update #3 - first days of school

Days count: 32

First of all: 5:45 is DEFINETLY too early to get up, especially if the times difference to your home is 9 hours & your family & friends get up when its like 10 PM at your place and you want to talk to them every night.
Wednesday, the 17th of August was my first day of school. Well, lets just say that school is not my favorite thing to do…



The school is not as difficult as in Switzerland but not less hard. The teachers give lots of homework, for me it takes even more than 2 hours a day cause I have to translate stuff etc and they have way more tests and quizzes than we do. I had my first maths test on friday, so at the 3rd day of school and tomorrow (monday) my first U.S. history test. U.S. history is actually my favorite subject because its pretty easy & there are nice people. The dress code of my school is really strict, u're not allowed to wear shorts which are shorter than your arms when they're hanging down, u can't wear spaghetti tops and much more, its a really annoying.
I get it why, but its like 35 degrees at 11 AM and you have to sit in your classroom with long pants and that sucks cause u literally die.
I have lunch after 5th period, at like 1 PM and I always hang out with my best friend and sometimes with some other exchange students.
Every day we have the same schedule (which is kinda annoying), first I have P.E. class (physical education) which means like sports. I took Aerobics. After that I have Algebra II (which would be easier if I would know all the words in English), then I got Biology. After 10 minute break there's  U.S. history, then there's mixed chorus which is okay, but we're singing classical stuff & that sucks. Then I got lunch and after that there's English and that's probably the hardest class for me cause we're just writing journals and reading old texts and stuff & I'm just sitting there like: well, I don't know what u guys are talking about.
After English I have cross country practice, but the sport depends seasonal, so I'll change to basketball in winter and to track and field in Spring if that works.
Tomorrow starts my first cross country race and I'm so excited for it.

This weekend was the Mountain Festival in our town, its kinda like a fair where there are many rides and little shops and stuff. 
Yesterday there was an EF Orientation meeting for people who spend their time in Bakersfield and other cities in Kern County. I met some other people, it was fun but kinda boring. 
My host family and their cousins planned many trips with me, we'll go to San Diego on september 3rd, 4th and 5th because of my birthday, and in November we'll visit San Francisco because of my host sisters and her cousins birthday. 

Btw there are some links on the left side next to this post where u get to the blogs of some of my friends who are in their exchange years too, visit them if you want to.

update #2 - high school orientation

Days count: 23

So, I had to pick my classes and my grade a few days ago, and today was orientation in the high school. I'll attend 11th grade (Junior year) but I had to choose. My host sister will be attending 10th grade (Sophomore year) and my host brother also the 11th. The school seems huge to me, I'm sure I will mess up to find all my classes in the first few days, that makes me feel nervous… 
My schedule is Aerobics in the first period, Algebra II in the second, Biology in the third, U.S. History in the fourth, Mixed Chorus in the fifth and English in the last one. I'm thinking about trying out for the girls basketball team or for cross country.  Today was the official Orientation day, so I went there with my 2 host siblings & my host mum. We had to take a picture for our student ID card & the yearbook, get our books from the library & stuff like that. I met some other students, they seem all very nice. School starts on Wednesday the 17th & I'm getting nervous.


We've been on a camping trip from Monday till Thursday evening at Ventura beach. It was kinda cold, but great fun. We were sleeping in a trailor & we were on some shopping trips & at the beach. I feel like I'm getting better in English but I'm still really bad. We were riding our bikes a lot, especially to Starbucks in Ventura Downtown or to the pier. 

Downtown Ventura

Fair

California State Route 1

update #1 - EF Camp & first days in Cali

U guys made me cry,  love you<3

Days count: 11

On the 20th of July I went to the airport & it was time to say goodbye to my friends and family. I was kinda sad but really excited to leave. My first flight was from Zurich to London, and from then from London to New York.

 At the NY airport, the EF Staff picked us up & we went to the Campus called Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsilvanya where the camp was. I had a great time at the camp, I've met so many nice people there and we've made a lot of nice trips. We went to a baseball game, to NYC and to Dorey Park, an adventure park with many roller coasters . 

cookies

Penguins rock 

We've had some volleyball  tournaments and the classes were very helpful. The food was amazing, but I feel like I gained a lot of weight. I was sad when I had to say goodbye to everyone, but its great to know that I have friends from all over the world now. (The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark,…) We were/are all in the same situation & its just like that you just talked to everyone & they understood, its kinda difficult to explain. Its a good feeling to know that they're not that far away (Florida, California, Nevada, Nebraska,..) 

tired as hell ^^

July 29th we had a talent show &  Prom, and it was great fun. The music was good & everyone was dancing and stuff (would never happen in Switzerland , just saying) Prom ended at 11 PM & my bus to the airport headed out at 2.15 AM, so I didn't go to sleep. 

View from the top of the rocker feller center

July 30th I went to Philadelphia airport & my flight was to Phoenix. In Phoenix I missed my flight to Bakersfield and I was really upset about that, so I had to take another flight to Fresno (about 2h from Bakersfield). My luggage went to Bakersfield, so we had to pick it up on our way home.  When I saw my host family the first time was really glad & happy, but also really tired, because had no sleep for 2 days. We stopped at in n' out burgers and to be honest: it was the best burger I've ever eaten in my life *-*