2010: Best Year of My Life

Enjoy the mesh of pics from 2010.


I thought it would be cool to look back on one of the best years of my life... 2010.
I can honestly say that I have grown and learned so much in this last year and loved everything... but I am so excited for the future too.

Hightlights:

-A year ago, I met my best friend Cassie Kopa when she decided to randomly move into our baller 334 apt. My life has never been the same since. We have had some amazing times together in a short time, but not only is she hilarious, fun, and occasionally ditzy and witty? she is so sweet and loving to everyone she meets.

Spontaneous trips to Vegas and CA are just a standard thing for us. nbd.

-I had great roomies. Which included CK, T the teezy, and tash. We had some great times together. Including an actual planned trip to Vegas. Love these girls. I guess all the swim boys living downstairs was kindaaa fun too.

-Seeing the nuggets play for my 21st finally....shout out to my boy the Birdman

-Being with my swim team. Our team mottos: "for each other" and this year, "This. Is. It." Swimming with my sister one last time after swimming together side by side for 15+ years.

-Enjoying my last year swimming for the rest of my life! Especially being with all the great girls, i will miss them!

-SPAIN/PORTUGAL. OBVIOUSLY. the highlight of the year. It is funny how even today, certain memories from those trips will pop into my head all the time and I love it/ miss it everyday. I think the coolest thing is the friends that I met there. We are all still best friends to this day and are making more memories together in provo all the time.

-I dove into my major, and I love it even more now. Working in the newsroom was a love/hate but I am grateful I had the opportunity to learn soo much. I love all the kids in PR and it has been great meeting so many new people.

-I got accepted into the Washington Seminar Program with my bff from Spain, Tessa. I cant wait for that experience!






-seeester graduated from BYU and is now tackling law school. so proud of her!


Bring it on 2011 :)

P Town Son

In case you were wondering....this is what my life has been consisting of:

http://universe.byu.edu/
With 2 stories due a week. My social life has declined...well only kinda, let's be honest. That's a big priority. I can no longer procrastinate school work. I am on campus ALL DAY. With constant interviews, calls, research, and then the actual writing of the story...the newsroom has become a 3rd home (after my actual apartment and the pool). Good thing everyone in the newsroom is awesome and all of us PR kids are struggling together.

On top of news reporting...is a PR class, a law/media class, and a little espanol action.

and this obviously:
http://www.byucougars.com/swimming_diving/
First meet in almost 2 weeks! Senior year is well on its way.
love these girls.
the first picture is one of our first pictures together freshmen year. oh how we've changed.




Occasionally there is time for some of this:







Check it out:
http://tippingbucket.org/
It is a cool donation site that features one project and people can donate as little as a dollar. Your credit card is not charged if the goal amount is not reached. I'm busy doing a PR campaign for it so I'm REPPIN it too. holla.


For music: Pandora is so 2009. check out www.grooveshark.com.
Can listen to whole cds, pretty much anything at anytime.





I'm pretty sure I think about Spain and being abroad everyday so I'm keeping the name of my blog...also just in case that really worried you.



peace & blessings

still livin the dream

ALL the pics are from Portugal.







Although I am no longer abroad and life feels a tad lame in the states...I figured I could still blog if the occasion seemed fitting. Such as omg my life is SO SO exciting. This is one of those moments.






Portugal was never given the credit it deserves so here it is:

It was amazing. I traveled all over the country with my lovely cousin, Rafaela and had a blast with my family and new friends.Oh and the men were gorgeous. HOLLA.






Recent discoveries: Provo can be fun during the summer.
And my Mom really has enjoyed my new sense of spontaneity which consists of road trips to Vegas and California. All the love Mom.

3 etapa

I am in what we have recently called the 3 etapa (time period) of our Spain trip. This is basically party mode. Our group has gone a bit crazy, real world style. Let's just say, the hormones are ragin.



I have 1 and half weeks left here. We leave for Barcelona tomorrow for the whole week and then next week is finals! Then off to Portugal for a week. I can't wait to see my family there. I realized that I haven't seen my Dad's sister and her family in....12 years...yes, that long. The last time I saw my cousin, Rafaela, we were both little girls, communicating somehow even though we didn't speak the same language. I'm guessing this time it will be a tad different.






Recent events:
*Went to a bullfight. Pretty scary to see the bull roll over and die. They killed 6 bulls. But it was an awesome experience. Very cultural.
* Went to Salamanca and Burgos.
*Ate some blood sausage
* Saw the Don Quijote windmills
*Saw a Spanish play
* Went to demaisiado Cathedrals
*Shopped in every city
* Woke up at 3 AM to go clubbing

I am going to miss this place. Some new Americans arrived in Alcala recently and we all felt like they were invading our little home. Tender.

Vale Vale Vale

Sevilla and Granada may have stolen the prize as the prettiest place away from Toledo. It's a pretty tough competition. It was an amazing trip..besides the countless cathedrals that we all get sick of. If I see another one...I might barf. What I love are all the beautiful views, just walking on the cobblestone streets, or enjoying a paella lunch outside with the crew.


The Alhambra is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is an old palace full of gorgeous gardens. I can't even describe it and pictures don't do it justice, so just go there someday.

After 3 nights of basically no sleep and all play, we are back in our little home in Alcala. Only when I walk the streets by myself, it actually hits me where I am. I still can't believe sometimes. I only have three weeks left and we are all determined to live it up as much as possible.

We also saw flamenco dancing in Sevilla. So cool, the Spanish dancer captured all our hearts..duh. These are the infamous HAMMER pants. It's a big deal in Spain. so obviously we have to fit in. Ok yesterday we all went to the Parque de Retiro to row boats. As always, a fight broke out between us girls and the guys full of splashing and stealing paddles. But, the champion, Jen jumped in the lake! The entire lake, everyone sitting outside on the grass a.k.a. half of Spain were all laughing and clapping for us. It was hilarious. Top five moment here...along with Blanca yelling at me, We have Band concert, and Dan getting pissed on the daily.
living and loving every moment. <3

I may never leave...

So it has been two and half weeks of living here in Spain...and I have honestly loved every minute. The crew, the Spanish people, traveling, Blanca, and even kinda school..kinda. I'm sorry family and friends, but I don't ever want to leave.
Last Friday we traveled to Avila and Segovia which were beautiful, like everything here. But, it was freezing. I rocked my swimming jacket (BYU swim team is well represented here, HOLLA) but I was dying. Thus, but the end of the trip all of us wanted to get the heck out. Then saturday it was la festival de San Isidro in Madrid so we went to Madrid all day. Which we basically do everyday anyway. They had a big flee market type thing, music, and food everywhere. These people know how to party fo sho.
This week we have a five-day weekend trip to Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba. No big deal.


Some funny memories, jokes, or common happenings: *hammer pants, it's always hammer time *the crew, either fab four, sexy six, or elite eight. *we love churros con chocolate...only at maestro churro. *Madrid everyday all day *spanglish is always best. *sleeping in church *sleeping on the metro *being slap happy/crazy every night around 7ish...especially me. *PANDA WATCH *Spider hands *Beating up on Dan...too soon? *That's what she said jokes with the pinky finger up *Me gusta *Speaking like a gringo *dibs *your team/my team game *study abroad couples...which are against the rules, recently stated by Profe Williams. *"when in doubt, take pictures of the pain" *old spanish men *nuns *chillin at the Pinta or Mushka *Jav's deep questions and talks *Hiding food in the napkin or pouring it into a bag to hide it from your host fam *The dreaded group tours.
*I WANT MCDONALDS.
* Always chocolate/candy...always.
*Chino stores.
*Buying skirts from Zara.
*We have band concert..Tenemos Banda!!
*Euros=dollars. duh.
*one week here=a year in real life.
*Penguin huddle.

<3

OMG SPAIN!!!

I only have time for a few pics but this was at our fav shop in Toledo.
Can this guy be anymore perfectly Spain? :)

Ok I really am alive here in Spain. I finally found some good internet...in a pub. The school internet is being weird with my Mac so I'm just chillin in a bar.

Espana is absolutely amazing. I knew I was going to love it, but honestly, I never want to leave. It hasn't even been a full week, but it feels like I've been here longer. Everyday seems like two days for some reason. The morning activities...lunch at 2:30. Then afternoon activities....dinner at 9:30...and then occasionally going out after that too.

Alcala is the little city we live in and the best way to describe it is...straight out of a movie.

School started yesterday. One class is grammar (which I am really sick of) and the other is Spanish history which is interesting. But school is nothing compared to everything else we have done. There is a group of 4-6 of us that are constantly doing something fun, like taking the tren to Madrid or hitting up the bars at night. K I'll update more later. peace fools.