Fall, Life, and Czech

I can't believe it's already October, time flies by so fast! School is in full swing of course. And I do love autumn weather. Time to pull out my scarves and hats and boots. I think fall might be my favorite season, although it's in pretty close competition with summer. Here's what I've been up to:

• I filled out all my visa forms for the Czech Republic and sent them on their way, so glad that's done!
• Some things I've learned about Czech:
• they are very reserved until you prove yourself trustworthy, then they treat you like one of the family.
• you have to take your shoes off before entering a home
• Prague is beautiful
• My pronunciation is awful. But that's fine, I'm sure I'll get better.
• ahoj (said like ahoy) is goodbye and hello. It's going to remind of me of pirates every time. 
• also I have a French accent whenever I speak another language. So that's going to be fun. 
• oh and I really want a trenchcoat to take with me. Just saying. 
• and I'm kind of stressing out about selling my contract for winter, since I'm leaving. So hopefully that all works out. 
• I'm pretty sure I think about how I'm going to the Czech Republic every single day, wondering what my life going to be like at this time next year. It's really hard to picture. 
• Got an A on my French midterm. I was super excited about this because I studied foreeever and my grade went up A LOT. 
• I'm in a dinner group this semester which was a brilliant idea. I get a free home-cooked meal 4 days a week and only have to cook every 3 weeks. It's great. I'm cooking on Tuesday and I think I might make pumpkin apple stew. It's sooo good. 
• Speaking of pumpkin, I love anything pumpkin in the fall. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin shakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin carving...so excited. 
• I have a pretty solid group of friends, which is really fun. Oh and did I mention most of them are guys? love it.
• School's pretty hard. But I've started my thesis, so that's coming along. Progress. That's what I have to keep telling myself. Any progress is good. 
• I'm TAing again this semester, for the 4th time. But I like it--I have almost all freshmen who've never had to write a college paper before. So that's fun, and it's pretty awesome to give examples from my own fieldwork when we talk about how to do anthropology, it makes me feel so legit. 
• I also got to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House which was amazing--so beautiful and peaceful. They even had peach blossoms on the floor tiles, the detail was so pretty. We stopped at Peach City and got shakes on the way home--seriously the best shake I've ever had. And my grandparents grew up there so it was pretty cool to see it again. Also I'm so excited to go to the Portland Temple at Thanksgiving! 
• It's General Conference weekend. Which is awesome, and one of favorite weekends of the year. I'm always so uplifted and come away with more hope and a better perspective on life. If you are curious about what Mormons believe, you can watch it on lds.org for free! 

• Also, the Church just changed the age of missionaries to 18 for boys and 19 for girls, which means my sister could be serving at the same time as me now! Pretty crazy, and exciting. 
•  I can't believe I leave in January! At this rate the time is going to go by soooo quickly. 4 months! aaaaaaahh

So basically life is a little crazy, and little stressful, but that's pretty normal. But there are always the days when you laugh so hard your cheeks hurt to make it all worth it :)

Senior

Well I'm officially a senior at BYU. Weird. This is my 7th semester (not counting study abroad or my field study) so I think it's safe to say I have the whole college thing down! My Anthro lab this semester that I'm teaching is full of freshmen, and I definitely feel a lot older than them (they look so little!). One boy came up to me after class and said...um I was just wondering, what's the SWKT? So I explained it was the tallest building on campus, and that I was sure he could find it on the map...etc. haha, oh lost little freshmen... It should be good though, freshmen usually care about their grades, so they might actually participate and do the readings this semester. Oh, the joys of being a TA, haha. But as much as I fake-complain about it I really do like my job! I miss all my fellow TA's who have graduated though, we have so many new ones.

As for my classes, I am taking my last ever French class, Literary Analysis (340) . I'm actually pretty excited about it, my French isn't as rusty as I thought, and my professor seems pretty cool. Plus we get to read Voltaire and Molière! I'm also taking data analysis and thesis of course, and it's kind of weird that those are my only Anthro classes. What else....oh marriage prep. Before you laugh, it's actually an awesome class. Dance 380, which is going to be a challenge, but really fun...and an Honors class. So not bad. The most work will be my thesis, but I planned accordingly, so I'm not really worried about it. Surprisingly enough I'm excited to finally start writing it.

In other news, my mission papers are officially in!! I should get my call either this week or next, and I can't wait. I really want to know where I'm going to be for the next year and a half of my life. Any guesses?

Other things... my ward is awesome, I love it. I've made so many new friends in the first week and I can already tell this semester is going to be so fun. My new roommates are cool, they love to travel too, so we are going to put up a map and mark everywhere we've been, plus take a trip to Ikea once we all get our paychecks on Friday haha. Oh and my freshman ward is having a reunion this next weekend, so it will be good to see everybody after 2 years!

Life is good.

Life

This last week has been so crazy. I've been running all sorts of errands to get ready to leave, getting wedding and birthday presents, going to weddings and receptions, enjoying the beautiful weather, and saying too many goodbyes--it's been kind of chaotic.

This weekend especially was really busy. Friday I went to Caleb's reception with my other friends from Study Abroad. It was really fun, I'm so happy for them. (And it was fun to get all dressed up haha. Annica curled my hair and I was so happy with it). It's super crazy that he's married--you know you're getting old when all your friends start getting married. Plus on study abroad he was all sad cause she left him to go on a mission. haha. And almost a year to the day our study abroad started, he married her. Adorable. It was so fun to see everybody but bittersweet at the same time--it's probably the last time we will all be together. Caloux (Caleb) is married, Erin and Sarah are leaving on their missions this summer, and life goes on. Here are a couple pictures from it.

The whole gang! (+ Courtney) I love these guys

haha they took pictures with her tag cause she came home for him :)

so cute

After we got back from the reception Erin spent the night at my place cause I was taking her to the airport early the next morning. It was so good to just talk--I probably won't see her for a while, since I'll probably be graduated by the time she gets back, and who knows where I'll be then. So it was really fun, but sad at the same time. (Plus we didn't get much sleep...haha. About 4 hours I think).

Saturday morning I went to the temple with Catherine to wait for Miriam (my roommate) and Brandon to come out of their wedding. That was fun to see them so happy. Then we went to their luncheon later that day and took pictures and everything. I can't believe it finally happened. It didn't really sink in until I came home that night. I kept expecting her to come home like normal, but of course she didn't. It's weird living practically alone, good thing I'm only here until Thursday.

Their first dance-love her face here. 

(former) roommates!

A year ago today I arrived in France for study abroad. I cannot believe it's been that long!! So crazy. I still miss it. So much has happened in a year, but at the same time it feels like it was yesterday. I can't believe it. And now I'm off on Thursday for another adventure....gah. I'm really trying quite hard to be excited and not nervous/worried. For the most part I've been successful, but I'm getting nervous again since I only have a couple days left. It's mostly just the research that is making me nervous. Living in another country with a host family I've done before (exactly a year ago!) and that was awesome. So I'm not at all worried about that. It's just doing anthro research, for real this time. And gathering enough data to write a thesis!! and talking to strangers about their lives...aaaah. It's crazy. I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of writing on here, to document it/vent/keep everybody updated.

Oh I got some study abroad pictures from Caleb that I'd never seen. Ah memories. Good times.

At BHV-the crazy expensive department store

hahaha I love this one

The failed sunrise-watching day

At the train station in Lyon

Life is funny sometimes. A year ago I couldn't have imagined myself doing a field study, and yet, here I am! And right now I can't even imagine what I'll be doing next summer--internship? graduating? mission? working? in school? Who knows. Luckily things always work out. That's the hard part, just having the faith that there is a plan, and that things are always better then you think they will be. I'm so glad I don't have to go through life alone, God is always there to help every step of the way! 

January

Today is just one of those days where I feel blue. For some reason January gets to me like this, maybe it's because it's cold and dark, maybe because it's hard to get back into school, maybe because my family is far away, maybe because it's a Friday night, maybe because I can't wait until summer... Maybe it's the promise (or specter) of the coming year...Maybe it's just January. I even have a playlist called January from last year with wistful songs.

These are the days when I go back and look over all of my pictures from France and remember how happy I was. Europe really is the best. The freedom of roaming the streets of Paris--I can't even describe how happy that made me. The history, the language, the culture, the accordions playing on the streets, the sounds of cafés, the metro, the food, the lights, the friends....it's definitely not overrated. I really can't say enough about it. While I was there I tried so hard to soak it up, to appreciate each moment. I could honestly go to France every year and never tire of it. And there are so many parts I haven't seen yet! I don't know what it is about France--I've been to other countries that were really cool, and I loved visiting them. But France trumps them all.

Sometimes I just get tired of everyday life. But everyday life is life. These mundane days...they are the bread-and-butter of a life. Sometimes not too exciting, not too memorable. But character is built on these days, not the ones where everything is easy. The adventures--they are once-in-a-lifetime, and I get 2! How lucky am I!? It's just hard to prepare and wait for them to come, like everything I suppose. Patience is a virtue, and I am getting plenty of practice! I'm reading all about the history of the Channel Islands, and it's just making me want to be there right now. To be distracted, doing something I love, in a place so beautiful. It's 43 degrees there right now and cloudy (yes I looked up the weather) it sounds exactly like Eugene, and I want to be there. It's mockingly beautiful here--sunny and freezing. A mon avis, winter shouldn't camouflage as summer. It should be cloudy and grey, and cold. Maybe that's just my love for home influencing me...I miss it already. But I don't really believe in self-pity (that's probably my mom's influence coming out :) It's okay to be sad, but then you have to pick yourself up and find all of the reasons why life is worth living.

I'm even going to Guatemala in March! My professors have all been so gracious in letting me skip a week and a half of school--they all said go for it, we can make arrangements. I love being an upperclassman. And my major is amazing. It's a little stressful trying to narrow my topic, but soooo INTERESTING. I'm reading these books about how to do research, and it makes me so excited! And they are so helpful. I'm sure my students are probably going to hear more about the Channel Islands than they want to, but hey, they'll live. And hopefully my enthusiasm will teach them something about anthropology that they can't get from reading books.

I still haven't made peace with Utah...I definitely love BYU, but Utah in general? Not so much. I just can't get over the lack of trees. I miss GREEN. At least Arizona's landscape is beautiful in a desert sort-of way. But Utah is just brown. No cactus, no sequoia, no creosote to smell when it finally rains. The things that make Arizona beautiful. It probably helps that I have family there. Utah is lonely.

That's not quite fair. I have really good friends. The kind that become almost family. The kind that will drop everything to make sure you are ok. The kind that bring you ice cream or leave notes of encouragement. The kind that I'm comfortable saying anything around and it doesn't matter. The kind I can laugh with for hours. The kind that like me anyway, no matter what. The kind that want to hang out just because.

Take that January!

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.