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! 

3 day weekends and other fun things

Last weekend was basically the closest thing BYU has to a spring break. It's the last break until April...usually. Good thing I'm making my own spring break to go to Guatemala! Only 4 weeks, I can't wait. For some reason winter semester in Provo is just hard. It's cold and long and...winter.

Anyways, my mom came down to visit for 4 days, and it was awesome. Since I don't have any class on Fridays, just work, she got to come to the class I teach and hang out. We went out to eat, loaded up on food at Costco, went to Ikea, and hung out at Annica's dorm. Super fun.

In other news it's been really sunny lately and I am so ready for spring. I can't wait until summer on Guernsey! It's going to be awesome. I got a letter from the IRB approving my research so I can officially go. That's a relief, I thought I was going to have to wait a month or two to hear back, and that proposal was a beast to fill out. But it's done!! I have my plane ticket even. It's official.

Also I've had 3 crepe parties in the last two weeks. That is the life!

My new goal for the semester is to be more social. I've been a total homebody lately, but I want to start going to more stuff and enjoy the rest of the semester, not just wait it out until May. So we'll see how that goes.

Happy Sunday!

Lists

Things I've done recently:

• Taught another batch of students
• bought my plane ticket for Guernsey
• lots and lots of reading (not the fun kind)
• zumba
• dreamed about Europe
• saw Sherlock Holmes 2

Classes I'm taking:

• French 362 (2nd half of history of France)
• Anthro 439 (psych anthro)
• Anthro 442 (field study prep)
• channel islands prep
• Honors film
• Mission prep

Things I'm looking forward to:

• Mom coming to visit in 2 weeks
• Guatemala in March (my fabricated spring break)
• The Hunger Games movie
• Field Study in Guernsey from May-July
• Being home in July
• Going to Montana
• The Hobbit
• Les Miserables
• not being in school anymore
• having time to read for fun

Things I've discovered recently:

• Downton Abbey
• how cool my phone is 
• pinterest
• noisetrade.com
• Thompson Square
• the gym
• some unexpected friends
• braided hairstyles
• Wensleydale cheese
• I understand a lot more spanish than I thought I did
• i have senioritis as a junior 
• I'm excited to go on a mission

Places I've been:

• France
• Canada
• Mexico
• England
• Costa Rica
• Spain
• Monaco
• Switzerland
• Italy

Places I'll go this year:

• France
• UK
• Guatemala

Things I love:

• chocolate
• a really good conversation
• good music
• clever story lines
• BBC
• comfy clothes
• rain
• beautiful photos
• laughter
• getting the mail barefoot
• summers 

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!

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 :)