Just a few days after I posted my last blog update (back in February), I went with my host dad and host brother to go see an NBA (basketball) game. My favorite team, the Golden State Warriors were in town to play the Phoenix Suns, so we all hopped on the light rail and went downtown.
U.S. Airways Center, home of the Phoenix Suns.
The Golden State Warriors are warming up.
Phoenix Suns players.
Suns legend (who's still playing) Steve Nash talking to the crowd before the game.
A video I took from the game. I apologize for the low quality, but I had to lower the resolution by a lot to even be able to upload the video, otherwise the file was too big.
The game was really entertaining for me as a Warriors fan (it felt like I was the only one in the building). The Warriors got out to an early 20-point lead and the Suns didn't make much of a comeback until the 4th quarter when they got their first lead and the game went back and forth. With 11 seconds left, the game was tied at 104-104. Monta Ellis hit the last second shot (shown above) to make it a 106-104 win for Golden State. I was so glad!
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I joined the track team. Meanwhile, our new football coach, a 26-year old from Queen Creek, started doing morning workouts at 5 a.m. in the Westwood gym. So for a while, I went to football workouts/practice at 5 a.m. and had track practice in the afternoon. That stopped once we started running track meets however. Track meets were fun but I quickly realized that even though I consider myself to be capable of running at quite a pace, I have nothing that resembles track speed (Guys that are are running the 100m dash in 10 seconds). At meets I mostly ran the 400m. I didn't do too bad running a longer distance, where it isn't a dead sprint, running the 400m under a minute and finishing in 3rd and 4th (out of 8) sometimes.
Not too long after the Warriors - Suns game was Spring Break. We, being my host parents and I plus my little nephew and niece, went on a trip down to the southern part of Arizona, the Safford-Thatcher area. It was great fun!
One of the few, small towns that we passed by on our way. This one a mining town.
We went hiking in the Chiracahua Mountains! The rocks there are beautiful and very unique. Unlike anything I've ever seen before.
The view from the top of these mountains was incredible. Some of the furthest hills and mountains that you see on this picture are actually in New Mexico, not Arizona.
A mountaintop called Cochise Head.
My little three-year-old nephew was scared that this rock would fall down, so we are all holding it up haha!
The next day, we visited Tombstone, a town famous for the shooting at the O.K. Corral. This town has a lot of history from the times of the Wild West. Yes, this is cowboy country!
Some of the reward posters for outlaws. Original posters that is.
A replica of the gallows on which the courthouse hung any criminals sentenced to death.
Some people just haven't upgraded to cars yet. Haha just kidding, this wagon was used for touring the city.
We went on a sightseeing tour of Tombstone.
The O.K. Corral, where a shoot-out between police sheriffs and outlaws took place.
One of Tombstone's main streets. Has kind of a wild west feel to it, right?
This restaurant is one of the buildings in town that still stand from the original days of Tombstone. The top floor's side wall and roof are full of bulletholes from various shoot-outs and duels.
Told ya this is cowboy country.
On the freeway way back to Phoenix we drove through Tucson, the second largest city in Arizona. Tucson is the home of the University of Arizona Wildcats. I tried to get a picture of their football stadium from the freeway. It's the gray building in the middle of the picture that has a large white "A" on it.
And a picture of downtown Tucson.
March is also the time of the year that the Major League Baseball teams hold their Spring Training. Spring Training is a pre-season where the teams are warming up and practicing for the upcoming season. They can test some of their reserve and Minor League players too, and they play a bunch of pre-season games against each other. All the teams, regardless of which city they usually play in, assemble in two states for Spring Training. Arizona's Cactus League and Florida's Grapefruit League. Luckily, my favorite baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, play their games in Arizona. In fact, their Spring Training home is in Phoenix. The light rail (which, as you may have noticed, has become very useful) stops right by Phoenix Municipal Stadium where the A's play their games. I went to see them play their division rival, the Seattle Mariners.
Phoenix Municipal Stadium before the game.
The players are warming up. Oakland players (in green and gold) are on the far side of the field.
My seat was very, very close to where some of the Seattle players were warming up
The ceremonial opening pitch. The guy on the right, throwing the pitch, is Dave Stewart, legendary Oakland A's pitcher.
The Oakland Athletics' dugout (bench).
A video of one of the Oakland A's players, Manny Ramirez, recording a hit in the 1st inning.
A Seattle Mariner is pitching to an Oakland player.
Oakland pitcher Jerry Blevins.
Oakland won the game 6-1. Great game and a fun night. In about two weeks I'm going to Chase Field in downtown Phoenix to watch two games of Oakland's three-game regular season visit to Phoenix to play the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Now, probably the biggest event that I haven't told you guys about is the Model United Nations trip to Russia. It was huge. In one of my earlier posts I have already told you about Model United Nations, a club that I'm a member of. Once a year, the club members embark on an international trip. This year, the destination was St. Petersburg, Russia. We went from the sunny 85F/30C weather in Arizona to St. Petersburg's snow and 30F/0C. We had a blast. It was an amazing trip. A bunch of my friends and fellow IB Juniors are in Model U.N., so the whole trip was a vacation with friends. I will never forget about the Russia trip.
Waiting in Sky Harbor Airport to depart from Phoenix.
Landing in Washington-Dulles airport in Virginia, close to Washington D.C., the first of our lay-overs.
Getting some lunch at the airport. We found a Subway.
There was a bird flying around the airport terminal!
We're all goofing around waiting for our plane to take off from Washington.
Next stop: Frankfurt, Germany. The second and last stop on the way to Russia. The one stop that I was really looking forward to. Not only because I would be back in Europe, but because I speak some German too. And German food isn't too bad either.
Here we are! Landed in Frankfurt.
Trust me, I had already planned to have a Currywurst for lunch. It's a German specialty.
We were all pretty tired after an overnight flight across the Atlantic. The jet lag had already kicked in.
Taxiing for takeoff toward Russia!
We're in Russia!
We arrived in the snowy weather.
I was still wearing my pair of shorts like I was in Arizona. I know this looks really, really stupid, especially looking at how lightly-clothed I am compared to my friends around me, but I was not cold at all. I'm not kidding, I was just fine! Channelling my inner viking perhaps?
One of the many palaces in St. Petersburg.
Blurry picture, I know. But this one of three remaining statues of Lenin in what was formerly known as Leningrad.
St. Petersburg is filled with war monuments. I belive this was to commemorate World War I, but I'm not sure.
Even in the snow of Russia, you'll find a McDonald's.
After a 30 or so minute busride from the airport, we arrived at our hotel.
After which, we went for a walk around the nearby streets.
If you ever wondered how Burger King is spelled in Russia, there's your answer.
I believe this column is to honor the soldiers that defended the city from the Nazis during World War II.
The main train station, connecting St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg
A statue of former Russian czar Nicholas I in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
One of the rivers in St. Petersburg all frozen, with the city's first cathedral, the Peter and Paul Cathedral, in the background. There are lots of rivers in St. Petersburg, our tour guide explained that the city was modeled after places like Amsterdam and Venice.
A closer look at the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Peter the First, Peter the Great.
A sphinx in St. Petersburg? Yup. A gift from the Egyptians.
The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Inside the Hermitage.
Time for the first day of Model UN meetings! All committees were gathered for an opening ceremony in the Smolny Cathedral that you see above. All the ambassadors from the countries represented at the conference were to give speeches. I, being the ambassador of Finland, thus had to get up there and hold a speech in front of all St. Petersburg International Model United Nations (SPIMUN) members.
Time for day two of meetings. This is when the actual committee meetings started.
What was really neat about SPIMUN was the fact that I was entered in the Baltic Conference, a special committee that was only created here at SPIMUN. As I would soon find out, a few days into our meetings, this sure was a special committee. Above is a picture from a museum. The topics discussed in Baltic Conference were related to environmental issues and the contamination of the Baltic Sea. On the picture is one of our Russian committee chairs next to a museum guide. On the screen they showed a video about the Baltic Sea and the different animals that live in the region who are threatened by extinction because of the environmental changes.
We were given different chemicals to try to mix together what we believed were the contents of the Baltic Sea.
A geography test! We had to place the flags on the corresponding countries. These are the countries of the Baltic region.
A powerpoint presentation about the Baltic Sea.
A chemistry lab that was also meant to show how badly poisoned the seawater is.
Our meeting room was really cool. For all our discussions, we were in a room inside the museum building (the same tables as the powerpoint presentation). Right behind us were fish tanks! I haven't been in Model U.N. for that long, but I know having meetings next to fish is a rarity.
An adjacent museum building in which we were given more presentations about the environmental issues of the Baltic region.
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It is built on the site where Czar Alexander II was murdered, and is dedicated in his memory.
We were all having fun in front of the cathedral.
Dinner at the Last Palace. First time in too long that I have had smoked salmon. It was so good!
What was really cool about our dinner at the Last Palace was that there were several Russian dancers performing during the dinner. Here's one of the groups:
Our last day of meetings. We were wrapping everything up and were done with our discussions. Because our committee was special, we were preparing a presentation to present for the rest of the SPIMUN participants.
I was fortunate enough to win a Best Delegate award for Baltic Conference. Out of the 11 member nations in the committee, I was the most active and dedicated. Here's the two Russian chairs of my committee (the two girls to the right of me) and the American chair (guy standing next to the Russian flag) presenting me with my award.
One of my friends, Nick, was the other Westwood Warrior to get such an award. Here we are posing with our awards together with Mr. Buck, my history teacher and the Model U.N. advisor.
After the awards ceremony on the last day of SPIMUN, it was time to party! SPIMUN had rented an entire night club for just SPIMUN participants, so we danced like crazy.
That same night, we had a very early morning flight from St. Petersburg. I believe we had to leave the hotel at 2 am. Some of us didn't sleep at all.
The last shot of St. Petersburg, shortly after take-off from the airport.
Back in Frankfurt. We had the same layovers on the way back.
Did I mention that some of us didn't sleep? Yep, we were all definitely tired!
On our way across the Atlantic.
The one problem with going on our one-week trip to Russia for SPIMUN was the fact that back in Arizona, school was still going on like normal. Our teachers had given us homework packets we could study and fill out. Most of us didn't care about these until the flights back. Here's me and my good buddy Austin (trying) to get some work done on the plane from Washington to Phoenix. Before this we had greatly annoyed an Asian passenger next to us with our immaturity and laughing at the SkyMall magazine. We found out he was a Mesa High alum. We figured he likely wouldn't have liked us anyways because we're from Westwood.
One obstacle for us getting our work done? How extremely tired we were.
An Arizona sunset not far from Sky Harbor in Phoenix.
We're back!!
Not too long ago, back in April, I had a pretty cool experience. My history teacher, good ol' Mr. Buck, told me that a former Raiders (those of you that know me well, know that I am a HUGE Raiders fan) player was coming to his church to speak and sign autographs. I figured, "oh cool". He wasn't sure who it was but promised me that he would find out. About a week later he told me that it would be none other than Tim Brown. Coming out of college, Mr. Brown won the Heisman Trophy (Player of the year) at Notre Dame, and he played 17 years in the NFL, 16 of which were with the Raiders. He is 4th on the all-time receiving yards list for the NFL and he is no doubt going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. I was super excited to have the opportunity of seeing Tim Brown, so obviously I went.
Just going to the church itself was quite a cultural experience. I had always thought that churches were formal, serious and traditional (as evidenced by my attire seen below). I learned that churches can actually be cool. Yes, cool. The church is called Cornerstone and it's in Chandler. People attend wearing shorts and t-shirts and services are so-called "contemporary services", which means that there is a rock band (as seen above) playing christian music and the lead singer leads prayers. I had never thought that a man could pray with a guitar around his neck. I learned otherwise. It was a super-modern church with all these mega-screens. It was incredible in itself. And then I got to see Tim Brown, who was interviewed for about 30 minutes by the church pastor, and he talked about his life experiences and episodes that happened during his NFL days.
Outside of the church after the service, I got a picture with Tim and his autograph. Afterwards, since my family was still attending their mormon church in Mesa, Mr. Buck offered that I could join them for a lunch BBQ at his wife's parents' place. Figuring that I had nothing else to do, I gladly accepted that invitation. I had some great food and got to meet his family. He has a son who is a junior in high school and a daughter who's a sophomore at ASU. I had fun. Great day.
Moving on to May, while we're on the topic of football, our team has started preparing for the upcoming season already. We just finished three weeks of spring football not much more than a week ago. Three hours of practice after school, every day, in the 100+ degrees of Arizona, can get pretty tough, even though we're not wearing shoulder pads yet.
Our defense is huddled up and receiving instructions.
Coach is talking to us after one of our practices.
Stretching before practice.
One of our quarterbacks looking to pass the ball during a 7-on-7 drill.
Offense is ready to go.
Our coaches put together a video of some of what we do at practice too. It's pretty cool:
What is interesting about playing football at a high school in America is that, although you pay a small fee to play, you as a player have to participate in fundraisers to help raise money for the team to buy equipment and so on. We have to sell something, usually to friends and family and by going door-to-door. Guess what they had us football players selling? Cookiedough. Kinda like girl scouts would do.
Our entire football team sold 1,376 boxes of cookiedough, each at a price of 16$. Coach was so impressed that the last day of our three-week spring practices, we watched film of our scrimmages and ate pizza instead of practicing on the field.
And the awesome experiences with football doesn't stop there. Just a few weeks ago, we had the opportunity of going to a football skills camp hosted by the Arizona Cardinals. So our entire high school football team got on the bus and went to Glendale to where the University of Phoenix Stadium is. I was super excited.
University of Phoenix Stadium (home to the Arizona Cardinals) as seen from the inside. The field is retractable and has been taken outside so it can grow in the sun.
University of Phoenix Stadium as seen from the outside.
As always, stretching.
A defensive back drill. The coaches for the event where the Cardinals rookies for the upcoming season and retired NFL players. So that day, we learned from the pros.
All the Cardinals rookies (first year players, fresh out of college) and NFL veterans that helped out and coached us. It was awesome to get to learn from real NFL players and listen to their knowledge. The rookies that they brought out are all the rookies that are trying to make the team and go through minicamps and training camps. Too bad some of these guys will get cut and won't get the opportunity to play an NFL game.
Funny thing about this Cardinals event, it was the same day as our Westwood prom. So I got to do two exciting things in one day. I went with another Danish exchange student. Her name is Signe, however she didn't attend Westwood. We had a good time.
Now, as I mentioned at the start of this blog post, the reason for me finally having time to update my blog is the fact that my junior year is overwith and it's summer break! The last few days of school were surprisingly relaxed for me. After we had finished our finals and tests, we're pretty much done with any work in those particular classes. What I didn't expect was the fact that we were done almost a full week early in some classes. And the last two days, where our six classes are split up into three per day to allow for longer class periods that would accomodate any tests, we basically had nothing to do. All we did was sign yearbooks! Yearbooks are awesome, it's a book full of pictures, memories and stories from the schoolyear and your friends can sign it with little personal messages. In fact, the last day of school, Thursday, our teachers didn't even care if we showed up for class. So me and my friends Austin, Nitin and Monica went to Tempe Marketplace for lunch at Smashburger instead of going to our 6th hour class.
Those were some good burgers. We hung out at the mall before going back to school to say goodbye to everyone. The last few days of school have been crazy! First of all, two of my teachers gave me awards. One serious and the other being funny.
Mrs. Galas, my math teacher, named me student of the quarter for math class!
Mrs. Johnston, my english teacher, gave everyone a funny award. Mine was "most likely to be a foreigner...even at home". Wondering what the best award was? My friend Isaac got "most likely to live with his mother at age 40". That had the whole class laughing.
I'm sure glad that school is done. I had some time to party and see friends, which we actually don't get to do that often during the schoolyear because of all our homework and studying. Thursday night, the day we got out of school, I went to my friend Nitin's house with Austin and a bunch of other people where we watched a movie and went to the pool. Friday I went first to a goodbye party for EF exchange students in the Phoenix Valley (however, since I'm coming back to Westwood for my senior year, it wasn't much of a goodbye for me). Then, I went to a concert in Phoenix with Monica and Nitin, where some local bands played at a smaller venue. Four bands played and the concert turned out to be very long.
First off, a band from Tucson, Steff Koeppen & the Articles.
Followed by Gospel Claws. The guitar player on the left was playing his last ever show with the band.
I had looked up the music of these bands online, prior to going. Factories was the band I was looking forward to the most, because they have more of an electronic sound, but they were disappointing live.
The headliner, Ladylike.
What was funny about going to this small local concert was that there were a lot of hipsters at the venue. This guy was the ultra-hipster. Fedora hat, fake glasses that are tilted, shoulder-strap bag and the newest iPhone. It was hilarious to look at. We spend half the time just laughing at the hipsters. Even funnier was when they started getting drunk and rowdy. The crowd that was above 21 was seperated from those under 21 (who cannot buy alcohol) by a fence, so we were at a safe distance haha.
Then yesterday was pretty well...eventful. I had planned for a bunch of my friends and I to go watch the movie called The Dictator. The only problem is that it is rated R, (17+) and you have to show ID proving that you're 17. I'm only 16. Most of the time the cinemas don't even care at all. They will let you buy a ticket and walk in without ever asking for your age. I figured we wouldn't have any problems at all. All my friends are at least 17, but I don't turn 17 until August. I was very surprised to see them ask me for ID, since I didn't expect that at all. I was denied access to the movie that I had planned for all of us to go see!! Good thing it was at a mall, so I could hangout there while my friends watched the movie. We all went out for dinner together and hung out at the mall afterwards. Despite the episode with Harkins Theatres' security not letting me in, I actually still had a fun time. I checked online what the Dictator was rated in Denmark. Appropriate for anyone 11 years old and up. Film ratings in the U.S. are patheticly strict, seriously. It's ridiculous. I guess I'll go watch it by myself when I get back to Denmark.
Although school is over, my summer break is not gonna be without schoolwork. As part of IB, I have to do my so-called Extended Essay. This is a 4,000-word research essay that I will be working on over the summer. I "only" need to find 20 sources of information first. The topic that I chose was Danish resistance movements during World War II, so I'm sure that topic will keep me interested. On top of that, I have to do a Spanish class online over the course of the summer too. And I have a SAT test coming up. SAT tests are meant to measure how ready you are for college. I took one in May and I have one coming up here in June. I am doing these tests just in case I get an opportunity to attend a university in the US.
I realize that this blog post became so loooong. I had too much to share! It wasn't my intention to not update this blog for such a while. As I always say, I'm gonna try to update my blog more often. We'll see how that goes.
I can tell you that I am going to the Grand Canyon in a few days and in about two and a half weeks I'm traveling back to Denmark for the summer.
Until next time, take care.
Thomas.
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