farewell summer

i realize its been fall for about a week now, but today really felt like it to me.

i love this little path that i walk down when i feel like taking the long way home.

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it was so beautiful in the summer, but i think it's improved with age.

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cash money throw down!

Four hundred and eleven dollar bills were thrown off of the Joseph F. Smith Building at BYU today at 12:30 PM. They were inside pink balloons, some of which also contained bubble gum or coupons for local restaurants. There were over eight hundred balloons. It was beautiful.

I got one dollar, four pieces of gum and two coupons.

(you can watch it here)

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in other news...

President Monson came and spoke at BYU this morning. Derek and I got somewhat decent seats too.

it was so good to sit there between stressful classes and listen to him put life in perspective, and realize that i don't need to get so worked up over schoolwork, and that there more important things in life.

and now, here I sit blogging when i should be stressing over this political analysis paper that i have to write on why states provide sensitive nuclear assistance.

yeah, about that...

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frog feet

check out these shoes that my friend was wearing at school today.

i was fascinated. i just couldn't stop looking at them. they're so weird! he said they're for running. supposedly they kind of hurt your feet at first, but then they're awesome and super comfy. i don't know... is it worth it? really?

i'd be interested in trying them on at least.

don't knock it till you try it, i suppose?

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graduate studies.

i talked to one of my arabic teachers today. she's from egypt, and i love her a lot. i was asking for advice on what to do with my life, you know, just small talk... and she had a brilliant idea. i was asking about what grad schools she would recommend for studying arabic.

see... originally i wanted to go to law school, but then i realized that that would giving up three years to study law. (aka, no arabic. at all). after all that i've put into learning this language, and all that i will put into it over the next little while, that's just not something i'm willing to do. plus, i would never be able to pay off law school, as i want to stay home with my babies. so, i've been thinking about just doing a masters program in arabic. i've been looking around on the world wide web over the last week or so, trying to figure out where to go and what to do.

my dear teacher informed me that BYU has an arabic masters program, something i did not even know. i hadn't found it cause it's actually a language acquisition program, with an emphasis in one of like seven languages (so basically a masters in teaching arabic). how awesome is that? i think i've finally found what i want to do (although i keep saying that...). but really, after attempting to learn italian, french, hebrew, spanish, arabic and farsi, i think i'm finally coming to know a little bit of what it takes to actually acquire a language.

this program focusses on linguistics as well, so i may need to take some classes in that area before i graduate. anyway, i'm very excited about this new idea of mine, and i've already made my interest known to the people in charge. i wonder if i'll spend my whole life doing this? i don't know that i'll ever settle on one thing. i don't think people should. maybe that's just me justifying indecision.

how to combat stress

i've figured it out. 

sign up for a belly dance class with your best friend,  

belly dance for an hour with 20 middle-aged women, 

go for ice cream,

then come home and listen to mostafa qamar's song 'hayati' ('my life').

sing along and practice all the moves you learned in class. 

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i promise it works. couldn't be happier. 

happy 9.9.09!

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a day to recover...

today was so nice. 

i had time to recharge and to recover from the stressful first week of school. i did the things that i love to do... i cleaned my house, did laundry, got (somewhat) caught up in studying, and made banana bread. i'm feeling very much more like myself than i did on saturday. i wish every monday was a holiday. 

it was oh so lovely. 

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day of rest...

(this is a long, potentially boring post. it's purpose: to inform friends, family and distant relations of my current situation, and to give reason for my seeming disappearance from the world.) 

i love sundays when i'm in school. by the time today (sunday) rolled around, i thought i might die of exhaustion. how blessed, this day of rest!

i honestly do not know how it is physically possible to do all that i'm expected to do this semester. it's only been a week and i feel like i'm in way over my head. 

here's what i've been up to:

ballet

yes, i'm 24, and yes, i bought a leotard, tights and pink ballet slippers last week. i have always wanted to be a ballerina. i was planning on auditing this class (meaning i get to take the class without having to take tests, do assignments, or even show up if i don't want to... but i also don't get credit, which i'm okay with since i probably have too much of it) but i recently learned that i won't be able to move onto the next level of ballet (and the next, and the next...) unless i take this class for real. that means i have to fully participate, and attend a ballet, and learn about a hundred french words. and since i plan on actually becoming a ballerina finally, i have to ensure that i can take the next class. 

political science

i've heard people call this class "Poli. Sci. 666" which frightens me. apparently it's hard. it's a writing class combined with political science and statistics. we write, and write, and write, and write, and analyze things. my first paper is due this wednesday, and there's one due every week after that. i think i've read more about grammar in the last week than i have in the rest of my life. it's going to nearly kill me, and i can't wait. i'm scared, but i've heard this class makes you a dang good writer. a writer that knows better than to say stuff like "dang good."

arabic 

the second year begins... this class takes a new approach to learning arabic. now they basically tell us that the responsibility to learn arabic rests on our shoulders. we don't have to turn anything in. ever. but we have at least two hours of homework to do each day. we're graded on the time we put in, and how effective it is (based on our speaking ability). it's completely up to us though. no one cares how many assignments i've done; all that matters is that when i get off the plane in cairo next summer, i'll be able to get myself an apartment... in arabic. (by the way, we were planning on a four-month study abroad to Amman, Jordan next summer, but they have gone and switched locations on us, and now it's Al-Qahira (cairo)! i can't wait. as far as personal interest, this class is by far the most important to me. i love it, and i love having an egyptian teacher this semester. 

middle eastern history (till 1800)

this class is taught by a man who speaks arabic, greek and latin. i love it, but there's a lot of reading. i was late in registering for it, and subsequently have an entire book to read before tuesday. history isn't my strong point, and i'm nervous about this class. i have a hard time retaining historical information when i read 100 pages of it in a day, and i'm not too keen on writing research papers, which this class also consists of. so, hopefully i'll at least find myself a good study group or something. 

farsi

also known as persian... farsi is spoken in iran, afghanistan, and tajikistan. i fell in love with persians (iranians) on my mission (namely koorosh, farnoosh, afsar, and soraya) and even begged my mission president (on my knees) to be able to learn farsi on my mission. he consented, and then i realized it would take more than a farsi book of mormon to learn it. but alas! i now have the resources! it's been a long time coming, but here i am. apparently byu offers 4 classes in farsi, and i plan on taking all of them. i wish i could just learn languages as a major. why must i learn history and politics? this class is amazing. it's taught by a persian married couple (mary and hooshang). they're probably in their 60s and they are hilarious. i seriously laugh through the whole class. oh, and they bring us snacks so we don't fall asleep. i love them. luckily, the alphabet is similar to arabic (there are four extra letters in farsi) but as far as vocabulary and language structure... completely different. farsi is indo-european, whereas arabic is semitic. interesting, isn't it?

writings of isaiah

i registered for this one late too, but i'm just auditing it, so i'm really not behind. it's taught by ann madsen, and she is a brilliant woman. i'm so excited about this class and can't wait to get back into the old testament. it's been a while (since jerusalem) since i've really gotten into it, and i miss it. 

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besides byu classes, i'm also taking a "middle eastern dance" class (think belly dance) through the covey arts center here in provo. my friend from the jerusalem center (stephanie) is taking it with me, and i am so excited! i'm mainly looking forward to the recital which will be held on november 4th. it should be very funny. i'm also an officer in the middle eastern studies and arabic club here at byu. i'm excited about that too. we get to plan awesome functions, such as hosting The Honorable Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordanian Ambassador to the United States next wednesday. he's giving a lecture on campus about US-Jordanian diplomatic relations. should be good. i'm also hoping to become an arabic tutor through this club, and getting a more advanced student to be my tutor. give a little, get a little, right?

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well, that's the update on my life as of now. it's insane. i have had a couple days where i honestly had no time to eat lunch or dinner... i've learned now to have like four granola bars, apples and oranges in my bag at all times.

my main goal this semester? find the truth in the statement, "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." it'll be a long semester. w'al-hamdalallah! 

i'll see you all at christmas.

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