Growing Up

As my brother has been applying to colleges, I've been thinking about all the choices that I've had to make since graduating college, and how much I have had to grow up.  Sometimes I still have days where I wish I could go back to high school where I was able to enjoy everything important to me, all at the same time-- family, dance, school.  It was so much easier, and I had my whole life ahead of me... I didn't have to worry as much about my future as I do now.  I think back on the decisions that I have made, and I can honestly say that I would do it all over again.  I've made the right decisions for me, and hopefully I can continue to make the right decisions.  Going to UVU and being able to dance while going to school was amazing! I would never take back that opportunity, and I have realized how much I took that for granted when I had that opportunity.  But, at the same time, if I never transferred to USU, I would always have wondered what it was like, and I don't know if I could have lived with that curiosity.  I have met many wonderful people here, and I can't imagine my life without them now.  Most of all, while I have been here, I have realized that life is about being happy.  Sometimes you have to give something up to realize how important it is to you, and what you will do to get it back.  I thought that I could live with taking one dance class for fun, and that everything would be okay.  But, I have realized that I can't stop dancing.  It is who I am.  Dance saved me from some really tough times that I was going through in middle school, and it helped me get through high school.  I have a short time left at USU, and then I am going back to UVU and dancing.  I have no idea how I will pay for the schooling, or what my life will be like afterwards, but someone with as much passion as I have for dancing, should do what makes them happy and teach others about that passion.  In all honesty, I don't know if I will go to PT School after UVU.  Maybe I will be a dance teacher, or something else, but I am going to do what makes me happy.  As much as I try to plan my life out, day by day, I have no idea where I will be in 10 years, 5 years, or even next year.  As much as I want to be swept away by some handsome boy and get married, I have no idea when that time will come either.  But, I do know that I am putting my faith in my Heavenly Father.  Today in my Institute class, we learned about a man who is a walking miracle.  While on his mission, he was hit by a bus, and his family was told that he would not live.  I got to hear the story from the mother's point of view, and it was amazing! The parents went to see their boy in the Brazil Hospital, and so many miracles occurred.  After many trials and to the complete amazement of the doctors, the boy is alive now with full sight and normal hearing.  I can't explain as well as the mother did the experiences that the family has gone through, but I know what an impact it had on me.  The quote that the family lived by during this trial was, "The future is as Bright as your Faith."  I believe that my Heavenly Father has prepared for me solutions to my trials, and that my future is Bright! I am going to put my Faith in Him, and I know that According To His Timeline, I will find what I am searching for.  And, in the journey, I am going to be happy.

My Life...

These last few weeks have been so busy and so much fun!  With that being said, I will do a few quick summaries of different points of my life right now. 

I joined a sorority on campus called Kappa Delta, and it has already been changing my life.  I had a very hard time choosing which sorority was best for me, but I know I ended up picking the right one.  Being on your own in college is such a great experience, and it is so much better having a ton of sisters that I can trust that are always there for me.  Being apart of such a great group of girls has enhanced my experience here at Utah State so much!  Just last week I found out who my Big was, and it was such a fun week! (For those of you who don't know: a Big is a girl in the sorority that is already active and will be my mentor through everything)  During the week, I got awesome gifts and clues from her, and then on Thursday night, we all ran around the house with our new clues until we found a shirt with our name on it.  We put on our shirt, and then at the same time all us new members went downstairs were our big was waiting with a matching shirt.  I ran down there and saw my Big, Laura, waiting for me! I was so excited that it was her! We have so much in common, and I am so excited to get to know her better! 

Next item of business is school.  I guess that's what I'm really here for... Right? haha :) Classes are fine here, but I can feel my senioritis coming on.  I took my first Chemistry test, and I did not do good.  I was a little disappointed in myself, but I decided I would just keep working hard.  And, as always, hard work pays off.  On my next chemistry test, I only missed one question! It totally made my day! My other classes are actually quite enjoyable.  I'm currently working on Pre-Physical Therapy, but I am pretty sure that I am going to switch to Exercise Science.  That way I can graduate in Spring 2014 and still apply for Physical Therapy School.  Next semester I am going to take a class about the Mental Aspects of Sports, and I could not be more excited! I get to take a lot of cool classes like that for my major!

There is always something going on here in Logan, and I love it! Some of the different things that I have been to are: Football games, women's and men's soccer games, dances, a pirate party riot, the howl, a corn maze, night games, shooting, tie dyeing, and different parties. It is really a lot of fun up here!

 My family came to the Homecoming game, and it was so much fun to see them! I always miss them and love them so much, but I know it's good to be on my own too! I have the best family ever!

 Kappa Deltas and Sigma Chis went to the corn maze, and it was quite fun.... and very cold!

 I was a volunteer at the HOWL with my friends! I had a great time! I got a tattoo of a dancer on my wrist and even had my tarot cards read!

For Kappa Delta we had a Pirate Party where we played some fun games and had dinner! Great night!

I went shooting with a group of friends, and I absolutely loved it!! I really want go again!

One of my best friends, Alexis, and I drove to SLC to watch the Utah State men's soccer team! Oh how I love to watch soccer :) And it helps when they win!





One of my other best friends, Debbie, her roommate Hannah, and I went to the women's soccer game.  Our friend, Kami, that went with us to Peru this summer plays for the team.

                                    

The last thing that I am still working on is figuring out how to get dance back in my life.  I am taking a hip hop class, but it just isn't enough.  My plan is to graduate in Spring 2014, and then go back to UVU the next year.  I have to take a year off while I apply for PT school, so I might as well spend that year doing what I love most...dancing! It will be so nice to spend a year taking just dance classes.  No stresses from anatomy, chemistry, physics, etc.  Just dancing!! Doesn't that sound wonderful?! I will either do that, or I will apply for the Disney college program and work at Disneyland for a semester.  I'll see what happens :)

Wow that was a long post! Anyways there's a super quick overview of what has been happening!

-Emily

I Miss It

I miss it
I miss hip hop
I miss jazz
I miss ballet
I miss modern
I miss tap
I miss the happiness it brought me
I'm not me without dance
I miss dance
And nobody is going to stop me from dancing

Week in Review

    

I made it through my first week at Utah State!  I had such a good time this past week!  I have 5 roommates, and I feel like I am so lucky, because they are all great.  I have been able to spend a little bit of time with all of them, and I am so glad that I am living where I am.  The first week of school is called Week of Welcome, and there are a ton of different events that the school has for people to go to.  Monday was a concert, Tuesday was movie night, Wednesday was bingo night, Thursday was the football game, and Friday was an 80's dance and true aggie night.  And yes, I went to every single one of those events!  My favorite was the football game and the 80's dance.  I went to the football game with two of my roommates, and we had some of the best seats.  We were on the second row, just barely off of the 50.  It was fun being at a school football game again.  It has been so long since I have been able to do that.  There are so many new cheers and game chants that I was trying to pick up on as quick as I could, and I loved it!  I love being apart of something that is so much fun!  And, it helps that Utah State won :)

The hardest part of the week was how much I miss dancing!  I didn't realize how important dance is to me, until I didn't have it.  UVU was a great school because I was able to take dance classes that were challenging and fun.  There were UVU hip hop company auditions on Thursday and not being able to audition just about killed me. The dance teacher that is over that company is probably the most talented hip hop dancer I have ever met.  Whenever the company has their performance, everyone should go because it will be amazing!  I took hip hop from her last semester, and that class is what kept me alive during the semester.  With my 20 credits, including anatomy, I would have gone insane if I hadn't had hip hop to save me.  It was the best dance class I have ever taken.  I am taking a hip hop class at Utah State, but I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.  It is a 50 minute class, which means we have no time to dance, and we finally started dancing on Friday.  It is hard, because most people in the class have never taken dance before, so the class moves really slowly.  And, I totally understand, because if I was taking beginning soccer or something like that, it would take me a long time to learn what I was doing.  I just wish that they had an advanced hip hop class as well.  I was so happy to be dancing again, but I started bawling on the drive home afterwards, because I realized how much I miss dancing.  I'm sure as the semester picks up, the class will get better and better.  As long as I have some type of dance in my life I should be okay!    

For labor day weekend, I decided to come home and spend some time with my friends.  I got back late Saturday and went to my high school's football game.  It was a great game, and they won.  Then, I was able to go to a Bee's baseball game with some of my favorite people, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I am not much of a baseball fan, but when you go to a game with the right people, it makes all the difference!  Tomorrow I am going to go to Westminster's soccer game, and I am so excited!  I am such a soccer girl...too bad I can't play soccer.  But, I love watching soccer!!  I've decided that soccer is my favorite sport, besides dancing :)  There is so much action and back and forth the whole game, I just love it.  Plus the guys that play soccer are usually pretty cute so that always makes it even better.
Anyways, I am just going to say that I love my life!! Things are falling into place, and I feel like I made the right decision to transfer schools.  It was difficult, but I did it, and I have been loving every minute of it.  Life is about living, not just getting through things, and I can't even explain to you the joy that my life brings!  I am so lucky for the wonderful people in my life, and I am grateful for all the experiences that I have had in my life to make me who I am today!

Boys, Bikes, and New Beginnings

Yesterday was my first day at Utah State University.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it was!  First things first...Boys.  I saw so many more boys here than I ever saw at UVU.  Plus, most of them weren't 45 years old and married, and they were a lot more attractive!  And, they have muscles, another thing most guys at UVU lacked.  The fraternity guys are great, and I met some awesome guys at a party tonight.  The guys from my ward that I have talked to are pretty cool as well. I love Logan, because there really isn't a lot to do here, but somehow we always can find something to do :)  Second thing...Bikes. Everyone rides their bikes everywhere!  I don't think I will ever get used to all the bikes on campus.  It's great, but kind of really annoying.  If I was riding a bike I think I would like it, but since I'm walking and others are riding, there is always that horrible moment of someone being in the way.  Third thing...New Beginnings.  I love change so much, even though at times it can be scary.  And making the choice to come to Utah State was a big and hard decision for me to make.  There are many things that I gave up so that I could come here, but it was something that I knew I had to do, and I know that I made the right choice.  I like being new to the school and gaining experiences for the first time here, but not being a timid, out of place freshman.  I like that I have gone to college for 2 years, so I know what real life is like.  I love this school!  After school today I went with two of my roommates and one of their boyfriends to a river dam, and we sat there and talked for a while.  It was beautiful, and I loved just relaxing in the nature.  Then I went to FHE, and met a lot of people.  There was a dance afterwards that was okay.  Once it got lame, a group of us went to the Bluegrass concert USU had going on.  That was alright, but we didn't stay too long.  Once we got back to our apartments, we were talking and one of my roommates didn't know about Old Main Hill, so we decided to take a night walk there.  Just 3 of us roommates, and a couple of guys that were with us.  After that we went with the guys to Wal Mart to do their school shopping.  All in all, it was a productive day.  Plus, on a side note, it is so nice to see someone that you used to like and know that you finally don't care anymore.  You know who they are, and that they really don't care about people as individuals, especially you, so why bother anymore.  Some boys will never grow up, and honestly I feel bad for them.   

Peru 5

Peru 5
My trip to Lima and Machu Picchu was so wonderful! I'll tell you about some of the highlights of the trip.  It started out with a 17 hour bus ride to Lima, and then we went on a plane to Cusco. Once we got to Cusco, we went searching to buy our tickets to Machu Picchu. This was quite the adventure! Everywhere we went they told us to go somewhere else.  Finally, we thought we knew where we needed to go, but we had about 15 minutes until they closed, so some of us decided to take a taxi.  Sadly, none of the taxis would stop for us.  There were 3 of us left trying to get a taxi, but the only vehicle we could get was a normal car.  We had been told to not take unmarked taxi, but it was dark outside, our group was gone, and we needed to get there...so we took the unmarked car.  And, all three of us thought of the movie Taken on the car ride.  The guy took us along dark corridors, and just as we thought we were done for, we arrived at the shop.  Thank goodness!  So, we got our tickets and then found a sketchy hostel to stay in for the night.  The next morning we got up early and went to church, and then we left to continue on our adventure.  We saw a bunch of different things, and kept traveling the next few days to get to Machu Picchu.  One of my favorite adventures was riding down a mountain on a bike.  This totally freaked me out at first, because there was no gravel, just dirt and tons of rocks.  One side was a complete drop off, and throughout the bike ride, people herding their animals were coming uphill towards us.  After riding for a bit, I loved it!!!  I am so glad that I had the opportunity to do that.  It was a pretty long bike ride, and I was glad because it was awesome!  That night, five of us walked from our hostel to the mountains and found a place to star gaze.  Wow are the stars beautiful!! I have never seen so many stars; it felt like I was in one of those globe things that show you all the stars.  The world is so amazingly beautiful!  The night before Machu Picchu was pretty fun.  The group split up, and I stayed with some girls that went shopping. I bought a chess set, and then we went to dinner.  It started raining that night, and I really enjoyed the rain.  I hadn't realized how much I love and had missed the rain.  That night I tried to go to bed early, because we were getting up at 4 am, so that we could get to Machu Picchu and see the sun rise.  That morning of Machu Picchu was a nightmare!  There was more than one occasion where I almost didn't get into Machu Picchu that morning.  It started by me leaving my ticket in the hostel, so I had to run through the center and up the hill and stairs to our hostel at 4:30am.  And, the hostel was locked up, so I stood there banging on the door, yelling, hoping that the owners heard me and would open the door for me. Thankfully after about 5 minutes they did hear me, and I got my ticket.  I am not a person that normally forgets things like this, and so this whole situation totally scared me.  Another thing went wrong and I almost didn't get in, but all I'm going to say is this: Getting into Machu Picchu was an answer to my prayers!!  So we got there super early to see the sun rise, and it turns out there was fog.  We actually weren't sure that we were going to see it at all, the fog didn't start to leave until 11am, but the fog finally went away and it was amazing!!  5 of us started our own boy band... and we sang, danced, and recorded One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful song.  Yes, we sang that on Machu Picchu!!  It was so much fun! After Machu Picchu, we headed back to Cusco and did some shopping.  The second to last day I was able to go to the LDS Lima temple.  This was by far the best experience of the whole entire trip!!  Right as I walked on the temple grounds, I felt home again, and I couldn't stop crying.  It was exactly what I needed.

So, after I got back from that, we had our grand opening for the bakery, and then it was time for me to leave.  Saying goodbye to everyone that I met was so hard!  I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be until the time came to leave.  I met amazing people, and gained so many friendships while I was in Peru.  It was a trip of a lifetime, and I am so grateful that I was able to experience that in my lifetime.  Viva Peru!!

Peru 4

Peru 4  This past weekend was so great! Me and 3 other people in my group were able to go to Mancora, which is a beach town in Peru.  The experience of getting there was quite a joy.  First, we had to get bus tickets, because it is about a 4 hour drive.  So we looked up online a bus place, and took a taxi there. When we got there, they told us that they dont have buses going to Peru.  So, we walked to the central part of town because we had to develop some pictures.  We asked the man at the picture store where we could go to get bus tickets to Mancora.  He told us where to go, so we went and asked another taxi driver to take us there.  It was just Debbie and I that went to go get the tickets, and when the taxi man pulled up to drop us of, it was so scary! It was down this dirty street, and as we pulled up guys came to us from both sides of the street.  They were all talking and trying to get us to come to their bus place.  So, we followed a guy into what looked like a big garage.  There was a minivan and a totally beat up, not in use bus.  He took us to this little stand where he told a man that we wanted to go to Mancora.  The whole thing was very sketchy, and we didnt want to go in a minivan, we wanted to be on a bus with other people.  So, we said Gracias, and left.  So, we walked down the main street and found some bus stations.  But, whenever we walked in and asked for tickets they told us to keep going because they dont sell tickets to Mancora there.  Finally we reached a bus station that sold Mancora tickets.  We were able to purchase the tickets that we needed, and then we headed back to the photo store to meet the other people from our group.  What an experience!! haha. That night when we went to the bus station, it was really weird. Ps the bus station was called El Dorado. I guess we were pretty lucky we were safe, because we told our directors about that when we got back and they said that some bus drivers will set up a robbery where the thieves will come in and get everyone off the bus, put them face down on the road, take all their money, and then split it with the drivers.  They said that if they finger printed us and recorded us, that type of situation has probably happened before with that company.  But, besides the crazy bus situation, Mancora was beautiful! I love the beach and sun so much! It was so nice to be able to relax, play in the ocean, and lay in the sun. Its moments like that that make me never want to leave.  We did a little bit of shopping, and then we ran into two girls that had been working with us the first part of summer.  So we sat on the beach for a couple of hours as the sun set talking to them, until it was time to leave for our bus. It is the little things in life that make life enjoyable.  Being able to sit and get to know someone for a couple of hours, spending some time with little kids that you love, being around your friends, learning how to cook a Peruvian dish, sitting in the sun.  Those are the things that keep me going. I love that I have had this opportunity to come and work with all these amazing people. Tomorrow I leave for my mini trip to Machu Picchu and the Lima temple. I am so excited to see the wonderful sights of Peru.
Much Love,
Emily