Famousness.

Thanks be to folk dance for upping my famousity in the last few days in these ways.

• Being the thumbnail for the article on this year's Christmas Around the World (which I saw two days ago and it was so awesome! Great job folk dancers!)
• Having that same picture be on the BYU homepage for at least two days. Too bad I wasn't smart enough to get a screen capture of it like I did last time. So...anybody happen to do that for some random reason? 

I'm that tiny thing in the upper-right hand corner.
And this year they chose a picture of me that's actually good instead of  a picture
that makes me look like a seven year old with a double chin...

UPDATE: Someone DID screencapture my glory on the BYU homepage because they are brilliant friends. Brilliant I tell you! Genius I say! I was even bigger this time.

• At some point last week on BYUtv, a documentary aired that has been in the making for a loooong time. The summer I went to Europe with folk dance (Hungary, Slovakia, Prague, Zagreb, Porec, Vienna, remember?) we had Steve Olpin from BYU come with us and film. Along with his lovely daughter Quinn who I adore. Anyway. He filmed our rehearsals for Europe, our tour in Europe, our auditions for the next year's team, our rehearsal for Christmas Around the World 2011 and the show of Christmas Around the World itself. So he filmed two different teams, both the only two years I was on the team so you know, awesome. He never interviewed me or showed me a whole lot, but you can definitely see me so BAM. More famous. I just wish he could have made something longer, we are jammed into a 30 minute episode with another awesome media arts project that also deserved more time than it got. But it's cool. Although MAN I would love to see some of the other footage he got that didn't make it in the final project. Folk Dance: Uncut. 

Soft Sunday Sounds: Subjects of Gratitude

In my Relief Society lesson today we were urged to step outside of our comfort zone in order to grow. I got thinking to the times in my life when I did this in hopes that I can begin to replicate it in my current life. Because for some reason when you move back home, your comfort zone becomes much the same as it was when you last lived here, ie. high school. Thinking about this brought me back to my journey through folk dance.

When I started folk dance, I was so nervous to go to club nights that I got nearly physically ill and emotional in the crowded room of people dancing that I did not know. I've always had a difficult time with large crowds and the prospect of them was terrifying. As I progressed in the program I knew more and more people, so the large group seemed smaller and more friendly. But there came a point in my progression in the program where I decided to look for those dancers who looked like I was before I became comfortable at club nights.

In addition to this, I was a TA for lots of folk dance classes at BYU. In fact, the last couple of years in my time at BYU it seems that I had been the TA for the majority of people in the folk dance program at least once. In this role I did not just attend class and demonstrate at the front of the classroom. Being a future teacher and someone who is passionate about dance, I gave one-on-one help (inside and outside of class), I gave encouragement and pep talks, and I tried my best to remember names, even after I wasn't their TA anymore.

In all of these situations, I came to grow as a person. I came to love people more and work harder and be better than I thought I could be. Those who I helped had personal triumphs in which I shared their joy, and I thought, this is my payment for helping them.

And it was more than enough. But it wasn't all.

Last week I visited Provo for some time with some of my dearest friends and I decided to drop in on a folk dance workshop. I walked in and saw so many people I had worked with and felt joy at their progression in the program. But that wasn't all. I was then assaulted with hugs the entirety of my stay at the workshop. So many people I had helped came over and showed that they cared about what was happening in my life, that they were happy I was there, and that they loved me. I was overwhelmed, not realizing how long-lasting the fruits of service could be. And little did they know that the tables were now turned and they were serving me. They were reminding me that there are many people who love me, who care about me, who think I'm a great person.

So it seems to me, that I need to be grateful to be a subject of gratitude. Service, as it turns out, is like karma. It all comes back to you.

RE: Folk dance the actual last: PAC 2

I pretended to start this post earlier. But I simply couldn't write this post without having finished our summer tour. And man I'm glad I didn't, because so many wonderful things happened on this tour!

Quickly in the year I established who my BFF's would be. After a week of killer rehearsals (we learned all of our World of Dance stuff in one week!) we went to a cabin retreat in the middle of nowhere, Utah. It was so far out of the way I was concerned that Mike Romney was really leading us to our death. But there was a cabin and we did retreat! Soon after arriving I was wandering around, wondering who to room with. I was already good friends with basically everyone on the team thanks to the fact that I was the TA for SPAC the year before. However I didn't know who my "group" was yet, and had no idea who to room with. Thankfully, I peeked in on Kelsey's room (we had been SPAC roommates and dear friends since then) and she invited me to stay in that room with her, Mikayla Ellison, and Amber Shepherd. Mikayla and Amber were both girls I loved and wanted to be great friends with but didn't know if they would be friends with me (perpetual high school feeling anyone?).

Thankfully I was intensely wrong. We bonded over Buzz Lightyear, nougat, and lots of laughter. That was the first of many sleepovers that hopefully aren't yet finished even  though Kelsey and I have graduated.

The retreat was super fun and awesome and was extremely indicative of the rest of the year. Everyone got along super well this year. We were all just great friends and worked really well together. And our new director, Jeanette was perfect for this group of people. There was just a feeling of fun but still hard work that permeated our time together. She was the reason! This woman is a fun hard-worker. Both.

The year started with a bang. For World of Dance we did Lucnica, our Slovakian Suite, Keltatak, our Irish Suite, and Classical Indian. World of Dance this year was infinitesimally better than last year. I was much more comfortable with my spot on the team and with the BYU dance department in general. So I actually talked to people from the other teams much more than I had the year before. I only wish I could do it again because then I would make even more friends! My only regret from that show was that I had only a CDT number (Chakra) to get ready for Classical Indian because their piece was about 8 minutes long. So I didn't get to see that number for the whole run of the show. Bummer. 

After World of Dance we did not slow down. The first half of our semester was full of rehearsals as we had two professional choreographers come to teach us some new pieces. First we learned Volyn (Ukrainian) from Luba. I love this woman! She was definitely tough, but she was really kind and helpful and a very strong woman. Apparently she was dancing on a broken foot? She kept telling us she couldn't do things full out but she was still doing them eons better than us. Volyn ended up being one of my favorite dances ever. I was really disappointed when I was taken out of it after Christmas Around the World for logistic reasons. The best part about her visit was that when she left she gave us a little pep talk and told us that she had been much easier on us than she usually is because she just cared about so much. She got teary eyed and you could tell she had really been affected by the Spirit she felt around us. We sang "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again" and she cried and some of us cried (meaning me) and it was such a wonderful experience. 

Our next choreographer was Richard. Now, with these choreographers we would add on to our MWF 2-5 rehearsals. The choreographer would come in Thursday so we would have a Thursday night rehearsal, our regular Friday rehearsal with an extra Friday night rehearsal and then a Saturday morning rehearsal. Richard was choreographing a gypsy dance for us and the first two parts of it was just boys, so the girls didn't have to come until I think Friday night. So by the time the girls came on Friday the boys were quite practiced in the styling. Also, boys tend to have a lot of motivation when it comes to dances like this (dances around the Hungary region) because they are slappy and manly. The girls first rehearsal with Richard was...intimidating. But we all got through it and by the end he even smiled when we performed it! I similarly loved this dance and was really sad that I never got to perform it (even though Richard picked me to be in it originally. Not bitter.)

After these choreographers was a rush of performances for visiting dignitaries and then the scramble to prepare for and perform Christmas Around the World. This year was much better than the last year when I was terribly ill. Although there was some drama and it was emotionally challenging, but just because it is widely acknowledged that this was the most demanding PAC repertoire...ever. Every single dance we performed in CAW was completely new to the program except for 1, and that was the only one we had already performed in World of Dance. We were all taxed. But we made it! I weeped openly in the moments before my last Hopak in the Marriot Center and thankfully had an understanding partner (thanks Thomas!). It didn't help that this year there were transitions in between each dance which actually tied it into Christmas, and the transition before Hopak was especially spiritual. 

The next semester was, um, hard. Just for me really. As I've said before, student teaching while doing PAC and having a job wasn't the best idea I've ever had. I had to be approximately an hour late for rehearsal every day. I missed warm-up everyday as well as E.D.D's (every day drills) which I actually really was sad to miss! Our team also started running together and I never got to do that (though this was...less sad to me). But because of this I had a hard time really feeling in the loop and part of the team for the semester. Weekend shows helped, but we actually didn't have very  many of those at all. 

Our "home show" at the Covey Center in Provo was...interesting. We were down 1 girl from the get-go because she had been sick for a while and didn't know yet what was wrong. And a few numbers into the show another one of our members had to stop because he was also quite ill. There were a lot of last minute adjustments and prayers said and thankfully both of those members recovered for upcoming performances. 

Then came summer tour! This year not only was our director different (Jeanette instead of Edwin) but we had a different tour director (Julie instead of John) as well as a new tech manager (Travis instead of Mark). A whole new team! I can't pretend I wasn't worried about a let-down of a tour since I had gone to Europe the year before. But after hearing what was planned I was pretty much stoked and continued to be throughout the tour. Here are some highlights. 

Aztec ruins! AH! History  nerdiness. This was a building removed from the rest of the complex that had concentric circles. Um, tabernacle of Israel anyone?

We visited the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi!

I bought a Mexican mu'umu'u!

Music videos were made. Check 'em here and here.

Beauty at the Oak Alley Plantation near New Orleans, LA.

I held an alligator!

There was a duck posse

Live jazz music in New Orleans. 

All the last years. I'll miss y'all! 

Thanks for a great year my dearest friends. You'd better dang well keep in contact with me. Fo' real.

Some raw data: Be patient, I'm not good with numbers.

Alright, this post should be easiest. But not for me. Me and numbers aren't super compatible. I'm very good at counting to 8 but that's kind of my limit.

As a student...
Dance - 23
English - 1
Humanities - 2
Science - 1
Religion - 11
History - 11
Education - 9
Music - 3
Spanish - 5
Health - 1 (HEPE...which may not really count, the fact that it is no longer required may give you a clue)
Cooking - 1
Miscellaneous - 2 (Student Development for Freshman Academy, Culture Class for my Europe tour)
Political Science - 3
Geography - 2

And yes. I majored in history teaching. Not dance. In fact I was still three classes away from minoring in dance. What? And I think I finished my religion requirements two times over... :) I like religion.

Lowest-Highest GPA - 3.52/4.0 (the semester I did student teaching and PAC so...it doesn't seem like it counts)
Cumulative GPA - 3.75

Total credits at BYU 150.5

As a TA/Mentor
TA
Beginning clogging - 1
Intermediate clogging - 3
Spanish dance - 1
SPAC/World Dance Showcase - 1
11 RB folk team - 1
If each dance class had about 20 people in it (with folk teams having 32), I was a TA for about 164 people in the folk dance program.
(all the dance ones were unpaid)
For these students I danced many-a-day, gave one-on-one help, even sometimes set up sessions outside of class to help them (sometimes when they weren't my student anymore...Justin...), and hopefully helped them become better dancers.

Humanities 101 - 5
Humanities 202 - 2 (technically, I came into one class a couple of weeks late and had to leave another way halfway through the semester because the class was 2 students short. Lame.)
If each of these classes had 40 in it, which is the minimum for a TA, I have been a TA for 280 Humanities students. However, I know that some of those classes had much more than 40. But I don't have exact numbers.
For these students I attended many lectures (I have Lauri's 101 lectures practically memorized now), ran review sessions, taught some classes, and graded a lot of papers

Peer Mentor
Summer term - About 15 (Dan and I shared our students, so only some of them were lucky enough to be mine!)
Fall semester - About 38 (sorry no absolutes...I didn't keep as good of notes as I thought!)


Basically. In my time at BYU I have taken a lot of classes and met a lot of people and hopefully helped a few. :)

Nooks and Crannies: My favorite parts of BYU campus

BYU campus has a lot of great spots, and it seems like every student has their favorite places to study or eat lunch. I have a few of those places. Keep in mind I didn't really study on campus nor did I usually have a lunch break. So these were just places I liked to exist. :)

• The TMA office. Okay I know this may be weird, but after I started working there, whenever I had some extra time or unexpected lunch time, I usually would go there. Then I got to be in a place I loved with people I loved. Double win. 
• JKB vending machine area. There are these great little booths near the vending machines on the 2nd floor of the JKB that are perfect for studying, warming up your lunch, and buying a little snacky when you're craving chocolate. These were always the vending machines that had this one kind of amazing chocolate bar. I can't remember what it was called, but it was awesome. 
• 1st floor computers in the library. For my first year at BYU I didn't have my own laptop and these are the computers that were sure to be open every afternoon so I could email my sister on her mission and check my facebook and do homework. The downside to this area, freezing cold. Be sure to bring a jacket. 
• 5th floor booths in the library. If you need yourself a desk for some research and studying, I especially recommend the fifth floor. I mean, the whole library is relatively quiet, but the fifth floor in particular has an ambiance that I appreciated. 
• Education in Zion Exhibit.  Now, while this is an awesome museum to go through, it is an even awesomer place to study and just chill. The only downside, no lunching here. 
• Nooks in JFSB. On floors 4 and 5 of the JFSB there are these awesome little lounges on every side of the square building. They have nice, comfy chairs and are always by a window showing you a view of the courtyard. Perfect for studying! But once again, no lunching. If you want to lunch in the JFSB you've pretty much just got the basement. OR
• JFSB rooftop veranda. This place isn't always open but when it is, it is this perfect and wonderful place to lunch or study or tan or all three! So peaceful. 
• Vending machine area of McKay Building. This is an awesome place to have lunch because there is ALWAYS a seat available. Seriously I have never seen this little nook crowded, an impressive feat on this massive campus. And they have a wide array of vending machines and a microwave. Perfecto?
• The RB. Anywhere on the dance side of the building. Since this is the building I spent THE most time in (easily), it is definitely the most comfortable for me. If I had some extra time or needed to eat my lunch somewhere, I would almost always just end up at the RB because I was sure to know someone there at any given time. Especially around the folk dance room or the clogging/tap room. Downsides to this area, barely any chairs (unless you venture into the MDT lounge which...you don't venture into unless you're quite brave) and it's quite a walk to a microwave. Upsides are that you're always bound to see a folk dance friend and find someone to eat with. I have spent many an hour sitting in the RB second floor hallway. I am well acquainted with its hard and uncomfortable carpet and trying to split the space with the ballroom dancers without actually having to talk to them... :) 

2010: That one summer I spent at home

So I have referred a few times to the fact that for one strange summer I lived at home in Plain City. It really was random. I love living on my own a lotlotlot. And summers in P-town are like heaven! The wards are smaller and less intimidating, there are way more opportunities to party, the weather is gorgeous and Provo/campus is more beautiful than you've ever imagined, and the world seems at your fingertips.

But the summer before I did SPAC I randomly decided I should live at home that next summer. There were some factors that were probably sub-consciously at play. But really, it just was a random decision as far as I know.

So after SPAC off I went to live at home in a room made especially for me. You see, my bedroom is not still in my house. In fact I am currently writing this blog from my old room as it is now the computer room/study/sewing room. I have had brothers and sisters move back home with their children every so often so my room has been a lot of rooms since I graduated from high school long ago. When I was planning on going back my sister, her husband, and their four kids were also living at my house with my parents. So the downstairs family room was converted into a bedroom by putting some quick drywall up (maybe? I have no architectural knowledge) and there was my room. Complete with entertainment center, couch, and treadmill because really it still was kind of a family room. Just with a door and a bed and my clothes.

It wasn't long before I was not loving being at home with nothing to do. I never could find a job and after a while it was just fruitless to look because I would be back in Provo by mid-August. So I tried to run and did that every so often. I tried to read good books for me. I did read a lot of books, not all of them as intellectual or academic as I had originally intended though. I did run. A bit.

I did get pretty close to my sister Patti and her kids (even though I was already mondo tight with them because of my freshman year).

It was nice to be around and see some of my friends from home that I rarely/never saw when I was at BYU. I went to a lot of Monday night movies at the Ogden amphitheater, some better than others (like "This is It" was awesome and Hachi was....less so).

And I did remind myself of why I really appreciate living on my own. And so when I went back to BYU and Queens Arms I appreciated it even more. And since I was gone they could finally clean the carpet! And my landlord Reed could get rid of that couch he had been wanting to get rid of for years but I didn't want him to.

I wrote a blog post about it at the time as well.

Singles Ward: real life is way better than the movie

My life in the singles ward scene was quite fantastic. It was all spent in the same ward. Technically. (almost)

The BYU 22nd Ward with Bishop Desmond
My first ward experience was fantastic. I was living just off campus in Queens Arms, so I was thrust into a non-freshman ward, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was just about the only freshman in the ward (I think there may have been one or two others) and I loved that because I didn't like being labeled as a freshman. My ward seemed so old and mature, and it felt like they kept getting younger as the years went on and people moved in and out. False. I got older. Weird.

In this ward I remember distinctly my Relief Society President Tricia Saylor. She is still one of my role models for life. She was always happy, the real kind not the fake-bubbly-you-can't-really-be-that-happy kind of happy. And she always knew how to help you find your way, and she did it lovingly. I remember distinctly a Visiting Teaching checkup I had with her (she was the only RS Pres who ever did that with me) and it was in the midst of a very challenging freshman year. I had recently found out my mom had breast cancer and I wasn't sure who I could/should tell and who I shouldn't. But I'm very glad I told her in that moment. I really was just telling her to let her know, I believe that ward leadership should have an understanding of what you're going through. I don't even remember how she reacted or what she said, but I always remember feeling grateful that I told her.

After my sister moved in with me after he mission I made a lot more friends in the ward and began to be really involved. I loved being able to just visit the apartments across the parking lot at Elite (or even the boys apartments *gasp*!) and I knew everyone well enough that this was legit. This was a time of many nice notes, lots of socializing (especially on Sundays, day of rest? Pah), and many intra-ward crushes. I made a lot of friends at this time that I am still friends with. Interestingly in the later years in the ward when I was less social in the ward (all blamed on folk dance, it's like a ward in and of itself) I always still had friends in the ward in forms of what I term "wardies" aka those who had been in the ward as long as I had been and so I was acquainted with them before my folk dance life. Yes. It's true. There was a life before folk dance for me.

The BYU 22nd Ward (which became the Provo YSA 18th Ward) with Bishop Gould
I can't pretend I wasn't wary of Bishop Gould at first. He came in during a summer when I was quite busy. I think I was working 20 hours a week and taking the maximum 6 or 7 credits and I just didn't have much time to socialize. I also was getting more of a social life out of my job while I worked with the dears at Freshman Academy so I wasn't as starved for friends, social attention, etc. And when I'm not starving, the ward isn't my first choice apparently. Bishop Gould, however, seemed like a dang party animal when he first came in.

He came in with party guns blazing. We had ward prayer on Sundays (which I had never had with Bishop Desmond because the Stake President had previously asked us not to have them, which of course Bishop Gould was unaware of, but I apparently decided to be super self-righteous and still feel moral oppositions to ward prayer) and dessert nights on Tuesdays and other ward activities at least once a week. It was kind of intense and I felt morally obligated to go to everything for some reason and therefore felt in a state of perpetual guilt and anger at being forced to go to such meaningless foo-fa. Yeah. I probably should have socialized more.

But I do remember that summer/next year having great friends in the ward who I also worked with. For some reason we had a high concentration of peer mentors in the ward, and it was awesome! My RS President Mindy Fletcher was even one. We had infiltrated. Although the next year when I was on PAC there were also two others on the team in the ward, which is a pretty high incidence of touring folk dancers when there are only 27 people on the team.

Once I calmed down about the parties I began to love Bishop Gould a whole lot. He helped me through a super tough semester and was the one who told me I was suffering from SAD which made me feel a lot less crazy and also bonded us together. Nothing like a disorder to really get the friendship going. That semester I'm pretty sure I was at the Bishop's office like every other week, I got real tight with the Bishopbric.

I was also particularly close to Brother Hatch, one of his counselors. Mostly because he teased me every time he saw me. I secretly like being teased. Just don't abuse it.

As I got more and more into folk dance I got less and less involved in the ward. Which I really did feel bad about and still do because that ward is full of dears. I had some great friendships begin in that ward that still exist today. I had amazing home teachers (special shout-out to my year-long home teachers Tristram and Devin, one full calendar year which is like half a lifetime in a family ward). I was visit taught by some awesome girls and I visit taught others that I still love. I would name all these people here but sadly I don't remember them all, and if I forgot someone I would feel like a jerk-face.

A homage to my FHE groups. My first calling was as an FHE mom and I gained a testimony of FHE. You may not know that to look at me now, I struggled with it in later years. But that first year my group stayed together, once again for a full calendar year even though I had two "husbands" throughout. We named ourselves the Marshyncanjags/jays (when we lost a girl due to marriage). We made a movie. We made up games. We had an epic picnic. We supported each other in musical endeavors (one of the members is still in Fictionist, so I'm basically famous right?). And we just all around loved each other. Other FHE were also awesome, I learned a totally weird game about chickens? (Jason Loong taught us that one) I converted one of my summer FHE groups to Jump, which if you don't know about, is the best game in all of existence that mostly just exists in the Fremont High School choirs. And one time, I had an FHE group not realize my apartment was in their group for half the semester. Thanks guys.

See. We totally made a movie. Ooh and a music video! 

To wrap up. My single's ward experience has been awesome. Sometimes frighteningly similar to the movie (every ward has their Mr. Collins. Or an apartment of them...) and sometimes completely different. I was in this ward for nearly 5 years straight*, so obviously it was a good time.


*one time I lived in University Villa during SPAC but I literally don't remember a soul from that ward except that there was someone we called "Toga guy" and then one time I was in the Plain City singles ward for a summer. The end.

To be continued...

Okay so I had a feeling this would happen but since I am on a dance tour with the folk dancers and I like to keep a good tour journal...BYU wrap up blogging will continue when I return on May 21st.

At ease.

Folk dance part the actual last: PAC2

I shall write this post after completing my final tour with my PAC2 group. It's only fair. Without it, I couldn't do them justice.

Folk dance part almost the last: PAC1

After an amaaaaazing SPAC tour and staying at home for one totally random summer, out came the PAC list.


Rewind to the middle of Winter semester of SPAC when we all had individual interviews with Delynne. She asked me when I was graduating. I said I could graduate in one year or I could drag it out to two years. She said, "Oh good, because even though Ed thinks he already knows who wants on PAC..." and then she didn't really say anything else specific. But she was clearly alluding to the fact that she wanted me to make PAC. This made me think, okay, I'll definitely make it eventually, but probably  not next year.

During tour, Edwin came a few times to judge er, watch us. In fact, Talmage Spackman and I had tour history the day he came and in our history we called him The Arbitrator. Fantastic. I remember he came and everyone was nervous out of their mind and I decided to pretend he didn't exist and just remember that really, I was here to perform for the kids. So that I did.

Now, I'm going to be honest, by the time SPAC tour had ended I had already planned PAC into my schedule. I somehow knew already (Holy Spirit anyone?) that I would make the team. But at the same time, when I saw that PAC list after getting a helpful text to check my email from Mike Romney (always got my back bud) I still couldn't believe it. I would check my email multiple times to make sure it still existed. It was a really bright spot in a really tough summer.

And then the emails started coming! I cherished every email I got from Ed about dances or rehearsals or anything. I'm pretty sure I probably had them all memorized. When he sent us a video of Lyndsey Wulfenstein (his teaching assistant for the first half of the year) teaching us Romanian, I worked on it in my house and then Christina Craven's kitchen when I had arrived in Provo for rehearsals.

The best was the randomness of having classical Indian rehearsals with a new choreographer Divya in South Jordan in her basement. And riding to them with Brittany Christensen. I felt so cool. And I'm pretty sure it's the only reason I ended up in Classical Indian. :)

I came to BYU two weeks early to start rehearsals for folk dance and to start working at the TMA office (yeah!) and stayed at the Craven's because I didn't have an apartment yet and they are lovely people. :)

That first day of rehearsal was ridiculous. For some reason I didn't have any of my folk dance shoes, just my SPAC sneakers which  were problems for two reasons. 1.They are too narrow for my wide feet and 2. I didn't have any socks. So I danced Hungarian all day with no socks in these beastly shoes. And un-coincidentally about four months later during Christmas break both of my big toenails came right off. Gross.

It was also hard because those who had been on the team had just gotten back from Nauvoo with the old team like, days ago. So they were having a hard time adjusting to a new team and missing their old friends, and all the newbies were crazy nervous. But we made it work!

A couple of days into rehearsal more newbies came, David Lewis and Tanner Pearson came off their mission right into dancing Hungarian. those. poor. things.

Then as we went to our retreat at the end of the week (tubing down the Provo River which I ditched on for a close friend's party and a sleepover at our costumer's house) another random came. Tyler Walker! We now had an extra boy and for some reason this boy was custom asked by Ed to be on the team. He didn't even try out. It's cool. :) But really I'm glad Tyler was randomly on the team.

That first semester I got really close to all the other new girls, especially Liahona. For some reason Liahona and Jessica Philbrick (now getting closer to being Shepherd) always asked me what was going on, as if I knew more than them. Haha. But it brought us together. I also got fairly close to Emily Bills and McKenzie Keene because I was next to them in lineups a lot and they were really sweet in helping me with things I didn't know.

I especially ended up getting close to Liahona because we're very close the same person but she is scientific and Maori, and I'm liberal artsy and white. We were study buddies on the bus rides. AKA the only ones who successfully studied on mid-semester. She even finished a class while on summer tour! So we always sat next to each other on the bus.

We always made quite sure our bus partner was realllly there.

World of Dance was an awesome experience. We did a Hungarian Suite, a Romanian Suite, and a clogging number. The Hungarian Suite I did twice out of four times, switching in and out with McKenzie. I am super glad I was taken out of that dance. The only reason I made it through was because Shua (Josh Park, aka, the Honor Code Ninja - who, ps, my bff and I from freshman year wanted to be Honor Code ninjas so when I realized it was him and I knew him, I almost had a spasm) is the best partner ever and leads so well the girl doesn't even need to know the dance. Coolio. Romanian Suite was so fun, one of my favorite dances of the whole year. And clogging. Well. I was the last one on and the first one off. Awesome. I think I did 5 steps total.

And gotta add this gem from WOD that ended up on the BYU website.

This is some serious Vogueing. 

Then came Christmas Around the World. I remember the day I found out I got the little leaping solo in Israeli I was ecstatic and felt so super cool. And then that same day my ankle kind of twisted and I was sitting out for a second (my twisted ankles tend to heal in like..5 minutes). Edwin came up to me and said, are you going to be okay? Honestly he's not usually that concerned about injuries because people get injured all the time. But then he proceeded to tell me that he wanted to make sure I'd be fine because he and Lyndsey had just put together the CAW lineup and I was the only girl in all the dances, so I needed to be healthy. Well heavens to betsy. Technically I didn't feel like this was true because Emily DanceFish and Brittany Christensen/Carter were alternates in Romanian so technically they were cast in all the dances. Anyway. Not importante.

CAW was wonderful. Oh and horrible. Did I mention I had a terrible sickness the entire week? Like I went to the urgent care on campus, broke down in front of Delynney, and had her leave rehearsal for me to get me Gatorade and Immodium? Yeah. Not good. Somehow as soon as the run-through or rehearsal would start I was workable. But as soon as I got home every day, I couldn't leave the couch! I'd never had to rely on the Lord so heavily. And so it was a real growing experience for me - and got me to really begin to connect folk dance with spirituality in a way that became very important. Oh and PS, the moment the last show ended on Saturday night I was absolutely fine. Like I could eat nothing but plain rice and crackers all week and after the last show I ate Denny's at 11:00 at night like a champ. Ridiculous.

The next summer was RIDICULOUS. Because.

1. I was the TA for SPAC! A dream come true. I love teaching dance more than anything. And I even got the chance to choreograph a Slovakian dance with Mike Romney (never mind the fact that it was supposed to be Czech) and re-stage a Classical Indian dance. I came to adore everyone on that team. And I spent a lot of time with Emily DanceFish, David Lewis, and Mike Romney. Especially Mike, we were paired as teaching partners most of the time. But this duty meant that every Saturday not spent in PAC rehearsal or doing a PAC show, I was at SPAC rehearsal. I had one free Saturday. All semester. If I recall correctly it was beyond glorious.

This will always be my FAVORITE picture-memory of SPAC ever.

2. The copious amounts of PAC rehearsals and shows. Because our first show was the third weekend of the semester, we had only two weeks to learn all the new dances for our full show as well as having tech/dress rehearsals before we took it on the road. If you want to read about our first show (and you do, believe me) check it here. That semester we had four weekend shows, as well as a mid-semester for 10 days (which took up two weekends) and a sizable amount of shows during the week. In fact, we had so many performances that semester that we weren't even allowed to perform in Spring Festival of Nations. Haha. I came to despise rolling my dang costume box to and from campus.

But Mid-semester was the bomb-diggity. Did I never blog about that? Blast it all. We went to California via Nevada. We almost died on the way in blizzards. Our driver was a champ. We had put chains on the bus multiple times and thankfully made it to our first show on time. Amazingly. Here are some picture memories of mid-semester because I'm maxing out my words (I should give myself a daily limit...)

Teaching precious Elementary girls (and a few boys) to dance after an awesome school show where we got to eat lunch with the kids afterward! Dream come true!

Performing at the Oakland Stake Center on temple grounds in front of maybe the most beautiful temple of all time.

The entire weekend spent in Paradise, CA where Alina and I's host family had extended family who hosted about a third of the guys on the team and we spent alllllll weekend with them. And then our host mom (Brynn) put Alina's hair on everyone in this awesome picture. And I can't even tell you how great this weekend was. 

As for the summer tour. Um, I'll simply remind you once more of Hungary, Slovakia, Prague, Zagreb, Porec, and Vienna.

Folk dance part the second: SPAC!

So, after a very important audition and at my very first extra folk dance rehearsal for the epic CAW opener I got the grandest news of the semester.

So the night before this rehearsal I had gotten an email about helping some of the people in the club to fold sweatshirts before the rehearsal at 8 am, which meant I would have had to come at 7 am to help fold. I had truly intended on going, but I had been social the night before (gasp!) until late so I couldn't bring myself to go that early for something that wasn't required. I arrive at the CAW rehearsal and up comes Grant Mecham (soon to be Granton) and tells me that I made SPAC. I think I screamed, and hugged him and Sam Alva because they were next to me and they'd made it too. It was then that I realized that the only people who got the email about helping to fold sweatshirts were people who made SPAC. Not the best choice guys...who want to get up that early on a Saturday morning?

Now, for a good description of what SPAC is, and for a description of the SPAC tour, I will direct you to this post, earlier in my blogging career. But very useful becuase it was written at the time instead of years after the fact, creating more historical validity. You know, primary documents and such (remember, history nerd?).

That semester of folk dance was wonderful. I remember our first meeting, looking at these people and feeling thoroughly uncomfortable, not knowing who the heck they were. The only person I really knew was Kayleen Palmer because I had had modern marathon with her.  We made lots of goals in that first meeting, physical goals, spiritual goals, dance goals, it was awesome!

Once we got to the actual dancing we learned Hopak and I became tight with Ari because we were always across from each other, being the shorties of the group. I also tried some crazy lifts and began my cheremosh lift reign.

After two weeks of Hopak (and some intense training, I remember a lot of ballet in those first days) we were sorted into two teams. 9 couple and 7 couple. I was put on 9 couple and this is the group I got closest to during the semester because we learned all the same dances. The whole semester I was totally stoked because I wasn't put as an "alternate" in any dance, which made me feel like I was super cool and talented. But really that just meant that halfway through SPAC tour I was dead and desperately wanted a break every now and then.

9 couple also got an awesome opportunity to go to Indiana that year to dance at a...convention. I can't remember what it was for the life of me. The acronym was very long. Or maybe it was short. Anyway. Only 8 of the couples could go for some reason, and when Delynne announced it I remember Tanner Jackson turning to me and mouthing to me "We're going.". You see, Tanner and I were always partners, being the shorties. I love that boy.

In Indiana I roomed with Brittney Leavitt and bonded with her for a few reasons. 1. We were up for nearly 24 hours so we were loopy. 2. She was sick and on cold medications so she was REALLY loopy. Especially fun because otherwise Brittney is a pretty quiet and reserved person, especially at first. But not only did we get to talk, I'm pretty sure I even heard about Jesse (her boyfriend) that night. And three years later I was about the first (and nearly the only) folk dancer to ever meet him.

In Indiana we performed our Chinese Spinning Star dance

The men performed their Hungarian dance

And together we did Bollywood...(always a crowd pleaser)

And Troika (from Russia)

We also had one crazy early morning rehearsal and some good fun. And just for fun, here's a gem of a picture from one early morning rehearsal.

Oh and Delynne in the race car! We can't forget that beauty from the NASCAR Museum. Like Claire said "I like it because it's a little bit white trash."

Oh gosh. This is getting long.

Once we got on tour, I was roommates with Jessica Philbrick (now Shepherd), Kelsey Moss, and Talia Klein. Talia and Kelsey were both on 7 couple so I didn't know them as well. But I was pretty intimidated by Kelsey because she is tall and gorgeous and loud and funny and I didn't know her well. And now? Well let's just say this homeless week she was the first one to offer her apartment. We're bests. And Jessica? Um yeah, I got to know her well. She would sing to me every morning as I braided her hair and ate my oatmeal (even though I hated that oatmeal every morning). She's a master at making up different lyrics to well-known songs. And Talia was always so fun and I still love seeing her around on campus.

Some joy moments in that apartment. I braided every single one of my roomies every morning before we even got to the vans. Yeah, I know right? I'm so charitable. But every time there was a bad braid it was probably because I had forgotten to pray, or because I had gotten prideful from the previous braid. One time I even braided Kelsey's braid entirely on one side of her head. Oops. And Talia's hair is officially the slipperiest hair in the world. Hard to make fake hair stay in her silky dreads. Also, we had a Super Nintendo in that apartment, courtesy of Jessica, and dear little Granton would come over and just play the thing into oblivion. Hilarious.

I was on activities committee. ...? Clearly Delynne didn't understand my un-social-ness. I almost learned to swim (seriously Briant...that was the closest I ever got to committing to learn to swim but the weather on SPAC was so blasted terrible). I learned to french braid (and with fake hair no less).

I'm leaving a million things out. If only I could write forever. But alas, it's dinnertime and if I don't play with my nieces and nephews a little bit I think they will throw a coup. You should be glad I got this far with them all up in my grill for the last hour.

At ease.

Folk Dance Part A: Getting Started

I shall now chronicle the folk dance journey. Fitting to do the day before I begin rehearsals for my final hoo-rah,the last tour I will go on representing BYU (even though I've already graduated).

As I noted in my Freshman year in a nutshell, I did try out for folk dance my very first semester. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was my second day of classes ever. That's gutsy. Especially for me as I am slightly phobic of large groups of people who I do not know. So the fact that I dragged myself to that audition was amazing! I am pretty sure I just got through because my sister-in-law Cammie had high hopes for me, and I knew her brother (and my kinsman) Rustin would be teaching and he would be a familiar face. She told me I would definitely see him because he was teaching at callbacks.

So I wore my cute grandma (Yorgason) orange poodle skirt and went to the audition sans boy (the posters always tell girls to bring one). But I was in luck! There was actually a boy there without a girl who came up to me and asked me to be his partner! And he was cute. I don't recall his name, but I do remember his smile, very happy guy. Anyway, so I dance in a circle for years. And then I didn't get picked for callbacks. I was kiiiiiind of surprised. I mean, we were doing run-run-run-hop's and the like and I'd been doing competition jazz for 15 years and I didn't make it? Whatevs.

That first Winter semester I took a World Dance class with my roommate Kiely. It was 170 (the beginning class that most folk dancers on touring teams...never actually take, oops) and it was once a week on Wednesday nights. Let's be honest, I didn't like that class. This was also the semester I started clogging with Greg, so that gave me an in for the folk dance world.



The next Winter semester I tried out for a team again. One of the main reasons being that my favorite boys from my first semester of TAing for clogging were on teams and so I felt more confident, knowing some folk dancers and all. And I made it! After grueling probably hour of hopping in a dang circle I got to callbacks where we did actual dance steps. All I remember was Israeli and I remember thinking, "cake! This is just like ballet light". So from there it was smooth sailing and I made it onto 10 WSC.

My first teacher was Emilee Wright. Our TA's were Emily (Carpenter) Park and Alan Babcock. Dears. They cracked me up. I remember one day when Emily and Alan were teaching us an Israeli dance and in one of the lifts the boy lifts the girl from her armpit. I can still hear Emily saying "Put your hand in my armpit Alan, put it in my armpit." Hilarious.

Some people that have remained in folk dance and went through milestones with me were on that team like Brian Jay Jacobson, I have known him by both names at different times. Also, Talia Klein who ended up on SPAC with me!

Others that I made friends with but didn't remain in the folk program are Lanae Carmichael (the only girl I know who is shorter than me. And oh man it was difficult having the two shorties have such similar names!), Liz Smith, and Jeff Suppes mainly. Oh and of course, my partner, Miguel Garcia. Here's the fun part, we did the Mexican Polka for Spring Festival of Nations and yes, my partner was Mexican. So basically we were front and center the whole time. But really. :)WE had some great inside jokes, mostly  I would pretend I could speak Spanish and say j/k but you know, in Spanish (jota-kah) and he thought that was hilarious. Jeff and I also had some inside jokes, mostly about ducks. Oh and one time when we were doing Halay apparently my thumb kept accidentally getting caught in his pants pocket, oops, thanks for not thinking I was a creep. Liz and I mostly bonded over how cool we thought Jeff was and how he couldn't be a freshman.

That spring semester I decided to take 270 with Rustin as the teacher. This was where we decided he was my kinsman, because it was the best term we could think of for our relation. I remember learning some awesome dances in this class that I'd seen at the one rec night I'd gone to for 170. And Javanese Salutation. And Christina and I bonded in that class for the first time even though neither of us can really remember what started it?

The next semester bore the most important fruit. I took Spanish dance from Delynne Peay. Yes. There we go. The first section of the class was just about jotas, which are very balletic. Perfect! I've taken ballet since I was 3. So after that whole class not only did I make new folk dance friends  but I was taking a class from THE gateway person in the folk dance program. You want to get somewhere? Delynne's gotta like you, almost 100% guarantee. Anydangway. I took Spanish dance and did great and when tryouts came around for Fall (in the form of a 3 day workshop where I was so sore I thought I'd die) I made one of the backup teams! 10 RB! Oh glory day!

On 10 RB I met three very important people who are still on PAC with me today. Sam Alva, Cody Phillips and Brittney Leavitt. Dears. I got especially close to Cody that semester, we often bonded over how busy we were and how much we loved things like learning and the Gospel and, oh, joy. Splendid times.

Also on 10 RB, we learned half a Mexican dance (its name eludes me) for the epicly long opener for the 50th anniversary of Christmas Around the World. I wore a gray dress which made my blue eyes pop. I also got a great profile picture out of it.

 

And then we learned, Tinikling. Lovingly referred to by my roommates as "the pole dance".

This picture doesn't capture the pure terror this dance gave me.

Tinikling is from the Philippines. For some reason Delynne chose me for the pole section instead of the balancing candles on your head section. It was in this dance that I sustained my first of many foot injuries and began to go to the Dance Training Room to see Ron, who is now one of my favorite people in the universe. If you look closely you can see flesh colored tape on my foot in the air.

Oh and Justin Kelly was my TA- talk about role reversal.

Some of my other favorite people in that class (from the top of my head, sorry if I forget people!): Missy, Nancy, Nate Mahler (who I totally thought was married for forever but no, a freshman, embarrassing), Kaycie, Michael Voge, Grant Mecham (my partner in the Tinikling picture), Janessa, Sarah, Jenny, Spencer...oh heck I just loved everyone.

It was in this team that I experienced my first Christmas Around the World which involves lots of rehearsals, epic openers and closers (especially that year, we all hated finger ribbons by the end yes?) and that year included Sto Mi E Milo, a song that is now dear to my heart. I also had Erin Maxwell Sorensen as a TA and that dear girl played a large role in the kind of folk dancer I wanted to be. She was always accepting and happy and supportive and inclusive. She always made you feel important and loved, which I feel is one of the most important and infectious things about the folk dance program, and why I decided to really try for it instead of other programs. I did audition for contemporary things as well, but I ended up pursuing folk dance. Obviously.

Phew. Part A=over.

The other senior year in a nutshell: The end of it all

Here it goes.

Spring/Summer
Spring was spent in Europe. Yeah. You've heard about that already here, and here, and here. And here and here and here.  So you are not in want of information on that excursion.

Summer was spent working. I had 20 hours at the TMA office and 10 hours as Lauri's TA. But then on the first day back as Lauri's TA I was asked to TA another Humanities class for another 10 hours a week. So yeah, working three jobs 40 hours a week. Ended up being a little busy.

I did find time to finally meet my friend Mikey at a wedding reception for one of my BF's Jake (both of whom will appear in the BYU celebrity post). And I ended up getting to know Mikey really well that summer, which was needed for me. I hadn't had a good guy friend in a long time, and it's a lot easier to not have to worry about chemistry with a guy when he's married. Easy peasy.

Fall semester
A new PAC family was made this year! I ended up becoming really close to some people who were my "students" in SPAC. I also got to experience a different director. My first year dearest Edwin G. Austin was our director. And this year it has been Jeanette Geslison.

This was the semester of extra practices for PAC. We had two guest choreographers (Luba from Ukraine and Richard from Hungary) and lots of performances.

As for the academics, this was the semester of education classes. I kind of decided to take all the education classes in one single semester. I heard they were all pretty useless (kind of true, sadly, but I think it's just the nature of the beast) and you might as well get them over with quickly. So I took classroom management, adolescent development, multicultural education, educating students with disabilities, practicum in social science teaching, and history teaching methods. They were nearly all block classes and...all started second block. Yeah. So the first half of my semester was full of folk dance and the second half was full of education classes.

I got over my fear of research papers in my Capstone research seminar. I researched Senator Reed Smoot and yes, he hurried along the depression with a silly tariff. Thankfully my paper ended before that section of his life. In this class I also finally read a book about the Black Death that was extremely interesting. Weird that it's taken this long to write a book that makes the Black Death interesting. People love death!

Finally, I took Dance 474: Advanced Percussive Foot Styles. This was THE best dance class I have ever taken. Greg Tucker was the teacher (once again, the only clogging teacher I've ever had). We learned French Canadian, crazy hard clogging, tap (yessssssssssssssssssss), and Irish. It was bomb. And in this class I bonded with the dear dear Amber Shepherd who is basically my favorite human.

Oh and I not only saw Savion Glover perform, but also took a workshop from him. Oops, I almost blogged about that but never did.

Winter semester
I student taught.

And worked 20 hours a week for the most part.

And was in PAC (thankfully no mid-semester tour this year!) with a few weekend shows and mid-week shows as well.

You're not supposed to do anything BUT student teach, required to not have jobs or other classes. Oops.

So I was an hour late to PAC everyday (at least) and always felt behind on the times. I thought I'd never make it at some points. But I did! At the beginning of the semester I heard that one student teacher had said student teaching was the hardest thing she'd ever done including losing her father to cancer. I thought she was crazy. But now I see where she was coming from, though I wouldn't necessarily go that far.

I was teaching partners with Maddie Belnap, someone I never would have chosen but am entirely glad I was able to learn from her all semester. My mentor teacher Wendy King is probably the most on top of it person in the whole wide world and a wonderful teacher to learn from. And I have a newfound love for the orange and blue of Timpview High School.

And then I graduated. 


Okay or I will next week. Close enough.

The end.

PS, sorry I didn't write down funny quotes from this year in my computer and I've already packed up all my notebooks.

Senior year in a nutshell: Folk dancey

Here's the one that is supposed to be the end. 5 year plans are the norm now right?

Spring/Summer
This here is the spring of SPAC. And the summer of home. We'll talk about both of those later.

Oh and I made PAC this summer. :)

Fall semester
This was my first semester of PAC. Uh. Yeah, it was crazy.

I also continued to pretend I was going to minor in Political Science so I took both Intro to International Politics and Western Political Heritage, which was basically political philosophy. I loved Intro to International Politics and it actually kind of changed my life (the professor, Valerie Hudson, shall be discussed again in the favorite professors post). Western Political Heritage? Well, I made it through. And there was a super cute guy in that class! Yeah. Me and philosophy are not friends.

I took a World War II class this semester so my future teenage boy students will think I'm cool. But it just further reminded me that I think military history is lame-o. However I did watch a bunch of awesome movies and read a cool book whose name I can't remember.

I took intermediate Irish and it was fantastic. I finally purchased my own pair of hard shoes from Sarah Klopp which I use to this day. And I danced with Kana Tyler a lot, and laughed a lot.

I took the Doctrine and Teachings of Joseph Smith and tried to like it. But after you take religion classes from Professor Fluhman, you really can't go back to anyone else. It's like Western Family chocolate chips versus Ghiradelli.

As for PAC. We'll talk about it later really. Suffice it to say I had more performances than I ever imagined and I'm pretty sure I constantly had gel in my hair. And I came to love my folk dance sweats. So comfortable.

Oh. And I started working at the TMA office this Fall. I had quit Freshman Academy to make room for folk dance. I also worked for Lauri Haddock (the one I took Humanities 101 from and who my freshmen from the year before took Humanities from) as a TA. That began a lovely friendship.

Winter semester
Sometimes I still wonder how I survived this one.

This is the semester I stopped pretending to be a political science minor and started pretending to be a geography teaching minor. So I took Geography 101 and Geography 250 about the US and Canada.

I had Geography 101 from President Monson's son and it remains my very worst grade at BYU. B-. Really? Clearly science is not my thing. I even did better in Physical Science as a freshman! I had Geography 250 from Professor Galland and it was hilarious and fun and I still don't understand what Geography is after that class.

This semester I took perhaps my very favorite class that I ever took from Professor Fluhman, American Christianity. It was fascinating! I loved learning about different religions, I really had never known very much about them, having grown up in Utah my whole life. Oh also, Jimmer was in this class too. However, this was THE year of Jimmer and during March Madness he clearly didn't come to class. And after March Madness the poor boy couldn't even come to class without being mobbed. So yeah, I didn't see him much.

In addition to this, I had performances about every single weekend. The weekends I didn't have a performance I would have rehearsal either for PAC or SPAC because I was on PAC and I was the TA for SPAC. I remember clearly one Saturday to myself. Holy what? Yeah. It was so worth it though! Because then when a lot of people from SPAC made PAC the next year I was already great friends with them! Genius. I also got to choreograph a dance with Mike Romney for SPAC which was super cool to see my choreography onstage! One day I need to get my hands on a recording of that baby.

Some funny moments: Class quotes

• If I don't spell this right I'm just going to tell you this is how they spell it in Canada. - Professor Gilchrist
• I find them simple and boring and it's the Apostasy so I don't care. - Professor Gilchrist
• We'll find out the truth after we die. Which doesn't help you much because you have a midterm next week. - Professor Hudson
• Let's just say Italy's got problems and one of them is the zipper of their Prime Minister's pants - Professor Hudson
• Terrorists are not the most stable of characters. They get kind of angry. - Professor Hudson
• He painted him with Satan getting bit in his brotherly parts - Professor Haddock
• Come on men, give me a beautiful hand, no military hands, only beauty. There is no shame, no shame, only pride. - Professor Haddock
• What else can I say about tornadoes? They seem to target trailer parks... - Professor Monson
• This time it worked. That time it didn't. Life is hard. Don't blame me - Professor York
• Historians are pretty desperate for people to read their books and say they're relevant. And they don't and we're not- Professor York.
• Oh I thought this was a bow-tie petition, a peaceful protest against my sartorial splendor - Professor York
• These are mountains. Not fire. - student
• We've got to take this stupid quiz. I mean...awesome quiz. - Professor Galland
• Oh, and it's illegal to detonate a nuclear weapon or cause a catastrophe - Liz Smith
• You know because you are geography majors, or you went to the 5th grade. - Professor Galland

Junior year in a nutshell: the one with more social interaction

Year 3! Over halfway there.

Spring/Summer
This spring term I began another wonderful journey. I started a job at Freshman Academy. In the year I was at this job I made a lot of friends, I learned a lot of things, and I became a much better person.

I took Irish dance from Jeanette Geslison, little realizing she would become a big part of my life (she is the current director of PAC).

I took a World Dance class from Rustin, my kinsman. All I really remember is Javanese salutation from that class, but I couldn't actually do it for you. And in this class I met Christina Craven and somehow we became amazing friends. Neither of us remember how. But we're both fairly sure it had to do with Gilmore Girls and coffee flavored ice cream that she hated and I loved.

I also took another LDS history class from Brother Fluhman. And Jimmer was in that class. Nbd.

Summer term. Yeah, I went all the way through. First, this was my first time with students at Freshman Academy (some of whom are already home from their missions, holy cow), and in addition I was taking 6 credits.

I took basic guitar this summer! I had gotten a child size guitar for Christmas the year before (I have small hands, okay?) and now I could play it! On a particularly melancholy day I even decided to write a song. However, I didn't know enough minor chords to actually make it melancholy so...yeah. It's more of an upper.

Also, another important folk dance step, I took Spanish dance from Delynne Peay. Perfect idea. She is the director of the backup team and by taking a class from her, my folk dance career really zoomed forward.

Fall semester
This semester, I was on a backup folk dance team and was in my first Christmas Around the World. I was also, by this time, taking Advanced Clogging with Greg (always, in fact I've never had another clogging teacher in my life, literally) and still his TA for intermediate clogging now.

Advanced Clogging was fantastic. I was always with Greg Rawlings and we had an amazing final. Enjoy


Yeah. My hair was that long. Sometimes I forget to cut it. For a year.

I also took a cooking class with my Ronnie (roomie) Kiely. It was terrible horrible no good very bad. But at least we spent at least 4 hours together every Tuesday? Seriously. It was bad. Kiely was once yelled at by our teacher for using the wrong pan or something...which thing we'd never learned about it class. Thanks lady. However, we had a grand old time studying for the midterm and final together. Some of the hardest laughter in my life occurred then.

Winter semester
This was my last semester of Spanish. A big deal considering for the last year and a half I'd had Spanish every morning at 8. Also, my teacher this semester was not American. Nor was he a native Spanish speaker. He was from Romania. He didn't even serve a Spanish-speaking mission. Random? Also awesome.

I took the entry course for history teaching. It was 20 hours a week for the first block. I'm still furious that they demanded that much out of my week. I always say I'll write a letter. Maybe one day I really will.

I started my first minor, Political Science Teaching by taking the entry course, American Government and Politics. A one-hundred level class where a junior couldn't snag an A on her papers. I have sympathy for all poli sci majors now.

Oh and I was on SPAC. Yeah. I'm not even going to try, they have an entire post coming up.

I was also affected by SAD this semester. It still occasionally comes up, but never as bad as it was this semester.

Some laughs: Class quotes

• I know there are all sorts of signs that say no food and drink...we're all friends here (the donuts lesson in American Heritage) - Dr. Pope
• We're the tyrannical democrats. You can have your rights; just give them all to use! - Matt Page
• Ambiguity is like a multi-headed dragon... -Spencer Sutton
• *As Britain's unofficial anthem plays* Everybody! ...We're not going to build an empire if you don't get into it! Come on! - Dr. York
• I have not eliminated your agency, you can leave it blank. Grading will be simplified. - Dr. York
• Go ahead [and vote on the final essay topic], I'm the electoral college! - Dr. York
• You probably can't sleep without knowing these dates, and I understand that - Professor Haddock.
• And we will talk about all the teenage mutant ninja turtles this semester. - Professor Haddock
• Do I have to sing a song? Do I have to cry? I don't know - Professor Strate
• The Bible is about 35% more correct in Spanish than in English. According to my...scientific calculations - Profe McNeil. 
• But not the man that's holding you down, the man that's raising the roof. - Profe McNeil
• She's also vice president of the Tae-Kwon-Do club - a student
• Oh, well will watch ourselves - Professor Horrocks
• Oh! I know this! I know this! I'm Scottish! - Jim Puida
• First, he is not a very good example of...a person - Professor Horrocks
• My name is Brady and there's no way that I'm a lady - Brady
• Que cheesy - Profe. Iclenceau
• Republicans sleep in different beds, sometimes even different rooms, that's why there are more Democrats. - Professor Davis