Monday, December 7, 2009

A grueling week with bits of crazy excitement interspersed...

Hi, guys! I will start with last Monday....... I went to my classes and then went to the library where I studied and worked on writing my philosophy paper. Unfortunately, I found out that I'd read the wrong chapters after having taken eight pages of notes, so I had to start over. I was up really late but finally got done!

Tuesday morning was pretty typical; I got my stuff done, did some homework. But on Wednesday I had my BOM research paper due, so I worked on that until late in the night, again. I was in the library until 2, and was very happy that all through December the library is open late.

Wednesday morning I got up at about seven and finished writing my paper. I got it done just in time to go to class! I made my way through the rest of my classes and then went home, took a lovely nap, and worked on some more homework!

Thursday morning I was craving cookie dough... so half an hour before class I made some and was a few minutes late because I had been baking. It was worth it though :) The rest of the day I worked on my politics research paper, which was due on Friday. Unfortunately, I found out that the U.S.-Japan relationship (which I was writing about) had changed dramatically in the two weeks since I'd turned in my rough draft, due to Obama's visit to Japan. So I got to write the entire paper over again! So fun. I was in the library until about 10, and my friend Michelle was there with me, working on another project. I invited her to come over for dinner and we had pork chops and salad. Yum. Then I drove her home (she lives off-campus) because it was about 12 degrees outside. I stayed up late again working on my paper, but I wasn't even near done so I went to bed without finishing. I got up early in the morning to write, and wrote all day. I didn't go to any of my classes, and my paper still wasn't done! I emailed my professor and she told me to just turn it in when I was done. So I worked on that until about 8 and then went home. I ate dinner and then went to the testing center, where I took my English grammar test. It was super-fun. Then I returned to the library and got almost all the way done. I went home and slept...

Saturday we had cleaning checks, so I did my chores while we watched HP1 on ABC. It was great. Then I worked on some other homework (what a surprise, right?). I needed to go to the gym and make up some hours for missing weight training class, so I did that, and read a book for politics while I did so. Then I went grocery shopping for a few minutes - the only problem is, the main reason I wanted to go on Saturday was to get butter. I put it in my cart, but somehow when I got home it had mysteriously disappeared. Ugh. Anyways, when I got home, Ashley and Amy and I watched Mulan! We had so much fun singing along and analyzing various elements of the plot. It was great.

Sunday morning I got up, went to my meetings (Compassionate Service Committee, Hall Council, and Hall meeting) and then went to church. It was our last testimony meeting before 16 of our guys leave to go on missions, so we had tons of those guys talk, and it was an awesome testimony meeting. My roommates and I went to RS, which was also really good, and then we left to go to the Christmas Devotional in Salt Lake. Kirsi had gotten tickets for us (don't ask me how) and everyone except Madi, who was going home for the night, went. We got pretty good seats - in the second level - so that was cool. The talks were amazing, as I'm sure you all know, and it was really cool being in the same room with the MoTab. It was kind of confusing though, because the sound from the speakers was reaching us before the actual sound from the singers... But it was great. Afterwards a couple of my roommates wanted to see ALL of the lights, which was fun at first. They were beautiful, of course - the only problem was that it was FREEZING outside and, to compound the problem, we were all wearing skirts. Brrr. So we walked around, took some pictures (sorry, my camera wasn't working, so you'll have to look on facebook to see the pics my roommates took) and looked at the lights, taking frequent stops inside the visitors centers to keep our feet from getting frostbite. On our last trip inside, I ran into Cory! It was really funny, actually. We were just walking into the visitors center and he was literally right in my path. What was really funny, though, was the look on my roommates' faces when he told us he'd have to come down to Provo and take us to lunch sometime, because they didn't understand my fast explanation that he was my cousin. Kirsi asked him whether he was related to me, and I told her that yes, he was my cousin while he jokingly told her that actually we'd been engaged and that's how we knew each other. It was hilarious. So after that encounter, we walked back to the car freezing. Amy and I couldn't feel our toes at all and there was no heat in the back so we took our shoes off and put our feet up on the center console to get heat. (In skirts - scandalous!) Kirsi's driving scared me just a little bit - 60 mph in the snow, less than a second behind the person ahead of us - but hey... we survived. That's what counts....right? So we got home, drank hot chocolate, and I finished my scripture reading for the next day and went to bed!

Monday morning I woke up, worked on finishing my politics essay, went to weight training (where I got 100% on everything, including doing 20 reps of bench press with 75 pounds!) and then came back home and got ready. I went to my classes, finished editing the essay in English, printed it out in between English and Politics, and got to the door at the same time as my professor, who knew my name! (I'm excited because she's listed as #97 in foreign policy magazine's top global thinkers http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,32, and she is amazing. Of course, she probably only knew my name because I'd emailed her about being late, which isn't quite as good, but hey...) So I turned in the essay and got through the rest of class, after which I went to the wilkinson center to send a package home :) Nothing too exciting in it, but then again I don't have a lot of exciting things at college, so.... On the way, I went to the lost and found to see if they had my scriptures yet. I'm not sure whether I wrote about this earlier, but I lost my scriptures in October, and have been checking the lost and found weekly. They finally had them!!!!!!!! I was really excited, but a little miffed because when I mentioned to the girl who got them for me that this was my kazillionth time checking, she said that she didn't know why I hadn't gotten them before, because they'd been there since October... Oh well. I have them now :) And I forgot to mention - it was snowing all day Monday and all of Sunday night. So it was icy, cold, slippery, and very snowy. I walked home in the snow after arranging a dentist appointment, and did laundry and some homework. Our FHE was cancelled, (again) and so I was working for a while. Then at 9:45 Shyler and Amy decided to go sledding with Jarom, Shyler's brother, and his roommates, and Amy and I talked for about an hour and a half. It was fun, and I'm pretty sure we're twins separated at birth... Anyways, did that and then did a little bit of homework before heading for bed.

This morning I didn't wake up to my alarm, because I've been using my cell phone (at Shyler's request) and it's not loud enough to wake me up. So I woke up late, and didn't have time to get ready and go get my H1N1 vaccine. But I went to class and made another appointment, after which I finally got the vaccine. So that's good. Then I worked on homework and went to philosophy. Afterward (remember, it's still snowy) three other kids from my class, the TA, and I were talking about band as we left. When we got outside, we discussed and had an epic snowball fight. It was awesome. Then I came back to my apartment, had a lovely frozen dinner, and now I need to write my (final!) research paper, for english. I'm so excited that I only have one more day of each class, but I think I'm going to make some fudge to give to the professors and TAs because they're awesom. Anyways, I love you all and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in A WEEK AND A HALF!!!!!!!!

Love you,
Eliza

3 comments:

  1. Truly and amazing life! You are having some beautiful moments in among all those assignments and schoolwork. I am so glad you're figuring out roommate happiness and making time for that!

    I just finished cleaning up the epic gingerbread extravaganza in our kitchen. Several times in the last two days, we've had kitchen counters excessively utilized--and this is a big kitchen! But, we have made truffles, designed, baked, and decorated a phenomenally creative gingerbread village, squeezed pomegranates and blended persimmons (and baked persimmon cookies and bread) and managed to kind of keep up with snow clothes and laundry. The chickens haven't frozen and the driveway is shoveled too. And "Brothers Karamozov" is finished--though the report is not.

    I'd have to say, it's been a memorable couple of snow days. It'll be hard to finish out the week--having enjoyed our "early vacation"--and I need to catch up on Christmas details and house stuff!

    Dad arrived home after spending last night in the valley dodging the ice that would have kept him home this a.m. Work stress and the need to turn back early in the a.m. kept him from enjoying the evening. Hopefully we'll have some good down time over the holidays. We can hardly wait til you get home.

    Love, Mom

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  2. Only as WEEK AND TWO DAYS ELIZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    Love,
    Tess

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