I was born in the fall of 1979, in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. That is my home town, though I don't really live there any more, if you see what I mean.
Here
I'm about 4 years old. I just like the huge, exuberant grin on my
face. I wish I could still grin like that, but I've lost a bit of
childhood innocence, and I think my cheek muscles have atrophied.
I went to elementary school at my school district's magnet school. It was a good school; classes were smaller than in the other elementary schools, and we had more computer labs and other resources. I liked it; it was, however, quite far away from my house, so I had to take the bus to school. That was fine; I hated it, but everybody did it, so it was mostly okay. Elementary school had two lasting effects on me: I still hate Thursday mornings (since Thursday was the day I had to get up early for piano lessons every week), and I have a horrid social life. I was not the most popular kid at my elementary school, to say the least, so I was both relieved and scared when I started seventh grade at junior high. It got better from that point on, and I now have some really good friends, but it took a good bit of time and effort.
In seventh grade I met Allison (nick-named
Al). She was my best friend for several years; we have grown apart
since then, but I still call her my best friend, partly out of habit and
also because she
is my best friend, if only because she has been
my best friend for so long, and she knows who I was if not who I am.
We have known each other for more than seven years, which is more than
a third of my lifetime.
And
this next picture is from the fall of ninth grade, when I was just fifteen
years old. I think this is a good picture... It's the first
good one in, oh, nearly ten years. I think the vast majority of pictures
of me are bad, though that may be my personal vanity more than anything
else. :-)
High
school was not terrible, but not great, either. I got away from it
by spending my junior year of high school as an exchange student in Burgundy,
France. That was not fun all the time, but I am glad and grateful
that I did it. Sitting here trying to think of how to summarize my
experiences makes me remember how much happened and how hard it is to explain.
It's a little difficult, too, to realize that I am no longer the same person
who went over there, or even the same person who came back. I remember
writing in frustration to my friend Zach, who was an exchange student living
very near me, "No one understands what I went through and am going through
now, and I can't explain, either." I wonder if I could have even
explained to the person I am now.
Anyway, going to France changed me, and among other things, I gained confidence and social skills. My senior year of high school, I realized that I had many more friends than I had thought I had. I am not sure whether I made them when I came back, or whether I had them before but simply had not noticed; however, I rather think the latter. That was a good year; however, I graduated in May 1998, and I'm glad to be out of high school. I got out just in time, in my opinion.
This
is me in August of 1999. This is the most recent, best picture I
have of myself. It looks like me, except that my hair doesn't look
as good right now.
I am now a European Studies major at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. It's a lot colder than in Texas, but I just pile on sweaters and endure. I love it here. I was not sure, before I came, that I would like going to a women's college, but I quite enjoy it.
The spring of 2000 was a hard semester for me; I'd never been through such an emotional roller-coaster. The up side was that I had an awesome spring break visiting my host family in France, and I was in a production of Cabaret at MHC. See my Emily page for the down side.
So right now, in July 2000, I am at my parents' house in Dallas, Texas. I have a job as a counselor at a riding day camp, which is absolutely great for me since the pay is good, and I get to ride for free. Unfortunately my social life is suffering since I have no energy to do anything else.
At the end of August I am going abroad to Hamburg, Germany; I'm going to study at the University of Hamburg. I have plans to ride somewhere over there and to do as much traveling as possible, especially since I didn't travel much when I was in France. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to update this web page from Germany, so it'll be next summer before anything new is up. I'll be able to check my email, however.
After college, probably graduate school, who knows? I've got a couple of years yet to figure that out. My father is quite worried about my being able to find a job; I would rather worry about that later!
But enough wibble.