Under the American sky : Thanksgiving+Christmas+what the hell have I been doing all this time?

Hi!
More than one month ago I wrote my last post and as always my plan was to write soon, yes, as always. It´s been a month and some days, and tons of things have happened, I haven´t had a moment free and when I had them they were not long enough. I have had another fantastic month here and all I can say is how blessed I feel having two families now and sharing all these moments with both of them.

To start this post I will say that I´ve been an actual and payed babysitter for the first time, and even when kids drive you crazy most of the time, I enjoyed it. It was for my newspaper teacher and I was with one of my friends so we had a pretty good evening. The two girls we took care of were adorable and super nice.

THANKSGIVING!
Of course it was going to be one of my favorite parties because what´s better than food, and more food? Absolutely nothing. In the morning I watched the tipical Thanksgiving Parade of Macys' in NY which was spectacular. That day we went to the house of my parents´ friends and we had a fantastic day together. It was a new eperience to see how they celebrate it and I totally felt as a part of the family. Each one of us said someting we were thankful for and when my mom said she was thankful for having me as a part of the family, well, just say that it was hard for me not to cry. As a plus, all the food was so good...

That night Sara, Erin and I left to go Black Friday shopping at 3 am. with Sara's friends. It was a lot of fun and I bought a few things that usually are pretty expensive and weren´t that day. Like my new pair of Uggs.

In the afternoon I went back and more shopping took place hahha.

We got our Christmas tree, it's my first year having an actual tree for Christmas and not a fake one, so I was super excited.

We went to see Yuletide one afternoon, Erin, my mom, grandma Hardman and me. It was a really nice musical and the Orchestra of Indianapolis was performing.

I had my first Pep Band game and it was totally an experience, it was so much fun and everybody there was super hype.

So, on December 12 the exchange students had a trip to Chicago with their coordinators and I had the opportunity to see a lot of my friends that are in Indiana but live a few hours away from me. It felt like being in Spain for a day but just in another place and I realize how much I missed them. It was amazing to enjoy that day together.

It was Sofía's birthday so we had a little celebration at her house that day, I hope she enjoyed it, it was on finals week so we couldn't stay a lot but share those little moments is always a pleasure.

Finals week was stressful. It has to be. I almost missed Spanish tests that week, almost. So you can make an idea of what finals week is I'll explain it really quick. My schedule at school is divided in green and red days, the colors of my school. On red days I have 4 classes and on green days I have another 4 different classes. In finals week, on Monday we had one hour and a half o study and review and the next hour and a half a test, then another hour and a half of study and after that a test. Like that was everyday. Finals can be easy and hard. They are the 20 percent of your grade so you are risking a lot there and that's why, everybody is stressed that week. I had easy finals, like in Photography where I photoshoped a picture, in Newspaper where our final was the last newspaper we made, in Band where I played my scales. However, Pre-Calculus, Anatomy and Interdisc (AP English and AP US History) things were not going to be so easy. Even when I had all A+ in my grades until finals, remember all the things you have learnt in 5 months is not easy, specially when they are easy for you and in my case, I totally forgot how to really study for a test. History was really hard, I got an A- (9-9.5) in the test and I am really proud, I went back to how I studied in Spain and it worked but still, it was not my favorite day ever. I put all my efforts into that week, everything was organized in my mind so I had time to study everything and the day that new things appeared I totally freaked out! I still remember Erin telling me that everything was going to be ok when I discovered I had to do a written program for Band as part of my test, I don't know what I would do without her...

But that week passed and I got my grades back and well, of course, as always for the ones that know me, I was freaking out for nothing...

(and yes, we had our grades in an app)

I got all A+ and I was super proud of myself, it's not so easy, when you have to do everything in another language.

My parents sent a hue box full of turrón, cookies, chocolates... it's downstairs and everyday it's going down and down.

Erin, Sara and I got an Advent Calendar with all the chocolates, mm that was good.

Jingle Flutes continued having concerts, we play like in five more places and the last one was in the complex where my grandparents live so it was even better because they came.

On Christmas Eve we spent the day at home and then we went to watch Star Was all together.

That noght at 11 I went with Lorrie and Ann to the midnight mass, I hadn't gone at all to church since I was here and I wanted to go to see how it was, and it was different. Everything was really beautiful, they sang all the time, there was an orchestra and people actually enjoyed the mass. Everything was closer to the people. I really enjoyed it, it was another vision of the Catholic church, and I have to say, that is much better than in Spain.

Christmas morning was crazy, with our new Christmas pjs we woke up, had a shower and french toast for breakfast. We opened presents all together and I got a lot of them. I'm glad that they liked my presents, I loved the one they gave me. I was not expecting that much, I actually was expecting nothing because I didn't want them to spend a lot of money on me, all the things they do everyday for me are the best present they could ever give me. They made me feel, once again, as a part of their family, it was like we had been doing that together for years. Share those moments, is what makes me happier and happier everyday.

We have a Christmas dinner-lunch all together with my mom's brother, mom and her mom' s boyfriend plus my dad's parents. Most of the day went in finishing the puzzle that Sara was doing which was so complicated that took her a week with a bit of our help.

The other part of the family came and we spend the three days they were here all together, we went to a party, we had lunch together and I met all the cousins which I am really happy about, all of them were super nice and I an't wait to see them again.

The 29 we opened Christmas presents at our grandparents' house.

On New Year's Eve we went to Andrew's house where there was a NYE party and god, that was fun! But before that I did skype with my mom, sister and grandparents in Spain and we had the 12 grapes with them.

We played ping pong, cards, stupid games... we chat, we laugh... it was great! We slept there that night and had breakfast there.

Yesterday, the exchange's went ice skating and well, I found someone I hadn't seen in such a long time...

After that I had a sleepover at Sarah and Krizia's, we went to the movie theatre and we shopped (I didn't, be proud of me).

And well, that´s basically all, I haven't said a lot of things but if I did this would go on forever. But here you have random pics and things that I found of things I did.