monday

today i was sitting and thinking about granada and the alhambra. (pictured above) my spanish literature class makes me wanderlusty because my teacher is always showing us pictures of spain and then i get anxious because everyone in that class has flawless spanish and i usually feel like belong more in a spanish kindergarten than three credits away from a minor. (!!!!) i try to follow e. roosevelt's mantra of "do one thing every day that scares you"... but i am beginning to wonder what exactly that does to a person's blood pressure over time.

 its snowing/raining and my plant is dead. january! who do you think you are!!
this weekend was a weekend of dreaming. winter is always a catalyst for my a. stir-craziness and b. my pastime of hypothetical situation planning aka WHAT am i DOING with my LIFE.
 lately i'm really good at putting my brain into what i like to call "advance planning mode"... the daydreaming state i lock myself into during relief society (always) or dull moments of work where i decide on some far fetched but somewhat attainable goal, then painstakingly go through every single to-do that must be accomplished to get there. travel is always involved... how to finance that travel is always hanging overhead. the life of a student! it is both exhilarating and confusing.  (kind of like the brown boots i wore today with predominantly black everything else. or like changing into workout clothes while driving through the snow. this is my life.)
til then, i will just wait for the chips to fall and continually edit and re-edit pictures. and keep a watchful eye out for cheap plane tickets. :)

cinco de mayo

so it might be el siete de mayo, but i am a little lazy so let's pretend this was posted two days ago!
cinco de mayo= a good excuse to make more mexican food. and for all the hole in the wall mexican restaurants of utah to get more college student business. as i was going on a little run pre-cooking, i couldn't believe how people were just leaking out of every single mexican place around campus! (and was somewhat disappointed in everybody who was eating at any place OTHER than a taco shop)
anyways, i worked til 6. britni started work at 6. we fiesta'd at about 10 pm.
the menu, you might ask? take a looky:

 seven layer dip. all 7 layers! we didn't even skip and i even added the olives and tomato i usual really dislike

 mexican coke. a whole medio litro was completely necessary, and we managed to choke it down even though i am kind of partial to diet coke. with lime

 and we broke out the mustaches and i dusted off the drug rug. here i am just stoking my stache in utter ponderance. can i tell you how uncomfortable a mustache is? my upper lip was sweating and felt like a furnace. how do the bearded men do it?

 that gem of a ring doubles as a bottle opener. who knew? ps britni's mustache is just looking a little too real right about now...

and voila. the main event- black beans and sweet potatoes. it was so good, and totally worth the extra trip to smith's when i started cutting into the sweet potatotes and realized they weren't orange, but yellow.
what the heck who are these imposter sweet potatoes?
turns out the "sweet potatoes" i love so much are in reality yams. go figure.
all in all, it was a great day and i was proud to be an american celebrating a mexican holiday no mexicans even celebrate. if only i would have had a sombrero.

the loser in the library

is ME.

you have gotta love finals week and all it entails, especially when your first final is on a saturday.
at 8 PM. sooooooo wrong!

so i am sitting here, in for the long haul. the lib is open til 2 AM tonight/this morning. hopefully i won't be here that long (shudder)

today at work there were only two doctors, which is great because that means less patients, but also a tad bit tricky because neither of them spoke spanish, and hey... when your office in located in a part of town where some of the billboards are in spanish before they are in english, you've got a problem on your hands.  what did that mean for me? lots and lots of spanish. i did three doctor's visit translations! three! i haven't done that many in my entire experience at uvp. it made me sweat, but it was great.

i can't wait for this weekend post test- one of my best friends, eric roisum, is hot off his mission in argentina, and its time for an idaho falls reunion! i can hardly wait to see all my friends and kick it just like the old days minus about 20 friends who are on missions. the 10 pm drive may or may not suck but i have a feeling with a bag of candbury eggs or coconut m&ms (or both) and pandora/this american life i will make it through.
the end is near!

far too much talk

of this "back to school".

As I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror today I noticed how pale my skin has become. The realization settled into me that long gone are the days of summer, laying poolside, and drinking in the ultraviolet. (Boo) My lack of an amiable relationship with the sun can say thanks to a full time job and a part timer at the Marriott. Oh well, not complaining. Spain was worth it tenfold. (And it still occupies my mind 3/4 the day)

And I do like my new job. It's sometimes challenging, a bit fast paced, and gets me to comb my hair in the morning. Since I am Spanish girl, (one of a handful, but like today, the only) I often respond to the chorus of "Spanish call on 600!" and my heart always picks up at least .8 mph as I press that flashing button and plug one ear in hopes of being able to understand the bluster of Spanish that usually follows my rehearsed, "bueno, en que puedo ayudarle?"

It's fun. It's rewarding. Seeing the blonde girl speak something other than English throws some for a loop.

Today I had my first experience with direct translation. Problem: blue eyed Spanish baby with a yeast and ear infection, Dad knowing no English, Nurse Practitioner knowing no Spanish, and no hide nor hair of any bilingual nurses in the office. Solution: Call back the girl with only 1.5 weeks of experience in the office to bridge the gap. I stumbled a little, but after only having to look up "prune" one time, baby had prescription, little siblings had their stickers, and Dad had high hopes of being able to sleep a little more at night. It was a cool experience- almost enough to water my mind- seed about changing the major once more.

Another plus of today: I came home today to a muchly (not a real word) anticipated package from my mom. (and it was a miracle it got here, she had the address completely wrong, much to my Grandmother's delight. A for effort!) Inside? New. Rainbows. And my phone charger. It was like Christmas. If you didn't hear before, my old favorite pair of Rainbows, who stayed by my side for a good three summers and dyed my feet brown without fail every time they got wet, gave up the ghost a couple weeks back. When I arrived back from Spain, I was brokenhearted to find them moldy in my suitcase. Thinking I could just clean them, I threw them outside, forgot about them, and then the sun shriveled them up and all my efforts to straighten them out only broke one in half. It was a sad day. Anyways, Mom sent me new ones, and while they kill my feet now, they will only get better with time. I know it.

And after all my crying about being white I am proud to announce that t minus 4 days until I am headed down to visit with the red rocks of Lake Powell with my 'mates. Note to self: with the current state of your skin, you will get burned. So wear sunscreen. You will thank blog Alyssa later, I promise.