As incredible as this experience already is, I have to say that I hadn't thought too much about my host family until the moment I see them. Oscar and Amelia Carmichael are standing in baggage claim holding up a sign with my name on it, and when I see them, I feel an immediate bubble of anxiety begin to well up in me. What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm just a weird American girl? What if I offend them somehow and they kick me out of their house before school's out?

"Summer Lumen?" Amelia says when I approach them, and I nod my head quietly, suddenly too nervous to speak. Her green eyes alight with joy as she hands the sign to her husband and holds her hand out in greeting. "Hullo," she says with a heavy British accent. "I'm Amelia. This is my husband, Oscar."

I give them each a polite smile. "Hi," I say as I shake each of their hands in turn. "I'm Summer. It's very nice to meet you both."

Amelia grins and gives Oscar a gentle nudge. His brown eyes widen as he steps forward. "Here, let me help you with your bag," he offers politely, holding his hand out to take my carry-on.

I take a tentative step back and give a quick shake of my head. "Oh, that's all right. I've got this one. But I do have a couple others that I checked in. Would you mind helping me with them?" I ask, hoping refusing to allow him to take my carry-on didn't come off as rude.

He gives me a gentle smile. "Of course." We walk over to baggage claim and stand awkward for some time while we wait for my bags to come down the conveyer belt. "You know, Elsie hasn't stopped talking about you all year. She is so terribly excited to meet you."

"E-Elsie?" I ask as I look for my bags.

He nods. "Our eldest daughter. She's about your age, I believe. Seventeen, eh?" he asks, and I nod my head. "Your age then. We have another daughter named Lily who's a bit younger. Just celebrated her twelfth birthday."

Amelia grins. "A spitfire, that one. But El is quite a bit more reserved. You two will be sharing a room this term. I hope that's all right?"

My stomach churns at the idea of sharing a room with anyone, but I just smile. "That's fine." I hesitate for a moment as I consider what I should say to keep the conversation going. "Funny, I've never shared a room before. I'm an only child. Never been anyone to share with."

Amelia's smile falters some. "Oh, goodness. I'm so sorry. We can fix up the study if that would make you more comfortable?"

"Oh, no," I say quickly, shaking my head. "Please don't. It's okay. I really don't mind sharing. I'm a bit reserved too, actually, so your daughter and I will probably get along just fine." I spot my bags just them and point them out to Oscar, who rushes forward to collect them for me. The three of us make our way to their car, where they open the trunk... no... the boot (so weird) to set my bags. Then they slide into the front seat while I move to the back.

"I really appreciate you hosting me like this," I say as I move my leg up and down nervously. "Really."

"Oh, it's our pleasure, really," Amelia says, her eyes catching mine in the mirror. "You know, I did the exchange program when I was a young lady as well. Went to France. Had the absolute time of my life. Even learned to speak the language. Bit rusty now, I'm afraid, but I don't think it would take me long to pick it back up."

"I considered France too," I reply, happy to find some common ground. "I study the language at my school in America. And, you know... I'm level 67 in Duolingo now."

Oscar chuckles. "You sound like El," he says in his deep voice. "She plays that game too. Takes it very seriously, matter of fact. What language is she working on now, dear?"

Amelia's lips quirk to the side. "Oh, I think she's working on Japanese now. But she's learned Swedish, Russian, French, and Spanish. Knows quite a bit of Latin as well." Holy crap. My eyes widen in surprise, and Amelia smiles. "She wants to be a translator. Has a knack for languages, our girl. Always has."

"That's incredible," I say, a hint of awe in my voice. "Most people don't ever learn any other languages outside their native tongues, and she knows four already?" At seventeen? This girl is going to give me a run for my money. "Does she have special language tutors?"

"Self-taught," Oscar answers as he beams with pride. "She plays that Duolingo game too, but she spends hours outside of her studies learning them. It's her passion. She was so smart when she was younger that we thought for sure she would go into medicine or something of the like. But no, she wants to study language. And she's got a brilliant mind for it."

"That's really amazing," I say, feeling more comfortable with this couple by the second. "And what about Lily? Your younger daughter? Is she interested in languages too?"

Amelia bursts out laughing. "Heavens, no! Lily is our future Broadway star. She's saved up every pound she's ever earned so she can move to New York someday. Always auditioning for the school plays. Wants to get into theatre as soon as she can, and dreams of performing on Broadway. She loves to sing and dance."

The girls sound so different, but the way their parents talk about them both individually tells me they're very proud of their daughters. The conversation moves to my family, and I tell them about my mom and stepdad. Amelia reminds me to check in with my mother, and I pull my phone out to tell her I've landed safely and am with my host family now. She doesn't respond right away, which offends me until I realize it's three in the morning back home. The time difference is already messing me up, and I've only just got here.

"Are you hungry?" Amelia asks me after a few minutes of silence interrupted by the sound of my stomach growling. "We can stop and grab a bite."

I want to say yes, but I'm too anxious to meet Elsie and Lily to eat right now. "No, that's okay. I can wait a bit longer. I'm used to eating very little." Oh God. Their eyes find mine in the mirror, and I feel warmth bloom on my cheeks. "I-I mean... I tend to get caught up in things I'm doing and forget to eat most of the time. My friend's mom actually thinks I starve myself."

Why did I say that? Now they probably think I'm a weird American. But Amelia merely smiles in the mirror. "Oscar gets that way, don't you dear? He gets so wrapped up in what he's doing that he forgets to eat. Sometimes I have to practically force feed him."

Oscar chuckles and nods his head. "Oh yes. But that's okay. I'm sure I could stand to lose a few stone." He pats his stomach, and Amelia and I both giggle. The tension I've been carrying in my shoulders begins to ease. So far this is going well.

It takes us almost two hours to arrive at their rather large house in Oxford. My eyes widen as I take in its size. "Whoa, you have a big house," I say stupidly, and immediately regret it. Is that rude to say here?

"Thank you?" Amelia says questioningly, but her lips are pulled up in a smile. "I work in public relations for an agency out in London, and Oscar here works as a solicitor for a rather large firm here in town."

"That's a long drive to London," I say, and she nods her head.

"Yes, but I don't drive it all the time," she replies as Oscar puts the car in park. "I only go into the office a couple times a week. Mostly I work from home." She unbuckles her seatbelt and steps out of the car. "Oscar, dear, would you mind helping Summer with her bags? I'm sure the girls are champing at the bit to meet you. And don't mind Lily. She's a bit of a lark, that one."

"A lark?" I ask, confused.

"Chatty," Amelia explains. "Excited. She's been looking forward to this since we decided to take on an exchange student. She has so many questions about America. Particularly about Hollywood and New York."

I laugh. "I've never been to either of those cities," I say. "I'm from Idaho. Never even stepped foot in California. Hope she's not too disappointed."

Amelia opens her mouth to respond, but as she does, a young auburn haired girl with light skin, freckles, and light blue eyes comes running out the front door, barreling past Oscar as he lugs my bags up the steps to the house. "Mummy!" the girl calls as she throws her arms around Amelia like she hasn't seen her in days. "Oh, mummy, is this her? The American girl?"

Amelia gives me this look as if to say, "Didn't I tell you?" I giggle slightly as Lily turns to look at me, her eyes bright and a wide smile on her face. Her mom sighs in humored exasperation. "Summer, this is Lily. Our very loud daughter. Lily, this is Summer. The... how did you put it? The 'American girl'?"

Lily winces. "Sorry," she says sheepishly. "Er. Hullo, Summer. It's a pleasure to meet you." But even as she tries to contain her excitement, I can see her bouncing on the balls of her feet, like she's about to explode with questions.

"Sweetheart," Amelia says as she runs her hand over the little girl's head, smoothing her hair down. "Why don't you go and help your father? He looks like he could use a hand."

Lily nods her head and races back up the stairs to help Oscar. "To have that kind of energy," I say teasingly, and Amelia laughs.

"Darling, I'm not sure anyone has that kind of energy." She turns and looks at me, a wide smile on her pretty face. "Well, come on in. Let's give you the grand tour. Help you get settled. Introduce you to your new roommate." She hesitates for a second before saying, "Are you sure you don't mind sharing a room with Elsie? It's all right if you would like to have your privacy. We can bunk the girls together for now."

I shake my head. "It's okay. Really. It'll be fun to share a room for a while. I've never had siblings, so I guess I'll get to experience what having them is like."

She shakes her head. "By the end of the term, I promise you'll be sick of it," she says, and leads the way up the stairs to the house. Oscar sets the bags down by the front door and steps out of the way, giving us both space to enter. I slide my shoes off and step inside, catching a whiff of what smells like pancakes.

"Oh, smells like El's made breakfast," Oscar mutters excitedly, and he makes his way to the kitchen, Amelia and I following close behind him. In the kitchen is a girl who looks to be about my age, her long dark auburn hair tied up in a braid hanging down her back. "Hullo, sweetheart," Oscar says in greeting, and El turns around to face us.

She looks like an older version of Lily, but already I can sense the difference between the two. Besides their age, it's very clear that Elsie is far more reserved than her sister. Her lips pull up into a tiny grin as she gives me an awkward wave. "Hullo," she says, and her voice is high pitched and almost musical. She walks around the counter toward me and holds out her hand. "I'm Elsie."

I take her hand and shake it. "It's nice to meet you, Elsie. I'm Summer." Then I take another whiff of whatever she's cooking, and my smile widens. "That smells so good," I mutter, my mouth watering already. "Thanks for cooking."

"I'm not very good at it I'm afraid," she says sheepishly. "My dad is the cook around here. My mum, not so much."

"Yeah, my mom isn't much of a cook either," I reply. "But she's trying. She actually cooked Thanksgiving this year. Usually we eat at a restaurant, but she wanted this year to be special."

Elsie nods her head. "My mum tried making Christmas dinner, but almost burned the house down."

"Elsie!" Amelia scolds playfully, and Elsie covers her mouth with her hand, hiding her little grin. "Honestly, it wasn't that bad. Only burnt the turkey a bit. But I scraped off the burnt parts and it tasted rather lovely, didn't it, darling?"

Oscar nods his head as he reaches into the cupboard to grab some blue china plates. "It was delicious, dear," he responds, and Elsie and I share a look. And it's weird. I've never been too good at making friends. But something about Elsie... I can't explain it. But it's almost like I've found a true kindred spirit. Someone who gets me. We've known each other a few minutes, and already I feel like I've known her for years. And just like that, I know that this semester is going to be one of the best of my life.

Author's Note:
So Summer is officially in England! What do you all think of her host family? We'll get to know Elsie a little here. Fun fact: none of these people were in the original draft. I added them fairly recently, but I already love them. Can't wait to read your thoughts!

I'm in California right now for a funeral, so I don't think I'll be posting again until I get home, which will be Monday night. Stay safe and healthy until then, my dears!
XOXO,
~Aly