Here are pictures of Halloween

Halloween

(Disclaimer: I already write this post once and it got deleted so I apologize if this one is a little half-hearted. I promise tomorrow will be better.)

Today is Halloween and Allie will not let me forget. She is dressed as a hot dog on a picnic table and its probably the most creative costume I've ever seen. She keeps screaming "IM A HOTDOG ON A PICNIC TABLE!" In crazy accents, but that's just your typical Allie; she's crazy. Allie helped me pick out my halloween costume (as I have previously mentioned) and today I came to school totally decked out in brown wearing antlers. Yes, I was a deer. Everyone loved it. When we got to school the first bell rang telling us that school was starting in 4 minutes. I'm not used to bells in the slightest. I'm not sure you can call the bell at PMHS a bell because it's just three weird beeps over a loud speaker, but its so unusual to me still. No matter how much I make fun of them though, one thing is for sure, they are really useful. Because the bell tells you what time class is over every teacher lets their students out at the same time. That's never happened at MV and because of that people are late to class all the time. My first class today was US history with Sarah and I was so curious as to how the teacher, Mr Larson, was going to teach. Was he going to be just like an MV teacher? I was really hoping so. It turns out Mr. Larson was kind of like an MV teacher because he seemed passionate about his subject but he just wasn't very good at keeping the kids engaged and because of that no one was paying attention. I felt bad because he was trying really hard. I think none of the students were paying attention because of the lack of phone policy at PMHS. The kids text and take pictures all during class. After US history I had AP Lang with Allie. Lang was just like MV. The teacher, Doc, was a mix of LK and Dr. Carr. The kids talked a lot with each other about The Scarlett Letter and they seemed to be able to analyze things very well. Next was chorus which was hilarious because everyone was dressed in full Halloween costume. Alive stood in the top riser wearing her hot dog hat, Sarah was on the bottom in a white flower dress because she was a flower child, and Michael (who's costume was my favorite) was standing on the left flailing around his hook hand because he was dressed as Buster Bluth from Arrested Development, one if my favorite t.v shows of all time. After chorus I went to voice class and started the process for picking out a song to perform in front of the class next week. This is my first time taking a class like this so I'm nervous to perform in front of these serious musicians. It's going to be so much fun though. Lunch was, as usual, the best part of my day. We took pictures with each other and made as much noise as possible singing and laughing. Occasionally Allie would remind all of us that she was ' A HOTDOG ON A PICNIC TABLE!' And everyone in the lunch room stared at us but we didn't care. I took a picture with a kid dressed as black mail. He made me laugh so hard. It's nice to have to ability to be myself at a new school even though being myself means being totally crazy and out of the ordinary. Post-lunch classes were the art classes where I made ceramic birds and pots as well as drawing pictures of Dylan and Natasha in full costume from the play we did last weekend. I'm really getting the hang of this school and I haven't gotten REALLY lost yet so that's good. After school Allie took me downtown to a coffee shop that was like bigbys but bigger and more artsy (if that were even possible). After we went to the coffee shop we all went over to Sarah's for a Halloween party. I had my first piece of buffalo chicken pizza (or buff chick as everyone here calls it). It was so good, especially covered in blue cheese (thanks Sarah!). Tomorrow I have school again and I just can't wait to go to Voice class and see all of my new friends again. I also start voice lessons at Eastman tomorrow so I'm excited for that as well. This place is truly amazing. Michael keeps telling me I just need to stay forever and everyone agrees. I love my new friends.

NO SCHOOL!

Today, because of Hurricane Sandy, I didn't have school. Instead of learning, Allie, Sarah and I drove around town and shopped and they told me what it was like to be a typical New York teenager. We also took Allie and Sarah's friend, Erin, who goes to the other high school on Pittsford. We had so much fun walking around the GIANT Marshall's and T J Maxx as well as Barnes and Noble and the other mall right outside of Pittsford. If I keep shopping the way that I have been there is NO way I will be able to take everything back to Toledo with me. While we were driving around the town I started noticing weird things about their stores. Everything looks like a house but its actually a chain restaurant. Their Tim Horton's was in an old, beach-esque house. honestly, it just kind if looked like Perrysburg. After Allie and I hung out with Sarah and Erin we went out to dinner with Allie's mom that everyone calls Organic Ann because she's studying nutrition and buys organic food for the family all the time. We went to a really nice restaurant that makes dinner and dessert crepes and wow was it amazing. So now I'm blogging and talking to all of my friends over Facebook and text message to see how their days were. Tomorrow will be my first REAL day if school with all of my classes and I'm so curious to see what they are learning about in US history and AP Lang. I also wonder how their teachers are too. I'm incredibly used to wild teachers who are really invested in the education of their children and I just don't know if that's a Maumee Valley thing or not. I say this, of course, without trying to sound stuck up or privileged but I guess I really am privileged to have such amazing teachers who really care about my education. Let's see if PMHS has the same kind of student-tracher structure. I figured I would leave this blog with a great picture I took of Sarah in JoAnn fabrics today. She's quite hilarious. I'm staying wig Sarah next week and I know it will be just as fun as staying with Allie. The fun times just never end.

I JUST WANNA BE A HOT DOG!

This is Allie in her Halloween costume... Even though it's not Halloween yet...

Feeling like A Freshman Again

Today was my first day of school and it was HECTIC! I had to get my classes, find out where to go, and meet all of Allie's friends. My schedule is near perfection. I'm taking 2 classes that I take back home as well as all if the art classes I could cram into my schedule. Us history, AP Lang, chorus, voice class (which is just singing), ceramics,painting and drawing II, as well as a free period and floater class were I can sit in any classes that happen during 6th. I have new friends in every class and lunch with Sarah and Allie along with their hilarious and crazy friends. Because Mr. D and I spent the first 2 classes planning my schedule, I didn't get to go to all of my classes. Today was only arts classes and, honestly, I was really okay with that. Being exhausted and running on first day fumes, I was jittery and nervous and probably couldn't have handled a class anyway. All of the classes that I took today, however, were amazing. Chorus and voice class was just singing and having a good time, my arts classes were just like IFA art except more specialized, and lunch was when I realized that everyone is hilarious and perfect for me. They wore me out, I couldn't stop laughing and we all related really well. My first day couldn't have gone better. After school I took a LONG (and well deserved) nap while Allie ran some errands. At 5:30 (I was still sleeping) Allie busted open my bedroom door, turned on my light, and started jumping on my bed singing, "NOOOO SCHOOOLLL TOMORROWWWW!" Because of Hurricane Sandy and this crazy rain and wind weather we don't have school tomorrow. Sarah came over for dinner and we had a sleep over (which apperently is a totally normal thing to do on a school night due to lack of homework in schools). All night Allie was reading us updates and showing us pictures of flooded New York City. It's absolutely insane. I got a few texts from friends making sure I'm okay but it's just surreal that this is all happening just hours away from me. I hope very one in New York is okay. Keep them in your thoughts. Over all my first day couldn't have gone better and I'm so gratful that I'm fitting in and sticking out just enough to be myself :) tomorrow will be interesting because Allie and Sarah have planned to take me around the area more and go "Hurricane Shopping" which is basically just shopping while its raining and buying things because we assume we're going to die anyway so YOLO! I'm excited (as always).

Settling Down

Today was my first day in Pittsford, New York and it feels just like home. this morning I got on the train in Toledo at 3:20 and got to New York at 11 am. Riding in, everything reminded me of Toledo: old brick buildings and water covered the landscape. Immediately after I got off the train at the Rochester station I called the Mr. D, the man who was picking me up at the train station, (as well as the man who helped me setup my schedule) to male sure that I wasn't going to be stranded at the train staton all day. Thankfully he was there and, after we loaded all of my luggage into the car, he drove me to Allie's house. Allie was going to be my host sister for the week and I was SO excited to meet her and all of her friends. I was also very nervous about being in a new state and going to a big school full of a couple thousand students. I was recently told before I left that I had the same friend base and that I had a difficult time making new friends and interacting in new situations so I was determined to be as outgoing and positive as possible. When I met Allie I knew everything was going to be perfect. We talked about theater and music and clothes and all of her friends (who sound just like my friends) and I could just tell that my two weeks in Pittsford were going to be amazing. So that she could show ne around the area a little bit,Allie drive me around town and then to the mall. THE MALL IS HUGE! There were stores that I've never even heard of that sell the most amazing clothes. Stores like Anthropology that sold shirts for $100 a piece. The first store we went into however was the Halloween costume store. Allie helped me pick out the best Halloween costume ever (which will be featured later). The only other time I've been in a mall that big was when I lived in Nashville, Tennessee. When we got back to the house I learned I'm living in a musical household. My host father and sister both sing and my host father plays guitar. They played me some songs and ask me to play them a song so I played them a song by Sia. Apparently they liked it because my host father decided that we were going to to go an open mic night instead of dinner that evening. It was so much fun listening to everyone sing on stage and wow was everyone talented but I was exhausted from all of my morning travels and so we went home to sleep. Tomorrow schools starts and I'm terrified. Allie keeps telling me that I'm going to be fone and that I'll have fun but still, being in a GIANT school with THOUSANDS of kids sounds absolutely terrifying. I can't even imagine going to a school where you don't know everyone in the halls and the teachers don't know every student by name. But I guess that's what networking is for. new experiences and learning experiences. This will be the first public school I've ever attended and I'm scared but ready. Bring it on Pittsford Mendon Public School, bring it on.