US Naval Academy Tour

My host family and I travelled up to the Naval Academy in Maryland as my host mum's cousins husband works at the Naval Academy.

We stayed at their house the night and stayed up to the early hours of the morning singing karaoke (I didn't have a winning streak this time).

On Thursday we had a massive tour of the academy! First off we watched the formalities of all the troops and then got shown around some of the campus. It is HUGE!!! The architecture of the buildings are amazing inside and out. They even have an indoor track!

After the tour we went to a restaurant in the town and there we got dinner plus a 6 POUND MILKSHAKE! It was yummy and between the nine of us we finished it :D


Love Hann x

A random solider having a photo with me. 

The amazing architecture of the buildings. 

The indoor track, it is amazing!

Our 6-pound milkshake! It was delicious! The glass is 2 feet tall :)

Driving in US

I went for my first driving lesson tonight. It is definitely odd driving on the opposite side of the road.

The car I am driving is an European car so the indicator and windscreen wipers are on different sides than I am use to as well. I think I have the hang of it.

I hate to admit it but Virginia drivers are way more courteous than majority of Kiwi drivers. It made it a lot easier to learn around the neighbourhood. There are four way stop signs around the place, so whoever gets to the intersection first gets right-of-way.

Also, almost got T-Boned cause Beamer owners think they own the road and this particular driver stopped in my way! I got through the intersection untouched thankfully!

I will be a little more independent when I get my driving up to scratch around here:)

xx

First few days of being on the job

When we got home from New York City, the mom stayed at home with Hannah and I for three days to get me use to the house and the routines etc. She also drove me around the town to show me around. The area they live in is a nice town with lots of brick buildings and trees :D

Hannah and I have had two days by ourselves. We have had a lot of fun trying to suss each other out. Hannah loves Spiderman, mermaids and princesses. So most days we play a game of all three combined, I think I know how to play it now. She also likes swimming and there is a swimming pool about 30 minute walk from the house so that is handy. We went to go swimming on Friday morning and got there to discover it was closed so we had to turn around and walk home again. We were both pretty guttered.

I have free time once the parents get home from work so lately I have been skyping whoever I can get a hold of in NZ. I have also started watching American Idol and more movies. I have netflixs in my room. It is a set-up where you can watch mostly any movie or TV show that you like whenever you like. And once I start getting to know other Au Pairs in the area I will go out sometimes in the evening to do social activities with them. I am also going to learn how to drive so if I need to drive somewhere I will be able too when there is a car available.

Anyway, I am off to the airport soon to pick up their son.

Love to you all

Hannah xx

New York

Hello all,

I have arrived in Virginia all safe and sound.

My family picked me up from the flash hotel in Connecticut on Thursday afternoon and we drove to New York City to our hotel.  Our hotel looked over Times Square. And it was high enough that you didn't hear all the commotion from down on the road.

While in New York we visited the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the 9/11 memorial. The trip out to Liberty Island was quite spectular, seeing both New York and New Jersey state. We went to the 9/11 memorial real randomly cause we kind of got lost trying to find Chinatown and we ended up at the memorial. But the memorial is so lovely. It is a massive cube like hole with water rushing down the sides. It had all the people who died written around the outside of the 'pools'. We also climbed to the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building. Here we saw most of Manhattan and some of Jersey.

View from the Empire State Building

We also went to the hit Broadway musical of Spiderman. Spiderman swung around the theatre and he even landed in the aisle next to us. We were 5 rows from the front. This was also on St Patricks Day. New York is Irish madness so we were surrounded by young drunk americans and not-so-young too. It was a great experience though.

We had a 4.5 hour drive down the interstate to get back to Virginia.

Love to you all

xx

Hi

Hey!

Second night in the hotel! It is the flashiest place I have ever stayed. We got our bags delivered to the door when we arrived, we get our beds made and rooms cleaned every morning! I am sharing a room with a French girl and a girl from costa rica :) I have met many other au pairs too.
There is a whole group from Brazil here and today me and my room-mate went to the mall with them. They are all really friendly. I have just got back from target and all I can say it 'oh man!' that place is sensational and I can't wait to go back!

This morning I received a parcel from my host family. Inside was a gift basket of candy :) they are so lovely.

Tomorrow I have first aid training all day and then I am off on a tour of New York City which my host parents paid for me to do!

Post again later

Love to you all in NZ xoxo

GOODBYE NEW ZEALAND!

I am sitting in the departure lounge just waiting for my plane to board.
Check in took forever but that was ok because the lady behind the desk was lovely so we just talked :)

All for now!

Love you all xox