Celebrate good times!

Hi y'all! I just got some amazing news!!! Back in February I was contacted by Bp oil and asked to apply for their study abroad scholarship. Their scholarship was a science, technology, engineering, and math scholarship that went for students studying in Brazil, South Africa, India, China, or Malaysia. While I hadn't been looking at any of these countries I decided to apply anyways because the scholarship covered so much. So I filled out my application, picked my top countries, and went to interviews. For the last two weeks I've just been waiting and now I'm glad to say the waiting is over. I just got a call from my new favorite person, Mark, telling me that I'm going to Brazil!!! 

I'm so excited to spend 10 months in this beautiful country and now I just have to go learn Portuguese! Tchau! 

Rock 'n' Roll High School

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Things here have been crazy! It's the end of my senior year (eeep!) and as I get closer to graduation the more things come up on my to do list. I'm starting my second semester english and have to have it done in one month. Work is also insane. I'm working close to 30 hours a week so finding the time to do homework is tough, much less finding the time to update my blog. I recently went prom dress shopping with my friend Maribel.

It's important to look dignified in our ball gowns.

My runner up dress.

The one Maribel almost bought.

Nothing to do with prom. We just look awesome in aviators.

So clearly I've been keeping myself busy. I didn't post a picture of the one I bought because I figure that I'll post pictures of prom and until then it can be a surprise. About a week before that we went to the rodeo. It was amazing! We were able to see both Billy Currington and Montgomerey Gentry in concert. 

She says to me," I always wanted a cute boy to win me a teddy bear, but I guess you were ok." 

So when I'm not at work or hitting the books I'm shopping or at rodeos with friends. Or I'm doing college visits. I visited five colleges in November; University of Alabama, Auburn, Tulane, Louisiana State University and University of Mississippi. It was an amazing trip (I'll do a full post on it another time.) The bullet points are that I loved Alabama, Auburn, and Ole Miss, but didn't want to live in New Orleans for four years for Tulane and I hated LSU (sorry Tiger fans!) I'm visiting Texas State with Maribel on April 5th and then on April 24th my mom, Maribel, and me are going up to Dallas to visit Southern Methodist University. Then in May mom, Dave, and I are tentatively planning to go visit Washington State University and University of Idaho. In June, mom and I are going to look at Texas Christian University in Forth Worth. Finally in July, we're going to Columbus, Ohio for Stef's wedding and will also check out Ohio State. So many colleges, so little time! I'm also trying to convince my mom to take me to visit University of Florida or University of Georgia but timing is an issue and mom is refusing to step foot in Florida. She says her car broke down there twice and therefore it's cursed (mom logic.) Pretty much all of my college visits are taking place this year with the exception of University of Texas which I saw last year and Chapman and University of Washington which I saw in middle school. I'm now coming up with my final draft list of colleges I'm going to apply to. It's all very terrifying and exciting. So that's what I'm up to. I hope to update my blog soon with AFS stuff but currently they're just processing my application so I'm simply waiting. ARRIVEDERCI!

To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account 

Here comes the bride...

Today my mother is getting married. No no calm down, not that mother. My other mother. Today mama Sherry is marrying her fiancee Gary.

Sherry and Gary

We were either not pleased to have our picture taken or blinded by the sun

Fun Run!

I remember the first time I met her when we went shopping together. I was going through a grunge phase and my mother refused to support it and by me this ripped puke green shirt so Sherry offered to buy it for me as a "belated" birthday gift. The friendship stuck though thankfully the grunge phase didn't. Sherry became a second mother to the point that people thought my I had two mothers and they were a couple (hilarious). She's picked me up from school numerous times, celebrated birthdays and holidays with us, and helped us move at the last minute. I love you, Sherry. Thank you for being such an amazing second mother to me. I wish I was there to celebrate this day with you. I know you'll make a beautiful bride. Best wishes!   

Mi piacerebbe venire con il titolo I, ma io proprio non mi interessa. I'd come up with I title but I just don't care.

Ciao! I hope everything's going well for you! I realize I haven't updated in awhile and thats because 1.) I got a job and 2.) I caught the dreaded senioritis.

Too true...

       Senioritis is a deadly diseases people but it's a slow death. I should know, I've had it since the first day of kindergarden. Right around recess I realized that school sucked and immediately wished I was finished. Now that I'm almost finished I'm barely managing to drag myself across the finish line. It's extremely painful. Only a few more months right?! I can do it!!

      I'm also now working part time at Chick Fil' A to earn money for Italy. My schedule differs each week but I generally work between 23-30 hours. I believe when you start working to experience something akin to the 5 stages of grief. 1.) Denial. If I don't think about work tomorrow it wont actually come right?! Don't even glance Chick Fil' A as we drive past, just pretend it doesn't exist!  2.) Anger. Why am I working here?!! Why are these people so stupid?! Why didn't they clean up their trash!! They know I must now clean up their disgusting half eaten burgers!!! I hate everyone!!! 3.) Bargaining. I only have to do this for a few months until I get my licensee and then I can get a nice clean easy job at Jc penney or a candle shop. Somewhere that smells good and is actually clean. 4.) Depression. I'm not even getting out of bed. This job is killing me. And finally, 5.) acceptance. I can now say that I almost like my job. I like my coworkers a lot. El with 8 kids and 21 grandkids. Ammi that introduced me to metal (definitely different from my usual T Swift). I like working on register and making the little kids smile when they come in. I like working hard. But i'm still holding out for a job at a candle shop ;) 

   I'm also dog sitting like crazy! We have Charly for the next two weeks while lucky Amy is in Africa on a safari! 

Charly and Kaya on New years eve!

The dogs are insane together. They spend all their time play fighting and jumping on people. Fun for them but not so fun for us. This weekend I get to watch the Bettinger's dog Cooper. I love watching Cooper. He's grumpy, crotchety, and when other dogs get rowdy he jumps in my lab and growls at them and looks at me like, "Can you please make these idiots stop?! Is everyone stupid but me!" He's pretty much me in dog form. Plus he looks like an ewok. That's what's new with me. Finally, I'd like to thank all my recent donations, thanks y'all I couldn't do it without you! ARRIVEDERCI!

To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account 

Heres ai bei tempi. Here's to the good times.

       Ciao! I hope y'all are doing well. Things are moving fast here. Last weekend I attended the RYLA leadership camp in New Braunfels. RYLA is the rotary clubs youth leadership program for juniors in high school and a couple people (2-4) from each school are asked to attend. It was crazy! The team leaders were seniors that had attended the previous year. They were a lot of fun and liked to sing/ yell crazy songs at random and punish people for weird offenses, like talking to someone from your school, by making you do embarrassing things.The first night I was sure I'd wandered into a mental institution.
      We played a lot of fun games and had several guest speakers. One guest speaker was a motivational speaker that taught us about traits that make up the best leader (such as wisdom) and how we could apply these in our life. It was educational and she had us pick one trait we would all work on. Another speaker was a Wounded Warrior that came to tell us about how the program helped his family, especially his brother who's also a wounded warrior, and about his tour. This lead to us doing a service project where we wrote letters to the soldiers and made bracelets. For most of the weekend we played different leadership games that had a message behind each one. All were a blast to participate in and gave me something to think about afterwards. Then we had an 80's dance and the next day it was time to drive home with my friends. I'm so thankful for the rotary club for inviting me and allowing me to have this wonderful experience!

Stopping at the Pit Stop on the way there with Sam.

Clearly we're in a magical place.

Is it still a war wound if it's self inflicted?

Road trip back!

      Big announcement! My application is almost finished! Eeep! I went to the doctor the other day so they could check that I'm neither dying nor overly psychotic. As soon as I get that form back from the doctor,on Monday, I can turn in my application. Are you ready for more exciting news?! I GOT A JOB! Woohoo!! I now work the front counter at Chick Fil' A. I've been going through training all week and start on Monday. I'm both excited and nervous to start. Finally, I'd like to thank all my recent donations, thanks y'all I couldn't do it without you! ARRIVEDERCI!

To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account 

Otto giorni alla settimana. Eight days a week.

           Hey everyone, I hope y'all had a fantastic week! Mine was filled with preparation for the dreaded finals week, AFS stuff, and job searching.  This week, I got back into the swing of things with school after having spent 3 of the last 5 weeks on vacation. Let me tell you it was tough! Monday, it seemed like everything that could go wrong did. Finally at the end of the day with only 10 minutes left I was called into the counselors office. Dum dum dum... When I got to the office I found out my friend Sam had also been called in and of course we're both thing, "crap, what they caught us doing?!" Turns out both of us were nominated to go to a leadership camp on January 17-20. Whew... much better than being in trouble. Four people in our class were nominated by a teacher and selected to go to New Braunfels for the four day leadership camp which is hosted by the Rotary club. Yay! I can't wait to spend the weekend with my friends and all the other student leaders from Texas schools.
        On Wednesday I interviewed for a job at Bill Millers, a local Texas fast food chain. I think the interview went well and I'm supposed to hear back from them this weekend. The only reason I can think of that I wouldn't get the job is that I have no previous work experience. Hopefully I hear back and I get the job. Fingers crossed!
        Then on Saturday the day started off with my senior portraits. Taking them wasn't too bad but anyone that knows me knows that i HATE having my picture taken. It's boring and takes way too much time. Thankfully it only lasted an hour and a half and then we were out of there. That afternoon I had my AFS interview! A local AFS volunteer Marc came over to interview my mom and me. We talked about what I expected from going abroad, the type of host family I want, and varying other things. I got to ask some of my questions like, "could I visit other countries in Europe while I'm there?" (Yes!). Overall it made the whole thing seem much more real and made me even more excited.
      I'd like to give shout outs to my first three donators (not including my mom..); David a good friend of my moms from work, thanks for donating despite having never met me, you made my day, Angelica a close family friend, thanks I promise not to pull an Amanda Knox ;), and Ray one of our oldest family friend, thanks and I hope you're doing well! Arrivederci!
To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account 

One of my many senior portraits.
The good news is they actually let me read the book in between photos!

Buon Natale e un felice anno nuovo! Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Things have been crazy here. At school my counselor and I have been talking about what to do for graduation. I have 24 credits from freshmen and sophomore year and I need 26 to graduate. So I'll have enough credits to graduate this year but I would be missing one required class, english 4. It was decided I would drop my newspaper class and take english 4 online during that period. That way I'll graduate this June! I'm nervous to get it all done and graduate at sixteen but I'm soo excited to go to Italy. Please donate in lieu of graduation money. Grazie!

Fundraising has been going well so far. I've applied for three jobs at Pizza hut, IHOP, and Chick Fil' A. I'm pet sitting for a family friend and have sold a few things on craigslist. I'm also working on setting up a Kickstarter, so make sure to check back for that.

Christmas was wonderful. We went to Christmas eve mass with our friend Grace and then ate IHOP at 2 am. On Christmas day mom dragged us out of bed at 9am (the horror!) and had us open presents. Then we went to see The Book Theif, which is one of my favorite books. It was amazing!! I sincerely suggest everyone go and see it but definitely bring the kleenex, it's a tear jerker. Merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a happy new year!Arrivederci!
To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account

My christmas loot. Thanks everyone!