Karis Pendleton

Happy Labor day!! I hope you all are doing well.💞

This week I started my first week of dance as an official Central PA Youth Ballet (CPYB) student!!!!!!! My classes at dance were amazing!!! Even though, I had a two week break from dance I was very surprised how well I did! I thought my dancing was going to be shaky, but it was better than ever!! I’m glad I gave my body the rest, it needed it! I was able to perform at my very best. 💞.

This past week the teachers at CPYB eased us back into the rigor of class. I had one, 2 hour ballet class everyday, instead of having 4-5 classes a day. The classes were hard but much needed. I was able to feel my muscles engage while I was dancing. I very surprised to find that my extensions have gotten even higher!!!!! The highlight of this week was getting to reconnect with the friends I met from the summer. It was so good to dance with everybody again. ☺️☺️☺️☺️

I am pleased to report that High School is going really well!!! I know this might be an unpopular opinion but I LOVE going to public school. I love having to change class periods, having different teachers, seeing friends in the hallway, and so much more. Right now, my workload is not super hectic which is nice. So far I have all A’s in my classes💪🏾🎉.

Last week was picture day and I SLAYEDDD. My “fit” (outfit), and hair were on point!! A lot of people gave me compliments on my “fit” which was nice. ☺️☺️ I can’t wait to see how my pictures come out. Fingers Crossed they come out great!!

This week I have quite a few tests coming up. Luckily my friends and I are in a lot of the same classes so we can study together. I hosted a study group at my host families house, which was really fun!!! We all agreed that studying together helped relieve a ton of stress. I promise to let you all know my scores in the next blog. My goal is to finish the year with a 4.0 GPA.🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾 I think I can can achieve the goal, as long as I stay focused and put a lot of effort into what I’m doing. 💕.

One of the things I value most about being in PA is getting to connect with my peers outside of dance and school. This week I went on a few walks with my friend from CPYB. They live in the same neighborhood so we made a point to hang out with each other. Since they are familiar with the town we’d walk together and they’d show me cool things about the town. I’m so so grateful to have a friend. She is such a beautiful person and I can’t wait to continue to get to know her better!! 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾

On friday I went to my first high school football game everrrrr!!!!!!! OMG, I had the best time!!!! My school football team did not do the best, lol. But I still really enjoyed myself. I went with a colleague of mine and her friend. During the game we stood in the high school student section and cheered on our team. We also walked the oval around the football field a few times. We had a great time. 🥰. This weekend I connected with my friend from the summer who hosted me. It was so great to catch up with her, we missed each other sooooo much. I’m so grateful I got to spend time with them and catch up with her ☺️💞☺️💞

As much as I love my Carlisle friends, I really miss my friends from home. My friends and I do a lot of texting while I’m away since we’re too busy to call. But this week I was able to facetime 2 of my BESTIES from home!!! One my best friends I love so much. We can literally talk to each other about anything. 😘😘 We hadn’t facetimed in while so it was great to catch up. We low key talked for like hours. We talked a lot about school, and we also talked about teenage girl stuff, lol! So glad I got to catch up with my bestie boo!! 💛💛💛. My second bestie boo I got to FT with this week is my Bff/cousin!! Love her so much!!! 😘😘 she and I are also very close!! We are huge supporters of each other in our extra curricular activities. We also caught each other up on high school, sports, and all the “tea”. It was so great to talk with my cuzzo. 💜💜💜. Talking to my best friends is very therapeutic for me especially being away from home. I know that my friends have my back no matter what. When I talk to them I feel like I can just let go and truly be me. Whenever I we talk, we laugh, and we also challenge each other to do and be our best selves. So grateful for my besties, love them so much. 😚😚😚

Cheers to a new week of learning and growing.