PROM!!!

Hey :)
I can't sleep anymore so I decided to write something about Prom!!! :)
Prom is a big deal here in the U.S. and everybody dresses up. It is a dance for the Juniors and Seniors, so 11th and 12th grade. Maybe you can compare it with the German 'Abiball' a little bit.
Everybody starts really early to prepare for this day. i got my dress about a month ago in the Mall of america and when I saw it I literally fell in love! :)
Usually guys are asking girls for Prom if the want to go on a date with them. So one of my friends asked me and so we went to Prom together.
Yesterday morning I slept in first and around 1:30 p.m I had a hair appointment at the hairdresser to get my hair done. This took about one and a half hour. After this one of my friends came to my house and we got ready together. After this we started taking pictures here at my house. :)

After this we went to the Japanese garden which is a neat location to take pictures. First Neda and I were taking pictures and then I was waiting for my date. It is a tradition that the girl gets for her date a flower that goes on the suit and the guy gets for his date a wrist flower. So we exchanged those and then we were taking more pictures :)

After taking hundreds of picture we drove to the place were we had Prom. First we took more pictures, then we ate and then we danced the entire night.

Prom location 

Track girls :)

Around 11p.m Prom was over and I came home with some friends and we took one last picture in our dresses :) At my school they also have Post Prom which is basically an event after Prom. Everybody changes in something comfortable and then you go to a sports center and you can play Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton. You also can go swimming and do other stuff. I think they do this because they don't want the students to get drunk after Prom and have fun. And it was so much fun!!! Maybe even more then Prom :D This was over at 2 a.m and a friend drove me home. Now I'm really tired but for some reason I couldn't sleep anymore :( But it was a great experience to go to Prom and have fun with my friends. I'll always remember this day! :)

10K, choir concert and my Birthday Party :)

Hi guys,
I haven't written for such a long time but I'm not at track practice today so I'll take the time to tell you more about my last 3 weeks or so. :)
The weekend after Easter and my Birthday, the marathon was going on here in Champaign. Overall, about 20000 runners were part of it. It was split up in 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon and youth run. I really wanted to try the half marathon but I was a little bit afraid because I didn't really have time to practice and to go on longer runs because of track practice. So I signed up for the 10K. The night before we picked up my number and my shirt. The marathon started on Saturday at 7a.m., but I had to be there at 7:40 a.m. After we all warmed up, the race started. It was so much fun to run this and I had more energy after I finished. I crossed the finish line after 53 min and got place 265 out of 2560 runners and I was very happy with this. It was such a great experience and it encouraged me to sign up for the half marathon :)

oh this is from the eater egg hunt with my grandparents :)

Last Saturday we left early in the morning to go to Springfield to my last Ayusa orientation :( It was the last time that I saw all the other exchange students which was really sad because I think we were a good group and got all along with each other. We had a potluck and everybody brought something from their home country which was really interesting. Patti also gave us tips and rules for our returns back to our home country. Of course we also took our last group picture :)

After lunch we went back home but we also took Pauline from the Netherlands and Tanja from Germany because I had my Birthday party and invited them. First we went mini golfing and we tried softball for the first time. It was so much fun but actually not so easy. But we enjoyed it anyway :) I invited my other friends to come at 6 p.m. Therefore we had to leave. after we got home we prepared dinner and cut melons and stuff. Around 6, all my friends came. We played ping pong, had a Wiener roast (grilling hot dogs over a fire), went to TCBY and had a sleepover. It was so much fun and I was so glad that everybody could come and that they enjoyed it too. I'll miss them a lot when I have to go back to Germany!!! On Sunday morning before church everybody left, except for Tanja and Pauline. They came to church with us and then we had lunch. After a walk in the sunshine with the dogs, they got picked up. I was a great weekend which I'll always remember! 

Adrienne,me and Maeve :)

Tanja, Pauline and me :)

Last week, I think it was Wednesday, we had a choir concert. It was my last one and I'm kind of happy about this :D But here are some pictures:

Maeve and me :)

Hannah and me :)

In about 4 weeks I have to go home again which is so sad and makes me cry. I had such a great year! I learned so many things, got more mature and gained a new family, which means so much for me!!! 

But now I'll stop being sad and enjoy the time I got left! :)

On Saturday we have Prom and I'm really excited about this :)

I'll post more about this later.

See you :)

Pauline