Winter semester warms to a close

What most universities call Spring semester, BYU calls Winter semester. It is a fitting title, as the weather has remained mostly chilly and snow-flecked to the bitter end. And it's finally almost over. The last few weeks have shown great promise of a quick warm-up to a hot hot summer and I, for one, am thrilled. It's about time to put my new favorite winter white wool coat away and pull out the trusty flip flips (I forgot how amazing sandals feel on a warm day! I hate socks.). Moreover, there's nothing like impending warmth, the close of a hearty finals week, and yet another romantic bust to reevaluate my life thus far as a returned sister missionary. So let's recap...

School--> I'm 100% a nerd when it comes to my classes. It's almost as if college students aren't supposed to love classes as much as I do. Not that I haven't had my fair share of dull lecture or unfair grades, but I genuinely enjoy all the classes I took this semester.

• Climatology. (Geography 304) - My teacher is President Monson's son (so we get lots of random 'My dad is the prophet and the apostles are my friends' rambling anecdotes) and though he talks like he is bored with himself, there is something really exciting about seriously understanding weather and the source of these mid-latitudinal cyclonic storms that keep ruining my springtime
• Political Geography (341) - Dr. Timothy is a squatty little man who get really "tickled" by border disputes and the forming of the nation state (his "quotes" not mine) and made learning about them equally as fascinating. Did you know that the US-Canadian border is one of the most heavily fortified in the world? They've got lasers, people. Lasers!
• GIS (Geographic Information Systems, 212) - It's computer maps. Not my most interesting lectures, but I can do some pretty cool stuff with mapping software!
  
• International Health -- 20+ quasi-hippie returned sister missionary do-gooders all in one class makes an interesting mix. I have to admit, people like me are sometimes really obnoxious. Opinionated, altruistic, self-righteous. Oh shut up already! This was probably my favorite class of the semester. Great teacher, interesting assignments and a promising network.
• World Religions- I finally have some insight on why some of the people I taught in Thailand had such a challenging learning curve. Turns out Therevada Buddhists are one of the only religions that really have little concept of a higher being. Ah, right. It's all making sense. My professor was the Coolest. A Lutheran minister for 20 years before his conversion, he drove cab for three years before being offered a job as professor of religion at BYU. His motto: "Mormons don't have a corner on truth." We may have the fulness of the gospel but that does not discredit all the good there is in all the other religions.
• Aerobics - I hate exercise. Everyone knows it. But aerobics is SO MUCH FUN

In summary: school is a blast and as often as I claim I'm dropping out of school, I'm excited that I'm just watching friends graduate and move on with their lives, and I'm still here.



OKAY, I need to get better at paring down my blog entries and getting to the point already. And more pictures.

For now, suffice it to say that the semester closed down quite nicely and I've got lots of missionary-inspired goals with a college girl twist.

Step one: Haircut. Kelsie went blonde last month, and it suits her. I ventured into the world of hair dye several years ago and vowed I would stay away (mostly because I'm too lazy for the upkeep), but reading the April Vogue over breakfast yesterday (It's the Renee Zelweger issue conveniently sitting around my apartment ) I decided that Kelsie and Beyonce are not the only ones with a future in honey-gold. So with mom's bottle blonde peer pressure (and financial backing) I'm finally ready for a new look. Thanks to Brooke for the salon recommendation and Haley the stylist for understanding color!



Next post: career, friends and summer plans. And PICTURES!