New York day 2

On the second day Madina and me planned much more, than we actually did. The first thing on our list was the Empire State Building. So that's where we went. We didn't went too late in the afternoon, so the waiting time was acceptable. We bought a ticket to go to the very top of the building, the 102nd floor. The first stop we did was on 86th floor, a platform, which was outside, and which was already pretty amazing. Unfortunately the battery of Madina's camera run out (yes on the top of the empire state building!), so we took pictures, and they were okay, but just okay. So anyways, after taking pictures, we went to the 102nd floor, which was even higher (of course), and I could see the central park even better, but there were windows, so it wasn't open like the 86th floor, and that's why I liked the 86th floor a little bit better. We went back down on the 86th floor and enjoyed the view and took more pictures. It was still very amazing to see the buildings, two of them had golden roofs, the central park in fall colors, the statue of liberty, and just the whole city! Of course we also didn't miss the souvenir area ;)
Because of Madina's empty camera, we wanted to eat lunch and go home, to charge it. Nicole recommended a peanut butter place, which took us a little bit time to find, because it was in a differen area of New York, in which we've never been. It was very good and I tried a peanut butter shake!
From there we walked from the restaurant to the world trade center (I could see the freedom tower and did not want to look for a subway station or spend money on it when I already see where I want to go, to be honest), which took us more time than expected. 
When we arrived ion the apartment it was later and we were tired so we decided to stay at home and watch a movie.

New York day 1

We've been to New York City again! Max and Nicole took Madina and me, and it was really awesome! On the first day Madina and me walked around the city by ourselves. We went to Chinatown and did some shopping, but not too much. We also were looking for a restaurant Nicole recommended, which was very hard to find, because it was in the "deep" of Chinatown :) As soon as we finally found it we ordered way too much, not thinking that the portions are so huge!
After many hours of Chinatown, we just had enough of it and wanted to go somewhere else, so we decided to look for the Tiffany's & Co store on fifth avenue. It was on the very end of fifth avenue, so we walked by many, very expensive stores like Prada and Dolce & Gabana, and many others, but we never actually wanted to go in because it was to expensive anyways. But we went in the Tiffany's store, when we finally found it and we couldn't stop smiling, because they had so much and so shiny and sparkling jewelry.
On our way to times square, so back the fifth avenue. The first store we went in on times square was M&M's World and it was so much fun! They had everything of M&M's and tubes full of M&M's with different flavors and colors. The second awesome store was the Disney store,which was much fun too because they just had a lot of stuff and we wanted to be five years old again.
After looking in some other stores we met with Max and Nicole, to eat diner.
Afterwards we went to the broadway show "The Phantom of the Opera", for which I was very excited for. It was really fantastic, the costumes and the actors and the story, it was so perfect! I enjoyed every second, and whenever you have the opportunity to watch it, you                                                           should go!

Halloween

Thursday, Halloween, was very exciting. The day before halloween, Max, Nicole and I carved pumpkins. Max and Nicole both did some great faces, Max's was the most traditional one, and I carved the scream mask.
On halloweens day, even my English teacher was in halloween mood, because she was wearing a appropriate outfit and gave us cookies and candy, which was very cute.
Afterwards, I was dressed up in a Marilyn Monroe dress, my friend Madina came and another girl from my lunch table. The other girls were Cleopatra and grapes, and both were very cool costumes! We sat down at our fire-pit and roasted some marshmallows and bread dough, and after that we went trick or treating! We went pretty late, so there wasn't too much left, but we still got some candy, and passed some awesome decorated houses! It was fun just to walk around and talk, there were many other kids, even teens, walking around for trick or treating, which is funny, because to me it seemed like it is just a kids thing in germany.

It was really fun, I'm glad I experienced american Halloween ;)

Spirit Week, Pep Rally and Homecoming

This week was spirit week in my school, which means there was always another theme every day:
monday: pajama day
tuesday: dynamic duo
wednesday: hat day
thursday: neon day
friday: class color day
It was very much fun seeing what other people were wearing and they were playing music and games during lunch.
The Pep Rally on friday was fun too. When I first came into the gym, I just thought wow! Seeing this huge gym with all the students inside was just amazing. They did games and a lot of cheering, I can't really see why they do that, I think it's because of school spirit, but anyways it was a lot of fun.
It ended when school usually ends, at 3:15. AT 6:30 the school did a bond-fire and in the time between I spent the time with some friends and other students on the roof of our parking garage, because they sold food and drinks there, and there was some music.
The bond-fire was just a big fire in which the school burned a doll with the shirt of the team, against which our football team would play the next day. We talked a lot and it was really nice all together.
On saturday afternoon was the homecoming game, which was fun , but not so exciting, so me and my friend left earlier at the 2nd halftime to get ready for homecoming. And our football team lost anyways, without having scored any points!
The other exchange students and me went to a restaurant and had diner there (we where definitely overdressed, because we already wore our homecoming dance clothes).
The homecoming dance itself was fun and there were a lot of people. We actually just danced the whole evening. The point when it got kind of boring was in the end when they started playing music I, which is not my music at all, but that's just my point of view, and I still enjoyed it.

I'm glad to have had the opportunity to experience such american school stuff, because that's exactly the things, we don't have in germany at all.

(Pictures where taken by my kazak friend Madina, except the one she's in of course)

To introduce you to some Food

Here in the US I tried many different kinds of food, not necessarily all are American, but some of them.
-S'mores: grilled marshmellows and chocolate between two crackers; awesome!
-Hawaiian Punch: Something to drink, I have no idea what it is made of, but it's red and sweet and I like it ;)
-Mexican food: I tried it here the first time, and it was pretty good! It was kind of spicy, but that is what to expect from mexican food.
-Cheetos: Some chips or something, it even looks unhealthy, they are very orange, but they're still good.
-Food from Kazahstan: my fiend, who's an exchange student too invited me for diner and cooked some good rice with meat. I really enjoyed it!
-Fresh Figs: I've never tried just the figs without anything else!
-"Bratwurst":  compared to the german Bratwurst, the ones here are okay, some more, some less, but I still stay with my "Nuernberger Bratwurst".
-Mac and Cheese: I reeeeally love pasta, and I never tried the mac and cheese (maccaroni with a lot of cheese) and it's so fantastic!
-Pasta with Peanut-Sauce: Max made pasta with peanut or peanut butter sauce, it was something completely new and I was so good!
Peanut-Butter: I feel like I can't live without it anymore, because you can eat it with almost everything (as you can see also with pasta) !

Obviously I need to be very strict and careful with myself, because of all these temptation ;)

My new Guitar

I'm taking Guitar lesson here in school, which is pretty cool, and it's really fun. The only, but very annoying thing was that I had to bring home the guitar from school some days, which is not fun with the school busses, especially when somebody decides to sit next to you and your guitar in those seats. ;)
So I was looking for a guitar and my neighbors gave me the link of an internet page, which sold guitars (and everything else). I wanted to buy a cheaper one first, because I want to see first, if I like playing the guitar or not. So I found a guitar for $20. At first I was sure, that for this price something had to be wring with it, but when I went to the people's house, who sold it, and had a look at it, it was perfect! It has all the stings and works. Now I'm so happy to be able to practice at home as often as I want to and never have to worry about bringing it home and back to school anymore and I have my first own guitar! :D

Qunceanera

One week ago Max, another exchange student Madina, who I met, and me went to the Quinceanera of a friend's friend. A Quinceanera is a very big thing in the Hispanic culture. It is a birthday party for a girl, when she turns 15.
When we first arrived after a 2 hour drive, the party hasn't really started yet, so we first had a seat and ate something. The Qunceanera took place in a gym, and because it was in a little county, many people joined it. The "main person", so the girl for who the Qinceanera was for, and "the court of honor", so her close friends, performed a dance and in the end the main girl did a performance by herself.
Afterward everyone started dancing, and we had a good evening.
It was definitely fun and exciting to experience a bit of mexican culture too!