A Year of Change: 2015

Now that 2015 is almost over, I think it's time for a review of the year. It's been a crazy year for me. Things have been changing rapidly, and it's both terrifying and also kind of awesome.  Here are scattered pictures and links to past blog posts. This was my year.

We started the year out with a sleepover and some terrible selfies. 

Back in January, I was in my second quarter at Whatcom, and I was just beginning the college search process. The winter and spring for me were defined by visiting schools, deciding where to apply to, and a lot of personal growth. Being in college and taking much harder classes was challenging and forced me to grow and adapt a lot, and there were personal and social challenges that forced me to make decisions and grow up a lot very quickly.

Dancing really took off for me. In 2015, I had many chances to dance and perform and they were terrific. I learned a lot from those, and became a much more confident performer.

Highland Games 2015

This is from dancing at Boundary Bay Brewery - one of the best days I had all year.These are the memories I'll always cherish from the era of dancing that is now closing.

Our dancing dream team.

First dance performance with the new group. I have high hopes for us!

I had the opportunity to teach quite a bit. All of the winter, spring, and summer I was able to teach Latin classes to my very favorite students. I haven't been teaching the last few months, and I miss it so much. Over the summer, the Homeschool Academy was a big success and I taught things like dance, yoga, geology, literature, and more over my time there.

I had a birthday and turned 17!

All year I volunteered at the library and also babysat for a family I love a lot. In the fall, I had the opportunity to get a job at the library, but had to turn it down for many reasons. I started working at the Writing Center at WCC, and that has also been a wonderful experience for me.

I successfully pulled off a surprise party for my mom's birthday!

A tree fell on my house. That wasn't the most fun.

This summer was a great one. Along with the Homeschool Academy, there was the awesome trip to Oregon, and lots of time spent hanging out with friends.

My favorite people in the world <3

Candid camping shots - these people are the best

We went to see A Comedy of Errors in Vancouver!

This fall has been a time of a lot of transitions for me. I'm a full time college student now. I practically live at school. I'm working now. Socially, a lot of shifts have happened in my life too. A lot of changes happened in my dance life as well.

I've gotten a lot more involved at school. As seen here: serving cake at the german club Winterfest.

These chairs are my home now.

I finished my college applications, and now have gotten two acceptance letters.

PLU sent the first acceptance letter.

On the whole, this year has been hard, but I've moved through it and honestly, I'm happier now than I've been in a long time. I have absolutely no idea what the next year is going to bring, and while that is pretty freaking terrifying, I'm also excited.

Some Bill Cypher art I did - cause why not?

My interests changes a lot this year too. I got really into podcasts like Hello Internet, Nerdist, Welcome to Nightvale, and 99% Invisible. I've gotten into shows like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe. Don't Starve is my current favorite game, and has been for a long time now.

It's been crazy.

Life is a roller coaster that never stops getting crazier, but I'm a little more ready now. I wasn't prepared for this year, but I think it was a good test run for what I have coming. I made it through all this year's challenges stronger than ever and I'm ready to tackle whatever happens next. I hope.

Finals are done!

Note, I wrote this all up on Sunday, then totally forgot to publish it. *smh*

Now that finals are over and a few days have passed, I have managed to gather the energy to do a life update here of what I've been up to the last few weeks. Last week was finals, and I had three finals, four take home tests, and two papers that all were due at various points in the week. It was exhausting.

This post is going to be in the style of a photo spam, with stories and such mixed it. If you're friends with me on Facebook and Snapchat, you've probably already seen a lot of these, but not all of them. They are in reverse chronological order because that's how blogger likes doing things, and I don't feel like changing it all manually right now.

 Yesterday, our Irish dance group performed at a local nursing home, which was really great. It went well, we all looked good, and nobody really messed up much (except me at one point) which is rare.

 Terrible quality picture from the rehearsal before the performance.

 Crazy rainbow at school on Thursday. To the right of this picture, it was actually a double rainbow, but I didn't get a picture of that part.

 Lots of late busses and fun stuff like that. Hopefully I'll be able to drive to school next quarter and not take the bus anymore. That would be awesome.

 On Wednesday was the german club Winterfest, at which we sang lots of songs in German, had a Christmas tree with actual fire on it (that was a little scary) and lots of cookies and things like that.

 My friend Damian made a cake that says "Frankreich ist supergeil" (which roughly means France is super sexy) on the top, with the French flag, but when you cut into it, has layers in the colors of the German flag. It was a big hit.

 At the homeschool Christmas party last week, I had my name drawn in Elvish on my hand by one very talented friend.

 Another wonderful friend did this artwork on my arm.

The Wednesday before finals, I took a shift tutoring in the library from 6-10, which meant I was at school for 14 hours that day. I don't usually say no to working extra hours when they are offered, though.

On the whole, the last few weeks have been incredibly exhausting, but school is now over until January 6th. I'm not totally sure what the break will bring, but hopefully good things, like sleep and Steven Universe. And maybe some friends and parties too.

Other things that have happened that I don't have pictures from include seeing the Nutcracker last night, which was absolutely fabulous, literally falling asleep on a couch at school after my last final on Friday because I had slept so little the night before, and

Thursday November 26, 2015 {Thanksgiving!}

1. Got up and didn't do much for a while. I convinced Isabelle to help me decide what to wear, and we spent quite a while trying to figure that out. Probably much longer than necessary, considering how those things usually go. :P

2. We went to my grandmother's house for our usual festivities. It was very small and quiet this year because none of my cousins were there. One was in Scotland and the other two were in Palm Springs, so none managed to make it.

Look at this awesome shirt my grandma gave me!

3. After dinner (which was very good) and desert (which was also very good), we headed out pretty early and Isabelle and I went to our stepmom's sister's house, where there was more desert, which was also quite good. :P

4. We eventually made it home, watched some tv, read Ulysses, and went to bed surprisingly early.

Wednesday November 26, 2015

1. First day of Thanksgiving break! Slept in a bit, though not that much since I woke up when mom left for work.

2. Over the course of the day, I did some writing, some math homework, and got a short workout in.

3. I chatted with various friends a lot, and considered starting Steven Universe, just cause I've heard so many good things about it, but I ended up not. Maybe over Christmas break I'll have time for that.

4. Mom and Isabelle went out for a while to feed some friend's cats, and I made fried rice for dinner and tried to get some more writing in.

5. They baked pies after they got home while I just sort of puttered around and did whatever. We watched lost, read Ulysses, and went to bed.

I feel like I did a lot more stuff than this on Wednesday, but for the life of me, I can't think of what it was.

Tuesday November 25, 2015 {The Tree The Never Fell}

1. Took a math test. I really do not know how I did on it. I know I didn't outright fail it, but I also don't have a lot of confidence in how well I did.

2. In Philosophy, we watched this movie about the Shroud of Turin, which was interesting.

3. Went to work at the writing center, where it was not at all busy. I helped a few people, did an online response, and hung out a lot. We spent a lot of time watching this tree slowly be uprooted by the wind. It was quite windy and there was this tree that every time a big gust came by pulled up it's roots a little. When I left, it was still standing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not standing on Monday.

4. My dad and Isabelle picked me up and we went to my dad's house. I did some writing for NaNoWriMo, watched the new episode of Gravity Falls (there's only one more left! :( ) and ate dinner.

5. Came home, watched Lost, read Ulysses, wrote a little more, went to bed.

Monday November 24, 2015 {German Christmas Songs}

1. Math was review for the test on Tuesday. Ugh.

2. Philosophy was philosophical.

3. Went to German, where Ben (our teacher) told us about German Christmas traditions and we sang German Christmas songs, which was actually quite fun. And he gave us no homework for the holiday, which makes him my favorite teacher at the moment. :P

4. Hung out with people for a while. On Mondays, I tend to stay in one spot for several hours while people rotate in and out around me, and today was no exception.

5. Lydia and I went to the co-op, and then she drove me to dance.

6. I hung out at Chocolate Necessities for a while, ate gelato (chocolate, chai tea, and peanut butter), and then went to dance.

7. Came home, ate dinner, went to bed.

Fri 11/20 and Sat 11/21 {Published!}

Friday, November 20, 2015

- Got up early, took bus to school, went to math. In class practice with the applications of linear equations. I am a little worried about this test. I mostly understand systems of linear equations, but I'm less confident about the matrices, and those are thing I tend to make lots of small mistakes on.

Look how cold and dark it was when I got to school on Friday!

-Went to Philosophy.

-German. Adjective endings. This is the first time this really seems hard. This next test is going to be challenging.

-Hung out for a little while avoiding the cold. Went to catch a bus early since I didn't have anything to do, and ended up running into a friend while waiting for the bus, and walked off with him to try to help him get something done, and then walked to the bus station with him.

-I had a really interesting conversation with a friend about feminism, sexism, and the problems that arise when you are a running start student, or when you are a 17 year old girl traveling alone around town.

-Volunteered at the library, was picked up by Gloria, who graciously took me to the bank where I had to deposit a pay check and deal with some issue regarding my account.

-Seriously, that was a weirdly adult thing to do. I went to the bank by myself  and had a full conversation with the teller about the weather and the new online banking system the bank has recently adopted (which sucks, we agreed), and other depressingly adult small talk. Weird stuff.

-I came home, worked on NaNoWriMo for a bit (i'm pretty behind, but I still have hope), had dinner, watched Lost, went to bed.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

-Got up, did a little homework and started reorganizing my closet (not a project I have time for right now) while trying to get my room ready for mom to paint it.

-Went to my dad's house and went out to lunch at D'Anna's (a great Italian restaurant) with my grandparents, my dad, and my step mom for my grandmother's birthday. We also went to Pure Bliss for desert.

-Came home, did some homework,

-Went shopping, got a new winter coat, which I desperately needed.

-Did more homework, plus some NaNo writing.

-I discovered that an essay I submitted to the college literary journal has now been published online! You should all go read it!

-Ate dinner, watched Lost, read Ulysses, went to bed.