finally!

I finally got to doing this video. So here is an update:

The Ultimate Preparation!

This was filmed one day before leaving.

An Overview of Sabbatical

We are leaving the house on July 31 and will travel Europe with my Grandma Lubienski for about a month. Then we will go to Dublin, Ireland and find an apartment (Grandma will help settle us in and then she will return to her home). We will live in Ireland for the first semester. Mom will work at Dublin City University along with dad (but dad won't get paid so he will do a substantial amount of kiteboarding there). I will be attending Mount Temple (the school where U2 was formed) and Anna will go to St. Vincent De Pauls Girls school (an all girls Catholic school just around the corner from mine). During "Winter" Break, Dad, Mom, Anna, and I might go to Spain, Italy, and/or Greece (we aren't sure of what we are doing then). Next we will go to Hamilton, New Zealand where Dad will work at the University of Waikato. Mom will do some research but she won't get paid. I will be attending Hillcrest High School and Anna will be going to Berkely Normal Middle School. In New Zealand we will have a nice big house (a big change from Dublin's small apartment). In both Dublin and Hamilton we will travel the countries on weekends and such.

About Me! (and my family)

This is my life right now, before sabbatical:

As you know, my name is Ella and I am 13. I live in Urbana (the Urbana in Champaign-Urbana) and I am a freshman at University Laboratory High School (aka Uni). I skipped a grade to get into Uni so I am really supposed to be an 8th grader. To find out more info about Uni go to http://www.uni.illinois.edu/.
I am known for being a crazy, hyper, sugar-loving, colourful (I usually spell colour that way instead of color. I don't know why, I just do. Along with favourite), mostly-happy girl. However, I also love to read, write, sing, act, and dance. I am not just an oober-hyper-crazy girl though. I pay attention to important news and attempt to be environmentally safe. I also love helping people and animals in need.

About my family:

~ My sister, Anna:
Anna is 10 years old, in 4th grade, and is AMAZING at math. Here is her website if you want to find out more about what she has done involving math: http://www.mathman.biz/html/annaL.html. Sometimes we make up shows together. She likes to sing and dance and is learning cello. Anna is like a piano prodigy - she is great at playing piano and has already written many songs for the piano. This is her first year playing softball too.

~ My mom, Sarah:
My mom is funny (but only to adults. When me and my sister were kids we didn't think she was funny - now we do.). I get my musical talent from her. Sarah plays piano and drums and sings. She is the leader of the church praise band. Sarah is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) and she teaches how to teach math. So, she often helps me with my math homework. Here is info about her work http://education.illinois.edu/frp/l/stl.
~ My dad, Chris:
My dad is very funny a lot of the time (as seen in the picture below). But he can be serious at times too. He isn't very musical, but he has learned how to play bass guitar and plays it in the church band. Chris also works in the department of education at the U of I - with my mom - but he teaches Education Policy. His work info is at http://education.illinois.edu/fsd/l/club.

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3.

Sooooo...

This is my first post ever! :) Yay! You might be wondering why the domain name is sabbatigal but everywhere else says sabbtigirl. This is because someone else took the domain name sabbatigirl. She wasn't even a girl! She was a WOMAN! I am not happy with this person! >:( Anyway...

I probably won't write on here for a while seeing as right now it is April the 25 and my family isn't leaving till July 31. I am planning on mostly doing video blogs but I don't know...

Here is a test picture:

oookkkkaaaayyyyyy. The picture automatically went to the top. My bad! :)

If anyone has suggestions feel free to email me!