Exchange Student Indiana 16/17

Woke up around 7.50 today. Checked my phone. Because of time difference my family is not awake when I go to bed but when I wake up they have bombed me with notifications. 

 

I got ready - cleaned my room, washed my face, put on some makeup. Then I got to talk to Sofia! She is an exchange student from Italy who lived here before me. She left me some stuff and I am so thankful! If you read this - thank you for your advice! 

 

For breakfast I had waffles with maple syrup and an apple. Yummy! We went straight to school after breakfast - New Haven High School. Sue made sure to capture my first interaction with the school, which you can hopefully see down below. We went to the administration were I had to fill out a form with personal information. Then we walked into the school counsler's office, where regisration for classes took place. It was so difficult to choose! In Sweden, I was only allowed to pick one class - "Student's choice/elevens val".. and even that was difficult. I am going to try and change my scheduele because I have already changed my mind. But so far this semester I have got US government (interesting now when the election is coming up), English 11, Drama Literature (I love to read and act, so it is perfect!), Psychology (because I will study that when I return to Sweden) and math (not sure if I picked the right level, that I will look into). Hopefully I can also do a creative class without much homework, like photography or editing on the computer.. something artsy. I actually have the same teacher in 4 subjects right now.. I hope I like him! 

 

I received so many forms that I have to fill out.. sigh. Have to sit down and go through all of them soon. I actually picked up the wrong folder.. First I picked one in arabic so I changed.. just noticed that it is in Spanish! I do not undestand a word! Awesome, right? Wish I by accident picked one in Swedish. but they most likely do not have that. 

 

I payed for a student pass, which allows me to attend all games at school. The price was 70$. I also bought a yearbook for 50$, which I will receive sometime when school has ended. Since I hope to do sports it is obligated to pay 2$ for a random drug test. So if you are an exchange student - make sure you have a high amount of cash! Thankfully I took out 150$ at the prep course. There is an ATM in the cafeteria building.

 

Sue gave me a tour of the school. Usually subjects are devided into their own corridors. So for example, all classroom where science is being teached are gathered. The school has 2 floors. All of my classes this semester are upstairs except for English. My locker is also upstairs. I have a really big, "gold" (sort of brown) one. The lockers have combination and working that out took some training. Although I think I got the hang of it.

 

The school looks just like in the movies. The outside is made out of concrete and the inside is decorated with gold and purple, as well as bulldogs.. So much spirit. Portraits of students are hanging on the wall. Glass cases are filled with prices all the sports teams have received. The cafeteria is also the auditorium, where plays take place. There are several different sports fields outside school. One for football, a different one for baseball.. and so on. In Sweden we play all sports on one field.

 

After school we went to T-mobile. I fixed my phone so now I have an American number. Let me know if you want to get it (although email and facebook is a cheaper way to stay in touch). My data is so far not always working, but when I am at home I have wi-fi, so it will most likely work out. I have to pay 50$ a month for it, so I expect it to be good!

 

After that we went to the grocery store (a german one which really reminded me of Lidl) and also Meijer. It is basically the same as Target and Walmart. I had to buy some things like schampoo and socks. It was so difficult to decide, because the selection is huge! Took me forever. I am pretty sure the ice cream we bought melted in the car.. Oh well. I also got to try some soft pretzels - really enjoyed them! For lunch we grabbed a roast beef sandwich at Arby's.

 

I could not get my computer to work so I texted my father who told me to replace the hard drive. Easier said than done.. I had to call him on Facetime to ask how to do it. We ended up talking for quite a long time, even though we were planning on limiting our contact a lot in the beginning.. well oops. Time difference kind of sucks though, because they are asleep when I go to bed. 

 

When I finally go the computer to work I uploaded all pictures I took in New York to my Facebook - make sure to check them out! I stayed up until 11 pm and talked with Todd and Sue. They opened all the gifts I got for them and they were so thankful. I showed them my city on a map and we talked about Swedish and American traditions. I alo interacted with Spencer, the dog. He licked my leg, FYI. It was a really good day, and after that I got some really good sleep.