Final Friday

Today, I'm going to tell a story: the time Latin Class was canceled and no one told the exchange student. I  waited the entire class period and no one showed up, so I'm not sure what the deal with that was. They did have Archaeology magazines from the late eighties, so that was my consolation prize.
The rest of the day was pretty great. Two teachers passed out food because I was leaving, and some of the students actually talked to me. Amazingly, there were more than a few who were surprised to learn that a) I was in their class, and b) that I was leaving. I must have really made an impression here. After school, Rosa and I rushed to the train station, rode into town, and got her a new pair of point shoes. Then, well, after a gelato stop, her parents picked us up and I had the experience of Vietnamese food. Now here comes the interesting part, so if you're skimming, stop. To get to the Mykyta Chomsky's before nine or so at night, we had to ride the bus home. Apparently the route we needed to take was known for being a little sketchy, but we managed to get most of the way home without any incident. However, within the last fifteen minutes not only did we witness policemen patting down youths, a man on some kind of mind altering substance got on the bus and howled the ceiling. It was okay, until he got off at the same stop. But we made it home just fine, running a little bit because of the gallons of tea we had at the restaurant, but fine. Now Rosa and I are watching Doctor Who and I'm gonna make some tea. By this time tomorrow, I'll be home. Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.

Thursday

I woke up and felt terrible and my host mom said I didn't have to go to school. So nothing really happened today, I drank tea and slept. Sorry for the lack of interesting things.

Wednesday

I am so ready to go home. Evidently, it's very hard to pay attention in school when there's no threat of an assessment hanging over your head. My histories are still very interesting, of course, and so is gender studies, but then you get into endless sects of Christianity during the Roman Empire, and Biology, to say nothing of Latin declensions. But tomorrow I pack my bags, since Friday we'll be out pretty late. I've definitely become accustomed to life at the Mykyta- Chomsky's, which mostly involves listening to Manny play the piano at six in the morning and drinking tea. Graham crackers also play a heavy role. It's been very interesting to live with a different family, because it's usually difficult to get a fix on people's daily lives as a more temporary guest. The anthropology part of my brain likes that very much. Also a very nice thing: last night both of my parents called. I kind of communicated with my cat. (Don't worry Tigris, we shall be reunited soon.) I can stop joking about being an orphan with my host parents! Yay! In all honesty, I feel like I've done very well here, maybe not by most people's standards, but by mine. I was less homesick than I thought I'd be (opening lines aside) and reasonably sociable. So five points to Gryffindor and all of that. Speaking of, I went to Harry Potter club today, and we watched the first half hour of the first movie. So if I was sad today, that fixed it. 

Sorry for any in coherency, but the lab report for Biology befuddled my brain and I'm multitasking a little. Enjoy your evening, blog readers.  

Tuesday

Today I received an email from a friend (whose name rhymes with Meena) who asked if I was okay, because my blog was sad and obsessed with food. That's honestly not my intention when I'm writing the blog, but since I usually write after school, when I haven't had food yet and I'm tired and cranky. My experience here has been a positive one, I'm just someone who likes to complain. And food is important, and some of the things I've eaten have been worth obsessing over. So now that I've gotten the disclaimer out of the way; today was much better than yesterday. I dealt with the homework problem, and I had a teacher for the last time. I only have three more full days here, which makes it harder to be stressed about homework and quizzes. I still manage, though. I also got an annotated copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin from the English teacher, which is very interesting, so I'll use it for my presentation on Thursday.  Meeting with my uncle after school was probably the more exciting part of the day. We got coffee, which was great because hello, caffeine, and talked. The weird thing is I haven't seen him since eighth grade or something like that, and I'd like to flatter myself that I've changed since then, but he looks pretty much the same. It was very nice to see him, though, and I'll see him again next week at Thanksgiving. Which is also weird, because wasn't it just Halloween? Final side note: I hate to say it, but I think I've caught Rosa's cold thing. However, my superior immune system, and the fact that I probably eat twice the food she eats, have stopped it from developing beyond a runny nose and sore throat. I can hack it three more days. I have an English presentation and a Bio lab to write, so I'll leave on that note. Happy Tuesday, everyone.

Blegh, Monday

The title speaks for itself. Today was rough. I ate a lot of carbohydrates and tried my very best to stay awake in class. There were some computer issues and then there were some printing issues, so I couldn't turn in all of my homework for today, but the teachers were very understanding. At least I only have four more days at the school, and we have some exciting things planned for Friday. Tomorrow, I'm meeting with my uncle, who I actually have to call tonight. On the plus side, my new cardigan is very soft and comfortable. I also wanted to thank everyone who has left me comments, they're all very much appreciated. I'm very excited to come home and see everyone again! On that note, I'm going to venture out of my blanket cocoon and find my host family (and maybe a cup of tea...) so I can finalize my plans for tomorrow, which I'm sure I'll deal with much better. I hope everyone's had a good day.
-Emma

Last Sunday at Germantown

This was a great day. I have significantly less money than I did this morning, but it was still great. This morning, Rosa and I rushed out the door to catch the train into town, grabbing breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts along the way. First we went to the Franklin Institute, where we saw a very interesting exhibit on Pompeii and walked through a model of a heart. On our way to the Natural History Museum, we passed the finish line of the Philadelphia Marathon.There were a lot of sweaty people. We got to the museum, I took a picture with the T- Rex outside, and we looked at dinosaur bones. Rosa very patiently waited while I asked a paleontologist how I could get his job. Then we got lunch at a hot dog place that is, apparently, a big deal. It was fine, but the most significant thing was that it began my caffeine spiral of the afternoon. We then started the shopping portion. We went to the store that had the coat, searched everywhere, but couldn't find it. That was a little bit heartbreaking, so I tried to bury my pain by temporarily turning into my shopaholic sister. I think the grand total for the day is one CD, one T-shirt, a very nice sweater, an amazing cupcake, and a pair of jeans, not to mention the coffee, the Diet Coke, and a few train tickets. Buying things is gret, I don't know why I rarely do it. Also, there are apparently stores that just sell 1950's inspired clothing. Stores where I am a small. Stores that have amazing dresses...that are around a hundred dollars each. Yeah. I will return, and buy all of the dresses. It was probably the closest thing I'll get to a Disney movie montage. I mean, we did go to a park where people were swing dancing, so it's possible Philadelphia slipped into movie land for a few minutes. Probably the only downside is we walked quite a bit, and my shoes weren't quite up to the challenge. So right now I'm kind of relaxing and waiting for dinner, which is baby octopus. Not really sure how this is going to go, but I'm going to find out pretty soon. Six more days until my triumphant return to the Midwest!

Saturday

Today I actually benefited from my host family's busy schedule. They picked me up from the house at around noon, and I got some amazing doughnuts. I didn't know that strawberry lavender doughnuts existed before today, but they are now my favorite. Then we picked up Manny, dropped him off somewhere else, and went to a very large market. Which was also excellent, because it had lots of people and lots of food. My host parents went grocery shopping and I wandered (I may have also picked up a few birthday presents..). And I also had an authentic hoagie, and it was pretty delicious. Lesson of the day: I can eat a lot of food in four hours. The soda probably helped, and I got some much needed caffeine. Later on we're going to dinner at a friend's house, the same friend, as it happens, that owns the very nice cafe we went to last weekend, so hopefully there'll be coffee. Today was a great followup to last night's romantic comedy, nail polish, and french toast consumption. Tomorrow we're going to go to some museums, and maybe (hopefully) purchase the coat of my dreams. By this time next week, I'll be at home, which is definitely something to look forward to. Enjoy your Saturday, everyone!

Thursday/ Friday

So sorry about yesterday's lack of an entry. Although, to be honest, you weren't missing much. We got Chinese food and I did a Bio lab about cellular respiration. That was pretty much the height of excitement. Today, however, was a little bit more interesting. To start, it's the end of the school week! Yay! More time for coffee shops and possibly the purchase of the coat! Next weekend will be my last full weekend here, so we're going on a museum crawl and doing all of the touristy stuff. Getting back to the story of my Friday, to start I had Latin, where I am now Boadicea. Nobody knew who it was, which kind of makes me want to start an educational history riot. Then, Biology, where I got a seventy on the test we had, which doesn't sound all that impressive, but I'd like to point out that I wasn't here for half of the material we were tested on, and I didn't fail. So points to Emma. And, most exciting development of the day.....I have officially finished Uncle Tom's Cabin. And to quell my fears of inadequacy over that test grade, I'd like to make it public knowledge that a week ago, I had only read one hundred pages, and that I've only read this book during my free periods at GFS. So I read three hundred and fifty pages over five free periods. It's okay if I'm a failure at Biology, if that happened, right? That has been my Friday so far. Now I'm going to delve into the pile of Italian detective novels my host family left in my room. You can tell I'm a cool teenager by how I spend my Friday nights. One week to go!

Halfway there!

The way I see it is I've been here for a week and a half, ergo, (see that fancy Latin paying off?) I'm halfway done with Networking. I am enjoying it here, despite my countdown. Today was fine, I talked to Kate Hansen about community service, but that's a little up in the air at this point, since I don't have that much time left here. I'm supposed to talk to my host family about it, but Rosa's gotten really sick, so I haven't had a chance to speak with them. My classes are going well; today I learned about Alexander Hamilton, and that was very exciting. Did you know that the differences between him and Jefferson are the basis for modern political parties? Did you also know that Latin has a tense for the passive voice? That is pretty much all I learned today. So that's kind of it. I rebelled against my mother and ate a doughnut? Yeah. Today wasn't that exciting, but that's okay. Have a nice night, everyone.

Tuesday Take Two

To be honest, not much happened. I woke up at three in the morning and stared at the ceiling for a while, so when I woke up again to get ready for school I looked a little bit dead. Actually, more like a lot dead. The point I'm trying to make is that I'm tired. I also maybe had birthday cake for breakfast. Not because the Mykata- Chomskys are irresponsible parents, but one of Rosa's friends brought in a belated birthday cake during homeroom. And later on in the day I had to miss lunch, because I had Latin, but the sugar high carried me through until I got home, where I helped Rosa make cookies for a bake sale. We watched a very bad romantic comedy and ate lots of cookie dough. It was great, and I'm glad I get along with her, but the downside of this is that all I've eaten today is dessert. The sugar high wore off when Rosa left for dance, so it's been a little bit scary being in the house alone, but I have their dog, Homer, for company. I also talked to my uncle, who will arrive in the city next week, so we'll meet for dinner then. I think I've gotten adjusted, and I'm getting used to GFS, but I do miss my friends and family. I'll see them in about a week and a half, though, so I'm just going to enjoy it while I'm here.

-Emma

Happy Birthday, Rosa!

Today is my host sister's birthday! Even though we had school today, it was still very nice. Her friend baked her cupcakes, and we ate copious amounts of candy, which I appreciated. Right now her mom is making her birthday dinner, and there will be guests in a few minutes, so this will be a short entry. On a different note, today also the day for people to contact me; I've been getting more texts and emails than usual. It's very pleasant, just a little different. It's a good way to start the week.

Second Sunday!

Today was my second Sunday here! It was pretty relaxed. I had a chance to sleep in a little, so of course I woke up at eight thirty. Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, I mostly just studied for the Biology test on Monday and drank tea. It was pretty similar to a regular Sunday at home, minus the frantic APUSH cramming. We had an actual home cooked meal, and it was very good. Tomorrow's Rosa's birthday, and she got her presents earlier tonight. She's really happy about her new cowboy boots. Nothing much happened today, in all honesty, but it was a pretty good one.
-Emma

My First Week

In about ten minutes, it will be the end of my first week in Germantown. In all honesty, it wasn't the easiest week (for instance, the burglar alarm just went off, probably waking up the entire street), but I got through it. And hopefully I can get through two more.
Rosa and I just got back from a late Halloween party. It was very casual, but we spent about nine hours there. That's challenging, especially for someone like me, but it was mostly fun. I got to eat all of the candy that was denied to me on actual Halloween, and had real live conversations with some of the classmates I had met this week. Hopefully this means on Monday I can talk a bit more with some of Rosa's friends.
Sorry for the brief entry, but it's a bit late, so I think I'll get to bed.
-Emma

Several Days Later....

My sincerest apologies, this is the first chance I've had to write since Wednesday night. On Thursday, we got home from school and I may have collapsed a little bit onto the bed. Later on that night, we went to pick up Manny from his music lesson, and then we went grocery shopping for that night's dinner. On the plus side, the fridge is fixed, so that may have been the last late night shopping excursion. Also on Thursday, I went to my first GFS Quaker Meeting, which was interesting. It was very peaceful, and I'm sure I can handle two more. I'm amazed that so many high school kids could stay quiet for so long, though. There may have been sedatives somewhere along the line. Anyway, that ended my first week at Germantown! Two to go, and hopefully I'll remember someone's name. So far the classes themselves have been manageable, it's the talking to people, and the navigation, and the homesickness that have been tougher. But I shall triumph! Or at least, survive the next two weeks.
On Friday, I went downtown with Rosa and her friend, Jamie. I rode a bus, and the subway, two very exciting things, and walked a lot, which was a little less exciting. We ate breakfast at a French cafe where the know the owner, which adds to the sophistication by quite a bit. After basically stuffing ourselves, we went to a very large bookstore and looked at Doctor Who merchandise and debated whether or not to deface One Direction posters. (We didn't, don't worry, I'm a law abiding citizen, even in the face of terrible music.) Side note: I've come to the conclusion that stores in Philadelphia are the same as stores in Toledo, only larger. Anyway, after deciding we had waited long enough, we set off for lunch. We, well, I got distracted on the way  by some really cute kittens in a store window. I think I miss my cats more than my sister. Especially since I know I'm going to come home and find half of my clothing missing, and it won't be the cats who took it. Lunch was very delicious, although I ate more than the ballerina by far, and then we went shopping. And shopping is excellent, especially in a city that caters to a wider range of interests. I got a very nice purple sweater, and fell in love with a reaally nice military coat that I could have bought! But in buying it I would have drastically limited my funds for the next two weeks. It was a beautiful coat, and I could probably write poetry about it, but I have a feeling that that isn't exactly what Mrs. Koelsch is looking for. After a tearful goodbye with that wonderful coat, we walked around for a bit, and there was a Doc Martens store! It was beautiful. There were boots everywhere and one of them was decorated like an album I really like and it was signed and it smelled like leather and dreams. Anyway, after I finished fangirling about the shoestore like the giant dork I am, we had to go to Manny's school to be picked up by their grandmother, who was a very sweet, very short lady who told me to eat more. We quickly stopped at Rosa's house to grab our things and shower, then we spent the night at her grandparents. It was pretty relaxed, I changed into my pajamas, which I have yet to change out of, and we watched Doctor Who and terrible reality TV shows until we fell asleep. It was a little less pleasant when I was kind of bitten by one of their massive dogs, but other than that, it was a good night. So tonight I have a (kind of late, but we're not judging) Halloween party at her friend's house, and I've made a deal not to bring a book. So as much as it pains me, I will be making strides towards being the social butterfly of my parent's dreams. I will try to inform you on how it went, but I don't know how late it'll be, so no guarantees on coherency.
-Emma

Day Four

Two days of school down, only twelve to go. At least we have Friday off. It's not the classes that are the problem, necessarily, it's getting there. This is an unnecessarily large school, and I think they need their own Under One Roof campaign. Not that I'm complaining. What I am complaining about is my weird mental alarm clock that goes off at six in the morning, when I really don't  have to get out of bed for another hour. So, thank you teacher parents, for training me to rise ridiculously early. Also Latin. Latin has no rules, is my primary take away from today's lesson. Not mentioning the fact that my class is full of eighth graders. I didn't realize how different large groups of middle schoolers are from large groups of high schoolers. The only editorial I'm going to add is thank God I'm not in middle school anymore.
I apologize for the pessimism, but I really didn't get a break today. It was straight classes, including lunch, and my only free period was at the end of the day, during which I met with Kate, the Networking Adviser, and started Uncle Tom's Cabin. (Somewhere, LK rejoices) Being a good citizen is exhausting. But Uncle Tom's Cabin is good, so at least my productivity won't be boring.
So, the food situation is less than good at the Mykata Chomsky's  right now. Approximately twenty four hours after I arrived, their refrigerator broke. And while this means takeout (Pizza! Cheese steaks!), it also means I can't pack my lunch. And extending that problem even further, I can't buy food at the cafeteria, since Rosa has class during lunch tomorrow (this school uses fancy fingerprint scanners instead of money. Truly, they are the future.), so tomorrow I either starve, or try to buy food from the student snack bar, which, side note, MV should totally have. And we all know I really can't be trusted to make food purchasing decisions. I'll probably end up eating something junky with the caloric value of a Happy Meal. But if I can survive my chemistry exam, I can survive another two and a half weeks at a large and confusing school. For everyone at home, enjoy your familiar surroundings and ability to know where you're going, because I can't.

Day Three

The first day of school here. I woke up a good half hour before Manny or Rosa, and was downstairs and ready way before it was necessary. This school is on more than one block. It's intimidating. We ran around like  headless chicken for a bit, trying to find the networking adviser for Germantown, and got the schedule thing sorted out. And for the rest of the day I just went to classrooms, only asking for directions once, might I add, and repeated the same thing over and over. "My name is Emma Baker. I'm from Toledo, Ohio. I'm visiting here for a month. I'm staying with Rosa." And then I smile/laugh/nod while they tell me about how one time they went to Columbus, or they've driven through Ohio, or they make jokes about corn. But, hey. They have more carbohydrates than Maumee Valley, so no matter what, I'll come back fat and happy.
Things I learned today

• How to say hospital in sign language
• That the lunch ladies at this school are apparently more friendly than most students
• Also they have cool fingerprint scanners
• English Civil War
• It's possible to forget everything you've ever learned in Biology between freshman and junior year
• You can eat a bagel and some fries and still be hungry at 5:45
• It's cold and dark in Philadelphia

Things I didn't learn today

• How to socialize. But I'll work on that.  

Day Two

This is totally manageable. These people are Doctor Who fans, they're supportive of me waking up at ten thirty in the morning (although, truth be told, I was reading for about an hour and a half before I officially woke up), and they support my coffee habit. As long as my friends keep texting me, and I'm able to sneak off for some antisocial computer time, I've got this.
However, tomorrow is the first day of school, and there was something posted on the GFS website about how I'm the new kid for the month, so this good feeling might go away pretty soon. Also, I finished my licorice all sorts (thanks, Mom!) this morning. So it might be a little bit more of a struggle.
Although, we do have school off on Friday, and Rosa has promised me a day of non stop eating and public transit, my two favorite things, so I've got that to look forward to. And I witnessed a three hour ballet recital after the coffee jaunt. Thank God I am not a ballerina, because I don't think my feet could take the abuse. I also don't exactly have the figure for leotards, or enough hair for a bun.  It's about ten at night, and I kind of want to finish the Italian detective novel I picked up earlier today, so wish me luck in functioning socially tomorrow. This has been Emma Baker, reporting to you live from Philadelphia.

Day One

So, today I woke up, hauled my two suitcases and backpack downstairs and then waited for a long time for the rest of my family to get ready. Because apparently it takes me less time to prepare for a month away from home then it does for everyone else to get ready for an hour long car ride. One gas station stop, a brief panic over  ticket printouts that were left at home, and some emotional goodbyes later, I got some coffee and waited. And waited. And worried. Finally finally finally they let us board. So I’m writing this on a plane (I’ll post it later, along with how meeting my host family played out.) The woman I’m sitting next to was doing her nails, and it probably says something that her nail painting skills on a bumpy plane are better than mine when I’m sitting still in my room. That’s probably it for now, no major crises (yet…). 

My host family seems very nice. I was picked up by Rosa, the girl who's my age, and her dad, and then we retrieved her mom and younger brother. They're very musical, the brother, Emanuel, has been playing the piano since we got back from dinner, and Rosa dances. Probably the only weird thing is the fact that this family is a good deal shorter than my family, so I'm a good six inches taller than most of them. So yeah, good day today.