shorttrack – Anke Prinsen

My last week in the US.. 4 weeks home already..

29 juli 2015 By AnkePrinsenLeave a comment

So.. It’s July 29th and I’ve been home for 4 weeks now. Time has gone by so fast!! I really miss the US and all the people I met there. Let’s go back in time and see what I’ve done.
I told in my last blog that Eleni (my NL friend who visited me) would write a post about the week she was with me. Unfortunately she didn’t have time for it yet. So I will see if I have some time to write it myself. I already have to think a lot about the last weeks what I’ve done. It’s easier to write about the week with Eleni because I have a lot of pictures. So that one will come later.

In the last week in the US I tried to see as many people as possible. The day after my last blog I met up with my psychology buddies Michelle, Kayla and Katie. Michelle picked me up and we went to Chick-fil-a. Here we talked and unfortunately I already had to say goodbye to them.. It was great to see them and it is sad that I don’t know when I will see them again… I also made plans with the family to have a goodbye party that Saturday, or the way as Hannah calls it: ‘Celebrating Anke is leaving party’ haha Love you too Hannah. 😉

1435254481203 — Chick-fil-a with Katie, Michelle and Kayla

Friday we went in the morning to Noah’s house to walk the puppies Strider and Cinder. Later that day I went gardening with Hannah to clean for the goodbye party. Most people walk around the house so we had to cut all the branches so the path was clear. We cut off a lot haha. In the Evening Beatriz and a friend of her came over to say goodbye. She wouldn’t be able to come to the party the next day. Hannah and I were already tie dying, so Beatriz and her friend joined. The shirts turned out pretty good!! Way better than the ones we made in Hayward I think. But this was other kind of dye which I liked better!

10983721_898838736840832_1159660569089492741_n — With Beatriz

Saturday morning I got up early. Tessa and Jed (and the puppy Ruger) left to go to Hayward that morning and I wanted to say goodbye before they left. After they left I went back to bed for a few more hours. When I woke up again and came out of bed Brandon was already there. He would help make my kitkat cake for my goodbye party. In the morning Hannah, Brandon and I first went for a bike ride. On our way we also went to Jewel where we bought some more strawberries for my cake and we bought some ice cream which we finished in front of the door before we went back home. It was kinda wet outside so when we came home we were all dirty. Brandon didn’t have extra clothes so after we all took a shower he was walking around in my pajamas haha. I also got a flat tire again. This was my 3^rd flat tire on that bike in the year. Earlier this year I had 2 flat tires at the same time on that bike.

1435425046549 — Biking with Hannah and Brandon

I helped making the cake. Although I only dipped the strawberries in the chocolate, mixed the pudding and gave the kitkats when they were needed. While we were making the cake my coach Eric came helping too to make the barbecue ready. The way he started it looked pretty cool! 🙂 We also got rid of one tree that was eaten by beavers in our backyard. Around 4pm the first people came for my goodbye party. Unfortunately we planned this a little late so not all my friends could come.. But a lot of people of my skating team came and some friends came by real quick. I’m so happy everyone who came could be there and that they came to say goodbye!! They were all really important in my year there and my exchange year wouldn’t have been so great without them.

We had set up a volleyball tournament in our backyard. The teams where really even!! You would win when you had 25 points I think. But you had to be up by 2 points. After a long time my team won with 29-27 I think (not 100% sure). My house there is next to the creek, so every time we shoot the ball in there Ethan went into the canoe to get the ball back. The first time with pushing the canoe into the water it went wrong and Ethan was all wet haha. The other times it went good luckily haha. There was also a deer that we could pet. It was so cool!! The picture isn’t that good. But I’m still really happy with it!
After that we had a campfire. The fire didn’t work that good, as usual. We never had a fire that worked the first time we tried haha.

Ethan and Brandon slept over that night. Hannah went to bed earlier and we were still talking. I was half sleeping too. They got my Dutch phone and put a reminder in it for when I would be back. I had to promise that I wouldn’t open it until the reminder would pop up.

20150628_010838 — Such good friends, taking pictures when I fell asleep..

On Sunday we all went to church. After that we went with the whole Bosman family (except Tessa and Jed), Brandon, Ethan and his family to lunch at Honey jam. I had nutella crepes with bananas and Hannah got something else. We both didn’t know what to get so we both ordered something and we shared it. After that at home I played tennis with my hdad, Hannah, Micah and Brandon. My back started to hurt pretty bad.. So I stopped after a while and I just watched.

In the evening we went to practice. This was my last practice with Glen Ellyn. This was sad.. 🙁 At the end we made a group picture. I really miss this team…. (On the picture I’m wearing one of my shirts that I tie dyed!! 🙂

After practice I went to Rachel. She wasn’t able to come to my goodbye party. I still wanted to see her, so I went to her house. Here we just talked and later her mom brought me home. During the week I already started to pack a lot. But Monday I really had to finish this. Hannah left me because she had to go to a practice. Brandon came over to help me packing. All my stuff didn’t fit in one suitcase. So I got a big hockey bag where I put all my stuff in that I had left. After that we just went to the basement where we played some pool. I also made a video all around the house.

In the evening Hannah was home again. So I could still see her!! I had to be between 7 and 9pm at Elmhurst college. This is pretty close to my house. So around 8.30pm we left and we first went with the whole family and Brandon to Oberweiss to get ice cream and after that we drove to the college. Here they had to drop me off.. I really had to say goodbye (and see you soon) to my family where I stayed the whole year… Around 9.15 they left and I was left with all the other exchange students who were left in my area. AFS told us real quick what would happen the next day and after that we could do what we wanted to do.

IMG_20150629_202557611_HDR — Last American ice cream with the family

11694072_10204243185350793_1309393123_n — With Brandon, Micah and Hannah

11650905_10204243185790804_424460975_n — Saying goodbye to Hannah….

11667200_10204243185750803_1241701834_n — Last family picture!!

That night I didn’t sleep a lot. I really wanted to enjoy my time with my friends from around the world. Alexia (Brazil) said I couldn’t go to my bed. So then I got my pillow and went to the couch where I laid down. I couldn’t fall asleep. I think later I slept for like 20 minutes. Not long after that it was time to get up because we had to be downstairs around 5am. During this night I also exchanged shirts with Eviny. She has a shirt from NL now and I have a Brazil shirt! 🙂

IMG_20150630_023738502 — I’m Brazilian!! Oi, tudo bem? Eu bebo agua!! 🙂

When we were all downstairs the names where checked and we had to hand in our keys. We had to walk to another building of the college. This wasn’t that far, but it was kinda hard to get there because the hockey bag didn’t have wheels. Matheus and someone from AFS helped me to get my bags to the parking place where we had to bring it too (thank you!!!!!). The parking place was full of bags. There were so many people there!! And more bags!! We were all in a big gym, here I slept for 2 hours or so on the bleachers. After that I walked around a bit and I watched a movie with Ana. In the noon we found out that there is a nap room. So then I went there and slept for a while there too. After that it was time to get ready to go to the bus. So saying goodbye to some other people who were still left and after that I went to the bus. My Brazilian friends walked with me, they also helped me to get my bags in the bus. I was kinda struggling with it… So then I had to say another time goodbye and went into the bus..

IMG_20150630_085402646 — All the bags on the parking place. (not all the bags are in the picture)

Arrived at the airport I was left with 3 others from NL who would fly with me and some others who would fly somewhere else from London. My bags where both the perfect weight and I could even take of 2 of my 4 shirts. So that was really good!! At O’Hare we had a while to wait. Here me and Rick got some food and I bought a magnet of Chicago. After a while waiting we could finally go into the plane. We (all the NL AFS’ers) didn’t have seats together. So I was sitting with people I didn’t know. It was a really nice plane. In the plane I watched some movies. I was really tired so I fell asleep during the movies… I also missed my food. But the food wasn’t that good I heard, and I still had a chocolate muffin. 🙂

Snapchat--7969481938392036061 — Dutchies on their way to NL

At Heathrow we only had one hour layover. Because of that we could go in the ‘fast line’. So after that we were in time for our flight. It didn’t take too long before we could board for our next and last flight back to the Netherlands. This flight didn’t take too long. When we landed we went to get our luggage. Here I already saw my parents, brother and Freya (his girlfriend) and dog. It was great to see them. And they had made a great banner for me. (See picture)

We had a barbecue with some family and friends when I came home. It was good to see everyone again. My grandma made soup and my dad bought special for me an ice cube machine. Because I asked for ice at home when I came back haha. One of the first things I found out is that my room here is pretty small. There was also a sign on my door which said: ‘No own bathroom, no walk in closet.. Sorry. Welcome back in your own room!’

The first week I was home it was really hot. These days I went a lot of times with the boat. I also met Kati and Beatriz, AFS’er from Texas, USA and Brazil. It was great meeting them!! I biked with a Kati and I saw her a lot of times. I saw Beatriz only once when she came visit with her hfamily and she slept over.

150703_205 — Enjoying the nice weather, monoskiing

150703_260 — Enjoying the nice weather, wakeboarding

150704_007 — Enjoying the nice weather, waterskiing

11406646_1010165359046556_1127448742436100023_o — Enjoying the nice weather

With Kati from Texas, USA in our hometown Wanneperveen

11695853_1011971548865937_2442632573112061636_n — In Giethoorn with Beatriz from Brazil

11698671_1011971708865921_1639935363249293565_n — Giethoorn with Beatriz and my mom

The last weeks I’ve been really busy. I worked a lot by my grandparents, I decided what I will study and I started preparing everything for the study. I will study ‘Mens en Techniek’ (human and technology) in Tilburg. This is all in the South of the Netherlands and I had to find a room here. I found one and I already got some of my books I’ll need online. My skating team sent me a picture where they made my name on the skating rink. This was really nice to see. I miss them..

11800276_870441199671394_1698581721667672905_n — Looking for a room in Tilburg

11709486_953320531386180_2260883674008039398_n — My US skating team made my name on the ice 🙂

One really cool thing I had with work was that there was a customer who was an AFS’er 50 years ago. It was so cool to meet him!! I made a picture too of course!

20150721_121657 — With an 50 year AFS returnee

On August 21^st I will get an Italian AFS sister. We will host her. I’m really excited to meet her in real!! Can’t wait to meet her!!!

Snapchat--370378149316902739 — Skyping with Arianna and her family

AFS still looks for more hostfamilies in the USA and in NL. So if you’re interested to host someone then you can check it out on www.afsusa.org or www.afs.nl/gastgezin !!!! It is really fun!! And the student you will host will be really thankful!

The coming weeks I will prepare more for my study and I will work some more. I will also try to write the blog about the week Eleni was in Chicago.

Byee!! Hello from the Netherlands!!!!

Hayward

24 juni 2015 By AnkePrinsenLeave a comment

Heey Everyone,

It is a while ago I wrote my blog. I just have one week left in the US right now and I can’t believe it!! 😮 I don’t want to go home yet, I just want to stay a little longer with those amazing people here.

I ended last time with my hbrothers getting puppies. So it is great having puppies here. The name of Jed’s dog is Ruger, he lives in the same house as me. So I see that puppy a lot of times. My oldest hbrother Luke got this week a puppy named Cinder. It was a surprise for all of us. Because we didn’t know that he would get a puppy too. All the puppies are really cute!! 🙂

11168130_10205645659158406_7064951503891222602_n — Ruger (Jed), Strider (Noah) and Cinder (Luke)

My last day of class at Willowbrook highschool was June 4^th. This day we did review for our finals. A lot of seniors weren’t there because they didn’t have to make finals and would graduate that Sunday. I went to the graduation and it was great to see. Just like a movie. Everyone is wearing the special graduation clothes and they got called name by name to walk over the stage. After the ceremony I went with Rachel and her family to Gullivers. Here we ate deep dish pizza. It was a lot of fun!! I’m really proud of all my friends who graduated this year!! You guys are awesome!!

I was done with school after my last final on June 9^th. I only had 1 final that day, so I was done really early. To start off the summer good I went with Natika and Alicen to Simons to eat breakfast. It was a lot of food. We also came with the idea to go to Starbucks. Which was fun but maybe not the best idea. I couldn’t finish my drink there because it was just too much after the big breakfast. After that I walked together with Natika to her home where we could get the car so she could drop me off at my home. From there I would first go downtown with another exchange student. But it was hard to catch the train and it would get too late because I had to get up really early the next morning. So that’s why I didn’t go and I went to skating practice instead.

That evening I finished packing my bag to go to the lake house of my hfamily in Hayward, Wisconsin. Éviny came too, because she would come with us there. Also Ethan and Michael (skaters) came with. The next morning we had to leave around 6am. We first had to put all the bags in the car and we had to fit all the bikes we had on the cars. In total we had like 8 bikes to take with. On each car we fit 3 bikes and my hdad who drove up later that week brought the other 2 bikes. The first day we stayed around the house. Just looking around and make plans for later that week. Hannah, Ethan, Michael and I did an dryland practice. After that we all went swimming and canoeing in the lake. I also had a watermelon eating competition with Ethan. After finishing 1,75 watermelon together we decided to stop because we weren’t sure if it was still healthy. That day we had some problems with the water in the house. So we had to take our bath in the lake. It was kinda cool haha. We just walked into the water with our shampoo and conditioner to wash our hair. Again a new experience! 🙂 In the evening we enjoyed the amazing sunset above the lake.

1433940562483 — On our way to Hayward with all the bikes

20150610_093 — My hfamily’s lake house in Hayward, Wisconsin

20150610_082 — Dryland practice at the lake house

The next morning we went canoeing again. Michael caught a crawfish while we were getting the canoe ready. So of course we took pictures with the crawfish before we left. We went onto the lake pretty far. Ethan was too late to get into the canoe and so we left, he went to get donuts together with Tessa. It is a family tradition to go under in the water the first morning and then you can get a donut. So when we came back from canoeing we first had to go all the way under the water to deserve our donut. Later that day we went to an inline track so Hannah, Ethan and Michael could do a practice. Éviny, Tessa and I just made pictures. We found a small place with a lot of flowers. Éviny and I made a lot of pictures in here until the others came back. We also went biking. Hannah, Ethan and Michael more as a practice. Me, Éviny and Tessa more for fun. In the evening we played volleyball and we enjoyed the sunset again. Hannah, Éviny, Ethan, Michael and I also had a campfire that night. It wasn’t a big success. But the fire was just good enough to make our hotdogs and smores. It rained earlier that day so a lot of the branches where wet and didn’t want to burn.

20150611_081 — Hannah, Ethan and Michael doing their inline practice

20150611_139 — Flower pictures with Éviny

20150611_177 — Flower pictures with Éviny

1434055566059 — Biking with Éviny and Tessa

The third day we left in the morning to Duluth, Minnesota. It is really pretty there!! First we went to a small beach which was still in Wisconsin. While we were driving here Éviny said it looked like the place where she lives in Brazil. It was really pretty, so I’m kinda jealous now. Haha Sure I will go to visit her!! After that we really went into Minnesota where we started at the Enger tower. This is an old tower which is there for a memory for someone. From the tower you could see over Duluth. It is really pretty!! After the tower we walked around through the park, there was a Japanese (?) bell which you could hit. So we all hit this. When we were done looking around there we left to the cliff jumping place. Hannah already showed me pictures of when she was there before. I couldn’t wait to jump!! It was really cool!! We didn’t jump from the highest spot, just to keep it safe. But there were people who climbed into a tree to get even higher and then they jumped. The place we jumped is like a big hole which is really deep (I don’t know how deep). It was great to jump down there!! After that we went into town. Here is another family tradition, if you swim in lake superior then you get ice cream. But it was really windy and cold. So we were walking around with towels around us and we didn’t even want to swim or eat ice cream. We went to a pizza place to eat and we walked around town. We were really tired after. So we just drove back to Hayward instead of going somewhere else. In the evening we had some fireworks which we fired next to the lake. It was a great and long day!!!

20150612_015 — With my hmom and hsister Hannah

20150612_078 — Michael, Ethan, me, my hmom, Éviny and Hannah at the Enger tower

20150612_228 — The place we went cliff jumping

20150612_315 — Downtown Lakewalk with Hannah, Michael, Ethan and Éviny

The next day we went into town and we went fishing. In town Hannah, Éviny and I went in a lot of stores without buying anything. We were in the 4^th store when the guys had seen the whole town. So they had to wait for a while. We bought some tie dye in a store and on our way back to the house we bought some white shirts at Walmart to tie dye. With fishing Éviny won with catching the biggest and the smallest fish. We kept one fish we caught to eat. We skinned it and baked it ourselves. In the evening we tie dyed our white shirts we bought and we watched the Hawks game, who were still playing the Stanley Cup.

1434231198890 — I caught a fish, with my hdad in the background

20150613_07 — Éviny got the biggest fish

20150613_09 — Getting the fish ready to cook

20150613_21 — Getting the fish ready to cook

The last full day in Hayward we went tubing. It was so much fun!! We couldn’t stop laughing. I also went on the sea-doo with Hannah and Éviny. Hannah drove and we got to the maximum speed of 69 Miles per hour. It was great!! We went mountainbiking too that day and we played some more volleyball with the family. Tessa punched her uncle somewhere this week. With this she fractured her arm. A stupid way to do that, but we can laugh about it. In the evening with sunset we made some awesome pictures!! That evening we had to pack our bags again and we would leave the next morning back home with my hdad. My hmom would stay a little longer in Hayward.

20150614_129 — When your hsister grabs on to you in stead of the tube……

IMG_20150614_131843725 — Mountain biking

When we got home we Éviny and I finished the movie we were watching and we just rested. In the evening we went to Seraina to say goodbye. She would go with her hfamily to Mexico and after that she would travel with her own family through the US. So we wouldn’t see her anymore. Bruno was here too and later in the evening Roos came. Éviny and I got picked up just after the Hawks game began. That night was the last game of the Stanley cup if the Hawks would win. So we wanted to be home quick. But there was a lot of rain and roads were flooded. So it took a really long time to drop off Éviny and after that it took like double the normal time to get home. The traffic was horrible. I think houses in my neighborhood where flooded, my house is more on a hill. So ours wasn’t flooded. The water came up high in our backyard. I walked into the water and only halfway the backyard I was into the water too over my middle, of course I had to walk into the water again to make pictures and videos haha. The Blackhawks won the game that night. This meant they won their 4^th game against Tampa Bay. They had to win 4 to win the Stanley Cup. So hereby they won the Stanley cup! 😀

1434408644021 — Visiting Seraina to say goodbye…

The next day I had a day to clean my room before Eleni would come to visit me for a week. Eleni is a friend from the Netherlands who went to the same school as me. Once I was joking that she should come so I could put my stuff in her suitcase to bring back for me. She looked up prices and thought it would be a good idea. I never expected she would really come. I picked her up after my skating practice where I had to leave a little earlier. I asked her to write a blog about her week here. I will upload that one when it is done. 🙂 It will probably be in Dutch, but my website has an translation button. So you can always translate it!! 😀 I’m just telling you it was a great week!!!!!!

Yesterday we dropped off Eleni at the airport again after a great week (blog comes later). Her flight was delayed with 22 hours. But we managed it to get her on an earlier flight that day. So she is back in the Netherlands again now. At night I had my last skating practice on ice with Glen Ellyn Speedskating. I brought some souvenirs to practice that KPN (the sponsor of the Dutch skating) gave me to give away here. So now everyone from the club who was there had a souvenir from the Netherlands. I can’t believe I am back in the Netherlands next week.. I don’t wanna leave yet.. I just want to stay a little longer with all those people here!! This team here is great and I’m going to miss them a lot!!! It is nice to know some are already planning on coming to visit me in the Netherlands! 😀

IMG-20150623-WA0020 — Love this team!! Gonna miss them a lot!!!!!!

After practice yesterday I went together with Hannah, Colleen, Michael, Brandon and Ethan to a drive in Cinema. This was one thing I wanted to do really bad here!! And now I did it!! It was pretty cool. We took the truck and we were just all laying in the trunk. It was great!!! We saw the movie Jurrasic World. I already saw it with Hannah and Eleni a week before that. But it was still really fun!! It was so cool to be in a drive in cinema, really happy I could experience this with great people!!

20150623_21 — All in the back of the truck

Screenshot_2015-06-24-00-17-19 — Having fun at the drive in!

Today I have a lazy day. I was really tired and didn’t really have anything to do. This won’t happen later this week haha. I will do as much as I can before I leave. Tomorrow I will meet up with a friend from school. I still want to go bowfishing, if it is possible. I have to ask my coach here if they can take me this week. And I still want to go tie dyeing a shirt one more time with another kind of tie dye. Saturday some friends will probably come over at our house. And not sure what I will do Sunday yet. Monday I have to finish packing all my stuff (which I will do the whole week) and in the evening I will have to leave my hfamily.. It is so sad.. I really don’t want to leave them. But on the other side, it would be fun to see my family and friends in NL again. But they can wait longer I think, just want to stay a little longer here. But that is not possible…

I’m going to enjoy my last week here as much as possible now! This will be my last blog I’m writing myself from the US. The blogpost Eleni will write will be up soon and I will post a blog after being home again for a while. Thank you for reading!!

Byeee!!

Salt Lake City, Brook Olympics and Madison

15 maart 2015 By AnkePrinsen2 Comments

Heey guys,

Prepaire for a really long blog. I did a lot of fun stuff the last weeks!!!!! People who are friends with me on facebook probably already know: I WENT TO SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH!! 😀

On Wednesday March 4^th I went in the morning to school for 4 periods. After that my hmom picked me up from school and we went home to pack the last stuff. Then around 1pm Jed brought us (my hdad, hmom and Hannah) to the airport. Here we found out our flight left around 6.45pm instead of 3.35pm. So we waited for a really long time. Hannah and just walked around a little, got a pizza for dinner (somewhere far from our gate) and then we walked back. The plane got delayed a little more and at 7.35pm we finally left. We arrived late in SLC, I tried to make some pictures from the plane. Well… The people (I didn’t know) tried to make a picture for me. But it didn’t work out because it was too dark. My hdad was getting the rental car when my hmom, Hannah and I got our checked bags. After that we went to the hotel, Hannah and I ate real quick something and then we went to sleep.

1425507818176 — Walking around in O’Hare while we were waiting for our plane

During that night I was really cold. I didn’t have a good blanket on my sofa sleeper. So I didn’t sleep really well. The hotel we were had the best hotel breakfast ever. We ate so much. (Right now I’m in a hotel in Madison, Wisconsin and there is a huge difference in breakfast, Salt Lake breakfast was a lot better. I will tell later about Madison.) After breakfast we went ‘Goodwill shopping’, Goodwill sells stuff second hand or stuff that didn’t sell at a normal store and here you can get sometimes really nice stuff which is not too expensive. A the first goodwill we were I bought 3 shirts and at the second one a bought a (Duck Dynasty) pajama pants so I had a little warmer clothes for the next night. We also got a better blanket for me. I slept a lot better the other nights. When we came back from Goodwill shopping Hannah and I got hungry. So then we looked up a place where we could eat. We ended up by Costa Vida, this is a Mexican Grill restaurant. The food was so good there!! And it was a lot! When we came back to the hotel we got our skating stuff and left to the Olympic Oval. Here we had a short practice and of course I made some pictures. After practice we went with some of the team to an Italian restaurant. Here we got pasta. We could choose if we wanted a half plate of pasta (which they recommended) or a full one. We chose the full one, thinking we were hungry and could finish it. Otherwise we could always take our leftovers. Thinking now I think it might have been better to get the half one. The full one was huge. The plate of pasta was enough for 3 dinners and it included 2 big sausages and 4 meatballs. We had a lot of leftovers. At the hotel we were tired and we went to sleep. A few minutes later Brandon knocked on our door thinking another skater was in room 429. After texting him we went to sleep he was still knocking. So I opened the door to tell him. The person he expected me to be was in another hotel with the same room number. This was kind of funny haha.

IMG_20150305_170344 — First practice on the ice in Salt Lake City

1425609620184 — Our mega bowls with pasta

Friday was the first racing day. We woke up early and ate good breakfast. After that we went to the Oval for the races. This day I had to skate the 500 meters and the mass start. On the 500 meters I broke my personal best to 44.40. The mass start wasn’t that good. After the halfway sprint I couldn’t keep up with the group. So I skated like 5 laps alone. When we came back to the hotel we ate some of our leftover pasta as lunch. After that we went to Antelope Island. It was really pretty here and I made a lot of pictures. We saw bison, antelopes and amazing sights. We went there with the family, Coach Carl, Ethan, Brandon, Colleen and her mom, Austin and his mom, Coach Melissa and Michael (Hope I didn’t forget someone..). It was a lot of fun and I have made AMAZING pictures there.

20150306_086 — Salt Lake City with the team

20150306_092 — Salt Lake City with the team

20150306_122 — Salt Lake City, it was so pretty!!!!!

20150306_162 — Salt Lake City with the team

20150306_167 — Salt Lake City with the team

20150306_203 — Artistic picture of the road

After Antelope Island we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat. Here I got a wrap which was kind of spicy. In the evening I took a icebath (11 minutes) and I put all the pictures on my laptop to sort them out. Then we went to sleep again.

On Saturday I had to race the 1000 meters and the 3k. On the 1000 meters I got a personal best of 2 seconds. For me it was the first time to skate the 3k so I had a personal best here too. The rest of the day we did easy. In the hotel Hannah and I took an icebath again (this time 14 minutes for me) and after that we went outside in the sun, it was really nice weather). Outside Brandon introduced Hannah, Michael and me to a card game which we played. In the evening we ate at Crown Burger with the team. That night we lost one hour because of the time change, so we didn’t go to sleep too late.

Sunday we had 3 races left. The second 500 meters, the 1500 meter and the teamsprint. On the 500 meters I broke my personal best that I skated the Friday to 44.24. I beat my 1500 meter time with 14 seconds. So in all my races for times I beat my personal best. 🙂 In the teamsprint I skated with Emma and Ilsa. We skated pretty good, I don’t know what the results are. Later that day we went with the family, coach Melissa, Michael and Brandon downtown. Here we visited the capital building. First we parked and got kinda lost. But later we found our way to the building. After the building we went up a mountain. The sight from here was amazing. We were there around sunset time, it was really pretty!

20150308_055 — In the capital building with (from back to front) Brandon, Michael, Hannah and me

20150308_149 — Amazing sight on Salt Lake City

20150308_155 — Enjoying the amazing sight on Salt Lake City

20150308_157 — Amazing sight on Salt Lake City

20150308_193 — Salt Lake City when it is (getting) dark

Back at the hotel we ordered a pizza, this one came after a 1,5 hour wait. It was an 26 inch pizza, that is really big!!!! We ate from it with 6 persons and we didn’t finish it. After eating Hannah, Brandon and I went to the hotel pool. It was fun, but when it was almost 11pm we were tired and went to bed. There was a fun day coming! 🙂

On Monday morning we packed all our stuff and left to snowbird. This is a park for skiing and snowboarding. It was fun to go here. We were with a group of people from skating (Hannah, Brandon, Michael, Luke and coach Steve). It was a really sunny day. After going a few times down we went to a restaurant to eat burgers. After that I went with coach Steve, Michael and Luke to a bigger hill. Up there we had an amazing sight. When we came down again Michael and Brandon had to leave. Hannah, Luke and I went one more time up before we left to the airport. I made a lot of pictures this day. Some were even wondering how I could make pictures during snowboarding haha.

20150309_054 — Snowboarding/Skiing with the team (left to right) Hannah, Brandon, Luke, Michael and Me

20150309_068 — Snowboarding/skiing with the team

So after a fun/sunny day we left to the airport to go back to Chicago. At the airport we went through security without any problems (they only let me know I was the smallest 18 year old they’ve seen) and we went to our Gate where Brandon was. He took the same flight. There he and Hannah made fun of my face because I got a bad sunburn that day, even after I put sunscreen on. It was really red… My hdad, hmom, Hannah and I got some food and after that we went into the plane. I was sitting next to Hannah and Brandon changed his seat so he could sit with us. My hparents were across the aisle. In the plane I sort all the pictures out of the day before and of that day.

It was almost midnight when we came back in Chicago and we still had to wait for our checked luggage. That took a while so I just laid down. Hannah and Brandon tried to take pictures of my face… I looked like ‘a red panda’. When we finally got our bags we went outside where Jed picked us up. At home I found out my camera that I ordered for Hawaii arrived. With this one I’ll be able to make videos and pictures under water. I checked it really quick, unpacked a little and went to sleep. I was really tired and I only had a short night of sleep because I had to go to school the next day again.

This week was a spirit week (The Brook Olympics) on school. Every day there was another theme. I missed Monday (neon colors) and I wasn’t sure what was on Tuesday (Truckers). So I didn’t wear anything special. The Tuesday I was really tired and I had a hard time staying awake on school. So then I decided to go home right after school so I could sleep a little more instead of going to track practice. I think this was a good decision because I really needed my rest after a long week(end) in Salt Lake City. On Wednesday it was generations day (Freshmen: Baby, Sophomores: Toddler, Juniors: Adult, Seniors: Old people and Staff members: Teenagers). I had to dress as an adult. I didn’t know exactly how to do that so I wasn’t wearing anything special. I think it is fun to see the school spirit. A lot of freshman were wearing onesies and had stuff for babies with them, Sophomores looked young, a lot of juniors where dressed up and some put something under their shirt so they looked pregnant and some seniors looked really old. Thursday was Hawaiian day. I had a Hawaiian shirt like a lot of other people. You also saw a lot of sunglasses and the Hawaiian flowers. Friday was class color day and the assembly. Unfortunately I wasn’t here, I went to Madison, Wisconsin for the shorttrack nationals. My school has the spirit week called the Brook Olympics once a year around March. Here classes try to get as much as points as possible. In lunches there are games where classes go against each other and with the assembly there are games too (I think). If I can believe social media the Seniors won this year.

11025862_654903964614347_3229157646897745769_o — Hawaiian day with Michelle

Thursday after school my hmom and Hannah picked me up from school and we left to Madison, Wisconsin for Shorttrack Nationals. We had that evening a short ‘practice’ where we could get used to the ice. My legs felt really bad. Probably because the 2,5 hour car ride before we went on the ice. We didn’t have that much time for warm up either. After the practice we went to the hotel where we ate dinner. In the hotel Hannah and I watched the movie ‘The Book Thief’, we only watched half because we were sharpening our skates too.

Friday we could sleep in. The only thing we had to go in the morning was breakfast before 9am. After breakfast we did easy and I started writing this blog. Around 10.30am we left the hotel to go to a sports store so I could buy new shin guards. I forgot mine at home. I was tired when I packed my stuff and I didn’t have them in my bag because I washed some stuff. After buying new shin guards we went to the rink. Here we had warm up around 1pm. We had the 1500 meters that day. In the semi-finals I got 3^rd and that was good enough to get to the A-final. In the A-final I skated good. But my legs got tired at the end of the race and I finished 6^th. Hannah unfortunately got disqualified in her semi-finals. We also had the relay, I was in a team with Hannah, Mia and Stefanie. There was one bad change where Mia fell, and I thought she didn’t touch Stefanie. So I went in. Later she yelled at me they touched. This was kind of confusing. Because of this we had exchanges on wrong places. At the end Hannah finished instead of me. We didn’t make it to the final. That evening Hannah and I went to Ethan’s room to take an icebath. Our room didn’t have a bathtub, after our icebath I ran around in the hotel because my legs felt funny haha. Then I took a warm shower and we went to sleep.

11062551_10205117965702665_7177460854047900929_n — Picture by Edna M Kunkel

Saturday we could sleep in again. The warm up started at 10.10am. Which they moved to 10.20am. After the warm up I had to wait for a long time. My group only had semi-finals and finals. So we had to wait until the other groups finished the heats and the quarter finals. Of course there was also a lunch break. So we could wait even longer. I think it would’ve been better to have our warm up during the lunch break. This day I had the 500 meters. The heat was really good. I had a nice pass and blocked the rest of the race really good. They bumped every time in to me behind me. I finished first this race. In the final I finished 3^rd. Here I had a really close finish with Betsy for the 3^rd place. Now I have a pin as memory of this race. 🙂 I didn’t have more races that day. Hannah got 1^st on the 500 meters for Juniors B. Noah, Leah (hostsiblings), Nicole and Anna (friends of Hannah) were at the rink to watch that day. It was nice they were there :). In the evening we walked around and we went to Ethan’s room again for an icebath. Nicole and Leah slept at our hotel room. We didn’t go to sleep too late. Because we had to wake up early.

11063064_10204779689426998_317483244_n — 1st (junB) and 3rd (junA), showing our pins 🙂

Sunday morning our warm up started at 7am. So we had to wake up really early. The warm up felt really good. I had to wait for a long time again. I had to skate the 1000 meters. I had a good race. There was only one pass that was just good (I thought) and I finished 2^nd that race, the referees saw the pass different and disqualified me. Because I didn’t qualify for the final I didn’t have to skate, there were only A-finals. Later I still had to do the 3K super final. This one started off pretty good. I stayed good in the group and skated good to. When it speeded up with 4 laps to go someone fell and took me with her. My legs didn’t want to go anymore after that so I just finished easy. The referees probably saw (I don’t know how) that she fell because of a fault of me. So I got disqualified… I just stayed in my lane and speeded up to keep up with the group. I asked other people what they thought and everyone said it wasn’t my fault and they didn’t get why I got disqualified. So this wasn’t really a good day for me. I skated really good, but I just had a lot of bad luck.

11070847_10205104647529719_4161966239117995809_n — Picture by Edna M Kunkel

There was also a raffle. I put in 5 tickets. But unfortunately I didn’t win anything.. (More bad luck? A lot of times I win something haha.) Overall I think I finished 6^th. Hannah finished 3^rd overall in her age group. I didn’t really make pictures this weekend. So that’s why I didn’t add many. Of course this will be different when I’m in Hawaii!

My brother skated this weekend in Moscow, Russia the relay on the World Championships. He finished with Sjinkie Knegt, Daan Breewsma and Freek van der Wart 3^rd. I’m proud of him! A medal on his first World Championships!!! 😀 Congrats Mark!!

Mark Invitationcup 2014 - day 1 — Mark got 3rd at the World Championships with the relay team

I had these weeks a lot of fun and I’m getting exited for the coming weeks knowing I will be in Hawaii in 2 weeks exactly. Time goes so fast here. I found out I don’t have any more shorttrack practices, not sure about longtrack. And I don’t have any more skating meets. That makes me kind of sad.. But I am sure I will hang out with the people from skating a lot of times before I leave. Can’t image I won’t be here with them next year… (If you ask them I’ll still be here next year). Now the skating is over I will still practice a lot for track (like 6 times a week). I think my next blog will be in about 3 or 4 weeks after Hawaii. I try to put short updates and pictures on facebook!

Have a great time everyone!!!

Anke Prinsen

Always open for new experiences and personal development

Categorie: shorttrack

My last week in the US.. 4 weeks home already..

Hayward

Salt Lake City, Brook Olympics and Madison