{Luxembourg - Paris}

Bonjour!
Alright, so I am totally in the French mood already. Actually, to be honest, I am in France already, in the TGV between Thionville and Metz.
This morning I placed an amazingly long update[not], but to make it up to you, I’ll place one now. Although you got to admit, the cute, cuter, cutest Johnny picture did make up for the lack of words huh? Yes, I thought so.
So, on my way in the TGV. These things are seriously pretty!! And fast, or well, that’s what they say. We haven’t gone full speed yet, we will though, when we’ve made our last stop before Paris.[Metz], I think. Ah well.
So this morning I went to sleep at 12h30 and got up at like 5h15, and I was so proud of myself that I could actually get out of bed. It’s the excitement that gives me energy I guess, although the café au lait does the trick too.
Then I repacked my tiny little suitcase and my weekend bag[see picture], and it turned out that I forgot to pack my running shoes[yes, I have some athletic ambitions]. So I pushed those in together with: a pair of boots, sandals and pair of heels, a full set of sheets for my bed, a towel, a huge amount of clothes[probably would be enough for two weeks, and I’m staying 6 days, mmm], a huge bag of soap, shampoo and stuff, a laptop and loads of wires. Yup, that was about it. And I just realized I forgot my flip-flops.
Well, then I got ready, and, almost ready to go, I realized I had forgotten to look up which metro to take to the FIAP[a student hostel where we are staying during orientation]. Oops, talk about organizational skills. But it all worked out, I have an address and know which color metro to take. I believe I can do it, even without a map.
But, back to business, so orientation coming up. Well, as I said, during orientation we are staying at the FIAP, a student hostel. Throughout the week, those who have chosen AUP housing[me, me, me] have meetings with people from the housing office, and they help us find a room. You actually get three choices to look at, if you don’t take any of them, you are at the bottom of the list. The list is arranged by date of confirmation, so now I hope I was early 
My preferred housing: a loft[keep dreaming] or a furnished room, as close to the uni as possible, as around € 450,- incl. electricity and hot water and stuff[reality]. I don’t really care if it is super small, I just want to be close to AUP, as in Rotterdam I didn’t enjoy the daily 30 minute bike ride to the uni, especially in the rain…
So, then, throughout the week we have to take placement tests for English, French and math. The math placement test I am just taking as a formality, since I actually don’t have to take math, because I have 8 ECTS from Erasmus in math. Yaaaay! So I can take another class instead…
The rest of the orientation schedule consists of activities in red[mandatory], which are mostly meetings about AUP with AUP staff, like housing, health insurance, classes, student advisors etc. Then, there are the activities in blue[recommended], they are mostly workshops against the cultue shock[haha], and campus tours. Last but not least, there are the activities in green[just for fun], these are dinners, sightseeing tours, and info about AUP’s extracurricular activities[committees, sports etc.].
So that’s it for now, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Loves!
P.S. By now I've been in Paris for two days already, update soon

{Off to Paris}

Hi!

Just a quick update: today I'm off to Paris :)Actually, I gotta go right now. Super excited!!

Ow, and the Johnny the Hamster pic.

Loads of love!

{1 more week 'till Paris}

Damn people, it's been a while...

I know, I know, update more blondie! Well, to be comletely honest, nothing much has happened in my life in the past few months, since I've been working pretty much 24/7. Okay, 12/7.

So then, any free time you got, you wanna eat or sleep. Which I did. But my next adventure is getting close: studying at AUP(American University of Paris). I am super excited about orientation week, which is literally 1 week away.

I've booked my TGV for monday morning, and paid most of the tuition(or my dad did, but I'll pay him back...), so there's no going back now.

Ow, I do have some news: I bought a hamster!! Once he's over his photo phobia I'll take a pic and post it here, untill then: Adieu.

I'll be back soon!
(Run...)

{Today is the day}

They say it’s been a long time
They say it’s been a while
For me, it’s been a lifetime
Since I have seen your smile

We only part to meet again
I told you long ago
And meet again we shall, today

Because, today is the day
I am going home
Today is the day

{AUP-American University of Paris}

Hi!

So, as I announced yesterday, I will be starting college at the American University of Paris in the fall. Since I haven't done a post about this uni, and it isn't very well-known, I've decided to tell you something about it :)

So, first of all, when I'm talking about the American University of Paris, I'll be using an abbreviation: AUP. AUP is, as the name implies, an American university located in Paris, France. So, I'll be closer to home: two hours by TGV(hi-speed train) to Luxembourg :D Yes, that makes me very happy. The prices of the TGV don't make me very happy, it costs € 60,- one way. Though, as a student, I can purchase a € 50,- discount card, which will give me up to 50% discount on every trip :D

AUP was founded in 1962 by Lloyd DeLamater, and is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe. It is an accredited, non-profit university. They employ 61 full-time professors and 33 part-time professors from more than 20 countries. The studentbody is made up of 935 students representing over 100 nationalities.

As for the education part of the university, as I said, it is an accredited university. They have a 4-year undergraduate(bachelor) program with 17 majors and 36minors, and a 1-year graduate(master) program for 9 different masters. As for me, my intended major is international economics, and I am considering international law and international and comparative politics as minors. If you want to know more about their programs, I'll post a link to their website below.

AUP is centrally located in Paris, in the 7th arrondissement, near the Eiffel tower. The university has a urban campus: it consists of 8 different building, all within ten minutes walking of each other. As for housing, the university doesn't have dorms, but it does help it's students to find a room/appartment. As for me, I am hoping to find a room either in the 7th, 8th or 16th arrondissement, close to the university.

That's it for now, there is more to come about AUP(for the next 4 years, haha). Talk to you soon. Cheers!

Website: http://www.aup.edu/

P.S. I'll do a second post about the admissions process and the tuition/costs and other things I haven't covered in this one :)

{Zooey Deschanel inspired - 60's Hairdo}

Hi!

Another quick post, as I promised :) I have uploaded a tutorial to my Youtube channel, it is a quick and easy Zooey Deschanel inspired 60's hairdo.

I have been in love with Zooey's hair since I saw 500 Days of Summer, an amazing movie. So, then, yesterday evening, I decided to cut my own bangs into blunt bangs(straight across the forehead), here you can see how that and the tutorial turned out :)



Cheers!

{April/May 2011}

Hi!

So a while ago I promised I'd update everyone on what's been happening, but I found out that I didn't do a lot and my life is pretty boring... Either way, now that June is soon to be here, I'll give a quick summary of April and May :)

So first of all, my third term of the UP program at EF has started, gone by quick and almost ended. This term was really relaxed, I had a lot of fun subjects like research writing, literature, entrepreneurship and public speaking. Since I had by then finished my applications, and even got answers(more about that later), except for school I didn't have much to do and I didn't do much.

At the beginning of April I got the answers from all the universityies I applied to, 5 no's and 1 yes... Yeah, pretty depressing, but I got over it. The one yes came from the American University of Paris(AUP) and I ahve accepted it. So: I'll be going to Paris next year, back to Europe, OMG. I just saw I haven't done a post on AUP yet, so I'll do that in the upcoming week.

April went by pretty quick, and at the end of the months the parentes came to New York to visit me :D We offcourse went to Manhattan, but we also went to Niagara Falls and to an Amish village somewhere in Pennsylvania. The 10 days they were here went by so fast, it's crazy. But its was great, thanks again to mom and dad for coming all the way over here! As for pictures, I'll put up a video real soon with pics from my year abroad, they'll be in there.

Then, Beginning of May I brought the parentes to the airport again, and my life was a bit more quiet. The weather started to get real summery, so we spent the weekends in Central Parc and the weekdays in T-town. Just this last weekend, Kadda and I went to Boston to see a play. It was called "Mouth wide open" and starred Amy Brenneman(Private Practice). It was seriously amazing.

The we figured we could maybe sleep on the EF Boston campus, turns out they have way more security and way less space than we do, so that didn't really work. As for Memorial Day(yeseterday), I spent the whole day inside, praying for the weather to get colder, which btw it didn't.

As for today: 1 MORE WEEK AND I FLY HOME!!! Yaaaaay. I am so looking forward to home, I missed my own bed :)

Hope this is enough update!

Cheers!

PS I cut my hair yesterday evening into blunt bangs and this morning did a 60's inspired hair tutorial, so if you wanna see my new look...

{The last two months...}

Hi guys!

I am truly sorry for not updating for so long. *Bitchslapping myself*

So, since a lot has happened in the last two months, and I dont want to overwhelm you(and me) in one post, I've decided to post around 10 smaller posts in the next few days. These will be in chronological order, so in the next post, we are rewinding two months back in time.

Loads of love!

{Day 8 - Atlanta}

Hi!
So, today was way better than yesterday. First of all I slept like 12 hours :) Then I had a late breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, my new favourite place. By the I was done it was already afternoon and we made our way to the World of Coca Cola building. There, we bought a combi ticket to go inside the Coca Cola building and the CNN studio's.
Although I don't like Coca Cola, I loved the whole thing. First there was an introduction, then we saw the long version of a commercial from 2007. Then I took a picture with the Coca Cola bear :D and there was an exihibition on the history of the Coca Cola company. After that there was a machine that showed how Coke is bottled, and a video of many famous Coco Cola commercials. After that I saw a 4D movie, with moving chairs and wind, which was fun. And then came the best part: tasting all the drinks the Coca Cola company ever produced, including Nestea, Fanta, Sprite etc. At the end I got my own mini bottle of Coke.
At the end of the afternoon we went to the CNN headquarters. With our combi ticket we went on the inside CNN tour. We literally saw someone presenting live, while it was broadcasted on tv, which was really cool. Also, we learned some tricks they use and we took our own picture in a CNN stdio. We also got to see the HLN studio, a sisterchannel of CNN, from which they were also broadcasting live.
If you are ever in Atlanta, definitely check these two out, it's lots of fun. As for the rest of the night, I didn't do anything really. I have found a new addictive tv series called Pretty little liars, so I watched some of that.
As for today, we're planning on going to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and then at 8.00 p.m. we are taking the bus back to New York...
Loves!

{Day 7 - Atlanta}

Hi!
Okay, so today was not my day. First at 2.45 a.m. we took the Amtrak from Charlotte to Atlanta. Well, I had hoped to travel comfortably and sleep the whole way, but since the air conditioning was on all night, it was freezing cold in the train. The chairs however, were comfortable, but because of the cold, I kept waking up.
At 8.00 a.m. we arrived in Atlanta. We wanted to take the backpacks to the hotel and then just chill, but first we had to wait for 30 minutes for the checked luggage to be available. Then, we decided to take a cab to the hotel, since we had no idea where to go, and without a map, walking around Atlanta wouldn't have been such a good idea.
On our way to the hotel, we ran into a marathon, so it took the driver about 20 minutes to figure out a new way to the hotel. Instead of 10 dollars the ride ended up costing us 22 dollars. So we got at the hotel at around 9.00 a.m. and off course were too early to check in, so we left the bags there and went looking for the next Starbucks for coffee and breakfast.
We found one, but, shockingly, it was closed. Since when does Starbucks close??? Well, after that we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts, where I had a bagel with scrabled eggs and cheese, or something that is supposed to be the same thing, I'm starting to miss Rita hall food :)
At noon we went back to the hotel, passing the Philips Arena on our way, were loads of people were waiting and buying tickets, probably for an NCAA game. We checked in, and once in our room took a shower and slept all through the afternoon. At 5.30 p.m. I woke up, got ready and we had dinner, then we made our way to the Phillips Arena for an Atlanta Hawks basketball game that we had tickets for.
We then arrived there, I looked at the ticket and saw the time was 2.00 p.m. and not 7.00 p.m., yes, we had missed the game...
We went back to the hotel, chilled some more and went to sleep. As I said, not my day, hoping the next two will be better :)
Loves!

{Day 6 - Charlotte}

Hi!

So, today was totally exhausting. We arrived with the bus at the Charlotte Transportation Center at 7.00 a.m., and where so tired. But then again, we were only in Charlotte for a day, so we had to get going and decide what we’d do. First of all, we had to store the backpacks somewhere, so we decided to take the bus to the Amtrak Station, which is located outside the city center. It didn’t cost us a thing this time, since we were taking the train at night.

We then took the bus back, and got on a kind of slow train towards the other end of the city to the Midnight Diner. Just like the South Street Diner in Boston, this diner had the typical “Diner-look” that you see in the movies. Also their menu was similar, with eggs, pancakes, French toast etc. I ordered the French toast, and it was amazing. If you want to know more about the menu or the diner, here’s their website:

After breakfast we had a lot more energy, and went to the Charlotte Visitors Information Center, to see what we could do there. We got a lot of info on museums and attractions from very eager-to-help staff. Also, today there were not only museums and attractions, there would be the St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is a huge celebration in all of the US(just an extra reason to drink and party, if you ask me). So we went to the Levine Museum of the New South, which exhibits the history of Charlotte and the South after the Civil War.

When we got out of the museum, we ran into the parade. Everyone was wearing green, and there were dancers, cheerleaders, veterans, race carts, in green decorated cars etc. We watched it for a while, then walked down to a market where people were selling food, jewelry, beer and other stuff. We then found a park where tanned for the rest of the afternoon.

At night I was so tired I fell asleep at like 7.00 p.m. in the waiting area of the Charlotte Amtrak Station. I woke up around 2.00 a.m., and we waited until 2.30 a.m. until out train to Atlanta was there and we could board it. The train chairs are so great in comparison to the busses, they are big and with a lot of space for legs and feet and they have 120V outlets. Only the Wi-Fi was missing. We are scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 8.13 a.m., and I’ll let you know how that goes.

Loves!

{Day 5 – Washington D.C.}

Hi!
Sorry for the late update, the trip has been quite exhausting, so I didn’t find the energy to write. But now I do, so here goes.
So, my second day in Washington D.C., we first checked out of the hotel and walked to Union Station, where we wanted to store the backpacks. We did the same thing in Philadelphia and it cost us $ 3,-, but when we got to the counter, they told us it was $ 20,- per backpack for 5 hours or more. Well we didn’t have a choice really, so we left the backpacks and $ 40,- there.
After this I got on the Old Town Trolley again. I actually filmed some of it, so I want to upload that footage soon :) I got off in the city center, and made my way to Starbucks for breakfast, since the breakfast in the hotel sucked. In Starbucks, I read my email and found out that I got accepted into the American University of Paris!
After Starbucks I decided to go the Museum of Natural History, since I hadn’t been to a museum in D.C. yet, and my sister told me I should go there. Well, she is right, it is amazing, and since it’s a Smithsonian museum, it is also free! There is like huge whales and dinosaurs, they’re even kind of creepy. So, if you’re ever in D.C., definitely go check it out.
After that I went to the White house visitors center, which is not located next to the white house, but a few blocks down. I had seen the White house yesterday, but didn’t have the opportunity to go to the visitors center yet. Inside the visitors center you can get a virtual tour of the White House, which is great if you can’t go in person, and there is much more information about the presidents and their families. Also, I bought a poster of the 1799 painting of George Washington, for only $ 1,-.
With a few hours left in D.C. I decided to check out the place where my sister had lived last year, 400 Massachusetts Avenue. It is absolutely amazing, it is so close to everything :D Off course I couldn’t go in, so that was a short trip, and I went for dinner in Chinatown. While I was there I ran into a cinema, and since I still had some time to kill, I decided to go watch Red Riding Hood. The movie was so-so, but at least I wasn’t bored.
Now it was time to go back to Union Station, where I again checked my email and found out that I didn’t get into the University of Chicago :( We picked up our backpacks, and took the 11.00 p.m. bus to Charlotte, N.C., where we arrived at 7.00 a.m. the next day.
Loves!
Btw. I love Union Station, it is so pretty, although nothing can beat Grand central if you ask me.

{Day 4 - Washington D.C.}

Hi!

Again, sorry for the late update, but these sight seeing days are exhausting. So, after a long night of sleep, which I totally needed, I got on the Old Town Trolley, and went driving through Washington D.C. It cost me $35,-, but they had a promotion that I could use it for two consecutive days.

I walked to Union station, which is a totally amazing looking marble station building, where I got on the trolley. Nice thing about this trolley is that you don't have to walk every where, and my feet are grateful. So, I saw the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. In the trolley, we drove by almost all of the museum on the National Mall.

This city has just so much to do! I can't choose whether I want to go to this museum or that one, or if i want a picture of me on the steps of the capitol or in front of the white house... So, I chose to take the trolley to Georgetown and visit Georgetown University. I went on a student guided tour there, and I now really want to go there, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

Well, after that I did some shopping and surfing, and took some pictures of the White House. Since it was St. Patricks Day the fountains where green :D Then I went back to the hotel for an early night, since the day had totally tired me out...

Loves from D.C.!

P.S. I got an email this morning, I got accepted into the American University of Paris:D Not sure if I am going, I'll wait for my other Uni's to reply and then decide. But I'll keep you updated on that one.

{Day 3 - Philadelphia}

Hi!

Sorry for the late update, my Philadelphia day was exhausting, so I didn't have the energy to update last night... We arrived in Philadelphia at 6.00 a.m. after just a few hours of sleep in the bus. First we dropped of the back packs at the Amtrak baggage depot. The Philly trainstation is huge and B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. :D

Then, after taking the metro and walking through Philadelphia a little, I found Café Estelle, the café that I had planned to have breakfast at. But it wasn't as nice as I had first thought, so I decided to keep going. After some searching, I finally found a little place called Delicatessen, located on 703 Chestnut Street, between 7th and 8th street. The picture up on the right is the interior of this place. If you want to know more, check out their website: http://www.delicatessenphilly.com

So, after that I went on the constitutional walk. I started at the Independence Visitors Center, the went on to Independence Hall, Congress Hall and Old City Hall. After that I went to Liberty Bell, passed by Library Hall and went to Carpenters Hall. The last stop on my walk was Franklin Court. There are as much as 19 sights to see along the constitutional walk, but since I was so tired, I decided to leave it at that, I had seen the most important stuff :)

Then, I had well, eh, kinda lunch at Starbucks, with two of their newest treats, called petites. I had a Red Velvet Whoopie Pie and a Tiramisu Cake Pop. And they are amazing, my new addiction. Then, I decided I wanted to relax a it more, so i walked into a hairdressers called Charlie's, and since they had an opening, I got my hair cut. Nothing extreme, just the ends and my bangs.



After that it was already time to leave for the bus to Washington D.C. from where I am writing you right now. We arrived at aroung 9 p.m., went to the hotel and almost immediately fell asleep.

Well, that was my Philly adventure. I loved Philadelphia, have to definitely go back sometime soon.

Loves!

{Day 2 - Boston}

Hi!

So, as day two is almost over, I am writing to you from the South Street Diner in Boston, MA. It is a really American movie like looking diner, with great and cheap food 24/7. If you are ever in Boston, definitely check it out!! For more info on the menu or the diner, go to their website: http://southstreetdiner.com/

Today we started the day of in Starbucks, after the coffee at the hostel turned out to be worst than the coffee in Rita, which is hard, but apparently not impossible... So, after having a tall Pike Place Roast and some high speed Internet(perfect start of the morning), we took the subway to MIT, located in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston.

We went on the 11 a.m. campus tour, and our very enthusiastic tourguide told us all about the academics, facilities and student life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT, duh). We then had lunch at the student center of MIT, and then walked to Harvard University. At Harvard there were no tours, since it is spring break, so we just walked around, took some pictures and then we went back to the city center. There I bought some postcards and an official Harvard T-shirt :D

At 7.10 p.m. we went to the movie Adjustment Bureau, for $8,- instead of $12,-, a promotion from the hostel. The movie was so-so, it was a typical love story with a happy end and some details about some guy making decisions for everyone. After that we went beck to the hostel, where we had stored our back packs for the day, and we walked to South street diner. I had a Sirloin steak with french fries and a hot chocolate with whipped cream, and David had the breakfast special with ham, eggs and pancakes and, off course, orange juice.

That's it for now, we are catching our bus to Philly at 12.15 a.m., where we are scheduled to arrive at 5.40 a.m. with a busy, but really cool day ahead.

Loves!

{Day 1 - Boston}

Hi!

Sorry for the late update, but the Wi-Fi at the hostel was too slow to upload anything, but now I am chillin' at Starbucks and the internet is great.

At 7.25 a.m. we took the train from Tarrytown to Grand Central, after which we walked to 9th avenue and 33 St., to take the bus to Boston. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9.10 a.m., and with like 10 minutes delay, we left New York City. We were traveling with Megabus, which provides Wi-Fi on the bus, so it wasn’t boring :)
At 1.30 p.m. we arrived in Boston in the South Station. We then walked to 40 Berkeley, our hostel for the night. We left our backpacks there and went walking to the city center. We followed the 2.5 mile long Freedom trail, a red brick line going through Boston past all the important sights in and around the Civil War. I took many, many pictures, so I just made a small selection. We also went to the Bunker Hill Monument, a huge tower where a one of the most famous battle in the Civil War was fought. I made a little video of this part, check it out!

After that we went to north Station, where the official Boston Bruins shop is, but we where there 1 minute too late, the shop had already closed. So we decided to take the “metro” down to the Boston Public library and the Prudential shopping center. Well, the Bostonian metro is like the slowest I have ever been in, but we arrived. The Boston Public Library is a beautiful building on Copley Square, with many elegant details :) Then, we went on to the shops, we bought some food, since we were starving and I bought a few postcards at the Papyrus store.
Then, since we hadn’t slept much last night, and had walked a lot today, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel.
Today are going to MIT and Harvard, and late at night we’ll be boarding the bus to Philadelphia :D
Loves!

{It is heavy}

Hi!

So after saying goodbye to my friend Jenny yesterday(I miss you already), today I focused on my trip. I have planned out the first few days, packed my stuff and tried on my packed back pack. And it is heavy :s But I might survive, and it isn't totally full.

So I am leaving tomorrow on the 7.25 a.m. train from Tarrytown to Grand Central. From there we walk to the bus stop on 9th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, where we take the bus to Boston. We the arrive in Boston at 1.25 p.m., check into the hostel called 40 Berkeley, and want to walk the freedom trail. It leads along all the historical sights of Boston :)

And then for dinner I found this diner that is like over 60 years old, called South Street Diner, so we might go there for dinner. Tomorrow I'll post some pics and let you know how our first day was!

Loves!

{Back pack - Jansport Big Bear 78}

Hi!

Just a quick picture of me & my big, huge back pack. I could have bought a smaller one, although choice was limited, but I was afraid my stuff wouldn't fit in. So now I got a back pack with space of around and about 75 liters :) Well, at least my make-up collection will fit in ;)

Down below is a link for a review, it is supposed to be really good for such a low price(I pay $100 incl. tax :), but I'll let you know while traveling how it is working out.

xx

http://www.backcountry.com/store/review/200047875/Jansport-Big-Bear-78.html

{Term 2 = over}

Hi!

So, as of today 12:50 p.m. EST term two, for me, is over. I have spend nine weeks, 16 hours per week in a classroom and double those hours eating, partying and just chilling with friends.

The core classes this term, were kind of fun, though my electives were more fun. I'll just quickly list the classes I took this term(5 core classes, 3 electives), the amount of hours per week, and my thoughts about the classes.
- Academic writing & grammar(3 hours/week)
This subject was more writing than grammar(thank God), and it was actually kind of fun. Every week we wrote and handed in one essay, and each different week, we wrote a different kind of essay. I have written persuasive, comparative, narrative and cause and effect essays, a personal commentary, a fictional story and lots more. We took one hour per week to explain the kind of essay we were writing and to brainstorm and do some pre-writing. One hour per week for actually writing the essay, and one for revising and handing in the essay.
- Reading(2 hours/week)
I did not enjoy reading at all. Maybe it was the book, maybe the teacher, maybe just me, or a mix of all three. We were reading 1984, a dystopian novel by George Orwell, but as usual with reading books in school: I did not read it. I did however read the first 25 pages, a summary from sparknotes and passed the subject.
- College survival(2 hours/week)
In this class we had a book called "Ethics and college student life" which you should definitely buy! Haha, no not really. The book has some case studies, which we discussed in class, and that was fun. We also kept a journal and wrote twice a week about each topic we talked about in class: sex, drugs and rock 'n roll :)
- Application workshop(1 hour/week)
Instead of the 2 hours in the first term, we only had 1 hour of application workshop this term, and we'll have none next term :( But thank God, Megan is teaching a literature class next term(for which I signed up), so hopefully I'll still have classes with her. As for the subject, it was fun and helpful, just like last term.
- Biology Elective(2 hours/week)
This was a class that I actually hadn't chosen, but I changed into it, since it fitted my schedule best. I am not crazy about biology, but it was fun. I especially enjoyed the last class in which we had a "science fair" where we had to do some experiments in front of our "celeb judges" :)
- Journalism Elective(2 hours/week)
For journalism we wrote 1 article per week, from interviews, to personal commentaries to eyewitness reports. We have published 3 UP times in those 9 weeks, filled with the articles we wrote. I doubt anyone read them, but it was a fun class to do.
- Economics Elective(2 hours/week)
In economics class we mostly revised thing I already knew, but had forgotten over the years. We first did macro economics, then micro. You either love economics or not, so for those who didn't it wasn't all that great, but I loved it. The midterm and the final were thought, but it was a good preparation for university level studies.

Well, overall a positive outcome for my second term at EF New York, following the University Preparation program. Now I have two weeks spring break and I'll be traveling along the east coast and blogging about it, so follow me pls :) As to school, on the 28th of March, term 3 starts, so another 10 weeks of UP and then, on June 7th, I am flying home.

Time flies, but I really am enjoying it.

Loves!

P.S. The pic was taken in D'Espresso, a café on 42nd street, between Park and Madison :)

{University of Chicago}

Hi!

So here's part 2 of my posts on the universities I applied to. Today I'm gonna talk about the University of Chicago. As the name implies, it is located in Chicago, Illinois. It has an urban campus of 211 acres, and has around 5.000 undergraduate and 10.000 graduate students.

The University of Chicago was established in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society, with a donation from John D. Rockefeller. The first classes were held in 1892. The university has more than 2.200 faculty members, and 85 Nobel prize winners are affiliated with UChicago, of which 8 are current staff members.

And, again, I haven't been to the University of Chicago, but I have been to Chicago. Eh, 4 years ago. They call it the windy city, and they are right. It is cold and windy, but it's also a beautiful city, with subways above the streets and, as I remember, a huge bookstore :)

For more info: http://www.uchicago.edu/

That's all for now,

talk to you later!

{Last week of the term}

Hi!

So my birthday has come and gone, and I got some more wrinkles :P

No, not really. My birthday was fun. I had Birthday songs is five different languages, one brownie and two birthday cakes, a singing card form my sister Mariska(thanks for that one, it's hilarious) and loads and loads of happy birthday messages :D

Then this weekend I went o manhattan with Jenny, Kadda and Regina :) We went to a café on 42nd street that looks like a library. Then we took the subway down to Battery Park, then to Brooklyn, where I bought two dresses in a vintage store(I'll upload pics later). After that we went back to Fifth avenue and back to T-town.

Loves!

{Twenty. Tomorrow.}

Hiya!

For those of you who didn't know: tomorrow I am entering my twenties, so here's my last post as a nineteen year old :(

I haven't blogged very consistenly, but I have blogged, I think, quite a lot this past year, and I am hoping to increase it the next.

So, bye bye teens and hello twenties! It's kinda weird, but also cool.

xx

{Spring break plans!}

Hi!

So, in just two short weeks the famed spring break starts! For those of us staying for a semester, it is goodbye :( But for those of us who, like me, are staying until June, it means: Hello Miami, Orlando or Cancun(Mexico).

But as I have higher goals in life, ahem, I am not going to either one of these three. No, together with my friend David we are traveling south along the east coast and a little to the west.

Logically we start in New York[A]. We here take a bus to Boston[B], then to Philadelphia[C], to Washington D.C.[D], then to Charlotte[E]. Then from Charlotte we take the train to Atlanta[F] and then the bus back to New York[G], home sweet home.

The whole trip is planned for a total of 10 days and, according to google maps, is 2,196 miles(3,534 km) long. As we are taking the bus and walking around a lot we are planning on buying mid size backpacks to hold our stuff :) So, my first backpacking trip!

As my laptop is very susceptible for theft(not), I am planning on taking it with me and blogging throughout the trip.

That is it for now, I'll post a detailed travel schedule before we leave, and as always:

xx

{As promised - the picture with Alexis}

Hi!

Okay, so I promised a picture of me and Alexis Bledel, and then I realized that I didn't have the picture! So after stalking my friend Kadda, I have it now, and here it is!

Talk to you soon!

xx

{UP-date}

Hi!

I know I haven't updated for almost a month, and after a long, begging e-mail from my cousin I decided to write again.Here comes.

First and foremost, I have dyed my hair into a red-brown colour. So cool. You can see it in the picture above: redhead @ NYC.

Now, to the less important stuff. I have had midterms, a week or so ago, so I studied hard and aced them :) Well, most of them at least.

Then, I went to an off-Broadway play called: Love, loss and what I wore, which was great. We paid $ 25,- for the tickets, instead of $ 80,-, since we went there in the morning and picked them up :) One of the actors in the play was Alexis Bledel(from Gilmore Girls/The sisterhood of the traveling pants), and I got her autograph and a picture :D Ow, and one of our fellow play-admirers was Denzel Washington, btw.
[Pictures are coming up]

More exciting news coming up in my next post, and more regular updates are a promise!

xx

{Yale University}

Hi!

So I have been wanting to do a post about the uni's I'm applying to, for each one an individual post, for a while. And I finally started.

First on my list is Yale University. Yale is the dream. Yale is the hope. And Yale is hard to get. Yale is the number two university of the US(after Harvard, the unconquerable number one) and the number three of the world(after, again, Harvard and Cambridge). Their admitted students score an average of 700-790 on the SAT, so since I am about 100 point under that average, my chances are small to get in. But if you never take a chance, you'll never win.

So, first, some basic history. Yale was founded in 1701 by the Colony of Connecticut and is the third oldest institution of higher learning in the States. It was called after its first benefactor, Elihu Yale. Five US Presidents graduated from Yale, and 48 Nobel prize winners are affiliated with the university.

As for Geography, Yale is located in the North-western United States, as are all Ivy league institutions, in New Haven, Connecticut. The campus is an urban one and has a vast size of 840 acres. It also has the second largest academic library in the US(after, duh, Harvard).

So, those are some fact about Yale. Now what can I tell about Yale? Well, eh, nothing. I haven't been there yet, but I have just scheduled my campus visit(information session and tour) for March 24th, just after my spring break trip :) So, after that, I'll tell you about Yale first hand! For now, I have just fallen in love with the academics, the old buildings and the prestige.

Concluding, Yale is probably any one's dream and I might be able to live it, well, that is, if I get that thick acceptance envelope.

For more info on yale, please visit: http://www.yale.edu/

Loves!

{EF-UFY University Foundation Year 102}

Hi!

So as many of you know, I am doing a University Foundation Year at EF International School of English in NY. In this year(9 months) I'm preparing for University in the US, by improving my English speaking, writing, reading etc.

These 9 months are split up in 3 terms, I finished term 1 and am now in the middle of term 2. Unlike term 1, we now have electives on subjects that interest us, but we do still have some basic classes:
- Application Workshop - 1 hour
In application workshop our University Pathways Manager, the lovely Megan, helps us
with applications and gives us information about the process.
- Advanced Reading - 2 hours
My least favorite subject so far, although I do like reading. In this class we are
reading 1984 by George Orwell and we learn how to skim and scan texts and how to
find answer to questions more easily.
- Academic Writing&Grammar - 2 hours
In this class we just do writing really, not so much grammar(yay). We prewrite,
draft and rewrite the final essay and have to hand in a different one every week.
- College Survival Skills - 2 hours
So in this one we learn how to survive in college(duh) and we read through a book
of case studies, not exceptionally interesting, but it can't hurt.
- Culture and communication - 2 hours
As the name says we talk about different cultures, especially the American culture
versus our culture and we analyze how different behaviour can be seen as weird or
even offending in other cultures.
Then there are the electives, there are many electives and I only can tell about 3(that's how many I have), but since this blog is all about me :P
- Biology - 2 hours
In biology we relearn the basics of cells and photosynthesis etc. I've had it all
before, but it is nice to learn it again :)Later in the term we'll write a paper
for credit.
- Economics - 2 hours
In economics, it is kind of the same thing, we relearn the basic economic theories,
but we also learn about famous economists, which I never did in school. We also
have to give a presentation with a partner on one of these famous people.
- Journalism - 2 hours
In Journalism we each write 1 piece per week, every week a different kind of piece.
We then want to put the most interesting one together into a UP newspaper :)
So those were all my subjects, as you can see 16 hours(80 minutes) per week, so I have a lot of time left to do stupid things or visit NYC :D

Loads of love,

Charline

{My lists}

Hi!

I have decided to post my most important random lists, later I'll do some individual posts about the items on the lists :)

List No 1: Movies to see
- Black Swan
- The Kings Speech
- Blue Valentine
- No Strings Attached
The first 3 are nominated (several) times for the academy awards, and I hadn't seen them yet, so I really have to. Theres more good movies/actors nomivated, but these are supposedly really good.
Here's a link to the NY Times list on Academy Award nominations:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/01/25/movies/awardsseason/25oscar-nominations.html?ref=awardsseason

List No 2: Books to read
- 1984, by George Orwell
- The imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman
- War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
The first one I have to read for reading class, the second I already started and it is really great untill now. As for the third, since it is such a classic I want to read it, but the 700-something pages scare me a little.

List No 3: Universities I applied to
- Yae University, New haven CT
- Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
- University of Chicago, Chicago IL
- Williams College, Williamstown MA
- Smith College, Northhampton MA
- American University of Paris, Paris France
This list is slightly different from the one I gave you guys about 2 months ago, but I'll get into detail about every university/college in later posts.

This was all for now,

Loves,

Charline

{Damn, I should update more}

Hi guys!!

I'm soooo sorry for not blogging for a month or so, but I promise, I'll update every day for the rest of the month.

I have had a crazy busy time after getting home. Over the holidays I finished 3 college applications(Yale, Williams and Chicago) and I finished the Chicago financial aid application.

I had an amazing Christmas and the best new years party ever(Thanks Mina!), although I don't remember all of it anymore, haha. For pictures, please check facebook. I can't upload anything since my cable is still in my suitcase, which is still missing(I'll address that one in a seperate post).

In the beginning of January I went to Holland for a few days to visit my mom, friends and family in Rotterdam and I had to pick up some official documents at my former university. I also met the monsters my mom teaches every day, good luck with that :) Afterwards I went back to Luxembourg, where I spend two more days before flying back.

Saturday the 8th of january I arrived in the States again and it's been crazy busy again. I had the Georgetown application deadline the 10th and the Smith application deadline the 14th of January, but I ot both in on time. Than I took SAT last saturday(the 22nd), and I now am waiting for the results.

As for school, the second term is fun. I have three electives and some standards subjects(for this also, I'll post a seperate post). I'm still on 16 hours per week, and I'd like more, but I'm not allowed. I have 8 different subjects nw, which means more homework: one of the reasons I haven't been updating.

Then, I have some exciting news: I am going to apply to the american University in paris. Yes, in Paris. This way I could get the american college system, but closer to home. Check out their website: http://www.aup.edu/ I'll also give some more info about this one later :)

In the coming week I have my financial aid deadlines for Williams, Smith and Georgetown comming up, so busy again. But I promise I'll update!

I'm staving, so I'm gonna eat now!

Loves,

Charline