Prep course day 4
August 1st
Breakfast was at 7.00.. let's just say most of us were not very thrilled about that. After the rain storm the day before one of the student's phone broke, and I made sure to pack all my belongings in plastic bags before putting them in my back pack.
At 8 o'clock we met inside the mooney ceter auditorium were an American history teacher waited for us - Mr. Mark I believe was his name. Because of the high amount of people late the day before, about half our group had to go on stage and sing. Mr. Mark taught them the American national anthem.. it was so fun to watch, and thankfully I was never late nor found speaking my mother tounge. Mr. Mark was such a driven teacher, and I was not suprised to know that he was a drama kid. He made us all so involved in his teaching, he acted as if he had a huge audience.. I have never experienced anything like it in Sweden. People like him are just made for teaching! We went through a lot of basic stuff about American history. He had us play different characters, I was the president.. Actually I was elected by the group. Not to brag or anything. Just kidding. After class we had Mr. Mark answer some of our questions about high school. One advice everyone seems to be giving us it to be involved. I will make sure to do so!
All students were devided into 4 groups as mentioned before, and we all had a leader. That leader was now going to give us all a personal pep talk, and a good oppurtunity to ask questions. This I forgot to mention, but we did write letters to our leaders and so my leader, Chrissy, gave me one back. I also received my letter so I can look back on it and see how much I have changed. Not everyone had time for pep talks because we were in such a rush.. so many suitcases to pack! And things to prepare! And if you did not finish you had to stay up late and not get much sleep..
The bus waited for us outside campus at 11.50. We all picked up a boxed lunch which consisted of a soggy sandwich, and apple and a cookie. Sorry guys, I want to be fully honest on my blog. I could not eat it. And I do not consider myself picky with food. The bus stopped by a building which name I can not remember, but I do know that John Lennon's wife lives in there. We walked to Central park and stopped by the John Lennon memorial to take a group picture. It hurt to see that people sat on the memorial.. felt disrespectful. I did not even dare to touch it. We stopped by the fountain and the boat house at Central Park. I took tons of pictures and ate my apple. At this point I was so tired,felt mor ike I was sleep walking.
We went back to the bus, which drove us through New York to the 9/11 memorial. That place was so powerful. All names of people who died during the terror attack has been put on concrete, surrounding two huge pools. If someone is having a birthday, a white rose is placed on their name. I saw many white roses. There are birthdays for each day of the year, including 9/11..
We went back into the bus that drove us to the NoHo/SoHo area. We had several hours for shopping! I walked with the same group as the day before - Jenna from Finland, Bente from the Netherlands, Sarah form Schwitzerland and Christina from Denmark. So we were a good mix of people, that is for sure! My suit case was already full but American Eagle had a sale on jeans, and since I am tall I do not easily find jeans.. so of course I had to buy some! We also went to Starbucks so we could use their wi-fi. What else do you expect from teens? I am very thankful that most stores in America have wi-fi! Other stores we spent time in during our free time was Pink, Victoria's Secret, Urban Outfitters, Sephora, Zara and Topshop. I also bought some chicken from a food stand.
The bus took us back to New Rochelle and we had 20 minutes to get ready for dinner. I ran into the shower and put on some comfy clothes.. really happy I did that because after dinner everyone wanted to shower. Of course you want to be fresh while meeting your host family for the first time! First impressions matter! Dinner was pizza, and they had one with pepperoni, a vegetarian one and one with meatballs. I found it so funny how we ate pizza with a side of garlic bread. Oh well, why not add some more carbs.
After dinner we went to check our flight tickets, so we made it to the right terminal. My terminal was changed so I am glad we looked it through. My room mate, Marie, and I listened to some good music and spent our night packing all our stuff. Thankfully there was no limit on how much the hand luggage could weigh so I threw everything in there..
Even though we had games collecting points the winner was never announced and there was no price.. although I am pretty sure the Unicorns were last so I do not mind.
Summery of the prep course: Few, very intense days with little sleep, but a great way to prepare for your exchange year and especially get to know other people in the same situation as you.
