I'm Going To China People!!

I don't know who knows about this, but I applied for a study abroad program back in the beginning of December. This study abroad program is a dance program in China and will take place during the Spring term of this year! I went through an interview process a couple weeks ago and since then I've been waiting to hear back. Well it's been a long hard wait, but now I know! I received word yesterday that I GOING! Woo hoo! I'm going to be doing mostly modern dance while I'm there. I will learn Chinese Folk Dance stuff and Tai Ji also. Most of the course work will take place in Beijing and Chengdu cities. We are going to leave April 27th and be back on June 14th! I'm stoked! I'm really excited to get to know a new culture and everything and have the experiences I'm going to have. It's going to be sweet! I'm going to soak every last second up while I'm there because I know time will probably fly while I'm there. I'm kind of nervous too! It's going to be really good for me though...help broaden my horizons.

Folk Dance Social

Last Wednesday was our folk dance get to know everyone social. Since a lot of us are new this semester, it was really fun to meet all the new people and meet people from different teams. The theme for this social was Pirates (hence the picture). I don't know why it was pirates; you'd think it would be something folky, but it was a lot of fun anyways! We had dinner and a treasure hunt. I have a really fun team and I'm real excited to continue to get to know everyone better. I took World dance last semester which is just a folk dance class and it was a lot of fun, minus the fact that there was only 3 boys in our class and I had to dance the guys' part more then half the time. That's what makes the folk dance team so much better...I don't have to play a guy's role!

PS- I don't know how to flip the picture right side up...if anyone can help me with this dilemma then let me know!!

Martin Luther King Day, and Nothing to Do (Uh Oh, This Could End Bad)

Oh man! There is so much to say here but so little time! I would like to share with you, my family members, the best music video ever made (actually, this is mostly directed toward Liza, but you guys can watch it too because it is just that great!). Well anyways, as many of you know, today is Martin Luther King Day, and...we had no school! So I mean, watcha gunna do? Sit home and make music videos all day?? chAAAAA!! Of course we did that. Actually we only made two music videos but we danced around dramatically a lot today. It was a lot of fun! It was GOLD (Yes, I did say Gold just in case you were thinking I meant Cold but it is cold here too). This music video features AJ (Suzanne Tutt) and Kevin (Mary Vance) from the Backstreet Boys. This song is from their 2005 album "Never Gone" and the song is titled "Incomplete" just in case you are more familiar with their Millenium stuff. This song is a classic along with their song "I Want It That Way". Oh, ya...sorry about how dark it is! I just wanted to let you all know that even though I look like a ganglely girl in this video, I actually have a a mustache and beard drawn on if that helps you to envision it better. I'd like to dedicate this video to my family, Mom, Dad, Christina, Waylon, Annie, Drew, Liza, Scott, Zach, Whitney, Andrew, and Alyssa! I love ya guys! (Mom, how do I get a private blog site?!?! HELP!!)

PS- Here' the real music video...ours is SO much better!! Click on "Incomplete" and you will see http://music.yahoo.com/ar-255931-videos--Backstreet-Boys

Sunday Din Din

This Sunday we had a neighbor Dinner! It was sooooo gooood! It's amazing what a bunch of college students can whip up! I was surprised! I think we should enter some kind of contest or something like that because it was so good. Sam made the roast and gravy, Suz made some rolls, Me and Suz made homemade mashed potatoes, Lanae made the drink and brownies, Megan brought the fruit, and I made the jello (this is the very yummy jello that mom makes at Thanksgiving and Christmas by the way...the one with the pretzels...you know?!). Oh how wonderful it tasted to my tastebuds! Especially since I've been living off of hot pockets and corndogs! Owwww...sooo good! Well anyways, thought you'd be interesting in hearing about what I eat :-), you know cuz it's just so appealing! I think I need to do this every Sunday now!

Some of the gang (Lanae, Megan, Vicky, and Suz)

Suz sneeking some more of my jello! Yaaaa...it was the best dish, I know!!

Me and my jello that I made...divine!!


Okay, so this is after everyone ate everything, so it doesn't look that cool, but trust me...it was cool!

Mary, the New Folk Dancer

On Wednesday I went to folk dance team try outs and I made it!! I was so excited, I couldn't stop smiling! In the fall, I had tried out for the team but I didn't even make call backs, so this time when they pulled me out and told me I made call backs, I didn't care if I made the team or not. I was just so excited that I made call backs because at least it was one step higher then the last time. Well anyways, I ended up making it and I'm really excited! I finally made something here at BYU! Yay!! I had my first practice on Friday and it was a lot of fun! I can't wait until I get good enough to be on the tour team! That's going to be sweet! The folk dance team here is sooooo good! They are highly ranked throughout the nation! Folk dance is surprisingly really fun! It sounds dumb (trust me that first time I heard about it I was like, "Oh that sounds interesting") but it is really cool!! Haha, I have a funny story about when I tried out. So at try outs I had to bring a boy to dance with, whether they were trying out or not, and I couldn't find one that I thought would really be interested in doing it because like I said, it doesn't sound that appealing especially to a boy. Well I ended up asking this boy in my ward that I thought would do it even though he didn't want to. On the way over I explained to him what was going to go on. I told him that he didn't need to have any experience because they would teach it all to us when we got there, and all he needed to do was dance with me for the first twenty minutes and when they split the boys from the girls, he could leave. Well as we were walking up the stairs we saw a flyer for the tryouts and I was like "See, you don't need to have any experience" (I thought this might help him because he was getting kind of nervous) but then further down of the flyer it said that the girls needed to bring a boy who WAS trying out. This made him even more nervous because he didn't want to try out, he was just there to help me out. I quickly pulled him away from the flyer and reassured him that the flyer was wrong because I had talked to a member of the folk dance team earlier that day and she said that my partner didn't have to be trying out. Well, we got there and we danced and it was fun. He mostly was just laughing the whole time because he was nervous and I think he felt dumb. When the time came for the boys and the girls to be split up he just stayed and went with the other boys because he didn't want to leave me here without a ride. Later, when I found out I made call backs and after he was done learning the dances with the boys, I went over to the boys room to tell him and he goes "Man, that was a lot of fun! I didn't think I would like something like that. I think I'm going to try out for it when I get home from my mission!" So I thought that that was pretty funny. I didn't think that he would like something like that either! I'm glad he did like it though! It made me feel better about inviting him to go with me.