An Early Valentine's Gift

By Liesa , 9 February 2026

Hello y'all

Finally, I got to properly updating my blog posts. And perhaps a little late, but I wanna give you my best New Years wishes. I hope your year has started off with better health than mine. Anyways, let's get on with the pictures.

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For I think the first time in my life, I went properly sledding. Going up the hill after every decend in about a meter of snow was rather exhausting, hence why in the picture below my hostsister is sitting at the bottom of the hill and enjoying the sight of me tumbling down.

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Snow-covered legs in jeans, people on hilltop in distance.

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The sledding was so fun I had to go again the next day. That second day, the top layer of the snow had melted and then refrozen, resulting in a nice layer of ice that made going down the hill even faster. Unfortunally, as my cheek found out soon enough, it also meant that slamming onto the ground was a little less pleasant. 

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Snowy field under a cloudy sky at sunset.

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Though I didn't always get to see them, the Northern Lights showed up a few times again. Here's one of the times i did get to see the absolute beauty of them.

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Northern lights over snowy suburban street at night.

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A few weeks ago, we had winter formal. I think the best way to describe it is to say that it's similar to a homecoming dance. We had a very fun time nonetheless, dancing the night away and regularly standing in line for the photoboot.

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5 people smiling under a purple balloon arch at a party.

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For one of Lene's (my German hostsister) last meals, we went to a Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant. In that restaurant, they had really good food, as well as an aquarium with some... interesting fish.

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A fish in an aquarium clings to glass, surrounded by pebbles and heart shapes.

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One of my many Henna creations, this one was on my Mexican hostsisters' hand.

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Henna design of sun and patterns on a hand with colorful bracelet.

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As the first semester came to an end, so did stagecraft. In honour of our time as theater kids, Grade 12 students were allowed to leave a little message on the walls. This was mine.

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Quote handwritten on a wall above a partial sign.

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Yesterday (so saturday) I went to do a polar dip. It was at Charlie lake - our 'local' lake - where they had cut a stripe out of the ice for us to go in. I just went in and out but there were others who stayed in for a whole 5 minutes. The picture below is one of the fire they had made for us to stay warm/warm up. it was rather necessary as it was -12°C that day. Despite my toes nearly freezing off before I even went into the ice water, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it.

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Logs burning with bright orange flames on a light surface.

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And now to round off this blogpost, some pictures of the beautiful skies that I got to witness when walking to school.

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Sunset with vibrant pink and purple clouds over silhouetted trees and fence.
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Snowy pathway at sunset with a dark sky and faint pink horizon.
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Street at dusk with power lines and glowing streetlights.

Stay hydrated and I'll see you next time.

Still slightly healing regards, Cupcake