Updates from Winter Break!

Hi, everyone!

WOW! I admit life here has been crazy with the end of the semester, I have so many projects to turn in and tests to do that OMG!, but everything is still easier than where I used to live in Brazil, so I am not suuuuper stressed about it. 

So many things happened in this past month that I need to tell you...

First of all, I joined my high school's swim team and it is SO fun! I am not the best swimmer of the team and I am suuper far to be one of them, but it is just so fun to get to know other people and you just feel like you really are an important part of the school and the community... So if I could advise you, I would say JOIN A TEAM OR A CLUB! It is much easier to make friends and keep your mind busy, and of course, it is tone of fun! -and don't be afraid to not be good enough, at least in my school, they are super chill about it, and they let everyone join it, specially if you are an exchange student.

Christmas here was magical! It was even better than in all of my dreams! For real, it makes everyone believe in the magic of Christmas again! In the morning of Christmas day, my host sisters and I all came together upstair where were Santa's present and our stockings full of so many things... there were candies, moisturizer, socks, headbands... and I got an Polaroid Camera from Santa too. In my host family we also give each other presents  (just for who lives in the house) and with the rest of the family we do a Secret Santa. It was an awesome Christmas to never forget! And I am just so glad to be living this things with my American family!

Just one day after Christmas is my birthday and in the very next day is my host mom's birthday, what means that the end of the year was really busy for us! On the day of my birthday, some of my friends came over to my house and we went to a place of Go Kart! The first time was kind of scary but we had so much fun and we laughed a lot! After that we went with my friends have lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then, just with my host family we had dinner at a fondue place in Portland! It was delicious! We had a cookies n cream fondue that was the best one of my life! It was such a fun day!

On December, 30th, we went to a city called Black Butte, we saw some snow there and it is such a pretty city! I was glad we got to go there because then I could take some photos for my Digital Final for Photography Class, and in the very next day, we came back home to celebrate New Year with the cousins! We watched the ball coming down in New York from the TV and we wrote our goals to 2020 and in the next New Year's Eve, we will read it and see if  we realized it or not.

And in the last friday (17th), we had our first snow day! There wasn't a lot of snow but it was enough to our school have a 2-hours delay, which was great because I got to sleep in, my classes just started at 10:30 and each class had just 36 minutes!

Well, I think I update you, guys, of everything!

Talk to you soon!

Julia