Hello :)

I haven't written anything for a few weeks and I'm really sorry for that! There was probably a lot of interesting stuff happening, but I just can't find the time to write. I'm so busy and I'm trying to enjoy the last two months of my exchange as much as I can and that takes a lot of time as well. 

Last weekend we had the Digby Dance Studio Dance Recital at a big theatre in Cornwallis. If you ask yourself what a dance recital is I'll try to explain it. My dance studio always has like a little show at the end of the "dance year" which goes from September to May and all the dance classes that take place in the studio dance "their" dance. There are about 20-25 dance classes, I would guess, from ages 3 to 18 and everybody got together and did a great show, which was about 3 hours in length. Plus the competitive dancers were doing their solos and duos. So I hope you know what it is a little better. 

Anyways Saturday we had dress rehearsal (Generalprobe for the German readers) and we took pictures. You can see one of the poses in the photo. It was all day, but each dance class only had to come for about 10 minutes to perform their dance and get their pics taken. Sunday was the actual recital. We had to perform two shows one at 10 in the morning and one at 6 in the evening. It was an exhausting and long day, it was really busy and hectic for everybody to get ready and get on stage, but in the end it was totally worth it! We got lots of applause, lots of great comments and I was so happy to be part of that great dance studio! They supported me throughout the year and gave me a great way to dance and have fun! I will really miss dancing there and with these amazing people! 

Something less important, but still great is is that it was really warm the last days!! It was up to 25°C and so sunny! We all enjoyed it so much, but one of the prejudices is true: Canadians get their shorts and tops out as soon as the temperature gets over 15°C :D The leaves are starting to pop out now and everything gets a little greener, which is amazing after a long winter! 

Tuesday our Swiss friends took my mom and me to the South Shore. I was allowed to miss school for that, but really I didn't miss anything. We had a great day and the weather was just perfect! We drove to Liverpool and from there to LaHave took a little ferry and went to Hirtle's beach. It was a beautiful beach, but it was so foggy over the water! After we went to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. I must say the South Shore is a beautiful place and with a great day like this we had fun and an amazing day! 

Also my homestay coordinator wrote me a very sweet message that made me feel honored and really proud of myself! Here's what she wrote:

"I feel that you are my student of the year who has experienced and enjoyed the best and most of everything Canada and Nova Scotia has to offer. I'm so happy for you."

It made me feel happy, honored and proud because it made me realized how much I accomplished during my time here!

I think the weekend before the last one my host dad took me out for a drive in the woods. The weather was beautiful and we took the truck. We drove through the woods on really rough roads and saw the beauty of Nova Scotia. We drove to a lake and stopped a few times to take pictures because it was so beautiful! It was a fun day although my butt hurt after about 5 hours in the car and the back roads really are rough! 

There's only one bad thing: The black flies are out! I don't know if you have ever heard about them, but they are little flies like mosquitos and they are everywhere outside! It's especially bad here, because I live out in the woods. They bite everything that is moving and they are just in your face the whole time. So annoying and sadly they won't die until it gets really hot in July. I hate them already and my host parents say they're not even really bad yet... That's gonna be a fun time! ;)

So you see I have lots to do and I still have lots to look forward to! Next week we're going shopping with the Internationals in Halifax and we'll have a long weekend because of Victoria Day. Also this weekend I'll cook Schnitzel for my mom because of Mother's Day and there's a few birthdays coming up as well. Time flies and I'll stop writing here so that I can go and enjoy a little bit more!

Talk to you soon,

Julia :)