Called

I have been called to serve in the Lima Peru South Mission, Spanish speaking. I report to the MTC on May 2nd of 2012.

This is a picture of Peru and the map I got in my packet, I'm pretty sure it's all the shaded part, but mostly the little zoomed in box.

Funny story:

My parents and I were about to leave for the day and we were going through the mail that my parents picked up earlier today. And out of no where my mom pulls out a large white envelope and says, "What's this?" A large white envelop addressed to a Sister Felicia Lynn Harbison. After being mad at the mail-picker-upper for the day for a split second, we sat down after thinking "This is it..." and opened it to find the great news. It was a Christmas miracle that we stumbled upon it before we let it sit there for another day.

Lima, Peru Temple

I can't wait for this opportunity to learn the Spanish language so much better, but most importantly, I can't wait to preach The Gospel to the people of Peru.

Guess

For those of you who don't know, this girl:

Is going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Well I kind of think it's tacky to make a facebook group for everyone to guess, so I'm doing it here on my blog instead.

So if you want to make your guess as to where I'm going to be called to, add a comment here. Here's a list of all the missions around the world. You can make a guess even if you don't have an account, just make it anonymous and add your name in the comment box.

*Stay tuned here on my blog to see where I'm going, cause facebook isn't going to be the first place I'll be posting it*

Skinny

This article, has made the topic of skinny jeans at BYU-Idaho national and international news.

I don't want to start anything here, but the Honor Code is the Honor Code, if all you do is complain about it, stop. Complaining is lame and no one wants to hear about it.

However, the manager of the Testing Center, has crossed the line. He needs to be clear to his employees what is appropriate and inappropriate and what's rational for someone who's trying to take a test and irrational.

Maybe he should take a taste of his own medicine, and figure out how to better approach and convey a topic like the Honor Code...

Sixth

This is my sixth semester here at BYU-Idaho...Yes, I have been here a long time, but hey not as long as some people.

And this is my sixth set of roommates:

From the left: Me, Diana, Eileen, Sharla, Katie, and Holly.

I'd have to say they've been the best so far.

Diana is from Texas and as been here the same amount of time as I have. She is studying Phycology and loves teaching Zumba and we do it with her every Tuesday and Thursday.

Eileen is originally from Arizona, but this past year her family has been living in China. Unfortunately, she will be leaving us this Wednesday because she is in a program that has her here for first block and out camping second block.

Sharla I've known since my first semester and this is our third semester living together.

Katie graduated the same year I did, is studying Elementary Education, and is from North Carolina.

Holly is my roommate and I lived in the same apartment with her last semester. Unfortunately, she is done after this semester, graduating in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations.

Well these are my roommates and we have tons of fun together!

MPH

My life has gone from 103 MPH to about 4 in about 2 days. I got home from school a couple of weeks ago and it's been nice to relax here at home, but also kind of boring. I schedule any appointments I have one each day, making sure not to overlap them so I'll have something to do each day (pathetic? yep).

Last semester was crazy busy and fun, with work, school, and social living I got little to no sleep. But like I said it was fun and worth it.

In my boredom here at home I've managed to watch a lot of TLC (my dad asked me for any wedding dress shopping tips I have from watching Say Yes to the Dress) and Project Runway. I've also read some books, LOVE The Help and recommend it 100% and now I'm continuing my read of the Hunger Games series. And to fill my Thursday nights, I have a cake decorating class which is super fun and doing a number on my waistline...

Things ahead:

Arizona, visiting family down there

Seeing movies that come out, The Help, Glee 3D, One Day (loved that book too)

Then School, I've already been making the plans to go back...

Hope your summer has been treating you well!

Sorry for the wordy post and no pictures and for not posting in forever...

Club

Here are the members of the quarter pounder club, people who have eaten a quarter pound hamburger from Big Jud's:

Danika, Me, Kenzie, Holly, and Julie

Here is the member of the one pounder club, the person who has eaten the entire one pounder from Big Jud's:

Dustin

We went to Big Jud's over the weekend and witnessed Dustin eat the one pounder. If it wasn't for all of us cheering him on, he wouldn't have succeed. But he did it! (And kept it all down).

Sunshine

This weekend was BEAUTIFUL! Tons of sunshine and warm weather for all of us to enjoy. This is how we spent our weekend:

We all went to Monkey Rock. Well there was sunshine all day until we got to the water...then the clouds came in; however, it was still warm and a nice day.

Whitney, Holly, and Bryce enjoyed the outdoors (so did Julie) aka too wimpy to go in the water. (I don't have a picture of Dustin, but for part of the time he was fishing)

Danika, Kenzie, and I were the only braves ones (well Dustin came in later) to go out into the water. We bet the wimps (aka Holly and Whitney) that if we went under the waterfall they would buy us Kiwi Loco (the local frozen yogurt shop). Well we didn't make it to the waterfall because the current was too strong and it would have been too hard...

So instead we bet that if we could stay under the freezing water for 7 seconds, they would buy us Kiwi Loco. Well we did it!

From the left: Kenzie, Whitney, Danika, Dustin, Julie, Holly, Bryce, and I

Not Pictured: On Sunday we also spent most of the day outside in the sunshine. It was so nice that when night came it was still warm to play some high stakes, three point shootout aka making baskets at the park with bets tied to them. Maybe I'll have another post for those results.

I'm now reminiscing of this weekend, because came Monday it became cold and rainy here in Rexburg... Sunshine, you can come back this weekend for us, just letting you know.

Neo

My baby, Neo, passed away on May 22, 2011.



Neo was Neo: The nicest, sweetest, playful, loving, and funnest dog in the world.



Well reality hit me today, coming home for the weekend, when I walked in from the garage and the only dog greeting me was Jake, that's when it all hit hard. I think it's hard for people to understand my love for him, but I will never take his former presence in my life for granted.
I was (and still am) so blessed to have him and his love.

This post is dedicated to you Neo and all the memories you leave us with.




Love and miss you.

This post has brought me closure and I hope I can now stop crying from here on out.

Pick

This is a college student's life:

You can have good grades, enough sleep, or a social life, but the catch is you can only pick two...you can't have all three.

My pick: Social Life and Good Grades

Here's my Social Life this semester:

Eating delicious ice cream random nights of the week. (Me, Kenzie, Holly, and Dustin)


Scootering down from the top of the hill. Well really Kenz and I scoot around town everyday.


Being a spectator at our friends sporting events. (From the top Holly, Julie, Me, Kenzie, and Whitney) This is us at a flag football game, the views were quite nice...

Good Grades:
Well my schedule is pretty insane this semester.
I wake up at 7 every morning for 7:45 class, come home take a short nap, eat lunch, go to work from 2-5, eat dinner with Holls, do homework for about 3 hours a night, take a shower, Kenzie and I then make our rounds on scooters aka going to the guys' apartments in our ward, and then I come home at curfew and sleep and do it all over again the next day.

It's rough but I manage. Is there a break coming anytime soon?

Missed

Here are the things I missed while in Spain:

Neo. I miss him when I'm in Rexburg all the time, Spain was no different.


Cha, Cha, Cha, Charmin. Spain is not great at making TP, I sure did miss the softness of Charmin every time I visited el bano.


Ice cold milk, that isn't off the shelf and has a freshness date less than 3 months.



Jamba Juice. I missed my fill of an original Orange A Peel. Right when I got off the plane, I sped walked to the Jamba in the Airport, first meal back home.


My comfy, large bed. I love my huge comforter and missed it on those cold nights in Spain.


And a little piece of me even missed Fartie (aka Jake).

Glad to have you all back in my life!

Top

So I'm kind of stealing this idea from, my roommate of 3 months, Kailie. Just letting you know.

Nevertheless, here are my top 7 things I loved about these past 3 months.

Number 1: Food
The food in Spain is unique compared to what you find in the States. I heard that the best pastry chefs are in Spain and my waistline is a testament to that statement thanks to these:

Napolitanas. They are doughy on the outside, and on the inside you have delicious chocolate. That's another thing, the chocolate in Spain is SO much better than the chocolate in the US. There's something to it, you just have to try it to see. That brings me to my next loves:

Bueno Bars and Happy Hippos. Another reason I've been working out so hard now that I'm home. It's the chocolate, that's it.
Kailie and I were also blessed, the third time around, to have a wonderful cook for a host mom. Which brings me to my second love of Spain.

Number 2: Family


Boni and Mariola were so great to us. They showed us so much love and cared for us all the time, we felt like one of their kids.
I will/do miss they so much.

Number 3: Friendships
I made lasting friendships with all 5 of these wonderful people: Kailie, Michael-Ann, Luisa, Laura, and David.

Click on them to see them better. (Now these are the only pictures of all 6 of us, I have plenty of us 5 girls cause David would always be taking the pictures :):))
We did EVERYTHING together. I can't really remember a time when I wasn't with one of these people. We are all completely different, but we made it work and grew so close over these past 3 months. Yes there were points when we all didn't get along, but that's how it is with any kind of family. And that's what we were/are, a family.

Number 4: Shopping
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to shop. And Spain provided me with just that, the opportunity to shop.

(See those signs, "Rebajas," the sales will get you and your wallet)
H&M was my go to place. But don't worry I shopped elsewhere, causing me to stuff my suitcase to the brim.

Number 5: Spanish
My love for this foreign language grew so much. I had only had taken it in high school, so needless to say I was rusty when I came to Spain. But I learned and practiced, failed quite a few times, but nonetheless, my love for the language has grown.

Number 6: Traveling
I loved having the opportunity to travel. Through our program, we went all over Spain. I got to witness what we read in our history book. Then through the funding of my parents, I got to go to:


Portugal


and Paris. All of it was amazing and I'm so grateful for all those opportunities.

Number 7: Learning
When filling out the customs form on the way back to the US, I was about to add knowledge to the list of things I am bringing back, and adding its worth to be priceless.
While in Spain I learned so much. About myself, Spain, Spanish, friends, the Church, and Host Family. I'm grateful for all the knowledge I've gained and for the opportunity to go on a Study Abroad.

These were my top 7 things. If they seem a little like Kailie's, that is because we spent most of our time together.

Visit

Guess who came to visit my last week in Spain?


My mom and dad!


And Grandma and Uncle Roel (who's not pictured)

I had fun playing tour guide, showing them around my home for the past 3 months, and then we all went to Barcelona to finish out the week.

I am so happy I got to share this wonderful country with them!

Trabajo

For the past month I have been looking and looking for a job for this next semester. My funds have diminshed since I came to Spain, and I need to some how replenish them.

I would look and look and then look some more to see if there were new postings on the campus website. I finally memorized the page, knowing exactly which each job was, why I wasn´t qualified for some and why my schedule never fit with any of the ones I was qualified for. So one day I finally sent my resume, schedule, and reference list to pretty much every supervisor on campus. They all were polite and said they would send it off to their hiring manager, ut none of them said anything right away.

Then one day, while sitting on the top of a tour bus in Barcelona, I recieved a call to schedule an interview. I could barely hear the person on the other line, except that she was with Student Records and Registration and wanted to schedule an interview with me, I said yes, calculated the time difference to when she wanted and waited anxiously. Then I sat there thinking about which job this was and realized it wasn´t one of the ones that was posted but from when I sent my resume out...

At 10 PM that night I had my interview. It was done by a fellow student who had been working there for a while so it wasn´t as nerve wracking. But the first thing she said to me was that she wanted to explain how graduation work and what not. My first thought was this: Oh she didn´t want to interview me for a job, but she´s mistaken that I´m going to graduate and she wanted to talk to me about how it works. I was about ready to tell her that I wasn´t graduating this semester and say thank you and goodbye, but then she kept talking about what the job duties would include. I´m glad I bit my tounge and didn´t say anything. I thought it went great and it sounded like they wanted to hire me, but I had to wait until she called me back.

While sitting down for dinner in Barcelona I recieved a call from the same, nice girl. I got up away from the crowd (aka my family) and walked and listened, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. She said that her office would like to hire me and I would start on the 18th of April. I gladly accepted, trying to contain my excitement :):)

I officialy have a job at BYU-Idaho, in the Kimball building, in the Students Records and Registration Office, in the Graduation Department.

Sorry for the long post, but this is what has been on my mind and I had to share!

Late

I know I am a little late, as in waiting until the last couple days, but let me introduce you to our host parents, Boni and Mariola:


We took another pictures, on their camera, of Kailie, Mariola, and I; Mariola insisted she stand on a pillow so she looked as tall as us :):)

They are the cutest old couple in Spain. Boni used to work for the Church, helping in the construction of chapels all over Europe (as in France, England, and Spain). He also helped construct the Temple here in Madrid with President Uchtdorf. Mariola is the best cook in Spain. Every single thing had a flavor I loved, or at least liked enough to eat, that is except the green beans... They both now work at the Temple, Boni on a daily basis, Mariola every Saturday.

I love them both. They were so patient with me and my Spanish. Mariola would always tell Kailie she couldn't go shopping at Zara, because she wouldn't have room in her suitcase. She would also scold me for not eating my vegetables. Acting like our mom away from our moms. And she wouldn't forget Boni, calling him hombre whenever he ate his food impolitely.

They are on the top of my list of people I am going to miss...They're just too cute, I love them!

Remember...

...This post

Well I found these on one of the blogs I follow:






Win!

Fallas

As I mentioned on my B-Day post, I was in Valencia on the 19th for my birthday. What a crazy day it was...

A shout out to Kailie...I'm stealing your "schedule of the day" format
6:15 AM: Walked to the bus station, because the buses don't run that early on Saturdays

7:15 AM: Begin the 5 hour ride to Valencia

7:19 AM: Watched Michael Ann attempt to tell the people on the bus it was my birthday so they'd sing

7:24 AM: The people on the bus sang "Happy Birthday" to me

12 Noon: Arrived in Valencia

1:14: Began our wait for the fireworks





2 PM: The mid day fireworks went off


2:06 PM: Stood in amazement for 5 seconds as to how awesome fireworks can be in the middle of the day. The sound was so loud it shook your bones and the ground. Along with hiding the 3 story float in the middle of the square.



2:07-6:15-Walked around Valencia

7:00 PM: Parade started



8:00 PM-12:59 AM: Waited for the finale to start

1:00-1:11 AM: Finale:



There were fireworks before this (twice as good as the ones in the day cause you could see them and feel them). Then they lit the fuse to the huge float (as seen 3 pictures above this) and fireworks were shooting out of it while burning. Sorry, I turned the camera to the side...Just pretend the side of your computer is the ground

1:12 AM: Walked back to the bus


This was what was left of another float that was 2 stories tall, burnt before the finale.

2:00 AM: Drive back to Alcala

6:17 AM: Get to Alcala and begin our walking cause the buses don't go that early on Sundays

7:00 AM: Arrive at home

It was a long day filled with fun, fireworks, firecrackers going off everywhere, standing around, turning 20, enjoying Las Fallas, and exhaustion.

I would go again in a heartbeat though!