Back to BYU

Today marks the end of Labor Day weekend, the end of the first week of fall term, and the beginning of a new week.  This past week has been full of ups and downs, and everywhere in between.  Last Friday I arrived at BYU and moved into my new apartment, still in the same complex.  The familiar kitchen, cozy living room, bathroom, and bedroom felt like home to me.  After settling in, grocery shopping, walking around campus, spending a frightful amount on textbooks, and bidding my parents goodbye, I finally felt ready to start the semester.  I met my new roommates, who seem really nice, and saw my friends from this summer.  Then on Monday, I started classes.  And let me just say, in comparison to summer term, campus was packed.  And then I remembered that this was college.  For real.

            Tuesday was a momentous day, the biggest day perhaps in history.  Yeah, it was my birthday.  I woke up as an 18 year old, and I walked into the living room, where my roommates had put up a colorful “Happy Birthday” sign.   On the table was a plate full of pancakes and strawberries – how sweet! I dressed up cute for classes, and received many birthday texts and Facebook messages, and even got sung to in Spanish.  When I came home, there was another sign outside my door announcing my birthday, and then a pan full of frosted brownies sitting on the counter for me.  Needless to say, my roommates are the best!  Then later that night, I got the best present ever.  My friend Brooke from summer invited all of our friends from summer term over, and it was so great to see all of them together again!  I’ve really missed them, and I wish we all still lived next to each other.  I also receive two more cakes from my friends, so there was a lot to go around.  So my birthday was a good day.  No, a great day!

            This week of classes was stressful for me, because I was taking more classes than I wanted to take, and I couldn’t decide what I wanted to drop and take next semester instead.  Finally I figured out my classes, and then I could breathe a little easier. 

            On Thursday I attended my first BYU football game! I went with my roommate from this summer, and it was a blast!

            This weekend was pretty good too.  Friday night was movie night.  Saturday night I went country dancing for the first time, which was way fun.  Sunday night I had dinner with my brother (who also attends BYU), and then went to a dessert social with my two friends from summer.  And today I went to Salt Lake with those two friends.  We had the best, I mean, the BEST Belgium waffles I had ever had in my entire life.  Then we went and walked around Temple Square and took pictures, and it was a really fun day.  Since my roommates went home for Labor Day, I’ve had the place to myself, and a while to relax before life starts getting crazy!  I’ll keep you updated on my future endeavors. 

Home Bittersweet Home

I’ve been home for almost two weeks, which means I’m getting ready to go back to Provo tomorrow.  This is my last night at home, and I’m feeling nostalgic.  Being at home has been such an emotional journey, and I’ve come to realize some things.  First of all, change is hard.  It’s just a fact; life is full of changes, and change is hard, which leads us to the conclusion, that life is hard also.  And everyone knows this of course, but sometimes it just hits harder at times than others.  When I first came home, I actually came home a day earlier than planned, and I didn’t tell my parents.  It was so good to see my family and to surprise them with my early arrival.  The next day I saw my friends at a get together, and it good to see them too, but I felt like things had changed.  It was a slight change, but it was still there.  Everyone was talking about how excited they were to go to college and I was totally there with them (college is great!) but it just felt strange.  Was everyone really going off to college in a matter of weeks? Would this really be it?   These friends that I had gone through high school with, who I had come so close to and shared so many wonderful memories with, would all soon be in different states.  And I knew this time would be coming.  I guess I just realized that it was time to move on, and that scared me. 

Anyway, so the next couple of days at home were really boring, because all of my friends were busy.  And in that time that I spent alone, I was just sad.  Sad because I missed my friends from BYU, and sad that the friends I had here would soon be gone.  And sad because the one person I wanted to see and talk to, wasn’t the same person anymore.  Or maybe I wasn’t the same person.  When I came home, I was suddenly surrounded by all these places and memories I had with this person, and I realized how much I missed him.  

So anyway, I went shopping, and had a sleepover with the girls, went on a fun blind date, and all was well. Deep down though, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. And finally, I got to see him.  That Saturday night, I invited everyone over for a movie night, just like old times.  Most all of my friends were there, including him.  And seeing him just made me want to run into his arms, and think that everything would be ok.  But I knew that wouldn’t happen.  Before he left, I gave him a hug, and for a moment it felt like old times, but it ended too soon. 

Tuesday night was the most epiphanous night for me (yes I just made that word up).  After talking to my best friend, I realized a lot of things, like that everything I was feeling was completely normal, and that it would get better.  But also I realized I needed closure.  For me, I just wanted to see him one last time before I left for college again.  So today, after spending the day saying good bye to all of my close girl friends, I saw him.  We swinged on a swing set and talked about college and classes and change and squeaking swings.  And after talking to him for a while, I knew that there weren’t any hard feelings between us, and that we could be friends.  I got the closure I needed, and now I feel like I can move on.  In fact, with everyone going off to college, that seems to be the motto for the day.  It’s time to move on.   I love all of my friends here, but I am ready to make new ones.  BYU, here I come!

A BYU Summer

Can it really be over already?  This summer has gone by soooo fast.  And this has probably been the best summer of my life.  I met so many great friends and had so many fun adventures with them.  Here is what a BYU summer looks like, for me at least.

25 things I did this summer

1. Hike the Y
2. Fright night Fridays
3. Volleyball games
4. Dance parties
5.  Sleepovers
6.  Road trip to St. George
7. Spelunking and night driving
8. Cliff jumping
9.       Double dates
10.  BBQ’s
11. Temple trips
12. Shopping
13.  Sushi dates
14.  Midnight movie premieres
15.  Paint twister
16.  Swimming/ hot tubbing
17. Girls nights
18. Eating lots of mint brownie ice cream
19. Jumping fences and jaywalking
20. Spooning
21. Baking cookies
22.  Stuffing 8 people into a 5 person car
23.  Dinner with friends
24. Dollar theatre
25.  Being crazy!

So there’s a good list.  I’ve made so many wonderful memories with so many awesome people.  My first semester at college has taught me so much about friendship, and staying up late, and doing the dishes, and procrastination, and having fun.  I’m sad to say goodbye, but I’m also excited to go home for a bit.  And then I can’t wait to come back and make new friends and have more adventures!  

Adventures with Aleah

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I’ve been here at college, and man how the time flies.  And I already feel like such a college student: late night movies, writing papers hours before its due, dance parties in the kitchen, making new friends everywhere I go, random games of volleyball, hiking, buying a kiddie pool and having pool parties, playing paint twister, going to midnight movie premieres, sushi dates with your friends, staying up into the wee hours of the morning laughing with my roommate Aleah, shopping, going on double dates, eating junk food, and lots more fun stuff.  But I’ve realized it’s not all fun and games.  There’s also having to make dinner, do laundry, clean the dishes, do homework, shop for groceries, clean your room, etc. 

There are also times when you’ve just watched a scary movie with your friends, and you come home thinking your roommate is asleep, but you actually end up locking your roommate out, so when she gets home at 3 am, she comes banging on your door, and then banging on your bedroom window, and you think it’s some kind of demon out to get you, but then you realize its just her trying to get in.  Yeah, there are those times.  And then there are the times when you’re sitting on top of a canyon overlooking the city and watching the lights come on at night, and then seeing the spectacular fireworks light up the sky.  But then there are times when you are sitting alone in your room, missing your friends and family, and just wishing for one moment, they could be there with you. 

College is full of a lot of fun and a ton of crazy adventures, but it’s also full of hard times.   But you just have to put one foot in front of the other, and tell yourself “You can do it.”

This is College.

I’m officially done with my first week of college, and it’s been amazing.  How can I even begin to describe all the things that have been happening this week?  Let’s start with classes.  Since its summer, and there aren’t very many people, my classes consist of about 20 to 30 people.  I really like it that way because you get to know the professor and the other students better. I also only have 3 classes, so the workload isn’t too hard.  Now let’s talk about my roommate.  I was always worried about this, because what if you don’t get along? You have to stick with them.  But my roommate is awesome, so no worries there.  She basically completes me.  I’m neat, she’s messy.  I’m quiet (at first) and she’s super outgoing.  I have curly dark hair and she has straight blonde hair.  And although we’re complete opposites, we get along so well.  We also have fun together, and although it’s only been a week, we already know each other so well and I know it’s going to be an amazing semester with her.  Now let’s get to fun stuff.  Every night is a new adventure and an opportunity to meet new people.  Throughout this week, I’ve watched movies, played games of volleyball, bowling, ultimate spoons, capture the flag, apples to apples, uno, and done lots of walking, talking, and laughing, arranging furniture, making attractive noises with my roomie, shopping, eating ice cream and other yummy food, and basically having a blast.  I’ve also met lots of awesome people.  College is such a great experience and I look forward to my next adventure!

Life in a Box

So, I’m going to college.  Wait, what’s that you said? Yeah, I’M GOING TO COLLEGE.  TOMORROW.   Tomorrow, everything changes…

Yeah, so I’ve been packing for college, and I’m realizing how hard it is to pack my whole life into a box, well, several boxes, but still.  I’m deciding what to take with me, and what is getting left behind.  And who is getting left behind.  There are so many people I have to say good bye to, and it’s probably one of the hardest things I have to do.  I'm going to miss all my amazing friends, and my supportive family, and this town that I've grown to love.  With all of the packing and saying goodbye, I’ve barely had a moment to just, take it all in.  Everything is moving so fast and I feel like I barely have time to breathe.  And don’t get me wrong, I’m super excited to start college, but I’m also kinda scared.  I keep telling myself it’s going to be so much fun, and it will be, but I also know it’s going to be really hard.  And I’m going to tell you about all the fun times and the hard times and the awkward times, ‘cause let’s face it, we all know it’s going to happen. 

So here is where the journey really begins.  As soon as I get into the car and drive off tomorrow, there’s no turning back.  And like i learned in Arthur, when one door closes, another door opens.  So although my time at home may be ending, but my life is really just beginning. 

Reflections on High School

Guess who's officially a high school graduate? This girl right here.  And now this is where I’m going to tell you about all the things I learned in high school, but ironically, none of it has to do with actual school or anything from class.  Here’s what I mean.
1.      You are never alone.  I actually learned this in my health class my junior year.  We did this activity where we wrote down on a piece of paper our problems or anything that was going on in our life or how we were feeling or something like that and we crumbled up that piece of paper and threw it around the room, then everyone picked up one, and we read them aloud.  And after each one we’d raise our hands if we had ever felt that way.  Some of them were like “I’m not good enough” or “I don’t fit in” or “I’m struggling with this or that” and afterward when everyone raised their hands, it opened our eyes to realize that everyone else had at some point felt the same way.  We’re all in this journey together folks, remember?
2.      True friends will be there for you no matter what.  I know this seems cliché, but in high school, you really find out who your true friends are.  True friends put up with your weirdness and they stand by you and they lift you up and make you laugh and you can trust them, and if they don’t do these things, then they aren’t a real friend. 
3.      Don’t stress about the little things.  I was a big stresser in high school, and I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time stressing about things that didn’t really matter.  Life is to be enjoyed. 
4.      Do your best.  Again, this is kinda cheesy, but really, if you try your best, you will be happy with the outcome.
5.      Be yourself.  Honestly, there is no one else you should be, than yourself.  I struggled with who that person was, but after many experiences, I think I finally found out.  Don’t take till your senior year like me to really discover yourself.  And then once you know you are, don’t change who you are, because you’re awesome.
Those are just five things I learned, and I could go on, but that’s the advice I will give for now.