I have arrived and everything has changed, but I'm loving it and I don't want it to end! (This is also an apology for leaving it so long between my last blog)
The most significant change since my last post is that I have now changed families! Luckily, I am only living 5-10minutes drive away from where I was before, so not too much has had to change for me -- I can still see my same friends and go to the same college! So now I'm in Short Hills, New Jersey, I thought I'd give you a briefing on my new host family. There's my new host parents, Lynne and Dan, who are both really nice and laid back. Then, as for the kids (of which there are 3!), first is Zane, who is 7 and loves everything to do with sports (reminds me of Elliott a lot!) and of course, Pokemon! Second is Hazel who is 10 years old, she is very independent and doesnt need me to remind her of anything (which is really easy for me!) and she loves sports and High School Musical! Lastly (but by no means least) is Ethan, who is 11. He is very nice and needs help with his homework as he has learning difficulties making it hard sometimes for him to concentrate on some things -- he loves anything to do with airplanes. My family are very active and love sports, especially anything to do with "Soccer" or Basketball. You're probably wondering why I decided on this family, as many of you know I am rather hopeless when it comes to anything kind of sporty... but as long as they keep going to all their activities I don't need to play sports with them (which I am pleased about, because they would certainly be beating me! Although Zane has been teaching me how exactly to catch a ball!)
The picture is of my new house, so it is definately an upgrade! I now even have my own bathroom and it doesn't matter how late I stay out as I can come in through the garage (and my room is right next to it). Overall I feel very at home and happy here, and I feel I have made a good decision to spend the rest of my year here!
The first couple of weeks of October I was pre-occuppied with finding a new family and getting ready to move out, so apart from maybe visiting New York City an
d maybe seeing a movie, nothing much exciting was happening.
Lately though (especially since I've moved) my social life has been very busy -- even if I do say so myself! Between Starbucks and going out for lunch we have been into New York (obviously!). Hanneke and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge (from Brooklyn), therefore having a wonderful view of the New York skyline as we walked across it! We could even see the Statue of Liberty from it. I had done it once before in 2003, but it was so long ago I had to do it again. Then again, I have seen a lot of places in New York twice by now, but I am only here for a year and I need to make the most of it! Then we walked through Chinatown (I bought some "Chanel" earrings, for $5) and SoHo, where there will be a Topshop (yes, the same store!) opening in Spring. It was meant to be opening in October but of course it had to be delayed! I was looking forward too much to getting some Topshop jeans at last! (Now you know what to get me for Christmas ;) -- a UK size 8 please!). I am wondering what I will be doing for Christmas this year as my host family are Jewish, but my wonderful Mother is thankfully sending me over some of the much needed essentials like Cadburys Advent Calendars, mince pies and Christmas Crackers!
On the 29th of October was Gina's 19th birthday. Hanneke and I had tried very hard to get her a wonderful present, so we went to our favourite store, ALDO, to get her a bag (so nice, we want to borrow it off her!), but then we also went to the $1 store and got many silly little things for her to open as well! Her host mom had us all come over and she cooked us a Mexican meal -- Gina is Mexican. It was delicious and we even had some cheeky margarita's, being my first drink since July! The picture below from left to right is Hanneke, me and Gina.
Halloween is an entirely different experience in the States compared to the UK. At home,
everyone dresses as something scary, whereas here you can dress up as anything! Gina had told me and Hanneke about a Halloween party in New York and so we all need to get costumes. I was Batgirl (of course!) and Hanneke was Robin Hood -- it made me laugh that together we were "Batgirl and Robin! [Hood]". Unfortunately I paid more than Hanneke for my outfit, she only paid 71cents! Which was clearly a mix up on the stores part (it was meant to be $71!), but I wanted the same treatment instead of paying $60! My outfit did look good though. So we left on Friday night to New York (Gina decided not to come, too bad! But we did have with us a new Canadian Au Pair, Sarah, I wasn't too sure just what her outfit was, but it was short!). You had to be 19 to get into the club, but I borrowed Hanneke's ID, I don't look too much like her but all the looked at was the D.O.B and we were in! We stayed until 4am, and the party was still going! It was so good just to dance all night, but we were so tired once we had left! We took the subway at 4.30am to Times Square and we discovered that New York really never sleeps -- so many people were out (maybe only since it was Halloween!) and we even went to get a Starbucks at 5am, we needed a hot chocolate to keep us warm! The first train from New York Penn Station on a Saturday was at 7.11am, so we needed to wait, we were so exhausted we slept at the station. Hanneke can sleep anywhere it seems, but I don't like to sleep in public places so although I dozed, I kept waking myself up. We finally got home after a long but great night out at 8.30am and we both went straight to bed (I let myself sleep til 1pm and then didn't want to get "jet-lagged" for no reason so decided to get up! Fortunately the clocks went back this last weekend so I got another hours sleep! Last week, for those who don't know, we were only 4 hours apart!) We enjoyed it so much (plus we are limited to where we can go, being under 21 and all) we were planning on going back to celebrate Hanneke's 20th.
I think one of the greatest things I have been able to experience since I've been here is the Presidential Election. I had spent a great day with Jeff (a good friend from college) and then we were going to watch the Election together, both of us were (obviously) supporting the Democrats, so the outcome was certainly a positive one for us. It felt as if we were part of history, Obama's speech was amazing, I was proud to say I was actually here to witness it!
Last weekend was actually Hanneke's brithday, but instead of going back to Webster Hall we went to a different Club, Pacha, which also let 19 year olds in. Even though i had a good time, I prefered Webster Hall's music because I am not into heavy dance music, and although Fedde Le Grande was playing (a famous DJ, for those who don't know!) I didn't really know any of the songs and I found it quite repetitive. Gina and I left at 4am, and began the walk back to Penn Station to grab a starbucks at 5am. (The pictures below are of us going out!)
Something else I have been doing recently is seeing a lot of Broadway shows, like Hairspray! The Lion King and 13, which all were fantastic! (If anyone is planning to come to New York, I'd definately recommend seeing a show, you won't be dissapointed for sure!). I also went with Jeff to see his brother in a high school production of "Charlotte's Web", which was also really good, and I hate to say it, but the quality was so much higher than anything which had been done in HCCS, the high school had a huge theatre (which helps of course).
That's all for now I guess (and I'll try to keep this updated more regularly in the coming months!) Please leave a comment as usual (and remember to leave your names!)
Much love to everyone
Charlotte xx
