how about sunrise land?

One of the perks of being a U.S. historian who attempts to study "U.S. and the World" (whatever that means . . . but seriously. No one realllly knows what that means), is that you sometimes get invited to Global History conferences, and sometimes those conferences end up being in Tokyo.

And it so happened that was my luck earlier this month. I got to attend a Global History Workshop with students from Princeton, Freie Universität Berlin, the École for Social Sciences in Paris, and the University of Tokyo.

To be honest, before the conference, I was a bit nervous about how my paper would be received, plus just being nervous about traveling by myself to a country where I didn't know the language and which felt just so far away from home. But it ended up being one of my favorite conferences I've been to so far. I received excellent feedback on my prospectus, I got to meet some really wonderful professors and students from other institutions, and I got to see the beautiful country of Japan.

I realize that none of my pictures actually really show the conference. But I promise I was there, and that the conference happened . . . I just figured that bright street lights and shrines were much more interesting than pictures of conference tables. 

[Pictures of different-flavored KitKats are also more interesting than conference rooms.]

[As are pictures of iced cocoa, aloe and grape juice, and beautiful cookies.]

As part of the trip, we also went to a super fancy resort hotel in Nikko and had a very fancy kaiseki meal (a multi-course haute cuisine Japanese meal), where we wore yukatas, sang karaoke, and the next day went to the Toshugu Shrine in Nikko and saw this beautiful red bridge (the Shinkyo Bridge) that is on the list of one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. 

[Outside Nikko]

[Dressed up for dinner]

[suuuuuuuppppper fancy meal]

[Toshugu Shrine]

[Shinkyo Bridge. My pictures do not do it justice. It is such a bright vermilion and the water was so blue and so clear. It was absolutely stunning.]

[(almost) the entire Princeton group] 

Next time, I'm bringing Sam. And in the meantime, I'll watch bill wurtz's "history of japan" ad nauseam, since that's apparently the kind of humor I like, even though I know it's wildly oversimplified. 

Also this.

So this makes me feel pretty legit. Not gonna lie.

(Also, if you go to the Princeton History Department Graduate Students page, I'm the first one that shows up! Hidden perks of being a first year with a name that starts with "A".)

[Queens'] is having a festival

"And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy." --F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 

When opportunity calls, and you have the opportunity to attend a May Ball at Cambridge with your boyfriend, you do it:

Getting our fancy on. Because that's how you do it during May Ball week.

Exams = done.

I don't have much time to write (and I still have so much to catch up on), but I did want to post this picture:

Exams = done. 

Time to sleep now. I'll write more soon. 

Rise and Shout

. . . this just in.

You know it's big when Bronco celebrates like that.

Welcome back, college football. I've missed you.

The hills are alive

This is what it feels like when you drop a pointless, time-consuming class that doesn't even matter to your major or future life plans:

Best decision I've made all week.

Ain't your daddy's jug band

This just gets better every time I watch it.

Honoring Brimhall

Like many of you already know, this year I decided to enter the Brimhall Memorial Essay Contest. Each year, the Brimhall Memorial Essay Contest allows BYU students to get to know one of the BYU founders--men and women who sacrificed for this university so that we could have it today.

This year, the honored founder was the man himself, George H. Brimhall. 

He's an incredible man. He gave all--his time, health, and talents to building up both the kingdom of God and BYU. He believed in the value of education, and he believed in the power of faith. And he knew that they had to grow together in order for the soul to be educated. 

Students and faculty loved him, because he loved them. He gave absolutely everything to these causes, he worked through depression and anxiety, and he believed in dreams. He believed in people. He believed in God. 

And I'm his fifth-great-granddaughter. 

It's an honor to come from such a person as George H. Brimhall. 

And I enjoyed writing an essay about him, his contributions to BYU, and the beauty of studying by faith and reason. 

. . . and winning the contest was just . . . awesome. I wish I had a better word for it. But I was so happy to find out that I won! 

The day I found out I won, my phone was being really weird. So when the guy called to tell me that I had won, this is how the conversation went down: 

Him: "Hello, is this Megan?" 

Me: "Yes." 

Him: "This is so-and-so from BYU Alumni. How has your day been?" 

Me: "Pretty good." 

Him: "Well, I have some news that will make it even better. You're the winner of the 2013 Brimhall Memorial Essay Contest!" 

PHONE LOSES SERVICE

Me: "That's great! I'm so excited! I, I, that's just great!" 

Him: "Hello? Hello? Hellooooooo?" (he's laughing) 

Me: Oh great. [I move out of the JKB and go outside. He calls again.] 

Him: "Hello?" 

Me: "Hi! Sorry, my phone lost service because I was in the JKB." 

Him: "Oh, I just thought you had passed out." 

I laughed. I'm still laughing. 

I didn't pass out when he told me, but I almost passed out when I read my essay to a full Marriott Center audience on Tuesday. Oh, my legs were shaking so badly. And I'm sure the guy next to me thought I was absolutely crazy. I kept breathing out, "Hoooo, hooo," and I'm pretty sure that at one time I said, "I can do this."

And I did do it! I read my essay in front of all of those people. It was so, so cool. Again, I just don't have good words for it. But it was just an amazing experience for me.

Here are some pictures:

This is me on that big, imposing stage. 

 Now I'm giving my speech. I look pretty passionate and intense. 

Full shot of me looking passionate and intense. 

After the Homecoming Opening Ceremonies, I got to go to the Founders' Luncheon, where I got to meet Elder Groberg and President Samuelson! I got to sit by President Samuelson during lunch, so that was neat. Best part of lunch? My cousin Jayne coming up to the "cool kids' table" with President  and Sister Samuelson, Elder and Sister Groberg, and myself, and asking me to sign her program. Ba-ha. 

With Elder Groberg and President Samuelson. 

Honestly, it was just such an honor for me to give my speech and feel special. It was wonderful, and I'm so grateful and humbled for the opportunity. Although the prize isn't bad either. :) 

-For those who are interested in reading my essay, I will put the link from the BYU Alumni Website as soon as they post it. For now, if you want to read it, please send me an e-mail or a personal message and I'll get it to you.- 

Check THAT one off the bucket-list . . . well, kinda

Once upon a time, I made a bucket list. I wrote it Spring Term, 2011. And I realize now, after my mission, that there are some things that need to change, as some of my goals have changed.

But one thing was not going to change:

#34 Talk in the Marriott Center (again).

The "again" is there, because when I was one of the speakers at my high school graduation, and our high school had our convocation ceremony at the BYU Marriott Center.

And, being the bright, ambitious young thing that I am, I decided it would be awesome to speak there again. How, I didn't know. But it was going to happen.

When there's a will, there's a way. Especially when it's my way.

Once upon another time, I was asked to give the opening prayer at a university forum:

It was really cool, actually. And I was just glad that I didn't give the prayer in Russian.

Fifteen seconds of fame.

And, until further notice, I'm saying this counts for my bucket-list. I think it counts. Doesn't it?

[no such thing.]

Lest you think that I am too serious, you should also take a look at what else went down last night.

It's called Megan is Cool. 

Look at that swag. Ohhhhhhhhh, yeah, baby.

Pajamas and high ponytails. The next big thing.

It is called: dressed to kill. 

#youwishicouldbeyoursister

#hashtagsgivemeheadaches

Cookie Monster (also, why my sister should NOT be embarrassed by me)

Hi, my name is Megan, and I'm addicted to cookies.

It's a little bit of a problem.

But do you ever have those days when you just want to make cookies? Lots and lots and lots of cookies? That was tonight. Never mind that I just had delicious crepes and that I really didn't have a reason to make cookies. I just wanted to.

Although there could be a few reasons:

1) I'm leaving soon and won't have a chance to make cookies on-the-spur-of-the-moment for a really long time.

2) I'm just really happy tonight. And being happy is a reason to make cookies, I think.

Making cookies makes Evan happy, too. (He made this face after I told him to smile.)

Look! We made two kinds of cookies: scrumptious chocolate cream cheese cookies and delicious peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

 Nom nom nom nom nom. 

Aww, look. We are so cute. And we make supercalifragilisticexpialidocious cookies. (Also, spellcheck doesn't recognize supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It wants me to say "imperialistic." Sorry, spellcheck, my cookies are not imperialistic. Not today, at least.) 

While we made cookies, Katy got ready for the high school's Sweetheart's Dance.

Look how pretty she is: 

  

And then we got to meet her date.

Aww, look. So cute. 

But I guess we were embarrassing them? What? Embarrass high school students getting ready to go to a dance? Who does that? 

But the thing was, we weren't even embarrassing. I mean, I was witty and helpful.

See? Look how helpful I was. I helped pin his boutonniere:

Also, photo win on my part. Look at my face. I am so intense. "I am going to pin on this boutonniere without stabbing him if it's the last thing I do!" 

But then, after all that witty banter and helpfulness and conquering evil (because boutonnieres really are evil sometimes), Katy still thought we were super-embarrassing. What did I even do? Katy, if you want embarrassing, then ask me what Dad said to my prom date senior year. Yeah. That was embarrassing. Poor kid. 

But me, embarrassing? Come on. There is no reason for my siblings to be embarrassed by me. 

Not even when I'm singing the "Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Version" at the top of my lungs while making cookies. 

Nope, not even then. 

Sheesh. Why do my siblings think I'm embarrassing? 

I am cool, people. Cool.