘Hey you are the exchange student, right? You are in my first block class? Do you want to come sit with us?’ It was like the sun broke through the clouds and angles were singing to me. Yes! Yes, I wanted to come sit with her!

It was the nicest thing anyone had said to me the entire day. I grabbed my stuff and moved it all to her table. I thanked her for inviting me and introduced myself. Her name was Allison, a pretty name for a very pretty and very nice girl! I can honestly say I will never forget that she was the one who invited me to sit with her. It might sound like I am being melodramatic but after feeling so unwelcome, so ignored and feeling like your dream fall apart it really was the most amazing thing that could have happened to me at the time.

A few minutes later the other girl came and also introduced herself to me: Erin. She was so so nice and boy, she is extremely pretty! Just like Allison she was very welcoming and to be fair she really made me laugh.

Mrs. Cox, our teacher (duh) just told us a bit about her background (nothing too exciting), and also she told is she just got married in the summer and is pregnant (very much exciting)! Congrats!

Not the way I expected my high school career to start off but oh well.

Quite the first day, I believe so.

What do you all think of my school and the students?

Much love,

Naomi

Meeting My Host Family

Now I say family, but actually I have a single parent placement, so I only have a host mom.

It was 3 am when I had to get up to catch the bus to go to the airport. Luckily I had packed my suitcase the night before, just like everyone got advised to do. So all I had to do is hop in the shower and get dressed, or so I thought…

My nail polish was all chipped so I had to re-do it. Normally, I am not too picky about it but hey, I am about to meet the woman I am going to live with for ten months! I have got to make a good first impression. And here I was painting my nails in the middle of the night…

very little space!

Everybody was on time and we got on the bus. There were three students of the Dutch group on my ride to the airport. After saying goodbye to Louise and Menno, I carried on with Marit as we had our flight to Atlanta together. It was a quick flight, no problems what so ever and I was able to write some more blogs. Before we knew it, we landed in Georgia and we were at the gate waiting for the flight to our host families. Marit and I were waiting together and although we were on different flights, our gates were very close to each other.

& Marit

We had a waiting time of two hours, so basically we were bored. There was no wifi so we didn’t really know what to do (what is happing to the world?!). When boarding began it was a relief. I said goodbye to the girl who I had been spending the last hours with and took a deep breath. Just one more flight and I would be home.

It is strange that I already thought of the place as my home. I had never been there but I feel so at home in The United States that only place that I knew would be anywhere near a home was just a few hours away.

When I stepped into the plane I was surprised. It was so small and it the interior looked so old! How was that plane ever going to get all of the passengers to Missouri? And safely too!

I didn’t know what to do. I was putting my life in the hands of the pilot who was supposed to make the plane fly to my destination, and I didn’t know how that was ever going to happen. So, I did what every non-religious person does when they are really desperate: pray. I was going to the Bible Belt after all…

Awkward bathroom check

Well, a couple of hours, and a makeup session, later I landed safely on Missouri ground. If that was because we had a good pilot or because there actually is a God, I am not sure but I am thankful to both.

I rushed into the restrooms as soon as I got out of the aircraft. Again, meeting my host mom so I needed to look as good as I could after a three-hour flight!

Welcome to Springfield!

When I walked towards baggage claim, I saw a blonde woman standing with a whiteboard. I don’t even know why but I immediately said hi to her while I was still walking and she asked me if I was Naomi. Well I sure am and this must be my host mom as she knew my name! The woman was just as beautiful as she was in the picture and she looked so young for having so many grandchildren! She gave me a hug as a way of welcoming me and started talking about a bunch of stuff right away! I can’t even remember what we were talking about, I was so overwhelmed and I was just answering her questions on automatic pilot, not registering what I was saying.

After not even thirty minutes she told me that I reminded her so much of her granddaughter Lauren, who was moving away to go to college. The soon to be freshmen became our topic of conversation for a while and my new host mom talked so highly of her that I felt honoured that I reminded her of Lauren.

Lara, Evan and some weirdo

Because she had to go back to work, my host mom brought me to my Ayusa representative, Christine, to spend the day with her. Together with her husband Gary, we went to pick up some medicine for her son Evan which was followed by picking up Lara, their own exchange student from Germany.

We were all crammed together in Christine’s car, on our way to her grandparents. Lara, Evan and I were having fun taking silly pictures and just talking about our home countries and there differences. When we arrived at their house the elderly couple asked the both of us girls a lot of questions and then showed us how they used to keep cows on the land and explained a whole bunch of other things to us. When it was time to leave we said our goodbyes and we were back on the road.

baby shower decorations

Lara and I had both been up for a good sixteen hours and of course we were getting tired. Everything is so different and it is a lot to take in, constantly meeting new people and trying to adjust as soon as possible wears you out. But we didn’t have time to be tired! Next on the planning was a baby shower!

Duck swimming in a bowl: casual

It is strange going to a baby shower from someone you have never met but it was so much fun. Typical American party, the ones you see on television! And everything was pink. So cool. We didn’t stay there for long, we were all tired so we basically just ate their food and then left. Apparently that is normal here, although I had a bit of a hard time taking in that people really do not mind strangers barging in, eating your food, taking pictures of the decoration and then leaving…

We went back to Christine’s house and just chilled there for a bit before my host mom came to pick me up at 11 pm. I was so tired that I had to try my hardest to stay awake and answer my host mom’s questions. Luckily the car ride was not too long and I could go to bed right away.

It sure was some first day!

Bring on the rest of the year!  

Much love,

Naomi

New York City: Day Two

This day started off a whole lot better than the day before, namely without any bus accidents!

Zephyr -Statue of Liberty

We went to see the Statue of Liberty in the early morning. Mister Tour Guide was just as enthusiastic as he was the day before and when we were lining up for the boat he started yelling to everyone that we should try to sit at the top deck right side (nice move, so secretive). So when we were allowed to board the boat, everyone went to the seats we were told to go to. The German group was right behind us and considering they were with fifty students and we were already there with a group of twenty, the entire top deck was pretty much filled up.

‘The Three Guys’: Men, Toby, Marc

Apparently a group of Asian people didn't think so.. It was like an invasion of at least sixty people and they decided to just stand in everybody's sight. So frustrating. We were not able to see anything so we were just standing there in front of our seats and I was having fun talking to ‘The Three Guys’ Marc, Tobias and Menno.

In the row in front of Jorien and I were Louise and Romy sitting on the back of their seats. When they stood up to go take a picture on the other side of the boat, a man with a huge camera lens thought that it would be a good idea to do the same thing as the two girls did and he went to sit at the back of their seats. I was standing trying to take pictures and wasn’t paying attention until something made me fall. That butt of the Asian man had pushed me back into my seat! I stood up and politely asked him to go take his pictures some place else. Next thing I know he moves to stand beside me and starts to take pictures of himself with me next to him.

Isn’t he pretty?

At this point I didn’t know what to think. I mean, yes he did what I asked and went to take his pictures somewhere else but this was not exactly what I had in mind... Luckily, Menno was standing behind me and he just shielded my face with his hand while we kept talking so that I would not be in the picture. After a while, he had a brilliant solution: making weird faces. Menno is pro with this so he just started making weird faces to try to get them to move to some other place because there would be some weird guy in all of their pictures! That seemed to help a bit!

So ‘seeing’ Alice Island and The Statue of Liberty was a bit disappointing because we didn’t really get to see what we came for but it was fun knowing Menno had my back! Or should I say face???

We got back on the bus and drove to a local Deli to have lunch. It was a very small but busy place (maybe because there were twenty exchange students there but who knows?). The staff was a bit impatient and kept asking what we wanted to order. Excuse us, we need time to decide! When we finally knew we ordered and we had our lunch within three minutes. I have been to the USA quite a couple of times before and I am still not used to the portions they give you. Whatever you order a small of is still just as big as a large is back home...

The banner Oklahoma sent to NYC

Next up was the St. Paul Chapel. This church is located opposite of the place where once the World Trade Center site was. A popular place to visit as it keeps memorial banners, a firefighter suit with the dust still on it, police patches from all over the world and much more. The chapel survived the attacks without any damage. Not even a window was broken while other, better instructed, buildings came crashing down when they were not hit with the airplanes. Definitely something to think about. How can such an old church survive the terrorist attacks of 9/11? Was this a miracle or was this God?

Ingeborg A. D. Lariby, the only
Dutch victim 

After a ten minute drive we arrived at the 9/11 Memorial. I have always been fascinated by what happened and I think it is important to acknowledge what did. Where the Twin Towers used to be are now two huge, beautiful fountains. The names of everyone who was killed on both attacks on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 are inscribed on the bronze parapets surrounding the two memorial pools. It is extremely impressive and the people have done such a good job building it all!

Subway to Coney Island

We went to Coney Island using the subway. Laura and Yentel were kind enough to sing us all some of my favorite songs by One Direction. I am sure everyone else was also very happy to hear their voices, the guys even gave them some pennies, although it was more like throwing the pennies at the girls in order to shut them up but oh well..

Built on June 26, 1927

Coney Island was very entertaining. A couple of us went into the roller coaster, the oldest in the whole of the US. I went in it just to be able to say I went because it did not look comfortable! It was all wooden made and it looked unstable. I got pretty shaken up but all together the ride was quite alright. 

With Jorrie at the beach-each

Jorien, Yentel, Laura and I went to the beach (each let’s go get away) to take some photo’s but I was held up by a life guard asking me what my badge was for. So, of course, I explained the whole orientation in New York for our High School Year once more. The rest of the girls proceeded taking photo’s but then he started asking me a whole lot more question that were a bit out of order some times. Actually I thought he was drunk so I was happy when Laura came up to me and saved me by saying: ‘Girllllll we gotta go!’

The grown up of the group

To the pizza place we went. The place was some what dirty but it hell, it’s New York nothing is actually clean here. So me being me took out a napkin and some anti-bacterial and cleaned the our table a bit. At least now we could sit without getting nasty sticky stuff on us. While we ate our pizza, the tour guide of the German group came up with a very interesting pick up-line that he used on Mister Tour Guide: ‘Hey do you know Macklemore?’ Menno and I were very entertained by this and kept repeating the sentence all throughout the evening. I guess it is not so funny reading this now but it was at the time. Towards the end of the dinner everyone was a bit bored and Menno, being the grown man that he is, decided that it would be fun to make one big pile of food out of our leftovers (does that sentence sound familiar to anyone?).

Top of the Rock: super pretty!

It was time to go and see the last thing on our to do-list: Top of the Rock! Jorien was scared to death having to go up that high and kept holding my hand the entire time we were there. I love her, haha.

The view was amazing and definitely a good ending of the orientation.

I am so sad that our time is over but so excited for the rest of the year!

Thank you to all the amazing friends that I have made over the past few days. I have had so much fun with all of you and I am sure we will be friends for the rest of our lives!

Much love,

Naomi