December Already!!! Thanksgiving and our Christmas Tree

So I just realised it is already December and I have yet to post an update since like the begging of November. So, we are now really getting into the holiday season with Thanksgiving having past and Christmas creeping up quickly!

Thanksgiving is a truly amazing holiday and I have decided I am bring it back to New Zealand! Not only the meaning behind it is cool but what beats lots of food and football! I think I ate enough food in that one day then the rest of the week! It was a fun day spending time with not only Jim, Debbie and Marc but the extended family as well! and just to let y'all know we still have turkey in the fridge! Im starting to think I will be taking turkey sandwiches to school until Winter Break!

With Christmas coming up we went to the tree farm to pick out our tree, even with the possibility of rain! (which we just missed). After looking at many different trees we found ours!

Now its really starting to feel like Christmas as the Tree and house are starting to get decorated!

It is also now Basketball season! and I am proud to say I have been the all three of the games so far and have had so much fun! More pictures to come! Our Student Section gets pretty live!



Happy Holidays everyone! Ill update again soon :)

Northern Ohio :)

So in the first week of November we as a family ventured up to Northern Ohio to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton and on the way back we spent the night in Mansfield which is Debbies home town.

Our Friday started with some packing, we then dropped Abby(our new dog) off to where she would be spending the weekend and then we headed onto the road. The drive wasn't to long, only about four hours and it was cool to pass by the Amish horse and carts! Once we got to Canto we checked in to where we would be staying and the headed on to one of my now favorite places to eat! Roadhouse Brown Derby! Unfortunately they only have them in northern Ohio. The meals were huge, and when I say huge I mean huge! The sweet potatoes were like the size of our heads! Sadly no one took their cameras so your just going to have to take me word for it ok!

Next morning was Hall of Fame day! It was such a cool place and really interesting. Ive been loving playing Football and watching every weekend so seeing all the history was cool. Its a hard place to explain so ill just post some pictures for y'all.

Family Pic :)

Helmets. Sorry its sideways!

After we finished looking around the Hall of Fame jumped back in the car and headed on our way to Mansfield. Once we got there we had dinner at a Sub and Pizza place Debbie has been going to since she lived in Mansfield! The Subs were great.  On the way to Mansfield we stopped at Malabar Farm, which was a nice little place with some animals and building to look around at. Again it is photo time.

US and Ohio Flags

Gofer. Its real!

Marc and his buddies!

Malabar Farm House

On our way home we made a stop to pay our respects to Debbies late father. It was lovely to see where she is from and where she grew up. It was a great weekend and we had so much fun! Big thanks to Jim and Debbie!

Football season is all over now, we have the end of season ceremony on Tuesday so I will write and end of Football post after that.

Spirit Week and Homecoming!

Homecoming is a big event on the school calender. It involves Spirit Week where each day is themed and people dress up accordingly, a football game where the Homecoming Queen is announced and a dance. This year the Spirit Week days were Marathon, Elderly, Amurica, Neon and Fairfield Spirit.

Marathon Monday... wear your best running attire! Unfortunately I didnt take photos on Monday.
Elderly Tuesday... a days its ok to wear your grandparents clothing. It was so funny but I had nothing to wear.
Amurica Wedensday... wear your red, white and blue, cammo and nascar shirts.

Neon Thursday... wear your brightest cloths!

Fairfield Friday... wear your red and white. The halls were also decorated today which was really cool!

Friday Night was our Homecoming game... unfortunately we didnt come away with the result we wanted :(

Saturday was the big day... The Homecoming Dance! My day started with our JV football game which we WON 20-14! While we were playing all the girls were getting their hair and nails done. At around 5 we all met at Tawny's to go and take pictures before we went out to eat.

Our Group :)

Lexie, Twany, Christian and I

My beautiful date Lexie and I

After photos we went out for dinner and then went onto the dance :) It was a great week finishing with a great night!

More Football, BonFire at Joes and a little school

Lots to talk about, but ill start with school to get it out of the way. Its pretty different and ill get some photos soon so everyone at home can see. Ive had my first tests and quizzes over the last couple weeks. So much different than NCEA! Loving the multi-choice, its great! Ill talk more about school once I get around to photos.

Its been two weeks since my last post so Varsity has had two games and JV has had one. Varsity had there first away game of the season. We traveled to Brookhaven in Columbus, it was around a two hour drive, luckily I slept the whole way. Unfortunately the game didn't go our way and we lost. JV didnt have a game on Saturday because Brookhaven couldn't make it down to Fairfield. We were at home again the next week, which is always fun! Home games are a blast. We played Sycamore in our first GMC (Greater Miami Conference) game of the year. Unfortunately it didn't go our way again. Since Varsity was at home JV traveled to Sycamore for our game on Saturday, and the result was good. We came out with a 12-6 win! Here are some pictures from the game. Im #77

Later that night I was invited to a Bonfire at my friend Joe's. He plays football as well. It was really fun and I got to meet some new people! We started off just chilling playing some Xbox. Once more people arrived we went out back and played an intense game of backyeard vollyball which got pretty competitive! Once dark we got the fire going and made smores over the fire! Much better than making them in the microwave! The night ended with my first Taco Bell Experience. Here are some pictures.

Brandan playing Chubby Bunnies. I think he got like ten marshmallows in his mouth at once!

Me and my Taco Bell!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Sunday was also another family fun day Sunday. We watched the Bengals win their first regular season game! Wooohoooo! Marc and I were decked out in our Bengals gear. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo. Will have to get one next time. It was great to watch them win while we ate nachos!

Ill post again soon!

Friday Night Football and Kings Island

My first Friday at school was another new experience. Thursday night after football practice our jearsys were handed out and that's what we wear to school on Friday (Game Day). This is me before school!

Yes I know our room is a mess but it has gotten cleaner since I took this! Once school was over the team met in the cafeteria for our pre game meal. Once we ate we met with our position coaches to go over a few last minute things. We then headed down to the locker room to get the rest of our uniform and get ready to head over to the stadium. After an intense game, fought right down to the last seconds we lost 24-21 to Beavercreek. On saturday morning it was JV (Junior Varsity) turn to play. Since Varsity played at home we traveled up to Beavercreek for the game. It was another pretty close game but unfortunatly we lost. My second Friday was even better than my first! We again wore our jerseys to school.

This is me and my friend Kristyn who is once of the teams trainers. The game was again a hard fought match but this week we came out on top beating the Piqua Indians 24-21. The next morning JV took the fairly long bus ride up to Piqua. By the time the game started it felt like it was 100 degrees out (around 40 degrees C). At half time the we were down 9-0 but we fought back ending up with a 20-16 win!

I'm loving football! Especially the Friday night games! The atmosphere is amazing with the band, cheerleaders and wild student section! Next week we travel up to Brookhaven in Columbus for Varsity to play their first away game.

The Sunday after my first week of school we had another family fun day. We went to Kings Island, an amusement park in Greater Cincinnati!

Unfortunately we couldn't get someone to take a picture of the whole family but these were close.

It was a great day! Marc and I spent most of the day riding all the rides. My favorite was the "Firehawk"! The picture taken during the ride was so funny we just had to buy it!

Schools going well and Im making lots of friends and football has been great! Ill keep y'all updated when anything exciting comes up again!

First Day at Fairfield!

Just had my first day at my new high school, Fairfield High School. Overall the day went well!!!!

Started with a homeroom, followed my schedule to find actually I was in the wrong place so I had to go up to the cafeteria and find out where I was supposed to go! Once I actually got to where I was supposed to go I got settled in and homeroom went pretty well!

First period was Behavioral Studies, I made it to my class without trouble! :) Second I had Street Law again I found the class pretty easily and had fun. My teacher seems really funny! Third was American Government which is a class required by EF. I think it will be really interesting though, we dont learn anything like that in New Zealand. Fourth was Cooking for Healthy Living 1 which I;m excited about, I never got to take food tech at Westlake. Fifth period is the lunch period, its extra long and split into three parts. I have first lunch which means I go straight to lunch and have class after. After lunch is Speech and Script Analysis. I have Script Analysis for the first semester which has been really cool so far! Sixth I have Algebra 2B which is math, and seventh, yes seventh we have seven periods I have Anatomy and Physiology.

Only got lost once today which was great, so I think I'm set for a great year!

Summer in Ohio

After a long walk through the airport I had made it! Deb, Jim and Tyler were waiting by the baggage claim with a balloon of the american flag. Once we got my bag and made it to the car it was breakfast time. We headed off to Bob Evans, a place I had never been before so its definitely a start to my adventure in Ohio! The food was pretty good and everyone was now ready for a nap!


Over the last two or so weeks there have been lots of new things, especially when it comes to food! So far I have been introduced to Rib City, so so so good! If we go there again I need to try the ribs... I had a burger last time. 'B dubs' aka Buffalo Wild Wings again amazing food but I'm yet to try the wings... I have also been introduced to good Mexican food from Qudoba. I had a huge burito a next time I will get a picture for y'all. I have also been introduced to Cincinnati chili from Skyline and Gold Star, and have tried La Rosas a pizza place as well. I am also working my way though the menu as Donato's Pizza (Jim's restaurant) I still have heaps to try!

I have now had three Family Funday Sundays, the first was spent at Loveland Castle in Loveland, OH. It was such a cool place that was build by hand.

School was now getting closer and it was finally time to head into school to pick my classes! This is how my school days will run, First period I will have Behavioral Studies for the whole year. Second period I'll have Street Law for the first semester and PE for the second. Third period will be American Government. Forth will be Cooking for Healthy Living 1 for Semester one and Cooking for Healthy Living 2 for Semester two. Fifth period I have Speech and Scrip Analysis as well as lunch at some point during the extra long period. Sixth I have algebra 2 and I'll be finishing every day with Anatomy and Physiology. I'm am very excited for school to start!!! After I had chosen my classes and had a look around the school I had organized to meet with the Football Coach (American Football) to see if I could join the team. He said he was happy to have me and could I start practicing the next day. So I'll be spending most of my time during the fall at football practice which is everyday after school. Yes I will post photos from football once I have had a chance to take some!

After a hot Tuesday afternoon out in the sun at football, it was time to go and get our newest family member Marc from the airport, he arrived at 10pm after a pretty long flight from Switzerland (mine was longer... just saying). We are now a happy new family!

We have had two Family Funday Sundays since Marc had been here. Our first was a trip north to the Cincinnati Outlet Malls to get our final clothing needs for school. I got a bunch of stuff at pretty low prices which was great! Our second Sunday was a little different... we spent most of it trying to fix the washing machine hahaha.  We all felt it was a necessity to have clean cloths. As boring as it may seem it was actually quite fun and was some good family bonding time!

Today is my last day of summer holidays before school goes back, which I am so excited for! Cant wait to get started and since school is back football games start which is exciting as well!

Bryant Camp and Arriving in Ohio

After all the flying we arrived at camp at around 2am so everyone pretty much went straight to be as we had to get up the next morning for classes. Each day of camp we had four classes and an AM and PM homeroom. My class was Kennedy East, part of Kennedy High School. We started the day with homeroom with Donna who was also our Current Issues teacher.

This is Donna and I on the last day of camp. After Current Issues we went to Life in America with Bob. Below is Bob and I on the last day of camp.

After Life in America we had lunch. Which was the same thing everyday... Pizza, Pasta or Burgers. You could have any combination you like. By the end of camp I was pretty bored with all these foods. When lunch was over we had English with Marla.

This is Marla and I on the day of camp. After English we had History with Jodie. I found this class the hardest because I had never learnt about American History before. This is Jodie and I ...

After History we had Homeroom again until 3.30pm. In the afternoon we had a range of activities to chose from that we could take part in. Some activities I did were Volleyball, American Football, Cheerleading, Basketball and Swimming, and they were just a few of the activities we could do. At 5pm the first set of activities finished and we went to dinner and guess what we had every night... Pizza, pasta and burgers yet again! We then had a second set of activities once dinner was over.

Over the 10 days I was at camp we had a few different excursions including a day in Boston, MA a night skating at United Skates of America and a day in Newport, RI. I wrote about Boston last post so lets start with skating. It was the first time I had skated on rollerskates normally I use inline skates and I had so much fun! When we got to skating we got our skates on and got straight into it!

I had a blast, especially since i had been on any type of skates in such a long time. Above is some pictures of the rink and below is me skating.

Newport was also another fun day! Spent the morning sight seen for the water as we sailed on a yacht. It was really fun spending the morning with some of the kiwi's and some of the returnees. After sailing I spent the afternoon with Vinnie and his Norwegian friend. We then caught up with our Aussie friends Sam and Josh and got some Ben and Jerry's ice-cream.

I had an amazing time at camp and met some amazing people! Hopefully ill be able to go back next year as a returnee!

After a long last day of camp classes, the yearbook presentation and the dance I didnt get any sleep as I had to check out of camp at 1.15am and the bus left at 2.15am. Once at the airport we had to wait for the check in counters to open before we could get our boarding passes and head on through security. My flight left at 6am so after a bit of waiting we finally boarded and got into the air. I slept through the entire flight which was amazing and only woke up just as we landed!

Finally I was in Ohio!!!! Debbie, Jim and Tyler were waiting at the airport for me with balloons. We went to the airport for an America Breakfast straight from the airport, then headed home for a well needed rest.

My exchange so far has been great and I cant wait to start school and have an amazing year!