Whoops....

The other day I was on my way home from my mom's house and I realized that I forgot to include my resume in my application packet for the Fulbright. :( I am totally bummed. I probably wont get the scholarship. I am however going to write them a  letter basically asking them to make and exception your me. I am going to send them the resume too of course. I just couldn't stand it if I didn't get the scholarship because I was an idiot. So I will do what I can. I think that it is a very slim chance they will give the scholarship because not all the information before the deadline. Perhaps this just means that something even better is going to happen for me this fall. Just have to be optimistic and hopeful!



Yesterday Chris was telling me about a conversation he had with Jan (pronounced yawn) about carpooling. In German the word is Fahrgemeinschaft, which literally means driving community.  Way to go Germans and their literal language. I wonder if Amelia Bedelia is based off a German. Nerd research topic! Anyways, Jan said it was a funny word, and it is, I just hadn't thought about how funny it is in a long time. When I was little I used to think that carpooling was a pool inside a car. I thought that would be so awesome! And I so wanted to go carpooling. I mean how cool would it be to swim in a car turned a pool?



I was thinking about that memory this morning and realized there were a lot of  road signs I misunderstood as a child. I remember one time I saw a park and ride sign. And I asked my Dad if we could go. What kid or adult for that matter, doesn't want to go to a park that also has rides?!? He told me that I didn't want to go there. I was so upset that we couldn't go, and I couldn't understand why we couldn't go. It wasn't until years later that I realized a park and ride is parking lot. I am glad my Dad didn't just say sure and watch the utter disappointment wash over my face as I saw what a park and ride really was.

Thinking about the randomness of language of the road. There were many signs that I didn't understand, but I never asked about. It is rather ridiculous I didn't ask or try to figure things out for such a long time. Another sign I had a hard time with was Do Not Pass. There was a sign just outside of town on the highway like this, and I could never understand why first of all there was a sign that said you can't pass, but everyone passed the sign and secondly that there was road where you weren't supposed to drive! Even the school bus passed it. I finally understood the sign meant do not pass other cars and not do not pass the sign. You would think they would make that a little clearer right?




So yes I am a dork, but what can I say. Rest assured I know the meanings of all the road signs now, at least in English :)

A realization....

Wednesday, I had a little bit of a scare. I was at school waiting for the next class to start, and I couldn’t find my phone! I searched my bag and my pockets and the area around where I was sitting. Nothing. So I went back to the bathroom, to see if I had left it there. No. It was nowhere to been seen. I asked at the lost in found—two actually—still nothing. I left like I didn’t have my right hand or some other equally as important appendage. I had no idea what I was going to do. At school at least I had the internet, so I could talk to people that way, but once I got home I would be completely cut off. When I got home I decided to empty my backpack in hopes I was blind. I was. The phone was sitting in one of the pockets happy as a clam, not even knowing that it was lost. Yes, I felt like a big dork.

Not having my phone and not having internet at home has really made me think about how connected I am. I am really grateful I have a smart phone and am able to check my email, Facebook, YouTube, etc. while I am at home, but at the same time I have realized how much time I am used to spending online. We don’t even have TV right now, so any down time I have has been spend watching movies and knitting. There have been some good things to come of this however. I have done the dishes almost every night. (The dishwasher is broken so they have to be done by hand.) To many of you that may seem to be a: duh, you should be doing that anyways. Your right, but it isn’t a habit I was in. Basically I have been for the most part at least, making better use of my time.

I think not having the distractions, of the internet and TV, have been good. I will have internet at my place in Germany, but I didn’t want to spend as much time on Facebook as I do here. Mostly, because if I do have downtime I want to be out meeting people and seeing the town. I know there will be sometimes where I will be just at home, but for the most part I don’t want to waste any time. I have so little time to spend there that I know I need to make the most of it.  So not having internet right now will help me get used to filling my downtime with other things.

I remember when I first moved out on my own I didn’t have a TV or internet, unless I stole a connection from one of the neighbors, and I really enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was a little lonely at times, but that was easily fixed with a phone call or a short drive to a friend’s house.  I think I am going to enjoy the next week I have here, and maybe I will get used to the missing limbs. J

A New Beginning

It has been a while since my last post. I have been rather busy, but not with anything really interesting. I have been finishing moving out of the apartment Megan and I shared for the past three years, and into Megan’s new place. It is has been a lot of work. I am astounded by how much stuff and random things you can accumulate in that about of time. I made so many trips to the D.I. (Deseret Industries, a thrift store) I am amazed I still have the amount of things I do have. My new room is a little small, but I almost have everything arranged so that it is functional. I still have more things that I could probably get rid of, but I am just not ready to part with it.

Besides moving, my Fulbright application was due this week. Talk about adding stress. The application had to postmarked the same day we had to be out of the apartment. I had planned on getting everything sent before we started moving, but that didn’t happen. I was having a hard time writing my personal statement. I couldn’t really figure out why I couldn’t just sit down and bust it out. Then I started to think about it. I am afraid of failing, so much so that I am afraid to succeed. I know that sounds like it doesn’t go together but let me explain. I am so scared that I will fail at something I won’t even attempt it, and keep myself from ever truly succeeding.

 I am trying to get over this rather irrational fear by putting myself out there more. That is to say I finished my essay and was able to edit it a couple of times even. J That is a real feat for me. I usually, that is for classes, just turn in my first draft. I have been thinking about this conundrum for a while now, since I got my grades for the last semester. I didn’t really apply myself in my classes this past semester, and I was still able to get good grades. All A’s and B’s. It really made me think about what my grade could have been if I had put more effort into my studies. And what else I could have learned had I applied myself more.

I don’t want to just be mediocre. I don’t want to be something fabulous either, I have never aspired for true greatness, at least greatness as in fame, but I do want to be great. That is going to be one of my goals for this year and the rest of my life: To seriously give everything 100%. I know that even if I don’t succeed at everything. I may not get every stories maybe published right away. I may not get the Fulbright. Or something else, but I know that if I give it 100% every time I know that I can be happy with whatever result comes.

Today was the first day of classes in Boise. It was a little weird to show up to classes, and see all the wonderful and interesting things being taught, and knowing that I will only be here for a couple of weeks. It will be really good however to spend some time speaking and reading in German again before I go. I have been really bad over the break. So far my German has been so compartmentalized that I can respond in German if I am spoken to in German, but I have a really hard time responding in German if someone speaks to me in English. I have been thinking, I would be fine once I got there and hearing German all around me, but that doesn’t go along very well with my goal to give everything 100%. So I am going to be very dedicated this week to speak, hear, and read more German. Exactly how I am going to do that I am not quite sure yet, but I will be making a plan tonight J

Before I go I just have to say that I love the attitude of those in academia. I was sitting in the ILC (one of the buildings on campus) today eating my lunch, and the man sitting across from me was reading a book. I didn’t think much of it I had some things to do but wanted to eat first. Then the man puts down his book, and asks me how my day was going. We started talking, and it was a great conversation. The thing that made it so great was that we weren’t just talking about the weather or general first day of classes, but we had a real conversation about philosophical ideas! Where else can you have a conversation about your thoughts and perceptions of life? I learned that it was his first day back to school after a 31 year hiatus in the military. I learned that he thinks Kuwait is just about the ugliest place on Earth, and that he is an artist. I know that he wants to teach and that if he could do things over again he would spend more time studying and supplementing his children’s educations despite the fact they are both highly successful college graduates. I guess what I am saying here is say hello to someone this week and instead of just talking about nothing, or things that don’t matter, ask them to tell you a little about themselves or their thoughts on some current topic. You never know what new friends you will meet J

Oh and 27 days  :)))))))))))))))

A New Year

This year is full of changes. Usually January means a time of change, a time to begin a new, to make resolutions. For me I have begun moving to a new apartment, well Megan’s new apartment, and preparing to go to Germany. I have been thinking about what life has brought me this past year, and what I hope the next year will bring.  I seem to be having difficulties finding words, so I will use pictures instead.

The winter carnival with Iris in McCall. 

Iris’s birthday party: What great tennis buddies...

Two of my bestest friends got married. 

One in May (Whitney and Brad) and the other just a few weeks ago in December (Megan and Parker).

Volunteering at the Sawtooth Relay in SunValley. Well not in this picture exactly, this was just while running around the city before my shift. 

Touring the Botanical Gardens and the Idaho State Penitentiary

Lunch with the ladies of my Mom’s family, only missing my aunt Debbie

Walking through the MK Nature Center and

spending time with my nephew and nieces. (I am missing a picture of Alex *sad face*)

Nights out on the town. Yummy fondue, Megan's first pot :)

Hanging with my very best Friend/ sister cousin (Not literally, long story)

Camping with the family and rock climbing :)

 (Dad, Misty, Abby and Georgia, and 

my step-aunt Caroline and her family)

Photo scavenger hunts (Yippie for strangers taking your picture in the elevator).

                   

                                 

German club parties

MIAMI  (in November!) and the NCPTW (National Conference of Peer Tutoring and Writing)

And Elephants on Parade

Overall,

 it has really been a great year.

I am working on getting video footage to put up another vlog. It is hard to get all of the different shoots that I want unless I was to always have the camera on.

 I wish I could take my memories out of my head to put in the video; something like a pensieve from Harry Potter. 

That way you could see some of the things I miss because I don’t have the camera on.

 For example, yesterday while we were moving, Chris managed to tangle himself in the rope we used to tie things down in the truck.

 It was a moment I wish I had my camera on, but it was at the other apartment, and I wouldn’t have gotten the shot anyways. I have too much of a need to help in the work.

 I guess you could say that my parents raised me to well.

 When you see something that needs doing, get to work and do it, and never let anyone do work for you, you could do yourself.

 So anytime that I could have gotten some footage of our day I was lifting boxes.

I don’t know if this is how it should be or not, but I am having a hard time making posts because I feel like I need to write something witty and thought provoking, something that lives up to the expectations of an aspiring writer and English major. However this is creating more of a writing block than helping me. The same thing goes with my videos. I want them to be entertaining, but I don’t know if my life is entertaining enough to share with the world.  I have almost come to the realization that it doesn’t matter how thought provoking or entertaining my post are, if I post something will come out that I hope will be worth reading.

 I can’t wait to see what is in store for me next year. I know that it will be fun of adventures.

 I am really glad that I have this blog to help me chronicle my year, and share it with you. 

I think once the adventures start I won’t have the same problems with finding things to write about.

 I know that adventures are what I make of them, and waiting around for adventures to happen only means I will never see the adventures that happen all the time around me.

 I will continue to strive to see the adventures of my life, but I also know that being in Germany will help me see adventures I don’t normally have. 

There will be things I need to adjust to and I will be able to at least talk about those things.

 Once I get settled into the routine of life there I might find another slump.

 If that happens I ask that you all tell me what you want to hear, and it will help me get through the block.

 Even now if you want to hear something specific, just let me know and I will expound on it for you :) In other words comment ;p

As always thanks for reading. 

Oh and don't forget to follow me please.

New Year's Eve video

I have had this video up on YouTube for a couple of days now, but was holding off on publishing it here until I was able to get a written blog up. I had great intentions of busting it out yesterday, but as you can see that didn't happen. So I will give you the video now, and the post will just have to come later.

It is kinda rough, and all the bounciness at the end is because the floor was shaking that much. I guess that is what happens when 1000 people start jumping up and down on the second floor. :)

Sorry about the delay

So I said that I would be posting my Christmas vlog soon, what over a week ago... Well I have been trying to get it up, but it kept getting rejected by youtube. I finally figured out that was because it was apparently too long, so I have broken it up into 2 parts. So now we have two vlogs from Christmas and hopefully later today I will get the one up from New Year's Eve.

Things have been really busy around here. Today I spend the day getting rid of everything I don't think I will miss when I get back from Germany. A lot of things I have had for a long time, like my porcelain dolls, but I know they will be in better hands. I have realized that I have a lot of stuff! The worst part about it all was, because I have been quite poor before, everything I put in the DI pile or in the trash because it was broken was: "But the batteries are still good...There is some good yardage there... You could make___ out of that" Hopefully when others see it at the store they will think the same things, and actually be able to use it. I guess it is lots better than me squirreling it away for 6 months where no one will be able to use it. I got one car load dropped off today, and one more closet to go through maybe I will have another carload to take over.

Other than getting ready to move and de-junking not much has been going on here. Megan did get a new apartment, and she is going to be able to store/ furnish her place with my furniture, so that is a big relief. I hope everyone had a great new years.