Saturday, May 28, 2011

On my way

Graduation was awesome!
In case you couldn't watch it and you really want to you can click on 'alt play' on this page :)

I can't believe I'm done with my high school year now! It was so much fun getting to know all these people and to see what school in America is like.
It's also really weird to already have summer vacation now since they start in 2 months in Germany and I'm really not used to getting out of school this early :D

Anyway, the graduation ceremony was great and I totally love the speeches!


The senior speaker Adam Logeman


On Thursday morning we all met at Apollo at 8:20 for the senior breakfast and the slideshow and we then went to the Civic Center to rehears the ceremony - how we were supposed to walk, what order, what to do at what point of time, stuff like that. When we were done it was about noon and Tony, Sally and I went to have lunch together at an Asian restaurant. It was so much fun! Since Tony is an exchange student from Japan and Sally's mom is Japanese, Sally and Tony usually talk Japanese to each other and it's just so funny to guess what they are talking about :D

We then went back home and at 7pm we had to meet at the Civic Center again to line up. The ceremony actually started a little late I think and lasted about two hours. Each person had a card with their name on that we handed the teacher that was supposed to read our name. I crossed my real name out and spelled it KAH-TA-RINA BOH-NEN-CAHMP (instead of Katharina Bohnenkamp) so that she knows how to pronounce it :)

Giving her my name card
Receiving my certificate (instead of a diploma)

Since I am an exchange student and by far didn't get enough credits to really graduate I got a certificate instead of a High School Diploma :)
After that we all met outside in a different hall (were we lined up alphabetically before the ceremony) to congratulate everybody and to take pictures.

Caleb and I after the ceremony
My certificate
And again!
We got a very pretty case for the diploma and certificates with "St. Cloud Apollo High School" on the front, then when you open it Apollo on the top and the certificate/diploma on the bottom. My certificate says:
This certifies that
Katharina Bohnenkamp
has earned a total of twelve Senior High School Credits as prescribed 
by the Board of Education, and in recognition thereof is awarded this 
Certificate
In Witness whereof, our signatures are hereunto affixed.
Given at St. Cloud, in the State of Minnesota,

This month of May, 2011

Elle and Kim came :) SO nice to see them there
Jillayne :)
Sally - my funny half-japanese friend :)
Tony - my full-japanese friend :D
Tony, me and Sally
Melissa, Jillayne and Allison
Savannah and me
Kenzie and me
And my choir teacher :)

After that we drove back home so I could change clothes and Mitch then took me to Apollo for the Senior Lock in. It was soooo much fun! When you arrived they gave you 10 tickets and 10 'Eagle Bucks' (our school mascot is Eagle...). With every ticket you could play games to win more 'Eagle Bucks'. Every 'Eagle Buck' brings you 10 tickets but you also could buy a raffle ticket for 10 ' Eagle Bucks' or prices. I bought about 22 different raffle tickets and a $5 gift certificate for Crafts Direct (that was 10 'Eagle Bucks'), a bracelet (20 'Eagle Bucks') and 2 "Free Pancake Dinner with Beverages" gift certificates for Perkins (20 'Eagle Bucks').

At 2:30am the games and karaoke stopped and they gave away all the prizes, we played Deal-or-No-Deal and there was a Hypnotist Show. At 5am it was over and Sally gave me a ride back home. So I was home at 5.30am and I eventually fell asleep at 6.20. It was crazy but lots of fun :)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Dream

I have a great surprise for everybody!

Since we only get 7 tickets per senior for the Graduation, I don't have enough tickets to invite all the people I want to :(

BUT Apollo will have a livestream of the Graduation Ceremony online!!! :)
So everybody will be able to watch me ^^
The Graduation starts at 7:30pm local time (Central Time) so it would be 2:30am in Germany!
I know it's super early in Germany but I think I know that at least my mom will watch it... if she doesn't have to work :)

The Apollo Website has the link to the video too but just in case here it is on my blog too now :)

Have fun, I hope I won't fall, that would be very embarrassing!

Time to say Goodbye

Today was my last school day :(

I will go back tomorrow for the Senior breakfast but officially I'm done with all my classes. I'm planning to visit some teachers/classes next week though, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

We got our Yearbooks last Friday so I already have a lot of notes from people in there for me that make me quit emotional!

I decided to post a couple of them just to give you a hint of how great my friends are... and the teachers that signed it too :)

From my Anatomy&Physiology teacher:
Kathi - It was such a pleasure having you in Anatomy! Your work ethic & dedication were such great examples for other students! I wish you all the best in you future endeavors. I'm honored to have had you as a student! Please keep in touch!
A friend from Band:
Kathi! Loved having you here! You were so much fun in band... and as always I love your shoes! I'm going to miss you so much next year... keep in touch! You're an amazing sax player as well as a wonderful friend to have! I'll never forget you!
Another friend from Band:
Kathi! It's soooooo nice to know you! You are always so happy and you make people around you happy too!!! ♥ I'll miss you!
 A friend from Choir:
Kathi! You are awesome + I'm gonna miss you so much! When I was feeling sad I would see you + be happy! You are always so happy! Stay beautiful! ♥
Another friend from Choir:
Ooo, BLANK PAGE ( - the whole page she was going to write on was blank ^^)! Haha well to Kathi! You are such an awhmayzing singer. Like honestly when you sing I'm in 'AWH'! Haha I'm awhmayzed by you. Another thin I absolutely ♥ about yo is that your smile is oh so beautiful! I'm going to MISS that the most! You're an awhmayzing person and don't you ever forget that! I hope you enjoyed your time in the United States! Well I love you, and any time you need someone to talk to I'm here :)
My choir teacher:
Kawtie ( - I love the way he spells it ^^) - always love having exchange students in my classes - especially from Germany! You have been such a wonderful addition to the choir and I know I have learned much from you. Your energy, professionalism and personality have made you so vital to us - and your willingness to try new things is simply admirable. I am so happy and proud of your solo - not many exchange students do this! So - you're awesome!! Always remember your Apollo family and we will never forget you! Congratulations on a really incredible experience. Have a wonderful summer and last years of school in Germany! Stay in touch and always remember to smile!! Bis später, mein Freund! ~ the choir guy! =)   (He was in Germany for a 5 week exchange and went to Germany last summer so he knows quit a bit of German... he wrote 'See you later, my friend!')
From the Japanese Exchange Student at my school:
ありがとう
I'm not sure if I found this right on Google but what he wrote means Thank you :)

I am so glad that I decided to buy a yearbook even though they are pretty expensive. It is just so cool to have all your friends sign it... another reason why I don't want school to be over, not everybody signed it yet xD

I will miss everybody sooo much! Love you all :)


Saturday, May 21, 2011

Dancing Queen

Prom was on Saturday!

Here are pictures from the Grand March taken for the St. Cloud Times :)

The whole day was so much fun! I made dough for (German) pancakes before I went to Laura's house where we got ready together. I think I arrived at around 1pm and I took a shower right away :D Since our water heater was broken I wasn't able to take a shower on Friday! After that we both started to do our hair - Laura had already started to curl here hair when I came and I twisted my hair (strand by strand) and used bobby pins to put them up. That way my hair got even more curly :) I sprayed them again with water and put a towel on my head so that I won't drip on the floor.
After that I put lotion all over and started my makeup.

We were ready to go taking pictures at 4pm but we visit Laura's neighbor very quick to show her our dresses.

Here we are with her neighbor :)

Because it was raining a little Steph had the idea to go to the library instead of Munsinger Gardens. The library has huge windows - we would get a lot of light - so that's why we went there. Steph wanted to take our pictures but Obadiah started crying while she was getting my flower (corsages) so she stayed home. Laura's mom had a lot of funny ideas for the pictures:

  • 'Normal' ones in the entry way where they have big blue peaces of glass with very pretty pictures on them (they kind of matched our dresses)
  • in the glass elevator 
  • us sitting at the desk, working with the computers and having big headphones on
  • sitting in the reading corner on very comfy couches, legs on the table and reading books that - again - were matching our dress color
  • in a corner between the glass front and a bronze looking wall, me leaning at the glass and Laura at the wall
  • walking down the stairs

Normal in front of the glass things
And a little further out so you can see the dresses better
"Working" with computer
It was funny :)
And again with the books
Leaning at the window and wall
A little closer
After that we went back to Laura's house so she could get her car and we then went to the Grand March together (her mom and brother stayed home and came a little later so they don't have to wait there forever).

Her dress is sooo puffy :) She said it was very hard to drive!

There we met all the other people already waiting in line.

Jillayne and me
Jillayne and Laura
After that we went home to my place very quick where Steph took some more pictures and we also picked up dough to make German pancakes at Laura's house. Steph posted the pictures on facebook!

So then about 5 minutes later we went back to Laura's house changed out of our dresses and into comfy stuff to make the pancakes so that out dresses don't get ruined!

Laura's room - just a little chaos after our 'attack' :D
The pancakes were great! We had berries, applesauce, sirup, granola, fruit with yogurt and cinnamon&sugar with them!
Because I love sweet stuff pancakes is basically the only thing that I ever cook when I'm hungry so I memorized the recipe and prepared the dough before I left to Laura's house, but I forgot it at home so we stopped by to pick it up :) Our German pancakes are a lot thinner than American ones and in general look more like crêpes. Here is a picture that I found online that looks pretty close, we didn't take any :D

After that we got ready again and Laura's mom took us to the dance.

Sally and Laura

It was so hot in there that my lens was all foggy - that's why I didn't take a whole bunch of pictures...

It was sooo much fun getting ready with Laura! We listened to 'Mamma Mia' almost the whole time, so that's why I picked Dancing Queen as a title :)

    Sunday, May 8, 2011

    A Message

    ... to the two best mom's on earth!

    Mom kissing me on our last vacation together
     My mom ...
    • ... is always there for me
    • ... knows me very well (sometimes maybe a little too much :D)
    • ... is a very good person to go shopping with!
    • ... is amazing
    • ... is generous
    • ... is sometimes a little selfless
    • ... is very far away right now
    • ... does a lot of things for me for which I never really thanked her before
    So here it is: Thank you for all what you have done for me! For supporting me in everything I do, for understanding when I don't want to do something. For loving me no matter what, for telling me you love me. For being proud of me and counting down the days until we will see each other again :)

    I love you so much for who you are and what you've done for me!

    Steph sitting in the living room

    My (host) mom...
    • ... is admirable (just read the next couple things and you will get a clue why!)
    • ... just had her eighth child 
    • ... is doing daycare
    • ... is "29" years old :)
    • ... likes her iPod and camera a lot
    • ... taught me a lot of things
    • ... opens her house for a lot of people (e.g. Patrick, Hope, me... ^^)
    I would like to thank you, too. For letting me be "No. 11/Goldberry" of your family. For opening your house for me. For always reminding me to do things when I forget it (turn in forms for YFU etc.). For supporting me throughout this whole year. For giving me a ride whenever I need one.
    I love talking to you about medicine and "Creation vs. Evolution".

    Thank you so much, for who you are - Don't let other people judge you!


    Thursday, May 5, 2011

    You'll be in my heart

    That applies to my blood :D

    ... and it's a great song, and I love the musical, the music too so this song just had to end here eventually!

    Okay to come back to my blood. My mom could never tell me what my blood type was, she just wasn't sure and I always forgot to ask the doctor when they were checking my blood. Today we did our blood type lab in Anatomy and Physiology (I just love that class so much) where we poked our finger - well Mrs. Handahl did it for us so that nobody passes out :) - and mixed the blood together with Anti-A, Anti-B and Anti-D serum.

    I am A+ :) So my ABO blood type is obviously A and my Rh-factor is positive.

    It was so interesting to finally find that out and to see how that works!

    Sunday, May 1, 2011

    Zu schnell vorbei

    First of all here are the answers for the 5 Mastery Test Questions I posted last time:

    1d)    Rheumatic Fever damages the valves of the heart.
    2a)    The visceral pericardium is also know as the epicardium.
    3a)b) The structures that prevent the mitral and tricuspid valves from swinging into the atria during ventricular contraction are the cordae tendineae and papillary muscles.
    4c)    The aortic bodies containing pressoreceptors and chemoreceptors are located in the aortic sinuses.
    5a)    Venous blood flow is maintained by all but which of the following factors blood pressure.

    Now then my report about our Scrapbooking Sleepover :)
    Karla picked us up at the mall at 5pm on Friday and took us to her house in Kimball where we had the Winter Fun Day too earlier this year.


    Karla also took me to the Fire Department - her husband is a fire fighter - where we picked up some tables for the scrapbooking.

    That was in front of the building

    The Fire Department of Kimball

    Star Spangled Banner and POW-MIA Flag

    A picture that they have in the building

    Just in case you couldn't see it -there is German!

    And she let me put on a fire fighter outfit. It was her husbands since he was out of town and they wouldn't need it in case there was a fire somewhere. We took a lot of pictures and it was a lot of fun. So here for my daddy in Germany who is a volunteer fire fighter himself a couple pictures of your little daughter :)

    Me putting the shoes and pants on
    With the jacket on too
    ... and the helmet :)
    With one of the fire trucks
    The oldest truck they had - they don't use it though
    And the most interesting truck for me - the ambulance

    Well I didn't take any pictures while we were scapbooking but it was basically as messy as last time :D We had a lot of fun and I got 16 pages done - makes a total of 31 super heavy but beautiful pages ;)

    Here are some pictures of the pages!

    Page about being Student of the Month (Note from Principal, Letter and Certificate)
    Schoolpaper on the right and Schedule, notes and Report Card left
    Whole Year Schedule, School map, Name tag left and Assignments right
    Family pictures from October - Tirzah, Malachi, Josh and Zeke
    More family pictures - Caleb, Eden, Micah and Kathi
    Steph and Mitch, Family picture
    The day we took the family pictures
    And more of those
    Just to show you how big it is already - Christmas, Easter etc. missing!

    I think it is very big already and I didn't even start with the pages about Christmas, TCX, Blizzard, Easter etc.

    When we were too tired to continue scrapbooking on Friday night (about 3am) we laid down started watching Centerstage. It's one of my favorite movies so I watched it about 15 times already and was way to tired to focus. I think I fell asleep about half way through the movie :)

    Doing all this scrapbooking I always realize how fast time is passing... that's why I picked "Zu schnell vorbei" as a title which means "Over too quickly" or "Gone too quickly". I really like Clueso's music.