One Year

Today marks that I have officially been home from Germany for a year.
I've been dreading this day for a year. Especially since in that year the most traveling I've done is back and forth between Utah and Idaho.

I just wanted to organize some thoughts about the past year.

I finished two more semesters of school. I will start my last two in 9 days.

I changed my minor from Biology to Psychology. I'm very glad about this. I absolutely love the psych classes I've taken so far. They are almost, and sometimes even more, as thrilling as my English classes. I loved biology, and may someday pursue another degree in it for now, but I think English and psychology are much more compatible.

I lived in a house, rather than an apartment during the past school year. It was a different experience, but I think I prefer apartments for the college lifestyle because it is easier to make friends with your neighbors...because you have some. :)

My social circle at school started over, because everyone I was friends with before had gotten married, graduated, or transferred while I was in Germany. I'm very glad about this, because I changed so much in Germany and it was nice to be able to start over and make true, lasting friendships, and the old ones that were made of real substance have lasted through the distance and changes, so now I can say that all of my friends are beloved to me.

I did lose a few friends, but I think I'm better off for it. I think the biggest thing I learned this year was how to love others, and myself, for who they really, truly are. Pasts and futures don't matter; interests and hobbies don't matter; what matters is the heart and humanity of each person. Some people don't want to take the time and effort to get to know that aspect of other people, and I just feel sad for their hollow lives.

I was selected to attend and read a paper at the National Undergraduate Literature Conference in April. Made me feel really smart and professional and crazy English nerdy.

I worked for 4 months at a movie theater. I saw:
Monsters vs. Aliens
Wolverine
Star Trek
Angels and Demons
Terminator Salvation
17 Again
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Night and the Museum 2
Year One
Land of the Lost
The Taking of Pelham 123
The Proposal
Up
Public Enemies
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
My Sister's Keeper
Ice Age 3
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
GI Joe
District 9
Julie & Julia
500 Days of Summer
Ponyo
Time Traveler's Wife
I saw Harry Potter the most (4 times) and my favorites were Star Trek and 500 Days of Summer.

I had 8 failed romances in the past year, and 1 successful one (so far).

I went camping with my family to Capitol Reef, which is definitely my most favorite National Park so far. I also went on a short backpacking trip with my dad and Camilla and Kristan.

I edited my friend's dad's book. I'm not sure what stage of production the book is in now, but I finished editing it about a month ago. That feels crazy accomplished for someone in my stage of life.

I've had red hair for almost a year. October 8th will be the official date for that one.

I lost 15 lbs this summer! My goal is 15 more before March 2011. Doable.

I only had 5 weddings this summer. Two friends from high school, one former missionary I met in Germany, one former roommate, and my Best Friend.

I only went to two concerts, Hinder on Oct. 25, and Cheap Trick/Poison/Def Leppard on August 25. Both were among the most amazing concerts I've ever seen.

I went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, which might be my most favorite museum ever. Tied with the Bean Museum, and the natural history museum in Vienna. I guess I like dead animals or something...

I didn't read a lot of books for fun...got too tied up with reading books for classes, but I did reread A Separate Peace which I love, and I read The Art of Seduction which is fascinating. I read my first Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) for my Fiction into Film class. I didn't hate it, as expected. Can't say it's my favorite though. Besides the line "what are men compared to rocks and mountains?" which is entirely true. I did acquire a lot of literature though, which makes me really happy. :)

I was introduced to a lot of new bands (new to me) that I love:
Blue Oyster Cult
Scorpions (both of those I already knew and loved the songs of, but didn't have the band name and songs together before. Happens a lot with classic rock)
Tokio Hotel
Rush (same as the other classic rock bands)
The Mars Volta
Lacuna Coil
Theory of a Dead Man
10 Years
Within Temptation

Side note: Is it sad that some of the biggest parts of my year revolve around music and movies?

I am very sad that it's been so long since I left my home in Europe, but I think I have grown in only good ways during this year, and I'm very excited for the year to come!