Sarah!

            Hello, my name is Sarah. I have had an awesome summer because I did all of my favorite activities, so I am going to describe this summer in order to describe myself.
            About a week after school ended, I was in Germany! I am very glad that I have parents who choose to spend money on plane tickets, to places like Belize and Italy, over random luxuries. I love traveling, and in college I am most excited to take part in study abroad. My favorite German experience was eating giant pretzels in the English Garden in Munich while watching the public viewing of the German national soccer team beating Greece in the Euro Cup quarterfinals. I wish that I was in Europe for every international soccer tournament; I love taking part in cultural experiences like that. We ended the trip in London, which I adored; I have an obsession with vibrant metropolises.

Here's me and my friend Julia by the extremely beautiful Neuschwanstein castle

            While vacations are fun, I have found that visiting tourist attractions is not as rewarding as volunteering and learning about local life. The day after I returned from London, I joined my youth group (of First Presbyterian Church) for a second mission trip to Los Angeles. I had previously been on unforgettable mission trips to New Orleans and Los Angeles. I have met the most inspirational people at housing sites, mission organizations, and on the streets. This year I had a conversation with a homeless man and he talked about the concert there will be in heaven. He ended up taking our hands and praying for us, my friend ended up crying, and I will never forget it.

Here's the group at the Midnight Mission, where we served breakfast one day.



            After those two amazing trips, I spent a small time at home catching up on fitness. Other than school, soccer is the center of my life. I also play tennis, but that is mostly for fun, and I don't have much to say about it. I love soccer so much because I am on an amazing and hardworking club team. A few years ago our team got a professional coach, and we have worked very hard and have improved at a fantastic rate. The dedication of my team has paid off; last year, we won the NorCal State Cup! That championship sent us to Chicago for the National Tournament at the end of July. We weren't very successful in Chicago, but it was a surreal experience to compete with the top eight performing teams in the country for this year. I am honored to have such talented teammates, and working with them has been the most consistent and rewarding activity in my life.
            I rushed home from Chicago to make it to the last four days of an incredible week called Lark Camp. Soccer and school can be exhausting, so I relax with music. I have taken piano lessons since I was in Kindergarten, and I also try to teach myself guitar and ukulele. I used to play clarinet in band, but now I am in choir. Two favorite parts of my year are what my friends call my hippie camps: Strawberry Music Festival in May and Lark Camp in August. While Strawberry is fun, Lark Camp is perfect. I annually spend my favorite week of the year at Lark Camp in the Mendocino Woodlands with one of my best friends and her mom. We spend the days in classes such as Zimbabwean Marimba, Belly Dancing, and Morris Dancing, spend the nights dancing swing, salsa, Balkan, or contra, and spend the early mornings listening to our friends have spectacular jam sessions until sunrise. Everyone is extremely nice and interesting and talented, and I wish I was there all the time!

This is my fabulous Morris Dancing class, where you dance with sticks.



I came back all musically inspired and am now trying to tackle "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" on piano, and it is a pain because it has six flats, but I'm really exctied for when I conquer it. Anyways, this year of Lark somehow even topped all of the past years, and it was a perfect end to summer.
          This summer was wonderful and exemplified everything I love, and I hope senior year will do the same!