It's crunch time.

This point in the semester is realllly busy. I will be so happy when school calms down. As long as I get through December 8th, I will consider it a good thing! So today through Wednesday, school and work; Thanksgiving thursday. Can you believe it's already Thanksgiving??? I simply cannot. This whole year has just flown by!

So yay for school and two jobs! It's busy, it's my life, but I cannot complain--
Yesterday, I was really frustrated, and had a little bit of a breakdown. My mom was quick to remind me that, while there may be some craziness going down at our house right now {the few who read this, I'm sure I've talked to about it}, but we always have things to be thankful for.

I've always kinda thought that 'thankful lists' that people put up on their blogs are kinda strange sometimes, but this year, I decided I wanted to write a few things. I always do an entry like this in my journal, but I wanted to outwardly express some things too.

I am thankful for:

• my family. I may grumble sometimes because of petty annoyances and such, but in the end, your family has your back. I'm excited to see my extended fam in Price in a couple days too.
• my friends. I may not have the most rockin social life, but you know what? I'm fine with that :) I am so grateful for my close friends and the bonds we have.
• my education. There's no question about it. I am glad that I get to learn and have the opportunities that I do with school.
• a job and another job. When I got back from Spain, it took me forever and a freaking day to find a job, but I finally did. Then I found another one, and that was a big blessing in my life.
• the ability to work. I've learned in the past little while that hard work does pay off; and on the flip side of it, do all that you can, the best you can, and things will work out.
• the knowledge that everything happens for a reason. I honestly believe that.
• the blessings of the gospel. I have also learned in the past little while, that as long as I am doing my best, trying to help everything along, and pray for the rest, that things will be fine. I'm the type of person that wants to able to control close to every aspect of my life, but...life doesn't work like that. I had a profound moment last week, where I was sitting at a performance for some kids that I get to work with at one of my jobs, and I got a call about a job starting in January that they wanted me to interview for and also an email for another job. I felt content at that moment in time--everything is gonna be alright.
• being happy. Simple as that :)

The list will go on and on.

What are you guys thankful for??

xoxo

ash

some fun stuff.

Lately, there have been some fun things going on in my life.

I finally got a job! Working with an afterschool 4-H club. I'm pretty excited about that!

I got a new car! 2002 Mazda 626 and I freaking love to drive it! ahh.

Last night, John Allred (LOVE) and John Lefler (also Love) played Davis High to benefit Operation Smile. Close and cheap?? You betcha I was there! It was so much fun. Allred had some new stuff that he played and I love it. His song, "Your Hand in Mine" has been stuck on repeat on my iPod. Check it out!

Ingrid Michaelson is coming on Tuesday!!!!! Me and my roommates from freshman year are going. I can already tell that it is going to be so so so much fun! I love fall concerts!

What fun things have you guys been up to??

xoxox
ash

I love this song.

"I want a snowfall kinda love, 'cause I'm a snowfall kinda girl"
--Ingrid Michaelson

That's me, the hopeless romantic.

oh hey.

Hello...

I haven't had internet consistently for awhile, and I have to say, it's nice. I haven't had the urge to be on facebook seeing the same old, same old all.the.time.

Lite Brite was this past weekend. I did have a ton of fun! It was good to see people I haven't seen in like four months, and I just have to say, it is crazy to look back and see the changes that have came about since I left CEU.

I've been learning who my true friends are. That can be a rough lesson sometimes.
Hmmm what else--I'm still plugging along, looking for a job (it's frustrating!), and focusing on school. I'm grateful for guidance from the Lord as I have been deciding what to do.

Life's been really fun the past little while. I've enjoyed meeting new people.
oh, and I need a different car.

But that's about it.

xoxox
ash

PS, can I just say that I am so excited that fall shoe weather is coming???? That is the ONLY thing (seriously, no lie) I like about this time of year. I hate that it just gets bitterly cold from here on out. Dear grad school in 2012, get me out of COLD UT.

what I've been up to.

A whole lot of random stuff!!
In the past little while {no particular order}:
(I don't care if the tenses match up in these bullet points. ha)

• went to Cherry Hill for Labor Day
• went to my family friend's baby shower and it was so fun to see her all excited. They've been trying to have a baby for quite some time. Congrats!
• watching my little sibs play soccer.
• been going to church in my home ward and surprisingly, it's going well.
• Applied at lots of places and still looking for a job.
• have had my general perspective on life change in a good way.
• seen things in a whole lot more positive way.
• met great new people.
• looked for apartments in SLC.
• went to the dentist and had no cavities when I thought I had one! and he told me I have "doggone great teeth" and that I am "a great result of orthodontia!" I thought those were good compliments. I try to take really good care of my teeth. My inner nerd is showing hahah. That's a good thing.
• I have kept up with homework. That's AWESOME!
• had some excellent phone conversations with my cousin and aunt in NM that really helped me out.
• went to a foam dance party up at Weber State with Chandra. Had a lot of fun.
• the same night, we went to Denny's and this guy dropped a dollar by my table and it had his number on it. Well, I've been trying to get out of my comfort zone, so I called him. I'm going on a date with him Saturday. We'll see how it goes. It's all about the experience, right? Right.
• This week, I have two tests and a huge essay due. and a job interview, which I am sooo excited about! Just wait and see. All on Thursday. And Thursday is usually my fave day of the week.
• Friday will make up for the tests and papers however, because IT IS REDFEST!!
• I've been finding and listening to way good music. Check out "When the leaves" by ingrid michaelson. Only don't listen to it if you don't like sappy.
• I'm learning how to analyze conversation and break it down. Linguistics strives to get at the human mind/thought through language and I love it! That is so cool. I use it in everyday conversation. It's fun to see how applicable the stuff I am learning is to real life.
• went to the amazing fireside Richard G. Scott gave with Amber. The fireside was soo great and it's been good for me to spend time with Amber too. It's nice to know I have a friend nearby that always has my back.

All-in-all, I feel fantastic! I feel that I am on the right track and am doing the things I am supposed to be doing. I'm grateful for all of the people that bless my life continually, my amazing opportunity to gain an excellent education, and the stage of life I am in and the experiences I have. I feel like I'm close to being on the top of the world! (cliche!! but I can't think of a better way to put it :) I hope you all have a wonderful week.

xoxox

ash

school.school.school.

The first week of school was great! It was pretty interesting being a transfer kid, not knowing where anything was/how everything worked, when transitioning to a HUGE campus! Wow. The U eats CEU for breakfast! (don't worry, I still love the good ole eagles!) I know where a lot more things are, this second week in, but I am still figuring out the uta and campus shuttle systems. It's proving difficult! haha. That's ok though, because I am in this for all the adventures. My classes are good for the most part; I do have one professor that puts me to sleep just by talking. You know those education documentaries they make you watch in high school because they have nothing better to do? (I'm sure you know what I am talking about) Welp, she sounds just like those people. and man, she is a weird duck! Very philosophical. which is great, but it's like she has no connection to humanity/reality. It's like she's stuck in her own world ALL the time thinking and philosophizing (yep, I just said that). Oh well, to each their own. i just hope I can stay awake well enough to take notes, The whole class is based on three essays. Yesssss! I love the linguistics classes, especially Language and Culture. It's fantastic! Spanish is always good--my teacher reminds me of being back in Oviedo in Pablo's class {I miss that}. Italian is meh...I thought I would like it more. I love that the teacher talks all in Italian to us, but it would def help if I had a clue what she was saying! ha.

As far as extra stuff, I have tried to attend a lot of activities. I went to an institute carnival and had lots of fun and there were wayy cute boys--there were so many people to meet. I joined an LDS sorority (the title sounds cliche to me, but I roll with it) and have been doing fun stuff with them. I went to Crimson nights (one, but they make it plural), my friend Angela that goes to Weber went with me (I was so happy she wanted to go, I am still meeting people that go to the U, but wanted a closer friend to go with) and it was super fun! It was from 9pm-2am. They had tons of activities you could do--dancing, carnival rides and games, get a massage, palm and tarot card readers, food, music, a PHOTOBOOTH! for goofy pics, a few crafts, etc. I had a blast. I'm lame and live at home and still have a curfew, but my dad said I could leave the U at 1 am instead of having to be home by 12, so I thought this was a fair trade. They started to run out of stuff around 1:15, and we talked to a bunch of people we knew and ran into from high school, then we headed home around 1:30. It was a really fun night. I don't have any pics.

Speaking of living at home, it has been kinda hard. I highly value my independence I had for the last two years at ceu. These days, I don't feel very connected to my family. It would be convenient to be on my own and also closer. I love Salt Lake! Just cool vibes. I want to move out and move to slc (I've even been looking and found a decent apt), but ya know what would help with that?? Oh yeah--a JOB! I really need to get some calls. I have applied at numerous places and no one has called me for an interview. They all have also said that you get notified if they don't want you for an interview, and I haven't gotten any of those either. I guess I'm sort of in limbo mode right now, and that sucks because there are things I need/want to pay for and can't. I'm hoping I can get hired on somewhere fast!

On Monday, I went to John Mayer at USANA! First time going there and it was fantastic!! He is a crazo for sure, drunk and high at the same time, but he is an amazing musician live. Love him more that way than on an album! IF you get a chance, go see him!!! and Kalai is coming to Crimson Rally in mid sept. I get to see one of my all-time fave singers live and for free!!! It's a win-win; can't beat it!

Have a good, safe long weekend everyone!
xoxox
ash

better.

This week hasn't been the best {last post}. But it has gotten better. Wednesday was Eric's viewing and the Oviedo crew had a celebration of his life--aka PARTYYY. Pretty much everyone, minus one or two people showed up at some point during the course of the night. He would have been proud. It was good to see everyone. We printed off two big pictures that we really liked of him, signed one and the other was just plain. I am sending those along with a card that we signed as well to his family on Monday. His funeral was Thursday and it was really well done. Man, it's sad to know that he's not in DC right now, when he was so excited to be able to go. Although, he's in a better place now, with the Lord. Thoughts and prayers are with the Wright family.

Ok, good to get that out of my system.
Nothing else deserves to go in this post.

xoxo
Ash

erfja;lkfjsk'ejaipjgfqei'rjgipewgjuipohjgpoq4wegtu

is how I feel right now.

It goes from being a fa-nnnnn-tastic first week of school {which I will write more about when I am in a better mood} to a crappy one.

I make it a point to stay positive in all that I say and do (including journals/blogs), but I need to say some things. I'm not usually negative.

A friend from the study abroad program I went on this last summer passed away. Although, I didn't know him that well, he was a great friend in the time I did get to spend with him, and he was funnier than ANYTHING. Not kidding. He was in Washington DC for an intership (when it happened), and he had talked about going all summer, He was so excited about going, and boom, one week into it, he's gone. Makes you realize how precious life is. It was definitely a wake up call for me--don't take the little things in life for granted and be careful in all that you do. That makes no sense, but hopefully the few that read this will just get it.

This is a sucky, sucky feeling. Thanks to my parents and all my friends for helping me out. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Ash

i'm a ute now.

MONDAY--

SCHOOL STARTS! Wootie!

To tell you the truth, I kinda can't wait :) I feel really good about where I am at right now with my education and pleased at that because of the weeks, maybe even months of worrying, constantly thinking about what I should do. For now, I am taking the entrance classes in the Linguistics program (I've probably already said that), because they sound fascinating and there are a lot of career options as well as it being a good program for teaching me the skills for getting into law school. I'm pretty excited. I am sad to be leaving CEU though-I will miss my friends and fun times there. Change is good.

My schedule:

Italian 1010 (the goal is to be fluent in Spanish, but I want to learn Italian too)

Intro. Study of Language (this is the class that is the only pre-req, and I'm also taking like 2 of 4 classes that I don't have to take this class first for).

Language and Culture (a lot of international comparison stuff with this class)

Language and Cognition (philosophy type stuff)

and finally--Spanish intermediate conversation and reading. This class is gonna be waaayy hard, but I'm stoked for it! Plus, a lot of my Oviedo buds are in it too, so that will be a fun reunion!

I'm also taking an institute class. I really need to actually go this semester haha.

Wishlist (afraid it's going to have to wait until I find a job! That's okay though) :

What's back to school without new school clothes/shoes??

I really want both these pairs of boots. As well as a few jackets, cute pieces of jewelry, a watch and some headbands!


and how about an iTunes gift card? I have scored in the new music finding department lately. I would be one happy camper with some iTunes moolah!

Is anyone with me in the loving new school supplies department? I've always been crazy about notebooks/pens/other school supplies/etc. all year round, but back-to-school time is the best. Case in point: My mom and I were in Walmart the other day stocking up on crayons and markers for my bro and sis and I said something to the effect of loving school stuff and she said, "I'm so glad I don't have to buy you new notebooks and stuff this year." {this is the third year of that, don't worry}

I just bought a freaking cute backpack and am on the hunt for a sweet planner :)

Hooray! I love this time of year. Not to mention my brain really needs to be used in a scholarly way. What am I gonna do when I have no more school?? {not for at least two years, so I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it}

In the words of Billy Madison: "T-t-t-t-to-day, Junior!" {just because I'm a jr. this year. ha.}
Oh and ps, I will be watching that movie this weekend.
Good luck to everybody with back to school.

xoxoxo
ash

funny story

Tonight we were sitting at dinner and I mentioned that a roommate of mine from last semester and her boyfriend had recently gotten engaged {she knows the boy's mom from her hometown, that's how she related to this all} and naturally conversation headed towards engagements and such. My little brother started to ask her about how her my dad proposed to her and he (my brother) asked her if he (my dad) did it while they were fishing, because of of his friend's dads popped the question with the ring on the line instead of bait. My mom told him to ask my dad how he asked her. Then the conversation went like this: (I do this so I don't have to bother with quotation marks)

Ash: Bryce, were you and your friends talking about how your friends' parents got engaged, is that how you know about that fishing story?
Bryce: Yep
A: And you didn't know the story of how mom and dad got engaged, so you couldn't participate?
B: Uh-huh.
A: So just make something up, make it an interesting story.
B: K, I got it! I will say they were at Disneyland and they were on the Tower of Terror, and dad dropped the ring into mom's lap!

I just have to say that this was quite a hilarious remark! Me and my mom had a good laugh over it. It may be something that you had to be there to think was really funny, but it goes to show that kids really do say the darndest things and have great imaginations. Let's go back to having kids' imaginations for a minute! What fun things do you guys remember thinking up when you were kids? The more far-fetched and out there, the better!

xoxoxo
ash

P.S. Yellowstone post and pics will be here shortly, just have to get the pics off the camera and my dad's Blackberry :)

send me your emails.

I'm going private with my blog sooner than later. If you want to be added to the list, send me your email in a comment or via email. ashlie.nacey@live.com
Really, I'd be happy to add you, even if you want to keep up and we don't talk that much, by all means, give me your address. :)

xoxo
ash

quick update.

I am headed to Yellowstone today. It should be a fun little trip. My mom came up with the 14 days of fun, because when it started, there was 14 days left til school starts for Bryce (10) and Maddie (6) and me as well :) Every day since then, we have done something fun, like swimming in our family friends' pool that they invited us to have to ourselves for the night, a hot dog roast, and other fun activities. My mom has a long weekend with time off work, so that's what we decided to do, is take a roadtrip! The last time we went to Yellowstone {in 1998, a freaking long time ago}, my dad left my suitcase that my mom was going to check and make sure everything was there, so when we got there, I had no clothes! We had to go get a few things at Kmart the next day! It was pretty comical! We'll see what adventures await us this time.

Also, I believe that things are starting to fall into place for me regarding school and such. I'll update more on that when I have more info after I get back from our mini vacay!

xoxoxo
ash

new url of my blog.

I decided I didn't like my whole name being the url of this blog for the whole world wide web {creepers included}, so I changed it to

ashnaceface.blogspot.com

feeling good.

Hey everybody!

Things that have been going down as of late!

I think I have decided what classes to take this semester. {what a relief} Fot those of you I have talked to about my struggles in this area, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. a lot.

With that out of the way, I am excited for school to start, and I am going to take it one day at a time. That's all I can do for now.

Still no job, however. Hopefully that will be resolved shortly. I have some interviews coming up! Yippeeee. :)

I have been babysitting all week. Lagoon today with my bestie! I'm pretty excited.

xoxox
ash

I am seeing what font color.
I like.
the best
for my new
blog design

xoxox
ash

thoughts.

I can't believe that summer's almost over, so I am telling myself that it's not! I live for summer. But in looking towards fall, there are a lot of things that I find myself needing to do. I seriously need to get my butt in gear!
I need to:
-register for classes! I know, I know, it's ridiculous that I haven't.
-oh yeah, pick a major that I like and can stick with. That might help with the first bullet in this list. Comm is lame, I don't want to do it. Meeting with the advisors of the basic university college {for undecided people}, linguistics department and people from SJ Quinney on Monday. Can't wait. I just want a plan that's something that intrigues and interests me and will get me where I want to go. Sounds easy enough, right?
-clean my freaking room! Ever notice that it's easier to concentrate on stuff and do better in life in general when your space isn't cluttered? Definitely feeling that right now!
-get a job. I really need one. I thought I would like not having one for a bit, but I was wrong. I need something to keep me busy. I hope the places I've applied to will start calling.
-earn money to move out for spring semester and travels next summer.
-lose weight. I lost almost nine pounds when I was in Europe, but alas, I have gained it back. Oh how I wish we lived in a place that I could walk everywhere. Maybe in the future. Hello weight watchers and the gym.
hahah there are other things that I can add to this list later.
in recent news, I went to Lagoon with my uncle and cousins this week! It was soooo fun, more than I thought it would. I hadn't been in three years. I ran into two friends, one that I hadn't seen since 2008 and now he is back from a mission and one of my way good friends from high school. It was way good to see both of them :)
I've been to Price too, it's always fun to see my family. I am going to miss going back to CEU in the fall, but I am also waaayyy excited to see what adventures await me at the U. I'm headed back to Price this coming weekend for International Days, and I am excited! It's a really fun fest.
I have some drama rama going on too. not for me, but with some family members. Hopefully it will blow over or get resolved. whatever, i'm done.
Besides all the drama, life really is good.

xoxox
ash

End of Oviedo; Southern Spain, Paris and London

The end of my Europe trip was freaking amazing! I loved it. Barcelona {My last post} happened on week three of five. The last two weeks of the program were fantastic! My Spanish got way good and it made me wonder why the freak I just didn't save for longer and do a full sememster. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe, just maybe in the future, I will be able to go back. I heart Oviedo. It's a great place. I didn't want to leave, and Rosa (host mom) didn't want me to leave either. She said I could come visit whenever though :) That's a plus.



Just a quick recap on what I did after, since the deets are written in my journal. We left to Madrid (five hours by bus) and then got on another bus to Grenada (another five hours by bus) {oh, and just for the record, I have freakingggg bad luck with buses.} Grenada was a blast, probably my favorite part of Spain, besides Oviedo and Llanes. While the other yahoos watched freaking soccer that wasn't Spain or the US, (I loved watching the World Cup and all, don't get me wrong, but really only when the above teams were playing) Jessi and I went to explore the gypsy corner. Definitely not what I was expecting, but it was soooo fun to see all the stuff. On the way back, we stopped at this sweet store and bought....drumroll....GYPSY PANTS! Everyone there wore them so we had to find some, and they are awesome! haha. Let's see--next stop was Cordoba, which entailed more bad luck with buses haha. Cordoba was my least favorite place of all. We had this disgusting and hot hostel room and there were six of us (Jessi, me, Rachel, Michelle, Michael and Harrison). Jessi and I wanted to go exploring while the other four slept. Reallly? who does that? Goes to Spain to sleep. Lame! There wasn't much to explore there and the next day we were leaving anyway. We got up the next morning, visited this huge Moorish mosque thing; that was one of the good things about being in the South, is the Christian/Muslim history was very noticiable and made me remember. Then we headed out to Sevilla. We were in Sevilla for five or so days, and let me tell you, IT WAS HOT!!! We would come back in the middle of the day for siesta because it was just too hot to be out. On at least two of the days, it hit 44 degrees celcius (sp?) which translates to 110 degrees farenheit, no lie! Insane! Plus the streets stunk haha. heat plus reeking whatever equals no bueno! Good thing our hostel was nice because we spent time there in the afternoons. I got to see a flamenco show in Sevilla, that was really cool, we also went to this bar that had soooo many beers from all over the world. I don't like bars, but that's the culture there--that's where they spend their time. It was cool to see that one bar though. Well, then Rachel, Michelle, Michael and Harrison left and the next day, Jessi, Grayson and I went to the airport in Sevilla. They were leaving for Barcelona and I was going to Paris to meet up with my mom!



It was interesting because on the plane to Paris, the lady in the seat next to me was like, "It's not often that you sit by someone in these parts of the world with an American passport." So I chatted with her for the rest of the flight, and I found out that she lived within a few blocks of the hotel I was staying at and she said that she would show me the way. How cool is that? Not that I was worried, but I was concerned, because I don't speak any French at all, so I didn't really know how I was going to get around on public transit and didn't want to pay for a cab because I didn't fly in to centrally located Charles De Gaulle, I flew into an airport that was out of the way. The lady wrote down a list of all the not-so-touristy things I should do while in Paris, and I was so excited! I'm one for those types of things, the off-the-beaten-path stuff.



The next day, my mom got in and we went to the Louvre. Pretty cool stuff there! We had six days in Paris and had a lot of fun. My favorite things we did: going to the top of the Eifell (I know I didn't spell that right) tower (we took the stairs this time, last time I went, we elevatored! Quite a climb!) Amazing view! And we listened to where all these people were watching a world cup game and Spain won!!!! Good thing I had my jersey on! Anyway, back to my favorite things--going into Cartier and looking at jewelry. Those who know me well, know that I love rings, and man alive!!!!!! The guy let me try on the most spppaaaarrrkkkkllllyyyy ring you've ever seen in your life! hahahahaha great fun. I also loved going into Louis Vuitton and looking at purses {I'm definitely a purse girl}. One day, I will own a Louis; I've wanted one since I was 12 or so and went to Hollywood and saw the store! ha. I also loved Normandy and seeing the beaches and the visitors center. That was a sombering experience. So many people fought for our freedom and died for it too. I'm grateful to live in such a great country and appreciate all the hardworking servicemen and women who fight for our freedoms.



Next stop, London!!!! This is the place that I was most excited to go to after leaving Spain. My favorite thing we did here was see shows!! London's West End is like New York's Broadway {only it's a lot easier to find tickets for cheaper! yessss}. We saw Jersey Boys, Wicked, Sister Act (before it's even in NY, cool huh?) and Legally Blonde. They were all fantastic, and I'm usually not into musicals AT ALL, so that definitely says something! Of all the touristy things, we only saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. My mom had way too much fun taking optical illusion pictures! i will have to post some pictures. We also went to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, and on the way there, we saw a hunger strike for peace/to bring the troops out of Afghanistan. It was kinda crazy! There was this almost naked hippy lookin dude that would walk around the block and bang pots and pans and maracas! Talk about random. I loved shopping in London, even though the pound is 1 to about 1.50-.1.60USD. It actually adds up quite fast and I was not happen to look at my bank account! ha. That was lame! We went to two really cool markets too, and one was just like food type stuff! Holy moly. I had the yummiest chicken curry ever and pineapple juice :) Hard Rock Cafe was really cool too, I bought a hoodie that I am excited to wear. Let's see...I would go back to London whenever I can! I loved the people, the culture and just the cool vibes! It was awesome! Last semester, I had a roomie from Scotland and there were so many things that reminded me of her! So cool!

My mom's family comes from the Lancashire area in England, which is big (about 200-300 miles in area) but she wanted to go out there and see what it was like. After looking into the pricing and options, we found that it would be too expensive and time consuming. We chose to go to Manchester instead, some locals told us that it would be similar to Lancashire but not as far. Manchester and ahhh I can't think of what the village was right now were fun. Not much to do, so we wandered around and got lunch and such. Then we were headed back to the train station, and while we were waiting for the tram that would take us into the train station to go back to London, we met a guy from Bolton, England and he told us that Bolton used to be part of Lancashire, but the changed it to be considered Greater Manchester, and he said that the older folks didn't like that, that they wanted (and still considered) it Lancashire. That's where we should have gone. We had one more day in London after that, and we just goofed around. Getting out of there was a joke because of some illegal immigrants that got on a plane without documentation (obviously, but how does that work???) and needed to be sent to New York on a 24 hr visa. Oh I was sooo mad, but that's an entirely different story. We were there in plenty of time, then we had to wait in this huge line because we were being involuntarily removed from the plane and no one (of the Delta people) knew what was going on. That was frustrating. We were supposed to fly from Heathrow to JFK and from JFK to SLC and be home at 7, but instead, we flew from Heathrow to Minneapolis, had a freaking 5 hr layover and then our plane was delayed by almost three hours! So we got in at around 2 am. Could have been a lot worse, but just sitting in airports is not a fun time. hahaha.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be in Spain on that study abroad and to travel elsewhere. It showed me that I really can do things like this, because two years ago when I started looking into it and saving the money, I sometimes thought, "Am I really going to be able to go and be ok financially?" But I worked my butt off and it definitely paid off. This is the most expensive thing I've ever done, but it's shown me that I can if I work hard, am dilligent and save. That goes for anything, not just travel. I also learned that I can be by myself in foreign places and be just fine. I'm proud and happy I did it. I highly reccomend study abroad. Next summer, I will be headed to Italy and I will plan out my after-program travel better, so I think I will be in Rome for a week, Greece for a week and then head over to Thailand (it's been on my travel-to list for awhile, as has Greece) and spend about two weeks doing humanitarian aide. I'm pretty stoked!

xoxox
Ash

Barce-freaking-lona!!!

BARCELONA WAS SOOOOO AMAZING!!!

That's to put it simply! Where to begin--

We left Oviedo at like six and it was pouuuurrring rain! Luckily, there was a cab right by the Gorda (a meeting point statue) and it was five euros to the bus station, the ride was well worth it, especially since my paraguas did me no good! The bus station was uneventful, as was sthe airport. The airport in Asturias is super small, but it was way cool to watch the planes take off. The flight was short and sweet :)

When we got to Barcelona, I was blown away by the size of the airport (huge.) and the amount of English speaking, and the weird Spanish (different dialect, and I was like huh??? Sounded more French than Spanish). Yada, yada, yada, then we got to our hostel. It was not as bad as I was expecting. It was just like a dorm I stayed in at Weber State for a leadership conference, but better. The WSU dorm was baaad. Anyway, the first place we went was the La Sagrada Familia. It's this amazing church that was started sometime near 1926, and Gaudi took over designs of it. It's not expected to be completed until 2040!! We get up to the front of it and my camera DIED!! {It's a good thing I am not putting pictures up til I get home, so I can get the Barcelona ones from friends} I paid for the audio tour because that was the top of my list to see in Barcelona. It was way cool! Kind of hard to explain, it was one of those things that you need to see for yourself to get the meaning and significance, etc.

After that we walked all the freaking way across to this big office building that appeared to be a giant blue penis. ha, it was funny, believe me. It was a disappointment--nothing to see. Then we missed our bus like three times {The public transportation system in Barcelona was difficult!}

Night came and we hit Las Ramblas (huge shopping, touristy streets) for some dinner and meandering. I didn't love Las Ramblas, it was kinda lame, but that's ok. We went home and crashed!

The next day was quite an adventure! One of the girls in our group was an art history buff and found out about this Dali museum in Figures. It's this teeny town 30 minutes from the French border. We knew the train ride would take awhile (two hrs each way), but we had it all planned out and got an early start, so we thought we were good to go. Not so much...

We headed to the train station and waited in line got our tickets, and asked where to go (nothing is listed on the tickets--i.e. gate, number, etc.) Keep in mind that the Spanish is different and this person that we were talking to knew no English. He told us to get on at 14, so we did and it left. Two stops later, they were announcing that this was the end of the line. We get off there and go to ask someone, and he tells us to go back to where we came from and ask them. We head back there and ask someone who appears to know what he is doing and he says, "Oh you just missed it, take the train at 12:46--two hours from the current time!) We weren't too happy about that, chillin in the train station for two hours, but we tried to make the best of it, got some lunch (I had a sandwich with no traces of pork anywhere! Yay for chicken!) and sat there. We asked some other guys, just for clarification, and they were like, "Oh, you could have taken the 11:40 one. Apparently, the first guy we talked to earlier didn't know about that train. So we waited some more and finally, it was time to go get on the train. The ride was long; we probably should have kept going the 30 minutes to France, ahaha, but none of us had out passports :( sad day.

I loved the little town that this Dali museum was in, so cute and quaint. I didn't love Dali's stuff, he was a sex-obsessed weirdo, and it showed in his artwork. After that, we did some shopping and had the best ice cream ever.

We were hoping to make it back to Barcelona in time to watch the futbol game, but no such luck with the trains. More waiting, and time on the train, we got back to Barcelona and went back to the hostal, it was late.

The third and final day I had in Barcelona was the best one. We started out with the Picasso museum, AND the public transportation system was good to us! Yay!! The picasso museum was really cool {and cheap.} There were way cool shops near there too! Then we went to Gaudi's Park Guell, this park that Gaudi designed, it was soooo interesting! We got some great pics that I will have to put on when I get back to the states. We also hit the cathedral too, that was pretty ordinary, considering I've been to quite a few cathedrals here in Spain, but they did have an elevator to the roof, the view was ammmaaaazzziiinnnngg! Best thing ever.Seriously. So sad I did not have my camera :(

The next thing we did was my fave! There was this huge fountain in front of a palace that had a water show that night!! It was soooo awesome, and the view of the entire city was incredible! We also caught a free concert, so awesome for music junkie me, even though I couldn't understand what they were saying. It was still good. Then we just sat on the steps of the palace listening to street musicians and watching the artists. At around midnight we headed to the subway, it was CLOSED. I mean really, it's Barcelona! I expected it to maybe close at two or so, but midnight?? No way! We did find one gate that was open and luckily there were still trains going to the stop that we needed.

The next day, we checked out of the hostal really early and caught our flight back to Oviedo. We got back and were already late to school, so I went home and Rosa was like, "Do you have school right now? I thought you were in your bed!" So note to all you people--if I go missing in Spain, make sure they check my bed first, because she didn't even make sure! hahaha kidding.

What a great {adventurous} weekend.

peace out, girl scouts
xoxox ash

¡Vida!

I just took a test and think I did rather well on it :) and I also have an hour to do some random stuff, so here´s a post! Spain has been wonderful the past week and a half! I really do love it here and as time goes by, I can´t help but think I want to spend more time here. Who knows, maybe I will do a full semester here! More on that type of stuff later.

Last weekend, we went on an excursion to Santillana del Mar and Llanes. Santillana del mar was pretty fun, it was an little town with authentic shops and such and there was also a tourture museum that we went to! It was pretty gross, but interesting. There was a lot of gender seperation aspects with the tourture instruments--women had it a lot worse! I know that that was to be expected in those days, but that would never fly today, and I am so glad for that!

There were things that I had never even heard of, let alone seen! There was a real live chokey!¨{for those of you that have seen Matilda, you will know what I am talking about!} That was crazy haha.

Llanes was definitely my favorite place! Ahh I love it! I can´t forget the little adventure me and my friend Katie had in getting there, though. So the whole group drove about two hours from Oviedo to Santillana de Mar, then we got back on the bus to go about an hour to Llanes. Well the bus started having problems and we stopped and they discovered that one if the front tires was flat and off we went. We got to a bus station for our current bus to get its tire changed and for us to get on a new bus. Me and Katie get off the bus to go to the bathroom, and I was washing my hands and Katie comes back and is like, "How do you feel about walking?!" The bus had already left! Maybe we should have been worried? But we both just laughed. Luckily we were together and we both had Fernando´s number. So we call him and he´s like, "You guys aren´t on the bus? We started to count off (usually they count us all the time, multiple times) but then we stopped." He told us to stay there and that the bus with the flat tire would be done in about 15 minutes, so we waited and took pictures, that was fun. Riding a huge bus with no one on it was fun too! Good times.

Finally we got to Llanes. It is this little village right on the coast. There were lots of fishing boats and fishermen. It was really tranquill, not a ton of people, the weather was kinda rainy, etc. We got to see these huge cement blocks that were apparently put there to hold the barrier up long ago. Then some artist came along and painted sections of the blocks. It was a tribute to something, but I don´t remember what. It was cool. Then we climbed a bunch of stairs to this grassy view area, that was waaaayyyy awesome! You could see forever over the ocean. I loved it. We didn´t have very much time, but on the way back to the bus, we were starving, so we stopped at this pizza place and were asking about just slices (in Spanish) because it looked like they just had whole pizzas, and the guy responds in English and is like, "This isn´t America, there aren´t pizza restaurants on every corner. I know you guys have Pizza Hut and...." That was quite comical! We also stopped in a few little shops to look around. I found this quaint little hotel that I want to stay in someday! It was just cute how it was all tucked in on the beach. :) Little things like that make me happy.

The weather in Oviedo has been rainy the past few days, which I love! One night this week, we walked around just as the sun was setting and it was perfecto!! I´ve gotten a lot of use (and complements on) of my cute green raincoat :) Love it!! My umbrella is broken in one place, but that´s ok. I really want a paraguas (umbrella) from here--they´re totally legit!!! I just don´t know how I would get it home.

Yesterday, Rosa took me to Las Caldas and San Claudio, that was sooo fun!! I saw this cool castle, and some cool building and bridges. Rosa took me to her parents´house and showed me around. She also said I could come back and visit anytime I want! That was pretty sweet! ¡Estupendo!

Tomorrow, I head off to Barcelona for three days! yay! I´m loving life for sure!

xoxox Ash

Spain--first week!! :)

Monday 24 May 2010:

Today was the first day of classes and such. We met at the school at nine and had a little orientation meeting. That was a little crazy because it was all in Spanish. The teachers from the U explained in English after, but my brain was fried. Then we took a placement test. It was sooo hard. I remembered nothing and was sure they were going to put me in the equivalent of 1010. It was time for a little break, and after that, we went back for another meeting. I did better than I thought I did and was placed in the Intermediate class. We started off with basic grammar info and vocab words, and in conversation class, the teacher asked us about Utah and what there is to do for fun, etc., etc. Before we all knew it, it was time to go home for the day. I went home and ate some food--which consisted of some type of bean (they were good) and various cuts of sausage/pork. I must say, I don't care for many of the types of sausages they have here. The bacon is disgusting, just so you know. It's terrible!

The lady that I am staying with (Rosa) also had a student from Philadelphia that was here from January til May (she left this week) and so it was fun to hang out with her. That night, her and her boyfriend showed me around the city and we went to a cafe that had Wi-Fi so I could email and such. After that, we walked around some more and went to another cafe and had drinks and talked. (It's funny how much revolves around food and talking here! It seems to me that that's what they do for fun. They also don't hang out at someone's house--they go out and meet somewhere.) The cokes are so cute here! They give them to you in a little bottle with a tall glass with one ice cube and a lemon slice in it. They are expensive though--beer's cheaper. It was a pretty chill day.

Tuesday 24 May 2010:

No classes today! Instead, there was a giant fiesta in the park! It was like a holiday for the city and no one had to work. I slept in, got up and ready, and got to go to the panderia (bread store) with Rosa. That was interesting, because there was a long line and people were annoyed. I couldn't really understand what they were saying, but I imagined a bunch of agitated English speaking people waiting in line and got the gist of it! ha. The pastries looked way yummy! After the bread store, we went to the park (it's beautiful!) and there were fireworks (fuegos) and booths that you could buy stuff at. I was tempted to shop, but I figured the majority of the stuff there was made in China and I am saving my money to buy authentic, made in Spain stuff. I ran into some friends, Gage and Amy, which made me so happy because we hadn't really had a way of communicating with each other, so we made plans for later. Rosa then showed me the shopping district. There's not much to do in Oviedo besides wander around, and shop. We went to the cathedral that's famous there and into a few churches.

After siesta, Rosa, Christina (the girl from Philly), Matt (her boyfriend) and I went to this port area outside of Oviedo. We drove--the drivers here are crazy! The speeds are high and people tailgate like none other on the highways. In the city, there are billions of one-way streets. I would be dead for sure! It was really pretty, even though we were only there a short time. The weather changes at the drop of a hat. I love the rain though! Gives me an excuse to wear my cute greet rain jacket!

When we got back to Oviedo, I made plans with friends and did some window shopping and saw their version of Wal-Mart. We wandered around and tried to find the LDS church because a few friends had googled it before coming to Spain. We thought we were close, but no luck yet. We rounded a corner, and there were the missionaries! It was crazy timing--very cool. I wondered if we would run into some. They gave us the address of the church and talked to us for a bit.
By that point we were done wandering the city for the night. I went home, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Wednesday 25 May 2010:

Back to school! Oviedo is fun, but if we didn't have school or (if I had one) a job, I'd be a little bored. It's been way fun to meander and find my way around and see what there is to do though. Anyway, they split our class today because it was huge before, and I definitely like the teachers better! That's a plus, because for Spanish, I have to have a good teacher. It's a necessity. We started with review today in more depth than we did with the other teacher. That's about it.

Thursday 26 May 2010:

Today was a way fun day! Classes as usual, I loved getting back into Spanish and also still getting to the routine of how things go here. I still haven't really adjusted to the siesta/eating schedule, but that's alright. After class, the faculty of the U and UO took us to the government building in the middle of the city, and they gave us a little pin with the Oviedo crest on it, as well as maps and other information. To be honest, I have no idea what was said during the presentation. I don't think any of us really knew. We kind of laughed when the people who spoke Spanish did. Maybe the speaker said a joke? No idea. Then we went on a tour--started with the Cathedral. It was soooo cool and old. It will be cool to go to a mass there sometime when I am here. The tour guide showed us other churches and important statues and buildings. She also talked about the architecture, which is amazing! Oviedo is modeled after Paris--awesome. I need to go back to Paris soon :) It's been awhile.

Friday 27 May 2010:

School was more relaxed today. We did normal grammar, history, etc. in the morning from 9:30-11:30, break from 11:30-12, and instead of going back to classes at 12, we had the weekly review with Fernando. He explained what was up for the weekend. Super fun! Then we learned a couple of songs that the people of Asturias (the region) sing all the time.

That night, they took us to a restaurant/bar outside of Oviedo for tapas y bebidas (snacks and drinks). There was lots of music, dance, food, and sidera (the cider that Asturias is famous for--I didn't taste it, but it smells pretty gross). The night ended with us standing around in a circle with a guitar player and singing (American) songs in English. It's so funny how all of the music (and stop signs, for that matter) are in English.

Saturday 28 May 2010

FUNNEST day of the week! We were off the playa (beach) in Gijon! The weather was good, not too hot, and not too cold. First, we had some photo ops of lighthouses and sailboats and such, and then we went to a museum about the Roman baths that used to be in Gijon. That was interesting, but the tour as well as all of the information was in Spanish. That didn't help too much. We ate our lunches and hopped back on the bus to go to the beach! {Funny story about my lunch--so Friday, I let Rosa know that I would need a lunch, un bocadillo (sandwich) for our excursion on Saturday. She let me taste some sausage, but I didn't like it, so she took me to the store and I was just going to find some peanut butter, (Which, by the way is soooo hard to find here, and once you find it, it's super expensive. I paid $5.13 (yes, USD) Crazy, huh?) for PB&J, but she took me back to the deli section. Everything at first glance was ham--not a huge fan. Then I spotted some turkey! Yesss! I do not think that I've ever been so happy to see turkey. There was also Swiss cheese, but of course I couldn't think of the word for Swiss, so I'm pointing and she's like, "Oh, queso de Francia." and I'm thinking, "No, it's Swiss, not French cheese!!" Anyway, I was a happy camper to get that sandwich the next day. No weirdie sausage for me!} We headed to the beach and it was oh so fun. Played in the water for a bit, but mostly just relaxed, talked and listened to music. It was nice.

Around 11:30 that night (they go out a lot later here) some of us met up to vamos a bailar en la discoteca!!! (Go dancing in the club)! Crazy, insane night. Before the disctotecas opened, we bar-hopped, (that sounds so weird to say because I don't drink. ha) and met some Spanish people. They were all like, "Americanos, Americanos!" We were probably quite the sight actually. They are crazy! There's definitely not the same definition of personal space here as at home. They get right up next to you. The discotecas started opening and we went, and as the music got boring, we would go to the next one. Interesting things we came across--definite creepers, annoying high school kids, a kid from our group puking in the middle of the street (that was just lovely, I tell you. ewww.), one of the teachers from the U finding us and having shots (that was definitely strange) and a bunch of other things. Some of us got really tired around four and we went around the city dropping everyone off. I got home around five and crashed.

Sunday 29 May 2010:

Rolled out of bed around 9:30 to get ready for church really fast. Me and two other friends tried to find it because we were all late from when a big group went with the missionaries to the church. It took us forever and it was really hot. Church was a little overwhelming with it being all in Spanish, but it was a good experience.
After church we chilled in the big park that I really like. We went home, and later went to a mall with Wi-Fi so we could email and do blogging homework and stuff.

Overall, this week was super fun! I loved it and I can't wait to see what comes next for me here in Oviedo! :)

Peace,
Ash

additional bloggie, blog, blog.

I have an additional blog for my adventures in Spain this summer.

It is:

Ashamavidaenespana.blogspot.com

Check it out!
Peace out, girl scout
Ash

P.S.--I leave in 36 hours! How cool is that!!!??? SO STOKED!

vent sesh.

I need to have a little venting session. So I am going to Spain--duh. And it reeeeaally ticks me off when people make comments to me about going on 'Daddy's dime,' or "Gonna go spend some more of daddy's money, eh?" It just makes me mad. And I am not the type of person to just sit there and listen to it, so I {politely} say something to the effect of, "Oh I am paying for my trip myself or I have worked really hard to put myself on this trip." There's the key--myself--
I would never ask my family for money for something like this. Like yeah, maybe if I was having trouble making rent or having enough food to eat, then yeah, I would ask. Those are necessities; my trip is not. I want to put it out there that I have put a lot of work and effort into how I am going to be able to go. I have been planning/working for this for the past two years, and I am so excited to be going in six days!! Ahhhh can you believe it?? I remember when it was January and I was in the CEU comp lab scanning my passport, thinking, "Aw May 23rd is so far away!"
I can't wait!!!! 6 days, baybeh! Woot!

Summer Adventures!

It's been awhile! I graduated from CEU on May 1st! Wootie! Although I am excited to go on with the next chapter of my life, I am going to miss my time and my friends in Price. Oh by the way, I am headed to the University of Utah in the fall, just in case you missed that. Super duper excited!

Next up...Spain! I leave one week from today. I am soooo freakin stoked, I can't even stand it :) I am a little nervous for my Spanish skills--RuStY. That's ok though. I know once I'm there and in the language, I will pick it right up. Getting into the country could prove difficult though. Hopefully there will be someone who speaks enough English to pass me through customs.
P.S.--When I come back, our connecting flight to SLC from Madrid is in freaking NYC!! I can't believe that I will be in my top, have-wanted-to-go-there-for-forever, have-to-go-before-I-die, favorite American city and the layover may not even be long enough to come through customs, let alone step outside the airport. Freak! My dad was like, "I could have set you up with a 48 hr layover in New York so you could see a few things." Oh my gosh! I was like, "Why didn't you??!" Oh well--maybe customs will take longer than we have to catch our flight and we'll be stuck there anyway.

I am loving life right now and where I am at. Independence, work/school and travel are at the top of my list and I couldn't be happier. :) My grandparents on my dad's side took me to lunch the other day and insisted on grilling me on why I don't have a bf right now. I was slighly annoyed, I wanted to be like, "You don't know me well at all, or what I would want." Oh well, such is life.

Ohhhhh in other news, I am trying to decide whether to decide to study abroad in Italy or France. Originally, I was headed to Italy, but I've been researching, and I may just go to France instead :) :) I will need to take French 1010 in the fall.
Well that's about it. Hopefully I will get pictures uo from my adventures, but I'm not taking my computer, and I am not sure if the comp. lab comps will have card readers.
peace+love
Ash

Guilty Pleasure?!

So...I'm not afraid to admit that I am loving Kesha's song "My Love is Your Drug" right now. Too catchy!!! So what if I have a little dance party in my car every time it comes on the radio and crank the volume up?? Go ahead and look at me like I'm crazy--I don't care. I'd probably dance to it if it came on in the store too. haha. Love it.
ash

Easter Weekend. andstuff.

This weekend was really fun! I was able to have a friend with me at home, that was cool. And the weekend started early for me, woot!!

Thurs--I left Price at 6:45, Ally was supposed to drive up with me, but she slept in and didn't answer my calls, so I had to get out of town. She came up later though. Price canyon was terrible. It usually takes me 58 minutes to get to the windmills. This time it took me about an hour and 15 minutes. That wasn't cool. I got up to the campus at 10:27 and had an appointment at 10:30, but got lost with parking, so I was late :( Overall, I felt good about USU. BUT...I was expecting to have my decision of the U affirmed. That was the purpose of my visit, and it didn't end up happening. Hence, I am still deciding. This is riduculous. I want to know and get going with all the other things that happen when you pick a school. Finding a job, housing, student gov/other extracurricular options, that sort of thing. One good thing that came out of the visit was seeing my best friend! I love her! We had some awesome chats and laughs. Definitely needed that :)

Fri--Ally and I worked at the SL Sorenson office and we took early outs! Yay! Then we did some shopping in Bountiful. My family took us out for Coldstone. Yummmm. We went home and chilled--I know I was super tired because all the school crap was (and still is) weighing down on me in a bad way. ahhh I feel so anxious and I never feel that, so it's bizarre.

Sat--We went to the easter egg hunt with my sibs in my hometown. Fairly uneventful, except for when we were watching my brother in the 10-12 yr old group, and decided that we wanted one egg each. We figured it wouldn't hurt and neither of us had been easter egg hunting for YEARS! So we are standing there with our one egg each, and this little eleven or so yr old boy comes over and is like, "Hey! Can I have those eggs?" and this man in the crowd is like, "Hey bud, you have enough." The little boy mentioned something about needing a year supply. Kinda interesting. He then says, "Wait...I need those eggs--this is the 10-12 year old group! You guys look like you are 13!!" Oh.my.goodness. It was so funny. Hysterical, in fact. Needless to say, my family isn't going to let me live that one down for a long time! We saw "How to Train your Dragon." Surprisingly, I loved it! It was so cute. After that, we went to the U campus on Frontrunner and Trax. {Oh, how I love mass public transportation} Seriously, I could utilize it every day. Plus, it's a lot better for the environment than all those individual cars emitting a lot more crap into the environment. Love it. That's one benefit the U has over USU. Anyway, it was a Saturday, so there wasn't much going on, but it was good to walk around on the campus up there. I see myself at the U a lot more than I do at USU, but I am still not sure about it. I am getting a blessing for it, hopefully some time this week. I KNOW that will help me to be more sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit that I may be missing/not paying enough attention to right now. Ahhh...all this school talk haha. We went to the mall in Layton when we got back, and ate dinner at Costa Vida. So chill, I needed that day for sure!

Sun--EASTER! I was bummed that we had to leave so early (10:30), because we had to work in Price at 1:00. We hunted for our easter baskets, yay! and we also ate a DELISH breakfast of strawberry french bread french toast with yummy syrup, bacon, oj, choco milk, etc. I don't like breakfast food normally, but this is a breakfast meal I love to eat! mmmm food. The drive sucked and i was four minutes late to work. After work, I visited with my Gami. I love her. And my gramps too. I'm so sad to leave them here in Price. I visited them the day before I left for Logan, and I cried when I left their house. I think it's hitting me harder now that I am almost done with school here. I am used to seeing them whenever I feel like, and have gotten so close over the past two years. It's going to be soooo hard to leave for the summer and NoT come back next year. And I thought leaving for last summer was bad. Ugghhhh. Not looking forward to May 1st because of that. That's the only setback--really.

Misc:

I need a freaking date for the inaug. ball for student gov. I want to ask {Sony} (code name haha), but I am chicken. I wish I wasn't. hahah. I almost did it the other day when we were talking, but I got too nervous. So stupid of me!

My right hand HURTS! Really bad. My job consists of typing, but it's really not a lot. So I wonder why I only really notice my hand pain at work?? I hate it. There's sometimes pressure, temp. changes and tingling. That's so stupid. It makes work soooo long. I don't want to have to go to the doctor. ewww.

I need to figure out how to upload phone pics to blogger. That's the only way I could document this weekend in pictures.



I think that's about all. Loves.
Ash

Viajare a Espana en 47 dias!

(I forgot the keystrokes for Spanish accents in the title)
(I travel (future tense) to Spain in 47 days!)


People! Ummm hello! I go to the lovely city of Oviedo, Spain in 1 month and 17 days. How cool is that? (pretty cool, I already know) Yesterday, I went up to Salt Lake for my first orientation with the study abroad group I am going with at the U. It was so cool--and it's finally starting to {sink in.} A few months ago, when I was applying for a passport and prepping to go, it was more of an intangible feeling. Now, it feels a ton more real!

I was a bit overwhelmed, but I think that's to be expected, and I am still processing all the information and to-dos. It is sooooo exciting. Another thing, is I am so proud to be paying for this experience all on my own. It makes me feel so powerful and able, to tell you the truth. I've worked my butt off and I deserve it. That may sound terrible, but I don't care. I am not getting any monetary assistance from my parents and it's the coolest feeling. I am making this possible for myself and it's amazing. Ahhh, I don't even know how to describe it.

I am so happy! I need to brush up on my Spanish. I realized something yesterday relating to the whole language thing-- We speak English here. I believe that when people come to America, they need to speak our language, and not have people cater to their differences to such a drastic extent. So naturally, I hold this (sometimes harsh) expectation of myself as I travel to a different country, with a different language than mine. I'm nervous! I am planning on flying over with a group of people, so that will be good, and help with the language barriers.

Hmmm...that's about it for my Spain plans for now. More in the future!

Peace out girl scout.
Ash

...Blogging Hiatus.

Hello people!
I could blog about my huge amounts of things that I have realized about myself in the past little while, I beat myself up, but now I'm being productive and over it. Plus that would be lame. I have been up to a lot of stuff but not much of it is blog-worthy. The highlights:

Spring Break

I went to visit the U on Wednesday of that week. It definitely calmed a lot of my nerves (that I don't remember if I blogged about or not). Basically, I was super stressed (and I don't get stressed, so it was weird) about deciding where to choose to go to school next year. Seriously, it is so hard. There's so much riding on that decision...I will meet some of my best friends for life in the last few years of my undergrad, experiences for future school, career and life decisions, etc. When I chose to come to CEU, it was (or felt like) a no-brainer decision. That's what I want. I do feel better about it now though, and have been praying about it and getting more concrete answers. That's good. I'm visiting USU this week and there's like a 15% chance that I would go there, because of their stats on people who get into law school. I'm basically going to make sure I can rule it out--don't wanna miss out on anything. Plus, I'm a city girl. It would be awesome to live in Salt Lake. So...stayed tuned for my decision...I will be making it on Thursday (that's 4 days away ahhhhh).

I GOT INTO THE OVIEDO, SPAIN STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM I REALLY WANTED FOR THE SUMMER!!! (That statement deserves all the caps!) I was really nervous about it, because I needed to face the fact of my gpa not being so high because I really tanked last semester. So I was coming up with a back up plan if I didn't get it=working all summer. The program directors hadn't gotten back to me either way, so I dropped in the sa office while I was at the U, and long story short, they were sending emails to a student account for me that neither I nor they could get into. Come to find out, it was a legit account; I hadn't gotten my acceptance letter to the school yet with the information about logging in and activating that account. So I am officially going to Spain on May 23rd, 2010! I am excited for a meeting I have next Monday to go over everything and meet the other kids that will be going. I need a flight buddy! My Spanish is rusty, I need a English-Spanish liaison haha.

I also had a way good time with high school buddies I hadn't seen for a long time. Blast and a half, man! IHOP and girls night, anyone? Yeah, it was awesome.

Hung out with the fam. Had some chats with my mom...that could have gone better :S But it's ok. That's pretty standard. My little brother Brycie turned 10!!! Oh my freaking gosh. That's crazy. I was 10 when he was born! Love him even though he bugs me sometimes.

THIS WEEKEND WAS WAY FUN!
Coyote Ugly...so good. So chill. Danced it up!
A play at BYU, "As You Like It," they did it with modern pop songs. It was cool.
Played in the park. I am loving this weather.

Misc.
There's a new boy...(Yep, that's right, I am done with all the stupid baseball players) and also a big fat BUT... BUT. I am afraid to let myself like him--I don't want to waste my time when he doesn't like me. I hate that feeling. ew sick. I guess I will see how it goes. I'm such a hopeless romantic!

And I have been working a lot more than usual. I need the moolah.

I think that's about all for now, I'm sure I will post more frequently in the near future :)

Peace out, girl scout.
Ash

happy.day.

So I realized that my post called 'Changes' didn't really talk about the changes that I am making in life. haha so, just to touch on that--
-Do better at being on top of homework. I've been doing it (unlike last semester!), but I need to be a little better.
-Read my scriptures! I've been doing really well with saying my prayers :) Scripture reading could be better.
-Get to know new people more.
-Work more! I've taken so much time off lately. All in fun of course!

Anyway, sidenote: I love my friends! I have been hanging out with Chandra and Emilee, they live across the hall. We get along really well and I love hanging out!

Update: I am glad today is over. I took a massive American National Government test. It was 10 vocab words, with more than defining them. That part was lame. The rest was four essays. I was really nervous going into it, even though I had studied. I ended up rocking it though. I knew the shiz, but I am also a good bs-er to just give it a little something to boost it over the edge.

With the school day being over, that means it is time for Epic Wednesday! Fun, fun, fun! I need to post some pictures. Most people do on their blogs. I just love to write!

And--my booth hour for student gov was good today :)

I think that's about it.
Loves,
ash

retail therapy.

When I am supposed to be studying for a test.
Barf.


I just bought these little puppies. They rock.

changes.

Long time no blog. Yada, yada, yada.

Well I've actually thought about this post. Who does that? Thinks about a blog post. Maybe I'm a weirdie. And guess what? I don't care. Seeing as I didn't post about Christmas/New years, and I don't want this to be about resolutions, it won't be. I do want to highlight things that I am working towards/looking forward to.

Graduation is only a little over 2 and a half months away. That's crazy to think about. I can't help but wonder, what's life going to be like after this. I'm a planner for the long term, so naturally I have a plan (or two or three). But really. What will happen? So much can change. So fast.

I am so sick of school right now. I'll admit it. Not the academics, those are actually quite fab! The social. For one, my roommates drive me up the wall. With the exception of Bethany, she's my room roommate and is so cool. The other roommates have all grown apart. The strange thing--I'm ok with that. Now I seem like a buttface, but people come into your life when you need them and same for you. True friends stick around. I'm not one to tell everyone everything about me and what I go through and such, so I am very lucky to have a select few that I can tell everything to. Oh, and for the most part, boys suck. Just fyi. Even though I am never a love cynic. Hopeless romantic all the way.

I've been going home more. Which is weird for me, because last semester I think I went home four times. In February so far, I have been home two weekends in a row. crazy!

Speaking of home, I really need to decide my housing situation for the fall when I go to the U. More like choose between plan A, B and C. Eekkk.

Spain this summer! Need to get my app turned in this week! Italy (or France, I can't decide)--summer 2011. Love my life!

I think I had more that I wanted to write, but I can't think right now. Later, I need to blog about love day. mmmkkkay! I love love.

Love you all.
Feel free to comment
Peace
love,
ash

A quote I found that I am absolutely loving right now:
"And the day came when the wish to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." --Anais Nin
I think I like that so much because it fits my life right now. Like a glove, seriously. I am more confident than I have ever been in my life. I feel ready to fly (so cliche, but so true) I hope others can see that in me and don't wish to hold me back. I won't let them.