The First Day

Well this is me and my first post. My name is Kara Nielson, and I'm a senior in high school. I'm on the school dance company, and considering cross country again. I am on track to earn my Associate's Degree by the time I graduate, which has been a pain because AP classes as well as classes on the university campus have never really processed in my brain. Outside of school, I have a family of 9 siblings, 5 of which are adopted. I am addicted to the TV show "Bones", which I only discovered a month ago. I have a major fear of the dark, and spider are probably the nastiest creatures on this planet. I am working for my dad as a field assistant for his archeology business, saving the money for my trip the Europe with UAM (Utah Ambassadors of Music) in July. Well, that's all for now!

A Little Bit of Food

Oh my goodness it's been forever! Life has been so crazy. I graduated high school with my Associates, and I'm now halfway done with my Bachelors in Communications.
I must've shown some natural talent when I took a ballroom class fall semester, so my teacher asked me to join the team, even though I didn't try out.
I am almost engaged! He bought my ring! I am so excited I can't see straight.
Anyways...enough about my boring life. Let's get to the point.
One of my communication classes require a blog, so I started another blog. I decided that I would base it a problem all students face: wanting to eat great food but being too broke to buy the ingredients. If you'd like to check it out, the url is www.cookingbrokestudentstyle.blogspot.com. These are some of my delicious posts (and posts to come)!

Mini Pizzas made with Flour Tortilla

Minestrone Soup

Homemade Butterfingers

Garlic brown sugar glazed chicken

Double layer chocolate cake with raspberry filling

A rundown of Europe: Details to Come

As very few of you know, I went to Europe as part of the Utah Ambassadors of Music choir. It was a two week tour through 7 countries (well, 6 because Lichtenstein took us all of 15 minutes to drive through and we didn't perform there). We first went to London for 3 days. We toured the city on a coach as well as on foot. The band performed in a large park, while we performed in a small chapel, as well as a larger one. I got roughly 300 pictures. BUT, while loading the Ferry to France, I accidentally deleted them all while trying to delete a picture of a friend. I spent the ride across the English Channel crying. London was such an amazing place that I might never see again, and I was devastated. When in France, we stayed outside of Paris (because hotels inside the city are awfully expensive), visiting the usual tourist attractions such as the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.We took a boat tour down the Seine where we were given the history of each bridge we passed under. After France we drove to Switzerland. Switzerland is the most beautiful place I have ever been. The Alps are sooooo gorgeous. Utah mountains put me to sleep now compared to the Alps. The valleys are covered in fields of corn, wheat, fruit trees, and vineyards. We stayed in a resort like area called Crans-Montana (for those who live in Utah, it's like Park City on crack). We toured the Castle of Chillon, and did several concerts. Our final night we had a goodbye fondue party with several performers as our entertainment. After Switzerland, we drove to Lichtenstein. We had lunch there, so even though the drive took only 15 ish minutes, we were there for an hour. On to Austria! I fell asleep, and was woken up by a recording of "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" playing loudly over the system.We stayed in the city of Seefeld, yet another resort like town. The first night we traveled up the mountain and watched the sunset. The next day we went to Innsbruck and sang in the Wilten Basilica and visited the Olympic ski jump. We drove back to Austria and had a goodbye party from the people of the city. We enjoyed a fondue party with the REAL swiss cheese, not that crap stuff with holes in it. Be careful: you drop it in the pot you gotta kiss all the opposite gender on your table. After the fondue, we were entertained by swiss bands, Alp horns, dancers, and interactive activities. It was fantastic. The next day we got up at 4:30 and drove 6 hours to Italy. we spent about an hour touring Venice, then on to the glass factory. We were then given an hour to do our shopping and wandering before our concert in St. Mark's Basilica. After a short concert tucked into a corner of the Basilica, we were given one last hour before we were to meet at the Two Columns and leave. Gelato: Curse you for being so good. Ice cream will never be quite the same ever again. After a water taxi took us back to the bus, we drove back to Austria. We arrived around 10, where we packed our stuff for the next's day journey to Germany. Germany came quickly. We visited Dachau before we went to our hotel. We stopped at a restaurant and had our first (and my LAST) German salad. Fresh lettuce, pickled everything else. the carrots, beans, beans, and peppers were all pickled. Their dressing was a huge helping of sour cream. ....ew. We went to our hotels, and wandered the town of Rothenburg. Now I'm getting REALLY bored of writing this. So that's all I'm gonna post for now.

Curse you construction!

Ok so yesterday. I went to the archaeology field with my dad again. This time I was just driving him, so I would drop him off in one place and pick him up at another. Since I slept on the way there while he drove, I decided to drive home. Worst experience of my life! There was some of the worst construction I've ever been through. They set up cones to divide lanes, and the cones were so ridiculously close together I was terrified I was going to hit them. My dad didn't let me go slower than 45 mph, and the people behind me were practically tailgating. I was praying for it to be a short construction area, but it sure wasn't. It was about 8 miles long. It wasn't a regular highway either. It was the kind that has sharp turns and hills, and so I didn't relax. At all. I was white knuckled basically the whole time, near hyperventilation. To make things worse, about half way through it started to pour rain. It was one of those storms where no matter how fast you have your wipers going, you still can't see. I almost hit a worker, because the idiot walked into our lane. By the time we finally got out of the construction, I had probably lost 5 years of life because I was so stressed. My dad made me get a drink at a gas station, but he must be on crack because that didn't help at all. It was terrifying. On a happier note, I survived. I know, the world would miss me terribly if i died.

Reporting from work

This is my second day at work! Well, training at least. I am a sub for the head receptionist at Liberty Press. When I got the call to start training, I was expecting to be put into some cublicle and take 5 calls at the same time for hours on end. Instead, I walked into the large building to be greeted by my trainer, behind a large granite desk. I have my own settings on the computer, keep an eye on security cameras, and answer phone calls from all over the states. It's so weird going from no job experience (outside of babysitting) to what I feel like is a really good job. Granted, it's hard to keep the hang of it at first. I get calls and say "Liberty Press!" and all the person will say is "I need to speak to Mr. Oldham." uh..."Which one sir?" This is a family business, and there are ten different Oldhams here. Outside of the Oldhams, there are lists of other employees. Some you just transfer the call to then hang up. Others you transfer, call their intercom, then tell them "Hi Kathryn I have a Doug from IVSI for you." If they take it, great. If they want to forward it to their voicemail, you have to ask the caller if they want to be forwarded to the employee's voicemail. If they say no, then you tell them to call back later. If they say yes, you have to press Transfer, Voicemail, then the the person's extension. I think I'm getting it down, but there are still awkward moments where I press hold, and can't find the buttons or numbers I need. Overall I like it here. Everything in front of me is glass, the windows, walls, and doors. There's a water fountain to the left, where visitors can wait. Out the windows and to the right there is a park with large ponds and ducks and pelicans. It's a low paying paradise. ;) So far, I've gotten 8 calls, most of which have gone to a woman named Kathryn. She takes alot of sales calls, and is also the head secretary for the CEOs. Well now I gotta go. I figure I might as well do homework during down time. Buh Bye.

Just some pictures from my phone. My phone only allows me to upload pictures that are a smaller size, so that's my lame excuse for the pictures being smaller. These are all from spring break.

Daughter of an Archeologist

It started at about 5:30 yesterday morning when my dad came in and woke me up. "Come on let's go! We need to be out the door by 6:30." Me: grumble grumble grumble. I finally dragged out and got into my only pair of jeans and put on a bright red t-shirt I got in 9th grade as part of a bike ride. Finally I put on my running shoes and threw my hair back into a pony tail. I figured there was no point in putting on make up when we were going to the middle of no man's land where nobody had bothered to live for 50+ years. I had the perfect breakfast of a piece of toast and juice (I've never been a big fan of breakfast, so this was the best.) I grabbed my pillow and we headed out. My dad drove, my younger brother in the front seat, while I sprawled out in the back seat. I fell asleep until we finally reached the site where we were supposed to survey. It was the future site of an oil well, and was a square mile. We spread out about 20 yards apart from each other and began trudging. We stepped on and over sage brush, and struggled to stay in a semi straight line as we walked around pine trees, the dirt getting all over us. The first site was the slowest, since we got lost several times. We walked that section from about 10:15-12:00. We got back to the truck and ate lunch. After lunch, we headed to another site. This one was the fastest, since we didn't get lost. We found two or three cans along with some old beer bottles that dated between 1915-1960. We marked them into the GPS as "isolated artifacts" and kept walking. There were lizards everywhere, and I'm going to openly admit I tried to catch them. Those little suckers are FAST! After giving up, I was walking around another group of sage brush when something moved from under my feet. I froze when I realized it was a horned lizard or whatever those things are called. It was really fat, with yellow and orange spots on its back so it looked like a rock with lichens on it. It was so slow. I called my brother over and we teased it for a few minutes. I finally reached down to touch it. As soon as my finger touched its back, it hissed. I shrieked and decided it was time to go. We finished that section about 3:00. A quick side note: when it comes to archeology trips, NEVER get your hopes up. We started driving, and I was sure we were done. Of course not. We drove for all of 5 minutes and stopped. "Alright let's go!" Uuuuuuggggghhhh. This section was the worst. We were tired, and there was a really steep hill we had to survey. We found a "historical site", with 9 food cans, 2 tobacco flip top containers, lids, 2 milk cans, etc. We had to write down each one, and my dad recorded it into the GPS, It took 20 minutes, but it couldn't have felt anymore like death. There was no where safe to sit, since there was a giant ant hill in the middle of the site and the little red things were everywhere. Our feet were throbbing, and the mosquitoes decided we were quite appetizing. When we finally finished with the site, we kept walking. And walking. And walking. By the time we got back to the truck, I was covered with mosquito bites and burned a bright red color. We stopped at the nearest town to grab drinks for my brother and dad (I avoid soda when I can) then headed home. We resumed our previous positions, with my dad behind the wheel and my brother in the front seat. I passed out for an hour long nap, and reluctantly woke myself up when we got back to Orem. Nothing beats a day out in the archeology field, and if there is, I don't want to know what it is. I get to go back out again on Tuesday. This time I'll take my Costco camera to prove it. Until then, I gotta go babysit. Peace.