Thursday, June 19, 2008

Allison Arnold



Hello! You know, I thought I'd feel older by now. Maybe I will after I recap the last 10 years. At the end of our senior year I'd won first in state at a language competition so after graduation I went to Moscow for a few weeks to compete in the International Olympiada of Spoken Russian. That was an interesting experience and I came away with a bronze medal. That might sound good but to be fair it was more like they gave everyone a bronze medal just for being there and not that I actually won third place in anything. After I got back from Russia I moved with my best friend Julie to Heritage Halls at BYU. We had a blast as roommates and ended up sharing apartments a few more times during college. I studied International Politics and Russian and was president of the BYU Rebel Swords Fencing Club. You know we were cool because we had "Rebel" in the name of our club. The summer of 2000 I went on study abroad to St. Petersburg with a small group that included Nicole and Taryn from high school. I wouldn't say we did a lot of "study" that semester but we definitely had adventures in holy water and some insanity. On my way home I stopped in Helsinki and played with Laura who some of you may remember as the exchange student from Finland during our senior year. While I was in Russia Julie had moved to New Zealand for a year. That sounded awesome so I went to visit and we traveled the islands and saw some sheep. I continued my studies with an internship at the International Crisis Group in Washington DC. After that I graduated with my BA in Political Science. During the 2002 Olympic Winter Games I was a volunteer up at Soldier Hollow. Then I decided to go on a mission and was called Spanish speaking. Yep, Spanish speaking. I ended up loving it of course but it was pretty funny and I had a Russian accent at times. The years seem to have flown by since then and currently I live in Orem and work as the HR Manager for Utah Valley Pediatrics. I haven't given up on a career that relates to my college education but it's taking awhile. So for now I'm here and enjoying life with my family and friends. A few years ago I took up the Brazilian martial art Capoeira and I love it. It keeps me running around and working hard and someday I will learn to flip like the gymnast I never was. You gotta have goals anyway. Happy ten years everybody!

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