Duplo M : Alive.

7 finals

end projects

study study study

little sleep

packing

cleaning

goodbyes

driving driving driving

even less sleep

DEATH

However, I am happy to announce that after enduring 18 credits at BYU and everything mentioned above, I am ALIVE. In recovery mode. But alive.

Like most people, my exam week went a little like this: Wake up early, study, take a final, study, study some more, take another final, study, study, study until the early hours of the morning, catch approximately 2-4 hours of sleep, repeat.

I ended up walking out of the house like this most days:

unicorn shirts, rainbow socks + sandals, hair up, no makeup......oh yeah....lookin good.
I don't believe in sweat pants during finals week though, so that gets me some bonus points right?

And even on my last day of Finals (Thursday) it didn't end. It followed the usual pattern. I got up at 6:00, studied until my scheduled Food Science final at 8:00, continued to study for New Testament after that, and finally took my last final of the semester at around noon. I was on question 40 of 50 on my New Testament final and in my head I was thinking, "I only have 10 questions left.......I only have 10 questions left......Let freedom ring!" I cannot tell you how good that realization felt, and I walked out of the WILK testing centre with the biggest smile on my face.

I felt a little bit like this:

My original plan for the rest of the day was to pick up some things around Provo before heading home, as well as making one last trip out to So.Jo. to visit with the Bentley's.....and of course that didn't end up happening. I got home and as I began to take down the pictures in my room and do some small things to pack up my room, I got a text from mom saying that I needed to go get finger prints asap because the church travel had called and said that plans had changed (yet again) for my mission visa. I got that text around 1:30, headed to campus shortly after, took care of some last minute business with the international office, and then headed over to campus police. I walked in at 2:09, not knowing they only did finger prints until 2:00.....LUCKILY they had mercy on my desperate face and the finger prints did get done.

I thought I was done stressing for the day, but I found out at around the same time I was getting my fingerprints done, that Rawley was planning to head home at 6:00....6:00 that night......and I had packed up a total of maybe 10 pictures.....!!!!! Say what?

4 hours to run home, pack up EVERYTHING, clean, and load up the car.

not cool.

It was so last minute that I didn't even get to say goodbye to all of my incredible roommates. I am going to miss these beautiful girls so much, they have the sweetest spirits.

It was a miracle, but by 5:50 we were headed out of Provo. I dropped Rawley off to visit a friend while I quickly stopped by the Bentleys to say goodbye. I just couldn't leave Utah without saying goodbye to my favourite Utahan family. They treated my like gold this semester, and even got me the sweetest gift for Christmas. It was a bittersweet goodbye, but it was FAR better than the last goodbye I had to say in that house.
With that done, we buckled up, got the jams going, and were really ready to start the 12 hour drive. Rawley ended up driving the first part from Utah to a little rest stop in Dubois Idaho, and I took over from there. The drive was long, and I was past exhaustion—I really probably should not have been driving at some points, but Montana delivered some incredible morning skies, which just could not be captured out the window of our moving car with my ancient i-phone 4, but....I'll give it a try anyways.