Pep-rally, Orientations & Skiing in VA!

Since it's been a while since my last post, i'll try to summarize the last couple of weeks.  

4 weeks ago we had a so-called "Glow week" at the school, which included students dressing up like:
Monday - fashion disaster
Tuesday - senior citizens
Wednesday - peppermint (red & white colors)
Thursday - favorite sports team
Friday - Neon and Pep-rally in last block. 
It all ended with a Glow Dance Saturday night - I had other plans and didn't really feel like going..
Instead I spent my whole Saturday at the 2nd mandatory YFU orientation. We were divided into groups and had some different sessions. We played games and had lunch, and I enjoyed talking to the other exchange students. It's so nice to be a part of something so big - it's a huge network of new friends! :D  That Sunday I went to Cinema Café (a cinema/restaurant = you eat while watching a movie in the dark) with some friends and saw The Hobbit. 

3 weekends ago was a fun weekend. Friday we had a swim meet, and since it was the last one, the team gave all the seniors presents including Ida & I because it is our/their last year of high school! I got a plastic duck, a helium ballon, a huge sign with my name on it and a shirt, which I got everybody to sign - Memories!
The rest of the weekend I spent at a friends house with Ida, where we among many other things went to  a see some one-acts for our theatre class. We played insanely many games and watched movies. Sunday we went to a play called "Frog-kiss" with our area-rep and her husband. After that we went to dinner with them at "California Pizza Kitchen." - I had a great weekend!

Last week was a little bit special. We had off of school both Monday and Friday because it was Martin Luther King's Day & Teacher Work Day. So we had a nice 3-days school week. Therefore, we packed our backs Thursday night and drove to Charlottesville (Northern VA) the next morning where it started to snow! :D We went shopping looking for Ring-Dance dresses, but found unfortunately nothing. Friday-Saturday we stayed at a hotel, and then went to the YFU-orientation, which was actually the reason we were going there in the first place. It was held at one of mom's colleagues house, where we were around 30 people. It was fun to participate even though we'd already done it the previous weekend. 
I talked to a lot of nice exchange students and when the orientation ended, 25 of us when to this winter house that one of the families' rent.
After arriving and unpacking, most of the students went skiing - including me!
It was the greatest! I had no idea that Virginia had such many awesome things to offer. Of course it was nothing like the mountains in Austria. Thus is was fake snow, it felt just like the skiing vacations in Austria - awesome! We watched movies and even though Mom, Ida and I had to wake up early to go meet the rest of the family at The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Jenna's birthday, we stayed up late..
I was sore and tired the day after, but it was totally worth it!
On our way home we stopped at David's Bridal to look for Ring Dance dresses once again. This time I had luck and bought a beautiful, sparkling dress! - Once again; I had a great weekend! :)

This week is the last week of swim practice. Since we have districts all Friday, we will we working hard! I can't wait to end swimming and start the try-outs for soccer, but it's kinda sad to leave the swim-team at the same time :(

Next weekend we are going to the Beach house, where Judith and Kika, to exchange students, probably will join. Superbowl will be the Sunday in that weekend btw! (MAJOR AMERICAN EVENT)
The weather in VA beach changes so fast and is very unpredictable. 3 days ago we got 1-2 inch of snow, this Wednesday it's going to be around 21 celcius and then we can expect snow again on Sunday! It's crazy ...