the theme for tonight is LOUD

April 21st has come and gone, and now I'm a doctor!

At some point I will write up a lovely post about how meaningful this is to me and about all the wonderful people who have helped me get to this point in my life, but tonight is not that night.

Tonight is the night where I tell you never to fly Spirit Airlines, because it has led to me being trapped in LAX for 5 hours and experiencing the following:

a woman talking VERY loudly into her phone and standing bizarrely close to me in the security line, resulting in the sensation of someone yelling in my ear. I now know all about her recent job interview for some sort of early childcare position. IT WENT WELL.

while charging my phone, getting stuck sitting between a woman watching a tv show on her phone full volume without headphones, and a woman with smelly bare feet

purchasing and then opening a recently shaken bottle of sparkling water, which is now all over my pants

Right now neon yellow-vested men are dismantling the chairs in the area where I'm sitting, so I should probably wrap this up and find another miserable corner to continue debating whether this delayed flight warrants paying for a month of Hulu so I can distract myself by watching "The Handmaid's Tale." Wish me luck.

"this shall keep me safe from the hot mexican sun"

-me, referring to my SPF 50 sunscreen that I applied religiously

and also -Buster Bluth

A few weeks ago, Aaron and I took a graduation celebration vacation to Playa del Carmen in Mexico. It was the perfect opportunity to relax and do something fun before the monster that is residency began. 

Let's start with cenotes. Cenotes are giant sinkholes found throughout the Yucatan Peninsula caused by limestone dissolving in the earth. They make for awesome places to do my new favorite activity: SNORKEL. We swam in three different cenotes, two of which were underground, full of bats, and super cool (literally and figuratively). The other one was above ground and had the clearest water I have ever seen.

Underground cenote + Aaron's arm I'm too lazy to crop out. This was connected to several other cenote chambers that we snorkeled through. Not pictured, but also cool: there were a lot of long tree roots hanging in the middle of the cavern, growing toward the water from above the ground. 

Ultra clear water cenote + my blindingly white skin

So, let's talk about snorkeling. When I was younger, I was terrified of swimming in any natural body of water. I think it was mostly because I couldn't see what was under there and having some random plant or heaven-forbid fish brush up against me was horrifying. Guess what fixes that! Swimming in clear water with a snorkel mask! Having eliminated fear of the unknown, snorkeling was so much fun. We got to swim with turtles in the ocean twice. We also saw a couple of stingrays, a lion fish (!!!), lots of tropical fish whose names I no longer remember, and coral reefs. 

You know what is really hard? Taking pictures of fish. National Geographic photographers, I salute you. 

We went to two different Mayan sites, Tulum and Chichen (UGH I keep typing Chicken) Itza. Tulum is right on the ocean, and if I were a Maya, that is definitely where I'd want to have lived because it is gorgeous. 

Wouldn't you want to live in that stone hut? Iguanas could be your best friends! We saw a million of them here. 

Chichen Itza is further inland and is more restored than Tulum. It's actually a pretty big site.  I was expecting just to see the one iconic Wonder of the World pyramid, but there are a lot of other stone buildings and a huge ball court. Fun fact: the Mayans never used a keystone arch, so they had to use a ton of pillars in any large building to hold up the ceiling. 

skullz

While in Chichen Itza we overheard a tour guide throwing around the names "Nephi" "Lehi" "Lamanites" and we were like....MORMONS?! We had found the Book of Mormon Mexico tour group! Whenever I run into Mormons outside of church, it takes a lot of self-control for me to not be like "I'M A MORMON TOO! ISN'T IT CRAZY WE RAN INTO EACH OTHER IN THE WILD?!" I held back the urge this time though, and we continued on our heathen tour, learning about virgin sacrifices. 

I also wanted to record for posterity that we ate a lot of tacos and guacamole all over the place, and it was so good. Also, there was a little Venezuelan restaurant next door to our hotel, and that was also so delicious we went twice. Couldn't get enough of the kaxapas and arepas! 

Huge thank you to Wendy for loaning us the underwater camera so we could actually take pictures! If it weren't for that, all we'd have to document this trip would be a single photo of a taco on my phone (though maybe you'd prefer that after scrolling through this post). Yay vacation! Yay snorkeling! Yay tacos! 

holidaze

Hello!

Now that January is nearly over, let's jump right in and talk about Christmas in a series of paragraphs with zero well-written transitions:

We spent a couple of weeks in Utah visiting family, plus a night in Vegas seeing a Cirque du Soleil show and eating amazing steak. There was so much good food and laser tag, nerf gun wars, and little nieces. Also, catching up with old friends, "working out at the rec center", game playing, book reading, movie watching, and ukulele learning. Plus, watching my brother's rock band crush it at a battle of the bands. And! We saw the Hoover Dam, how about that? 

To elaborate on a few of those topics: 

I'm now obsessed with Brandon Sanderson books after reading The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I'm currently working my way through the Mistborn books (currently on The Well of Ascension and I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. It's causing some strain on my marriage. Sorry Aaron.). Can someone else please read all of these books and then come to my house so we can talk about how much we like Kaladin and Vin and wish we were surgebinders or allomancers? Also related to reading, I read Amy Poehler's book (thank you thank you Amanda!), and I liked it! Have you read it? 

Abby (my youngest sister) taught me how to play the ukulele, and although I sound very plunky, it was super fun. I want a ukulele for my birthday now so I can sing and play all the Ingrid Michaelson songs I want (which will also probably cause marital problems). 

We got to meet our newest niece Bailee and also got to go to her baby blessing, which was neat. She is so precious and tiny. Our other nieces Brook and Brielle kept us very entertained with plenty of games and Taylor Swift dance parties ("shaky off!"). 

Aaron and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by trying a new restaurant before we left on vacation, Little Nonna's. It's owned by the same people/has the same head chef as one of our other favorites (Barbuzzo), and it was excellent. But the best part was they gave us not one, not two, but THREE free desserts for enduring sitting near the door. We didn't even complain, the hostess just walked over and said, "Thanks for dealing with the cold! Dessert's on us!" That's one way to make sure we will love you forever and come back. So go to Little Nonna's if you're ever in Philly, for the best meatballs of your life and fantastic service. 

I fell asleep while watching The Hobbit #3.

We got an immersion blender for Christmas, and it is slowly changing my life. Things like homemade refried beans and pureed soups no longer seem impossibly inconvenient to make because I don't have to pull out a massive blender from the top shelf of my cabinet and deal with cleaning all the pieces afterward. Hallelujah! 

Photos:

Brielle wasn't sure this photo was something she wanted to participate in.

LASERTAG! My favorite of all active activities. 

Hoover Dam!

Thanks to our families for the gifts and making our trip wonderful! How was your break? Are you going to start reading all of Brandon Sanderson's books now? Have you already?! Are you a ukulele superstar? I want to know! 

more from the graham canyon (have been craving that ice cream for a week now)

I don't really have anything to say so here's an award winning haiku written by Becky and two more Grand Canyon photos.

I'm double stuffed

Cause I ate an Oreo

Stretchy pants today

Sunset at the Grand Canyon is epic (especially in vivid color!)

Aaron came up with the concept for this picture: "The Girl Who Kicked the Hermit's Rest."

(get it, get it? Aaron calls that book series "The Girl Who Did Dangerous Things," which I find pretty amusing. also, ignore my large thighs.)

While we're talking about anything in this post, have you guys heard that there's an official air date for Legend of Korra? April 14th everyone. April 14th. I'm going to have to use all my internet skills to find it online since we are still lacking in cable, which is fine since we just Hulu everything anyway. I wonder if Nickelodeon shows are on Hulu? 

I must investigate. 

spring breaking it

For our first and last spring break we flew to Utah for a week. We mostly hung out with family and went out to eat (I'm pretty sure every day except Sunday, we are now really fat). We celebrated my birthday by going out to eat at La Jolla Groves (I was not too impressed, sadly), playing in a toy store, having a small party, and laser tagging. Aaron also suggested we babysit Brooklynn for the day, so we took her birthday shopping with us and my mom. She was pretty entertaining at the Disney store (capitalize store or no?) at the mall. So many princess dresses! We also got to go to the temple, which was great since going to the DC one is a full day trip plus a lot of tolls. Aaron also gave a presentation for the BYU pre-med club about interviewing and did an awesome job. 

Aaron and I then took off for St. George to go with his parents to the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful! We did a bunch of hiking and saw some amazing views and I took way too many mediocre pictures. It was wonderful. Also, we met a French couple at the hotel breakfast, and I spoke to them in French for 10 minutes. I made a lot of pretty terrible errors, but it was so fun. 

Cue photo evidence of our adventures:

 My niece Brooklynn on a stuffed reindeer. It doesn't get any cuter than that (unless you use the "posterize" setting on your new birthday gift camera, right?!)

I haven't seen British candy since 2010! Lovely!

 Aaron regaling his audience with gruesome tales of neurosurgeries at my birthday party.

 Eating at Guru's- Brooklyn loves Becky. And her hair.

 I love laser tag so. so. much. There is zero sarcasm in that sentence. Seriously.

 The Graham Canyon! (I begin to abuse the vivid color setting on my camera.)

Vivid color abuse continues! 

 Aaron had a face-off with a moose/elk.

Attempt at the rule of thirds.

Thank you to our families and friends for all of the fun. I can't even say how great it was to be with everyone.

called to serve

This weekend I flew home to visit my family and to see this guy for the last time for two whole years:

Isn't my brother so cute? He is going to be an awesome missionary out in France. It was so nice to be home and see everyone, both friends and family. The day before I left I was starting to get really...freaked out? I guess is the right word? The weight of the expectations of grad school have just started to sink in, and it's not that I have to do a lot of things, it's that I need to know/teach myself a lot of things. And guys, lemme tell you, teaching yourself how MRI works and trying to come up with an idea for an NSF fellowship application dealing with a protein and nanoparticles is not easy (not a biochemist). Anyway, it was just wonderful being home, a welcome relief from scary grad school and scary life.

Thanks for the plane ticket, Mom and Dad!

i love my rand mcnally atlas. thank you grandpa!

We are nearly done with our East Coast exodus, our never ending tour of I-80. Here's a brief recap of the trip so far:

 

Day 1: Utah-Wyoming-Nebraska

I have almost nothing to say about this day, except, why would anyone hold a basketball camp in Kearney, NE and take up all the hotel rooms in the middle of nowhere city?

Day 2: Nebraska-Iowa-Illinois-Indiana

We ate pizza at Giordano's, a little south of Chicago in Orland Park. Delish. That thing is filled with cheese! Probably about 2,000 calories a slice, but so worth it. Also, I saw lightning bugs for the first time in 14 years (since we moved from Indiana), and they are just as cool as I remember them as an 8 year old.

Day 3: Indiana-Ohio-PENNSYLVANIA!!!

Being only around 11 hours from our final destination, we decided to do some sightseeing. We stopped in Kirtland, OH and visited church history sites. We toured the Kirtland Temple and the Newel K. Whitney store. We would've seen a few more buildings (sawmill, ashery, historic houses, etc.) but our tour ran a little long, and we were getting starving, not having eaten since pizza the night before. So we drove onward to PA! Our GPS took us in sort of a roundabout, through residential areas way to get back to I-80 so we got to see some Amish country! Horses and buggies! Little kids in bonnets! It was awesome, and well worth the detour.

And we are currently in western Pennsylvania, having eaten at a terrible Applebee's down the street from our hotel. (ever since we started watching Masterchef-does anyone else love that show? because I watched every episode on hulu last week-I sort of feel a need to critique meals as if I were Gordon Ramsey.)

We look forward to a 4 hour drive to Philly tomorrow morning, and reuniting with Aaron's mom who's flying in! Woo!!

arch

We liked St. Louis! We already knew the med school was fantastic, but what we didn't realize is how much freaking money they have over there, and how much they're willing to give to students, for doing medicine abroad, financial aid, awesome sweatshirts, great food, etc. Aaron's in the running for an apply by invitation only full tuition merit scholarship...so...that would be extra awesome if he was to get that, and we didn't have to pay a dime for the $200,000 education he'd be receiving. I also got to hang out at the chemistry department and chat with a bunch of professors and grad students. There are a few professors whose research interests me, particularly this one guy who does a bunch of nanomaterials drug delivery stuff. Super cool. 

And! I got the decision deadline for grad school extended by a month until May 15th (instead of tomorrow, April 15th) so that we can wait and hear what financial aid Aaron gets at Penn and Wash U. Yay extensions!

In other great news we won $450 from the chemistry department awards banquet! I got the writing student of the year award and Aaron got the inorganic student of the year and senior of the year. Yay chemistry! We love you! When we're rich in 20 years, we'll donate money for a scholarship to pay that back.  

That's what we've been up to lately. Finals are next week, and we have to make up our minds soon about where we want to be living the next 4-5 years of our life. For someone who has a hard time choosing what to wear or what to cook, this is quite the dilemma.

a picture's worth a thousand words

We went to Disneyland, we ate at a pricey Japanese restaurant, we talked with professors we want to work with in grad school, we went to the Newport Beach temple, we presented our posters, we learned about photodynamic therapy and making supramolecular compounds, we dance partied,  we missed a lot of school.

It was awesome.

(and now there are only 8 days left of school! and I have two tests to take and a scary amount of math homework to finish. bah.)

pennnnnnnn

Philadelphia =

And it's a darn good thing because Aaron got accepted at Penn last week! And now I'm here in the city (having survived an all alone red eye flight + layover in Atlanta, I'm so brave) for the chem department's open house! And it's so great!

More later. Must sleep [in a bed...and not an airplane seat]

carmen san diego

For a while I thought that after this experience I'd be a total homebody and never want to leave the country again.

And while it's true that I'm longing for a little stability and a little bit more permanence, I think that just the opposite is true. I think I'm going to want to be a traveler for the rest de ma vie.

I would like to visit:
Asia: Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Beijing
South America (especially after reading "The Lacuna", talk about a beautiful portrait of Mexico)
Switzerland
Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Malaga
France: Nice, anywhere in Provence, Marseilles, more Paris, anywhere in Bordeaux, anywhere in Brittany, more Normandy, anywhere in Alsace Lorraine (man, I love this country)

What about you guys? Where do you want to visit?

le moulin

Quite frankly, I cannot decide what I think about Paris.

It sort of feels like this odd, make-believe world created for me, where people are speaking in French for my benefit and learning. I keep thinking things like,  "Oh, how nice of them to speak French!" and "Wow, it's incredible how many people speak perfect French here!" 

Yeah, no duh.

It used to be that I loved, loved, loved big cities. Staying in the Waldorf Astoria in downtown Manhattan for 10 days was a dream come true when I was fourteen. DC quickly became my favorite city in the world at age sixteen. People would say, "I love visiting cities, but I could never live there," and I'd always think, "I could! I will! And I will love it!" But lately, I think that has changed. In England, it wasn't London that was my favorite place. It was Downham and York and Aberdeen in Scotland, smaller towns (okay, York is still fairly large, but it feels small). Here, in Paris, I love being not down the Champs-Elysees, but in Monmartre, or down the little streets where all of the outdoor markets are near our hotel. 

So I guess that's why I do not know what to make of this place. One second it feels like I'm in New York, and the next it feels like a little village. Keep me in the village, I say. 

Laisse-moi rester dans le petit village?

And another thing I've been musing on. I used to love traveling (and I still very much do), but you know what, three months is a long time to be out of the US of A. And you know what else? I really love America (and maybe a certain boy who lives there). I love our superior plumbing. I love that we have air conditioning. I love that we use paper towels. I love that we speak English. I love that our money doesn't look like Monopoly play money. I love that we have trash cans everywhere in public places. I love that we have decent hamburgers and Mexican food. I love that my family's all there. I love that my friends are all there. I love that my boyfriend's there. I love that my teammates are there. I love that we have mountains there. 

I can do anything...better than anyone...! Go watch Jessica's daily affirmation on youtube to understand that reference.

Anyway. This is not me complaining about Europe, I promise. I almost cried when I saw France out the window of the plane on my way here. I have worked so hard, for so long to get here. This has been my dream since I knew France existed. It is beautiful, and I love love love it.

But I also love other things too.

That is all.

Blackpool Champions!!

A huge congratulations to the standard team who managed to beat out the Chinese and take home the Blackpool trophy!! 

Tonight I'm up with the latin team as we try to do the same. Wish us luck!

god save the queen

I ate fish and chips today! And had many more adventures my first day in Europe/England!

Read more here.

:)

This is just to say

I have brought another blog into the world!

It's entitled "Katya in Europe"
and you can find it here. (pardon the not so pretty layout...it's still under construction)

It'll document all of my adventures in...Europe...this summer. So click, read, live vicariously through me or something. :)

5 days...

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go


What a perfect farewell song.The only differences are I know when I'll be back again (August 21st), and I do not hate to go. That being said, it is a tad bittersweet...
and that dang Gattacca quote fits so perfectly.

The end.

Bonjour!

I just wanted to say that this summer I will be living here:


Welcome to Toulouse, France.
Yes please.
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

It's a Jimmy Eat World Song*

New idea for life direction:

1. Marry a scientist.

2. Go to Berkeley.

The order is fairly flexible on this, just as long as they both happen.

Oh, and seeing "Wicked" from the center second row...most definitely awesome. Almost as awesome as touring the above school, buying two Jhumpa Lahiri books for less than $10 a piece at the used bookstore next to Zachery's Pizza, and seeing the amazing lab of a Nobel laureate at UCSF.

I swear I never want to go home.

Next up: Genentech, shopping, cream puffs.
We know how to have fun.

*"Futures" which is currently stuck in my head

Tik Tok

So I am in San Francisco with seven of my chem/biochem major friends at the national meeting for the American Chemical Society. You can read what I wrote about some of our adventures here, on our chem blog.

Unfortunately, we still have homework. It is becoming increasingly difficult to motivate myself to do anything, such as the French take-home test due Thursday, the 15-20 page first draft of my review paper due Monday, p chem homework due Friday, two post lab quizzes due Monday, and a lab presentation due Friday.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

All I want to do is attend lectures, tour Berkeley, see "Wicked", and get free ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.

february air

Tonight, I would just like to stop feeling like I'm dragging myself through everything.

I would also just like to stop being afraid of life in general.

The end.