Bugs are just kind of a way of life here. There are tons of cockroaches out on the streets (and I've killed more than I ever wanted to in my house). I've also killed more than one centipede and a bunch of other creepy, crawly, fly-y bugs in my bedroom. Ew.
You'd think all those crazy bugs would be driving me crazy, but you're wrong. Okay, well, you're kind of right. They *are* super annoying, but the thing that's actually driving me crazy is the ants.
They are endless.
On the plus side, these ants are tiny; I often feel an itch and it takes forever to find the nearly-invisible ant that's causing it.
BUT tiny doesn't do any good when there are 5 billion. These ants are everywhere. They literally come through holes in the walls and go everywhere in my room... the shelves, my books, my bed, in my laptop keyboard, and even climbing into my closet and crawling all over my laundry (which is in a hamper; it's not like I'm even leaving a big mess for them to enjoy/explore!
These ants have been a problem since literally my first day here, but they're finally getting a post today because they crossed a line.
Today I went to brush my teeth and found the brush part full of ants. EWW.
It was so gross. Luckily I brought plenty of hygiene stuff here and had a spare toothbrush right on hand, so it wasn't a terrible inconveniences, all things considered.
But still. It's the principle of the thing.
Here's to hoping they get sick of me squishing them soon and abandon ship. :P
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
More pictures :)
The post right before this one (or after, if you're scrolling) was going to be my only post, but I had to re-upload pictures and decided to pull some more off to share. I'm too lazy to deal with the formatting of inserting them into the other post, though, so I'll just have some short descriptions here. If you want pictures, read this post; if you want details, read the next one. :)
INHOTIM:
Some pretty flower pictures:
The beautiful scenery and pathways that went through the whole park. I'm fairly sure it's impossible to get tired of a view like this:
Cool gazebo-thing. From a distance it just looked like a normal gazebo, then we got close and saw its walls were all mirrors! The walls were all mirrors inside, too, except one wall that had a projected image of a dance floor and two ghost-like dancers (the style reminded me of the scene in "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan remembers twirling with her mom); the mirrors were really cool though, because it felt like you were surrounded with dancers. It was a neat exhibit!
Another sweet exhibit. Looks like a giant telescope? Well, you go look through it and the inside is covered with mirrors so it actually basically is like looking at the world with a kaleidoscope. It was SO cool! I love that people come up with ideas like this! :)
This was a fun hands-on exhibit. This lady creates planting pots in the shapes of letters so that people can use them to write words and help create the art and keep it "growing" and evolving. Super cool. Anyway, so you find empty pots and then add dirt and water and pick your seeds and write stuff! I was too lazy (and didn't want to spend the time) to run around finding all the letters for Michelle or anything so I went for first and last letter only ;)
So excited that someday it will be growing those pretty flowers!
Hey look: it's ME!! :D
Another pretty flower..
There was a (kind of creepy) exhibit in this building that we couldn't take pictures of, but I thought the building itself was gorgeous! You can't even really tell from these pictures, but the water was such a gorgeous color of blue. It was so fun to be wandering through paths and scenic walkways and then just randomly stumble on such awesome, buildings.
Such a beautiful day!
This tree was GIANT. The pictures do not begin to do it justice.
See that cool "little" bench at the bottom? It's actually carved out of the trunk of another (huge) tree, and was almost as tall as I was. Yeah, this tree was massive.
[I wanted to climb it but thought that might be frowned upon...silly rules.]
Lakes and views like this all over the park! Such a happy day :)
OURO PRETO:
Goodness, I loved this city. Look at that view! Such a quaint but beautiful place. It was one of those places I felt I just kind of...clicked with. It was so fun to be there. :)
The shops were so fun to explore! Some were normal stuff (clothes, etc), some had Brazilian souvenirs, etc, and then there were a few random stores like this, full of stuff from all kinds of other places! It was like going all around the world just by walking down a single street :)
View up the street. (Ouro Preto is in the mountains. I hadn't really thought much about how incredibly flat Vitoria is until I got there and realized that I now get out of breath if there's pretty much any incline at all haha.)
This is the fun soapstone market. Pretty much every table has similar stuff, but it was all beautiful! The people selling merchandise basically just sit next to their table and work on more pieces while they wait to sell. I bought a beautiful box; carved and painted (blue, of course) with flowers and a hummingbird. :)
THE ZOO:
Started off walking through the Japanese and then Botanical gardens
Best trash/recycling bins EVER.
Elephants! All three of them paraded past right by us just before this; I was just barely too slow getting my phone out :( Still cool though :)
Cool shaped hedges by the entrance. It made me laugh though when I realized it was supposed to be the nativity (I don't think you can tell, but that dome in the back is the stable, with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus inside). Why did I find the nativity funny?
Because you have the holy family and a camel...
...and a gorilla, a giant chicken, an armadillo...
BONUS:
Here's our cat! This picture kind of makes her look angry (haha) but she's really a sweetheart. I love her :D
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Belo Horizonte and Ouro Preto
Hey look, a blog post! :D
[Disclaimer: this is just copied from my journal, so I hope it makes sense haha. And ignore any weird formatting issues...getting this posted is a big enough deal without anyone expecting me to fix the pictures and font problems ;) ]
So, Sarena and I noticed a while ago that we had almost a whole week between teaching assignments, and decided to take a trip. After discussing lots of options, we decided to go to Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state Minas Gerais. I'd never been to that state, and was excited to go somewhere new! It's the state touching Espirito Santo (borders the west side of our state. aka it's land-locked). It has a very rich history of politics and religion, mostly centered around the city's economic role in the country as a mining center. It also is known for having the best food in Brazil. Needless to say, I was excited :)
Thursday May 14:
- Taxi to the airport and fly to BH*. Short, easy flight. Arrive in BH but can't figure out the bus, so taxi to the hostel. Checked out three museums but basically just call it an early day because we both stayed up too late the night before and were exhausted.
- After our naps at the hostel, we swung by the supermarket for some groceries (bread and fruit, etc), then went out to dinner.
- Dinner was awesome! Overpriced, but yummy and a fun experience! We went to a fancy-schmancy Italian place with a really cool ambiance. The wall behind the bar had rows of bottles that lit up in various neon colors (it looked like a fiber-optic Christmas tree haha). R$75 for pizza was so expensive, but it was a lot of fun. Plus, Fulbright was paying for it ;)
- Also: I ordered pineapple-orange juice that was divine. :D
- The museums in BH were kind of...weird. Some were downright creepy, but I felt like a lot of the exhibits were weird. The setup was weird---not intuitive at all---and the buildings were often too big for the exhibits they held; more than once I walked down a hallway to discover a work or storage room. Lots of weird smells, too. :/
- Also a lot of thought-provoking stuff, though. There were some really heart-wrenching pictures of Africa. Seeing stuff like that makes me want to do so much more for the world!
- There was also a really cool display of Sebastiao Salgado's photography, including his book "Genesis", which has some really incredible photographs (I was most impressed by his nature shots, but he also had some compelling ones of people).
Friday May 15:
- We went to Inhotim! We woke up early and almost went back to sleep...SO TIRED! But we made it! Hostel -> Rodoviaria -> Inhotim. The ride was 1.5 hours (a little more coming home) and I got a great nap :)
- Inhotim is like an art gallery zoo. It's like a giant park (feels like a zoo with lots of pathways, statues, restaurants, lakes, etc) but instead of animals there are art galleris. My favorite was this dark room with gold strings lit up in cool shapes (unfortunately no photography allowed...). Lots of the art was weird/distrubing, but also a lot of creativing and interesting themes and subjects. It made me wonder: who decides what's art? And also: is it necessary to expose ourselves to bad things (eg. the Holocaust) in the pursuit of knowledge? Does it come down to the dichotomy of "good to be informed" vs "I don't want those images/feelings in my mind", and what do we do about it?
Saturday May 16:
- Ouro Preto! Another early morning and long bus ride, but so worth it. I LOVED OURO PRETO. It was such a beautiful little place. It felt very small, but at the same time you could see city rolling out in every direction, so it wasn't really that tiny. It was so beautiful. Vitoria is 100% flat. (I think the biggest elevation gains I hit are walking on the uneven cobblestones haha.) I LOVED being in the mountains. It was a bit chilly, but a nice day overall; it actually was kind of nice to be out in the crisp, fresh mountain air.
- Went to the Praca of Tiradentes (I'm pretty sure that's like their independence day) and saw one museum on the history of Ouro Preto...basically just politics and mining, from what I understood.
- Got some yummy sandwiches for lunch, then delicious brownies and ice cream from a cute bookstore/cafe where we met Deanna, one of the ETAs who's teaching in OP this year.
- Wandered around a lot. The city has a feel of Park City or something. The central area is basically just a few narrow streets crammed with fun little shops that had everything from postcards and trinkets to expensive jewelry and restaurants. You could seriously spend forever just wandering around looking at stuff.
- I also really enjoyed the soapstone market. Apparently they leave it there...all the time. They just have one guard stay out overnight and nothing ever gets stolen. Cool.
- Deanna was super cool; she's applying to med school, and played rugby! Seriously. Of all the sports and all the people...I bumped into a rugby player. Cool beans.
Sunday May 17;
- Went to the Hippie Market! It's a huge market every Sunday in BH. They close off several blocks of this big road, then cram it full of people selling various stuff. I bought a few paintings from one lady, and a CD from this blind musician! He was just sitting holding a CD while a little boom box played his stuff. He was really nice :) I also got some cool stuff from this group of Ecuadorians when we went into the park after we finished in the market! They were all decked out in cool traditional stuff and playing flutes and drums and stuff, and they sounded awesome! They were playing "How Great Thou Art" when we walked up and I loved it so much I bought their CD (and then got a second one too haha). I also bought a really cool dream-catcher bracelet! :)
- Sarena and I walked around the park for a while after that. We got ice cream cones but basically just wandered...didn't really see or do anything particularly exciting. :P
- Went back to the hostel and crashed...again. Then we went out for another overpriced dinner haha. I ordered a great salad and juice and then got a lime pie thing that was super delish. It was really expensive though because they had live music (RIGHT next to us..it was so loud to sit next to a drum set haha). Anyway, it was a good day.
OH! Also, how could I forget to mention...I saw the CUTEST puppies ever. A lady at the market was selling cocker spaniel puppies for only R$400!!! They were so darling I almost bought one on the spot. I decided to be responsible though and check with Evelin, so I didn't. It ended up being good I didn't, because I couldn't have taken a puppy that small on the plane. So..sad I didn't get to keep him :( On the plus side though, my roommates adopted a cat off the street while I was gone, and she's pretty adorable, too .:)
Monday May 18:
- Apparently everything is closed on Mondays. What??? Yes, it's pretty much the lamest thing ever, and it would have been nice to have planned our trip differently, but whatever. Monday we went to the central market (which is like a more stable/less crowded version of the hippie market). I didn't buy anything there; the only thing I was really tempted by was more puppies. They were in such small cages and looked so sad...I wanted to take them all home! :(
- Also...all the miserable animals and raw meat made me very seriously consider being vegetarian again... I'm not sure if I really should; I need more protein than I'm getting as is, I think. But those poor animals made me want to cry. At the very least I haven't eaten meat since then because I've been too sad haha. We'll see what happens. I think i might just going back to being "Ethnofreegetarian" and taking meat only if it comes up in a context where I feel like I should eat it.
Tuesday May 19:
- The ZOO! It was such a crazy trip to the zoo haha. It took us FOREVER to get there. It looked like it would be so easy/close, but it ended up taking an hour and a half on two different buses. Plus, people kept acting like, "why are you going to the zoo??" but we were so excited! Well, the zoo was *not* what I expected.
- First of all, it took us over half an hour to find our first animal haha. After we'd been walking for like 15 minutes, Sarena was like, "I hope we find some animals!" and I laughed so hard. Only in Brazil would you go to a zoo and "hope" to find animals. Actually, I told her it seemed like a pretty Tongan thing, too. Haha. (Dad, I thought you'd particularly appreciate this story ;)
- It was super weird, too, because the zoo was basically deserted. It only cost R$4 to go in, which was awesome! (That's less than $2.) But we got in and basically just saw workers. There was one couple taking engagement pictures in the Japanese gardens, but other than that it was just workers. SO many workers. Like, they were everywhere. It made me kind of sad, actually, that they had so many people working so hard to keep something nice and no one was there to enjoy it... Granted, it was a Tuesday morning (not exactly peak business hours), but still.
- We finally found the animals, and I was so sad... :/ The animals all looked so depressed and lonely. I've had mixed feelings on zoos for a long time, but this was the first time I've actually felt a little anger/indignant for the animals! They looked soo sad. It broke my heart. :(
- Luckily we also passed some very happy-looking capuchins that captured my heart and made me laugh, so the zoo felt like a happy place again. ;)
After exploring the zoo, we bused home. We stopped for lunch at a per-kilo place that was delicious. (And had the *best* juice ever! We actually ate there on Monday, too, and I got yummy juices both times. One had kiwi, apple, mint, and...orange? I think that was the combo. It was really good! The other one was the real surprise though: Orange, carrot, and BEET! Sounds weird, right? Don't be fooled---that was probably the best juice I've had in my life haha.)
After that, we taxied to the airport and flew home! It was raining in Vitoria so we opted for a taxi instead of the bus back (don't judge...I was so ready to be home).
It was SUCH a good trip! :D Belo Horizonte was such a beautiful city, and Ouro Preto captured my heart. It's a city that I could see myself living in for a long time; it was such a perfect combination of culture, history, tourist sites, and just feeling really...livable. It had more character than any other city I've seen this trip, and I loved it! :)
*BH is obviously short for Belo Horizonte. But it's fun to note that they actually call it that, so it sounds like "bay aga" in Portuguese...and sometimes it actually gets written like that! Like they'll call their city Beaga haha.
[Disclaimer: this is just copied from my journal, so I hope it makes sense haha. And ignore any weird formatting issues...getting this posted is a big enough deal without anyone expecting me to fix the pictures and font problems ;) ]
So, Sarena and I noticed a while ago that we had almost a whole week between teaching assignments, and decided to take a trip. After discussing lots of options, we decided to go to Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state Minas Gerais. I'd never been to that state, and was excited to go somewhere new! It's the state touching Espirito Santo (borders the west side of our state. aka it's land-locked). It has a very rich history of politics and religion, mostly centered around the city's economic role in the country as a mining center. It also is known for having the best food in Brazil. Needless to say, I was excited :)
Thursday May 14:
- Taxi to the airport and fly to BH*. Short, easy flight. Arrive in BH but can't figure out the bus, so taxi to the hostel. Checked out three museums but basically just call it an early day because we both stayed up too late the night before and were exhausted.
- After our naps at the hostel, we swung by the supermarket for some groceries (bread and fruit, etc), then went out to dinner.
- Dinner was awesome! Overpriced, but yummy and a fun experience! We went to a fancy-schmancy Italian place with a really cool ambiance. The wall behind the bar had rows of bottles that lit up in various neon colors (it looked like a fiber-optic Christmas tree haha). R$75 for pizza was so expensive, but it was a lot of fun. Plus, Fulbright was paying for it ;)
- Also: I ordered pineapple-orange juice that was divine. :D
- The museums in BH were kind of...weird. Some were downright creepy, but I felt like a lot of the exhibits were weird. The setup was weird---not intuitive at all---and the buildings were often too big for the exhibits they held; more than once I walked down a hallway to discover a work or storage room. Lots of weird smells, too. :/
- Also a lot of thought-provoking stuff, though. There were some really heart-wrenching pictures of Africa. Seeing stuff like that makes me want to do so much more for the world!
- There was also a really cool display of Sebastiao Salgado's photography, including his book "Genesis", which has some really incredible photographs (I was most impressed by his nature shots, but he also had some compelling ones of people).
Friday May 15:
- We went to Inhotim! We woke up early and almost went back to sleep...SO TIRED! But we made it! Hostel -> Rodoviaria -> Inhotim. The ride was 1.5 hours (a little more coming home) and I got a great nap :)
- Inhotim is like an art gallery zoo. It's like a giant park (feels like a zoo with lots of pathways, statues, restaurants, lakes, etc) but instead of animals there are art galleris. My favorite was this dark room with gold strings lit up in cool shapes (unfortunately no photography allowed...). Lots of the art was weird/distrubing, but also a lot of creativing and interesting themes and subjects. It made me wonder: who decides what's art? And also: is it necessary to expose ourselves to bad things (eg. the Holocaust) in the pursuit of knowledge? Does it come down to the dichotomy of "good to be informed" vs "I don't want those images/feelings in my mind", and what do we do about it?
Saturday May 16:
- Ouro Preto! Another early morning and long bus ride, but so worth it. I LOVED OURO PRETO. It was such a beautiful little place. It felt very small, but at the same time you could see city rolling out in every direction, so it wasn't really that tiny. It was so beautiful. Vitoria is 100% flat. (I think the biggest elevation gains I hit are walking on the uneven cobblestones haha.) I LOVED being in the mountains. It was a bit chilly, but a nice day overall; it actually was kind of nice to be out in the crisp, fresh mountain air.
- Went to the Praca of Tiradentes (I'm pretty sure that's like their independence day) and saw one museum on the history of Ouro Preto...basically just politics and mining, from what I understood.
- Got some yummy sandwiches for lunch, then delicious brownies and ice cream from a cute bookstore/cafe where we met Deanna, one of the ETAs who's teaching in OP this year.
- Wandered around a lot. The city has a feel of Park City or something. The central area is basically just a few narrow streets crammed with fun little shops that had everything from postcards and trinkets to expensive jewelry and restaurants. You could seriously spend forever just wandering around looking at stuff.
- I also really enjoyed the soapstone market. Apparently they leave it there...all the time. They just have one guard stay out overnight and nothing ever gets stolen. Cool.
- Deanna was super cool; she's applying to med school, and played rugby! Seriously. Of all the sports and all the people...I bumped into a rugby player. Cool beans.
Sunday May 17;
- Went to the Hippie Market! It's a huge market every Sunday in BH. They close off several blocks of this big road, then cram it full of people selling various stuff. I bought a few paintings from one lady, and a CD from this blind musician! He was just sitting holding a CD while a little boom box played his stuff. He was really nice :) I also got some cool stuff from this group of Ecuadorians when we went into the park after we finished in the market! They were all decked out in cool traditional stuff and playing flutes and drums and stuff, and they sounded awesome! They were playing "How Great Thou Art" when we walked up and I loved it so much I bought their CD (and then got a second one too haha). I also bought a really cool dream-catcher bracelet! :)
- Sarena and I walked around the park for a while after that. We got ice cream cones but basically just wandered...didn't really see or do anything particularly exciting. :P
- Went back to the hostel and crashed...again. Then we went out for another overpriced dinner haha. I ordered a great salad and juice and then got a lime pie thing that was super delish. It was really expensive though because they had live music (RIGHT next to us..it was so loud to sit next to a drum set haha). Anyway, it was a good day.
OH! Also, how could I forget to mention...I saw the CUTEST puppies ever. A lady at the market was selling cocker spaniel puppies for only R$400!!! They were so darling I almost bought one on the spot. I decided to be responsible though and check with Evelin, so I didn't. It ended up being good I didn't, because I couldn't have taken a puppy that small on the plane. So..sad I didn't get to keep him :( On the plus side though, my roommates adopted a cat off the street while I was gone, and she's pretty adorable, too .:)
Monday May 18:
- Apparently everything is closed on Mondays. What??? Yes, it's pretty much the lamest thing ever, and it would have been nice to have planned our trip differently, but whatever. Monday we went to the central market (which is like a more stable/less crowded version of the hippie market). I didn't buy anything there; the only thing I was really tempted by was more puppies. They were in such small cages and looked so sad...I wanted to take them all home! :(
- Also...all the miserable animals and raw meat made me very seriously consider being vegetarian again... I'm not sure if I really should; I need more protein than I'm getting as is, I think. But those poor animals made me want to cry. At the very least I haven't eaten meat since then because I've been too sad haha. We'll see what happens. I think i might just going back to being "Ethnofreegetarian" and taking meat only if it comes up in a context where I feel like I should eat it.
Tuesday May 19:
- The ZOO! It was such a crazy trip to the zoo haha. It took us FOREVER to get there. It looked like it would be so easy/close, but it ended up taking an hour and a half on two different buses. Plus, people kept acting like, "why are you going to the zoo??" but we were so excited! Well, the zoo was *not* what I expected.
- First of all, it took us over half an hour to find our first animal haha. After we'd been walking for like 15 minutes, Sarena was like, "I hope we find some animals!" and I laughed so hard. Only in Brazil would you go to a zoo and "hope" to find animals. Actually, I told her it seemed like a pretty Tongan thing, too. Haha. (Dad, I thought you'd particularly appreciate this story ;)
- It was super weird, too, because the zoo was basically deserted. It only cost R$4 to go in, which was awesome! (That's less than $2.) But we got in and basically just saw workers. There was one couple taking engagement pictures in the Japanese gardens, but other than that it was just workers. SO many workers. Like, they were everywhere. It made me kind of sad, actually, that they had so many people working so hard to keep something nice and no one was there to enjoy it... Granted, it was a Tuesday morning (not exactly peak business hours), but still.
- We finally found the animals, and I was so sad... :/ The animals all looked so depressed and lonely. I've had mixed feelings on zoos for a long time, but this was the first time I've actually felt a little anger/indignant for the animals! They looked soo sad. It broke my heart. :(
- Luckily we also passed some very happy-looking capuchins that captured my heart and made me laugh, so the zoo felt like a happy place again. ;)
After exploring the zoo, we bused home. We stopped for lunch at a per-kilo place that was delicious. (And had the *best* juice ever! We actually ate there on Monday, too, and I got yummy juices both times. One had kiwi, apple, mint, and...orange? I think that was the combo. It was really good! The other one was the real surprise though: Orange, carrot, and BEET! Sounds weird, right? Don't be fooled---that was probably the best juice I've had in my life haha.)
After that, we taxied to the airport and flew home! It was raining in Vitoria so we opted for a taxi instead of the bus back (don't judge...I was so ready to be home).
It was SUCH a good trip! :D Belo Horizonte was such a beautiful city, and Ouro Preto captured my heart. It's a city that I could see myself living in for a long time; it was such a perfect combination of culture, history, tourist sites, and just feeling really...livable. It had more character than any other city I've seen this trip, and I loved it! :)
*BH is obviously short for Belo Horizonte. But it's fun to note that they actually call it that, so it sounds like "bay aga" in Portuguese...and sometimes it actually gets written like that! Like they'll call their city Beaga haha.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Here's to being 22!
Well, I've been sitting here for well over an hour trying to start this blog post about all the things that have happened over the past year of my life, but keep getting distracted because of all the fun adventures I've got coming up for 23! I'm certainly not complaining, though! It's a good life when the past and the future are *both* pretty exciting :)
So...I've never really done a post or journal entry or anything like this before, but I've spent pretty much all day by myself (not in a depressing way), and had lots of time to think about what's happened in the last year and what things I'm excited for about being 23!
Anyway, I have no idea where exactly I'm going with this post, but here are some fun things about my life at 22.
**
Some fun numbers to measure my year by:
- I visited/lived in 6 countries on 3 continents
- I lost 22 pounds (give or take...but I couldn't resist rounding to 22 :)
- My longest run was 14.5 miles
- I ran 1 "half-marathon" (it wasn't a race---I just mapped it and ran 13.2 miles through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens my last day in London :)
- I became an aunt to one more beautiful niece---welcome to the world, Shannon! (bringing the total to 24, with at least 3 more on the way! :)
Major (or at least memorable) life events:
- Went on a study abroad to Europe, studying dialects and the history of English in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Such an incredible 6 weeks!
- Graduated cum laude from BYU with my degree in linguistics! (August 2014)
- Finally got my driver license!
- Moved to Vitoria, Brazil to begin teaching as a Fulbright ETA.
- Family trip to the Grand Tetons before Danny's mission
Some of my favorite memories from 22:
- Lots of fun hikes in Utah last summer (including 4 rattlesnake encounters!!...that wasn't my favorite part, but definitely worth remembering!)
- FINALLY getting to see "Wicked!" ... on Broadway in London. It was phenomenal!
- Getting to see "Wicked!" again with Lisa when I got back from my trip :)
- Trip to Goblin valley with some old friends from jr high, as well as some from college
- SO many beautiful things from my trip to Europe...some of the main highlights for me were:
- Westminster Abbey
- The Cliffs of Moher (aka Cliffs of Insanity from "The Princess Bride")
- Dingle Bay and Inch beach in Ireland
- The Scottish Highlands
- Exploring the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and climbing Arthur's Seat
- Llandudno, the beautiful town we stayed at in Wales. I don't know that anyone else loved it as much as I did, but I went on one of the most spectacular runs of my life along the cliffs there; it's just hard to beat!
- Visiting lots of historic sites and castles
- Kissing the Blarney stone!
- Seeing "Julius Caesar" at the Globe Theater
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Loch Ness
- Oxford
- Stonehenge!
- and so so many more! This list could go on for, well, at least six weeks ;)
22 has been good to me. It was a year full of adventures, fun, life lessons, building relationships, and learning a lot about myself. There have definitely been some rough times this year, but overall it's been better than many of the previous years. I learned a lot and had so much fun with family and friends. 23 has a lot to live up to ;)
On that note, some people (shoutout especially to Jo(e)y!) have a tradition of saying the "best" part of the past year, and what they're most excited about for the year to come. If I could pick a big experience, I'd say my study abroad was the best thing. If I had to pick a more specific event, I'd probably pick the day we toured most of Ireland, driving around lots of beautiful beaches and overlooks, including the easternmost point of the British Isles. That was a spectacular day. :)
As to what I'm most excited about for this next year, it's impossible to say. I'm definitely going to take some cool trips here in Brazil this year, though, so I'll probably go with that. I think I'm most excited for Bonito and the Pantanal, *or* Chapada Diamantina and Lençóis Maranhenses...they both look like they're going to be incredible! Most of my other "big" plans for 23 are tentative, so I'll hold onto those secret plans a bit longer ;)
All in all, this was a wonderful year, and today was a great last day of being 22. And now? I can hardly wait to see what 23 has in store :)
Bring it on. :)
PS. I'm too lazy to get out my hard drive, so the only pictures I have are the ones other people have uploaded to facebook haha. But if you don't have facebook, I guess they'll still be new :)
So...I've never really done a post or journal entry or anything like this before, but I've spent pretty much all day by myself (not in a depressing way), and had lots of time to think about what's happened in the last year and what things I'm excited for about being 23!
Anyway, I have no idea where exactly I'm going with this post, but here are some fun things about my life at 22.
**
Some fun numbers to measure my year by:
- I visited/lived in 6 countries on 3 continents
- I lost 22 pounds (give or take...but I couldn't resist rounding to 22 :)
- My longest run was 14.5 miles
- I ran 1 "half-marathon" (it wasn't a race---I just mapped it and ran 13.2 miles through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens my last day in London :)
- I became an aunt to one more beautiful niece---welcome to the world, Shannon! (bringing the total to 24, with at least 3 more on the way! :)
Major (or at least memorable) life events:
- Went on a study abroad to Europe, studying dialects and the history of English in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Such an incredible 6 weeks!
- Graduated cum laude from BYU with my degree in linguistics! (August 2014)
- Finally got my driver license!
- Moved to Vitoria, Brazil to begin teaching as a Fulbright ETA.
- Family trip to the Grand Tetons before Danny's mission
Some of my favorite memories from 22:
- Lots of fun hikes in Utah last summer (including 4 rattlesnake encounters!!...that wasn't my favorite part, but definitely worth remembering!)
- FINALLY getting to see "Wicked!" ... on Broadway in London. It was phenomenal!
- Getting to see "Wicked!" again with Lisa when I got back from my trip :)
- Trip to Goblin valley with some old friends from jr high, as well as some from college
- SO many beautiful things from my trip to Europe...some of the main highlights for me were:
- Westminster Abbey
- The Cliffs of Moher (aka Cliffs of Insanity from "The Princess Bride")
- Dingle Bay and Inch beach in Ireland
- The Scottish Highlands
- Exploring the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and climbing Arthur's Seat
- Llandudno, the beautiful town we stayed at in Wales. I don't know that anyone else loved it as much as I did, but I went on one of the most spectacular runs of my life along the cliffs there; it's just hard to beat!
- Visiting lots of historic sites and castles
- Kissing the Blarney stone!
- Seeing "Julius Caesar" at the Globe Theater
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Loch Ness
- Oxford
- Stonehenge!
- and so so many more! This list could go on for, well, at least six weeks ;)
22 has been good to me. It was a year full of adventures, fun, life lessons, building relationships, and learning a lot about myself. There have definitely been some rough times this year, but overall it's been better than many of the previous years. I learned a lot and had so much fun with family and friends. 23 has a lot to live up to ;)
On that note, some people (shoutout especially to Jo(e)y!) have a tradition of saying the "best" part of the past year, and what they're most excited about for the year to come. If I could pick a big experience, I'd say my study abroad was the best thing. If I had to pick a more specific event, I'd probably pick the day we toured most of Ireland, driving around lots of beautiful beaches and overlooks, including the easternmost point of the British Isles. That was a spectacular day. :)
As to what I'm most excited about for this next year, it's impossible to say. I'm definitely going to take some cool trips here in Brazil this year, though, so I'll probably go with that. I think I'm most excited for Bonito and the Pantanal, *or* Chapada Diamantina and Lençóis Maranhenses...they both look like they're going to be incredible! Most of my other "big" plans for 23 are tentative, so I'll hold onto those secret plans a bit longer ;)
All in all, this was a wonderful year, and today was a great last day of being 22. And now? I can hardly wait to see what 23 has in store :)
Bring it on. :)
PS. I'm too lazy to get out my hard drive, so the only pictures I have are the ones other people have uploaded to facebook haha. But if you don't have facebook, I guess they'll still be new :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)