A New Year

Holy moley. It's been forever. My poor blog. Haha I struggle with the idea of really updating an entire year's worth of updates, so I'll just give you 2016 in a nutshell.
I finished my 3rd grade practicum in a fantastic classroom, with a fantastic mentor, and fantastic kids. I took a spring term to get some final classes done, along with martial arts (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), which was seriously awesome. I also started dating someone over the summer and fell in love for the first time. <3 what an experience! I cannot even begin to describe what an experience that was for me. Maybe someday, I'll write another post about it.
Here's where it gets rather depressing (unlike the theme of this blog, but it gets better! Haha)....
As the fall came, I experienced my first love-related heartbreak - that was also an experience that I may one day write a post about. My internship had begun, my self-confidence took a hit, and insecurities overwhelmed me from all angles. My grandma passed away, and while it was peaceful, the thought of death settled in my mind - in the sense that I feel left behind.
In regards to my internship (as this is the most current struggle), it is probably the hardest thing I've ever done so far. I'm teaching for the first time with my own classroom and my own kiddos. However, I want to put out there that although it has been hard, I love these kids so much. To have the honor of seeing them grow and learn is an amazing thing and I would take a bullet for them (a dream I had the night before the first day of school, in fact) - point being, I would do anything to ensure their safety. Which I would say is a pretty good sign for a teacher!

So the end of 2016 was crazy. Now it's 2017, and boy am I glad! I have been rebuilding my confidence and individuality. I'm rediscovering things I enjoy and making decisions for myself that are inspiring me to lead a fulfilling life. Someday, I hope to write those things in detail, as well.

Remember when...

I was supposed to upload a video everyday. Or at least say something on my blog. Well... I realized how hard it was to keep up with that during my practicum. For the past month, the time of my disappearance, I was teaching 3rd grade. And my oh my, what an experience! I loved everything about it even though I was crazy busy every day. Honestly, I initially wanted to try being in a 5th or 6th grade classroom, so when I was placed in a 3rd grade classroom, I didn't really know what to expect, but I think I was really able to connect with those kids! I learned so much from them (and from my mentor teacher) that I think would help me, no matter what grades I end up in.

So basically, many things have been happening. I also got an internship offer to teach 1st grade at a school in Heber. :) Come August, I will have my very own 1st grade classroom with approximately 20 kids to teach. Wild. 8) I must confess: I'm nervous. When I first got the call offering me a job, all I could think was, "This is real." Then I cried. Haha

It had hit me though. Having my own classroom and teaching my own group of students is a goal I've been working towards for the majority of my life - from the time that I was a kid in elementary school. And here it is. By the end of this very year, I will have taught my own class for half a year already!

Anyways, outside of my career, I have also been trying to figure out the other parts of my life. It's conflicting, confusing, and worrisome, but you know... Day by day. Bit by bit. Things are getting somewhere, at least.

Another busy semester

Practicum has begun again and it gets harder and harder to wake up with every day. I'm thinking about too many things and I'm not prioritizing properly. It'll work out, but I guess I'm just tired. I would like to have a break or two!

Ahh. I went to Utah Fashion Week today. It was actually pretty interesting! I'm glad I went! 

Practicum is starting

I know I haven't been posting videos and I apologize, but life is really too busy right now, and probably will be for the next month. My second semester of practicum is starting and I'll be in a 3rd grade classroom. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely excited to be in a classroom with students, but I am not excited about the workload with my work schedule on top of it. It basically just means that I will probably be running on very very little sleep everyday and very very busy lesson planning and making sure I have all the things I need for post-practicum.

Wish me luck!

Friendship moments

First of all, my apologies for not posting a video for yesterday. I did take a pretty funny one of my sister at the grocery store, but I don't have her permission to post it yet. Haha Also, last night ended up being much less wild than I thought it would be. I realize that I really do seem to get some form of anxiety at crowded places. I just get really uncomfortable really fast. 

Anyways, my post for today is going to be about one of my best friends, Hunter, because he came to visit me just now. Hunter and I have known each other for about... 3-4 years now? Since both or freshman semesters in college, and we've been best friends ever since. Although it doesn't seem like a long time, we've been friends with each other through all kinds of growing up we've had to do. We're totally different people from when we first met, but we're probably even closer friends than we were before. He went and served a mission for two years, and the only way I could communicate with him was through emails once a week and the occasional photos. Ever since he came back to school, we haven't been able to spend as much time together. He had his stuff going on, and I had mine. We're busy busy people (him in social ways, me in school ways). But every now and then, we'll hang out and catch up. Recently, it feels like it's been particularly difficult to hang out. We went from seeing each other at least every other week to every other month.

The last time we saw each other before today was probably at the beginning of January. As some of you know, a lot can happen in a month! In January, and through our random times of texting, I had been starting to feel like there was something wrong with Hunter. Our friendship didn't really seem to be the same? So today was good. I got some worries cleared up and I realized that he's been going through quite a bit.

He shared a "friendship moment" with me. Through various thoughts and decisions he has had, he decided that he needed to keep me as a friend, for sure. And I'm glad he did! Currently, in the place that I am at, I don't think I have a friendship like the one I have with him with anyone else. While our opinions, lifestyles, and priorities can be pretty different, there's this balance where we are on the same page still. 

So I'm just going to take the space on this post to personally thank him for always being the friend that I need. And I thank him for needing me too! Our lives may fall in different places, but I sure hope we'll always be friends!

In class and on task

I totally forgot that I took a video yesterday! That's what happens when I miss too many days in a row, I guess... Anyways, I was in my Tech class and we were told to check out the tools on the google image search engine. So of course, I had to look up puppies. Have you heard of a Shar Pei puppy? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my dog, but these wrinkly puppies are also just too cute!

Anyways, I'll hopefully remember to take a video of my evening later today and will post it later!

Sleeping off the sickness

I got sick over the weekend. So I slept for 11 hours these past two nights. Sorry I have no videos. Motivation is definitely lacking when I'm sick.