I wish spring would come for good

IT'S SNOWING!!!! I'M SOOOOOO SAD!!! People were walking around in shorts and t-shirts earlier this week!!!! I want spring to be here!!! Oh well... it will come eventually I hope...
Crazy week as usual. I did really really well on my chemistry exam (HOOORAAAAAY!!!!!!), I handed in my first draft for my argument paper and stayed up really late finishing it, so we went to the temple on Thursday morning this week instead of Wednesday.
I taught the whole class period in German 330 for the first time on Wednesday... Professor Kelling had an important meeting to attend, so he asked me to take over. It was no big deal, I just gave them a quiz and had them watch a movie about Hitler's regime.
Thursday afternoon I met with Professor Kelling and planned my classes for next semester... I feel really good about them, and am especially excited to take German 377 and 378 fall semester; after I've taken those classes I can actually teach a section of German like 101.
Friday in dance class we learned some more Viennese waltz (my favorite dance right now), and Keith and I were actually asked to demonstrate one of the steps for the class. That evening Cami, Merrit and I watched a movie.
Saturday I got up early and walked to the grocery store for the first time ever... it's kind of far away... and stocked up on a few healthy snacks. That evening I went over to Lillian's house; first we went to a potluck, then we watched Sissi 2 & 3 in German and had a blast! I attended her church meeting and walked home in the relentless snow.
That was my week in a nutshell! I really hope you're doing well and to hear from you soon!!!
Love,
Margaret

Happy Easter!

Another jam packed week! I'm definitely running a marathon that isn't going to slow down ever! I think this week is going to need a little more explanation than usual, so prepare yourselves:

Monday my family home evening group did finger painting, which was really fun... I'd forgotten how much fun it is...

Tuesday evening Aunt Heather took me dress shopping. I needed something to wear for the semi-formal I was going to on Friday with Keith. She was truly an angel taking me from store to store in the Provo mall for 3 hours without success! As soon as I got back I went to the last hour of the social dance club where I learned a fun new swing step, and then I literally fell into bed.

Wed. evening Keith and I went to Brick oven with Granny, Robyn and her children, Heather, Brett and their children and Rachel to celebrate my birthday and to go see Rachel's orchestra concert. The food was scrumptious and the music sublime :-). I got a Cinderella shaped balloon from the balloon man made especially for me which was really fun and a whole chocolate cake to take home from Granny (absolutely delicious!).

Thursday I was getting desperate to find a dress, so I walked 1.5 miles to the nearest dress shop and tried on more dresses. Again no success!! Later I took a Book of Mormon test and made chocolate caramel brownies for my German 330 class. It's a German tradition for the birthday child to bring treats for everyone on their birthday and I haven't missed a year since 5th grade... Keith helped, and they went a lot faster than usual.

Friday was my birthday and the first day of spring - gorgeous weather befitting the new season and my mood, even though I did get up really early to finish grading the German tests I had been working on all week. Lillian raised her hand in my 442 class and told everyone it was my birthday, so they all sang to me. Later my 330 class enjoyed the brownies immensely (you can't possibly go wrong with chocolate caramel brownies) and I got another birthday song. My voice lesson went really well, then I got ready for the dance... I ended up borrowing one of Natalie's dresses. My favorite part of the dance was learning some two step - it's now one of my favorite dances!

Saturday morning I did some school work, went to a chemistry review session and had a 10 minute dance practice with my teacher Richard Baldwin to prepare for the medals exams coming up. I got some helpful critique for cha cha, and he didn't have anything to say about my waltz (that's sooo exciting!!!). Cami, Kelsey, Merrit and I all piled in Cami's brother's car to go see 27 Dresses at the dollar theater (I LOVE paying a dollar to see a movie. It's so refreshing!). I was kind of out of it after that, which turned out to be a very good thing. Merrit treated us all to Tomasito's pizza (scrumptious!) and we walked back to the dorm. I started on my chem homework again and got a call from my parents. Cami came to the door and said she really needed to talk to me, so I told my parents I'd call them back and followed her. There was a big group of people waiting in the lobby which was covered in streamers who yelled "surprise!!" as soon as I walked in. My jaw dropped; I had been completely in the dark. Girls from my floor and people from dance class were there... even Rachel came! We had some angel cake (Keith had made it for me), I brought out some of Granny's chocolate cake, and there were tons of other little crunchies and munchies to enjoy while we all socialized. It was awesome :-).

Anyway,
Hope you had a wonderful Easter!!!!
Love,
Margaret

Dance, Dance Dance till the Morning!!

Another crazy week went by - I handed my research paper in (huge relief!), went to see Princess Bride on Wed. with Keith, Erin and Chris, competed in dance sport and made it to the round before the quarter finals for east coast swing (running on 4.5 hours of sleep too), watched the team competitions for dance, gave an excellent presentation in German, pulled taffy, made a marshmallow gun and engaged in an intense marshmallow battle in Keith's living room, held a review session for my 330 class, and the best part is, next week looks just as full.
The reason I was running on so little sleep for dance sport was that I couldn't find anything to match Keith's ties till 1am... Erin and I made a trip to Chris's house at midnight to look at his ties, we all turned our wardrobes upside down an inside out, and we did finally come up with something (such a relief). Of course I'll probably be doing something like that at the end of this week too since I'm going to a formal dance with Keith and I have no idea what to wear :-). My life is fun...
Anyway,
Hope you are all doing well and that you have a wonderful Easter... we don't get any days off which is sad, but it means we get out earlier too so I guess I shouldn't complain.
Love and miss you all!
Margaret

Not a fan of grading...

Dear Everyone,
So I thought last week was crazy.... I just realized the craziness is just starting. I didn't get my research paper done this weekend because I spent 6.5 hours grading tests this weekend... so I have the research paper, the argument paper, a test review to teach and another test to grade for German 330 and then there's dance sport to practice and perform in... yeah.... at least I don't have to worry about my German paper any more (handed it in on Friday... such a relief!).
Friday I still got to have a little fun though. Erin, Cami, Merrit and I went to see Enchanted which was really cute :-) and on Sat. Keith and I went to a "fry party" where everyone brought something to fry. My favorite were the fried oreos. I also went dress shopping for an hour trying to find a dress for dancesport and the formal dance Keith's taking me to on the 21st. I didn't find anything and I'm getting to my wits end.
Hope you are doing well!
Miss you!
Love,
Margaret

Ummmmmmm.....

So, this has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. Not only has it been insanely challenging academically, there have been some other changes as well. In between drafting my 2 research papers and taking a Book of Mormon exam (which I did really well on) and taking a waltz test (which also went really well), and attempting to prepare for a chemistry exam next week... well... I'd imagine some of you were wondering about Keith since he frequently tends to pop up in my letters... well, we're "official" now. Yes, he's an RM, but no one should be worried that we'll end up getting married any time soon because we won't see each other during summer and he's going to do a study abroad program in China fall semester.
I know this is one of the shortest most general letters so far, but I have to go...
Love and miss you all!!
Margaret

Crisis Week

Every semester so far there has been a crisis week or two when all of your long term assignments are due (2 research papers to be precise) and you have 3 tests and you're just not sure how you're going to survive. Well, that's going to be the next 2 weeks for me, so I'm going to keep this email short. Highlights: Our 280 class performed at the social dance lab on Wednesday... the performance went really well and I had a ton of fun just dancing afterward. Natalie and Erin had a water fight in the bathroom at 1 am (Friday morning); I didn't get out of it unscathed either... they ambushed me with two water bottles just as I had put on my warm cozy pajamas. Friday was rather full but uneventful... Saturday I spent 6 hours straight researching in the library. I came home to take a short break and realized I hadn't sent my work to myself, so I had to go all the way back to the library and find the computer I had used. Luckily no one had deleted it. Keith brought me some tulips... he said he wanted to cheer me up after researching. After a quick trip to the store I spent another 3 hours writing my paper, and it still isn't done and I'm really kind of worried about it because I'm supposed to post it by tomorrow morning for workshoping... yeah, I'm going to be getting up early tomorrow!
So, I miss and love you,
Can't wait to hear from you!
Margaret

Survival

Somehow I can never remember the beginning of the week. I guess it's because I'm just focused on pure survival until the hump day (Wed) and the weekend begins to seem like it will come after all. I do remember watching devotional with Keith on Tuesday. Wednesday I taught in German again, analyzing "Ein Fester Burg ist unser Gott," a hymn written by Martin Luther that contains the core beliefs of the Lutheran movement. I felt really good about it. In dance we started choreographing for our short performance at the dance lab this coming Wed. It's so fun -- we're cha chaing to Mario music (yes, the game boy Mario) and yes we do have a Mario and a princess. Need I say more :-)?
Thursday was a huge blur. Dad came to visit, which was really fun. I introduced him to Dr. Kelling, talked with them for a while, then went to my Book of Mormon class. After that eternity was over Dad took me to Brick Oven where we met Rachel and enjoyed a scrumptious meal and good conversation. The best part was dessert - a fresh, hot chocolate chip cookie smothered in ice cream and fudge sauce with a lavish helping of whipped cream on top... SOOOOOOO good!!!!!! It was 10pm when I got back to the dorm. Cami met me in the hall and said "oh my gosh, I have to see your reaction!" "What do you mean?" was my shocked response. There was a cookie sheet on my bed with a card attached. The poem on the card invited me to go to the malt shop with Keith. The cookie was the size of the sheet and had Happy Valentines Day and little hearts of frosting all over it. Friday after class and a fast trip to Walmart he took me to the malt shop, and we had fun talking. Saturday we went on a double date which was pretty much crazy fun. We ate a spaghetti dinner with all four of our hands tied to each other, eating with ladles and spatulas. We did give up halfway through, but it was fun anyway. After some delicious home made cookies we played pit and Egyptian rat screw. I spent the rest of my Saturday grading tests… yeah… not so fun.
Anyway, love and miss you all!!
Margaret