"Dreams do come true.."

Howdy y’all !

Guess what? I’m updating this blog ! Yaay for me! (:

Okay, so Imma just start off with October 1^st. We had an appointment with our international Coordinator, Jack, in Bricktown to go out to eat and walk around in town for a little bit. When my host mom and I were the first ones – so we spent the first 15 minutes waiting. Finally Jack arrived and we went inside of the restaurant to meet up with a Norwegian girl – she was an exchange student in Oklahoma last year and came back to visit – her boyfriend and host parents. Later on Emma and her new host family joined us, too, and we all had to wait more than an hour until we finally got a table. 

I had an awesome time talking with everybody and the food was reaaally good (: & the best thing was you were able to draw onto the table ! Look what I drew:

 Bahah!

Afterwards we all walked around in town and stopped by a couple of places like a painted bull, a fountain in front of a movie theatre, a memorial of how Oklahoma was captured and last but not least we just followed the path by the canal. All of the lights in Bricktown are stunning; it’s such a beautiful and romantic city. Here are some of the pictures I took that evening:

 my host mom Kim and I

 Bricktown by day

 Bricktown by night

 Emma & I in front of a fountain

 a veery cool, painted Buffalo :'D

Next thing is: I joined French & Drama club! Yaay! Our first Drama club meeting was awesome; we split in groups and just played games. But I got to meet so many cool people (which I’d partly already known before) and I simply had a great time.

I haven’t been to a French club meeting yet – but there will be a picnick on November 7^th – which is actually my birthday – and I’m really lookin’ forward to it! Additionally, we all will meet on Tuesday, October 25^th for “Haunt The Halls”. It’s an event where costumed kids come into our school for trick and treat and we spread candy – also in costumes, of course. Excited !!

Okay, the next thing is.. THE SUGARLAND CONCERT ON OCTOBER 8^th. OH MY GOODNESS; UNBELIEVABLE.

 ! Caution: this recount will be looong ! :D

Alright. So the Monday before the concert I got the e-mail concerning where and when we have to meet (Because I’d bought a VIP package ticket – including a ticket in the sugarpit, a shirt, the preshow party, the soundcheck and a MEET & GREET – or, so I thought.) Anyways, I’d saved money over months to buy this ticket because this would be the one and only chance to ever see Sugarland – my favorite band EVER. (they don’t come to Europe and their tour is just about to end) And because I knew it was worth it, because of the meet & greet (that’s the only reason I’d bought the VIP thing). Anyways, I read the e-mail and it said “this show does NOT include a meet & greet.” Bam. And so my dream exploded. Really? Oo I was DEVASTATED; seriously. When I’d ordered the ticket I know it said “Meet & greet included” but apparently it referred to an even more expensive ticket. VERY misleading; this did not just happen to me apparently.

However; after a couple of days I came to the conclusion that I had to live with it and just make the best out of it. So I got everything prepared & ready on Friday night so I wouldn’t have to do it on Saturday morning. I finished up Jennifer’s & Kristian’s presents (YES; I’d already bought them PRESENTS & wrote a LETTER; but they said I could hand them to the host and she would give it to them.) and made a sign that said “Jennifer, my biggest dream is a hug from you” on the one side and the other side I used for the Little Miss Project.

On Saturday morning Kim & I left early in the morning – at around 10 o’clock – to pick up Kacy from work. Having done so, we drove to Wichita for about 4 hours – listening to Sugarland, what else.

The closer we got to Kansas the worse the weather got; it was pouring. I hate rain !!

Luckily we found the Intrust Bank Arena pretty quickly and it didn’t take me too long to get to Box Office One, where we all would meet.

I was the first one but shortly after my arrival other people started coming, too. Everyone was really nice & it’s always nice to get to know new sugarcubes !

When everybody was there we were handed an envelope with our tickets etc. and thenw e went into our lobby where we could eat, sit and leave our stuff. It was great talking to everybody – especially since some people at my table were from Texas & liked Kelly Clarkson haha!

Having sat there for approximately 40 minutes, we could finally go to the soundcheck. Everyone found their sats (we took the seats in the front row; it wasn’t too close to the stage though, because the sugarpit was between the seats and the stage.) Everybody sat down except for me and another awesome girl – we just knew we would have to dance and sing along to the songs. Then, totally humble, Jennifer & Kristian joined the band on stage and started singing random songs – they made a “pop quiz” out of it, haha! – to warm up their voices. Jennifer looked BEAUTIFUL like always and Kristian was so much fun. Of course we were heavily “woo-ing” and applauding. When they starts singing one old song of theirs, they suddenly forgot the lyrics to it, haha. They asked us, the audience, if we remembered and apparently I was the only one who remembered so a friend pointed at me and was like “She remembers!” And Jennifer went like “Alright, then come up here!” hahaha! Of course I couldn’t, sadly, lol. :D

After the soundcheck we went back into the lobby and sat there for a while. They did a lottery thing but I didn’t win anything unfortunately. About one hour before we could go into the concert room we were able to shop a little bit in the Sugarland shop and I bought the Tourbook, which I completely fell in love with. LOOVE it !

Then I gave all of my stuff away – except for my camera & my phone, of course – and we went into the hall – omg, I was excited ! I knew exactly where I wanted to stand: in the middle/a little bit left, right in front of Jen’s mic. And that’s where I placed myself immediately. Then I looked next to me and immediately found some amaaazing girls to talk with – Randa, Jennifer and Keri. YOU ARE AWESOME; GUYS !

We had so much fun and they promised to support my “hug request” from the first second on. I’m so glad I met y’all & I hope we’ll be able to meet up sometime before I leave!

At about 7:45pm Sara Bareilles got on stage to perform. She was the opening act and since I got her 2 albums I knew every song she performed – and she was really awesome; great voice!

When she left the stage there were still a couple of minutes left until Sugarland would get up there, but those minutes passed quickly. And then it started – the lights went out, it was dark, you could watch Jennifer & Kristian get into their spots and then a guitar started playing. OH MY, I screamed as loud as I possibly could.

Especially when they sang “Stuck Like Glue” I screamed extra loud & thought of my best friends like I’d promised them earlier.

During one of the first songs Kristian placed right in front of me and I jumped, screamed and reached my hand out to him (I actually intended to get a guitarpick). But then, suddenly, he reached out his hand, too, and shook my hand!!! And I was just like ‘:OOOOOOOOO’ and taking & shaking his hand, too! He is like the sweetest  & nicest guy ever, it was amazing!

But.. just one or two songs afterwards, when Jennifer started talking in between two songs (before “All I Wanna Do”), I held my sign up and screamed; my ladies behind me screamed loudly, too. All of a sudden, Jennifer stops talking and reads my sign out aloud “Jennifer, my biggest dream is a hug.. well Lord have mercy, dreams come true in Sugarland !” I couldn’t even realize her words or what was just happening, I just let my sign drop, gave Keri my camera and reached out my arms – my host mom & sister said they showed me on the big screens and my face was just like hugely shocked – I must’ve looked like a fool, I’m sure. Then she bent down, knelt down (OMG JENNIFER NETTLES KNELT DOWN FOR ME!) and ACTUALLY HUGGED ME ! OMGGGG eökgweöfjhgwrgbwev ! I was just like IS THIS HAPPENINGGG?! Then she let go of the hug, leaned back (Still kneeling) and said “My pleasure! Thanks for coming!” and finally got up on her feet again. I didn’t perceive what was going on on stage the seconds after that anymore, I just turned around the the ladies, screaming “OMG JENNIFER NETTLES JUST HUGGED ME” and having a hard time NOT to cry, seriously. I almost cried. And hardly ever cry because of happiness. Just did it once before.

Anyways, after this event my excitement was at its top level and I couldn’t help but just and scream at my best. “Ain’t no party like a Sugarland party ‘cause a Sugarland party don’t stop nooo” . Just sayin’.

Every song was amaa-za-zing  - Little Miss was touching, seeing all the signs in the air, “Stay” was breathtaking as always (and I got such a good video of it; gotta love my camera!) and “Stand Up” was gorgeous. Pluuus, I LOVED the ending song, when they covered “Come On Eileen” with Sara Bareilles, lo-lo-loved it!

Here are some pictures & last but not least a video where you can see Jennifer Nettles HUGGING me !

 in the lobby

Randa, Keri, Jennifer & I after the concert with my sign

 hugging pictuuuure <3

When the concert ended (saddest moment!) Jennifer, Keri, Randa & I went out, Randa presented me her Sugarland glow stick (Thanksss again!) and I eventually met up with Kim & Kacy. They were also super excited for me! We decided to go to iHop to eat something and then we drove to the hotel which was just 5 minutes far from the Arena.

The hotel was quite nice – except that we didn’T have power the next day for some reason – and at 11 o’clock the next morning we already left to drive back. Before leaving Kansas we stopped by Walmart, Big W (??) etc to shop a little bit, though. There are so many cute Halloween things around. Oh, and btw, I’m addicted to “candy corn.” It’s a sweet Halloween candy and it’s just awesome, especially if you eat it with peanuts.

Last but not least, we had a field trip last Friday October 14^th – all of the Seniors that are in English 4 (I believe) went to MacBeth. I had so much fun and I got to know some awesome people – Victoria, I had a blast with you! And the play was really good, too. 

Victoria & I

After the trip Meme picked me up from school (Thaaanks, Meme!) and we went to Chick-fil-A (a fast food restaurant here which is AMAAAZING. (: ).

 

I predominately spent the weekend studying since we had our nine weeks tests the on Monday & Tuesday. Everything went pretty good, but American Studies was really hard. I made 100% in Algebra!! Woo! And I think I was the only one (or one of the only ones). I didn’t think it would go that well!

Currently we are in Colorado visiting my host brother and his family – excited ! The trip was 11 freakin’  hours, though. Having my iPod, my new Castle book & my laptop (and Kacy with me in the back, haha!) the hours somehow passed. 

Kacy & I were eating Dum-Dums while driving haha!

Will write more when we get back from Colorado! Oh, in case you’re wondering – it’s fall break from Wednesday Oct. 19^th to Sunday Oct. 23^rd, I’m not ditching school, haha!

Oh, and by the way – Kelly Clarkson’s new album “Stronger” will be released next Monday (Oct. 24^th) and IT’S GONNA BE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AMAZING/GOOD/EPIC/PURE QUALITY. You should really go buy it! (:

Okay, my fingers are kinda tired now so I’m just gonna stop. I wanna end this blog entry with a special shout-out to my mom – she surprised me with a Kelly Clarkson autograph in an envelope since I won’t be able to go to her show in Nürnberg Nov. 3^rd (obviously lol) and it was an amazing surprise, I was really happy!

THANKS mom, you’re the best!

Have a great day everyone!

Love y’all & take care!

Anja xoxo

P.S. Comments here, on facebook or anywhere else are ALWAYS appreciated! (:& btw, guys, I wrote this while riding in the car (11 hour drive, remember?), so please don't mind any mistakes.