Summatime!

If you're wondering where I've been or what I've been up to the past week, the answer is finishing the last week of school. While some might think this is a week of mainly good-byes and fun school activities, you are severly mistaken. Over the course of the past week I have been taking my dreaded: FINALS!

With 2 exams Monday (Chemistry and Spanish), an exam Wednesday (Music) and an exam Thursday (Math) I've been pretty busy studying. All the while entertaining my grandparents who have returned from Italy and will be here with us until Tuesday.

At the same time as I spent countless hours studying and preparing, I was getting ready for an intense weekend of parties and fun to start the summer. However this proved to be a daunting task as my parents proved very reluctant to permit me to go to these "parties".

Noon on Thursday rolled around and I had just finished owning my Math exam. I took a deep breath and realized that the school year is finally over, and I could enjoy Summer 2008! That afternoon Dylan came over and we went to the graduation ceremony, which actually reminded me of the graduation ceremonies in the states, if you add a little diversity and some English people. We gave our congratulations to our friends, and then headed off to the after graduation party.

Friday I took my grandparents into London. Our "Tour of Westminster" gave all the highlights such as:

• Buckingham Palace
• Westminster Abbey
• Big Ben and Parliament
• Trafalgar Square
• Covent Garden
• Leicester Square
• Picadilly Circus
• Regents Street
• Oxford Street and Selfridges
• Hyde Park and Marble Arch
• and Park Lane

We walked everywhere in about a full circle around Westminster (we thought it was about a 3-6 mile walk in total, and by the end our feet were killing us! However the fully enjoyed the tour and felt like they had seen all the great sights of London.

After I got home, I went to a going away party for my friends Steph, Erin, and Greg. That night, My buddies (Greg, Allen, Dylan) and I decided to camp out in my backyard. We later regretted this decision the next morning, when we awoke to pouring rain and a leaking tent. However, we won't ever forget our last night camp-out.

Saturday I went over to my friend Steph's house for some breakfast, little did we know the breakfast meant we had to help them move trampolines and work out equipment. That evening, I went to a summer party where there was a dance floor, jaccuzi's, dancers, the works. It was pretty fun and a great way to start the summer, as well as saying goodbye to those who are moving.

Now, I'm ready for summer to start meaning late nights, long sleeps, and tons of fun :)

SUMMER '08!!!!

Watkins/Brown's

Last wednesday, our parents and grandparents went off to Italy for an enjoyable long weekend. While they were gone, our old YoungLife leader, Liz, stayed with us. It was pretty fun I must say. While she visits, I turn into the "Resident Iron Chef", cooking meals and showing off my amazing skills :PShe arrived and I made a corn, rice, and tomato casserole with cornbread that was oh so good. Her fiance Phil came over for dinner (He came over everyday as a matter of fact) and it was fun. Afterwards we watched the Euros, as Phil was really into it.

Thursday, I made a herbed chicken mozzerella salad with a side of sun-dried tomato pesto pasta. It was incredible, and competely my own creation! Everyone enjoyed it and I even had some left over for lunch the next day. Afterwards we watched a movie (as we proceded to do every night).

Friday I didnt have an exam so I spent the day doing chores and just chilling out with Liz. That night was sports awards so I wasnt able to cook :( but we did watch more movies and just chilled.

Saturday I went into London, however came back for some awesome Mexican food and another movie. Phil, of course, was over and I pretty much enjoyed there company.

Sunday was so sweet. Phil came over, once again, to make a traditional English Sunday Roast (See Pictures Below!). We spent the whole afternoon preparing and cooking the peas, carrots, roast, broccoli, stuffing, roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, and gravy. We sat down and enjoyed our awesome dinner! It was so good and now I know how to make a roast! its a 2 for 1 deal!!!

However the highlight had to be before dinner, when Phil decided to bring his clippers over and shave my head. I'd never had anyone do it other than like a barber before, so this was quite an interesting experience. We did it in my bathroom, and boy do I have a lot of hair! Ha it went everywhere and was quite hard to clean up, but so worth it. A few pictures of the process below!

Basically, I loved having Liz here! (and Phil too!) and I can't wait till the next time my parents go away for gourmet cooking, sweet movies, and other antics we get up to....you know fooseball, cutting people's hair?

Classes=FINISHED!

Today was the official last day of classes at our school! (Finally!)

All my jealousy towards those of you who've been done with school has decreased a little bit since I myself am now done. However, I still have a week of exams left before I am actually "free".

Today we had normal classes in the morning, and in the afternoon enjoyed a delicious bbq followed by an assembly for those people who are leaving (complete with picture slideshow which was extremely sad) and then yearbook distribution.

It was a pretty fun afternoon and everyone enjoyed it I think. However its not time to study for exams!! 4 to go before.....SUMMER 2008!

SAT....Part 2

Yesterday morning I took the dreaded SAT....again.

As some of you consistent readers know, I took the SAT in early May (I posted quite a bit about how nervous and tense I was while studying, followed by another post saying how excited I was that it was over with). A few weeks ago, I received my scores (1890! also see previous post) and was in general happy with what I got.

Since I wasn't worried and generally pleased with my score, I didn't really go all out studying for this SAT. This means I didnt skip school and didn't spend the whole day hovering over practice tests and SAT prep books. Nope, this time I took a casual approach: went to school like a normal day, came home and relaxed, went out to dinner, did a few small problems, and went to bed early.

This picture represents everyone's feelings of the college board

I actually felt really good. I woke up the next morning, ate a nice breakfast, and arrived at the school in due time to sign in and get ready to take the test. Everything was going smoothly as if it was picture perfect.

After filling out all the necessary forms, the test began with an essay, which I wrote one of the best I have ever done (5 paragraphs in a 25 minute time period!). I was so excited, that in the next section (section 2), I placed all my answers in the wrong answer sheet (I put them in the section 3 bubbles). After I realized my error, I approached the proctor, who gave me a whole new answer sheet form, which I had to fill out all my information AGAIN, and told me to finish the rest of the test on this form. She then had to fill out an "irregularity report" saying I made a fault and that my answers are on two sheets and all the details, etc.

Hopefully this won't happen to me!

This sort of stressed me out during the rest of the test, however I still think I did ok and hopefully I can push that score into the 1900's! Now, I'm all finished with testing until October. This was just another link thats bringing me closer to summer!

Passed!

Yesterday I.....

PASSED MY DRIVING THEORY TEST!

I took the test at a nearby center. In England the test is composed of 50 multiple choice questions, 43 of which you need to get right, and a 25 minute Hazard Perception Section. In this section you are presented a series of clips and every time you see a potential hazard you click the mouse.

In the multiple choice section I got a 50/50 (Yea I pretty muched owned it and even beat the scores of BOTH my parents). In the Hazard Perception I got a 59/75 which isnt bad, but its enough to pass :)

Now I'm just celebrating and enjoying not have to go through practice tests/cd-roms/books that I had been studying the past week. I'm also ready to start lessons and get ready for my practical! Just one step closer to getting my full British license :)

JUNE!

June Is Here!!!

I'm pretty much psyched cause it means the start (in England at least) of

1. Warm Weather
2. Late Nights (It doesn't get dark in June here until around 10-10:30)
3. and just SUMMER!

Only 3 more weeks left of school (2 if you don't count exams) and then its actually summer. But for now I'm just gonna enjoy the three elements of this month.