my life as a uniquely named

my name is not a common one. take me to frankfurt and i might just blend in with all the other girls, but here in small college town and the US in general, i stick out like a sore thumb.

"ummm...elise?"
"what was your name again?"
"did you say it was alice?"

yes. alice. who knows how you got alice out of elsa. i can remember your name is eric, even though you spell it wrong (...aaric? really?).

don't take personal offense at my diatribe towards oddly spelled or different names. its not meant to sound that way at all. obviously, because my name is ELSA, and personally, i love my name.  And while i do like that not once in my entire schooling have i ever had another Elsa in my class, it has perpetuated a slew of sound-alikes that can now, only be laughed at.

like today, in science. my poor bumbling teacher is just too smart to have to worry about things like pretty girl names.

professor: "is alyssa jensen here to give the prayer?"
me: look around for someone to answer, thinking 'alyssa jensen. i must be next on the list if she's not here'.
professor: "no? alright. how about emily johnson?"

oh wait. i forgot. my name is alyssa. not elsa.
and sometimes my name is elise. or alice. or alta. once it was edna. and for a while it was ursula (bless the poor old lady's heart).

so call me what you want, because everyone else sure does. but i prefer