rise and shout

images found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

We watched the BYU game last night. I'm not a BYU football fan (Go COCKS!) but I do like to cheer them on and see them win. It is my alma mater, after all. Seeing the shots of Provo on TV sent me on a Google search through time and memories that made me trunky for that quirky, beautiful place that I called home for four years. I learned so much there.

six - the difficult things

images found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

(just a few of my favorite buildings on campus. two of the library because it is just that amazing. don't believe me? just check out this mural on the fourth floor.)

BYU was difficult, not academically, but because it was so far away from home. 2,101 miles away to be exact. One of the more difficult things I've done was deciding to go to school here. I wasn't thrilled with the distance or the stigma of what I thought going to school there would be like, and for my entire youth abhorred the idea of attending school there. I guess you could say I had some trouble realizing that this really was the place for me to go. But I figured it out, and it was the greatest decision ever. 

6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced? | thirty things

to speak to the past

Dear Alyssa,

You just turned sixteen, and can finally go on dates with your boyfriend, but you can't see the situation - and the fact that you won't ever actually go out anywhere with him - and really, this never was a good idea. You will meet your husband at BYU; you know, that school that you never wanted to go to? (yeah, you'll end up there). 

BYU will be a wonderful experience, even though you think right now that it's the most ridiculous place in the world. You will make the most amazing lifelong friends there who you can always count on, and who will remain just as amazing after you all go your separate ways. You'll also meet a teacher in your major (which will be English, by the way) who will change your life. 

Don't worry about the silly high school things that are happening right now. None of it really matters in the long run. Keep working hard in school (but nobody really needs to remind you to do that). Several of your good friends will carry through to your adult life, and they are great. Don't worry about what will happen next in your life because everything is going to work out exactly as it's supposed to. And you'll love it.

Love,

Alyssa

4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could. | thirty things

I can talk with my hands.

          A few weeks ago I drove to Spartanburg for a language skills test. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back a few years. Back in my college days at BYU, I had just completed a semester of Spanish, and hated every minute of it. I found myself on the hunt for a new foreign language to fulfill a requirement for my major. I was an English major for a reason. I wanted to read amazing books and write about them, not learn a foreign language. At this same time, my amazing friend and roommate Amber had just finished ASL 101 and highly recommended it. Willing to try anything that sounded interesting that also met the academic requirement, I signed up. Best. Decision. Ever. For some reason, ASL just made sense to me. I caught on quickly and retained everything. I dove in head first going to ASL Club, attending the local ASL  branch of my church, and spent time hanging out with Deaf people. Soon, I found myself in love with a language, a culture, and a people. Two and a half years of classes and some invaluable interpreting experience, I was set.

          Fast forward to now. I found an interpreting program that I want to do that will prepare me to become a licensed ASL interpreter. It's my dream career. I love it. I applied to the school and the program, and drove to Spartanburg to do my language skills interview test. The results of which will determine if I get accepted into the interpreting program. I should get said results in a few weeks. And if I get in, I'll be off and running in the Fall.

wheels

Yesterday I got a new (read: new to me) adorable little dark blue Honda CR-V. The couple we bought it from had every single piece of paperwork from every service the car has ever had. Extremely thorough. And a midst the stack of paperwork was a newspaper clipping from an article by Click & Clack, so it was a win in my book. Knowing who Click and Clack are and telling me you love them is one way to become instant friends with me. Really. They're the best.

My acquisition of this new car meant that I had to clean out my truck so my little brother can learn to drive on it. The thought of my baby brother behind the wheel  (panic.) and out on the roads (trying to breathe.) was more heart stopping than anything I found behind the seats of the truck. But among the more interesting finds were several cardigans that I had long ago written off as lost forever, three pairs of shoes, a wireless internet router, and a Playboy umbrella. I remember that umbrella from my days living at the Plaza, and someone (Liz, maybe?) had that umbrella, but how it ended up in my truck, I'm not sure. Roommates, if you have any inclination to why we thought the best place to store that umbrella was my truck, please tell.

one day at innisfree / one day that's mine there

My notes from class: "Innisfree. Find it. Go there."

I once had a professor tell me that everybody needs their own Innisfree, whether it be a physical space you go to, or just a state of mind you can visit. Everybody needs that place Yeats describes where you can escape to and find peace. It's essential to life. Essential for the soul. And if you can hum that post title, don't bother searching too much more; you're probably already there.

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, 
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; 
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, 
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

::

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

::

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree | W.B. Yeats

the food.

Curse craving food that only exists in Provo.

Cafe Rio.

J-Dawgs.

Slab Pizza.

In-N-Out.

Communal.

If anyone out there wants to buy me something, put it in an ice-packed cooler and overnight it to me, it'd be greatly appreciated. Mean it. Really.