We are family.Nós somos uma família.

      Hi y'all! I hope you're having a great summer. This was an incredibly exciting week in our family. I got my host family and my travel itinerary. I will be living in  Sao Bernardo do Campo which is a suburb of Brazil's largest city Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is the 7th largest city in the world! Yay! I have a mom and a dad (duh) and a little brother and sister. My sister is barely a year younger than me and my brother is three years younger. I'm thrilled to have younger siblings especially a sister! They're Catholic and have one dog. That's all the information I've been given so far. I've written to them and will hopefully hear back soon.
      I also got my official travel itinerary. I leave for Miami on August 6th at 8 am. I have a layover in Dallas for an hour then I'll arrive in Miami at 1. I spend a day there for orientation where I'll meet up with the other exchange students from America going to Brazil. I leave Miami on the evening of August 7th and I arrive in Sao Paulo incredibly early on the 8th. There I meet up with all the AFSers from all over the world who will be in Brazil. It's going to be amazing to get to meet all the friends I've made on Facebook. I have a short orientation there and then go on to my host family.
       In sad news my friend here became unable to go to Brazil and had to give up her spot. She made me promise to have enough fun for both of us. On the flip side a good friend of mine that applied and was originally was rejected was given her spot. Yay!
     In the meantime I'm checking things off my Texas bucket list. Today mom, Aunt Amy, and I went down to Austin. We went kayaking and to Barton Natural Springs. Then we had dinner at Chuys and cupcakes at Hey Cupcake!. It was an awesome day and in memory of it I have the most awkward sunburn in the history of sunburns. It's seriously bad. Just patchy burns on my back and shoulders and one on my wrist. Ugh! Overall though an awesome day! I hope you're all having a fantastic summer.
Tchau!

Closing time.Hora de fecho.

Hi Y'all,
    So it's official, I'm no longer a high school student.

Finals are done. My books are turned in. Fines were paid. And finally yesterday they gave me that coveted high school diploma. No more class, pep rallies, or homework for me. I'm all done with my required education. Graduation was bittersweet. My least favorite teacher hugged me twice for an uncomfortably long time, told me he'd really miss me, and called me girlie. When I went up to receive 

my diploma, before I walked on stage, I asked the man if anyone had ever tripped before and he said, 

"Nope, you'll be our first." So with that vote of confidence, I walked across the stage. They announced by BP scholarship and my name. I shook hands with two men who I assume are of some importance by their fancy robes but honestly I have no clue. For all I know they could have been janitors. Then I received my diploma holder. I then excited the stage and received my real diploma. I'm really proud that I didn't trip because my feet were in so much pain from my gorgeous heels that I could barely walk. I was having visions of me pulling a Lizzie McGuire and tripping and taking everyone and everything down with me. Thankfully, that didn't happen and I walked the stage with some grace. I think my grimace actually looked like a smile to the audience. I'd like to give a shout out to my wonderful friends and family that came and sat through several hours of monotonous speeches and over 600 names being called just to watch me walk across the stage for 5 seconds. It must taken a lot of love to go through that and don't think I didn't see you playing on your phones during the speeches. 

It didn't hit me until today when I was cleaning out my room that I was actually done. I saw all my yearbooks lined up in my room and tossed out all my accumulated notes and school papers. It was both exciting and terrifying to realize that, as everyone keeps reminding me, I'm now an adult and on my own. I took my last SAT on saturday and now all I have left to do is to apply to college.

In AFS news, I got Rosetta Stone. I've been working on it a little everyday and now know some pretty basic Portuguese. I also sent in my papers for my necessary background check a few weeks ago and I should get that back for my visa by July 1st. I've met several people that are going to Brazil on Facebook. They come from Germany, Turkey, Italy, Seattle, and right here in San Antonio. They all seem really sweet and I can't wait to meet them in person. It's officially 59 days until I leave. Tchau!  

Let's make this short and snappy. Vamos fazer este curto e mal-humorado.

Hey y'all! Sorry for the going M.I.A! Things here have been crazy and still are crazy. So I'm going to give you a quick recap of what's happened since my last post.

Brazil: We've had a conference call to go over details. We're still waiting to find out a lot of stuff but so far it looks like I'll leave for Miami on August 8th and I'll return between June 26 and June 29. I've been officially accepted by AFS Brazil which means I'm now open to getting a host family. Yay! It looks like I'll get Rosetta stone sometime in June. I have another conference call this Thursday to go over more details.

School: Sucks. AP tests are this week and next week. I'm taking four of them. I've finished up my online english class to graduate on time.

College: I visited SMU and loved it. It's a gorgeous campus and has fantastic programs. It was great to get to see my cousin Shelby!

Personal life: Same old, same old. I bought a laptop and Ipod to take with me to Brazil. I love my new laptop!! I've developed a new obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I've decided that's what I want to be when I grow; a slayer. I wonder what I have to major in to do that...

So that's my current life.

I'll leave you with this cool photo of Jesus.

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