So I'm now a world traveler.. I've been to TWO foreign countries. Like a Boss! I flew out of Denver at 5:15 pm mountatin time and landed in Reykjavik at 6:45 Icelandic time. I got through customs/whatnot and took a bus to Reykjavik. I walked up the hill to Hallgrimskr but it was still closed. So I walked along the street to the Harbour, found random statues and just meandered my way around. Then i went back to the church, explored a little and went to the top and took some beautiful panoramic pictures.
view from the bus on the way to Reykjavik.
Krona! Icelandic Money.
a Very neat row of houses
On the plane ride over, there were a bunch of these things.. My favorite was when the last one said, and over half the country believes in fairies.
Hallgrimskr and Leifur Erikkson
View of the Harbor from a cool statues
Look! Harry potter in Icelandic!!!!! BAM.
ceiling of the church. Those are gothic arches.
View of Iceland from the bell tower
My delicious meal of homemade ryebread, some buttery spread, smoked trout and cottage cheese. mmm.. yummy!
Things I learned in Iceland
1. I can't do math WHATSOEVER.
2. I need to convert my money to USD (like with a converter app) BEFORE I withdraw from the atm... Oops.
3. Reykjavik is quite small, but pretty. All of the buildings are old, but not in a well-reserved old, but in a rusting stained, falling apart sort of way.
4. It smells like salt water and smoke fish.
5. I am super awkward talking to foreigners and I'm pretty sure they all laughed at me.
6. People in Reykjavik use old fashioned perambulators (baby carriages) to push their babies in. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture, but it was quite cute.
7. Even if the houses are rusting, the backwards are like fairy gardens. I felt like a super creep taking pictures of people's backyards, so I refrained, but they were quite pretty.
So today was Easter. It is such a beautiful time of year. It warm and sunshiney and lovely outside. The trees are in blossom, with lots of flowers, and most things smell wonderful. I love springtime. Everything is coming back to life, bursting forth new shoots and buds, even my allergies, unfortunately. As of writing this post, I've sneezed approximately 10 times, despite haven taken 2 benadryl at least half an hour ago. Okay, make that 12.
We celebrated Easter by having a dinner with a bunch of people from our ward. It was lovely, despite things not working out quite as planned, just fyi, half and half is NOT a good replacement for heavy whipping cream.
Us and our beautiful food!
We made ham, and I made potato salad for the first time all by myself. It.. was an adventure.
Our beautiful eggs that we dyed. The glitter one is mine :)
But despite all the food, the eggs, the candy, the fun and the friends, that really isn't the most important part about Easter. Easter is a time where we can reflect on the wonderful and amazing gift of the atonement that Jesus Christ made for us. While Christmas is awesome, and you get to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, I feel that Easter is even more important, in that we remember that he suffered and died for us, in order that we might be saved, and live with our families, and our Father in Heaven again. Because of the atonement, I have the ability to repent, to become a better person, and to be comforted in times of need. I know that Jesus Christ has suffered and gone through every pain I've ever felt. When I sin, he's felt that pain, and that guilt, and the sorrow. He knows my struggles when I've gone through a hard week at school, when I've failed a test, when my friend says something unkind, or when a boy doesn't like me. Even if no one else knows how I'm feeling, he does, and he can comfort me, and help me to get through it. When life gets so hard, and all I want to do is give up, He is there for me.
One of my favorite quotes on the atonement, (really applying to women) is by Sister Okazaki. I heard it in Relief Society this year, and it quickly became one of my favorites. It's kinda long, but it's great.
"We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don’t experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means he knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism. Let me go further. There is nothing you have experienced as a woman that he does not know and recognize. On a profound level, he understands the hunger to hold your baby that sustains you through pregnancy.
He understands both the physical pain of giving birth and the immense joy. He knows about PMS and cramps and menopause. He understands about rape and infertility and abortion. He understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down’s Syndrome. He knows your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year-old. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only visitors are children, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. He’s been there.
He’s been lower than all that.
He’s not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don’t need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He’s not embarrassed by us, angry at us , or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief.
You know that people who live above a certain latitude experience very long winter nights and can become depressed and even suicidal, because something in our bodies requires whole spectrum light for a certain number of hours a day.
Our spiritual requirement for light is just as desperate and as deep as our physical need for light. Jesus is the light of the world. We know that this world is a dark place sometimes, but we need not walk in darkness. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and the people who walk in darkness can have a bright companion. We need him, and He is ready to come to us, if we’ll open the door and let him. "
I love this quote. It is such a beautiful way to describe the atonement, and our need for it. It also reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Mormon, Alma 7:11-12 "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." That scripture is a great source of comfort to me, especially when I'm struggling and having a hard time. I read this, and it gives me strength that my Elder Brother is watching out for me, and he's not going to make me do it alone, if i can't, and if I ask for help.
My uncle passed away two weeks ago, and the second verse, verse 12, is a testament to me, that even though he's not with us on this earth right now, we will see him again, and he's up there watching down on us. I know that through the plan of Salvation, we can be reunited with our loved ones after we die.
We watched a video today in church with one of my favorite songs, "Come thou Fount" to some of my favorite pictures of the Savior, from the book Reflections of Christ. It's a beautiful video, and I encourage watching it.
SO... no big deal, but I'M GOING TO LIVE IN LONDON THIS SUMMER!!!!!That's right. I'm going to live in London on a study abroad from June 23rd to August 11th and I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So even though I should most definitely be doing things like, writing my speech, studying for my anatomy and o-chem midterms this week, or doing laundry... I'm dreaming about London. I wish I was there RIGHT NOW. But alas. I am doing homework and studying my brains out. I've been dreaming of going to England since I don't even know, I knew it existed?
I am so excited for this new chapter in my life. And it keeps me going when I want to throw in the towel and fail all of my classes. Failing isn't really a good idea haha. I can't wait to make new friends, tour HARRY POTTER, go to Edinburgh, PARIS, see amazing things, gain a British accent, oh, and fall in love with an attractive British who wants to marry me and move to the United States. NBD. It's gonna happen.
OH BTW... this is where I'm going to be living.. I'm in heaven a little bit right now.....
I feel like its customary for everyone who has a blog is to write a post at the end of the year/ beginning of the new one about what happened the year before. So I'm kinda jumping on the bandwagon there buy at the same time it's neat to see how far I've come in the last year. This time last year I had just switched my education goals and plan from a history/ social science oriented field to an end goal of pharmacy. This meant science classes for the first time since high school. It was a HARD semester. But I learned a lot. At that point I was still worried that I was making the right choice and was worried about whether I'd even like pharmacy. But I had faith and hope and I persevered. I finished and did fairly well considering.
Then came summer. I got my first real job with a paycheck and taxes and a cool badge that unlocks doors. I started working as a pharmacy research assistant. I was opened up to the world of pharmacy and discovered that I really did enjoy it and found it extremely interesting. It made me excited for the future. In may one of my best friends left on his mission. He had been one of the constants in my life between school and home. It was hard, but with lots of letters we still have fun.
I also met a boy in the singles ward. We started going on dates and having lots of fun together. Summer was great. I lived with my aunt during the week and played all weekend.
Then the week before school started we culminated the summer with four of us road tripping it up to Disneyland it was a crazy fun trip and it was a wonderful end to the summer.
School started and I took some doozys. Organic and inorganic chemistry plus pd bio and five dance classes. I had a blast, which was helped by one of my good friends being in two of my classes. Summer boy and I kept in contact although we decided to not officially date. He came out and visited over conference weekend and the feelings were still there but we didn't really address it.
I had tons of fun with my roommates especially Susan.
Thanksgiving came and I got to go home!!! :) my moms entire family came and it was a glorious couple days full of family, fun, and food. Summer boy and I decided we did want to get back together and decided to try the long distance thing. Everything got more serious kinda quickly and expectations started to rise. I finished out the semester with Christmas around the world - a dance performance and finals which I did pretty well in. I came home and had a wonderful two weeks. Everything was great, summer boy and I became official and christmas was wonderful an happy. :)
Then I came back to school and summer boy skyped to say it was over. I was surprised but nevertheless have decided to learn from these events for "these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good"
Lots of things happened to me. I learned things about what I enjoy doing and learning, and that I don't mind getting through less fun stuff to get to my end goal. Also that disappointment is hard, but it will make me stronger. Additionally, that I will find someone who is perfect for me in every way, tho it may be hard and take a while and I'm sure he wont be perfect. I have faith that there's a guy out there who will love me and who will be absolute wonderful. Not perfect but perhaps better for me.
I'm looking forward to this year with optimism and gladness. I will make 2012 an amazing year. Some things I'm looking forward to this year:
living with one of my really good friends.
Staying at BYU for spring term.
Going to London (hopefully!!!!! My application is in!!!)
Passing all of my classes and doing well in them.
Increasing my spirituality.
Losing weight and becoming stronger. It's gonna happen- I'm in gymnastics haha
Or it would be if it decided to work. I never realized how much I use my camera and want to use my camera until it broke and I couldn't use it anymore.... It is quite distressing... That's what you get for buying a 100$ camera though. It got me through two years of college. And now it is crippled. It has bandaids of rubberbands holding the batteries in, and its stuck in video mode. Distressing? I'd say so... But this beauty is what I have my eyes on now... It's so pretty. And doesn't suck. Which is mostly want I want. Sigh. In my dreams. Or Christmas... ;) I just want to be able to document my life, in a very nice DSLR kind of way.
As sucky as my last post was... life went on, got better, got worse, and mostly, got SUPER BUSY.
I'm taking 9 classes this semester. NINE. Five of them are dance classes. Lets just say I have beastly thighs. I am also taking Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, PDBio 120, and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It has been a wonderful semester. I went on a trip to Idaho this past weekend, my good friend got back from his mission, I was in the BYU homecoming parade and lots of other crazy things. Life has mostly been good. I've replanned my life again. And now, I'm hoping to go to London. So summary? Life is going.. and I'm gonna see where it takes me and try to have a good attitude about everything, the good and bad alike.
It feels like CRAP!!! I've pretty much been looking forward to going to Jerusalem for I don't know, at least three years. I finally have the money, I fill out the application and I get everything turned in, and I got the rejection letter today. I didn't even make the waiting list. I have been convinced that I was gonna go to Jerusalem, and now to be so close and not make it.. ugh... It's just hard. I know everything will be fine, everything happens for a reason, but that's hard to remember when all you want to do is throw something at the wall and cry into your pillow. DANG IT. Instead I'll just rant/cry about it on the internet... Much better use of my feelings I'd say... :P Or wallow into some ice cream... The excitement I had when I saw the letter in the mailbox, I was convinced I was getting in, I was just looking for the "Congratulations..." But no.. I got the "Unfortunately". That is a mean little word, unfortunately. Staring at you, haunting you, ruining your wonderful mood.. Throwing you into an awful spiral of sadness and depression and angst. But who knows, this may be for the better. It means I don't have to take O-Chem during the summer... That's good, right? lol... Well, I'm not giving up without a fight.. I'll just reapply in October, and everything will work out... I'm hoping anyways.
