My amazing homecoming

Going on an exchange year is about improving your language skills, experiencing a new culture and a different way of life and just in general trying new things. I’ve already tried so many new things that I never thought I’d do like camping, joining the drama club or a leadership extracurricular activity of the city of Hillsboro. I’ve also tried fun things like eating crab and going paddle boarding. But the most amazing “American first” was definitely Homecoming.

My whole Homecoming experience started on the Thursday before Homecoming week when I was surprised during lunch by a Homecoming proposal. I got asked out by a German exchange student who’s one of the 4 other exchange students at my school. There were so many people standing around us and cheering when I said yes. It all felt really weird and awkward but at the same time I felt really special. During the weekend I went shopping with my friends for a homecoming dress but also for items for spirit week. It’s a really big deal to dress up for spirit week here in the USA so I tried my best to dress up according to the theme every day. Even though our spirit week themes were pretty boring I still enjoyed it and had so much fun dressing up :D  On Friday the best part of homecoming started. We had our first assembly and all the seniors walked around the gym and everyone cheered for us. We played some games and had a “finish the lyrics” of Disney songs contest which we, the seniors, won. It was so much fun.

After school a friend took me to the field where the homecoming game was taking place. We then walked to an elementary school not far from the field where the homecoming parade floats were being set up. I helped decorate the senior float and at 6pm we hopped onto the float and headed through the neighborhood throwing candy to kids that were waving at us on the streets. This was one of the most amazing things I’ve experienced so far. I had so much fun and I felt so good with all my friends singing along to songs of our childhood while sitting on a float in the homecoming parade. By the time we got to the field it was 7pm which meant the start of the homecoming game. I still don’t understand the rules of American football so the game was totally about socializing with my friends for me but I had fun. I bonded with people that I didn’t really hang out a lot. When we won the game everyone ran onto the field and cheered for the football players. This is a pretty typical American thing since school spirit is so important to them.

On Saturday it was a really beautiful day so I decided to take my senior picture for the yearbook and then I got ready for the homecoming dance. Soon after I finished getting ready my friends came to my house and we took our homecoming pictures. After that my host family took us to a restaurant where we had dinner. After dinner we headed to the homecoming dance. People were already dancing when we came so we just took our jackets off and started dancing. We danced until the last song. I had a really great time. It’s such a fun tradition and I really wish we had dances like that at home.

I enjoyed homecoming so much. It was something that I’ll never forget about. Being an exchange student in the USA is a huge privilege and I’m enjoying every single moment of it. I’m always trying new things and I’ll continue doing that because that’s going to make my experience even better!