I've been living in Salt Lake City for just under two months now, so I figured that it was time to start this thing :) Life has been a rollercoaster-- every day unexpected, full of ups and downs, but as Bill Currington would say: God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.
So as of today, here's what's been going on!
(If I end up adding photos, they're all going to be from Google images because I haven't been taking any)
I. School
Let's start out with school because it's mostly what's been going on. This is the U
I have been very impressed with my department, however. There's food at every event, which rocks. The students are in general very welcoming and open. People are happy to be here, and that's a real blessing! I have three classes, all in this same tiny windowless room, because they range from 5-8 students.
My first class is Second Language Acquisition Theory with Rachel. Rachel is who I hope to be someday. She is kind and warm, but she has very high expectations and is quite intimidating. She told us the first day, "All we have as scholars is our reputation." In her class, we've read dozens of studies and reviews dating back to what was basically the beginning of the development of the Second Language Acquisition field (currently the field I consider "mine")-- just about 50 years ago. It's a young field so we've been chronicling through its evolution, discussing its challenges while putting the methods we read about into practical use through individual data collection and analysis projects. It is an immensely challenging class.
My second class is Syntax with Aniko. Aniko is a Hungarian syntactician from MIT, whose favorite thing to do is to get us to the point where we've just about understood something and then say "But wait!" (hilarious evil laughter) and go into some complicated explanation about something that isn't explained, leaving us with doubts about the validity of each theory we discuss. I'd never had a syntax class before so I was doing a lot of catch up the first few weeks. I am constantly asking questions, trying to understand at least the basics of each topic. Each day, I leave her class completely mentally exhausted, and I usually try to go home to nap before starting homework.
My third class is Phonology with Abby. Abby is also awesome and approachable, but she's very much an A-type personality. Her class is methodical and predictable, and for that I really enjoy it. Phonology is like a puzzle! It's a good break from the mind-bending of the other two.
I also am supposed to be working in the Speech Acquisition Lab, but I just started running subjects this week, so hopefully that will pick up from here on out.
 |
| This is our logo. Isn't it cute? |
II. Home
I love my apartment :) Here's a snap shot:
It's 400 sqft on the second floor of an old house in a neighborhood called The Greater Avenues. My neighborhood is a great location-right between downtown and the U- and my apartment is perfectly situated right across the street from the major grocery store and the bus stop. I love it! There are four apartments in this house. Downstairs, in one, there's a woman with her six year old son, neither of whom I've seen since I moved in; in the other there are two early-30s men (children) who are nice but kind of make it feel like a frat house. The other upstairs apartment is inhabited by a 27 year old single working professional who has become my closest friend here. She is a fascinating woman who works full time at a law firm to make money but also pursues her passion by freelancing as a science museum exhibit consultant... how cool is that? She is really fun and interesting and a wonderful neighbor.
III. "Free Time" Activities
Finding a church home has not been the smoothest of transitions. I bounced around for the first month and didn't love any of them for various reasons (feeling unwelcome, being too far away, blasé sermons) but I ended up returning to the first one I went to and staying there (for now). Capital, as it's called, is not perfect but the pastor's teachings are both solidly Biblical and personally applicable and God has been using him to speak to me, so I go there on Sundays.
They have a 20s-30s group that meets on Monday nights that I went to for a few weeks but I haven't gone recently because
a) there's no worship
b) it wasn't strictly Biblical, which at first I thought was okay, but they don't even tie it back to anything spiritually relevant
c) Monday is a hard night to work with
So either I need to give it another shot or I need to find another Christian group to get into because the LDS thing is real here in Salt Lake City and it would be great to get into a community of believers!
What I look forward to most in life here in SLC is Thursday nights. That is when I have practice for the Salt Lake Avenues Community Choir. We are getting ready for a Christmas concert in December and it is so fun! It is my favorite two hours of the week. I even have a friend there, a wonderful lady who is incredibly warm and we have a great time. She even brought me cookies this week :)
There's a theater at the U called Kingsbury Hall and it is really cool, and student tickets are really cheap, so my neighbor and I went to a fun show there called Step Afrika! that was like the movie Stomp the Yard. I can't wait to go back!
IV. Salt Lake City
So I know why you're really here is you want to hear about Salt Lake City! The rumors are true: it's gorgeous. I can even see the mountains out the windows of my apartment! I don't have a lot of spare change, so I haven't been exploring eating establishments as much as I wish (you guys know me so well-- people keep asking about my favorite coffee shop ;) ) but there's lots of other things to do!
First of all, and most importantly, SLC kind of sucks at coffee because of the whole LDS thing (they don't believe in it) BUT there's a place on my street called the Jack Mormon Coffee Company (a "Jack Mormon" is a non-practicing LDS haha) and they brew each cup individually and it is SO. GOOD. seriously.
Fun fact, the actor who plays Phil Dunphy on Modern Family is a SLC native and he owns two bars here, which are supposed to be really classy. It's on my list.
MOST importantly and awesomely, the libraries here ROCK and there is one literally three blocks from my house so I'm there quite a bit actually. They have a great selection of movies and for being a small branch, a nice selection of books as well. Since I'm on fall break right now (did I mention that?) I'm allowing myself to read the top book on my list, The Zhivago Affair. It's a new non-fiction book about the scandal of the publication of Dr. Zhivago during the Cold War. It's phenomenal.
Also Utahns are really pretentious about their chocolate, so this market called Caputo's has this insanely expensive chocolate that's only made with whole beans. My neighbor bought me some but I haven't tried it yet. It's supposed to be life changing. We'll see. At Caputo's, though, I did have a Sangria truffle that literally tasted exactly like sangria. If you come visit me, I'll definitely take you :)
Yesterday I wandered around the city for a few hours and I found a really cool grocery store called Harmon's that reminds me of Kowalski's, or maybe Whole Foods. I also discovered an outdoor mall!
The canyons are about 20 minutes away and are incredibly gorgeous. We went up there this weekend and a moose was running right next to us! There are lots of hiking trails and as you get higher, ski resorts. I wish I had more time (and money for gas) to spend out there because it's really something.
 |
| Mom and I did this hike while she was here. |
Praises!
-God's faithfulness in this transition
-Professors who genuinely care about my education
-Classmates who are interesting and friendly
-An apartment that feels like home
-My amazing support system back home
Prayers
-That this week rejuvenates me and helps me get motivated for the second half of the semester
-That I continue to make friends who I can spend time with outside of school
-That I either get more connected at church or find a new one
Hablamos pronto!
No comments:
Post a Comment