Kim´s American Adventure: Cross Country Reflection 🏃💜

Hey guys 💘

this time I´m gonna write in English, so that my American friends can read it, too.🇺🇸

Today, we had Districts Meet, the most important meet (race) of the season. But this also means, it´s the end of the Cross Country season. We were all so nervous because we really wanted to do good. And we did, I think everybody made their personal record. After the meet, we went all together to IT´Z to eat pizza and play games, which was a very fun ending. But before everybody left, the seniors (12th graders) held their "senior speeches" as this was their last year doing Cross Country. The speeches were all so emotional and nearly everybody had to cry because it´s so sad that they are gonna leave the team. Of course, this is also my last year in the team and so, I also held a little speech which touched everybody.
I think, this is a good opportunity, to also share my experiences I made during the Cross Country season here on my blog.

Three months ago, when I came to the US, I didn´t know anybody. Of course, I quickly got to know my host parents and went on very well with them. But I didn´t have any friends here. I decided, I wanted to join the Cross Country team because I have been running in Germany, too. And so I did.
I exactly remember the first day I went to practice. I was soo nervous because I didn´t know whether the people were nice and would integrate me into their team. But pretty soon, I noticed that they were all very nice and lovely and already after the first practice I had made friends. I am so happy, that from the moment I came there, I was a part of the team and had an affiliation (Zugehörigkeit :-D). Soon, I also noticed that practice here is a lot more serious and harder than I knew it from Germany. I got up at 5 nearly every morning and nearly every weekend we had a meet. Sometimes, I just thought "Why am I doing this?" because it was so exhausting. But that was just normal and of course, everybody felt like this. What always motivated me was knowing that I would be together with my friends and that "difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations". In the end, I can say that I really learned a lot from this hard, fun season. My coaches taught me not only how to run, but how to push hard, never give up and believe in myself. Additionally, now after all these long runs in the heat, I really appreciate how good water tastes and how good the cold feels. But the most important thing I take from my Cross Country experience is the amazing team spirit and the friends I have made here! I will never forget everything we went through together and all our adventures we had, connected to Cross Country. I thank y´all so much for having enabled me such an amazing start in my exchange year. Thanks to my coaches for "making a better young lady" out of me and thanks to everybody on my team for our great time. I LOVE YOU! ❤💜

But heads up, guys! This is only the end of the Cross Country season, not of my exchange year. I´m looking forward to a great Track Season and some more 7 months here with you as my friends!

An dieser Stelle auch mal viele, liebe Grüße an mein Leichtathletik Team in Deutschland! 🇩🇪Natürlich vermisse ich euch alle. Aber ich freue mich schon, wenn ich wieder da bin euch ein paar amerikanische Trainingsweisen zu zeigen.
(At this point, also nice greetings to my athletics team in Germany! For sure, I am missing you all. But I´m already looking forward to showing you some American practice methods when I will be back.)

Yours Kim 💕