May 1st

May 1st today, my last month oversea just started. Still can't believe that time has gone by so fast. Haven't really done anything exciting in that last couple of days ;) Rihanna came over for a while Saturday. We only have 3,5 weeks of school left, not much to do at school now. Sunday was the first day we reached the temperature 100F (37C)... Feels more like summer than spring ;)

Yesterday was "Valborg" in Sweden, don't even know if there is a word for that in english haha. Anyway, they don't celebrate that here, and we don't have May 1st off :(
Guess that's a swedish/scandinavian tradition/holiday.

Last Track Meet

Though last week was my last track meet but apparently not. So yesterday (Wednesday) was the last time I ran on the track for this season. Ran the 800m as usual, improved my time with 11 seconds which is pretty good. Ran in 3min 3 sec :) Has been a fun season and it was so sad to turn in my uniform...

This week is the week before Prom at our school. The school tries to prevent drunk driving from happening this weekend in different ways (It's a big thing here as they don't have public transportation). Yesterday morning we had a mock crash assembly at school. We all went out to the football field during 2nd hour where they had 2 crashed cars with theatre kids acting as the people in the "car crash", it was a fake crash of course. The purpose of the assembly was to show what happens in case of accident. The police, fire department, ambulance men and coroners were there to demonstrate the procedure. They also had an ambulance helicopter comming. I really hope that I will never get to experience any accident like that in real life... So if you drink, don't drive!

Other thank that, our dishwasher is broken, been washing dishes by and for the last 2 weeks. You don't realize how awesome the dishwasher is until it's broken..!

Mock Crash Assembly

Track meet

Track meet

Grand Canyon

Sorry guys that I haven't updated in 10 days but have been busy... Guess that's a good thing after all :)
This last weekend I went to the Grand Canyon! It's one on the natural wonders in the world (think there are 7 total) and it's in Arizona so it was on my to-do-list before leaving. Went with Tanya (my area rep), Emilia, Saran and Miranda. Had no school Friday so that gave me a day to pack and do laungery and then we left in the afternoon. We drove to Flagstaff (small town 2.5h north in AZ) and stayed in a hotel for the night. From there it takes only 1 hour to the Grand Canyon and hotels are much cheaper. We had In n' Out for dinner, one of my faves! They should totally open in Sweden (it's a burger place/fastfood)!! :D

Saturday morning we woke up not too late, left the hotel by 9 so that was not too bad :) We drove to the Grand Canyon where we spent the day hiking along the rim. The landscape is all flat until you get to te actual place where all of a sudden there is a huge hole in the ground! Amazing place with gorgeous views. It's so deep (1800m) that there are only a few spots where you can see the Colorado river that is at the bottom.

Stopped at an italian place for dinner in an old western town, Williams. Cool old town, real american style! Then ice cream stop at Cold Stone.

We left Flagstaff Sunday morning, made a quick stop at Oak Creek Canyon (deep Valley with lot's of trees + there was a small market where native americans sold jewlery). Then we stopped in Sedona for lunch and a short hike, such a pretty place! Had a blast, gonna miss all of these people so much...

Miranda

On our way to the Canyon

Hiking 

Like everybody says: it looks even better in reality

R.I.P. those killed in Boston 4/15-2013

What happened in Boston Yesterday (two bombs exploded at the end of the Boston marathon close to the finish line) makes me so upset, mad and sad. I don't understand why people have to ruin such a nice event and hurt so many people. Three people died, one was only 8 years old, and several people got major injuries. This world is so screwed up, people should be able to enjoy a marathon and cheer for all the awesome people running 26 miles without being afraid to die. I hope they'll find the ones who did this soon. And I wish this was the last time anything like this ever happened.

April 13

Have had a really nice week! Monday got out early from school (12.15) as always, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I started at 11 because of AIMS tests that some students take at school. Mostly Sophomores and Freshmen so I got to sleep in. For once I had some time to skype, it's hard to find a good time to do that with the time difference. Wednesday I had an other Track meet, improved my time but didn't place. Had a good time with all the nice people in my track team :D Gonna miss track even though the workout part is hard!
Friday I had no practice so went home after school. Later I went with some friends from Student Council to help at the school district's Battle of the Bands. Not really my kind of music but still had a good time. Our school didn't win :( Now that it's soon time for me to go back to Sweden I start realizing how much I'm gonna miss some people here...

Dry ice cream.... One of the weirdest things I've ever tried!

the Dog <3

Cactus outside our house

Our house is now for rent, after I leave my parents are gonna move to Florida

Prom

Saturday night I went to prom with my girls :) Went to Desert Edge's Prom (their high school not mine). After a long walk with the dog and a shower in the morning I went to Bruna's and Domi's place to get ready. Fixing my nails, my hair and make-up took a couple of hours.. When we were all ready Sarah picked us up, totally we were 8 girls and we went to a park to take pictures (american tradition) and then we went to eat. We went to a pizza place (but a little fancy) and had dinner. The pizza was one of the best ones I've had since I came to America! After dinner we drove to Prom that was in a place out of town. Really nice though. The DJ was good and we had fun, danced a lot. The dance ended at 11, a little too early if u ask me but not much to do about it. We all went back to Mette's place and stayed the night after that. Had a great night and a good experience of the american prom.

Spent Sunday in at Mette's place tanning and in the hut tub. After a late lunch at Jack in the Box (don't know if u can call a milkshake and fries lunch but whatever) we went to the movies and saw The Call. I liked the movie, go and see it if u get the chance. Now it's Monday again. Came home from school at 12.30 and skyped for a little while with Amanda, then food and practice. Have had a dust storm here today, wind and rain. A dust storm is a huge grey-yellow cloud of dust covering the sky. It's not good to be outside to munch if the storm is big. As it was raining a bit it was not too bad today and we had practice anyway. Have a good week everybody!

Me and Yaya

Gabi, Me, Bruna, Domi, Mette, Jacky, Sarah, Yaya

Spirit Week

This week was a spirit week at school. Dressed up every day, Games at lunch and Pep Assembly on Friday. Monday was Wild vs. Man day so you either dressed up as an "animal" or as a Safarian, I had a  leopard cardigan and scarf and black shirt and pants. Tuesday was Casual vs Buisness day, so you chose between having PJs on or dress up with suit, tie or dress. I wore my PJs. Wednesday was HipHop vs Country, I went HipHop style. Thursday was stoplight day, you wore red if you were "taken", green if you were single (like in my case) and yellow if you were in between. Today (Friday) was as usual School Spirit day (dress up with school colors). And we had a pep assembly. I was in the assembly committee in Student Council which plans the assembly. Think we did a good job, people seemed to like it :) A pep assembly is when the entire school meet in the gym. It starts by singing the national anthem, then everybody in a sport comes out cheered by the cheer leaders. Then there are games and performances by cheer, dance, theatre, band and pom. We also announced the theme for prom (masquerade) and the prom royalties got to perform a dance. (Before Prom and Homecoming the school votes for a King, Queen, Prince and Princess, it's more about a popularity contest though).

Had to be at school at 6.30 in the morning to set up for the assembly and after school I had a good work out at track (3 x 400m, timed) so was pretty done when I came home. Went to the mall with my mom to buy some shoes and had dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Had never been there so wanted to go, the food was awesome and the best part was the cheesecake (I had tiramisu cheesecake). What I love about restaurants in america is that you get  free refills of your drink!

Fabulous Las Vegas

Left for Vegas Friday with my friend Emilia and her family. Got there at 9 pm, me and Emilia went to check out the strip at night. Had a pretty good first night in Vegas, didn't sleep much though.. And Emilia lost her phone :( We stayed at the Luxor Hotel which is in a building shaped as a pyramid made of glass. We spent Saturday walking around, did some shopping and took a lot of pictures :) Since we woke up late we had a brunch instead of breakfast. Found a really good italian "bakery" in the New York casino, the food was awesome! Vegas is really like no other city I've been to. People are drunk 24/7 and you are aloud to smoke inside the buildings :)
After a dinner at subway we headed back to the hotel to rest a little before going out again. At night we went on one of the roller coasters, it was cool to see all the lights on the strip from up there.
Drove back home on Saturday and stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way.

We didn't really celebrate Easter, just a nice dinner. How much people celebrate Easter here depends on how religious they are. Hope Everybody else had a good Easter, my weekend was awesome! Thanks Emilia!

Believe it or not, this is indoor, the sky is fake

Me, Saran (Emilias hostbrother) and Emilia

Our Hotel

Casino

The strip @ night

Thanks America for reminding me

My first Track meet!

Has been a really busy week. Monday after school I came home for a little while (school ends at 12.15 on Mondays) and then back to school for practice. Apparently there were 3 fights at school that day, but I did't see any of them... Tuesday I went to school, practice, came home, went with my dad and had Panda Express (they really should open in Sweden) and then back to school with Rihanna for the "Fine Art night". There was ceramics, paintings, pictures to look at and then they had some dance, theatre and music performances.

Wednesday was my first Track meet. It was at Desert Edge Hight School so we took the yellow school busses there (always excited when we take the yellow school busses). Since we are 100 ppl on the team it was tight to fit everybody on the bus, we sat three people/seat...
I only ran the 800 m, which is two laps around the track. Went well for being my first meet. Started out a little to fast so was tired at the end which made me from from third place to seventh :( But I'm happy with my time, 3min 22 sec. It was a fun afternoon even though it was long. The people in my track team are really nice :)

Today is Thursday, had an easy day at school. Did nothing but watching movies and talk in my classes.  At least I finished my ceramic bowl. We are making bowls for a charity project. People can buy the bowls and get cereals and the money goes to buy food for hungry kids.
At practice we ran almost all the way to the mountains, around 4 miles (6.5km) and then some sprinting. It starts to be really warm now... 80-85F (30C), you feel it when you run. But when I'm not running it's perfect ;)
Tomorrow I'm not going to school, I'll have the "I'm going to Vegas disease". Cuz i'm going back to Las Vegas with Emilia and her hostbrother Saran!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited :D :D :D

Drive-in Movie

Friday Night I went to see the school musical at Desert Edge, they played Grease. It was great! Love that musical. Then Gabi came and spent the night at my place. Saturday we Mette and Tanya picked us up and we went to the mall. Did some shopping and found our prom dresses. Mine is a peach color. I'll post a picture. Also found  pair of high waist jeans shorts, a scarf and a cardigan. 

When we were done shopping I went to Mette's house for dinner and then we went to a drive-in movie. First time for me. You pay, choose the movie's you wanna see (Every screen shows two movies) and then they tell you which parking to go to. You park front of the big screen and find the right radio station connected to the screen (that's how you get the sound) and then all you have to do is to make yourself comfortable and enjoy the movies! We laid outside on the back of the track with sleeping bags, blankets and pillows :) Pretty cool to see movies under the stars... We saw Admission first and then Safe Haven. 

The humidity is very low right now in AZ, It's down to 1%. The average of humidity in Sweden is around 70-75%. You can feel that you live in a desert when you have to put lotion on at least once a day...

TODAY I'VE BEEN IN AMERICA  250 DAYS!!!

Safe Haven, Drive in Movie (the lights are the city lights in the background)

Grease!

watching movies

Found our Prom dresses :)