I'm going to Germany!!!!!

As you all know, I was contemplating doing study abroad in Berlin, Germany this summer. I finished my application last week and met with the director, Professor Kelling this afternoon. He said to me that everything is complete and all he has to do is push the button if I wanted him to. I replied, push the button!

The program starts on Monday, May 3 and goes until mid July (there isn't a definate finish date yet as the last two weeks are pure travel). So I have 8 weeks of intensive German language class where I will finish not only 201, but 202 as well. That means that I am taking a college course in under 4 weeks, thats crazy. Then I have 4 more credits I have to complete, some of which will be a German cultural study class which will culminate my time in Germany with a two week stint of traveling.

I will be staying with a family in Berlin (not an LDS family, if you were curious). And I have one meal with them each week, but other than that, it's up to me. We are encouraged to go to the markets and do everything like a true Berliner. I am absolutly terrified, but where would be the fun in an easy trip?

I am super excited and I have all kinds of plans to accelerate my German learning before I leave, most of which will probably only last a week or two. My current teacher doesn't really structure his classes, so I never know what to expect which makes it hard to learn, but learn I do.

tschuss!



p.s. there should be an umlaut over that u, but I'm too lazy to figure it out :) it means goodbye in case you couldn't figure that one out

The Trek to Provo

So this day started off pretty good. I got up and finished packing, then I got to go to Sacrament Meeting at church, which was lovely. I got to say goodbye to many people and see friends one last time before the cold months ahead of me. Then I changed and headed to LAX. We listened to some Strauss on the trip over which, by the way, was traffic-less. However, once I arrived at LAX and saw the long line of people waiting outside, I knew this day had taken a turn. I looked around and found the right line, then proceeded to wait in the sun for about 45 minutes at which point they tagged and took my brand new luggage and I headed off to security. At this point, my flight was leaving in another 45 minutes, and I was starting to get worried, especially when they herded us to some random security checkpoint. I rushed through and made it just in time to wait in my boarding line for aobut 3 minutes and then got in, and got my seat.

For the longest time, nobody sat next to me, which was very happy because after standing in the sun for so long, I was not smelling as nice as I would have liked. We had to wait for some transfer passengers and I got to sit next to a cute little girl who was unaccompanied. We got to SLC on time, even though we left the terminal 20 minutes late. Then I trundled down to the baggage claim, stopping only to buy a granola bar so I had change to tip the shuttle driver. Then i proceeded to wait, and wait, and then everyone had their baggage and was leaving.

"What?" I thought to myself. Of course it would be just my luck that someone would take my brand new luggage that I love oh so much. But I held out hope because there were a few other confused looking passengers who I remembered from the flight. We went to the baggage office where they told us that our luggage had probably been put on the next flight and that they would take it out to us when it came in. I gave the lady my info and asked when the bags would come in. My options consisted of it making it to provo around 4am, or 2pm the next day, and that is considering that it made it on the flight she assumed they put it on.

Luckily, I have everything I need here at my dorm with the exception of a toothbrush, hairbrush and products, and my good make up (I have some random stuff here, but not my everyday make up, its my stage make up and discarded other items). I think I'm just going to wake up for the 4am delivery if it makes the flight.

Also, I would just like to say that I delt with this while fasting and with cramps.

I had a dream!

By all means, I should be studying, but this is more important at the moment.

I had a rather odd dream last night. First things first, now I didn't find this out till like a third of the way into the dream, but I feel that it is important to know from the start. The Bennings weren't royalty, but we were a very influential family, like the Rocketfellers, or Vanderbilts. I was getting married. It was an arranged marrage and he was seven. Apparently I was OK with this fact up until the big day at which point I rightly freaked out about marrying a seven year old. But it was a huge deal, like I was Marie Antoinette going off to marry Louis and I knew what my family duty was, even though this was modern day and I probably could have said no. So there I was, crying and freaking out in an awsome red dress and the wedding couldn't start until the Heinrichs got there becuase they were bringing some very important food item and I think Kelli was a bridesmade. She wasn't too happy about this marriage either when she got there. Also, there was something about getting a corset to wear because I wanted it.

So it turns out that he wasn't actually seven, he was seventeen. Which is still a little young, but much better than seven and I was OK with that so the wedding went on with a relatively happy bride.

Isn't that weird? What in the world is going on with my subconsious? I would appriciate some opinions on the matter, do your worst. This should be interesting. I find dreams to be lots of fun and I wish I remembered them more often. Though just hearing about Kelli's dreams is crazy fun.

A 1940's Winter Wonderland

I just got back from the closing social for folk dance. It was a 1940's themed dinner dance. Just what I was dying to do! They partnered us up with boys from the team so we all had dates. It was at the beautiful Hinckley building which we can never go to because its only for alumni. We had dinner upstairs and it was really good, then we went downstairs and they had a big band (of the high school persuasion). It reminded me so much of the Chaminade band and it made me really happy. Though the Chaminade band doesn't take twelve years to switch songs like this band did. Everyone was dressed up so nicely, I loved it so much!

Funny story: so my folk dance partner (who was not my date thank goodness) decided that since he played in his school band, he should just play with this band. So he went up and asked if he could join, borrowed somebodys saxophone and played a few songs with the band. Really brian, really?

Christmas Around the World

This weekend is the famous Christmas Around the World (CAW) performance. I am one of the lucky 200 that gets to be in it. Because its the 50th anniversary there are a bunch of alumni that are doing the opener with us and they are all really fun people, but because there are extras it means that there are a lot more people than is comfortable backstage.

I wasn't too happy about a lot of things with CAW, but by this morning, I was OK with it all. I had gotten over that I was annoyed that they wanted us to wear pantyhose and not dance tights, which goes against everything I have learned ever. They have shared makeup which is rather silly and learning the opener and closer with everyone just felt like a giant group project where there were a lot of leaders and a lot of useless people. One of those projects where you have 10 people but really only need 1 or 2. But I have gotten over that and I am being a rebel and wearing dance tights anyway because I feel more comfortable that way.

Anyway, I was getting annoyed with the people, but we finished all the learning and it is a really cool performance. This morning we did a modified show for the elementry school kids and it was awsome. They are just so enthuastic about everything. While they were arriving, we had a pre-show going on and people did tricks and the kids sang. It was just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

The show as a whole is really amazing. I love all the dances so much and the set looks awsome. I am impressed with what they have been able to pull off.

My parents are coming here late tonight to catch the matinee tomorrow and I am very excited to see them!

Only four days of classes then some finals and HOME!!!

Well, it's been a while...

So, while I was at the airport waiting for my bag, I noticed something pecular. There was a bright red sign that said "Children must not play on the whatchyamacallit" (it didn't say carousel, though that's what I'd call it, so for our purposes, it is a whatchyamacallit). Children, really? Well, I am a legal adult, does that mean that I can play on it?

It reminded me of a happy time about two years ago when I was in England with my happy friends. We were at Chatsworth house, which is where they filmed the new Pemberly. There was a large staircase-style waterfall with a sign near it saying "If you choose to play in the water, please use extreme caution" so naturally the youngest two decided to walk across the fountain.

I would also like to say that I get to go back home in 16 days and I am very happy about that. You see, when discussing study abroad, my best friend brought up a good point that I thought I had under control...homesickness. I have been fine since the very beginning of October. I had a month of troubles, then forgot about it. I even had a visit home in those months, but I think that this visit was just longer and harder to leave. Don't worry, I won't leave BYU for good, its a fabulous school that I love (also, I just really have to beat my sisters who both ran home after a semester away). All I'm saying is that I think a BYU-LA is in order. I hope that the two and a half weeks I get for winter break is a long enough time for me to get sick of home so I'm not sick for home because we get absolutly no breaks from January until April and that is a long time with no home.

That little rant being said, how would I fare half way around the world in Berlin? I think that because it is such a short time, I would be OK. I was fine all throughout summer term because the end was in sight from the beginning, but maybe also because it worked out that I saw family every other week. I was talking to an army child who lived in Germany for a few years and she said that she absolutly loved it there. They are really friendly people and will totally help out with the language which was my main concern. And we have friends in Poland and Berlin(we think that's where he is). MAKE UP YOUR MIND LAURA!!! DO YOU WANT TO GO OR DON'T YOU!!!

Oh, the other thing is that I think I have more of a chance of having a car next school year if I don't go. And I would really, really like a car.

The Vatican on New Moon

Here is what the Vatican had to say about New Moon:

The Vatican has blasted New Moon, calling it "deviant" and a "moral vacuum".

The Twilight sequel, which hits cinemas this weekend, has been criticised by the governing body of the Roman Catholic Church for its supernatural references.

"This theme of vampires in Twilight combines a mixture of excesses that, as ever is aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element," complained the Vatican's culture council leader, Monsignor Franco Perazzolo.

He added, "This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern."

The Vatican's stance comes as something of a surprise as they have softened their stance on certain blockbusters recently - approving the most recent Harry Potter film and calling the sequel to The Da Vinci Code "harmless entertainment".


My personal opinion on why the Vatican is getting so angry is that they don't like the fact that their whole city/country is very similar to Volterra. They have the same royalty-like thing going on and they are all vastly old men. I have nothing against the people in the Vatican, I just think that people that get angry about fiction need to rethink a lot of things in their life because its FICTION!