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Eight weeks ago, junior Ellie Smith packed up her belongings and began her journey from a little village in Northeast England called Hull to America. After her long road trip across the U.S., she arrived in Fort Collins on Aug. 6 with her parents and her older brother Jack. After seeing all kinds of new sights and experiencing a whole new culture, there was still one more event that Ellie hadn’t experienced: Homecoming.

Coming to Fossil Ridge High School, Ellie made a lot of new friends fast. It wasn’t long until she started to hear the “Homecoming Buzz.” Having just moved here from England, she was very excited to find out what Homecoming was about. “In England, we don’t have Homecoming,” Smith said. “We don’t even have dances in high school. We have a prom, but it’s only for seniors and it’s not as big.”

Smith really had no idea what the dance was about, except what she had seen in the movies. Apparently the movies don’t portray homecoming very well. “Everyone was making a big deal about it. I’ve always thought that it was kind of cheesy. It’s a real traditional American thing,” she said. However, Ellie would soon be very surprised at how wrong she was.

For Ellie, it started with Homecoming Week. She was shocked and found it funny that the students dressed differently for every day of the week. She started to realize that the students went all out for this event.

The Homecoming Assembly was one of the highlights for Ellie. The huge show of lights, music, and the abundance of exotic dancers were very foreign to her. “I can’t believe that they do all this at the school,” she added, “I was surprised at the amount of effort that went into something to promote just a dance. It was really cool!”

Ellie was also surprised to see the creative ways that boys came up with to ask girls to Homecoming. She commented that boys are not like that in England and “they would never be that brave.”

Throughout Homecoming Week, Ellie was really looking forward to the game. They didn’t have very many sports events at her school and after the preview of school spirit she had received throughout the week, she couldn’t wait to see what people would do for the football game. “I went to the game and it was really fun. I especially like the Marching Band. We don’t have that in England.” She found the ceremony for the King and Queen very interesting and was shocked that it was such a big deal. “I thought it was nice that they waited until the football game to crown the seniors.” Leaving the game, Ellie could hardly wait to attend the dance the next day.

Her favorite part of Homecoming was, as always, the dance itself. She went with a large group of single girls where she had the time of her life. “It was really fun. The people I went with were awesome and I had a great time with them.” The girls went out to dinner beforehand at the Beach House Grill in Old Town and then made their way to the dance. The dance was very different than what she was accustomed to. “Back in England, our dance is a lot more formal and it is more about saying goodbye than just having a good time.”

Ellie was amazed at how it was put on. “I had no idea that all the grades were mixed. I’m impressed that they fit everyone into the gym.” She danced the night away with her new friends and absolutely loved her first encounter with Homecoming. “I thought it was a lot better than it was going to be. I got a lot of mixed reviews, but after going, I definitely can say that it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a school event!”