I only have 3 semesters left....what?

Wow I haven't blogged in forever...I guess I just got really caught up in the busy-ness of life!
This week was finals week, which is crazy. It was actually the least stressful finals week I've ever had, which was soooo nice. I can't believe the semester is over already! And I only have 3 left...so weird.

A quick update on life:

• I went home for Thanksgiving, which was so so nice. I got to catch up with some really good friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, and I really didn't want to come back to Provo. But the last couple of weeks have been unexpectedly fun, so it worked out. In fact for the first time I have a reason to want to stay in Utah longer...

• I go home for Christmas tomorrow morning!! We have to be at the airport way too early, because we forgot to book our flight until a couple of weeks ago...oops. But it's all good because we will be home by noon. My brother's skipping school so he can come get us--he's so cute. I can't wait!

•  My lovely roommate Miriam just got engaged last weekend, they are adorable together, I'm so happy for them. Totally called it, but that's probably because I live with her :)

• I'm really excited to go down to Arizona for New Years and see all my family. Our last family reunion was so fun! I can't wait to see everybody.  

• I survived another semester TA-ing!! I really like it for the most part, although the grading does get old (I'm looking at the huge stack I have to do over the break as I write this.) For the most part my students seem to like me--I really hope I make a difference in some of their lives, and that they aren't bored out of their mind. If they remember anything I really hope that they come away with a deeper appreciation for other cultures, and that they will have more of an open mind in learning about other cultures' ways of life. 

• Things I'm excited about for the break: Home cooking, sleeping in, having time to read books for fun, family, friends and Christmas of course.  Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday. 

Also: 

I figured out how to do this the other day--well actually Jake showed me. But it's awesome!!! This is our front door in Paris! cue nostalgia....  I miss it so much!

And, because it's Christmas time: 

I love this painting. I think I saw it for the first time when I was 12, and for some reason it really resonated with me. The lighting is just beautiful. 

Well I'm off to help Annica move into the new dorms....

Happy Christmas!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Have you read this book? If you haven't you should, because it's absolutely adorable and hilarious. If you have, then you know how awesome it is, and this makes my announcement that more exciting:

I'm going to the Channel Islands for my field study!!!!

No, they are not in the South Pacific. They are in the English Channel, hence the name. I'm going to be specifically on Guernsey = the same place as the book. (If they are really this pretty that makes me even more excited)







This also means....I'M GOING BACK TO EUROPE!!!!! Obviously I'm excited. The Channel Islands are only 32 km from Normandy, France and only 60-something km from England which means I will almost certainly be visiting at least France! How did I get so lucky??

Somehow everything has fallen into place in the last couple weeks--I would say it's a coincidence, but I think it's more of a blessing--I was really worried about what to do with my life this summer, and had been praying about it.

If you've talked to me about my major at all, you know that I've had absolutely no idea what to do for my field study and it was sort of freaking me out. I had pretty much decided I wasn't going to do it this summer because I didn't have any ideas. I'm kind of unusual for an anthropology major--I had no desire to do my fieldwork in Africa or India, which is where most people go. I wanted to study a culture like my own, because I think it's super interesting to look at it from a different perspective. But there were no field studies for Europe.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. As I was walking out of one of my Anthro classes, one of my fellow TA's mentioned that she had figured out her field study. And then she mentioned in passing that they were changing the field study program, and the options were now: India, Africa, Thailand, and the Channel Islands. I think I literally stopped in my tracks. Channel Islands?? She didn't know too much about it, because she was going to Thailand, but I was super excited. I haven't ever been excited about a field study, so that was a big deal. And she mentioned that the Channel Islands one would be mentored by one of my favorite professors.

A couple days later: we spent half of our anthro of religion class discussing/arguing about the changes to the program. I learned more about it: they are changing it so that you have to go with a professor and a group to a specific location that is offered for that year, instead of doing individual ones. Some people were really upset, but I thought it was awesome. I didn't really like the idea of going to a city all alone and trying to figure out how to do ethnography with only email to communicate with your mentor. Having a professor there, who has lots of experience and contacts in the area you will be working in will be soooo nice.

The next day, I went and talked to Professor Bibb. She is awesome, and British (which is so cool), and super helpful. I only had a couple questions, but she gave me a ton of ideas and direction and everything I needed to get started, even though I didn't know what I was doing. I'm so excited to be working with her.

So the last 2 weeks, I have been doing background research for my ORCA grant proposal, which is due this Friday. If I get funded, it will pay for my plane ticket! This means I have been reading everything I can find as background and figuring out how to describe what I will be studying. I'm loving it! Everything I've read makes me more excited and fascinated by their culture.

My project as of now will be studying their cultural identity through the native language, guernésiais. But that means that I pretty much get to tie everything I read and learn about into it, because identity is made up of so many things. My emphasis might change when I get there (it almost definitely will) as I learn more about it, but that's okay!

This also means I'll be graduating next April, after completing my thesis on my research from my field study. Kind of freaky, but still over a year away. I know something will work out though, it always does. 3 weeks ago, I didn't even know this field study was an option, and now I'm getting ready for it. I'll keep you all updated, I can't wait!

On a side note, aaaah I just realized I sign up for next semester's classes at midnight tonight!!! I probably should figure out my schedule...

Also, we took pictures in the leaves today, I love fall! Perfect weather. And I'm making pumpkin pancakes with some friends tonight yummm.

This was right when we almost dropped her haha. 

In front of our apartment :)

Anthropology (no not the store)

Although I do love that store (I'm going to the one in Salt Lake on Saturday! Purely for browsing purposes of course), I am actually talking about my major. Lately things have been up and down with me and good old Anthro. Certain days I absolutely love it and am so glad it's my major. And others...well, you can only discuss the social construction of reality for too long before going a little crazy.

But, for the most part, it's been super interesting. Which is good, because not only do almost all of my classes have to do with it (even French lately), but my job does too. So I thought I would list the fascinating things I've had on my mind lately:

• Field work is so cool. I have to do a mini-field research project for my Anthro of religion class this semester, which basically consists of going to a Lutheran church (we got to pick a religion we wanted to study--my ancestors were Lutheran so I thought I'd try that) and observing/talking to them/learning about their rituals and beliefs. 

• It's been great so far! I've only been there once so far, but everyone was so friendly and helpful. I definitely had to draw on all of my reserves of courage to show up--I really don't like being among strangers and didn't want to come across as disrespectful or anything. But of course everything was fine. Better than fine, really.
• It was really interesting to look at a religion from an anthropological perspective, it's making me think about my life in a different way. For example, I was looking at the way the Lutheran faith incorporates rites of passage to bridge transitions and how symbols have a functional meaning.  Cool stuff.
• So overall I am slightly less terrified to do my field work. (Only slightly though.)

• I love learning about different cultures.
• I find it fascinating. It really broadens your approach to life to be aware of the way other people do things. It's not that they are wrong, just different.
• It allows you to look at your own life differently. For example, we read a study on middle-school girls in my 430 class. It argued that they are rowdy and harder to handle than elementary schoolers because they lack a rite of passage. They are no longer "kids" because they are in middle school now. But they aren't quite teenagers yet either. So they are in a sort of limbo, and all they can do is to act the opposite of what they were before. It's the same sort of thing with college freshmen. You are an "adult" but not really. No car, still sort of dependent on your parents but not living with them, so it's a time to go a little crazy.
• That's a super condensed explanation, but having a sister in both middle school and a college freshmen it made total sense to me. 

• Helvetica is EVERYWHERE

• We've been talking about fonts and writing in my French history class, and how most fonts connect back to the Romans--pretty much everything in Euro-American culture goes back to the Romans and Greeks. Anyways, we watched this trailer for a documentary called Helvetica, and it's all about the font.
• Apparently after WWII they (not sure who exactly) decided that fonts had become too nationalized (Times New Roman for America, Gothic for Germany, etc.) and that the world should have a neutral, global font. So who better to create it? Switzerland. And now EVERYTHING is Helvetica. The logos for almost all companies, signs and even the new Blogger = Helvetica. I'm seeing it everywhere now. Apparently the whole movie is on Netflix, so I'm thinking about signing up for my free month, cause it's fascinating.

• I miss Paris. A lot. 
• Luckily most of my friends are in Provo, so I still get to hang out with them. But I do miss Europe. Badly.

• Internet is essential to life. 
• sounds pathetic doesn't it? 
• But it really is nowadays. I didn't have it at home for the first couple of weeks, and I couldn't do anything. 
• No work, no homework, no talking to people, no tv....it was pretty sad.
• Needless to say, I appreciate it a lot more now.

• Also, I'm really enjoying learning again. 
• It is a lot of reading, and sometimes it gets tedious...
• But I love it.

Junior.

After a not-very-exciting-summer compared to the spring, I am back at BYU! I helped out with New Student Orientation, which was fun. It's cool to be one of those upperclassmen who is always running into people they know and knows the ins and outs of campus. It feels so good to be back! I'm pretty excited about all of my classes so far. Here is the rundown:

• D&C-first half (with a really cool teacher who's been doing it for 40 years!) He spent the first class period correcting our pronunciation and spelling of church words. I know that sounds boring but it was actually hilarious.
• Anthropology 206-contemporary theory. I'm actually super excited about this. We get to read theorists from the 20th and 21st centuries and it's fascinating! And there is no tests, only one paper. My kind of class.
• our first reading was about the paradox between how man creates society but has to follow it's rules as if it was a separate being. It was awesome. 
• Anthropology 309-Language, Culture and Society. 
• I'm excited about this one too! We are going to be talking a lot about linguisitics. 
• French 361
• Super excited about this one. Half the class (and the professor) was on my study abroad so it's like a mini reunion! Plus I love French. And History. I was so happy to hear french again.
• Anthropology 430-Moral and Ritual Institutions, a.k.a Religion
• this should be interesting, studying how religion is impacted by culture and vice versa.  
• Dance 185-Samba and Rhumba
• I love dance. This one's up next.
• Honors Lecture Class
• This is only once a week and we have a guest lecturer each time. It starts Thursday, so I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, I am once again TA-ing for Anthropology 101, I meet my students on Friday and I'm really excited for it. I actually have a computer this semester, and I'm getting paid. Woo hoo!

I'm going to be a volunteer at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures too, and hopefully working in Collections or Education, which means I get to handle priceless artifacts or teach the public about how cool they are. It's going to be awesome. 

As of this last week, I have no internet in my apartment which is super annoying. I never realized how dependent I really am on it, for everything. Talking to people, t.v., news, homework, work, you name it, and I probably need the internet for it. Hopefully we'll get that sorted out today, we need to call a phone company...bleh. 

I think this year is going to be a lot different. I only have one roommate and she's pretty busy and the other one is graduated but hasn't moved in yet. So I'm going to really have to make an effort to be social...it'll be interesting. Plus everyone I know is getting married/just got married and it's super weird.   Well anyways, we'll see what happens!

Here's some pictures from the summer:

Harry Potter 7! (the last one)

Beautiful Oregon

Snow

Snowball fight during our hike. Felt sooo good

My birthday hike

love the wildflowers

It does not do to dwell on dreams...and forget to live

I'm going to miss you Harry! 

I don't think that anyone who hasn't grown up with the Harry Potter books can really understand why they mean so much. The first one came out when I was 7. I remember getting it for a birthday present and falling in love with it before any one of my friends knew what it was. It's definitely defined my childhood, that's for sure. But Harry Potter's grown up and so have I.

There truly is something magical about a book that is so good that you go without sleep or eating because the story seems so real. As Dumbledore says at the end of Deathly Hallows pt 2: "Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic." I've read them more times than I can count, yet they never get old. Her characters are human with a distinct personality, sense of humor and faults. And the pure logic of the plot is outstanding. I mean what other author can slip in clues that seem like extraneous details into the first book and then bring them back as essential plot points in the last one? (Take the Deluminator. It's in the first chapter of the first book.) And her whole world is so clever. I could just go on and on...

I am really happy with the movies overall. They could have been horrible. I didn't like this last one at first-they changed so many things from the book. But seeing it again, I think they captured the essence of it, so I can forgive the details. It was pretty epic. (And no matter how hard I wish it was real, the movies are as close as it's going to get.)

So thanks Harry for making my childhood so enjoyable, inspiring countless games of dress-up, and teaching me what it's like to read a really really good book.

The Perfect Summer

....is this summer. I don't think I'll ever have a better one.

Things I miss about the first half:

• Europe. But mostly France.
• Trains. I can't even tell you how much better they are than airplanes.
• Markets. There is just something about an open-air market. 
• European fruit. It's so much fresher there. 
• Food: pastries, gelato, pasta...mmm
• World-famous art only a metro stop away
• Having amazing friends to hang out with 24/7
• Speaking French
• Classes. Where the lesson is spent walking around Paris pointing out styles of Renaissance architecture, or your assignment is to go take pictures. 
• Chestnut butter'd french bread and hot chocolate for breakfast
• Living in a city with a history that goes back more than 100 years
• Museums. (well maybe I don't miss these yet...)
• Cathedrals
• Picture-taking (my camera is still out of commission)
• Yeah so basically everything. I could go on for pages and pages. Except living out of a suitcase.

So the first half was pretty spectacular. I was just going through my pictures again and realizing how MUCH I miss it already. *Sigh* I need to go back. I will go back. Just not sure when...

However, things are looking up for the second half. I've been loving:

• Swimming almost every day. Bliss.
• Bringing home a stack of books from the library and finishing them all in less than a week.
• Re-watching the Harry Potter movies with my sisters and brother.
• Watching Poirot with my mom and grandpa
• Having a dog again.
• SYTYCD
• White Collar
• Getting my hair cut.
• Wearing sandals.
• Not having to bring a jacket.
• Not being in a big city. Eugene is just the right size :)
• Eugene summers. You can wear jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and still be the perfect temperature. I definitely don't miss the constantly-sweaty-while-riding-public-transportation stickiness
• Driving my car
• Sleeping in
• Shopping with my mom and sister

Things I'm looking forward to:

• The final Harry Potter movie. Once this comes out my childhood is officially over. 
• Friends coming home from their missions in August
• Fresh blueberries from my backyard
• Eating dinner outside
• Selling ice cream
• Getting letters
• Cooking 
• Going rafting
• Getting into shape
• Skyping

Pictures to come! (as soon I get my camera back)

Cinque Terra and Venice

So for our last day in Florence, we headed out to Cinque Terra. It was exactly how I imagined the coast of Italy to look like. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It's made up of 5 little towns along the coast that are connected by a railroad track and some little paths. They used to be completely isolated so they are pretty small. They still have their own vineyards in their backyards, and it's really quaint. 

Here are some of the highlights:

On the Via del Amore. The girls and boys from neighboring towns
used to use this path to meet up, so they named it the walk of love :)

the water was the perfect turquoise blue

the view from the restaurant where we ate lunch

Lunch! I had the best pasta mmmm

The cat enjoyed the anchovies....haha just kidding they were
actually really good. But we did treat the cat to the bones 

The towns were so picturesque it didn't feel real, I can't believe people actually get to live there!

One of the streets

After swimming in the Mediterranean, we made our way back down the cliff to the train station. Unfortunately, me and my Dad took a little too long taking pictures, so we had to flat out run because we could see the train coming. And....the strap fell off of my camera while I was sprinting so now the pictures look like this :( I'm going to get it fixed hopefully.

 This is actually a picture of the canal right outside our hotel room
window in Venice, somebody jumped in (which is illegal) and
they were being super loud and woke us up. Obviously the
picture didn't turn out, but you can kind of see him standing on
the boat on the left

For our last two days in Italy, we headed to Venice. There wasn't too much to do touristy-wise, but it was really nice to just walk around. It's pretty crazy because there are no cars or bikes or any kind of transportation except boats. Everyone either walks or drives a boat to get around. So since my camera died I don't have too many pictures, just ones from other people's cameras. Here's a couple:

A typical canal. People just have boats tied up next to their doors
instead of cars. For some reason I just think that's really cool

So pretty!

This is us walking in front of the only grass we saw. Since it's a network
of tiny islands, almost every square inch is either a building or paving stones

A famous tower, reminded me of the Tour Rose in Lyon

A gondola! We didn't get to ride in one cause it's ridiculously expensive,
but I think if I came back on my honeymoon or something it might be worth it.
But I loved watching people glide by in them.

One of the 5 bridges that cross the Grand Canal. Other than these 5,
you have to take a boat-taxi to get across it

So after wandering around the city and we climbed up to the top of the giant tower in the Piazza San Marco. The view was amazing:

I don't have any pictures from the Basilica or the Doge's Palace because they were forbidden, but they were definitely my favorite. The basilica's ceilings were covered with gold mosaics--every inch. Beautiful. It must have taken forever. It was also interesting because it's a much more Greek Orthodox style. The Doge's Palace was also really cool--I had never known that Venice's Republic lasted more than a thousand years. You don't learn about things like that in history classes, everyone just talks about Greece and Rome and then nothing until the Enlightenment. But Venice was very democratic and lasted for quite a while. The architecture and art inside were beautiful too.

Well that's it for my grand adventure abroad. It's kind of sad that's it's over, but it's definitely nice to be home! Stay tuned for future (but maybe not-so-grand) adventures :)

Vatican City/Florence

Our last day in Rome we went to the Vatican. It's an autonomous city-state with huge stone walls around it in the middle of Rome, and it's, of course, the center of the Catholic Church. We took a 5 hour tour of the Vatican with a tour guide and I'm so glad we did, because it would have been miserable navigating through all those crowds. Plus we got to skip the line and she knew so much about the art, it was really nice to have her explain the history behind things. 

Some of my favorites:

Ancient Romans cremated their dead and then put their ashes in these.
The busts were placed on top, so that's why there are so many that survived.

The lighting in the new wing was gorgeous

I loved the ancient statues

This is the original Laocoön, cleaned and fixed up by Michelangelo,
they found the original arm only a few years ago, so that's why
it isn't as white as the rest

A picture of the statue with Michelangelo's arms added

The Belvedere torso. It inspired Michelangelo's Adam
on the Sistine Chapel ceiling

Raphael's School of Athen's-I was sooo excited when I saw this

There was also a modern art wing of gifts to the Pope, but
I thought they were all kind of weird

Sistine Chapel! I wasn't supposed to take a picture but...

St Peter's. It is huge!!

Michelangelo's Pieta. Beautiful.

Swiss Guard

We also climbed up to the dome of St Peter's and looked out over the city. The pictures didn't really turn out but it was pretty cool. 

The next day we headed to Florence.

The view from our awesome hotel room

The Duomo!

Ok so I just have to rave about Michelangelo again. He was soooo talented! I like Raphael's painting style better, but his sculptures are amazing. The David and Prisoners are so beautiful. The pictures definitely don't do them justice. David's face even changed depending on the angle. From the front he looks confident, but from the angle of this picture he looks a little apprehensive. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck one anyways :) I seriously could have sat there and looked at them for hours. And I'm not even an artist! I just read a really good book about Michelangelo (it's called the Agony and the Ecstasy if you want to read it) and I have even more respect for him than I did before. He was so talented and worked so hard.

Michelangelo's David

Florence at sunset

The famous bridge in Florence

We got some fresh fruit at a fruit stand, it was sooo good

Next up the last couple days of Italy: Cinque Terra and Venice