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 :)

Mission Call!

Well, as most of you probably know, I opened my mission call yesterday! I was surprised it came so quickly, it only took a week. I was going crazy wanting to check the mail at 3 (that's when it comes) but I had to work until 5. Still, by the time I got home I had talked myself out of being excited--I figured it would be next week. So imagine my surprise when I saw this white envelope sitting there. Luckily I only had to wait an hour and a half to open it, which wasn't bad at all. I felt really peaceful and good about it, so it wasn't really torture to wait.

I've been called to serve in the Czech/Slovak Mission, speaking Czech! I actually had a lot of people guess Eastern Europe, and I was feeling Europe too, but still, I wasn't expecting the Czech Republic. (It was pretty funny because my friend Daniel served there, and his parents were actually on Skype with mine when I opened it) I've started reading up on the history of the country, I didn't think I knew anything, but I remembered the Defenestration of Prague, the Thirty Year's War, the Prague Spring and that they were a Soviet bloc country, and that Prague is supposed to be really beautiful, so that wasn't bad. I'm so excited!!

Yesterday was kind of a roller coaster of emotions, and it still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm actually going. I'm starting to get a little bit terrified, but I'm sure that's normal, after all I'm going to be living in a country I know pretty much nothing about, speaking a language I've never heard, for the next year and a half of my life. That would intimidate anyone. But still, mostly what I feel is excitement and a little bit of disbelief that this actually is my life. I started this blog off with my adventures in Paris on study abroad, and I've been blessed to have some amazing adventures since--this is just the latest!

A girl in my ward came up to me on Sunday and said that I always seemed to be off on some adventure, and asked what my latest one was haha. It's kind of funny because I've never really seen myself as the adventurous type, but I'm starting to realize that maybe I'm a lot more brave than I think I am. Every year of college I've done something so far out of my comfort zone that it was almost ridiculous, yet managed to survive, learn a lot of things about myself, and even enjoy it. So I guess this is just the next stage of that pattern! I think if I hadn't gone to Paris and Guernsey I would not be brave enough to go to the Czech Republic, but having done that and proved to myself that I could, this isn't quite the leap that it could have been. After all I've adjusted to living in 2 different countries for 2 months each already. I'm sure as a missionary it will be way different, and much harder in many ways, but in small ways I feel like I've been prepared. Plus I'm just so excited to be immersed in the gospel every single day, without worrying about anything else. My faith is what brings me the most joy in life, and I'm really excited to be able to share that with the people that I will be serving!

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.

A Last Hurrah

One more week of summer...I'm sad it's almost over. Especially because my summer didn't really start until July, so it was really missing two months. It's definitely been eventful, and I accomplished a lot, which I'm proud of. It definitely wasn't one of those lazy summers that's fun for a little while but then boring, that's for sure!

This week has been pretty eventful too, with moving and organizing and finishing my 495 field project, and running back-to-school errands. But I'm super happy to say that I finished my 495 project early (it's not due until September 1st). 

The finished product!

And here's the Table of Contents. It's a little hard to read, but you get the gist. It's over 200 pages long, and proof of how much work I did while in Guernsey! Phew. So glad that's over! Now for a week break before I start my thesis...

Table of contents

In other news, I moved up a floor! I now have my own room, which is pretty exciting. I also managed to take my shelves off the wall in my old room and put them up, so now my room has a little more character. That was an adventure, complete with a trip to Home Depot! And as of today I'm officially moved in, since I finished all of my kitchen stuff. 

My room!

Tomorrow I'm off to Montana for my last summer hurrah! I can't wait. I'm meeting my family friends Nick and Jessie (they are really more like an aunt and uncle) and we're driving up to Rexburg where my family is meeting us, and then I'll head up to Montana to see my real aunt and uncle and their adorable girls. So excited. The last time I was there was super fun, Montana is sooo beautiful! I'm almost packed, complete with road trip snacks and some books on tape. 

Big Sky Country

Friends

Today I got to go to one of my freshman friend's mission homecomings. He's engaged and they're adorable and it was awesome seeing everybody. (Don't worry they've been dating for years). I'm super excited to see everyone else in the Fall, even though we'll probably only see each other once, other than running into each other on campus. We are planning a reunion party, so that's happening for sure. But I'm still super excited about it--I can't really explain why, only that's it's just great to see old friends. It's fun to see how much they've changed and how much I've changed yet we're still the same people, just a little more grown up. 2 years somehow manages to be a ridiculously long time, and at the same time go by really fast. Time is weird sometimes. I feel so different from my freshman year self, but I'm the same person. I can't imagine what's it's like to look back at yourself 20 years later.

Time is going by super slowly right now for me, since I'm currently the only one living in my apartment and waiting to move upstairs on Wednesday. I'm also waiting to go to Montana in a week, waiting for school to start, waiting for most of my friends to get back in town and going crazy waiting to turn in my mission papers because they are completely finished (except uploading a picture of myself) but I still have to wait like 2 weeks to submit them. Gah. I'm feeling very impatient about it, I really really want to know where I'm going so I have something in my head to picture where I'll be for the next year and a half. Plus it will make it official, which means I can't panic and back out of it. But I'm determined that won't happen because I'm really excited about going. But since I've done everything but submit them time has slowed down considerably. Oh well. Hopefully finishing up my research and buying books and things this week will distract me!

On the bright side, I've halfway packed up my apartment, had an awesome 3 hour conversation with my sis last night (one of those oops-it's-1-in-the-morning-and-I-didn't-notice conversations), I'm running a lot which I'm actually enjoying, my research is almost finished, and it's still summer, which means I'm not working or swamped with homework yet, and I have time to read for fun. Oh and I have internet when I thought I wasn't going to for a week, which was a really great surprise. So I'm trying to enjoy all the extra time I have instead of being bored, because I know as soon as school starts I'll be crazy busy. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Summer goodness

So...it's been forever since I've blogged whoops. Summer does that to me, it's just so refreshing to not be in school. So this might turn into a novel of a post.

I just found this post that I started the day after I got back to the U.S:

I'm back in Provo finally! I know it seems bizarre that I'm happy to be in the U.S. instead of Europe, but I truly am. It feels so good to be home. It's only been a day, but I can already tell that this summer is going to be amazing. Yesterday I:

• met my new roommate
• made an awesome 4th of July cake with Lorraine
• got food, did laundry, unpacked
• went to my ward's bbq
• let off fireworks
• watched Stadium of Fire for free from a hillside in North Provo, with an awesome view
• went swimming

Sounds like the perfect summers day to me.

That week was crazy fun, we did all sorts of things, and I loved the freedom of not being productive with my research every single day. It was great. After a week in Provo, I packed up again and headed back to Oregon for the first time in 6 MONTHS. I couldn't believe it had been that long, but it sure felt like it. I got to see my parents back in March when we went to Guatemala, but I hadn't seen Brigit or Ethan or Buster or Eugene in half a year. It was pretty crazy, they've totally grown into teenagers, and it's sooo weird. They'll both be in middle school next year, I can't believe it, in my head they are the same age as when I left for college, going on 4 years ago. (Oh yeah, I'm starting my senior year. No big deal.)

Being home was awesome. I had missed my family sooo much, and I just love Eugene anyway. It was great. I hung out with them pretty much all the time and got back into shape (which I am super excited about by the way, I'm actually enjoying running. who knew?) I really wish I had taken some pictures, but even though I brought my camera I guess I was just having too much fun. So... cue list of things I did in Oregon:

• Went to my friend Michelle's wedding. We grew up next door to each other, so it was really great that I got to go, I was going to miss it originally. 
• Went running all the time, and got this awesome watch that measures my heart rate and actually motivates me to go running. This is quite a feat. 
• Went swimming, I love our pool. 
• Helped my dad try out his new "big green egg". (that's actually the name). It's basically a cross between a pizza oven, a smoker, and a grill. It was fun to see him all excited about it, and I have to admit, the food was really good.  
• Got a haircut
• oh yeah I have bangs again, which is fun.
• Discovered the joys of shopping at St Vincent's.
• Annica loves it, and it is a lot better than Goodwill or DI for that matter. Plus it's cheap and you can find some pretty great stuff.
• Went to Off the Waffle. mmmm.
• Started my mission papers--halfway done! 
• I'm super excited about this, I almost just want to skip Fall semester, but I know I can't. Oh well, at least I get to turn them in at the end of the month!
• Hung out with Ethan and Annica for half a week while everybody else went on the Trek
• Turned 21! 
•  I actually feel like more of an adult now that it's official, which was kind of strange because birthdays usually don't feel any different to me. Besides as my dad explained: 18 doesn't count anyway, it's just a construct of the Vietnam War, because they didn't think it was fair to be sent to die without being able to vote. 21 has been the official birthday for much longer.
• It's always great seeing your facebook fill up with birthday wishes, and my lovely friend Anna wrote me a this awesome birthday post
• Saw my grandparents. They came out for the weekend, and it was really good to get to talk to them, it's been a while.

Aaand that's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. But overall July was an awesome month, super fun, and I loved it. Hopefully August will be just as good. I'm back in Provo, which is sort of a bummer, but I know I would have gotten too bored at home if I was there for the rest of summer, and it is good to see my friends again. My friend Erin (from Study Abroad) went into the MTC on Wednesday, which is super exciting for her, but I'm sad she won't be around this fall. Well, I guess that's what letters are for. And who knows, maybe I'll accidentally run into her at Conference (she's serving on Temple Square).

 So. On the agenda for August is: tubing down the Provo river tomorrow, powering through the rest of my research so that it's done, hanging out with friends (me and Anna want to plan an epic road trip and various other exciting things when she gets back next week), and going to Montana in 3 weeks. I'm pretty excited about that, because my family is going too, and we get to see our family friends the Browns who are awesome, and Leif and Monica (my aunt and uncle). Plus it's Montana, which is so beautiful. As much as I like BYU, I still haven't gotten over the ugliness of Utah County. Despite the pretty mountains, everything is just very brown. Anyways, it should be pretty great, and my sister is coming back with me, which means I'll have family around again! (She's living only a block away, so this fall should be fun.) 

Oh! I almost forgot. I've been watching the Olympics too. And they are awesome, as usual. There's something about seeing all those athletes work so hard that is really inspiring. They are amazing. Plus it's just cool to see countries competing against each other in peace and cooperation. Somehow they seem to rise above the politics of it all. 

Some ramblings

You know those people who, instead of being excited for you, happy for you or well-wishing, seem to enjoy bursting your bubble? I will never understand that. They say say things like "well plans don't always work out" (yes someone actually said this to me when learning that I decided to go on a mission). People are already telling my sister "oh you are totally going to get married first". Well that might be true, but is it really necessary to point it out? It's like saying "no I don't believe in your dreams at all, so let me point out all the worst case scenarios that might happen to you because I'm sure they haven't occurred to you yet." Or better yet: "I'm a pessimist and I want you to be one too, even when you are happy and excited at the moment." No one ever says that, but that's what it feels like. It's like the person, who when you mention you love swimming in the ocean or something feel the need to start quoting stories about shark attacks. I've been trying to think of a witty/funny-but-gets-the-point-across comeback, but sadly I'm all out of then at the moment. Any ideas? It's usually after the fact that I think of them. The French call it "l'esprit de l'escalier", or the spirit of the staircase. In other words, it's the feeling, when you are halfway down the stairs after a conversation when you suddenly realize "oh I should have said that! It would have been perfect!" It definitely happens to me all the time.

In other news, it was my moms birthday yesterday (well it technically still is, because I'm eight hours ahead and I'm awake absurdly early because my roommate needed the phone at 6:45 am, and my host was really loud getting up at 5:30 in the morning. So now I'm awake, and suddenly wanted to blog, even though I'll probably (hopefully) go back to sleep). Annnyways. It was my moms birthday, and I'm bummed that I'm halfway across the world for it. Don't get me wrong, my research is interesting and all, but I only have 3 weeks left, and I'm getting to that point when I want to go home and enjoy summer, without writing down every little thing I observe. So, cue list of things I'm excited about for summer:

• Seeing my family
• Going home for the first time since Christmas
• Reading books for fun
• Hanging out with friends
• Starting my papers
• Swimming!!
• Walking my dog
• Getting some sun (it's still 55 here and raining half the time.)
• Driving my car instead of taking a bus
• Seeing how much my siblings have grown

Basically I can't wait. Luckily the days go by quickly here, so soon enough it will be over, and I'll get to Provo (anyone want to pick me up from the airport?) and then a week later I'll be going home! The first thing I'm going to eat is a burrito with Yumm sauce. They don't have any mexican food over here. (or any flavor at all, they only use salt and pepper. It's either really bland or way too spicy. Or seafood. What happened to using herbs??)