I'm a college graduate!

I graduated from college last Thursday.

Yep, that's right I'm a college graduate. I never have to go to school again!

These is the pretty lei my parents got for me to wear during graduation.

The victory bell. The line was so long I didn't get to ring it, but Karlie got a sweet picture of it.

Commencement exercises.

My Grandpa Reher and I.

Elsa and I in our sweet alumni shirts.

Getting my diploma cover and shaking Dean Maglby's hand. I must say my fake diploma inside it looks pretty awesome. But not as awesome as the real one will look!

And finally, the Y lit up just for me!

What a day

Today, well I guess yesterday, was a very busy day.

1. I woke up and walked to campus with Elsa and picked up my cap and gown for graduation.
2. I studied for my last test ever. So it was really funny, at one point right before we went to take our test, Elsa and I were reading over our notes and I came to the word Pope but saw poop, and we spent at least 5 minutes laughing so hard we were crying. And it wasn't even that funny...
3. I took my last test EVER. Elsa and I prepared one question from each section of the test, because that was perfect for all the other tests in this class, but of course the one question Dr. Pixton decided to change was one of the questions we prepared
4. I finished season 3 of Lost - intense. And they showed the future!
5. I played Sims 3 and Sims Medieval - both of which are super fun.
6. I saw my Grandpa.
7. I went to the Skyroom for lunch with Elsa and my family
8. I wrote 16 blue-book pages on my Middle Ages final
9. I finally paid my late fee from a physical science test I took fall semester and my graduation application fee that was charged to my account in December

But most importantly. I FINISHED SCHOOL FOREVER. Tomorrow is graduation. I'm super excited.

They took away my lanyard

Today was the last day of my internship. They made me turn in my lanyard. I was really disappointed.

Overall, my internship was an amazing experience. I learned a lot, met some great people, and had fun. I also really think it helped prepare me for my future career, whatever it ends up being...

Equally exciting as finishing my internship, I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 on DVD today! I'm watching it right now and counting down the days until part 2 comes out!

I think they knew

I'm pretty sure the boys working at Little Caesars last night knew Elsa and I had a paper due today. I'm not sure how they knew, but they did. How else would they have known to give us the best batch of Crazy Bread ever made? Seriously. It was soft and warm and yummy. I'm pretty sure they put double butter and garlic on it too. They had to have known we were going to be up all night writing and would need something yummy to make us feel better.

I thought of one bad thingabout graduating last night.

You don't get student discounts any more!

That means no more $1 Crazy Bread. And I'm going to have to start paying full price for movies again. Sad day.

But oh well. Cause you know what? I had my last class today. Ever. And I turned in my last paper today. Ever. The paper that would not have existed this morning if the boys at Little Caesar had given me a different package of Crazy Bread.

Also I watched this video last night. It made me happy that I'm a history major and could answer all these questions

Now I'm going to try and take a nap to add to the 2 hours of sleep I got last night.

I'm almost a grown up

So, I'm graduating in 11 days.

Crazy, right?

That means I am almost grown up.

My government teacher in high school always called us "almost adults," and then when we were graduating he told us that we as we left high school we would really be adults.

I've decided that either he was wrong, or I was behind the times because I still don't feel like a grownup as I'm getting ready to graduate from college. I feel like I should still be playing with my Barbie's and taking my lunch to school in a purple plastic, Aladdin and Jasmin lunch box.

I definitely hope that what I was like as a 17 year old, high school graduate doesn't reflect true adulthood because if it does, we are all in so much trouble.

I've grown up a lot since I graduated high school. I think if I hadn't been there for the process, I would be convinced I was not really the same person.

These are some grown up things I have done in the past few days:

1. Applied for a job. A REAL job. That I'm really excited about.
2. did my homework the night before it was due right when I got home from work, instead of my normal routine of starting it in class the day its due
3. Finished my microfilm project almost a week before it's final due date
4. Went to 2 bridal showers
5. Got a phone call from the BYU Annual Fund asking me to give back to the school. Really? I thought they only asked people who have finished college and have real jobs! Which, I guess is just about to be me... But still, only adults get phone calls asking for them to give donations!

Now, in direct contradiction to the grown up things I did, I'm only going to write about childish things I've done recently for the rest of the post.

I've watched 14 episodes of Lost in the past two days. I just finished episode 14 of season 3. And believe me, I was shocked about some of the stuff that happened. But, the thing that shocked me most was finding out who Claire's dad is. Blew my mind.

My other favorite part in the Lost episodes I've watched was when Sawyer started talking about Little House on the Prairie. Made my day.

I finally got the books for my final research paper from the library 4 days before the paper is due.

I have successfully avoided grocery shopping for close to 3 weeks. It's just so much work...

I just watched this week's episode of Vampire Diaries. You know my mind that had already blown up from finding out who Claire's dad is? Yeah, it got hit by a bazillion nuclear bombs at the end of the episode. My mind is now a nuclear waste land. And I'm expected to take finals this week. I don't think I have ever been more surprised and shocked about a TV show in my whole, entire life. I didn't even see it coming! And that is saying something, because I pride myself in being able to accurately guess what is going to happen next. I'm almost never wrong.

And finally, I let my room get to this point... (it looks way worse in real life)

Don't tell Brooke though! Or she might decide she doesn't want to live with me again next year!

Tiger Wrestling

I found this picture today at my internship.

Yes, that is a real tiger.

And yes, that guy is wrestling it.

Did they really think this was a good idea?

This is what must have been going through his head:

This is soooo awesome! I'm totally kicking this tiger's trash! This stinking tiger is no match for me and the 2 feet of string I wove last night. I'm a total Bad A! Good thing all those people are behind that barrier made of twigs, because if I wasn't holding this tiger in submission right now they would be knocked over my my awesomeness!

At least this is what he was thinking until he realized the tiger clawed him new pants to shreds (gotta impress the ladies with his fashion sense while he wrestles a mighty predator into submission), and took a huge bite out of his hip.

This was part of the OFFICIAL Brigham Young University homecoming celebration in 1968. I mean it took place right in front of the McKay Building! Other activities included ostrich racing and cougar hunting.

Where do you even get a live tiger from? I mean, when you ask for the tiger do they ask what you need it for? Because, if they did ask, and then the answer was that a bunch of students were going to wrestle it, the person who gave them the tiger is either an idiot OR seriously needed some humor in his life and has a sick sense of humor. Because lets face it, this would be HILARIOUS to watch.

I vote we bring this time honored tradition back for all future Homecoming Celebrations. I mean what is a blue foam slip 'n slide to wrestling a tiger?

True Blue slip 'n slide is epic, but it's epicness just doesn't measure up to wrestling a live, full grown tiger.

Graduation Countdown Update

I got my car washed yesterday, and with my car wash I got one of those tree air fresheners.

It's suppose to last for 7 weeks.

So that means that when the smelly tree is no longer effective and I need a new one, I'll be

GRADUATING!!!

The official count for today is 50 days. And 34 classes.

I went to the Grad Fair on campus this morning and was looking at caps and gowns and announcements, and it is all starting to feel real.

Halfway Gone

Did you know that iTunes has songs for 69¢?

Well they do. Every once in a while they get updated, I guess. At least that's what Brooke says.

So anyways I found them this afternoon when I was laying in bed. And guess what one of the songs was?!

Graduation by Vitamin C!

Which is a coincidence, because, I'm graduating in 53 days!!!

I'm totally gonna buy it. Because it is not only a classic, but it speaks to my life at this moment.

Also, this weekend marks the half way point in the semester. And this week there is a graduation fair where I get to order my cap and gown.

53 days and 38 classes and I'll never have to check out this many books from the library again...

(Those aren't all mine. Some are Jess's, but I'd guess at least 2/3 of them were mine, if not more...)

The original testing center

Today I was working on linking photographs from the BYU 100th anniversary photography collection to their archive finding aids. Which basically means that in the archives we create this database of files you can search through when you're looking for something in the archives and it will tell you what the collection is about and where you can find it. So today I was finding the digital copies of the photographs and adding them so they'd be easier to find, and I came across this...

It's the original Testing Center!

This was taken circa 1890 in the old Brigham Young Academy building. (Now the Academy building is the Provo City Library and one of my most favorite places in all of Provo. It is seriously one of the coolest libraries ever, on the inside and the outside.)

The room the students are sitting in was called "Room D" and it could be changed around for different purposes, but it was often used as a study room, as shown in the photo.

When I saw this picture, the first thing it made me think of was the Testing Center-that wonderful building full of dreadful tests, runny noses, and broken dreams. Apparently, the idea for the Testing Center has been around for a while. And if you look closely at the picture you can see the despair in the student's faces, proving that students and the Testing Center have had a rocky relationship since 1890!

Now this isn't the actual Testing Center, since the Heber J. Grant Building, home of the Testing Center today, wasn't built until 1925. Did you know that originally the Heber J. Grant Building was the library? Isn't it funny that this picture, that looks like the Testing Center, was taken in the current Provo City Library and that the current Testing Center use to be the library? Talk about coincidences.

I also found this photograph of the staircase south of campus from when it was first constructed in 1924.

The hill looks so small, I swear it's bigger in real life! Tomorrow I'm going to count the stairs and compare it to the picture to make sure they haven't been adding a stair a year or something sneaky and devious like that.

This is one thing that I love about history. Finding historic evidence of things that still exist and seeing what it looked like at different points in history. Like take this example of Provo Center Street...

circa 1860

circa 1890

1900

Today...obviously

Isn't that just so cool?! I love how downtown Provo still has historic charm. Its obvious that its not all the same buildings, though I think further down the street some of them might be the original buildings, but it has the same feeling of a historic town center that it did in 1860. And it looks pretty darn awesome in the snow.

36 Days

That's how many days of class I have left to go to until I graduate.

That means I have 72 class periods left.

Do you know how exciting this is? So exciting I think I just peed a little...op definitely did (name that youtube video)

Technically there are still 97 days until graduation, but I only have class on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so those other days of the week I learned way back in kindergarten don't count on my calendar.

I need to start practicing my grabbing diploma cross over hand shake skills! I don't want to disappoint with Cecil and President Uchtdorf watching!

Brooke is back!!!

Brooke came back today.

The lucky bum graduated in December so she didn't have to come back when the rest of us did to start school. So instead of enjoying the freezing temperatures, Brooke stayed an extra week in sunny California.

But now she's back.

I told her that if she tried to move back home I would lock the door and refuse to let her leave. And if I had to that I would drive to California and kidnap her and bring her back.

Now everything is back to normal. Plus Elsa, Jess, and I got the dishes done and everything cleaned up just in time for Brooke to come back. Our goal was to have all our stuff from Christmas cleaned up and put away before Brooke came back so she wouldn't turn around and go home instead of living with messy roommates. I'm very proud of us for this accomplishment.

I just decided that this semester we need to work on taking pictures. Pictures of stuff we do and of the four of us. Because at this moment only 2 semi decent pictures exist of the four of us, an these are them.The fact that there are only 2 pictures and we've lived together for over a year now is just sad.

The beginning of the end...

In 99 days the giant Y on the mountain will be lit up for me. Because...

I started my last semester of college on Tuesday!

I'm very excited about it. So excited, in fact, that I can hardly function.

I also rarely talk about anything else. When somebody asks me how I'm doing my reply is that I'm doing good and that I just started my last semester of college. People are probably tired of hearing it, but I'm not tired of saying it, so too bad for them!

This semester I am only taking 9 credits. I only have two real classes, Late Middle Ages and Family Finance, and then I have an internship in the Special Collections of the BYU Library working under the University Archivist. I started my internship today and so far I've loved it, all 2 hours of it! Even though I'm not going to have a busy or hard semester academically, it will be busy/hard because I'm going to have so little time. With the time spent on my internship and my job, I'm going to be working close to 35 hours a week! Plus taking 2 classes.

This semester is going to be a great one, I can tell. And even if it isn't, in April I get to wear a funny hat and somebody is going to give me a piece of paper that has cost an awful lot of money, and I will be thrilled about it! Because I will be done with college!

Did you know?

This painting is called The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St John and Two Donors, it was painted by Masaccio in 1427. Did you know that?

Well neither did I.

It definitely would have helped if I had known this like an hour ago when I was taking my Italian Renaissance final.

One of the questions on the test was to identify this painting and the artist who painted it and then use it to explain the principles of Renaissance art. I killed the principles of Renaissance art part, but the identification part is a different story. Here is my response:

"Honestly I have no idea who painted this or what it is called. But it is a picture of Christ being crucified and was most likely painted by a revered Renaissance artist such as Maccachio or Titan."

Now in my defense I did get the artist right, I just spelled it so incorrectly that my teacher might not realize this.

What a great way to start finals week. But on the bright side I will be completely done with finals by 10 o'clock tomorrow morning!

On to physical science! ugh...

The WORST class I've ever taken

This semester I took a class about World War II history. Before school started this was the only class I was looking forward to. Now looking back at the semester I've decided it was the worst class I have ever taken and the worst teacher/professor I have ever had. And I do mean EVER.

This is the review I submitted for this class. I'm pretty sure it means that I'm a terrible person...

"I was really looking forward to this class at the beginning of the semester, but ended up being extremely disappointed. I was dissatisfied with the quality of the teaching, assignments, and overall class and feel like I didn’t learn very much. The class did not reflect the description of the class in the course catalog, which describes the class as looking at World War II in a global perspective, focusing on the “causes, flow, and consequences of World War II emphasizing the American experience at home and abroad.” This class was not what I was expecting; I could care less about how the war has been remembered, although it is important, it doesn’t need to be almost the sole focus of the class. I also was disappointed at how little the class focused on the European theater and especially the United States role in the war. There was so much reading for this class that it was often impossible to do, and the assignments were confusing and redundant. When writing the papers I felt like I was following the instructions, yet saying the same thing over and over. On a side note, why would you require that the Primary Source Analysis paper be singled space but then threaten to not grade out finals if our hand writing isn’t perfect because it makes them hard to read? Singled spaced papers are just as hard to read, especially when the reader is tired. One of the worst parts of the class though was the actual lecture. The lectures seemed unprepared because they were usually read straight from notes, and when he tried to lecture without them his points seemed disjointed and didn’t entirely make sense because he jumped around a lot. I know that this is a personal preference, but I would rather that the class involved more quality lecture and less class discussion. I would rather know the facts than debate “what ifs” and theoretical questions with other students who often have no idea what they are talking about because they don’t know the facts either. Finally, Pearl Harbor is an excellent movie."

Now the Pearl Harbor reference may seem random thrown in there at the end, but when we talked about Pearl Harbor the professor totally slammed the movie and made it seem like the worst historical movie ever made. I've heard other teachers say this before, but he was particularly harsh. Personally, I think that any historical movie is good, even when it adds, alters, or embellishes facts. Movies like Pearl Harbor make people interested in history and introduce them to topics and ideas that they normally would not think about. So when the professor started slamming Pearl Harbor it just really made me mad. Mostly because I love everything about that movie, and I just didn't like the teacher so half the things he said made me mad.

Just look at that poster, how could it be for a bad movie? It just isn't possible.