An Earthquake Between Open Houses

First of all, I know that everyone is raving about the earthquake that happened earlier today, so here is my account of it: my grandparents and I were at Belk in the mall; my grandmother and I were on the third floor, each with separate pursuits - I was trying, once more in vain, to find Kalyn a floppy-collared dress, and Grandma was searching for some nice sporty clothes that she could wear in Florida. I was walking amid the racks when suddenly, the floor began to vibrate and when I looked up, the light fixtures were positively shaking. This lasted for about 6 seconds before everything was normal again, and when I looked around to make sure that I wasn't insane, there were other people staring bemusedly at the ceiling as well, and so I was reassured. Strangely enough, my grandfather felt nothing down on the first floor in the men's department, and neither did Hope and Lucy's family (Lucy is a little girl who just moved in next door to us, and for the last two weeks, she and Hope have been inseparable). Perhaps earthquakes of this caliber are only felt in the upper floors of places.
In any case, with school about to start on Thursday, we've been rushing around to get to not only one, but two open houses - one at Reynolds, and the most recent one at the Career Center. Yesterday, I went to Reynolds with the main goal of getting my schedule and meeting my new teachers, Frau Woloshzyn and Ms. Bell. My new German teacher was especially helpful, as she stood with us for about twenty minutes in the upstairs hallway and tried to understand my messed up schedule...My meeting with Ms. Bell was very brisk and concise; I said "Hello," she gave me some papers, and then I was immediately hailed by Saoirse, Kiki, Marcus, and the rest of the crowd - Luke came ambling up to say Hello as well. At some point, I ran into Elisabeth, and she walked with us until we reached Mr. Bragg's room, at which point I was rushed by my dad to complete the business of open house because of the fact that everyone was waiting for dinner. So we ran down to the arts building, had an awkward discussion with Ms. Reese about how I'm not continuing dance this year, had a nice chat with Dr. Moss (in which I was told that I'd be able to continue receiving instruction from him after school if necessary), and stopped by Mr. James' room before heading back out to where we were parked across the street from the school.
Today was the day of the unknown...I embarked on my journey to the career center, where it seems that I will be taking AP French, AP Chemistry, AP English, AP Music Theory, and maybe (though I hope not) AP US History. I met the first five teachers, who all gave off different impressions. We met Mr. Koschak first, because his name was the first I spotted on the map. He seemed to be very nice, but his comment about how "the average grade on my tests is a 60" left me with an ominous sort of feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then we went to the English room, where Ms. Tedder gave us a long speech in which she revealed herself to be a pleasant, friendly teacher who likes to talk. She reminded me of Ms. Jones, but I hope that Ms. Tedder grades our essays somewhat more leniently. Then, it was back to the Chemistry hallway for M. Richwine, my French teacher - he spoke French at me automatically and I almost completely blanked in nervousness. Then, perhaps taking pity on me, he said, "Ah...tu t'appelles comment?" and after a moment of stuttering, I responded with the customary, "Je m'appelle Robyn," and the conversation proceeded in English. Needless to say, I left feeling quite ashamed of the first impression I had given of my verbal French abilities, which he must now assume are abysmal at best. Last of all, we talked to the music theory teacher, a relatively young fellow who was playing the music of Nirvana when we entered the room. As cool of a fellow as he seems, I might have to drop his class because he only offers it during the 7th period and the 1st period...But I can always take it next year. Overall, after the chaos of tonight and the night before, I'm hoping that I'll be able to sort out all of the rifts in my schedule with the guidance counselors tomorrow when I walk over there.