Classes

So. Pretty much all I do is school. Which means the only news I have is related to school. I'm sorry. However, I will try to give you the lowdown on my classes this semester:

-American Literature: Pretty much this is the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. For the test last week we had to identify the name and author of three passages we had read, identify the author of two passages we had not read, write two essays using information from everything we had read, and identify three dates chosen from a list of forty. In ninety minutes. It was probably the most stressful class I have ever taken. Also, American literature isn't really my favorite. Honestly, if it took people two hundred years to figure out what you were writing about, you made it too hard. I'll take Dickens over Melville any day.

-Literary Criticism and Analysis: Well, this class is pretty much a watered down version of A.P. English. The test is a little like American Literature though. Mostly we are learning about different types of literary criticism, like psychoanalysis or marxism. It's not fantastic, but it's not horrible either. Unfortunately, I have to get the basic classes out of the way before I can take the fun ones.

-Book of Mormon part II- I really enjoy this class. The teacher is, as one girl put it, "a doll." He's this really sweet grandpa with a love of dumb jokes. He has a talent for teaching, and the class is pretty interesting.

-Spanish 101: This class is every day. It does weird things to my mind because I leave for other classes and I'm trying to figure out how to talk to somebody in Spanish with my limited vocabulary until I realize that I can speak in English again. This class keeps me pretty busy because on top of studying I have to have about 2 tests, two hours of conversation, and one hour of lab every week. Thankfully the teacher is really sweet and does a good job of explaining things. I'm still pretty limited, but I'm getting better.

-Intro to Humanities: This class is much more my style. We sit in a lecture hall and learn about different kinds of art. So far we have done poetry, dance (from folk to modern), painting, and sculpture. Most of our homework involves going to things like dance performances or museum exhibits. I love just getting to sit there and soak up all the fun facts about these artists and styles.

New Music? I think yes!

I can't say that much of excitement has happened to me lately, mostly I just study. But I did discover some new music while writing my paper on Contemporary Dance. So here are a couple of the songs I found.

Breaking News! Bibliocide at BYU!

So. Today I remembered that I have a blog, and that I should probably write something on it. But blogs aren't too much fun without pictures, and I didn't take any pictures. I remedied that as quick as I could so that you would have something to look at.

The inversion is gone! For a while everything looked disgustingly murky. The only good thing was that it made the campus into a fantastic skating rink for a day...we had to skate to all our classes Here is somebody's video of our lovely weather. =) I actually didn't fall once, which is very impressive, considering that I am the Queen of Klutz.

This is my rosebush that I bought on clearance at Smith's. If you need something to pray for, it sure could use them. Its kind of struggling...

Gory, I know. Feel free to cover your eyes from the horror. Luckily, blogs don't have ratings, because that picture is definitely an "R". I have declared it bibliocide by Carter Ward through obsessive reading.

Breathing is Good for Your Health

This blog seems to be turning into more of a once a month update than once a week or so update. But now that I have remembered to breathe, I will try to resurrect it.

Finals week was about as crazy as everybody said. I only had three finals, but it was enough to keep me busy studying. I had my last flute recital the saturday before finals. I played the first movement of Fantasie by Gabriel Faure. It is a very beautiful piece. Sometimes I feel sad that I am not going to pursue my flute further, but I know that it was the right decision to set it aside for a while. As much as I love playing beautiful music, I don't think I would be entirely happy as a professional musician.

My 4.0 has been ruined already. Thank you Social Dance. Yes. I have always been a horrible dancer, I tell my feet to go one way and they insist on going the other. If we were having a conversation it would go like this:

Me: Left foot please step back.
Right Foot: How come Left always gets to go first? It's not fair!
Left Foot: Right took my turn! I'll get you for that!
Me: Wait, which foot were you? Left. Left, stop stepping on my partner's toes, it makes me feel bad.
Left: You forgot my name again! Surely you should remember your own feet's names. I am insulted!
Me: Sorry. Now Right, go forward then right and stay on your toes.
Right: Ooh, but look over there!
Me: No. No. You're supposed to go right. Left, you follow.
Left: I refuse. I can make my own decisions. I think I will slide right here instead.
Teacher: "Don't look at your feet. They will still be there."
Me: (snort) FAT chance...

It has been a great first semester and I will certainly miss some of my classes. However, it is very nice to be home with my family and to take a break. I have spent most of it reading since I have had almost no time at all to read my own books at college. Some suggestions for you if you get bored this Christmas:

The Rent Collector (Camron Wright): This book is about a young mother living in the dump in Cambodia. She has several run ins with the grumpy, drunk rent collector. In pursuing a way to raise her family out of poverty and ignorance the woman discovers that the rent collector has some stories of her own. I would recommend this book to EVERYONE.

Mistwood (Leah Cypess): This is a clever fantasy about a girl who is supposed to be "the shifter", an ancient force of nature meant to protect the royal family. However she has no memory of her past lives and she knows that the current prince is lying to her about something...

Unwind (Neal Shusterman): This book is a thought provoking science fiction about the sanctity of life. In the futuristic setting, abortion is illegal, but unwanted children can be left on somebody else's doorstep where the new family is required to keep it. And to make up for it, parents can sign away children between 13-18 to be unwound, to be organ donors, like the three main characters. Lev is a tithe, signed away by his parents as an act of piety. Risa is a ward of the state, that they can't afford to keep. And Connor is a rebellious teenager who's parents don't know how to handle him. These three come together to survive and fight back in a world that doesn't value them for themselves. Because there must be something more than flesh. How else does a truck driver's hand know card tricks he never learned, or a boy's brain remember a place he's never been? Okay. So this book sounds creepy, but it is really amazing and well put together. My mom and I both loved it and highly recommend it.

These are just a few of our favorites recently, so enjoy!

I also have loved coming back to my homeward. Freshman singles wards are interesting... It's a good ward, and often the teachers are great, but I really love my home ward. At home there are so many people who are so much wiser and have lots of amazing thoughts to contribute that I don't get to hear in the singles ward. I am friends with a lot of the people in my home ward, and it's nice to sit around people that I've known for a long time, even if I never talk to them. And then there's the little kids. I love little kids. They can be kind of noisy sometimes, but I love how fun and sweet they are. Life is so much less exciting without kids around all the time.

I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. Always remember how much Christ loves you.

12 hours of sleep...

So. Whoever said that college students do nothing but party... They were lying. I have done a lot of studying, and a lot of sleeping, but not so much partying. So this is why I had to work pretty hard to find pictures for you.

All in all, life is good. I adjusted to living by myself so much better and faster that I could have thought possible. I can't believe I am already 2/3 of the way through my first semester here at BYU. I still miss my family and friends a lot though. I call home almost every day just to talk, and I figure I'll be doing that for a long time yet.

We went bowling for FHE a few weeks ago. I actually hit a few of the pins...

Chelsea made No-Bake Cookies. And we ate it all before they ever became cookies. It was wonderful.

Sweet and Sour Chicken. This was the only meal I had enough forethought to take a picture of before I  scarfed it down. But it looks good, does it not?

 During General Conference I made these to keep my hands busy. Thanks to Brittany, I learned how to make these paper dolls. Let's just forget the fact that she taught me over the course of four years of high school. In classes where we should have been paying attention. =)

Erika

Chelsea

Me

Kendall

Erica

Kimberly

Because it has been a while...

I made this blog so I could document my adventures for family and friends while I am away at college. It turns out that this was a great idea, except for the fact that at college there is never time.

I've adjusted to college life pretty well. I stay on top of my classes, which I love, get plenty of sleep, and do my own cooking. The only thing I seriously struggle with is remembering my keys...I got locked out three times in one week... so there is a new addition to our door:

Here's the general idea for my classes:

Biology 130- This class is required for pre-med students, which makes it really competitive. I have to study really hard to keep up with them, but the teacher is great and the class is really interesting.

Flute Lesson- This, sadly, is my least favorite class. I guess I got spoiled with Sally teaching me, because I don't feel like my lesson means anything to me or the teacher. She goes through the motions, but I don't learn much new, and we don't cover a lot of material.

Honors Writing 150- This class is a ton of fun. Part of it is that I love English, the other part is that the class is just great. The teacher is really fun and the class has good discussions. We do a lot of writing, but it isn't overwhelming. Our teacher makes food for us on peer review days. All the other freshmen are jealous.

Chemistry 101- This class is kind of boring. Dad taught me pretty darn well, because I remember everything within the first couple of minutes and then I have to fight to stay awake. I still enjoy the homework though, because it is like sudoku.

English 195- This class is pretty much about making the English Major applicable. Some of it is useful even though I know I want to be an English teacher. A lot of it isn't but it's only one hour a week, so that's okay.

Book of Mormon- Everyone said religion classes were hard at BYU. Some are, but this teacher is really easy, so much so that it is like Primary. I found a teacher that I think will be great for next semester though. This class can still be really interesting because I sit next to somebody who isn't LDS, and they ask interesting questions.

Social Dance- This is my hardest class. I have to concentrate really hard. I practiced and still I only have 88% right now. Hopefully that will get better though. We learned the fox-trot, and are learning the cha-cha, waltz, swing, and polka right now. I have also made some friends in there which makes it better.

All in all, I am loving college and my many adventures as a lost freshman.

Roomies!

I was really worried earlier this year when I chose my housing. I got it all done, then sat there staring at the computer, and realized that I was going to be living with complete strangers. It was kind of scary, but the Lord must have been guiding me because I really love these 'strangers'. Nobody is the same, but nobody is so different that we don't get along. 

 This is Erica while cooking and talking to someone. She's a real sweetheart. She's also from Utah and she is here on a track scholarship. 

 This is Kimberly, my Room- roommate. She is lots of fun. She came here from Wisconsin, where evidently, they don't have sprinklers. She loves the Green Bay Packers. We can always tell when they are winning because we hear whooping from our room. She wants to major in Actuarial Science. Feel free to look that up. I did.

This is Chelsea, from Washington. She is really nice. She loves to dance and she's very smart. 

This is Erika, from California. She's a lot of fun to be around. She is also here on a track scholarship. She rooms with Erica, so it's kind of confusing sometimes. She's very nice and friendly. She also makes the most heavenly banana muffins you will ever taste.

This is Kendall, also from Washington. She and Chelsea have been best friends since just about forever. She's super nice and funny. She also loves to make cupcakes. Snickerdoodle, chocolate chip pancake, chocolate peanut butter oreo.... you name it she'll make it. And she always shares. She also likes Roman Holiday.

When you live with 5 other cooks, you end up with a lot of food...we have to be pretty creative to fit stuff in here. I am pretty proud of myself for cooking here. I've made Fried Rice, Mexican Casserole, and Cauliflower Curry and they all turned out great. My mom must have taught me pretty well. She was also a very good sport about my calling her about the recipes.