Weekly Update #1 - The Freshman 15

Dear newly added social media resource (aka bloggy),

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you, but you just don't understand how hard it is to update my life on four different platforms of media. I mean, Facebook is hard enough, let alone Instagram, twitter, and now this blog!

Sheesh that's a whole lot of writing to do! Plus I don't even know if anyone really reads this thing anyways, but I guess we shall see.

Weekly update númerouno, here we go:

Today I started a diet. Yes, you read that correctly. My host mom and dad convinced me that in one month I could lose 15 pounds if I followed this crazy regimen with them - and me, being a sucker for all things trendy, decided it might be a good idea. (I was just glad to see that even after having moved to a different country and eaten all sorts of weird foods, I stayed at exactly the same weight I was in the states. Hooray!! On another note though, I have gained weight the past year, so I'm not sure if that's actually something to be cheering about..)

It's been one day and I'm already craving anything and everything with the word "yummy" attached to it.

I don't know if this will actually work, but here's to hoping!

Everyone here has gotten some kind of sickness, and unfortunately I wasn't immune to it completely either. I have a little cold, for what seems like the first time in forever, so I probably had it coming. I'll never take for granted modern medicine again!

I told my host family I felt kind of down in the dumps and they boiled me up some weird lemony broth thing and told me to drink it every day and I would never be sick again. Well.. Alrighty, then.

Teaching has been going swimmingly. I mean that literally, as in I'm dog-paddling to keep my head above water.

I've never had so much respect for my elementary school teachers as I do in this moment. Don't worry, there will be plenty more about these little "angels" in time.

Today I've been sad. Mostly because I remembered it's fall now, and that means Halloween edition Oreo cookies. That I can't have. *que deep depression*

I hope everyone back home is doing well, and now that I downloaded the blog app on my phone I hope to keep updating more frequently!

I love you all!! Xoxo!! 

Katie Rose.

I'm Alive!

Good news!! I MADE IT TO UKRAINE!!!!! :) :) :)

I could spend a whole lot of time writing about how my flights were and yada yada yada, but I'm going to skip all that nonsense and hit on interesting things.

1. The Chicago airport is one of the most interesting airports I've ever been to. There was an option to walk instead of take the train to the farthest terminal, and it is worth the twenty extra minutes. There is a walkway underground where the walls are covered in LED screens which light up with different variations of color and the ceiling has electric looking lights running the entire length of the corridor. It is pretty neat.

2. I have never been out of the country, so this is the longest flight I have ever been on. It also happens to be the largest plane I have ever been on as well. First class looks overrated - I mean, especially after you see the price. I watched Monsters University, The Bling Ring (big flop), and Iron Man 3. I made friends with a Chinese woman and her German husband. And I attempted to sleep.

3. Once in Frankfurt we had to take a bus through the landing pads of the airport to get to our plane. Then we boarded from the ground (see picture, oh and don't mind the worker. I'm sure you can tell he's happy to be working in the pouring rain.)

4. Ukrainians tend not to shower as often as Americans, so that should tell you a little bit about being stuck in a small, confined space with them.

5. We landed in Kyiv and just as we were getting to customs, a boy in our group discovered that he had left his passport on the plane. The only problem was a flight attendant had taken his passport to some office in the airport and nobody knew where it went. Airport security kicked us out, and made us leave our friend behind. They eventually sorted it out but it was about an hour before they let him into the country.

That's pretty much all sums up two days of flying. If you still want to see more you can watch the short clip of all the excitement below. There's a lot of time zones in that 15 seconds.

Okay, now onto the fun stuff! :) What it is like in this beautiful city!

It's gorgeous here. It's illegal to destroy any of the buildings from the era when Ukraine was still controlled by the Soviet Union, so it still has a huge influence here. Fun fact: Ukraine gained it's freedom from Russia in 1991. 

The view from my bedroom window overlooking the city.
It really is such a colorful place ( in personality as well), although gray is the dominant building color 

I know everyone wants to here more about the family I am staying with and all the things about everyday living, but I will be posting about all of that tomorrow!

It's midnight for me, so with that I say Спокойной ночи (goodnight!).

T-Minus 5 Days

Here we go!! It's my last full week in these here United States. It's been such a hectic couple of weeks leading up to this, but the day is almost here - so close I can already taste the borscht.

For anyone wanting to have my email address while I'm away it's: katierosestratford@gmail.com

Please don't sign me up for any weird spam or email me strange things.. It's going to make me really regret putting my email out in the open.

Alright, well my last day of work is tomorrow so I should probably get some sleep.

As they say in Ukraine; до свидания!

Welcome To Katie's World

Well, here it is. The long awaited blog of the infamous Katie Rose Stratford.

Let me start out by saying I have tried to blog before, and honestly, I hope this time works out better than the previous.

This blog is going to be about my life and adventures. Starting in Kiev, Ukraine.

That's right! You heard me, UKRAINE!!!

I am so so so excited to start this journey of a lifetime - hopefully the first of many. I'm leaving September 6, 2013. That's only 25 days away!

If you'd like to keep me with all my happenings, then go ahead and subscribe to my posts :)
I'll try to be pretty regular with my posts (at least once a week).

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped me reach this point in my life. I would never be here without the love and support from my close family and friends. You mean everything to me.