december 13th i came home after spending a semester in nauvoo with 144 students, great faculty and wonderful service missionaries. this saturday will be five years since we've been home. bittersweet...and weird.
i remember showing up at the airport and seeing people with jsa (joseph smith acadamy) backpacks and being too afraid to talk to them. i remember showing up in st. louis and following the crowd of students to the bus, not knowing a soul. i remember sitting on the bus and meeting the girl that would be my best friend that semester, and laughing for the entire bus ride. i remember pulling around the bend and seeing the temple for the first time out of that bus window and having no clue how much i was going to learn and grow in a short three months. i remember checking in and getting my room key and dragging my bags up to the third floor and meeting my 3 other roommates. i had no idea what was in store for me. i dropped off my bags and went straight down the hallway to the phone room. yes. this was before cell phones....well, before i had a cell phone. i went in that room, so alone and nervous, wondering what in the world i had gotten myself into, and called my mom to let her know i had made it safely...on a calling card. how ghetto can you get?
this is a picture of our group taken at the end of the semester on the steps on the nauvoo temple. sorry it's small...but it's probably a good thing. i think we all became so comfortable with eachother by the end we just stopped getting ready. maybe that was just me. haha. i wasn't the best of friends with all 144 students, and didn't know everyone as well as i wanted to, but i can honestly say that i love the people in this picture. the things we experienced together can never be replaced or duplicated.
this is a silly picture and won't mean anything to anyone who has never spent time at the jsa. this is the hallway that connected the dorm/cafeteria building with the visitors center and office part of the building where the classrooms were. yes. our dorms and classrooms were all in the same building, and there were days that we never left the building. sometimes people would just wear slippers all day. i miss those days. and don't think we didn't walk down this hallway and sing at the top of our lungs. i miss that echo. heavenly.
don't worry. i'm posting nauvoo all week. (please, no barfing) i just got off the phone with my little sister. i sent her into my room and she pulled out my scrapbook and photo album. my goodness i'm so sad i don't have those right now. she's scanning in pictures to email to me. get excited JSAers. the week of memories has come. :)
to the rest of you... (not to be rude to all the others that did not participate in the best three months ever), sorry that this week may be boring to you. but who knows, you might just learn something new about me this week. either way...it's gonna be a great week - if you know that!
16 comments:
Bethany. We are speechless and in LOVE with this week already. Thank you for doing this. We just decided that we're going to do this too. Yahoooooo Nauvooooooooooo! If you know that.
Beth..remember how I was one of the 3 roommates! I was thinking about that this week too..I miss those days and would give anything go back and it it all over again..same place, same school, same people! Can't wait for your other posts this week! Maybe it's time for another Nauvoo party? and soon!
I hope the story of the knight is included in the week of posts...funniest "knight" ever!
I think I found you :)
thank you adam for making that picture bigger and looking for me. what a gem.
can't wait to read your blog em!! i'm sure you will remember things i had forgotten...like the knight- something i tried to forget, and shannon won't let me. hahahahah
I love love love love LOVE it! The tunnel, aww!! And this "i remember showing up at the airport and seeing people with jsa (joseph smith acadamy) backpacks and being too afraid to talk to them" was me too! And it was my first time flying ever so I was so nervous and do you know who took care of me? Bret Paulson! He sat next to me and told me all about what the flight would be like and got me settled onto the plane. I was SO grateful for him. Aw man I so loved it and in so many ways I feel like I didn't appreciate it enough when we were there.
So you know I'm going to comment on this. I love the nunnel! I guess I need to be in on this Nauvoo love as well, although I'm a little afraid to post pictures because you weren't the only one who stopped caring about what they looked like, and unfortunately for me that is on youtube now, thank you Brian.
Yay! Oh I'm also in love with this week already. Thanks for this, I can't wait to see what else you have in store.
Ohhh.... This makes me homesick for Nauvoo! I wish I had more pictures to post! I just stole Natter's off of Facebook. Oh well, I can't wait to read more of your Nauvoo posts! You are an excellent writer Bethany. I love reading your blog!
PS Remember when you were my little brother's EFY BFF?!
Trick!!! I LOVE THAT HALLWAY!!!! Oh, I might shed little tears of my own while reading about your Nauvoo times. :) It's Nauvoo...how can you not love it?
If you know that, this is such a wonderful thing Bethanne!
Bethany, I so miss Nauvoo. I am excited that you remember all these great times and remind us. I can relate to you and arriving in St. Louis.
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sending me the link! You brought back some sweet memories! I love the entire post, we should plan a trip to go back and visit. You are a gem ;) I love you!
Wahoo! I am so glad you are doing this! I try to get my family and friends to understand why I pull out my scrapbook and watch that home video of our chior performances at this time of the year, and why they mean so much to me. But they just don't get it! It is so nice to connect with those who do! :)
Bethany!!! I love and miss you! You are amazing for doing this. Thank you so much! I hope everyone gets to see this. Ditto on what everyone said. I love you all! It is time for another big get-together.
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