My First Day

          My car pulls up late down the street from Episcopal, so my mom and I have to get out and hurry to the church while Gavin goes off to do whatever. When we get to the church we can't find the entrance. We circle around it and find someone standing by the open door, so we walk in and are greeted by several people standing around a table. The woman sitting behind the table asks for my name and hands me a couple of papers. I thank her and mom and I go to find a pew as close to the front as possible, as instructed by the power point displayed on the projector in the front left corner of the church. Mom seats herself near the middle of the congregation and I follow after.
           Mr. Perkinson stands at the front of the aisle, in the middle of a speech I can't seem to hear or pay attention to so I start to look around. At first I feel a little bit overwhelmed by so many unfamiliar people, but  a smile spreads across my face as I'm reassured by the sight of Allison, my childhood friend, along with several other girls from my old school scattered across the church. I see glimpses of a few people I used to know and some that look familiar but I cannot seem to remember their names.
          I'm running out of people to observe so I move on to my setting. The church is beautiful, with several stained glass windows and brick walls. There is a circular one on the front wall, three tall ones on the back wall, and an uneven number of windows on the side walls, which bothers me. The stained glass windows are beautifully crafted and I marvel at how they fill the space that the dim lights inside can't reach. The brick walls make me feel uncomfortable with all that weight around me, but the pointed barrel vault roof is massive and reminds me of sixth grade social studies when we learned about roman arches.
           I spot a man staring at me, clearly annoyed, because I keep twisting around to look at the church so I decide to listen to Mr. Perkinson's speech some more. But soon that fades back into a droning background noise as I start flipping through the papers that were handed to me by the lady at the entrance. By the time I finish flipping though the packet, the speech is over and people are standing up to walk out. I get up excitedly  and rush to see my friends. We talk, laugh, and compare schedules as we head off on our first day of high school.

Reading Response: Legend

              The book I am currently reading is Legend by Marie Lu. An intoxicating story of a boy named Day, who is wanted by the Republic, and a girl named June, who is a child prodigy who's mission is to find Day for the Republic. The book consist of family, a plague, a corrupt government, and a secret love. This book is well written along the lines of plot and keeping the reader interested. It's what my mom would call 'brain candy', because not to difficult to read and it is non-stop action or suspension.
              This near future book is sort of similar to Divergent by Veronica Roth. The main characters are an anomaly in their society and wanted by the government. They have the same qualities that make them such good books that once you start reading its hard to stop. I'm finding myself enjoying Legend more that Divergent though, because of the way the characters were developed and brought together. Anyone who enjoyed reading Divergent should probably consider reading Legend.

Reading  Log

Legend by Marie Lu

8/20/13

1 hour 30 mins

8/21/13

1 hour

Reading Log

8/13/13- Crossed by Ally Condie- 45 mins
8/16/13- Crossed by Ally Condie- 5 mins
8/17/13- Legend by Marie Lu- 95 min

St.Lukes to Episcopal

           St. Lukes was my second home and school for ten years, and now I have changed to a new school. I have never had to change my daily routine before now, never had to figure out a new campus, and never had to be the new kid. At St. Lukes it was easy to feel important, unique, and special because there were so few of us. It was easy to feel at home and comfortable because most of us had been there for our whole lives, the rest were welcomed warmly and quickly became part of the family. Everyone got along with everyone because if you got in a fight with someone or didn't like them then who else are you going to hang out with, there weren't that many choices. I'm not saying that the people here haven't been nice, I mean, they really are, but I just don't know them on a personal level like I did at St. Lukes. But here, at Episcopal there are so many people, I remember maybe 15% of the names of the people I have been introduced to. I've always been one of the welcoming faces, not one of the ones who can't find the office.
          Episcopal isn't that hard to figure out, every type of class has its own place. There is one area for lockers and one area for lunch but there is still a huge portion of the school that I have never seen or heard of. When I applied to Episcopal, I had no idea there was a tennis court or two breaks! I can't wait to get to use things like the library, computer lab, and writing center. I'm excited about going to Episcopal! In fact, I predicted in second grade, that my friend Allison and I would go to Episcopal together for high school (really only because the only high school I knew the name of back then). Alright, lets see how the rest of the year goes.

Summer Reading Response: Night Circus

                 What I liked most about Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was that it was unique in terms of its plot. It was filled with magic and mystically elaborate settings. Every event was a surprise, I could never predict what was about to happen. Something I found annoying yet interesting was how the book was organized. Some books may change point of view from one character to another, but this book changed in point of view, setting, and time. The different points of view, in the end, all tied together and it made sense why they were even mentioned. Also, the author would occasionally pop in a chapter describing a circus-goers experience. 

                 Since most people probably didn't read Night Circus for their book of choice, this book was about two magicians bound together by a game of skills, with the entirely black and white circus as the stage. The two players were trained from childhood so that they may be prepared for the competition were only one can be left standing. While reading, I always looked forward to another description of the circus because I felt like I was actually there and it also made me really want to go to a circus. The author is very skilled at using sensory in her writing because she uses all the senses, making it easy to imagine actually being there. I highly recommend this book for those of you who enjoy enchanting fantasy books with magical occurrences and a little bit of romance.