"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." -Sir Edmund Hilary

I have this class, called Guided Teaching, or something like that, which I attend every Friday at 11am.  It's only once a week, and there isn't very much we have to do for it.  It's mostly an opportunity to talk about the classes we student instructors teach and give each other feedback on our lessons.  Well, I forgot to go the second week.  And I wasn't the only one.  My classmate Tomás Soriano, from Tampico, México (yes, the drink was named after his city), also forgot to go.  I immediately wrote a formal e-mail, apologizing profusely and accepting all responsibility and point deductions for my absence.  Tomás on the other hand, called Dr. Martinsen personally and worked his latino charm.  Well, Dr. Martinsen, who is also a good natured fellow, made a passing comment that the only way he would forgive us is if we "hang a banner with my face on it at the top of Mt. Timpanogos," which is the second highest peak of the Wasatch front at 11,500 ft. Keep in mind that we are all good colleagues and that this comment was made in jest.   Except that Tomás and I took it as a personal challenge.

So at 5am one Saturday, Tomás and I attempted to find the trail that led to the summit of this high peak.  Neither of us was really prepared for a 15 mile hike, and I think deep down we both weren´t sure it was what we really wanted to do.  For that reason we postponed the hike for a week until we knew and trusted each other a little bit more.  Still, we made the 30 minute trip to the Alpine Loop, driving in the darkness through the mountains.  We even saw a female moose as she walked in front of our car (coolest thing ever).  Upon finding the Summit Trail, we discovered that in fact it did not lead to a single summit.  So, being the easy going people we are, we found another mountain and climbed it instead.  5 1/2 hours later we arrived at our car supremely happy and utterly exhausted.  We drove through the BEAUTIFUL fall colored mountains while listening to Jarabe de Palo and ended the trek with a pig out at 5 Guys.

We later made this video and showed it to Dr. M.  He was totally flattered and embarrassed at the same time.  Bet he´ll think twice next time.



Oh, and I conquered another mountain this week.  An 88% on my first test in 3 years!  A historical spanish grammar test in which I took medieval Spanish and had to translate it into modern Spanish.  One of the biggest brain workouts I´ve experienced in a long time.

Here´s a few other pictures that I love from the trip:

Hip Mexican in the woods

The Mountain.  I know it looks small, but the pine trees are like 30 ft tall, and each little yellow speck is an aspen tree.

View from the top of our climb.  We actually didn´t go to the very top for our safety, but we went pretty close.

My car is all the silver one on the right.

A little photo manipulation to show you some of the colors.  There was some smoke from an Idaho fire that day as well, which you can see.

Welcome to Grad School

Yes, it has been almost 9 months since my last post.  Not much to talk about I guess...

But since I am now far away from all that is familiar, the desire to reach out has resurfaced.

So I have been here in Utah for a few weeks, and the transition has been very smooth.  I keep thinking how great it is not to be 19 and brand new at BYU.  Everything is familiar, and I am a lot wiser and calmer than I used to be.  I am really enjoying Provo, and I have had a great time.  So much so, that I´m getting over the worst cold I´ve had in years (from lack of sleep I suppose)

I am really enjoying my program.  I have 3 graduate level courses, and I´m teaching two undergraduate Spanish courses at the University.  My hardest class is the History of Spanish, which has required some translation of medieval Spanish, a true beast of a task.  Imagine the game MadLibs but in Spanish.  Teaching so far has been a breeze compared to high school (way less planning, no parental discourse, no classroom behavior problems).  My students here at BYU are super wholesome and brilliant, which is showing me a whole different perspective of teaching.    Here´s my official student instructor page on the BYU website: http://spanport.byu.edu/directory/rlb265/

I get to share an office with the other 20 some students in my program, and we are becoming good friends.  About half of us are native Spanish speakers, which adds a great element to my own personal experience.  I am currently speaking Spanish about 90% of my day at school, which is estupendo!  Here´s a picture of Lizzie (from UT), Tomás (from México) and I in between classes on campus during the Medieval Fair:

I am also attending a bilingual Spanish-English young single adult ward (congregation) here.  I was just assigned to be a Spanish Sunday School, which should be a trip.  My roommates, who do not speak Spanish :)  are also great.  Cass and Meggan are both from really small towns in UT, and they give me a good English break when I need it.

Being a student again is a transition, but I still love it.  I´m interested to see what I end up doing after this two year stint....

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