And I thought it couldn't get any better...

Okay, so there has been A LOT going on!
First of all - suprise, surprise, I'm not living with Denise anymore! Remember Mia, from my last post? I live with her now. When her family heard about my living situation, which wasn't ideal, they offered me to stay with them instead. It was all very spontaneous, they called me Saturday evening, and I moved to her house Monday after school (I got the biggest room in the house with the biggest closet and a TV hehe). I am so greatful for that, it has been a fantastic first week with them! Denise was very sweet, but she just couldn't give me the real American-life experience, which also includes being part of a family. It wasn't her fault, but that's just how things are.

There's a little sister, Kayla, who'll turn 12 in a couple of weeks, Mia, Mom and Dad, two dogs, and a rabbit. They're great and I can't believe that this is already my third week in the US, time passes so quickly! (That's about 1/10 of my whole stay here!)

I go to volleyball practice with Mia after school 2-3 times a week now, depending on whether we're playing a game or not. Well, actually I'm not really on the team since you have to go to try-outs and get elected. But Coach Olson (hehe) allowed me to practice with the team, and now I've become the team manager. I don't really do anything but it just means that I can come along to the games as well, so I'm not just alone at home or something.
This week we have practice from 5-7 instead, which will be like that every second week. Since school ends at 2:45, we just stay there, do our homework and walk around in the hallways, and those days we get home pretty late.

This weekend we went to the beach and on Saturday Katherine, my local represantative came and made a home visit and talked to my new family, and Mia and I did some shopping downtown. By the way, here they have Urban Outfitters, Holister, American Eagle, Starbucks, Victoria's Secret, and Forever 21, so as you can imagine, it is really hard not to spend all my money on shopping, Mocha Frappuccinos and shoes.
Here are some pictures from this week:

Mia and me, the day I moved to her house

Having some yummi Chinese food in town

One of our two lovely dogs, Fuman

I can't believe this is 25 minutes away from where I live!

Us being fabulous

School is really nice at the moment. Now that I'm starting to understand everything and making friends, it's actually pretty cool. It's a lot like in the movies, the hallways with the lockers, there'll be a hairspray musical in November, which everyone could audition for, the lunch breaks, and the yellow school busses (which aren't as cool as I thought, actually they're horrible, they stink, there's no air conditioning and it's loud. But in the morning I get a ride from one of Mia's friends now, and in the afternoon we usually have practice, then my hostmom picks us up, so I don't have to worry about those busses anymore.)
But getting up at 5 a.m. still kills me, I'll probably never get used to it. My grades are also pretty good. Although I thought it was going to be hard because of the English, the results of my first couple of quizzes and tests have been very satisfying , so there's nothing to worry about there.

That's all for now, Sara xx

A new home, new people, a new school...

So, I don't really know where to start... One week has gone by since I arrived. I have been really busy with school and it has been exhausting to adapt to a whole new country, even a new continent, without knowing anyone. That's why I haven't posted any news for some time even though a lot has been going on.

So I came here Friday, and I got to meet Denise for the first time. She's really sweet but unfortunately she broke her ankle 6 weeks ago and has some difficulties walking, so I haven't been much around in Savannah yet. But for what I have seen until now, it is really pretty, the buildings are all quite old and look amazing. It's also really warm, around 30 degrees, at least. For the past days it has been raining and thundering a lot though. 

I started school on Monday, and it is just as different from the school system that I am used to, as it probably can get. I take the bus every morning at 6:30 which is kinda insane for someone like me, who loves sleeping.. I also have to wear a school uniform. It's actually not that bad at all, I can choose between a white or black shirt, black or kaki pants, a skirt, or a black or kaki dress. Apparently they take it quite seriously, which I found out yesterday, when I got sent to the uniform closet to put on another shirt because mine didn't have a collar... They also handed me out a list with all the uniform rules, because if I get sent there a second time, I get detention. Oupps..

The first day of school

   

When I came there the first day, they just handed me out my schedule and sent me to my first class, I didn't get to choose my classes myself which I wasn't very happy about. But after changing my schedule a couple of times, it now looks like this:

A-days: 1. U.S. History                      B-days: 1. French III 

             2. American Literature                       2. Geometry 

             3. Music History                               3. Piano

             4. Art I                                             4. Physics               

It switches from A-day to B-day every day, so this week A-days were on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and next week they'll be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every class last one and a half hour, so the classes are reaaaally long, but surprisingly time passes quite quickly. The school is pretty big, and i mostly walk around, being lost, between more or less every class. There are about 800 people in my school, but it is so big because of the big theatre stage, the dance studios etc. Their cafeteria isn't that big, which means that there is A lunch, B lunch and C lunch. It depends on what class you have in 3rd period and what teacher, and then some people eat before 3rd period, from 11-11:30, some actually eat in the middle of 3rd period, so that they take a break in the middle of their class from 11:30-12 amd the rest eat from 12-12:30. I have A lunch every day, so it's pretty simple for me. I have't spent any lunch break on my own yet, so I'm taking that as a good sign haha. 

The classes themselves aren't that hard actually. French III is the 2nd hardest French class, and it is way too easy for me. I didn't want to switch to French IV, because I didn't want to change my schedule again. Then I would be in different classes, but I already got to know the people in all of my classes better, and I didn't want to start at the beginning again. Besides, I figured it'd be good with at least one really easy class so that I can focus on the others.

Hmm so these are my notes from French class.. For those of you who live
 in Luxembourg, you know what I mean :p 

I will never ever complain about having a lot of homework at home anymore though, because it is nothing compared to this! Every day, without any exception, I do homework for a couple of hours, it is something that every teacher thinks is important here, and they don't care that we have homework or tests for other classes too, like they do back home. Apart from that we have a quiz or test at the end of almost every week in every class, so that the teacher can see if we're paying attention, which honestly just sucks.
I'm a piano major, so during my piano classes we actually just practice the pieces that we'll play for the semester examn by ourselves. At the end of a lesson I heard some of them play and I was speachless...They play so well, it's insane, I feel pretty talentless next to them haha.
So a normal day for me practically looks like this: I get up in the morning, go to school from 7:45 to 3 o'clock, I'm home again at a quarter past 4 because the bus ride is pretty long, and then I do homework until late in the evening.

Everything was really hard in the beginning. Even though I think I have spoken to more people during the last week than in the past couple of years, and all of them were just so nice to me, I still didn't really know them yet. I just felt really alone and in the wrong place, and I missed everyone at home a lot. But after Wednesday it all got better. I started to get to know some of the people in my classes better and except for all the learning parts, it is now kind of fun.
Everyone's really curious about hearing how it is back in Denmark and Luxembourg. One day for example, I sat next to a guy in a copmpletely packed school bus (yes, the yellow ones) and he just started talking to me, asking if I was a freshman, since he had never seen me before, which you would never ever do in Luxembourg. Another guy in my piano class turned around and looked at me, while the teacher was introducing me and said: "Welcome to Savannah Arts! Wow you have pretty eyes by the way" haha. The girls are all really nice and ask me if I want to sit with them during lunch. Many people in the hallways say "Hi Sara, how's it going today?" but I gotta be honest with you, I don't remember their names or where I have seen them before.. which brings me in some pretty embarassing situations sometimes :p So as you can see, I have no problems with meeting new people, which is nice.

There are a couple of girls that I'm already becoming better friends with. Lots of them suggested to show me downtown Savannah, and the cafés and shops where they normally hang out. Today, I'm going to the mall with one of them, her name's Mia and she's great. 

The speaking-English-part is actually going really well, I'm already used to it now. Now, after the first couple of hard days, I'm really looking forward to staying here. Talk to you soon,

Sara xx 

NEW YORK BABYYY!

After flying to Copenhagen on monday evening with my mum, accompanied by some of my good friends and my dad to the airport in Luxembourg, which I thought was really sweet, and flying to New York via Paris by myself on Tuesday morning, I am now sitting here in New York (which I'm actually quite proud of, considering that the airport in Paris is huge, I had to take a bus to the right gate and several elevators, plus it is my first time flying alone). 

The sad goodbye at the airport

I was the only one who hadn't flewn via London, so I hadn't met the others yet, and I was also the only one without a roommate, so you could say that I felt quite alone... Since I didn't want to spend my two days in New York on my own, the first morning I just went over to three girls at the breakfast table and asked if I could sit with them, and that's how I met Ellen Elise, another Danish girl, and two girls from Sweden, Mika and Vicky. They're really nice, but after a while I realised that you automatically get to talk to the others during the sight seeing tours, so by now I have talked to lots of people. They are all really nice and these couple of days in New York have been amazing! It is such a great city and it's fun to spend time with all the others who are at my age. 
I have now been here for two days and sadly I am leaving tomorrow (at 3 a.m., it's insane!!!), but the good thing is, that I'm finally going to Savannah, I'm meeting my family and starting school on Monday, I'm so excited! 
Instead of writing a novel about what we have seen and done here in NYC I'm just going to post some pictures so you can see it for yourself: 

Day 1: Uptown Manhatten

Ellen Elise and me at the Angel of Waters statue in Central park

Somewhere near Times Square

The American version of SmooJo, yummi

Having a take-away lunch with these lovely girls

We also walked on 5th Avenue, did some shopping and just had fun. 

Day 2: Downtown Manhatten and Brooklyn

The Statue of Liberty, and as you can see the weather was just fantastic...

 

Again Ellen Elise and me in front of New York skyline

The second day was more of a shopping day, we were in Soho, which is a part of Manhatten, where there are many good shops. We visited the business discrict, Wall street etc. and that's why I don't have that many pictures from today's sightseeing and 'free time' (we were allowed to walk around by ourselves in groups of at least three people both days between one and 6 o'clock). 

The date is set!

Now, all the flights are booked. I'll fly to Copenhagen this evening with my mom since she is going there anyway. Tuesday morning I'll fly to New York via Paris, which means I'll arrive in NY around 3 p.m. Friday I'll fly to Savannah via Charlotte, North Carolina. I just realised how complicated this actually is, I have to change flight a lot, and most of the time I'll be travelling alone, which I have never done before... It's practically a miracle if I even arrive in Savannah.
It has been quite stressing but now that everything is booked and planned, I can just calm down. I have packed almost all of my things, except for some different chargers, sunglasses and stuff like that, so soon, I'm ready to go.
Although I'm starting to get really nervous now, I'm still excited and looking forward to it.
I'm very glad that some of my friends are coming over this afternoon to say goodbye one last time. I don't think I've really realised yet, how long five months actually is, but on the other side I think time will pass really quickly.

My next update will either be from New York or Savannah, so it is now that the interesting part begins! Talk to you soon, Sara xx

Savannah Arts Academy

I just wanted to tell you about my future school, since it is a bit unusual. I'll go to an arts school, called Savannah Arts Academy, where I'll be playing the piano. You can also study dancing, acting, singing, visual arts, like painiting or photography, and other music instruments there. So it is actually a normal high school, that just offers some artistic classes apart from the usual.

I had written in my application how much I enjoy playing the piano. The school then saw this, and about a month ago, I got asked if I would like to go to this school instead of a normal high school. If I agreed, FORTE would start looking for a family for me in Savannah, so I said yes, because it sounded interesting.

But after that, we didn't hear anything from them, we weren't certain why, if they for example couldn't find a family or if there were problems with getting the paperwork ready. We were starting to worry, but after some time it looks like it worked out after all.

I look very much forward to start going to this school, it'll all just be so great. It's a once in a lifetime oppotunity to go to this school which, in 2012, was awarded the best high school in Georgia and the 87th best school in the USA among more than five thousand. Plus I can improve my piano skills so much over there!

Sara xx

Great news - Savannah

Hi there,
guess what... I just got my host family! Can you believe it?? Because I can't! My mom called me this morning and said: "Sara, now you can start packing your bags." Me: "Why? For what?" -"I just got an e-mail. You're school starts the 12th of August so you have to leave next week!" -"Wait, what? .. Are you serious?"

I'm going to live in Savannah in Georgia. It's beauiful there and really warm. (I checked it out on Google Maps and Wikipedia haha).

The red dot is Savannah and as you can see it's on the East Coast, a little north from Florida. 

I'll be living with a couple, named Robert and Denise. They have a cat, and they live 10km away from the centre of the city. I am so excited! They seem very nice and I really want to meet them.
I am going to leave in the beginning of next week, I'll know more details when the flight ticket is booked, which the organisation is about to do now :)

Sara xx