Mittwoch, 28. Januar 2015

End Of Exams *-*

Hey ho,

IT'S OVER, my first semester is over and my exams as well. However, it also means that half of my time here is already gone :'( Yesterday it was exactly 154 days since arriving, and 154 to go.

My exams went pretty good I think (at least for not studying a lot), they weren't too difficult and I certainly won't fail (at least that's what I hope xD). The only one I really prepared for was English, as our teacher had given us the theme for the essay in advance and also some hints about the short story we were going to analyze ("The Sniper"). My final exam was 13 pages long, and my hand was hurting a lot afterwards ^^

Now we got the rest of the week off, before the second semester of the year starts on Monday :D
Hope you're all doing fine,

Lilly

PS: On the weekend my host family and I went to the dedication of my host mum's niece, and the church was very, very different from any other church I know! Firstly, it was in an old, renovated storehouse. Then, the walls were decorated with flags from almost every member country of the UN, they had a rock band and two huge flatscreens on the stage ^^ It was all just so much less traditional and strict, they didn't even have a pastor :) (and no altar, candles or water for the dedication).

Freitag, 16. Januar 2015

Toronto Trip

Sooo last Tuesday (which was the Tuesday after Christmas break) I went on an International trip to Toronto :) It's been my 4th time going there (including the night I arrived at the airport), and it was defintitely fun!
We visited the CN Tower in Down Town, which is about 1.815 feet high and was therefore once the world's tallest free-standing building (until it was replaced by Burj Khalifa). There's also a glass floor at 1.122 feet, and it's absolutely awesome to walk across and look down to the streets underneath :D




After the CN Tower we went to Ripley's Aquarium (if you look closely, you can even see it on the second picture with the glass platform ;) ) and visited the SHARKS (wohooo).



And then after that we had three hours of spare time to spend in the Toronto Eaton Center, where I finally got new winter boots xD *yaay*

That's it for now, exams start next week and in two weeks the first semester is OVER! I am so looking forward to the timetable change, I'll have:

1. Understanding Canadian Law
2. Media Studies
3. MSIP (which is basically study hall, or a period to do your homework and get extra help)
4. Lunch
5. Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology & Sociology (in French)
6. Functions University Preparation, Grade 11

See ya
Lilly

Donnerstag, 8. Januar 2015

Christmas and New Year's Eve

Heeey there,

I apologize for being such a terrible procrastinator and for not writing over the holidays -.-

School started again on Monday, and Christmas has already been over since two weeks O.o
During the holidays I did lots of fun stuff, we went skating quite often and I taught my hostsiblings how to stand on ice skates (it was their first time *-*). I also had two sleepovers at a friend's place, and it was just so much fun!!! We were watching movies all night long and then sleeping in until 12, and believe me I haven't slept longer than until 8:30 in the time that I've been here. Actually, 8:30 is pretty long for me already, usually it's more like 7 :(

For Christmas Eve we had friends of my hostparents over, and it was just a nice evening with lots of food and cookies. We followed Santa with the "Santa Tracker", a webpage that shows you where Santa is right now, and even though the quality is pretty bad, my hostsiblings totally fell for it xD It was so cute to watch them getting all excited for Christmas morning. Later on, we mixed some Reindeer food and spread it in the grass in front of the house (yes, grass... it was the warmest Christmas since 1945, so no snow anywhere :'( ) so Santa's reindeer would see it and come to our house... and not to forget, the cookies and milk for him in the living room ^^

Christmas morning the kids "woke me up" (I was actually just pretending to be asleep and tried really hard not to smile) and we opened our presents. I'm not sure if I ever got so much for Christmas before, it was huge! First the stockings that are typically filled with small gifts and treats, and afterwards the "big" presents. Then we had breakfast (pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, english muffins...) and our neighbours came over for a short visit. In the afternoon we drove to my hostgrandparents (or however you would call it :D) and had a nice turkey dinner with the whole family. I made some potato dumplings, because somehow everybody loves them here. Anyone going to Canada next year should definitely learn how to prepare them!
December 26th was not as exhausting, but again we had family and friends over and a nice Chinese dinner. And that was basically  my Canadian Christmas experience. I really liked it, and I wasn't homesick at all :)

For New Year's Eve I had a sleepover at a friend's place. She's French Canadian, so we watched "Moulin Rouge" and "Les Misérables", followed by a French Bye-Bye, kind of like a show that's talking about all the stuff that had happened during the year, but in a funny way.
Midnight was a little bit disappointing at first, as the countdown started only 10 seconds before and we didn't have any fireworks at all. But then in the end it was just so nice, her mom had bought sparkling wine without alcohol (cause everyone knows what happens to exchange students if they drink ^^), we ate some Chinese and French Canadian snacks (that mix...) and made the absolutely best, amazing, and freaking awesome DEEP-FRIED OREO COOKIES *-*
Can't say that 2015 didn't have a good start ^^
At three o'clock, we decided to go for a walk. Problem was, it was cold, the Canadian country-side is dark (!), and the flashlight we had brought had distinctive similarities to the one used in Slender Man. So after about 15 minutes we just turned around and set on the front porch to watch the stars ^^

New Year's Eve definitely wasn't what I would have expected, and if I could choose between the German and the Canadian one, then I'd really prefer all the fireworks etc. But it was also a really nice evening and a great experience, a really important one for my exchange year.

Which is, btw, almost half over O.o Where did all the time go?? It's been 4 1/2 months already, exams are coming soon, and then the second semester starts... this is going by way to fast :(

So, if anyone actually read the whole post until hear, congratulations. This is a really long one, and I'm sorry once again for not writing earlier. I hope to post something about my trip to Toronto and the CN Tower this weekend. Or tmrw, in case it is a snow day.

See ya!
Lilly