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.

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)