Click!

This weekend, all I could hear was the sound of my life clicking into place. Like Hardcore. This weekend was so good. I had legitimate fun, I wanted to be where I was!
Friday night, I got all ready to go in my army uniform. Socks, tie, boots, the whole she-bang. Not my favorite outfit in my closet, not to mention I had to band-aid over all of my piercings, and rape my hair with gel in pins. I must admit though, It was a pleasent change to fit in. Usually I stick out as an "outsider," because everything i do is different. This weekend I was just another cadet. When we arrived at the school, it was the opening parade, in which I played in the band. We rehearsed the half hour before the parade, and I almost backed out. Everyone knew what they were doing, and had all the music down-pat. I was just super nervous to be in front of so many people (this was all the cadets in Quebec. Maybe 600 or 700 people??) when I had absolutley no idea what I was doing. Lucky for me though, everything went well, and I managed not to stick out like a sore thumb. After that, we went to "bed" (sleeping bags and air matreses on classroom floors), and surprisingly, i had the best sleep I've ever had the entire time i've been in quebec. This was good, because saturday was a long day!
We woke up at 6:00 for breakfast. for which we had to wait in line for over an hour. After that, we all went into teams for the games to start! I was on the "snow" soccer team. It poured rain friday night, so saturday morning, the pavement was glass. The first two games were more like "ice" soccer, the next two were "slush" soccer, and in the afternoon it dried up for "pavement" soccer. It was really nice for the majority of the day, and I actually enjoyed being outside! My team was four boys, and me and one other girl. The other girl (eli) and I rotated periods, and the boys played the entire time. I had such a fun time. When I was watching, I cheered so loud, and pretty much just stood there and cheered while i was "playing." When I was on the sidelines, i was talking to the referee, and he was so impressed with my french! He gave me a coupon for a prize, because my french was good, and I had a lot of effort! The prize I chose was a University of Laval sticker for my clarinet case! I bonded with the team, and by the end of the day we were all cheering, and hugging and bashing helmets. (did i mention we had to wear hockey helmets?? I felt like such a fool, but everyone was wearing them, so i didnt look that stupid...)The morning was round robin, in which we didn't lose a single game. After lunch was the play-offs, and we made it all the way to the gold medal game! It was actually really exciting. I don't know if i have ever been in a final for a team sport, so it was a super neat experience.Unfortunatley, the other team scored two fluke goals right off the bat, and we weren't able to catch up. I don't actually mind that we lost though, it was such a fun day, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
That night was a big dance. There were so many people, and the DJ's were really good. It was very much my kind of scene. Similar to the last cadet dance i went to, there are so many songs everybody gets up and knows a dance (like the macarana). Some of them i learned, and others I just kind of stood and laughed at them! It was really neat when they all did a dance to footloose though. I have to admit, I was impressed. After the dance, we went to bed. I must admit, I went to bed very happy. We had a lot of time of saturday to socialize, and I can now say i have friends. Like legit, make-up sharing, lion face making, crazy dancing kind of friends, and I feel really happy. I knew I just had to be patient and things would click! They finally did!
This morning we woke up at 6:30, but it was really 5:30 because of the time change. We had the closing ceremonies today, and again i was with the band. The closing ceremonies were really fun. There are three different kinds of cadets (navy, marine and air) and each one has there own "theme song." The band played each song, and when they did, the cadets went CRAZY! It was so fun to watch! Each sports winners went up to the podium and there was a cute little medal ceremony. When it was time for me and my team to go get our medals, i was really nervous, becuase you have to do the whole "stomp-salute-march-turn" thing, but i did a really good job, and I know have a silver medal! Also, my squadron won second place overall, which was kind of exciting, because there are a lot of cadets in Quebec!
Even though I was absolutley exhausted when i got home today, i went to the gym for a run and workout. Now I am so tired i could fall asleep standing up! Lucky for me though, tomorrow is the last day of spring break, so I have a day to catch up on sleep!
I am actually kind of excited to go back to school. This weekend gave me some new confidence, so I feel like everything is going to continue to click this week. March is going to be an easy month. I only have fifteen days of school, and lots of little things to look forward to. I have a field trip, it's Julie's birthday and there is an awards ceremony at a fancy hotel for the exchange program! Also, I am hoping this month I will have made enough friends that my social life can swing into a little bit more action.

All my love,
Carly

NOTE: This blog was written sunday evening, but due to my crappy internet, I was not able to post untill now!