Life is great!

It's hard to believe that it's only been two weeks... it feels like a lot longer since school started...

Life is great. I'm really enjoying my classes, challenging though they may be. I've discovered I'm a literary pluralist and that I agree with elements of formalism and reader response criticism. I can understand 95% of what my teacher says, talk about a classroom, introduce myself, count up to 69, talk about different character traits and conjugate an -er verb in French.

Highlights of the week (yes, a lot of them involve John)...

Tuesday John and I went to see Elder Holland's devotional in the Marriott center which was incredibly powerful. He talked about Lot's wife, how she looked back and how important it is for us to look to the future with hope, no matter how bleak the present may seem. Later that evening we went to the social dance club, and I taught him some 380 waltz steps.

Friday evening I made a delicious chili dinner and some chocolate chip cookies. John came over and we talked, ate, took a walk in the freezing cold, slid down a mountain and finished it all off with an amazing cup of cocoa... today I've been invited to visit an old family friend with him and his brother, which should also be fun...

Anyway, hope you are all doing fabulously and that you have a wonderful week!!!!

Love,

Margaret

Crazy, but OK!!

It's going to be quite a semester, I can already tell. This entire week has involved arising around 4:30 or 5am to finish schoolwork before attending my 8:00 French class every morning. Most of the work is interesting and fun, but already wearing. French is just hard because it's every day and early in the morning; otherwise the French I learned in middle school is actually starting to come back to me and I'm learning quickly. It's also really helpful to have Lillian in the
class with me. We meet almost every day to study and converse in Frengleutsch. It's great.

The other big class I have to worry about is German 343, an introduction to literary analysis. It involves a writing assignment, a reading assignment, a study guide on the reading assignment, a quiz on the reading and 10 literary terms to define every time we come to
class (3 times a week), in addition to other little tack-on assignments like translating poetry or reading articles. AAAHHHHHHHH!!! I feel like writing is one of my greatest weaknesses.
I'm going to have to get over it quick.

Highlight of the week: a blind date. Darin, a guy in the German house set me up with John for a triple date Friday evening. This included a trip to 4 seasons hot-pot restaurant and a bonfire in Provo canyon.

Saturday was another highlight when I went to the Timpanogos temple for the first time with Kelly and her friends Jacob and Christie. It took longer that we expected, but was so fulfilling. Later John called and asked if I had any plans for the evening. We went to an old-folks
home to visit the sweetest little old German lady who lived there. We spent about two hours talking with her, then John gave her a blessing and brought me back to the FLSR.

I just got back from the CES fireside with President Monson. He gave a powerful talk on how we can achieve our great expectations in life.

The coming week seems rather daunting, but with all of these amazing spiritual boosters, how could I fail?

Love and miss you all!!!!!!!!!

Margaret