carrie jerginsmer?

Today I took a test. Thus far, I have only taken one test as Karee Jurgensmeier here at BYU. My other aliases are: Curry Jurgens, Carrie Jerginsmer, K Jurgensmear,  Car E Jerrrgansmear, Kara Jurgensmeier, and Kree Jurrrrrrrr-ican'tpronounceyourlastname. I'm sure there are more, I just can't remember them.

Today, the guy standing at the printer handing out answer sheets paused after Brock Smith and Sara Johnson and just stared at the sheet in his hand.  Obviously I knew it was mine, so I smiled and said, "I think thats mine." Instead of handing it to me, he said, "Carrie, um uh.." So I said, "Jurgensmeier". He shrugged his shoulders like he was going to say that anyway and then replied, "oh right, Jurgenmeeer".

Since moving to Provo, whenever I introduce myself to someone, they'll usually cock their head to one side and say, "what did you say?" I've just gotten used to the fact that I have to say my name 3 or 4 times before they can say it semi-correctly. After that, they'll ask where it came from and I'll pick from 2 different stories and tell them. Story #1- My parent's names are Karen and Dee. So they combined them "kar" from karen and "ee" from Dee. Story #2- Some waitress had it and my mom liked it. I found another story to add to the mix. I looked up Karee on the internet. 

Apparently, I'm named after a plant called Rhus lancea, more commonly known as "karee" by the English and Afrikaans.  It's one of about 36 South African Rhus species that actually grows into a tree. A tree that is evergreen, frost hardy, and drought resistant. 

There's also a four star hotel in Prague, Czech Republic named Karee.

If you look closely at the writing on the building, you'll see my name written there. Pretty cool huh?