So I mentioned last Monday already. We got Carlotta enrolled in school and met with the tennis coach.
Tuesday was a slow day. Carlotta had her first tennis practice. I was VERY proud of her. When we got there she walked up to the girls and introduced herself right away. She has started to make some friends on the team. More on that later.
Wednesday was a chaotic day. We went to school in the morning and got her classes set up. She has a good balance between levels. She has one 9th grade class (honors biology), two 10th grade classes (English and US History), and the rest are upperclassmen classes (French 4, psychology, algebra II). Next semester she'll have photography and sociology. Those are upper level classes as well. I'm glad that she will be exposed to multiple levels and may different students. That night she had tennis practice.
Thursday was Carlotta's first tennis match. That morning we went out to buy her some clothes for her uniform (tennis skirt etc) and we got to school for the match. We were originally told that she needed to be at school at 1:30. We get to school and no one was there. We walked around looking for someone on the team and didn't find anyone. When we got back to the car, for some reason or another it would not start. I called my grandfather to jump the battery in the car. Stupid car - He gets into the car turns the key and it starts right up. Go figure.
There must have been some sort of divine intervention in that whole event. Just as we were about to leave, I see someone drive up who is wearing a tennis uniform. A few seconds later and I see some girls walk up in tennis uniforms and rackets. I asked them if they were on the JV team and they said yes they were there for the game starting at 3. YAY!!!! So Carlotta didn't miss her first game.
Friday was our plan to do a few things around town, but we never really got around to it. We were getting ready to go to the store when I got a phone call from a parent on the tennis team. One of the girls was throwing a party and wanted to know if Carlotta could come (!). She's in the country for a week and gets invited to her first pool party! She went and had a good time.
Saturday we went to Cincinnati. We went to Krohn Conservatory and then went to Findlay Market. We got pretty lost on the way to Findlay. William pointed out a drug dealer on the street. Carlotta asked how he knew that, and William said why else would a guy be standing in the middle of the street doing nothing? She was pretty impressed. She also got to see Findlay Market and how William gets all excited to buy fresh meat, fruits and veggies. She also got to see me go a little nuts over spices.
Sunday we went to Will's parent's house for dinner. We think Clayton, Will's brother, has a crush on Carlotta. Why else would a 15-year-old boy jump up to get a girl cantaloupe? Surely not because he's nice ;-) I honestly would not be surprised if he has a bit of a crush on her.
Monday we got school supplies and got ready for school. Not a big day. Tuesday was the first day of school. I don't think Carlotta slept at all that night. It wasn't the best day for her. She got lost, couldn't get into her locker, got lost again, got tons of papers and directions thrown at her - it was a mess. I think practice was what kept her going that day. I won't lie, she came home and cried. I tried very hard to calm her down and make her feel better.
My biggest message to her was that every exchange student was having the same problems she was having. It didn't matter how confident or outgoing they were, they were still having the same problems. I told her at least one of them was standing in the middle of the hallway totally lost, another fought with their locker and never got it opened even though they practiced over and over again during open house, another was late to every class, another one stood in the cafeteria looking for a place to eat but didn't know who to eat with. I think realizing that every student has those problems made her feel better.
My other message to her was that it gets better.
And each day got better for her.
Wednesday she had another match. I thought she had early release and was totally wrong. I drove to school to drop her tennis stuff off to her. Had I known she couldn't open her locker and eat all her lunch I would have left it with her. Needless to say, she was HUNGRY when she got home. I bought a pizza, I had a very happy Carlotta.
Yesterday was a VERY good day, in fact I believe she said that it was awesome. She got into the car and told me about the bus getting a flat tire, then got very excited because she got her locker open several times. She even managed to open it and have enough time to eat her lunch :-) She was so happy with how the day went and she was so proud of herself. I was a proud momma too. She was also very excited because she was invited to go to the football (not soccer) game on Friday night, a movie Saturday, and a pool party on Sunday.
Today was another good day. She caught the bus home for the first time (yay again!). She said she was really excited about biology because she volunteered to show her homework in front of the class as an example. She said she shocked the teacher. Frankly she shocked me. She went from baby steps to one giant jump! I'm very proud of her. Tonight she is going out to dinner (Mexican food) and going to the football game! I think she'll have a lot of fun.
It seems that Carlotta is doing well over all. She's figuring out school and getting some confidence there. She's finding friends and getting invited to be a part of a group. The tennis team has an awesome group of girls.
I'm very happy with how things are going.
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