Spring?

Hey!

Today was the hottest “winter” day I have ever experienced during my entire life!
Already when we left for school, the sun was shining and it was way to warm. During school it got so warm in the school and we had to open some windows to get some fresh air and wind into the class rooms.
When I came out of school I was stunning: The temperature had risen to 54°F, 13°C. You can easily forget what time of the year it is, when you see something like that.
After I came from school, I finally found the packet my parents sent me for Christmas. It just took 7 weeks, good job postal service Anyway, even though I’ll go home on Friday, it was awesome to finally get that packet. The things in it are awesome, thank you!:)
Later that afternoon I played hockey in the backyard just in a thin sweater.
January 31st + sweater – winter jacket = nonsense 
But it was actually kind of cool and I enjoyed it
I had 4 study halls today: definitely too much. We had shorten periods on a special schedule because there was an Anti-Bullying-Assembly from 10:00am to 11:00am.  Two New York State Police Troopers came into Timon and presented about bullying and also talked to us about the results of a prior survey.

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Last time Ski-Club

Hey!

We got new schedules today. I got a new one even though I’m only in school until Wednesday. My photography class changed to economics, my web design class ended also and now I got study halls for that. The schedule is basically the same, it just has a lot more study halls
Also our lunch table changed because a couple of the guys had to change their lunch into the 6th period. But the table is still pretty awesome.

We actually got some real snow over night and so the skiing was a lot more fun today. The slopes were pretty good and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it was the last time I will be able to ski during this season.. After about an hour, it started to snow again and it was kind of difficult so see because I don’t have goggles. Fortunately, I was able to borrow some when they went to eat something and after that it stopped snowing.
When we went back into the bus, at around 8pm, our teacher just didn’t appear. We waited until after 8.30pm and then a police woman came into the bus and took two of the girls out of the bus. Nobody knows why or what they did. Maybe I’ll find that out tomorrow
However, that delay costed us about an hour and so we finally arrived at Timon at 10pm. Maybe next time it will pay to get some hotel coupons and just spend the night there.

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Hey!

Nothing above tennis!
The men finals of the Australian Open took place last night/morning in Melbourne, Australia. The women finals took place earlier and were won by Victoria Azarenka.
Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal – the 2012 Championship match. It was a heroic match which took 353 minutes, so almost 6 hours. The match started around 7.30pm local time (3.30am Eastern). I said myself that the first two sets weren’t that important and I really wanted to get a little bit of sleep during that night. So I set an alarm for an hour later and woke up again around 6 o’clock. Right then Djokovic held a 2:1 set lead. But in the next 4 hours Nadal came back and the match found its end in the fifth and final set. Unfortunately, the wrong player won, Djokovic. Still, Nadal you’re #1 and wrote Grand Slam history: the longest match ever!
After the match (10am), I slept for about 1.5 more hours and got up after that; what a night.

After noon I skyped the last time with my family in Germany; next week I’ll already be there again.
I played a couple hours of hockey with my host dad in the afternoon which was very good. After that I actually built a little snowman with most of the snow which laid on the ground. Just in the evening we got about 2 inches of new snow:)

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Hockey

Hey!

Crazy how long you can sleep when it doesn’t get that bright outside. I woke up at 12.30pm tonight because it just didn’t get that much brighter outside.
It was so windy the whole day, it was crazy. Then in the evening we got snowstorm – you couldn’t even see 20 yards so bad was it.
I went to the Timon hockey game tonight in the arena in the park right next to where I live. Timon won 9:1 and it was a pretty good time.

 

In the evening we watched the NHL All-Star competitions. The All-Star came will take place tomorrow, today they have all different kind of competitions like “Fastest Slapshot” and “Best Accuracy”. It was so amazing to see what those players can do
Now I will go bowling with almost all of the exchange students in the Buffalo Area. It’s going to be a great evening.

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Buffalo Bandits

Hey!

School was pretty good today. My photography took place the last time this year. It was a really nice class and here are two of the pictures I took with an old-school film camera (they don’t look that great right now because I took a picture of them with my phone’s camera):

 

In the evening I went to the Buffalo Bandits game with a friend of mine. I got the tickets for Christmas. I can say the following: Lacrosse games are crazy but awesome! It was so much fun there and a great game even though Buffalo lost 13:10. Here a some pictures of that great evening (click to enlarge):

Only one more week to go..

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Dress Down Day

Hey!

It’s pretty bad that the Semifinals and Finals at the Australian Open take place at 7:30pm local time what means 3:30am in the US. Because of that I couldn’t watch the live broadcast of the match Nadal – Federer. When I woke up this morning they already played the last game in the last set. Nadal won in 4 sets: 6:7, 6:2, 7:6 & 6:4. I actually watched a replay of the match in the evening; it was a pretty good match. This night Djokovic plays against Murray.

School was good today, mostly because we had a Dress Down Day. We could pay a dollar and then come to school in casual clothes. The money will be used by the Seniors. It was my last Dress Down Day…
We are actually not allowed anymore to stay in school after school. Our principal announced it yesterday but nobody really knows the reason for it Because of that I can’t work out after school anymore. But because I didn’t have anything to do at home I stayed with the chess team for almost 2 hours and had some fun there. Then I walked home and of course it had to start raining. It wasn’t a lot but still pretty nasty
Rain at the end of January.. come on man, what the heck is going on?
When I came home I did my homework, studied and watched some Australian Open.

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Hey!

I got 38/40 in the U.S. History test from yesterday which makes me pretty happy. I also got a 100 in the Spanish test which makes me even more happy
I talked to my guidance counselor after school because of next week which will already be the third quarter when I’ll go to school for three more days until Wednesday. My schedule will almost be the same as the one I have right now the only thing is that my photography class will end on Friday and I’ll go to an Economics class.
After school I did my homework and played some hockey in the backyard as usual
In the evening we went to the bowling lanes because my host brother was chosen as the WKBW/Channel 7 Athlete of the Week after he bowled a perfect, a 300, game last week. He threw a strike 12 times in a row, unbelievable :D A man from Channel 7 came to tape some of his throws and then he got interviewed and got a nice trophy. Congrats!

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Haircut

Hey!

We finished the last part of the U.S. History test today. I already know that I just did one mistake on the other part of the test so I should get a pretty good grade. Then during third period we had a Spanish test which was actually a lot easier than I expected After we were done with the test we were allowed to listen to some music and even to take a nap
That’s basically all special that happened in school.

After I came home I walked to the place (just a few minutes by foot) where I got a haircut. Looks good I think
When I came home from that I played more than half an hour hockey in the backyard but again without any snow. Then I had to finish my chemistry homework and also some other stuff.
Here are some pictures, from my street, school and a “snow shovel car” which is quite useless right now but they have a lot of them, in addition to the big “snow shovel trucks”:
  

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Ski Club

Hey!

Right after school we went to Holidy Vally again. We didn’t have any real snow today and it was like 40 – 50°F outside. The fake snow was just like ice at some places but overall it was okay.
Even during the ride there (which was so much fun ), the clouds didn’t look that good. After we were skiing for a while already, it started to rain and I couldn’t see anything when we were skiing down the hills. Fortunately it stopped raining after about 20 minutes and it became pretty nice again. Overall it was a very good day
Here are just a few pictures:

 
We had a test in U.S. History today which we will continue tomorrow. That’s about all that happened in school besides from going into the darkroom to develop some pictures during photography.

Kind regards,
Maximilian

Hey!

Today I skyped with my family in Germany which was very nice.
Right after that I went to the mall with two friends of mine. We had a great time like always at the mall
The whole mall was packed with  people and their tables who wanted to sell people all different kind of things for weddings – from photographers to limousines, everything found a place in the mall. We wondered about how they even got those cars into the mall Take a look:

 

The weather was pretty nice today, sunshine and not that bad kind of temperaturs. Here’s a picture from my street with just a little bit of snow:

In the evening I finished my homework including chemistry, English and some studying for U.S. History. I also watched the NFC Championship game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers. The Giants won 20:17 after a field goal in overtime. Now they Giants will face the New England Patriots in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl XLVI on February 6th.

Kind regards,
Maximilian