Fall Semester!

The new semester started, and I've been so ridiculously busy! I got a calling as the first counselor in the Elder's Quorum, and on top of that I'm into my 300 level classes, which are pretty strenuous. The good news is that they're subjects that I really enjoy, so it's not so bad. It'd be worse if I hated the subjects. This semester I'm taking some political science and international law classes, and also French 201 and Russian 202. My hardest class hands down is my Russian class. Up to this point I've always been at the top of my class in Russian because I enjoy it so much. But now I got to the class where all the return missionaries start. SO now I'm competing against people that have two years' worth of vocabulary and practice. It's so hard! The teacher is a native Russian, and she teaches the class at the level of all the return missionaries. Myself and three other girls are the only non-Russian speaking missionaries in the class, so we get left behind. We are constantly studying together and helping each other to keep caught up in the class. On top of that, we're studying Russian literature such as Pushkin and Tolstoy, so it's not even modern Russian, but Russian from 1799! But, like I said, it's a fun challenge, because I enjoy it a lot.
I'm also in a band this semester! For those of you who knew me in high school, you'll remember Stiney and the Flip Kids, my ska band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z8dPqWq8Nk Playing shows and practicing with that band made some of the happiest memories of my entire life. I missed being in a band so much! So now that I've been able to form one again with some mission buddies and roommates, I'm so happy! It takes up all of my precious free time, but it's so worth it! All in all, this is going to be a pretty interesting semester.