About not being a minor anymore, moving, Christmas, and other small details.

Soooo... A month passed since my last blogpost, and a lot happened:

• I saw some really awesome Christmas Lights
• I turned 18
• It snowed for the first time!
• I survived finals
• I moved (to a new hostfamily)
• I was at the Plaza 
• I went to Cunningham (smaaall town in Kansas) 
• I spent my first american Christmas

So, that's pretty much the gist. If you're still reading, and actually want to know the details: Thanks. I love you.

Aaand from the top:

Christmas Lights! What happened was: My friend Amy and me drove around and looked at some Christmas Decorations people put on their houses etc. and we saw some really cool stuff!

Yeah that one from the video was probably the most spectacular one (in case something's gone wrong, it's like a little light show in their garden with music too... Their bill is probably pretty high), but a week later or so, my hostfamily took me to a neighborhood called "Christmas Place", or something like it, that's really small, it's just like two small streets, but every single house has awesome lights and there were literally like 20 more cars and we all were just driving through there, looking at the lights. It was worth it!

Next:
I turned 18! It's kind of disappointing how not-different I feel. But sometimes I remember, and the most random moments, and it's just like 'Oh no! I have responsibilities now!'
But, to be honest, the thought doesn't stay prominent too long.
Anyways, I got a package from Austria for my birthday, and I got some presents from my hostfamily, and I spent the evening with some friends, and it was a really nice day!
I also got two cakes! Actually a cake from my hostfamily (each quarter had a different taste!!) and a pie (Linzertorte, classical Austrian cake, and my Grandmother and my Dad make the b e s t, I'm not kidding!) from my Dad, he sent to me. My hostfamily gave me my cake at around 00:00 too, that was pretty awesome!

 

So yeah, my birthday was on a Saturday and the following week I had finals from Wednesday to Friday. What are Finals? Finals are the final exams at the end of each Semester, to prove that you actually know all the stuff you learned before. I think. Yeah. I am sure.
So I had those from Wednesday to Friday but I didn't sweat it too much, most of my finals weren't really hard and I have good grades. Yeah, I'm ready for my next semester! School! Yay!
It also snowed on Thursday, that was pretty cool. Sadly it was gone pretty quick, and it hasn't snowed since, but I enjoyed that one snowy day a lot!

Sunday after the finals, I then moved. That doesn't mean me and my hostfamily moved, but rather I switched hostfamily. Don't worry, no bad blood, they just had too much to do next semester, so they thought it would be better if I looked for a new hostfamily who would have more time for me. Or so they told me. (Just kidding)
So yeah, I packed all my stuff and thought it was kinda sad how little it was, and also kinda terrible how much it was, because I'll have to transport that back to Austria eventually!
Anyways, Sunday about noon I said goodbye to the Vedantams, and moved to the DeWeeses.
The new family living at the house, is: Brian (the father), Brina (who was in my English and my Anatomy Class, she's also a Senior) and Dalton (who was in my Sociology Class, he's a Sophomore).
I live in Tori's old room, who is currently in College. They also have a cat called Kitty and a dog called Blue. The cat is lying in my bed right now, and even though she is of course not as cute as my cats in Austria, she comes pretty close!
The same night I also went to the Plaza for the first time, where we did a little bit of shopping and then went to a Burger restaurant. (This might be a good time to mention that while my old hostfamily was very vegetarian, my new hostfamily is very not.)
The Plaza was definitely no disappointment! For people from Austria: It's a little bit like a small-town-Version of Vienna's first district, if you'd like.
Anyways it's very beautiful, and they turn on these awesome lights when it's dark.

The next day, we (Brian, Tori, Brina, Dalton and me) went to Cunningham, wich is a very, very small town in the southern middle of Kansas.

We spent a two days there, and it was really nice and relaxing. We played cards a lot. We also had a little family Dinner, with the Grandma, an Uncle and an Aunt, a Cousin and his kid. It was a really nice Dinner, and we got awesome cake!
We also went to the Uncle's house the next day, which was an american Farm, and it was really cool to see that.
On the 24th, we then left and drove back to Kansas City, that took us around 5 hours. Or maybe 4. I am not sure, obviously.



On the 24th, we went to Lori's house (Lori is Brina, Dalton and Tori's mother), and I spent my first american Christmas. Jim, Lori's boyfriend, and his three kids were also there, and we unpacked presents, and technically we were watching How the Grinch stole Christmas, but not really.
I also ate Canned Cheese for the first time there! Dalton gave it to me for my birthday, because he knew it was on my american bucket list, so I ate it with Crackers and Sausage and it was actually not as bad as one would think.
Of course it's not comparable to Vorarlberg's or swiss Cheese, but let's not go there, it's spray Cheese after all.
But, Christmas wasn't over after that. On the 25th, Christmas Morning, we had Christmas at the House with Brian, and we unpacked some more presents, and it was very nice! The same day I also saw Into the Woods with Brina and her Friend Maia, and Brian, Tori, Brina, Dalton, Maia and me had Dinner at an asian place with an all you can eat buffet. It was really good.
So yeah, that was my christmas. I enjoyed it a lot.

In my next blogpost, I will probably have more pictures of the family, I know there's kind of a lack of those right now! But I'll take some, and I know Brian has some, so you'll see some.
Thanks to everyone who actually took the time to read this whole thing, and thanks to everyone who just gave it a little glance or whatever.
Hugs from Leawood!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday Madness

Day 105 in Kansas and I am thankful.

I'm not going to give you a long boring list of all the things I'm thankful for though, don't worry. (Also I'm not sure if these blog posts have a limit)

But, I will say this: 

There are times, we 1st world people get to experience, where there is so much good food, that you never want to stop, but eventually you just have to. Thanksgiving was such a moment for me. 

I spent it with a friend from my English class (Samantha), and me, her and her family went to another family's house. We had an amazing dinner, we watched a movie, and there were delicious desserts. (Yes, that's plural) 

I had a really good time, everyone was super nice and welcoming, and I am really glad my first thanksgiving ever was like this. 

And because some people have asked, I even took a few pictures of the meal and the table:  

 

So, the picture of my plate might not look that good, but it was delicious! And the two other pictures are a hasbrown-thingy with loads of cheese, and behind it the stuffing (that's the middle picture of the three small ones) and right next to it is a green-bean-onion-thingy. Those were my three favorite parts of the meal, but boy, all of it was delicious! 

Anyways, around 9pm I came home, but there was lots more to do! 

Because after thanksgiving, there is a thing called "Black Friday" 

Now, "What is this?", non-American people might ask. 

Well, Black Friday is a thing that actually starts on Thanksgiving-Thursday around 5 pm and ends the next day, Friday, around 1 pm. 

During this time, all kinds of stores have all kinds of crazy discounts, and all kinds of people do all kinds of shopping. I also heard that a lot of people go crazy on that day and get rude or whatever, but I didn't encounter anything like it. I'm not sure if I'm just lucky, or people were exaggerating... I guess I will have to come back next year to find out... (jk I wish)

Anyways, to get the full on american experience, I participated in this event too: 

And because we wanted to get the best of it, my hostsister, a couple of her friends, and me, went shopping on black friday, on thursday. 

Now, while I was still stuffing myself with turkey, they already started, so I came to the party a bit late, but I still got awesome stuff. (I bought a pair of boots, some socks, and two sweaters. hooray) We went to several different stores, spent a lot of time (especially in queues/lines) and today I am absolutely exhausted. 

I joined the shopping-party around 9.30 pm, and around 1.20 am I went to bed. The next day, Friday, I got up around 6.15 am and we continued the shopping until around 1.00 pm. 

And of course, I have some pictures! YAYYY

Okay, you can't really see it on the first picture, but the queue there was insane. It went in a huge circle around half of the shop. That car is full of the stuff we bought, and that was just round one on Thursday night. The second picture shows the crazy sales – right there were 75% off. (That was a really good deal though and not really found again... But still) 

I hope you enjoyed this, I'll keep you posted!  

Hugs, Anna

Monday, November 24th 2014

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions? Go in to detail about your plans for the 5 day weekend.

Originally, I was supposed to go to Texas with my Hostfamily, to Houston and Dallas, to be exact, but this plan changed, when my hostsister didn't want to go, because it was a too long car ride, for too little time staying in Houston and Dallas. 

So now, my hostparents are still going to Texas, while my hostsister and I are staying home. 

That also means, that I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with a friend from my ELA class, Sam. I'm absolutely pumped about that! It will be my first thanksgiving! That also means, that I don't have any traditions of course, and to be honest I don't really know if Sam and the family have any traditions. I'm just extremely excited for my first american Thanksgiving! 

The Thing is, we actually have a thing similar to thanksgiving in Austria, that is called "Ernte-Dank-Fest". Literally translated, that would mean harvest-thank-fest. So, as you probably figured by now, this is all about celebrating a good harvest. So it is quite different from thanksgiving, but a little bit similar too. Also, I have never in my life celebrated "Ernte-Dank-Fest". I live in a city and this event is only celebrated on the country side. 

Tuesday, November 18th 2014

Define 'User Experience'. What does it mean and how does it relate to web design?

User experience is what someone feels, sees, experiences, when in touch with some kind of product. 

Regarding Web Design, that would be what someone feels, sees, experiences (etc.) when accessing a website. 

So if someone accesses my All about Me Website, for example. What they would think about it, would be their User Experience. 

I think that is especially important, because after all that coding, I personally sometimes fail to see the Website as a whole, but start seeing only the <div> elements, the headings, the <p>s, and so on. 

I tend to forget about what the Use sees, how he experiences the Web page.

I personally have had a lot of good and bad User Experiences.
I had a really good User Experience with the app "vsco cam". It was working perfectly from the moment I downloaded it, it is easy to navigate and I just love the Design!
image via

Monday, November 17th 2014

Consider the quote below. What exactly do you think it means and how does it relate to Web Design?

Totally accurate, I totally agree. It's awesome if a Design is nice to look at, but if there's nothing behind it, it's not good Design. 

First of all, what is a nice-looking Design good for, if it doesn't work? 

Also, from just looking at a nice Website, you will probably loose interest pretty quick. 

This doesn't only apply to Web Design and Websites, but also to all other Design. A pretty poster is nice, but if it doesn't transmit the message or catch the pedestrians eye, what good is it? 

Same with packaging design. Pretty is nice, but if it doesn't do it's job, what is it really good for? 

Giving in to peer pressure

So, on my 90th day in the US I decided to give in to the requests and the peer pressure:

I am starting a blog. (It sounds so fancy. It is not.)
It is kind of hard to start a blog about something that has been going on for 90 days, but I'll try my best.

For all my Austrian Friends, Relatives, or everyone else:
This is so different you guys. I personally didn't think it would be that different. It is the United States after all. We all have seen so many movies, TV Shows, etc., we all know it.
Well, we're all wrong. (Whaaaat? Such surprise)
Anyways, things are really different, and to be quite honest, the most common thing that I just can't get used to is how people here handle swearing.
I never realized it, but swearing is quite a common thing in Austria.
Here it is not. I mean don't get me wrong, young people do it all the time. But not in front of adults, and especially not in front of teachers. I am not quite used to this, and you might think after 90 days I got used to it, but you are wrong.

Asides from that, there are some other differences I notice the most in school.
Like this:
In Austria, if you want to go pee, you ask if you can go to the toilet. Not so much here. When I first asked if I could go to the toilet, I got weird looks and I thought it was because of my accent or something. Only a couple more weird looks later did I realize, you don't ask if you may go to the toilet here. You say "restroom" or "bathroom".
My US. History teacher even called me "a crazy european" when I asked if I could go to the toilet. (It was just a joke, don't freak out or anything people)

Well, about school:
The subjects I enrolled in are:
WebDesign, French 2.0, Pre-Calculus, Sociology, US. History, English Language Arts Grade 12 and Anatomy & Physiology.
I'm pretty happy with my choice! And while most of these are pretty self-explanatory, I will tell you what we are currently doing in Sociology:
Before, we talked about Society, and problems we see in our society (the american society of course), we talked about sexism and other problems associated with gender and now we're talking about the american class system and poverty in the US.
I love this class, we talk and discuss a lot and it is absolutely amazing.
I learn a lot here in Kansas City at Blue Valley High, and hoping none of my Austrian teachers will read this, I might even say, maybe, just maybe, I'm even learning a bit more than in Austria...

Apart from that, I live in an indian family with my Hostsister Menita, my hostmother Surya and my hostfather Srini.
We also have a dog called Max and two parrots called Pumpkin and Paco. Pumpkin can talk too! He can say "Hello", "Bye bye" and "How are you"
It's pretty impressive, I think.

I honestly don't feel like explaining what I've been doing the last 90 days because a lot has been going on, but I can tell you something that happens like at least once a week:
The indian dinner-party-things.
We are invited over to other houses regularly. There's usually at least 20 people (usually more I think) and most of the time I don't really know what's going on because they all talk all kind of indian languages, but there is amazing food and I love it.
The food I get here is pretty much the best ever. I get awesome indian food every day and I swear you should all be jealous it is sooo delicious!

And now a few pictures:
The first one is Pumpkin, the Parrot that can speak. Pretty cute, huh? (WRONG! no, jk. but he is actually super annoying whenever Paco and him just randomly start screaming like they are about to die. Lukas and Alex can confirm. It is hella annoying!)
Picture two is of the house I live in, Picture three is the view if you exit the main door, and the last picture is of my hostsister Menita and me before Homecoming. (Eine Art Schulball...)

Okay, that's it. The next post is going to come... soon. I guess. Hope you all enjoyed it! Hugs, Anna

Wednesday, November 12th 2014

Reflect on your learning this semester so far in this class. Think about the first day you walked in to this room until right now. What have you learned about Web Design? What have you learned beyond Web Design? Explain yourself.

I learned a lot about Web Design in specific, especially if you look at my coding skills. It's easy to see too, if one would look at the three Websites we built. The difference is pretty big in my eyes. 

Most of the stuff about Design, like the color schemes, I already learned in my old school, but it was still good to revise it like that. 

Beyond Web Design this class probably taught me a lot about time management. Time management is a huge factor in my school in Austria too, but it is not as strict. If I turn in an assignment late in Austria, it is not that big of a deal. Here, I had to be on time, and that made my time management skills a lot better. 

I also kind of learned, how to write a decently long blog post, if I didn't even have anything to say really. And I learned how fascinating coding is. 

I remember in Austria, when I had a subject about Web Design there, and during my first hour, the teacher asked everyone to honestly share how interested they were in Web Design. I told him I was not really interested at all, but this changed here. 

Friday, November 7th 2014

Define the following terms on your blog. Do not copy and paste definitions. Site where you got your definition.

FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol for exchanging information between computers over a network. 

Web Server

It is a computer or computer program that makes a client or user be able to see a website from a different computer. 

Web Hosting

Providing services, hardware and software, for websites. e.g. storage, maintenance of site files, etc. 

Web Hosting Companies: Arvixe, Dreamhost, Weebly, Hostgator, InMotion, ...

Monday, November 1st 2014

Tell me about your weekend. Give me details and photos!

This Weekend was Halloween! My first american Halloween! Can you believe it? 

I actually dressed up and I actually went Trick or Treating. But even though I had a mask, a printed out mask, not too many people recognized what I was supposed to be. 

A little kid dressed up as Obama thought I would be George W Bush. Wrong. 

I was Arnold Schwarzenegger. A few 'older' people recognized me though, and one woman at Chipotle even confronted me about it! ("Are you ARNOLD??")

Anyways, I got some candy and I had a very good 3$ burrito and it was a nice evening. 

The rest of the weekend was not too eventful. I was at another indian party and I spent almost my whole Sunday working and skyping. 

Friday, October 17th 2014

What kind of background do you have with Photoshop? Have you used it before? What other types of design and editing software have you used before? Explain.

I have used Photoshop a lot. I have also used other Adobe Programs - Adobe Bridge, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, etc. 

That is, because I am at a graphic design school back home, and I have to use these almost all the time. Mostly Illustrator and InDesign though, but I also had a class that only concentrated on Photoshop and I use it too, even though not as often as other Adobe Programs. 

I know my way around it, but I am not exactly a pro at it. I just know the basics probably, and not even those fully. I know Photoshop can do a lot, like, for real. A lot. 

Before, I have used it primarily for editing pictures. We use vector graphics a lot more in my school, so I don't use Photoshop too much...

Tuesday, October 14th 2014

I personally still agree with the original article. I also think though, that the arguments listed here are to some degree true too.
But I do still think, the arguments listed in the original article are more important, heavier, than the ones listed here. So many schools all over the world go without a dress code. Do these people fail to understand, that later on, in a certain job, you have to dress a certain way? I'm no specialist, but I can say from what I have seen, they don't.
I see this argument everywhere. "That's how it's going to be later on too"
Well that is very nice, thank you, but we are not living in the future, as well as we're not living in the past. Right now I am in High School. Here I could repeat all the stuff I said in my last blog post about that topic, but I don't specifically feel like it.
I said it before: There are more important things to care about. It works other ways too.
And to the arguments brought up here:
Why are spaghetti straps and shorts that don't follow the thumb rule not appropriate attire for school?Please do not tell me, because it is distracting to boys. That's not only sexist against girls, but boys as well.
There are good reasons you dress the way you dress on your job. As a Politician, you wouldn't want to dress in spaghetti straps and shorts, I get that. But in school? I have not heard a convincing reason not to wear them so far, and I am still waiting for one...

Monday, October 13th 2014

Ugh, don't ask me that question.
It's just too good to be true anyways, so why even think about it??
Anyways, in my perfect school I would probably have a lot more freedom and discussions, but I would still have some kind of graduation so I would have to do something. (I know myself, I probably wouldn't do much if I hadn't)
Maybe I wouldn't have specific courses, but just teachers you can visit at any time, discussions about the stuff I learn... I don't know.
It would probably be a lot about social stuff like sociology, psychology... Then there would definitely be history and politics, I would like to learn more about religions. Then I would like to continue learning English and French, I would like to learn more about Art and Literary, also I would like Music Classes and Graphic Design Classes. Maybe even a Web Design class. And drawing. There is a lot I would like to do, and therefore I can't answer this question. Sorry

Copyright & Web Design Careers

Want to see some stuff I do in school?
Like a Copyright Law Paper and Something about Web Design Careers?

Tuesday, 7th October 2014

The following article was in the September issue of The Tiger Print. Read the article (even if you already have) and respond to it below. What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Consider all perspectives of the article while you respond.

I completely and absolutely agree with the girl who wrote this article. I have also been told I was dressing inappropriate and I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. As an exchange student from Austria, I can tell you that boys are indeed able to concentrate, even if they see a bare shoulder, thighs or a little bit cleavage. 

The fact that this kind of attire is a "distracting learning environment" for male students, is just stupid to me. (Sorry to all the people who support this argument)

And even if that is the problem, wouldn't the right way to address this problem be by teaching boys ways to concentrate? 

The female body gets objectified enough in the media, to continue this in school is awful to me. Young girls are confronted with objectified female bodies everywhere. That teachers and administrators continue the objectifying in school only makes it worse. Clothing is a way to express yourself, to find yourself. If a young girl feels comfortable in Spaghetti straps and Shorts, shouldn't she be able to wear these things? Especially in the country of freedom? 

I am sure this school has bigger problems, than how girls dress. For example some classrooms that are leaking. Or the food served in the cafeteria. 

There are more important problems, like mobbing, drugs, the schoolsystem in general, teachers who don't do a good job. I don't see a reason to talk about the way girls dress (I have not heard of a single boy being affected from this dress code, so I'm just not going to include them) when there's so many other problems.  

It is also hard for me to understand, how teachers and administrators can see the problem of if a girl dresses inappropriate more pressing than teaching in a good way. I have seen way more skin in my school back home. I have seen girls dressing in shorter shorts and deeper cleavages. And guess what? I have not heard of a single person that couldn't concentrate because of that. 

In fact, the dress code is just one more thing female students have to worry about, when there is already enough to worry about. Their grades, other's and their own expectations, dreams, college, their Future, their Past, their homework and the list goes on and on...

So, summarily, what buggs me the most about this dress-code, is how it teaches everyone that sexism and objectifying of women is okay, and it is basically a light form of what rape culture is. 

We are putting the blame on women and girls who show their shoulders, their thighs. Administrators and Teachers are telling us to cover ourselves, because society has objectified our bodies so much, we can't show them anymore, because it is to distracting. Men have shoulders too. Boys at this school show their shoulders too. I don't see anyone complaining about them. 

Monday, 6th October 2014

Tell me about your weekend! If you don't have anything fun to share, tell me about the city you live in. What do you love about Kansas City? Do you have a favorite place in the city? Favorite team? :) Favorite event? Explain.

Ok, so my weekend wasn't too exciting, but since I don't really know anything in this city, I'm still going to write about my weekend. 

My hostsister's birthday was on Wednesday, so on Saturday she ad her birthday party. Her brother planned a murder-mystery-party for her, and it was very funny. Most of the people thought I was to murderer, but I wasn't. After that we had Pizza and hung out and at the end we watched a Horror-Movie called Oculus. 

The next morning Menita made Pancakes with Chocolate Chips for all of us, that was awesome. 

 image via

Monday, September 29th 2014

Tell me about your Homecoming weekend! If you didn't participate in the Homecoming festivities, what did you do? Share pics!

I did participate in the Homecoming festivities, and it was a very interesting evening. 

I now get, that schooldances are indeed very different here than they are in Vienna. That does not mean better or worse, just very very different. 

That starts with the location and goes all the way to music. Also it is a way bigger deal here and in Austria the whole picture taking thing beforehand doesn't happen. 

Also you don't go to dinner all together usually. 

The rest of the weekend I didn't do anything productive except for skyping with my parents and my best friend back home and watching The Fault in our Stars. I cried a lot (during the movie).

image via

Monday, September 22nd 2014

How was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting? Share photos!

My weekend was pretty cool. Friday to Saturday I had a sleepover with AFS (The organization I am here with) and all the other exchange students who are currently in Kansas City area. 

It was really cool! I met a lot of awesome people and Saturday was a really cool day! 

The only not so cool thing, is that that was the only meeting with all of the exchange students in Kansas City Area. All the next meetings are only gonna be with the people in Overland Park area. So that means most of the people I met I'm probably not going to see again, since most of them live somewhere over in Missouri that's too far for me to just visit them like that. 

But it was still a fun weekend and I'm glad I met them. 

On Sunday I went Dress shopping, but the whole thing turned out way more complicated than thought and it was pretty exhausting. Aunt Anne's awesome Pretzels saved the day though. I had Pretzel Dogs and they were delicious!

image via

Friday, September 19th 2014

Now that you are several weeks in to this class and have coded one (super small) website, what do you think? What are your thoughts on web design? Is it what you thought it would be? Is it better? Worse? What's your favorite part? What's your least favorite part? Explain.

I like Webdesign! It is definitely one of my favorite subjects in this school. It is also what I thought it would be, but coding is definitely not what I thought it would be. On the one hand I thought it would be way more complicated, on the other hand it is very complicated...

So it is neither worse nor better. It's just different. 

My favorite part is the coding, when the moment comes that you open your webpage and you see that you made progress. 

My leas favorite part is also coding. But this time it's the moment when you open you webpage and you thought you made progress but nothing changed and you don't know why. That kind of happens a lot to me with the "All About Me" Webpage and I just do not know why, no matter what I try. 

That is exhausting. But apart from that, I really like coding. 

Tuesday, September 16th 2014

Reflect on this quote. Give an example of a time in your life that this might have been the case.

Okay. So I misread this quote. I thought it meant if you are prepared to fail you automatically failed. So don't mind me. I just wrote a huge paragraph about a wrong quote. So. Yeah. I guess the quote is true. You should always be prepared. Think about what you say, think about what you do. 

Sometimes you can't be prepared, and that can be tough, but when you can be prepared you should be. Exams and tests are a good example. If you're not preparing, you are simply preparing to fail the test. Of course, sometimes, for some people, it works out without preparing. But in general it does not. In general, people need to study for a test, an exam. Sometimes I'm not one of those people. I love it. But usually I am. So usually, Benjamin Franklin is right about this, I guess. 

Monday, September 15th 2014

What did you do this weekend? Share pictures if you have them!

My Saturday was a very busy day. First I went on a Birthday Party with my Family. The Birthday girl turned 1 year old that day, and there was a lot of indian food and a huge cake. 

Later on wen went back home, but on our way we went to a french clothing store (I forgot the name) where Menita bought a dress. 

After that we were in quite a hurry to get to the next event: 

An indian classical dance graduation of a friend of the family. The girl that did the dance graduation (together with another woman) invited a lot of people to this huge show in the Shawnee Mission East High School. 

The Event was really long, and to be honest sometimes a little bit boring for someone who has no clue about indian classical dance. Afterwards there was more indian food. I love it. Indian food is the best, and I stuffed myself. (I also ate a lot for lunch - I ate A LOT that day)

  

Sunday all I did was skype with my parents and then get sick - I slept a lot that day. 

Wednesday, September 10th 2014

Below is one of my favorite quotes that I found on Pinterest. Think read and think about what this says and then blog about it. What does this quote mean to you? Elaborate! Feel free to give an example of tell a story.

image via

I actually think, boredom is a very good thing. And being bored, is something everyone should be once in a while. 

When I was young, I used to say "I'm bored" a lot. My Mom hated it, but she always gave me an answer, that eventually stuck with me. What she said was, that whenever you're bored, that's a good thing. Out of boredom, the best things come. 

And I think, that's true. Sometimes, a little bit of boredom is a good thing. I know for myself, that sometimes when I'm bored, shortly afterwards I'm the most productive. So I think boredom is a good thing. And sometimes, it's okay to complain about it. As long as you're looking for something, to kill the boredom. Just complaining is always bad. 

Tuesday, September 9th 2014

How do you express your creativity? Explain.

image via

I believe everyone expresses his creativity all the time. In the way they solve their everyday problems, in the way they do pretty much everything. 

I specifically express my "imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work" through my Design work and my drawings. I also used to paint at home in school, but I don't do that anymore here in the US. I will do it, as soon as I get back though. 

Monday, September 8th 2014

What did you do this weekend? Share pictures if you have them!

This weekend I was at a lunch party from some Neighbors who moved into a new house. They served some delicious food and I embarrassed myself in an Indian Community by eating with a spoon. But the dishes were too good to care. The rest of my saturday was not too exciting. I ate ice cream and went shopping, but not really, since we went to Target.

Then on Sunday we were on an India festival. It was really cool, I was helping on a stall that was selling stuff from an Indian orphanage. They sold cute little bags and shirts and I didn't buy any, but other people did, so that was nice. 

After that I had a pretty lazy Sunday with a lot of drawing and TV Shows and other stupid stuff.

Wednesday, September 3rd 2014

Tell me about what you have learned in this class so far. Have you learned a lot? Do you want to learn more? What do you want to be able to do by the end of the semester?

I learned a lot in this subject. So far, I've learned a lot of the basic html-elements. I learned how to make a website (even though it is pretty ugly from what I've learned so far)

I still think I learned a lot in the past few weeks, especially if I look back at what I knew before. 

I definitely want to learn more though. At the End of the semester, I would like to know at least a little bit about how to make my website look better. 

At heart, I'm a growing Graphic Designer, and the Websites I can make so far, don't exactly make me happy. So, at the end of the semester, I would like to know how I make my website look more graphic-designy using CSS. 

I would also like to understand websites more at the end of the semester. Right now, if I look at a Webpage, I can tell which html-elements they might have used for the font-style. But I can't tell how they managed to get the pictures in such a good grid or how they managed to set up certain symbols and illustrations. I would love to understand that at the end of the semester, at least a bit more than I do right now. 

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Tuesday, September 2nd 2014

Tell me all about your Labor Day weekend. What did you do? Include photos!

My Labor Day weekend I went camping with my family and three friends of Menita. 

Saturday to Sunday we slept in tents and Sunday Morning we went canoeing. It was very funny but I got a sunburn and some people tried to convert me to Christianity. 

That was not the first time that happened to me, but it was definitely the most funny time. 

I struggled so hard not to laugh. They told us we were running of a cliff and they were just trying to help us. 

For me it was especially embarrassing because there were three Hindu-Teenagers sitting at the table, and the woman just wouldn't stop talking. Also we kind of had to be polite because they just gave us free Hot Dogs; That was definitely one of the experiences I wanted to make on this year abroad. 

Getting told I'm going to hell because I don't believe in Jesus.  

On our way home on Sunday we watched a movie called "We're the Millers". That movie didn't make me feel much, except for some muscles in my stomach I used while laughing. The movie's quite funny, and was not as stupid as I expected it to be.  

Sunday evening we arrived back home and on Monday we went to a friend's house to watch a video of their "Dance-Graduation". There was cake, so that was cool too. 

So all in all I had a great Labor Day Weekend. 

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Friday, August 29th 2014

Read this small newspaper clipping and then write a blog post about it. What are your thoughts? How does it make you feel? Do you agree? Disagree? Explain yourself.

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I agree with John Tapene on some parts. For example, I agree with him when he says "You are important and you are needed." 

I also agree with the fact, that you should do your best so nobody has to be in war, in sickness or lonely again. But I definitely don't agree with "Your town does not owe you recreational facilities..."

In my eyes, everybody should do it's best to support their youth. Recreational facilities sound like something good for that. (even though I don't really know what they are)
I also think, that for some kids, what he proposed might be the right thing to do.
Mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons and after you've finished, read a book.
But in my opinion you can not generalize something like that. Every kid or teenager has different hobbies, different interests, a different character. A lot of people would not be happy with doing just that everyday, I'm sure. I wouldn't be. 

Wednesday, August 27th 2014

Tell me if you agree with this statement and then explain why or why not. "Images on the internet are 'free game' - if someone posted it, I should be able to use it."

I strongly disagree! 

Images on the internet are not a free game. People spent work on these images, and just because they want to make them public, does not mean they want everybody to use them. There are still rights to these pictures, and somebody has them, and other people should respect them. 

Still, I also think, everybody who uploads a picture somewhere on the internet, should be aware, that people are probably going to use it for whatever they want to. 

So I don't agree with the statement, but I do think everybody who uploads pictures should be aware of the fact that some people think that way.

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Tuesday, August 26th 2014

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your life here at BVHS. What activities or clubs are you involved in? What year are you in school? What is your favorite class and/or teacher so far this year? What are you looking forward to this school year? Include some original photos from your phone if you can.

This is my senior year at BVHS but it is also my first and last year. I'm currently in only one club: the environmental club. I've been there once and it was pretty okay.

I also don't really have a favorite class or teacher. I have some classes I like more, and some classes I like less. The criteria for that is mainly how much I understand. 

So I don't really like math for example, because it's hard for me to understand all the mathematical terms, but I do like french and webdesign, because I understand a lot more of what's going on there. 

I'm looking forward to all the cool experiences I can make during this one and only year in an american Highschool for me. This is a unique chance for me, and I plan to make the best of it.

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Monday, August 25th 2014

What do you know about Web Design right now? What did you know about Web Design before you walked in to this class? Tell me as much as you can about how web pages work. Try to use an example if possible.

Before I came into this class I didn't have too much knowledge of Web Design. I had a subject in my old school that taught a little bit about it, but I was never very good or very interested in that subject. 

I did know before that there is an html code to every website, and there is CSS to make it look better. I never wrote an html code before though, or used CSS. 

I now know, that there are certain html codes for everything we see on a website and that I only know a tiny fraction of all the codes existing. I know a few elements/codes though, and I didn't know a single one before.

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