Goodbye Westside, Hello summer vacation!
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Marit
02 Juni 2017 | Verenigde Staten, Houston
Two weeks ago when I still had school, we skipped school on Wednesday (it was not really skipping because our Dean told us it was ok). Mom, Mathilde, Aunt Nancy, Nicole and I went to San Antonio. It was a 3 hour drive, but it was definitely worth it. We left early in the morning and arrived somewhere around noon time. On our way we went to Buc-ee’s. This is a gas station with a pretty big food store inside, and I think you can only find them in Texas on the country side. We went in there to get some food and there were all these cute Texas souvenirs, but I didn't buy any haha. When we arrived in San Antonio, we had to park the car somewhere of course. We were struggling a lot because the stupid pay machine wouldn't take our coins.... We stood there for like 15 minutes and the machine kept throwing out our coins over and over again. At one point, we just parked right beside a sidewalk and just left the car there haha. First we went to The Alamo. It is a big historical place/building, where the Texans and the Mexicans fought during the Texas Revolution. It was pretty cool to see that and we actually learned quite a bit about the Texas history.
After The Alamo, we went to the Market Square (el Mercado) which was an outside and inside place. The outside was decorated with colored flags and inside were a lot of Mexican and Texan stores. It was a really pretty market. From there we walked to the San Antonio River. Right next to the river we ate lunch in a really good Mexican restaurant. Of course Mathilde and I chose quesadillas because that’s what we always do here haha :) There were a lot of ducks and I swear they tried to steal my food…
A ‘famous’ thing in San Antonio is to walk the River Walk. It is really just walking along the river, but it is beautiful. We did this after our lunch and it felt like we were in a jungle or paradise or something like that, it was great! At last we walked a little bit around the city and then we went back to the car again. For some reason it rained on our way to San Antonio and on our way back, but it was hot and sunny during the time we were there so that was good :) It was an amazing day and it was great to visit another big city in Texas.
Seniors start their finals on Thursday and end the next Tuesday (the rest of the school ends on Thursday). Since we’re exchange students and we’re special (of course) we get the benefits of seniors, so we’re done with school 2 days earlier!! My first final on Thursday was Spanish 1. Mathilde and I are in the same class so she had this final too. There were almost only freshmen in our class so we had to take it in a different classroom. It was actually really easy and I got a 97% :)
My second final that day was much harder. It was Anatomy&Physiology and I again had to sit in a different classroom, because I was the only senior/exchange student in that class. I got a 70% on that test which is still passing haha and I didn’t study so it is okay ;)
After school was over, mom picked us up and we picked Sarah-Joy up at her house. We headed to college station, Texas A&M College to be precisely. It is a really big college; it has around 40.000 students…. (Kat went to A&M). We went to the college to watch a baseball game and it was so cool. Of course we were cheering for A&M :) The game was between A&M (The Aggies) and Arkansas. The sport complex was really big. There were soccer fields, a basketball hall, tennis courts, a softball field and of course a huge football stadium. The baseball game looked really professional. They sang the national anthem and there was a big screen that showed the name of the batter/hitter. It also showed the players position and a picture, his hometown and even his height and weight haha. One of the guys’ last name was Schoenvogel (shoebird) and I was thinking hmmm that is definitely not an English name hahaha.
One game has 9 innings (rounds) and in the 7th inning Arkansas was winning 4-3. Then in the last inning we hit a homerun which tied the game (4-4) and so we needed extra innings. In the 10th inning, Arkansas hit a homerun and they won 6-4… Even though we lost, it was a great game! They have some cool traditions. Between some innings, you stand up shoulder to shoulder with your neighbor (which could be a total stranger) and you sang this A&M baseball song. It was so great :) After the game we drove home and it was like a 1.5 hour drive home so we were all tired and went to bed immediately.
Crazy enough, we had finals again the next day. How great it feels to have no pressure at all. I didn’t study for any of my finals and I passed all of them. Compared to my final stress last year is was an amazing feeling haha. My first final that day was English 4 with all seniors so we all stayed in the same room. It was kind of hard but not too bad haha. My next period was soccer. Since we have all grades in my team, Coach didn’t really let me take a final. We just went outside and played a game with the team. It was not serious at all and everybody just had fun. (Coach Brown gave me a 100% for the final lol)
That evening I went out for dinner to Chili’s with my friend Arionna and it was a lot of fun and great food.
On Saturday Sarah-Joy, Mathilde and I went to the mall. I came back with a Texas T-shirt and a Texas shaped cookie cutter haha… We all went to Rachel’s graduation party in the afternoon. The whole family was there and there were huge amounts of food (there was a chocolate fountain omg). Something funny happened. So Gaia and I were in her room and Gaia was looking at something in her closet so her back was turned to me. She asked me to empty a bag on her bed because there was some stuff in there she didn’t want anymore so maybe I wanted to have it. I only saw one bag and that was a big black trash bag…. So I emptied it on her bed… Well, guess what? It was not the clothing bag she meant me to open, but an actual trash bag hahaha. Papers, food leftovers and other things came out and it was disgusting and hilarious at the same time hahaha.
Sunday was Gaia’s birthday, so we went out for dinner to Texas Road House in the evening. Of course we all ate steak and it was great. The atmosphere was also very Texan and country it was great :) After dinner we went to Gaia’s house to just hang out and celebrate her birthday a little bigger with the family. Sarah-Joy, Mathilde, Gaia and I played a game called Speak Out. My god that is the funniest game ever. You have this weird plastic thing in your mouth that stretches it out which makes it very hard to speak. Then there are these cards with words on there and you need to say that out loud to your partner. Some letters are so hard to say because your lips can’t touch each other. Anyway it was hilarious and great :) We did presents and ice cream birthday cake for Gaia afterwards. Then out of nowhere Rachel gave Mathilde, Gaia, Sarah-Joy and me a present. It was a necklace with a Texas shaped charm. She had one too and she gave us a really cute picture of the five of us from prom! :) For Rachel’s graduation and Gaia’s birthday, they had a lot of helium balloons left. So of course we played with those and all got those high voices haha. It was a very nice day with my favorite people.
On Monday, all our classes were only 30 minutes long, so we really didn’t do anything in any of them. Only in our last period, my art class, we took our final (I got a 100% in that class). We could still talk and everything, because it is art and nobody really cares for some reason. Also everybody does their own ‘masterpiece’ work so you can’t really cheat. This was the last day I saw most of my school friends :(
Tuesday was my last day at Westside. I first had my Algebra final (95%) and then my economics final (85%). Our economics teacher tricked us, because he said he had to go to the restroom so he left the class while we were taking the final. What we didn’t know was that he had put his phone in the front of the class to film us while he was gone. When he came back he watched the video to see if anybody cheated haha. Nobody did, but it was funny and smart that he did that. School was over at noon time and it was sad, but also nice. In the afternoon I watched a movie with Mathilde and later that night Gaia, SJ, Mathilde and I went to MOD pizza. This was just a pizza restaurant but it was really good and fun. We stayed there a long time and afterwards we went to Sarah-Joy’s house to watch another movie haha. The movie was so boring and dumb that we just stopped it. We started watching Vines on YouTube and we laughed too hard, which of course is the point of Vines. It was a great ending of a great day and a great beginning of our summer vacation :)
Wednesday, our first vacation day, I went for a run woohoo.I didn’t really do a lot that day except for watching the Europa League final (It was on channel 294 or something because it was European, but at least I could watch it haha) It was Ajax vs Manchester United and Ajax lost…. It was super weird to watch it with English commentators, but it was a fun and chill day :) We also baked brownies in the evening and they were delicious yaayyy.
That night I went to bed around 12 and I woke up at 12 the next day, so I had a good night of sleep (ff lekker klokje rond geslapen) :) I went to the park with Gaia, Austin, Rachel and Mathilde that day. All we did was just hanging out, eat some food and play some games, but we had so much fun. I’m going to miss these people a lot. When we came home, I ran again (trying not to get too fat this last month you know). Gaia came over and we had a pizza (I ran for nothing) and Pirates of the Caribbean movie night :) Later that night Sarah-Joy came over too and the girls slept over at our house.
The next morning we woke up and we went to IHOP together (International House Of Pancakes). I love that restaurant. You can order the craziest flavors pancakes but also just normal eggs and bacon. After we ate breakfast we went to the neighborhood pool in the Hill’s neighborhood and it was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not too cold. Another great day here in Houston with amazing people :)
Sunday morning was the last time we heard Stephanie singing. Of course this was lovely and it was a different church day than normal. The church is located in a High School building but they bought land to build their own church. We had a little church party to celebrate that they will have their own place next year haha.
In the afternoon we had the Westside graduation. This was our very last activity from Westside. Mathilde and I didn’t graduate, but our friends did, so we went there to watch. It was in the same stadium as where the rodeo was only they used half of it because there weren’t as many people of course. It started with all the 600(!) seniors walking in the stadium and sitting in their seat. There was a podium in front and some students and the principal said something. We also said the United States and the Texas pledge. Then they finally started saying all the names. They started with the top 15% students with the highest grades. Sarah-Joy and Rachel were in the top 15% :) Also some other people I knew (such smart friends I have haha). After this they just went in alphabetical order and Coach Maguire (our economic teacher) said all the names. Wow some names were so hard… We had to wait almost the whole alphabet to hear Gaia’s name. (Her last name is Tamasi and she is the first exchange student to graduate from Westside) At last we sang the Westside school song and of course people threw their cap in the air when the principal said: Congratulations class of 2017! After this we went outside to meet our friends. Gaia’s parents and brother had come all the way from Italy to Houston to be there for Gaia’s graduation and it was really cool :) Of course we had to take some pictures after all this and that was the end of a great American event!
Larry picked Mathilde and me up after graduation and took us to Katy. Two of or exchange friends, Valentina and Sif had a goodbye pool party. Their house was located near a lake so we had a pool and a lake to swim in. There were a lot of other exchange students and it was sooo much fun :) We stayed in the pool until 10 pm at night and it was still 28 degrees Celsius haha. Then mom picked us up and it was again an amazing day!
Monday was Memorial Day. We went to the Blake’s house again and had a pool party. It was a Memorial Day pool party and also a graduation party for Nicole (she graduated from the University of Houston). It was a nice pool day, because the sun wasn’t shining to bright. We just had fun and brought food with us. I always love the pool days. It is so cool that a lot of people here have their own pool :) We ate dinner with the family and then later at night we went home again.
Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I was sick, so I stayed in bed all day…. Today I feel much better, so I think I’m going to be just fine tomorrow :)
While I’m typing this blog, there is some crazy weather here in Houston. Live weather report people! We can see the lightning and right after that there is reeeeaallly loud thunder. It rains a lot too. The WI-FI doesn’t work anymore and the TV has to restart… Oh also the lights turn on and off. Let’s just say this is what we get back for all the other sunny days we’ve had haha…
After The Alamo, we went to the Market Square (el Mercado) which was an outside and inside place. The outside was decorated with colored flags and inside were a lot of Mexican and Texan stores. It was a really pretty market. From there we walked to the San Antonio River. Right next to the river we ate lunch in a really good Mexican restaurant. Of course Mathilde and I chose quesadillas because that’s what we always do here haha :) There were a lot of ducks and I swear they tried to steal my food…
A ‘famous’ thing in San Antonio is to walk the River Walk. It is really just walking along the river, but it is beautiful. We did this after our lunch and it felt like we were in a jungle or paradise or something like that, it was great! At last we walked a little bit around the city and then we went back to the car again. For some reason it rained on our way to San Antonio and on our way back, but it was hot and sunny during the time we were there so that was good :) It was an amazing day and it was great to visit another big city in Texas.
Seniors start their finals on Thursday and end the next Tuesday (the rest of the school ends on Thursday). Since we’re exchange students and we’re special (of course) we get the benefits of seniors, so we’re done with school 2 days earlier!! My first final on Thursday was Spanish 1. Mathilde and I are in the same class so she had this final too. There were almost only freshmen in our class so we had to take it in a different classroom. It was actually really easy and I got a 97% :)
My second final that day was much harder. It was Anatomy&Physiology and I again had to sit in a different classroom, because I was the only senior/exchange student in that class. I got a 70% on that test which is still passing haha and I didn’t study so it is okay ;)
After school was over, mom picked us up and we picked Sarah-Joy up at her house. We headed to college station, Texas A&M College to be precisely. It is a really big college; it has around 40.000 students…. (Kat went to A&M). We went to the college to watch a baseball game and it was so cool. Of course we were cheering for A&M :) The game was between A&M (The Aggies) and Arkansas. The sport complex was really big. There were soccer fields, a basketball hall, tennis courts, a softball field and of course a huge football stadium. The baseball game looked really professional. They sang the national anthem and there was a big screen that showed the name of the batter/hitter. It also showed the players position and a picture, his hometown and even his height and weight haha. One of the guys’ last name was Schoenvogel (shoebird) and I was thinking hmmm that is definitely not an English name hahaha.
One game has 9 innings (rounds) and in the 7th inning Arkansas was winning 4-3. Then in the last inning we hit a homerun which tied the game (4-4) and so we needed extra innings. In the 10th inning, Arkansas hit a homerun and they won 6-4… Even though we lost, it was a great game! They have some cool traditions. Between some innings, you stand up shoulder to shoulder with your neighbor (which could be a total stranger) and you sang this A&M baseball song. It was so great :) After the game we drove home and it was like a 1.5 hour drive home so we were all tired and went to bed immediately.
Crazy enough, we had finals again the next day. How great it feels to have no pressure at all. I didn’t study for any of my finals and I passed all of them. Compared to my final stress last year is was an amazing feeling haha. My first final that day was English 4 with all seniors so we all stayed in the same room. It was kind of hard but not too bad haha. My next period was soccer. Since we have all grades in my team, Coach didn’t really let me take a final. We just went outside and played a game with the team. It was not serious at all and everybody just had fun. (Coach Brown gave me a 100% for the final lol)
That evening I went out for dinner to Chili’s with my friend Arionna and it was a lot of fun and great food.
On Saturday Sarah-Joy, Mathilde and I went to the mall. I came back with a Texas T-shirt and a Texas shaped cookie cutter haha… We all went to Rachel’s graduation party in the afternoon. The whole family was there and there were huge amounts of food (there was a chocolate fountain omg). Something funny happened. So Gaia and I were in her room and Gaia was looking at something in her closet so her back was turned to me. She asked me to empty a bag on her bed because there was some stuff in there she didn’t want anymore so maybe I wanted to have it. I only saw one bag and that was a big black trash bag…. So I emptied it on her bed… Well, guess what? It was not the clothing bag she meant me to open, but an actual trash bag hahaha. Papers, food leftovers and other things came out and it was disgusting and hilarious at the same time hahaha.
Sunday was Gaia’s birthday, so we went out for dinner to Texas Road House in the evening. Of course we all ate steak and it was great. The atmosphere was also very Texan and country it was great :) After dinner we went to Gaia’s house to just hang out and celebrate her birthday a little bigger with the family. Sarah-Joy, Mathilde, Gaia and I played a game called Speak Out. My god that is the funniest game ever. You have this weird plastic thing in your mouth that stretches it out which makes it very hard to speak. Then there are these cards with words on there and you need to say that out loud to your partner. Some letters are so hard to say because your lips can’t touch each other. Anyway it was hilarious and great :) We did presents and ice cream birthday cake for Gaia afterwards. Then out of nowhere Rachel gave Mathilde, Gaia, Sarah-Joy and me a present. It was a necklace with a Texas shaped charm. She had one too and she gave us a really cute picture of the five of us from prom! :) For Rachel’s graduation and Gaia’s birthday, they had a lot of helium balloons left. So of course we played with those and all got those high voices haha. It was a very nice day with my favorite people.
On Monday, all our classes were only 30 minutes long, so we really didn’t do anything in any of them. Only in our last period, my art class, we took our final (I got a 100% in that class). We could still talk and everything, because it is art and nobody really cares for some reason. Also everybody does their own ‘masterpiece’ work so you can’t really cheat. This was the last day I saw most of my school friends :(
Tuesday was my last day at Westside. I first had my Algebra final (95%) and then my economics final (85%). Our economics teacher tricked us, because he said he had to go to the restroom so he left the class while we were taking the final. What we didn’t know was that he had put his phone in the front of the class to film us while he was gone. When he came back he watched the video to see if anybody cheated haha. Nobody did, but it was funny and smart that he did that. School was over at noon time and it was sad, but also nice. In the afternoon I watched a movie with Mathilde and later that night Gaia, SJ, Mathilde and I went to MOD pizza. This was just a pizza restaurant but it was really good and fun. We stayed there a long time and afterwards we went to Sarah-Joy’s house to watch another movie haha. The movie was so boring and dumb that we just stopped it. We started watching Vines on YouTube and we laughed too hard, which of course is the point of Vines. It was a great ending of a great day and a great beginning of our summer vacation :)
Wednesday, our first vacation day, I went for a run woohoo.I didn’t really do a lot that day except for watching the Europa League final (It was on channel 294 or something because it was European, but at least I could watch it haha) It was Ajax vs Manchester United and Ajax lost…. It was super weird to watch it with English commentators, but it was a fun and chill day :) We also baked brownies in the evening and they were delicious yaayyy.
That night I went to bed around 12 and I woke up at 12 the next day, so I had a good night of sleep (ff lekker klokje rond geslapen) :) I went to the park with Gaia, Austin, Rachel and Mathilde that day. All we did was just hanging out, eat some food and play some games, but we had so much fun. I’m going to miss these people a lot. When we came home, I ran again (trying not to get too fat this last month you know). Gaia came over and we had a pizza (I ran for nothing) and Pirates of the Caribbean movie night :) Later that night Sarah-Joy came over too and the girls slept over at our house.
The next morning we woke up and we went to IHOP together (International House Of Pancakes). I love that restaurant. You can order the craziest flavors pancakes but also just normal eggs and bacon. After we ate breakfast we went to the neighborhood pool in the Hill’s neighborhood and it was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not too cold. Another great day here in Houston with amazing people :)
Sunday morning was the last time we heard Stephanie singing. Of course this was lovely and it was a different church day than normal. The church is located in a High School building but they bought land to build their own church. We had a little church party to celebrate that they will have their own place next year haha.
In the afternoon we had the Westside graduation. This was our very last activity from Westside. Mathilde and I didn’t graduate, but our friends did, so we went there to watch. It was in the same stadium as where the rodeo was only they used half of it because there weren’t as many people of course. It started with all the 600(!) seniors walking in the stadium and sitting in their seat. There was a podium in front and some students and the principal said something. We also said the United States and the Texas pledge. Then they finally started saying all the names. They started with the top 15% students with the highest grades. Sarah-Joy and Rachel were in the top 15% :) Also some other people I knew (such smart friends I have haha). After this they just went in alphabetical order and Coach Maguire (our economic teacher) said all the names. Wow some names were so hard… We had to wait almost the whole alphabet to hear Gaia’s name. (Her last name is Tamasi and she is the first exchange student to graduate from Westside) At last we sang the Westside school song and of course people threw their cap in the air when the principal said: Congratulations class of 2017! After this we went outside to meet our friends. Gaia’s parents and brother had come all the way from Italy to Houston to be there for Gaia’s graduation and it was really cool :) Of course we had to take some pictures after all this and that was the end of a great American event!
Larry picked Mathilde and me up after graduation and took us to Katy. Two of or exchange friends, Valentina and Sif had a goodbye pool party. Their house was located near a lake so we had a pool and a lake to swim in. There were a lot of other exchange students and it was sooo much fun :) We stayed in the pool until 10 pm at night and it was still 28 degrees Celsius haha. Then mom picked us up and it was again an amazing day!
Monday was Memorial Day. We went to the Blake’s house again and had a pool party. It was a Memorial Day pool party and also a graduation party for Nicole (she graduated from the University of Houston). It was a nice pool day, because the sun wasn’t shining to bright. We just had fun and brought food with us. I always love the pool days. It is so cool that a lot of people here have their own pool :) We ate dinner with the family and then later at night we went home again.
Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I was sick, so I stayed in bed all day…. Today I feel much better, so I think I’m going to be just fine tomorrow :)
While I’m typing this blog, there is some crazy weather here in Houston. Live weather report people! We can see the lightning and right after that there is reeeeaallly loud thunder. It rains a lot too. The WI-FI doesn’t work anymore and the TV has to restart… Oh also the lights turn on and off. Let’s just say this is what we get back for all the other sunny days we’ve had haha…
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