One Month!

Well, on Wednesay the 24th of February, I had been in Canada for exactly one month.
It's scary to think that I have been here that long, as it only feels like 2 weeks at the max.
However, I have also fallen behind on my blog(s). Which is rather pathetic, as this is only, what, my 6th entry? Anyway, I will do my best to keep up from now on.

School is good. While I do miss being able to make those personal jokes, and laugh around in class with my friendlings, I am still having fun. Everyday I meet new people, and slowly I am starting to remember everybody's name! And, as an added bonus, I didn't get lost at all this week! Although, when I was getting lost it wasn't because I didn't know where to go, it was because I didn't know where I was to begin with, as it all looked similar. Hopefully I have got the hang of it now.
One thing I notice that is really different about school here, is the classwork vs. homework. At Howick we do lots of work in class, writing paragraphs, doing quizes, answering questions, e.t.c. Here, the teacher will read to you, or get you to take notes, and then set all exercises as homework. So, I think I have had more homework these past few weeks than the entire of year 11!
We have started reading 'A Catcher in the Rye' in English, (I have finished it)
and it is actually a relatively good book! I had heard that it was very out of date and boring, but after Shukov anything is interesting - this included!

Last weekend I went skiing with Misaki, Emma and Book (an exchange student from Thailand). It was lots of fun, although the skiing was nothing compared to Cardrona; the runs were much shorter, and the queues were longer. However, it was still fun too get out and ski, and hang out with them. We also saw 'Valentine's Day', the movie together, which was fun. I thought the movie was a lot like 'Love Actually', only I prefer 'Love Actually'.

Infact, since I have been here I have been to the movies quite a bit.
Laurie, Kaley and I went to see 'Wolfman' last week, and then Laurie and I saw 'Shutter Island' last night. While I won't say too much, I didn't like Shutter Island, I felt very cheated after it, they tricked me!!

We had the Outbound Announcement Day last Saturday, where the Canadian Exchange Students find out where they are going to be next year. It was very suspenseful, and everyone was very excited. Kirsten Hentschel is going to be coming to New Zealand in July which she is very excited about, as am I. While we know she will be in Auckland for sure - somewhere between Pukekohe and the Harbour Bridge, I can't wait to find out where exactly she will be staying, hopefully near Howick, so you guys can all show her around!
After the Announcement Ceremony, many of us went bowling together. I was in a bowling lane with Mille (Denmark), Aurelien (France), Geoff (France), Dario (Switzerland), and Mark (Australia). Sadly, I was by far the worst bowler there, not getting a single strike, and filling up the scoreboard with zero after zero. It was fun though, despite my... 'interesting' score.

Anyway, sorry this is so fragmented, I am trying to catch you up on everything that has been happening, and trying to remember it at the same time!
I miss you guys,
Sarah.
xxx

Schoolio...

Hi there!
Believe it or not, as of this Wednesday, it has been 3 weeks since I left New Zealand, and as of this Saturday, 3 weeks that I have been in Canada. 1/17 of my year!!! This is unbelievable; the time seems to have gone so fast! I am being sure to keep busy, as that distracts me from all you awesome people back home. So, even since last Sunday I have been busy….
On Sunday the 7th February, the SuperBowl was played. Misaki and her host-sisters invited me over to their house to watch the game along with a couple of friends. As a New Zealand girl, I had no idea what the SuperBowl was. It came as quite a shock to me to see how worked up over it people were getting. It turns out that the SuperBowl is one of the biggest North American sporting events of the year, and is an American Football match. This year the Colts and the Saints had made it into the finals, and while everyone was sure that the Colts would win, the Saints pulled their game together, and won! However, despite watching the game, I still don’t have any idea how it is played, so if you want any more detail than that, Wikipedia it. It was really interesting watching the game, and the halftime show was awesome - The Who played, and they put on a fantastic show. After watching that, we all watched Madagascar on DVD, I am sure that every time I watch it I love it a little bit more. <3 King Julian…
Then, on Monday I had my first day at school. I had forgotten just how terrifying would be, starting at a school where I knew no-one. But, as always, it turned out that I had nothing to fear. Everyone was really nice, and I think that I will really enjoy all of my classes. School here is rather odd though, only 4 classes per semester, and the same schedule, with all 4 classes, everyday. Each class is about 1hour and 20mins, which is a long time (esp. in religion)! I have my first three classes all in a row, and then I have about 40mins off for lunch, before I go to my fourth class. School starts at 8.10 in the morning – I know, torture! However it ends at 2.20, which isn’t so bad.
I have World History first period, with Miss Ianni. She seems like a fantastic teacher, and so far I am really enjoying her class. Second period is Drama. While it is relatively fun, it is nothing compared to Howick’s drama department! I do miss all you Year11 Drama kids! Third period I have English, with Ms Sarjas. At the moment we are looking at short stories (believe it or not, I prefer Sonnets!?!), and ways in which you can interpret them. Apparently we will be moving onto a novel study of ‘Catcher in the Rye’ later in the semester, which is apparently a quintessential Canadian book. First comes Love, then comes Marriage, then comes LUNCH! Ok, so maybe just lunch on its own. They have a cafeteria where we eat, but you are allowed to leave the school grounds to eat if you want. Meaning that if you live across the road, or have a car, you can do what you want. Apparently you can buy food there, but I have been taking my own lunch – Cheese and Marmite (have to represent NZ) sandwiches. I know, shock horror, a normal lunch. Sorry guys, no cornflakes and coconut (yet). I am really enjoying my sandwiches, though it is a vague reminder of Singapore, processed cheese on white bread… Anyway, fourth period is World Religion. I started off in Mr Eves’ class, but as there were too many people in the class I have been transferred to Mr Macdonald’s class. So far all we have studied is Christianity, and Mr Macdonald is a devout Christian, making us pray from the bible before each class. Then, after school I catch the 11 bus to the Appleby station, before transferring to the 10 West, and catching that bus all the way home.
On Tuesday, Mille (a Danish Exchange Student) and her Host Father picked me up from school, and took me and Misaki back to their house. When we got there we had Ice Cream and Cookies ( =D ) for afternoon tea, before her host parents drove us into a restaurant to meet us with the Exchange Students for Kricia’s (from Brazil) 18th Birthday. We met at the Mandarin, a restaurant that has Chinese style food, as a buffet. Mille was very excited to be a part of my first ‘Mandarin Experience’ – apparently it is her favourite place to eat. We had lots of fun there, although I ate a lot – it’s surprising that I didn’t explode, and spray my organs all over the room! In the evening Misaki’s host sister Ashley picked us up, and dropped me home. The evening was heaps of fun, and I enjoyed seeing everyone again.
Since then, I have just been settling into a school routine. Corpus Christi has their ‘semi-formal’ tonight, a school dance. I didn’t hear about it until Tuesday, by which point it was too late to get tickets etc. This is quite a shame but apparently this is not their major dance; ‘Prom’ and other dances are still coming up, so I haven’t missed out entirely.
Anyway, time for dinner now (steak – om nom nom).
I miss you all,
Sarah.
xxx

Camp Wanakita!

Hi Everyone!

I have been very busy over the last week, but I have had heaps of fun!
On Saturday we got up early(ish), and drove south. We went down past Niagara Falls, and across the border America. Despite having purchased a Multi-Entry Visa, I still had to have my passport taken inside and checked, and I had to pay extra – rather infuriating. I didn’t buy too much, but I did manage to get a pair of Chucks for only $20US, which is around $30NZ! I was pretty pleased with that purchase! We had lots of fun, and I can now say that I have been to New York State!

On Sunday morning I left the house at 6.30am, and Terry drove me to Emi Johnson’s house. From there her dad took Emi, Misaki and I to Milton, where we got on the bus bound for Wanakita, along with 30 odd other students. The bus ride took around 3 hours, but before we knew it we were at Camp Wanakita. We went and set up our cabins, before going down to the lake to build our quintzees. We had to make a big mound that night, which was hard work, and we had to go back in the dark after dinner to get them finished! We also started learning to cross-country ski that day.
The next day we started to dig out the quintzees, learnt how to snowshoe, and went for a big cross country ski, across the lake!! It was so beautiful, it was very exciting, the idea of skiing on ice. Half of us slept in the quintzees that night, though I waited until Tuesday night.
On Tuesday we had to make ourselves lunch, and pack it into our bags before heading off on our snowshoe trek! It was lots of fun, and we walked through the woods for 6 hours, until we reached a tiny waterfall, that is partially frozen. The woods were incredible; it looked just like we were walking into Narnia. We also had lots of fun shaking the trees that people were standing under, and making snow fall on them. Our instructor showed us a moose carcass that he had found just a week before! He said when he found it there were wolf tracks all around it, and it had been entirely eaten, all that was left was the skull, backbone, rib cage, and the fur. Everything else had been eaten. We got to see rabbit tracks and fox tracks as well!
That night I got to sleep in the quintzee! It was made for 4 people, but we had to fit 5 girls in there, which was a bit of a squish. There was Kirstin, a Canadian outbound; Tammi, a Canadian outbound; Mickie, a German; Mille, a Danish girl and then me. We were packed in very tightly, so we all had to lie on our sides. It wasn’t at all cold, but the ground was pretty hard, and a good night’s sleep was not had.
Then on Wednesday we all packed up, and split into two groups - one group got to break down the quintzee, the other got to go Tobogganing. I chose tobogganing, which was so much fun!
After that we all got back on the bus, and began the drive back home. I still can’t believe that the weekend went by so quickly; it didn’t feel like I was there for 3 nights.
Thursday, the day after Wanakita, I went snowboarding with Misaki, Emma and Ashley. None of us had snowboarded before, so it was definitely an adventure. I had lots of fun, although I think I spent about 2/3 of the time on my butt.

I miss you all,
Sarah.

Burlington, Week One.

Well, a lot has been happening since I arrived here nearly a week ago...

I spent most of sunday unpacking my bags, and getting settled in. I hadn't actually realised how much stuff I had brought, so it took longer than I had expected to get my clothes all put away in the drawers. That afternoon I went out to the supermarket with Terry (my host-dad), to pick up a few things for dinner (or supper, as they call it here). The supermarket was pretty cool, I have to say. It was a lot bigger than New World or Foodtown, and everything was sold in larger amounts than you could normally buy in NZ. One thing I found fascinating, was that every thing there was labelled in bothe English and French! I was very confused at first, as to why a pie was called a 'pie-tarte' instead of just a 'pie'. I did figure it out eventually...
Terry's son and his family came over for dinner, so I got to met them which was lovely, and then their kids Ben (2years old) and Sarah (4months old) stayed the night.

It was nice having the kids around, and we spend Monday playing with them, and watching 'Mickey Mouse' and a Canadian kids show "Toopy and Binoo" - look it up
:P Sandra Strauss from the Burlington North Rotary Club came over in the afternoon, to see how I was doing, and also to drop off some clothes left behind by a previous exchange student, Shauna from Australia. There were mountains of sweaters and hoodies, which I am sure will be great, as it is very very cold here.

On Tuesday I had an appointment at Corpus Christi, the school will be going too. I picked my 'courses': English, History, World Religion, and Drama. I was given a tour around the school, which is three storeys high, but not as big as Howick College. It is only two/three years old, and only about 900 students go there. They have the American lockers!!!I don't actually start school until Monday 8th February,but it was nice to go in and get sorted out.

On Wednesday I got to sleep in, and then in the afternoon Laurie (my host-mum) took me around town. She showed me the swimming pool, the bus stop, and then took me to the Mapleview Mall, one of the biggest in Burlington. It was fun looking around there, as all of their stores are totally different to ours - The Body Shop was the only store I recognised!

Laurie and I drove into Hamilton on Thursday morning to get my school uniform - but when we got there we were told that they don't infact stock Corpus Christi Uniform, and the we needed to go to Oakville - on the other side of Burlington. It wasn't too far however, and I did get to see Hamilton! I was amazed at the choice all the schools have when it comes to uniform!! I could choose from a button up shirt, a formal shirt, or a long sleeved polo shirt, in black or white. There were three types of pants for girls, and a skirt/kilt to choose from (you think Howick had a short skirt...), and then three options when it came it sweaters - a striped rugby jersey was even available! I have the white polo shirt, a pair of pants, a skirt, and a plain sweater.. though it was very hard to choose!
I had 'Kraft Dinner' for lunch, which is one of Laurie's favourites. It is that Macaroni Cheese in a box kinda thing, and while it was nice, the powdered cheese was a little disturbing..
That evening, I got to go Iceskating with Emma, Ashley, Misaki and Jesse, some previous exchange students and their friends! It was lots of fun, and was in an Outdoor rink, something you would never find in New Zealand! I only fell over a few times, and didn't crash into anyone (not too hard, considering we were the only ones on the rink!).

This morning I got to attend my host club's Rotary meeting. They have a breakfast meeting, which started at 7.00, so Terry and I had to leave the house by 6.30 :S, far too early for my liking. However I did enjoy it, and I got to see Misaki (student from Japan) and Emi (soon to be going on an exchange) again, and meet a previous exchange student Connor, who had gone to Equador. I was introduced to lots of the Rotary members who I had only spoken too over email, so it was nice to be able to 'put a face to a name'.

I miss you all,
Sarah
xxx

Mission Acomplished.

Well, I made it! I am now officially in Burlington!

On the 20th of January, I left New Zealand with 34 other Rotary Exchange students. Rhi, Emily, Pippa, Kaden and Ange came to see me off, and gave me a St. Christopher Necklace, which I haven't taken off yet. It was so nice to get to say goodbye too them, and Em phoned me at the airport to say goodbye, which was very special. With only a few tears, I eventually went through the gates.
An 11hour flight followed, which, while exciting at first, the novelty wore off pretty fast. I did however get to watch Zombieland (:D) and Case 39. Needless to say, no sleep was had.

After landing in LAX, we caught a shuttle bus to the Hacienda Hotel, and after changing out of our Rotary Uniforms, we went to Westfield Mall (and ate maaaassiive pizzas), and Venice Beach. We all had lots of fun there, and learnt that it takes 3 Helium Balloons to float a wafer biscuit. We then spent the evening chilling in the hallway with the other students, all using the internet.

We went to Disneyland the next day, and that was aaaawesome! It was raining, but that meant that there were no queues, so we could get straight on all the rides, and stay on for a second turn if we wanted! We spend the second half of the day at California Adventure, a joining theme park, where we did the California Screamin' Rollercoaster, the Maliboomer, and the Tower of Terror! We then had dinner with the Westchester Rotary Club, which was great! It was lots of fun meeting the people who have helped make our stopover so awesome.

The next day was Universal Studios. We took a train ride through all the sets, saw where Desperate Housewives was being filmed, right as we drove past!! We also saw where David is-a-god Boreanaz's Irish Flashback scenes on Buffy and Angel were filmed, and I am fairly sure that if I could have gotten out I would have been licking the floor. We also saw where C.S.I and Bones are filmed. We saw some seriously cool sets. like the Jaws set, and the War of the Worlds set. Plus there were some seriously insane special effects we got to experience, Like earthquakes, and flash floods!
After that we did some of the rides, like the Simspons Ride (A simulated rollercaoster, that really makes you feel like you are on it) and the Mummy Ride, (a freaky indoor rollercoaster thingie) though Jurasic Park was closed. We also saw the 'backdraft' show - showing how they create and contain movie fire, and a show on special effects, which we got front ro seats on, as Sam volunteered to help out. After that, we got to drive down Rodeo Drive, and see the Beverly Hills sign. We stopped on the Walk of Fame, took heaps of pictures, and saw the hollywood sign!

That night we had dinner with the Westchester Roteract and Interact members (kinda like a junior Rotary). We ate lots of Pizza, and met some pretty cool new people.
Then, we packed up, and (some of us :P ) tried to get a goodnights sleep, before hitting the road the next day. Destination: Burlington!!

Nick and I, who were both flying to Canada got on the shuttle bus with Sue at 10am, and drove to Los Angeles Airport. There we checked in, and had around 2hours to kill before our flight. I bought a coffee thing from Starbucks, which was horrendously expensive - around the same price it would be in $NZ! Finally we boarded the plane, and took off. We were sitting beside an ex-kiwi, who has been living in Canada for the last 15 years or so. I watched some 'Big Bang theory' and the Simpsons, and befor I knew it we were preparing for landing. It was 0' as we landed, and very, very cold. There were virtually no queues going through immigration, and we had a lovely lady proccessing our visas, who we chatted to. I was met at the airport by lots of people! Laurie and Terry, my host parents were there, along with lots of others. They gave me a red and white canadian scarf, and some Helium Balloons :D
We went to 'Tim Hortons', a canadian icon, for coffee and hot chocolate, before Terry and Laurie took me home.

That's all for now, I will upload some photos next time.
I miss you all,
Sarah
xxx

Preparation:

Hello Everyone!

I am now nearly ready to embark on what will be the adventure of a lifetime, my year as a Rotary Exchange Student, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

I am sure I will have a lot of fun, and I shall post as often as possible, letting you all know what I am up too!

I leave New Zealand on the 20th of January (this Wednesday!!!), but I still don't feel quite ready, I have spent the last week or so frantically packing, and doing lots of last minute shopping to make sure I am ready to leave on the 20th. It feels very weird to be out buying scarves and gloves in the middle of summer, but I know that they will be essential in Canada!

When I leave NZ, I will fly to Los Angeles, and spend a few days there with the other Rotary Exchange Students, before flying on to Toronto on the 24th of January.

So, in less than 48hrs I will be on a plane to the other side of the world!
Wish me luck,

Sarah.