Things I've learned at college:

1) There is no sadness that a drive up the canyon can't cure to some extent.

2) If you live with your bestie from high school your freshman year, you WILL end up hating each other (even if only temporarily).

3) Sledding on Old Main should really only be attempted if you have a death wish.

4) Even crusty old professors have a soft side, and they'll let you retake a test if you tearfully explain that you are going through a rough time (say, a broken-off engagement).

5) If your computer breaks, you can sometimes fix it with string and Scotch tape (with the help of an inventive roommate).

6) If you're creative enough, you can eat for free quite a bit (this involves taking advantage of random events like laser light shows at the observatory and cheese-tasting in the nutrition building).

7) A burning gingerbread house smells vaguely like charred cookies.

8) Deer are masochistic and have a tendency to ambush you as you drive innocently past the snowbank they are hiding behind.

9) Going to the library to study is a complete waste of effort. Going to people-watch, on the other hand...

10) Roommates who at first are strangers to you will often end up becoming your closest friends.

Goodbye, USU. Thanks for the memories.

Well, there's been a slight change of plans.

After I bought my ticket it occurred to me that I probably should have applied for a visa beforehand. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, I just filled out the online application and waited for them to accept it.

And then they rejected my application.

I guess I hadn't been specific enough the first time around. So I had to fill out the application a second time, pay the fee again, and wait another week to hear back. Of course, I was freaking out. I was so worried I wouldn't get it, and I'd start panicking sometimes thinking about what to do with my life if I didn't. I didn't have any backup plans or anything.

But yesterday I got it!! So all is well. Except that I can't stay a year at a time, only six months. I'll be coming home in November now instead of May, which is actually pretty great because I was starting to think a year was sounding like a long time.

Now I just have to make it through the last 3 weeks of school and finals without being too distracted to concentrate...

Right-O

Welp,

I wasn't really sure what to do with myself after graduating, and I really felt like I just needed some time (plus a grand adventure or two). I was weighing a few options, not sure about any of them, and then a family in need of an au pair found me. And it really didn't seem like it was actually happening until last night, when I bought my plane ticket. So...

In approximately 3 months I'll be graduating.
And approximately 3 months ago, that prospect terrified me.
But now I can't wait for my day of matriculation to arrive.
BECAUSE...

...I'm moving to England.

The family lives in a rural village called Knowstone...

...Which is one of many villages on the edge of Exmoor Ntl Park...

...Throughout which roam many of these.


I'm SO excited.