Travel day to Salt Lake City, UT

Day 21

Today, nothing really exciting happened. We had a 10 hour drive for one day. I just stayed in my pyjamas, I didn't even bother getting dressed. 

   At first, we snoozed, then we had a Walmart lunch stop. We watched 3 movies, "Cowboys vs Aliens", "Just go with it" and "In her shoes". We made one quick stop at the Salty Flat lands, which was an interesting sight to see. This desert lake had so much salt in it, the  whole surface of this yucky swamp was white. You could still walk on it and take awesome pictures. I figured out why Salt Lake City is called the way it is.

   After what turned out to be 12 hours, we finally arrived to the hotel in Utah. I didn't do much, I just ate dinner at the hotel room, and fell asleep quite early. Not an exciting day, but a necessary one, if we really want to travel across the country.

Lake Tahoe, CA

Day 20

Lake Tahoe CA

I can't believe that now, if somebody says we have a 4 hour drive ahead of us, I don't even blink. 4 hours is nothing to Discover America students. It took us about that long to get from San Fransisco to Lake Tahoe. 

  We went to the hotel at first, where I had another set of roommates again: Caroline (Belgium), Adele (Slovakia), and Charlotta (Finland) again. Everybody wanted to go to the lake, which was a few minutes walk from the hotel. I didn't bring a bathing suit, because a bunch of girls didn't either. 

  Lake Tahoe is beautiful. We quickly realised, that everytime there was a murder or suicide in a lake in a TV show, it was shot here. Even the Supernatural season 1 episode 3 called "Dead in the water" was filmed at this lake. Of course, we didn't see how it could be scary. The scenery was beautiful, and the water was shallow and warm. We rolled our pants up, and started walking in it. It was very nice, and I had a feeling not bringing a swimming suit was a bad idea. Soon, a group of girls caught up to me, that didn't make that mistake, and sure enough, I was pushed in the two feet water. I didn't min though, at the moment, being soaked in my clothes sounded like an acceptable idea.

  When it got kind of cold, I went to the shore. After some time in the pharmacy helping a girl who injured herself on one of the rocks, I got back to the hotel. Thankfully, they had a jakuzzi, so just as I was, fully clothed, wet and shivering cold, I jumped in. After coming out, taking a shower and changing my clothes, I was ready to socialise again.

   Luca, Mikayla and me, we ended up ordering a Pizza Hut pizza, for the first time this year. I heard from everybody that I met, that American Pizza Hut was disgusting, but it was literally across the street, so we figured we'd try it. We got a chicked-bacon-tomato pizza with cheesy bites pretzel crust. And it was absolutely delicious. Myth busted!

   For the rest of the evening, we hung out in the garden of the hotel. A Belgian guy, Tibaut was on the edge of being sent home, because he was in upstairs where the girl rooms are. So that was a topic of conversation. I chatted with different people in different languages. I promised myself and my Mom I would find some French speaking people to practice with. Unfortunately my French is bad, luckily though, there are so many, absolutely adorable people on this trip, who didn't judge but helped me. I also chatted with the German kids in their native language, and it was so much easier! Even though I haven't practiced it for 5 years. Switching between all these languages was difficult nonetheless.

  We had our curfew at 10:30, so we hurried back to our rooms 5 minutes before. Everybody wanted to be on the chaperones' good sides after the last few days. Although the free time today was short, I enjoyed Lake Tahoe. If I would live in California, I could see myself come and camp here in the summer. 

Newport Beach, CA

July 16th, Thursday

This Day was supposed to be a  fun day, but turned out to be the worst one so far. Having said that, you have to know that I enjoyed it nonetheless.

   No one really wanted to go to the beach. Last time on the beach was super fun, but most of us struggled with the sand in our clothes for a week. But this was the itinerary, so we made the most of it. I got in my bathing suit in the hotel, and after a 20 minute drive to Newport Beach, everybody jumped into the water. It was kind of cold, but that wasn't our biggest problem. Just like at Myrtle Beach, the waves were horribly big. The first bigger one knocked me off my feet. At the second one however, 5 minutes into the fun, my foot got stuck in the sand, and the wave hit me hard. The same thing happened to me as in October in volleyball: my knee jumped out of its place, but the force of me falling popped it back in. Worst part was, I couldn't stand up, so the waves just kept hitting me. Finally Eduardo grabbed me amd helped me to shore. Walking hurt, but I knew it was gonna get better. My hair, mouth, nose, and swimming suit was full of sand. I must have looked horrible. 

  I limped to the shower facilty a hundred meters and washed the sand off. It turned out, that I wasn't the only one that had a bad experience with the ocean. Sarah had her face pushed in the sand by the waves, her face was full of scars.

  It took me an hour and a bag of ice to walk again. By then, I let my group go and explore the stores and restaurants on the beach. I joined Nike, Kika and Iiro for a little bit of shopping, but I only bought postcards. When I got back to the beach, I could walk much better than before. The drama of the day was, that Nick from Denmark hung out with another group today. I didn't worry about it much.

  I did however go back in the water. My middle name should be "Stubborn". We swam in between the waves to the ocean, where the waves didn't break yet. It was nice, swimming there.

  At 6, the bus picked us up. What was a 20 minute drive there was a 1,5 hours back because of traffic. Turns out, sitting down too much was not something that my knee liked, so it hurt again when I got off. But I'm tough as a viking, so I just iced it and moved on. I did laundry and ramen for dinner. I wanted to go to Downtown Disney, but I figured I'd see it the next day anyway. 

   So this is what this day turned out to be like. I have mixed feelings about it. At least now I can say, that I swam in the Pacific Ocean!! And that's pretty cool for me.

Universal Studios and Hollywood, CA

Day 15 CA 

July 15th, Wednesday

Today started out as a travel day. We left Las Vegas early morning and we drove to California. We arrived at Unversal Studios Hollywood at 11, and we had half a day to spend there. 

   I was very excited! I've been to Unversal Studios Florida in February with Saki, but this one was so different! The whole experienced started interestingly. I found a phone in the bathroom 2 minutes after we got off the bus. I wanted to bring it to the lost and found, but the girl who it belonged to called the number. We met up inside the park, and she got her phone back. It felt good, doing something nice to a stranger. I just hope, that if I ever get in a sitiation like this, someone will help me too. 

  The first thing we did in the park was watch a Waterworld show. It was rated the #1 show, and I understand why. It was a stunt performance by Hollywood's best stunt actors. It was a in a giant pool, that reminded me of dolphinshows. But the decoration was very steampunk. It was an exciting performance about finding dry land in a futuristic land of water. Lots of explosions, pyrotechnics, jetskis and stunts. It was very impressive.

  Afterwards, we could meet the cast of the show, so we chatted with the actors. Some of them were in famous movies and TV shows. For example I met a dancer from Magic Mike and Mac's stuntdouble from Marvel's Agents of Shield!!

  Of course we had to go on the behind the scenes tour of the studios! Whoever knows me, that my life is watching movies, so this was my scene. We sat in these carts, and we drove through a still functioning studio area. A narrator told us about the history of the place, and we just sat there, watching in awe. I did anyway. I was at the  square where Back to the Future was shot!!!! That is a whole new level of awesome!

  There was also two different 3D experiences built in to the tour, one of them was directed by Peter Jackson. It was a King Kong vs T-Rex fight, that we found ourselves in the middle of. It was said to be the most intense 3D experience in the world, and it really was something new. I was very impressed, we all felt like we were in the dino era again!

  The whole tour was around 1 hour long, and it was so worth it! I saw sound stages, the sets of Back to the Future, Jaws, Spider-man, and so many more!! Anybody who goes to Universal Studios can't miss this!

   Afterwards, the group had dinner at Krusty Burgers, in the Simpson themed part of the park. The last attraction we went on was Krustyland, another 3D experience. We were put in this room with a giant quarter globe screen. and these cars that moved to the image's changes. It was very believable and so much fun. 

  We went back to the bus, and after everybody gathered, we headed to Hollywood. It's much different to hear about LA traffic and be in it. I noticed that right away. It took us a while to get there.

   Honestly, Hollywood was one of the funnest places we've been so far. It's just one street, but it's filled with people, sounds, and sights to see. For most of the time, we were walking around with our heads down, reading the hundreds of stars that bear the names of famous actors, actresses, singers, directors, sporters and many more. I took a pictures of almost every one I knew (there are lots of old movie stars I never heard about, so there wasn't a lot), but I was specifically looking for Steven Spielberg's star. Once I found it, I took a picture with him, and I didn't care about the dirt when I lay on the ground. I really admire his work as a director. 

  I was really sad, that we only got one hour to spend there. We should have had a full day Universal, and at least half a day in Hollywood. We didn't even see the Hollywood sign, only for a few seconds from the bus. But being there was just a dream come true. I'm definitely going to come back! This day was filled with movies and TV, literally my life. I'm very happy that we had this day on the bustrip. 

Las Vegas, NV

Day 14 

July 14th, Tuesday

Las Vegas!!! The city of party! It's kind of amazing how they made one of the biggest attractions of the US in the middle of nowhere in the desert.

  After a 5 hour drive, we arrived to Vegas at 1:30 pm. I was super excited! We went into the closest hotel lobby, which was the MGM Grand, because it was very hot outside. It was incredible! Everything was covered in gold, everything smelled amazing, and it was all clean (after two weeks in a bus and tiny motels, it's a special sight). Of course the hotel casino opened from the lobby. Just to demonstrate the luxuriousness of the place, the sinks in the bathroom had tiny ipads on them, and the soap smelled like hybiscus.

   We went through the casino, and we left the hotel to get to the Strip. Las Vegas Boulevard is the main street of the city. All the major casinos, hotels and stores open from here. So the San Antonio Squad set out to explore! We went to the Coca Cola store, which had a giant, several stories tall coke bottle for an entrance, the Hard Rock Cafe and countless of souvenir stores. Everything was colorful, bright, and crowded. I loved it!

  Our main goal was to get to Hotel Bellagio, where Ocean's 11 takes place! All we wanted is to walk in the footsteps of George Clooney and Brad Pitt! The hotel is fabolous! It's very fancy, clean, but it was somehow different than in the movie. There was a room decorated like an undersea world, that was pretty fun to look at. I have a very funny story to tell that happened, but I'm only gonna post it in August, because it involves a surprise for my Dad. 

  I've seen and heard of buildings in Vegas that are mini replicas of famous places. We saw the mini-Eiffel Tower, the mini-New York, and the mini-Egypt. There was also a mini-Venice somewhere but we didn't see that. Of course, these aren't as fun if you've seen the real ones. But I appreciate the thought. I'll be happy if there will be a mini-Budapest. Would be cool.

  It was 5 pm when we started heading back on the Strip, 8 o'clock was our curfew. I had a slushie for dinner, and we stopped at Starbucks too. We went to the Hershey's store in the mini-New York too. By the time we were finished, it was 7:30, and it was time to go back to the bus. I'm really glad I got to see this too. We saw everything we wanted, and was worth looking at. We talked to random strangers, did some stupid stuff, but we are young, we are friends, and we were in Vegas. Everything that happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! Except for weddings, but we didn't do that, so it's ok! 

Grand Canyon National Park

Day 13 AZ

Grand Canyon National Park

I was very excited for today, but I was also strangely sad. When my parents got married, my Mom made my Dad promise he would take her to the Grand Canyon for their honeymoon. But he never did, so I've been hearing my Mom nag my Dad about it for all my life. Of course, he's taken her to countless beautiful places, but the Grand Canyon just didn't make this list yet. 

  So I've been wanting them to go there, and now, 18 years later, I'm the one to get there first. So I was missing my parents today. This place has been a major topic in our household all my life.

  We took a 2 hour drive to the National Park. When I first saw the view at the Bright Angel lodge, my breath was taken away. It was really beautiful. It was a little before noon, so the whole valley was covered with a purpleish color.

  If I think about it, it' just a huuuuge hole. The San Antonio Squad assembled again, and we took the rim trail for a while. We must have taken hundreds of pictures while walking. Even though my Dad told me not to, we went to the edge (very carefully!!), and we took some awesome pics! (sorry Dad!)

  We went back to the lodge after a smaller hike, and we had lunch in the restaurant. With 2 and a half hours to spare, we decided to get on one of the shuttle buses. We took the express bus to the Visitor's center, and there we went on the "orange" bus route. 

  The first stop we got off was beautiful, and quite far from anywhere we've been in the park. But when we got off at the second stop, my breath was taken away once again. Orange light covered the rocks on the other side of the valley, and it was just like people imagine it to be, but no picture could truly grab the beauty of it. 

  We got back to the Bright Angel Lodge the way we came, and by the time we got back, it wa time to get on the bus too. As the bus left the Grand Canyon, I took a final look at the valley I was just in. I felt kind of sad, I want my Mom and Dad to see this too. But I'm glad I got to experience this. I was tired from the walking and the heat, but I survived the Grand Canyon!!!

  The rest of the day, I was trying to upload my fabulous pictures to the Internet, but with little success with bad Internet. I got to however send some pics to my Mom, which she loved. One day, she'll send me her pictures!

Albuquerque, NM

12th of July, Sunday

I was very excited for today, to explore Albuquerque. Whoever has watched the TV show "Breaking Bad" wants to go there. It was a superpopular show about a chemistry teacher, who's diagnosed with lung cancer, so he starts cooking crystal meth as a sidejob. It is very intense and dramatic, and it all takes place in Albuquerque.

  Well, the place we went to looked nothing like the TV show, but I could see a certain influence. We went to Old Town Albuquerque, where the city began. I felt like I was in Mexico. Mexican architecture, orange and yellow houses, and Native American jewelry and craft stores everywhere. 

  We formed the San Antonio group again. This group seemed to work very well. I'm so glad I'm part of it! We walked around, looked in shops, snapped some cool pictures. We had lunch at a cute restaurant, I shared a veggie burger with Mikayla. The last time I ate a veggie burger, I was back in South Africa, 2 years ago. Nice memories. That one was much better than this. Meat is life!

  We were in Albuquerque from 9:30 to 1 pm. When the bus picked us up, we looked at what the others bought at the souvenir shops. I only got postcards. This was a nice trip, we did whatever we wanted, and that felt good. 

  In the 5 hours of driving, I spent some quality time on studying biology. We passed into Arizona. In Flagstaff, when we arrived, the San Antonio crew took off to have dinner. We found our spot quickly: a 50's diner, that was still in perfect condition! We felt like we traveled back in time! I really loved that place. The red chairs, the booths, the bar, the menu, everything was so retro. There was even a juke box, but it wasn't working. All this time on the trip, I tried to eat healthy, but this was just a must have milkshake + flapjacks place. And diners like this do live up to the expectations, the food was awesome! We had an awesome time.

  Back at the hotel (which was the sketchiest so far), we played Uno, some played pool, and everybody just hung out and chatted. There was finally some drama with some love triangles. Oooooh! I wish I had popcorn. Our curfew was 10:30 tonight. 

NASA and San Antonio, TX

July 9th, Thursday

I've always wanted to go to visit NASA, and today, I finally did!!! We arrived to the Houston Lyndon Johnson Space Center at 9. We had a private guide, but he wasn't the usual commercial guide. Al is a Rotarian, he was the head of international youth exchange a few years ago, and he worked in NASA for all or at least most of his life. He was in the control center when they landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. He met several astronauts personally. I think it's really cool that we got to meet him!

  The first thing we did in the Space Center was get on a tram ride, that took us to two sites that were away from the main building. The first was the old control room. The one they let us in is on the third floor, and not functioning anymore. We sat in the room the relatives of astronauts and journalists sat, in the very same chairs, and we could see what the old control room looked like. It's pretty incredible, that they landed people on the moon with equipment like that. The memory space of those computers is 2 MB!! My Iphone takes bigger pictures than that! Pretty amazing. A camera showed over a TV, the status of the current, functioning control room. That one is much more modern, and it's keeping contact with the International Space Station.

  After a young man told us the history of the room, we went over to the Rocket Park, where we could see some huge soace traveling equipment. One rocket, that was inside a big building was so big, it didn't fit in my camera, only when I stood in the far corner could I get the whole thing in one picture. Al gave us a tour, explaining how the rocket was built, but due to budget cuts, it never flew. He presented the Apollo missions, and told personal stories of what happened to him as a control room worker. When the astronauts were in trouble, and they would say: "Houston, Houston, we have a problem!", they would call Al and his team. Really cool.

  We had 2 hours to spend when we got back to the main building. I went around the exhibition, looking at special clothings, history of space travel and presentation of equipment. I saw the pod of Apollo 13, and I even touched a rock from the moon!!! 

   We watched a movie on the history of NASA with some original footage of voyages. We saw the landing on the moon, astronauts jumping with different gravity circumstances, takeoffs and the Challenger catastrophe. It was sometimes sad, sometimes inspiring, but all in all, it was very interesting. The whole experience at NASA made me want to become an astronaut. I still might, who knows?

   After the Space Center, Mike Wilcox said goodbye, and we drove to San Antonio. I didn't know anything about the city. It was very close to the Mexican border. We were dropped off at the Alamo, where we formed our little groups. I was with Mikayla (Australia), Non (Japan) and Sarah (Germany). And we had 5 hours to discover San Antonio by ourselves.

  We started with the Alamo. It was a house, where a battle was fought in the civil war. We didn't stay long although it was very nice inside, because it was cold. Outside, we could feel the typical summer Texan weather: hot hot hot!! Even in Houston in the morning, we were boiling.

  After the Alamo, the others got ice cream at one of the sidestores of the Mengler, a supposedly haunted hotel right on the main square. We walked down to the famous riverwalk, and suddenly, I was in love. In the middle of San Antonio, a tiny river flows in a tiny canyon. This river is surrounded by beautiful little restaurants and shops of all sort. It was just breathtaking. I could really live here!!

  In the Riverwalk,  we picked up Luca (Germany), and Nikolaj (Denmark), and the 6 of us continued on exploring. We spent a lot of time walking around, enjoying the view. At dinnertime, we sat down at a Mexican restaurant, which was the perfect place to eat. The cuisine fit the style of the city, it was pretty and relatively cheap. We just drooled at the site of giant fishbowl margaritas with an upside-down beer in it, that were on the neighbouring tables. They seemes so cool and refreshing, but of course we couldn't get them. I shared a guacamole with Luca, and it was plenty for dinner. It was very good! 

  Afterwards, we walked around more, untill the buses picked us up at 9 pm. We just went to the hotel and slept. Everyone was super tired, after a busy day. This day was one of my favoyrites so far. So many things happened, and I've done and seen so much, I'm very happy I had the opportunity to do so.

Graceland, Memphis, TN

July 6th, Monday

Long driving, once again. 9 hours in the bus, we didn't even blink. We're seriously getting used to it. 

  At 4, we finally arrived to Memphis, TN! We went to visit Graceland, Elvis Presley's home.

  We had a 3 hour tour there. First, they gave us iPads that had a prerecorded tourguide on it, and we walked through the mansion while listening to the narration. 

  It felt weird to walk where the King of rock and roll lived. It was interesting though. So many fans visit this place annually. 

  I don't consider myself a fan of him, but I do like his music. He was/is an idol to a lot of people, and he was pretty cool. But his fame was even bigger because of his death, and that's really sad. He had everything anybody could ever wish for.

  So I walked through his kitchen, I've been in his yard, and I took pictures in front of his house, that was named after his grandma. The tour ended at his grave, where he's buried next to his family. 

  We spent a little time looking at his cars, and then we went to the hotel. It was 7:30, when we got there. I joined a big group going to the Applebee's next door for dinner. We had an early curfew, because of noise complaints from the days before. Tonight we had a roommate change, my new roomates are Annelien (Belgium) from my district, Ceci (Mexico), and Candela (Spain). It's a very good room, I like all the girls, they're very nice.

Dollywood with Dixie Stampede

July 5th, Sunday

Dollywood is the #1 amusement park in the US, and today, I got to go there.

  Because of our late curfew last night and the park's later opening, we got to sleep in a little bit. We got to the park at 10, but we were still one of the first ones in. 

   Me and a few of us, we formed a group that loves rollercoasters, the scarier, the better. The first attraction we went on was the wooden rollercoaster, and I have to say, it's one of the best wooden ones I've ever been on. It was the perfect start for am awesome day.

  We just stayed in one group, and in the matter of 2 hours we went on every rollercoaster. One of my favourites was the Eagle, which went with 61 miles/h, and the first big drop had a 4.5 g force. The first time I went on it, I forgot how to breath.

   Despite being the Sunday of the 4th of July weekend, and having good weather, there weren't too many people at the park. There were no lines, and no crowd. It was pretty neat. After we went on every rollercoaster and ride, we went again on the ones we liked the most. I sat on the front seat of the Eagle the last time, it was extra scary, to watch the drop!

  Another thing I have to say about Dollywood is that it's very nicely decorated. The theme is western countryside, mid 19th century, the time of cowboys and sheriffs. The houses and shops were all built to look like everybody  jumped back into that era. It was very well detailed.

  At 4:30, the buses collected us, but the day was far from over! We went to have dinner at Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede (gosh, that woman's rich!), and I only knew that it was a dinner and a show, but I wasn't expecting anything as great as it was.

  The first half an hour was very boring. They sat everybody in a room, to wait till the previous show ended. Then they let us in.

  When I stepped into the main dining area, the surprise took my breath away. It was a giant imdoor arena, with sand in the middle. on the side instead of just seats, 5 rows of tables and chairs were facing the middle of the room. It fit around a 1000 people!

   We  were seated according to our tickets on the right side, I was sitting next to Saki and Tim, both from my district. There were plates sat in front of us, but no silverware. The first thing our waiter told us, is that we're gonna have to eat with our hands. After everybody sat, the show started. 

  A guy rode his horse in the middle of the arena, and introduced himself as the host of the show. He explained, that the arena was divided into two parts, the North and the South, representing the opposing armies at civil war, and we would have to "fight", by making a lot of noise. So all the exchange students made some noise. We clapped, screamed, hooed, stomped, and pounded on the tables. But so did the rest of the arena. 

  The theme of the whole show was the fight between the North and the South, represented by races. Ten cowboys/cowgirls rode in on their horses, the ones from the North in blue and gold (Rotary colors), the South in red and silver. We hooed for the North, booed for the South. After they did some tricks on their horses (they were very good riders, and the horses were very obedient), a lady came in, standing on two gallopping horses. She was very good! She slalomed between flaming poles, and the  she jumped through a hoop lit with fire, while riding two horses! After she left, there was a presentation of prehuman and native american life in America, with real buffalos and people with glow in the dark costumes dancing.

  Of course every show needs a clown, someone to deliver the comic relief. That person was Skeeter. He was the "maintenance guy" in the back, who wanted to be in the show desperately. He did some magic tricks, and he did a puppet race on ponies, it was pretty funny.

  The food was really good too. It was way too much, so most of us doggy bagged the leftovers. The races were very fun too. They performers were counting points for the two sides. Sometimes, they asked for people in the audience to volunteer and compete, and 4 kids from our group went. That's when we cheered the most! Children and grown up audience members did silly things for their sides to win. For a while, it looked like the South was gonna win, but as we know from history, the North evened out, won. At the end, the conclusion of the show / story was, that it doesn't matter what side we're on, because it's the United States of America, one country together.

  Everybody loved the show. I thought it was very cool, and I had lots of fun. It was a great dining experience, I'm really glad we got to go!

  Back at the hotel, we played volleyball and hung out in the parking lot again. The only problem was, that we were making too much noise, and because of that, Mike had us go to our rooms 10 minites before curfew. Everybody was very tired, we had a busy, fun filled day!

4th of July in Pigeon Forge, TN

July 4th, Saturday

4th of July! The biggest, most American holiday ever. The celebration of the country's independence. The day most often mentioned in movies. And this was how I spent it for the first time in the USA:

  We woke up early again, to travel from South Carolina to Tennessee. We passed the 7 hour drive by watching Hachi, Red Dawn and Independence Day. I studied biology, after I cleaned the sand off the papers.

  We only got to Pigeon Forge late afternoon. It's a very touristy town, filled with mini golfing places, arcades and restaurants. We made a group, and we went out to explore the town. We just walked around for hours, visiting shops and playing in arcades.

  At 8:30, we dressed up and went to a concert, near to our hotel. It was country, not something I particularly enjoy, but the ambiance of a concert is always awesome. 1000 people sitting on a field, listening to music. 

  At 9:30, the famous 4th of July firework show started. Us, the exchange students, went crazy. We were shouting, screaming, we were way more emthusiastic than any Americans around us. 

  I was filled with this happy energy, just like everybody else. Our curfew was midnight, so we had 2 hours left. A smaller group of us decided not to go back to the hotel, but hang out in the town.

  We went gokarting, because why not? Pigeon Forge was full of little gokarting places. Of course, the talking, shouting, dancing and singing was constant. We just couldn't help but jump up and down. The traffic was horrible, there were a lot of people everywhere, but no one was as excited as we were.

   After gokarting, we just walked around till midnight. I had such a fun time! Everybody agreed, that this was the best day so far, and we were happy, that there's still so much left! 

  

Myrtle Beach, SC

July 3rd, Friday

We woke up and left very early because there was a long ride ahead of us. Eight hours from Washington DC to Myrtle Beach SC. 

  We passed the time by watching Jaws. The perfect movie before going swimming in the ocean. I've seen it many times, but I always find something to wonder about it. Spielberg movies are just the best. 

  When we got to Myrtle Beach, at around 1, I was very excited. The weather was hot, the beach wasn't crowded, and everybody ran to the water. 

  The ocean was surprisingly warm. The waves were huge though, and there was a very strong current, that took us away whenever we fell. We fought against the waves and the force of the water, and we had so much fun! I really loved it, even though my mouth and nose was full with saltwater. 

  And so we enjoyed that full 15 minutes of it. Because that's when it started to rain. The storm came very suddenly. We wouldn't have had a problem with it if it wasn't for the lightning and thunder. So we ran for our stuff to retreat to the nearest parking lot. My bag, biology book and towel got soaked with sandy-muddy-rainwater, which was a pain, but I didn't bother with it then. 

  Once we got to the parking lot, we started dancing in the rain. It was so much fun, just not caring about anything. Blasting music and shouting from the top of our lungs. 

  We played volleyball and tomato in the rain. We were without chaperones, so it took them some time to come back with the buses. We all got in the bus, and went to the hotel, after the rain stopped. At least the saltwater was washed off of us. 

  It was only around 4 o'clock, and we ha so much time to do nothing. The original plan was to stay on the beach till 8. 

  So we went to walk around town with a few people, but there really wasn't anything to see. We were in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

  At the end of the day, everybody ended up in the parking lot of te hotel, playing volleyball, talking, hanging out. It feels good, that I already made so many friends in 3 days.

Washington DC

2nd of July, Thursday

Washington DC. The capital of the United States. And I saw it today!

  We got up pretty early, had some horrible breakfast, and soon enough we were on our way to the Arlington Cemetery. That was the first sightseeing adventure we had in DC, and I have mixed feeling about it. I kinda think it's cool to see JFK's grave, and a changing of the guards at the grave of the unknown soldier, but at the same time, having a tour with comfy, non-stop bus sevice and live commentary in a cemetery is just morbid. I mean, it's supposed to be a quiet place to honor the diseased, not to make a tourist attraction out of it. But anyway, it's good we went there, it was something different.

  After a few hours there, we got on the bus again, and at 1 pm, we were dropped off at the Space and Air Museum downtown. We were given 5 hours of free time to tour the city in groups of 4. I was with Kika (Slovakia), Nike and  Luca (Germany).

  We were in the space museum for an hour, then the others had lunch, and finally, we strted tourinf the city.

  We walked to the Washington Monument, and took some funny pictures there. Afterwards we walked over to the White House. It was very interesting. I wouldn't want to live in a house that's visited by countless tourists daily. 

  Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial to take even more pictures. By this time, our feet were worn and aching, so we took a public transport bus to the Discover America bus meeting place. It was surprisingly clean, fast and cheap. I miss public transport!

  The curfew was 6 pm, so the chaperones were surprised that we were there 10 minutes early. The counted with 40 extra minutes because people are always late. Not this year! This gave us extra time to do things. 

  We had a quick dinner at the same mall as the day before. At 8, we were on the bus again, heading back to DC. We did a monuments tour, we saw the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial again, and the Jefferson Memorial.

  It was 10:30 when we got back to the hotel, so we went straight to bed. We were very tired from a very busy, funfun day.

  I liked DC. Not as much as NYC or Philly, but it's pretty nice. I thought it was very dirty, but the architecture, the Smithsonian museums and such were beautiful. 

Discover America: The Start

1st of July, Wednesday

Today was the day! The day I've been waiting for for the last year! The start of the Discover America bus trip!!

I got up at 4:45, and I carried my luggage downstairs, which I finished packing the night before. I said goodbye to Kim, and Mike drove me to Henrietta, to the Wegman's parking lot, where the meeting place was.

  We met a few exchange students there already, and the bus came soon too. Before I knew it, we were all on the bus, packed, we said our goodbyes, and we were on our way! Everyone was so excited.

  I obviously knew the kids from my district, but we met with the exchange students from the neighboring district to the West. I had trouble remembering the names, but thankfully we soon got lanyards with the names and host countries. 

  We made a couple of stops, and after a few hours, all 116 of us were crammed into two travel buses. It took us around 7 hours to get to Washington DC, where our first stop was. In that time, Mike Wilcox took the opportunity to tell us the rules of the trip. I wasn't too happy about most of them, but I understand why they're necessary. Like always being in groups of 4 or  more. 

  We left the suitcases in the hotel (mine turned out to be one of the smallest of suitcases, everybody packed giant bags), and we went into the city! In DC for the first time!!!

  We stopped at the Capitol building for a quick photo, just before sundown. The socializing and talking was constant. We were meeting newer and newer people every 5 minutes!

  The most common questions of the day were: "What's your name?" and "Where are you from?". Everyone tried to remember everybody's name and country, but it was almost impossible. Being the only Hungarian, I guess I was more memorable than the others. Most kids are from Brazil, Germany, France and Belgium. 

  After 20 minutes at the Capitol building, we got on the bus again, and we saw some of DC quickly, just to get an idea of where's what for tomorrow's planning. 

  We had dinner at a mall, and we walked around a little bit. Back at the hotel, we socialized and sang a little bit more. At 11, they sent us to bed. I was sharing a room with Ana from my district, and Char and  Angie from Finland and Argentina, who were both in Canada for exchange, in the neighboring district. They're all very nice girls.

Conquering the TV

26th of May, Tuesday

Diet starts today! - the phrase "Diet starts tomorrow", I've been sticking with the entire year has ended. Me and Kim, we are really doing this. So to show our commitment, we got up at 5:30, and went on a 45 minute walk. The sun was barely out, but it was very hot already. I can feel the summer coming.
  School was semi-boring. At 2:30, I biked home, and I had my first almost good meal of the week: sushi and blueberries. 200 calories so far. At 4, I got on my bike again, and I rode to Del and Linda's house. They invited me to come over and look at their house before I live with them for a few days while the Masiellos are traveling. They live very very close to the Greenauers. Their house is beautiful, and they have an adorable dog called Oreo. We talked for two hours straight, about all kinds of things. It was a lot of fun.
  At 6:30, I rode back to Woodmill, completing my workout for the day. Aside from an almost ready dinner, and email waited for me. Al Meilutis told me, that I was on TV earlier that evening!! I didn't have a clue, but apparently a bunch of people saw it. I was on Channel 13's Bright Spot, where Don Alhart talked about me and my Paul Harris. Pretty cool, eh? My 32 seconds of fame. :D
You can read most of the script under the picture. They talked about me baing an exchange student, and how I want to be a journalist. Dreams of November, now I want to be something else. But not everybody has to know that.
You can watch the video by clicking here .
A big shout of "Thank you!" to everybody who made my day today with this!

Rochester, N.Y. - Tuesday's Bright Spot shines on Bori Bernat. Bernat is a Rotary Exchange Student from Hungary and has been hosted by the Greece Rotary Club this past year. They were so inspired by her spirit that they presented her with a Paul Harris Fellow recently to show their appreciation. Bernat aspires to one day be a journalist.

Memorial day in Syracuse

25th of May, Monday

Today is memorial day, honoring all the veterans that fought in last centuries' wars. There are a lot of parades and celebrations on this day all over the US. We didn't go to any of these. Every student has a day off for this holiday, for which we are very happy about.
  We left the camp in the morning. It was rainy and cloudy, there was no point in staying there. We went to  Syracuse instead. I've never been to Syracuse, and to be honest, I didn't see a lot of it today either. We went to the mall to shop for most of the afternoon. The most successful buy of today was my ball dress! Well, I'll probably wear that for senior ball. It's a long, navy blue, strapless dress. I'll post pictures when I'm wearing it. I got it in JCPenney's, I couldn't leave it there for 18 dollars.
  We dropped Abbey off at the Megabus station before 4. She was a going back to NYC. The next time we'll her again will be in June.
  We headed back to Greece, where we arrived before 6ish. We unpacked the car, and our lives continued as they did before. This was a very fun adventure this long weekend, thank you, Kim and Mike! 

1000 Islands

24th of May, Sunday

We got in the boat just after noon. All of us went to a nearby bay called Alexandria bay to have lunch. We ate buffalo wings while watching flyboarders practice right next to us in the water. Flyboarding is this supercool sport, where people wear special shoes, that shoot water, and therefore, people can "fly". It looks like so much fun! The water was cold however.
  After lunch, we filled the boat up with gas, something I've never done before. It's very interesting, how everybody here uses boats as transportation, because there's no other way. Everybody has a boat, and everything is built around them.
  In the evening, one of my dreams came true: we went to a drive-in-movie-theater!!! I've always wanted to do that. We watched Pitch Perfect 2, but the movie was bad. The experience though. so great. We snuggled up in the car with blankets and pillows. And there were a lot of people there. The whole field was full. Some people brought chairs and got out of their cars, some sat in the back of their trucks to see.
Now I can cross this off too from my bucket list!

Paul Harris Fellow

13th of May, Wednesday

When I woke up, I found my laptop before the front door. I got it back for the third time, and when I started it up, everything seemed to be in order. I really hope it will work this time.
  Today we watched another documentary about a famous American serial killer in Psych, today was about Jeffrey Dahmer. Sick sick man, very messed up. In English, we wrote letters to future freshmen, giving them advice about high school, I think that's a cute idea. In US History, we learnt about the Cold War and the Korean War. Pretty interesting.
  At 11:50, Kim picked me up, and took me to the Rotary meeting. It was a completely ordinary meeting with the usual announcements and make-your-own sandwiches. Al was presenting another Paul Harris Fellow today too. I usually feel proud, when someone from my club gets a Paul Harris, because that means they've done an outstanding job at supporting Rotary. But also, (partly because I have such an amazing club), I heard a lot of these introduction too. The first clue, that this was something different should have been the fact, that Al was introducing this Paul Harris Fellow, and not Dan Barletta, who usually does (although he was standing on the podium too). But of course, I didn't catch that. In fact, I still didn't know what was going on, when they called my name. I was half listening, so I wasn't sure what was going on. It was strange, that people were standing on the stage, but they called for me. But anyways, I reached for my notes for my weekly presentation, and headed for the stage.
  Then someone told me, to leave the notes. At that point, I knew what that something big was about to happen, but I wasn't sure what. They were presenting a new Paul Harris Fellow, and they called for me, everybody smiling at me, could it be? Was I really the one, who was getting the award? Seemed unlikely. I'm just an exchange student, and I haven't donated anything significant to Rotary yet.
  But as it turns out, I was being given a Paul Harris! Me, a PAUL HARRIS FELLOW! The question I remember myself repeating was "What?". The whole situation was so surreal, I didn't believe it was happening to me. My ears were ringing, but I heard Al listing the reasons why I was being awarded such an honor. As he said, my involvement with the club and my efforts were above average. Something that I feel every exchange student should do. We are so blessed with the gift of an exchange year by Rotary, we should give something back. But as it turns out, it's unusual for an exchange student to be this involved.
  So I took the pin, the medal, and the certificate in a very awkward way. I was still dizzy when I was asked to make a speech. But I was speechless! No words could describe what I felt at that moment. I was moved by the love that I was given by the club. Because that's what the award represented: love that surrounded me. Of course, this sounds so amazing now, at the time, all the words I could form were "wow" and "surprise". Worst thank you speech ever. There aren't many times, where I find myself lacking things to say, but today was definitely one of those.
  Even when I sat down, my hands were shaking. I couldn't say anything, although there would have been so much to say: what an honor it is, to be awarded a Paul Harris Fellow! President Al said, that no exchange students have ever gotten one from the club. It is very rare indeed. So rare, I didn't know it could happen. I remember thinking to myself, back in November, that this year, I won't experience what it's like, to stand there and receive an award for excellent service, but maybe in the future. How wrong was I!
  I want to officially thank everybody in the Rotary Club of Greece, not just for the Paul Harris Fellow, but for my entire year. You make every Wednesday a happy day for me. You take care of me, and you spoil me with gifts I often don't deserve. Thank you for being in my life!
  When I was called back to the stage for the reason I'm usually asked for, to say my word and fact, I made a poor attempt to correct my previous horrible thank you speech. Instead of trying hard to form a normal sentence, I read the speech I wrote for the District Conference. In March, Anne Morrell called me to tell me, that I have been chosen to give a speech on behalf of the exchange student in Buffalo. A few weeks ago, I wrote the speech, and now it was time to present it to the club.
  It took exactly 5 minutes, which was perfect. That was the goal. I think everybody liked the speech, which I was happy about. I also handed out some words, that I will ask on the test I promised the club. Test sounds so bad, it's more like a quiz, to recap on everything I talked about Hungary this year. Should be fun, at least for me.
  Tony took me home after the meeting. I was still in a shocked state somewhat. I couldn't believe I was a Paul Harris Fellow. I called my Mom and Dad with the great news, and they were very surprised too, but happy, just like me. When Kim got home, we took some more pictures of the award and me in my Rotary blazer.
  After 7, Laura came to pick me up. She invited me to a poetry contest, to be one of the judges, and I gladly said yes. In "Legacy", the independent senior living community she works at, they organize an annual poetry contest for middle schoolers, so they write about an elderly person, who had an impact on their lives. Today was the final round for 7 talented kids from Olympia and Athena. We listened to 5 of them, 2 of them couldn't make it sadly. They were all very good, I was quite impressed. In the end, a girl from Athena won.
  Today was a very eventful and emotional day. I was given a great honor, and a huge gift from my Rotary Club. I am very grateful for all the wonderful things you do! Thank you again and again!

Paul Harris Fellow: pin, medal, and certificate

A shocked me (pic credit to Tony Pierleoni)

President Al giving me the Paul Harris - still shocked (pic creds to Tony)

Posing with President Al (pic credits to Tony)

Coolkid with a Paul Harris .. am I officially the best now?

Big Wigs Show

8th of May, Friday

I rode my bike to school today! What I did in 17 minutes yesterday, I did in 13 today. I got up 10 minutes later than I normally do, and I got to school 3 minutes before the bus. Plus I got a tiny workout before the day even started. Small accomplishment, but still counts. Weather was just beautiful today.
  In Psych class, we watched the movie "A Beautiful mind", about a mathematician who suffers from schizophrenia. In French, we started a new unit about travel (which is a very good topic for me, I've traveled to 32 countries in my life, I counted). In US History, we took a Unit Exam, this one was only 30 multiple choice questions, but I don't expect to do very well on it, I think I scored in the "ok" category. In Creative writing, we had to do our own stories, about any topic. I think mine's coming along well, it's only 3 pages long so far. And finally in Choir, we tested for Clementine. I really don't like choir testing. I'm used to hearing my voice blend in with the rest of the choir. If only 4 kids are singing a piece that usually 50 do, it sounds weird.
  So that was school for me. Finally Friday! I rode my bike home, and chilled for a few hours. At 7, Tommy, Kim Greenauer's boyfriend picked me up. We went to visit Kim at her work at Golden Ponds. I haven't seen her since I moved to the Masiellos, I missed her. While we were at the restaurant, we watched the Big Wigs Show. It's basically a drag queen show, where to gentlemen/ladies lip-sync and do stand-up-comedy. It was very funny. One of the ladies, I could have really mistaken for a woman. She had a feminine face, an alto voice, and legs, that all women could envy. The other one was no mystery. She had a deep man's voice, but it made the show very funny. The costumes, which were made by the feminine lady, were fabulous. They "sang" songs by famous divas, such as Celine Dion, Cher, and Tina Turner, and they had matching costumes for all their celebrities. People went up to them, to give them dollar tips, and take pictures with them.
  It was a very funny experience. This wasn't my first drag comedy show, and we have some cross-dressers in our country too, although very rarely seen. I never judge anybody based on their sexual preferences, but if they're able to laugh about themselves, I like to laugh with them. And apart from being very inappropriate with their jokes, they were hilarious, I enjoyed the show.
  I was happy that I got to see Kim again. Life rushes forward and takes everyone with, we rarely find time to write to or meet our friends. And that's pretty sad. But I'll try to keep in contact more.
The show lasted till around 10. A good and fun way to spend a Friday night.

I met "Cher", and made a face

Test bike ride

7th of May, Thursday

After a medium-boring school day, where the only interesting thing I did was taking a personality test (turns out I'm 54% introverted, little bit less than I would have guessed myself to be), I wanted to do something fun. Kim and Mike weren't home, so I thought I'd take a bike (not mine, that one got a flat), but Kim's, and measure the time it takes me to bike to school.
  17 minutes at a slow pace. I went on Woodmill, and continued on Wakecliff, English Station, Pinebrook, and Northwood Dr, all the way to Greece Athena. I took the back streets, because it's safer and prettier. After I got the Athena, I felt like I could add a little bit more to my ride, so I called the Ritsons, and biked over to their house, taking the back streets again. There, I picked up my helmet, and I headed back home (now safer), on the same way.
  Two hours after I left the house, I returned in love with Kim's bike. It's really nice, and it's perfect for my height. I was happy with my workout for the day. I usually don't do any sports, but biking is fun. I got to explore the neighborhood much better than with a car. From now on, I'll try to bike to school more often.

AP Exam and RIT film production lecture

6th of May, Wednesday

And thee long fear'd day hath comed! My AP English exam. We have been preparing for this the whole year, but now that it's here, I feel totally clueless. My dad says this happens to every student before an exam.

  Around a 100 kids sat in the APAC lobby at 8 am, with black pens in hand, and an unshakeable feeling of self-doubt. My table was on the balcony, overlooking most people in the lobby below (that's the privilage you get if your last name starts with A to F). And though the table squeeked, I really had the best seat in the house.

  I'm not allowed to tell anybody about the questions, but I will tell you this much: they were hard. The first section was a shortshort 1 hour for 55 multiple choice questions about 5 selected poems, rangeing from the 16th century to 2009. I didn't understand 75% of the words in the poems, or in the questions, but I guess being an American didn't give anybody any advantages, because I heard the same complaint from everybody. Old English is hard English. Sadly I couldn't finish all the questions, in the final minutes, I guessed a lot, based on which letter, A, B, C, D, or E I haven't used for a while. Oh well!

  The second part I found much easier. It was 3 essays in 2 hours. The first one was about a book of our choice (I chose Hosseini's The Kite Runner, because it fit the best for the question, and I read it fairly recently). The second one was an analysis of an excerpt from a novel, which I thought went well, and the last one was about a poem, which was pretty difficult due to the lack of poetic devices they asked for us to find. But there weren't any!

  Nevermind. I think I did as best as I could. I'm proud of myself if I get out of bed, I felt extra accomplished today. If I get a 3, I'm OK with that, if by some miracle, I'd get a 4 ... but it's just useless hopefulness until July, when the results are in.

  After 3,5 wicked ours of painful brainworking, Kim picked me up to take me to Rotary. Hallelujah, we had tacos for lunch for the first time! That made me happy. The meeting was cut short today, because we had to leave at 1 for my lecture!

  Kim put me in touch with a professor at RIT, who teaches film production, and he invited me to sit in on one of his lectures. This was my first college class ever, even though I'm not a student (yet).

  Larry took me to the campus, and dropped me off at 2. Mark Foggetti, the professor, met me at the loading dock of building 7B, where the School of Film and Animation is. He showed me the major places in the building, the editing room, greenroom, equipment cage, then we went to the classroom. It wasn't a big lecture hall, it looked more like a cozy little movie theatre. 

  The film production class of 14 students slowly came in, and took their place. For the whole semester, they were shooting their short films (taking turns in practicing different roles in film production), and in the last few weeks everyone was individually editing one of the short films they shot, completing the first rough cuts for the clip. These are what we looked at, and reviewed. We carefully analysed each cut in an artistic way. We critiqued the individual work, and creativity. I didn't actually say anything, only when my opinion was asked, but I always took mental notes of everything. 

  I think I could do this. I've always been fascinated by film, and though for most of my life, I wanted to work as an actress,  I now realize that I can boss people around better, than being bossed around. I want to tell people what to do, how to do it, and I want to create something great. I basicly just described moms, but in a way, films are the children of directors.

  I really want to study film. I know it's a lot of work, but for me, it would be just fascinating and playful. I want to live by the saying: "do what you love, and you never have to work a day in your life". 

  The student works that I saw today were great! They had to cut their raw footage into a 3 minute long short. Most of them did very well on this project I think, I hope the professors agree with me too. I wonder who I'll stumble upon later in life, or work with, or read about. It would be interesting, because I met some really funny, goofy, nice people today. Being at RIT, on my first but unofficial lecture really lifted my spirits. For a short time today, I felt like I belonged in a world meant for me. Thank you, Prof Foggetti for this experience!

  Kim picked me up at 5:30 today, and took me home. She was an angel today, like always, and dropped my package at FedEx off, my laptop that I had to send back for the 3rd time! I wish Lenovo could fix it permanently for once. *Sigh* Today was a long day. It wasn't physically tiresome, but mentally, I was pudding. 

Happy Mothers' Day!

3rd of May, Sunday

On the first Sunday of May, every Hungarian child greets their mother with flowers, hugs, kisses, gifts and chocolate. This is a day for the moms today, appreciating them for all the things they do.

  So, because of this occasion, I want to tell my Anyi here, how much I love her, and how grateful I am for her being my mother. Couldn't wish for better, prettier or wiser! Love you Anyi!

  Sadly though, I couldn't Skype her today, because she was travelling back to Budapest from Israel with my dad. (Who I also love very much, but he will have his appraisal in June :D).  

  Instead, to make my mother proud, I completed 12 blog entries, and I also wrote my speech for the Distric Conference, at wich I was chosen to give a speech on behalf of all the exchange students. And making my Mom proud was top priority. That, and the fact that that evening was my deadline. But mostly for Mom. Whoever read it, and liked it, remember, I worked my magic with those words, metaphores and whatnot in just 2 hours. Imagine if I wouldn't be a procrastinator, I could have written the whole thing in iambic pentameters. I think it's good enough as a first version. If anybody would like to read it, email me, and critique me! I'm interested in everybody's opinion.

  Today my 3 years of waiting finally came to an end! We went to see Avengers 2, Age of Ultron: SO AWESOME!! I love Marvel and superhero movies, and although the critics did not appreciate this movie as I did, I was shocked how well they've done. It's always difficult to live up to the success of the first movie, but this was amazing. I just loved it. I suggest it to everybody, although I'll tell you, that you need serious background knowledge to understand all the references. Me, being fully loyal to superhero movies for most my life, I've seen almost all of them, but I'm not a comic book reader. Partly because it's hard to get them in Hungary, partly because I have no time next to these movies. But yeah, it's good to have seen all the X-men, especially Days of Future Past, all the Iron-man, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America movies, and the Marvel's Agents of Shield series didn't hurt either. All these are awesome. 

  But without these, the movie is still good. Interesting storyline, twists, vivid characters, exciting battlescenes, and top-quality special effects. Big budget movie for big audiences.

  After 2,5 hours of funfunfun, we left the theatre with different opinions, but most of us liked it a lot! 

 Sarah, Lisa and I, we rode our bikes to a nearby 7eleven. At least I would have, but my back tire got a flat soon after we left. Almost the entire thing ripped off. So Sarah took her dad's bike, and I took hers. 

  We had some slushies, brought it back, and by the time we got home, it was dark. Interesting day today. Productive and exciting at the same time. Again:

Szeretlek Anyi!!! (Love you Mom!!!) Happy Mothers' Day!

Talent show rehearsal

2nd of May, Saturday

Rita took me to Ontario, to rehearse for a talent show at the District Conference, two weeks from now. I took on the part of MC with the Bolivian exchange student Ana, so I had to go. There were supposed to be around 40 kids present, inbounds and outbounds, only 14 of us showed up. So the whole gathering was kind of a flop. We sang some songs, and listed what we were supposed to do on that weekend in Buffalo, but other than that, we just talked. 6 hours of doing almost nothing is hard with people around. I usually waste my time on the Internet, but it's way easier than being social.
  At 3:30, Al and Judie came to pick me up, and they took me back to Greece. We stopped at Wimpy's for some milkshakes. and then they dropped me off at the Ritsons.
  After dinner, Mandy, Craig, Lisa and I, we went on a hike. We wanted to go on the Cranberry trail in the Braddock Bay Park, but we turned around halfway, because it wasn't a very exciting path. We stopped at Burger Park, to walk a little but there too. Then the sun went down, and we had to head home.
  We did stop at Ollie's, this wonderful store, where everything is very cheap, in American standards. Hungary is so much cheaper, new stuff cost this much. But still, I enjoy bargain markets very much.

Heritage Music Festival - competition

25th of April, Saturday

Today, we had to wake up insanely early, breakfast was at 6 am. We got back at midnight, so no one got a good long night of sleep. Today was competition day. This is what we came for. This is what we prepared for the entire year. But I didn't feel nervous at all. I don't think I'm taking this year very seriously. I don't consider myself in jeopardy, if we loose. But we won't, because we're awesome.

The competition was held at the Riverside Church in E Manhattan. It's a huge cathedral, with lot's of space to create a beautiful echo. We unloaded the buses, all the equipment and dresses made it off
The string orchestra started the competition with a flawless performance. They got great comments from the judges too. Then came the symphonic band and jazz ensemble. All of them were great. The jazz ensemble was especially praised.

Before we knew it, it was noon already, and I had to get ready. That meant putting on makeup, hair, gown. Not all of these are easy tasks, especially for someone, who doesn't wear makeup or fancy hair often. We watched the women's choir, sitting in the church, in full preparedness. The girls sang beautifully too. After Ms. Dyer was finished with their performance, we went to the chapel to practice, and before I knew it, we were standing on the risers ourselves, ready to sing by our best skills. It felt surreal. We prepared for this moment the whole year, and now, we were ready to finish our journey. And I wasn't even scared.

Our first song was Noel, a Nigerian Christmas song. This one is the most exciting, because there is movement in it. The girls are on the floor instead of the risers, and we turn and clap, and sing. All to a wonderful rhythm and melody. I think Noel is my favorite of the three songs. And thankfully, I didn't mess up the clapping and the turning.

For the second song, the girls went back on the risers to sing Mozart's Lacrimosa. I thought it went pretty well. The third song is a morbid song called Clementine. It's about a girl, who wears the wrong shoes one morning, and she falls in a stream and drowns. But instead of being faithful to her, her lover forgets her, and settles for her sister instead. It is a very strange song, but the melody is beautiful. And really hard to sing as a choir. This is definitely the hardest one. I don't think it went as well as the others, but we did well.

The judge commenting on our performance didn't say one negative thing. Usually, the judges point out the mistakes they recognized, but not this time. She talked about how moved she was, because her family's printing company printed the copy of Lacrimosa we used, and how fun Noel looked. Ms. Dyer was very glad to hear these.

And then, we left the risers. What are we going to do now? No competition to practice for. We're done. But hey, we got over our shock and the minimum of fear we felt. We took pictures with the group outside of the church. We changed back into our regular clothes, and packed up. We had a few hours to kill until show choir's turn.

Other than the show choir kids, everybody went to Grand Central Terminal for supper. I've never been there before, but I've always wanted to. Instead of going down to the food court, I just stayed up in the lobby, and took pictures of the clock. We couldn't stay for long, we had to hurry back to the church, and the traffic was horrible.

Show choir delivered a wonderful performance. The judge however, didn't give such nice comments like to our choir, but I knew everybody was impressed.

Two hours later, we were sitting in the nave, waiting for the award ceremony. All the trophies were lined up in the front, and 1200 people were trying to fit into the wooden benches. Finally, after a long long wait, they started it. All of our groups did very well. And this could be seen from the six gold plaques we took home. This is just an individual achievement, it means we were great. Then came the big trophies, with even bigger names, that nobody remembered. All we knew, is every time Greece Athena was mentioned or called out, we started screaming and shouting, clapping our hands off while jumping up and down. The orchestra didn't win a lot of big trophies, those were taken by a rich prep-school, but we all knew how good Athena was. The choruses however! Select choir and show choir received the exact same best score, therefore we tied each other for first place! We found this quite funny, because nothing like this has ever happened.

Immediately after the award ceremony, we got on the buses, and at 8:30 pm, we headed back to Rochester. The road was long, and uneventful. Everybody tried to sleep, but the constant rumbling of the bus kept us half awake. It was 3 o'clock in the morning, when we finally arrived back to Greece. Kim was a hero, she came to pick me up in the middle of the night. It was 5 am however, when I finally fell asleep.

With Lady Dearstyne

Grand Central Station ...

... I mean Grand Central Terminal

The clock

Busy

Nave of the Riverside Church

Trophies