Day 4 (September 19) - Shadowing at Wakefield Memorial High School (day two) (S.G.)

Right now, I am sitting in my bed with a large water bottle next to me and my freshly done red press-on nails. The water in the bottle is cold, thanks to the cool fridge where you can have ice anytime you want. I love this bottle; I borrowed it from my host family, but I definitely want to get one for myself. Almost everyone in high school has one of those, I noticed when we visited there yesterday and today.

Today, just like on day three, I followed my host sister Sienna around school and into her classes. I really like her classes, especially her creative writing class. The classroom is full of books, and the class always starts with 10 minutes of reading time. Today, the students had to work on their reading planner, which is a document where they write down the books they want to read in the next few months. The students also talked about what they are currently reading, and once more, I noticed a difference between the student and teacher relationship here and in Basel. When one girl was talking about the book she was reading, she said she really liked it, and the teacher said she did not like that book. "I know we have very different tastes in books," the teacher said. I thought it was so cool and impressive that the teacher knows about the reading tastes of her students so well.

During the lunch break, I had a pretzel which was good, and then I went to two other classes. The other Swiss students and I were so confused about the hallways; we couldn't walk alone anywhere. But it was always so much fun meeting people we knew from the exchange and from our class in the hallway.

After school, we went to the theater room in the school building. That's where we met all the students and teachers from the exchange program. The American exchange students prepared presentations to give us an overall impression of American culture. It was very interesting and informative.

Sienna, Zippy, Miron, Ladina, and I decided to go to Target after the presentations. We drove there, and I got my press-on nails and some cute “care bear” sweatpants. I loved going to Target; I had always wanted to go there, as to me it seems like a typical American experience.

After some rest at home, Sienna and I went to pick up Ladina to go to the volleyball game at Wakefield High School. Everyone was in such a good mood, dressed in a Hawaiian theme (the theme of the game), and it was so exciting to be there and the atmosphere was thrilling. Roxanne and Kim brought a large box of delicious cookies with them. After Wakefield's team won, we went to Chipotle to get some dinner. I had tacos and nachos, which were all very good. Sienna and I drove Lou, Ladina, and Laine home afterward. I am happy to go to sleep now; I am finally not jet-lagged anymore, and tomorrow we must get up early.