A New Begining

A fresh start is exactly what I needed. If you've been following my blog you would know that things have been a little less then ideal with my first host family. If you haven't I suggest you do, I've been told I can be funny at times and that it's not a terrible blog, not to toot my own horn or anything... :)

ANYWAYS... Before changing families I was.... physically stressed and drained, but as the date of my family change approached I felt more and more excited. It was a strange sort of excitement. It started off as me being excited to move away, then it became an excited for a new adventure and surroundings, then finally about 3 days before I changed I began to feel the same (and yet different) as when I was starting my exchange, as if I WAS starting a second exchange.

From the moment I walked in the door I was never a guest (which is exactly what every exchange student needs in my opinion) I had sisters teasing me in a loving way, parents who wanted me to feel comfortable but was not afraid to ask me to do things.

In my second host family I have 3 younger sisters: Sara 16, Sofia 13, and Stephanie 10. Which is a very similar dynamic as in my own home: Me 17, Jacqui 16, Grace 15, and Jonah 11. I thought that it would be a change to have three little sisters with a bigger age gap between sibling (note: in my family: 17,16,15) however I found myself in practically the same enviroment as home; sisters fighting about clothes, teasing each other about our silly mistakes, sharing animated stories at dinner about everyone's day...

From day one I felt myself relax and no longer forcing myself to smile all the time but actually smiling all the time! (usually because some one was doing something silly :P )

My back yard

The surrounding country side

Stephanie

Sofia, me and Stephanie

View of my house from behind