College Lyfe (September 18th - September 24th)

Hey everyone! This week I finally have some pictures of me haha...

On Sunday, I wasn't feeling well, so like the incredibly amazing roommate that she is, Karinne was super sweet and brought me a takeout box from the cafeteria for my dinner. It was so nice of her. :)

I got a B on my chemistry midterm yesterday!!!! I cannot explain how relieved I am that I got a good grade. After getting a D on my bio midterm I was really scared to take another one.

Speaking of biology, this week we've been learning about polymers, specifically proteins and DNA. My professor made us draw it out without giving us any example picture. It was very hard, and I was pretty upset after class. I'm good now though haha...

This week I discovered an awesome new restaurant!! It's called the Skyroom, and it's on the 6th floor of the Wilk (for those of you who have the option of going there). It's a little more expensive than the other places here on campus but it's WORTH IT. Oh my goodness it was so good to eat something besides Chick Fil-A or cafeteria food (or for that matter, vending machine food). I went there with my friends Kylee and Kimberly from my chemistry study group. It was so fun! I got some really yummy asparagus, a spinach salad, halibut with kalamata olives, onions, and capers, some crunchy grapes, and fingerling heirloom potatoes. It was the best food I have had in such a long time! The drink I got was their special drink (I can't remember what it was called), which is made of orange juice, sprite, and grenadine flavor. Pictures from the Skyroom will be at the end of the post since there isn't enough room up here.

On Friday Karinne and I decided to stock up on muffins and get some yummy raspberry lemonade ice cream from the vending machine. Here is a picture of me holding the goods. (We also got some pizza rolls which we microwaved immediately and ate within like 5 minutes.)

The thing that I did the most of this week was study. Study, study, study. And miss three classes because I slept in too late because I was so tired from all of my studying. After taking my chemistry exam on Saturday, I decided to do some laundry. I was really frustrated with the fitted sheet, and Karinne captured the perfect moment of my frustration in this amazing picture of me making my bed!













Honestly, not much else happened this week. Except for the fact that I bought the last two butter beers from the Twilight Zone (a little grocery store in the Wilk). Yes, they have butter beer here.


Love you all, and talk to you next week!

My amazing meal at the Skyroom!

Kylee and I (at the Skyroom). 

Kimberly and I

I Promise I'm not Falling to Pieces (September 11th - September 17th)

This week was very, very different from any other week I can remember. It's really starting to sink in that I'm at college, and that this is much different from high school.

Our first FHE was on Monday, which was fun, but kind of stressful for me because I had just gotten back from the gym and was a bit late. (To all of those who know how late I was to everything in high school, this was actually the first thing that I have been late to here at BYU!) It was pretty fun, we played a game called smurf. Basically you just have to come up with a verb, and send someone out while you think of it. When they come back, they have to ask the group questions like, "can you smurf in the kitchen?" Our verb was brushing your teeth, and one of the questions was, "do you invite your friends over to surf?" Later that night, Karinne and I took a picture of ourselves "smurfing" and sent it out on our FHE group chat. No one responded... (Karinne and I have accepted and fully,  joyfully embrace the fact that we are hopeless dorks.)

My first biology midterm was this week, so a lot of my time was spent studying for that. I got behind on sleep, and on the day that I was supposed to take the midterm, a lot of crazy things happened. First of all, however, the night before I took it, I had stayed out studying with some friends, and I felt really good about the material. There was maybe one thing I didn't understand, and that was a few things from the statistics unit.

The next morning woke up late, having slept through my yoga class, so I rushed off to ballroom dance. Our teacher is a nationally renowned dancer, and he is hilarious, so he made me feel a bit better with his bad jokes and amazing demos.

After dance, I decided I might as well take the midterm, since I had all of the material fresh in my mind and felt really confident and prepared. I had done really well on the practice exam, so I figured it didn't matter if I was tired. I went and took the exam, and even though I had a hard time keeping my eyes open, I felt like everything was going to be fine. On the contrary, I got my test back with a score of 66%. Oh well, I guess everyone has to get a bad test grade once in their life. What's nice about this exam is that I have the option to drop the score I got on it from my grade at the end of the semester.

Even though I was feeling semi-okay by the time my next class rolled around, of course when I got there, we had to take this fake pop quiz that was intentionally unreasonable (we were learning about what makes laws fair and unfair). I failed that quiz, and because I thought it was real, I almost started crying. Luckily, I didn't. In my next class, I was so tired that I fell asleep in the front row, and when I woke up, my binder had fallen to the floor and everyone in the class was staring at me. Apparently they thought I had thrown it to the floor in frustration, so I had to explain to everyone that I had fallen asleep. Oh my goodness.

The next day, after all of that went down, I woke up feeling really sick, and stayed in bed all day. I missed explosion Friday in chemistry (which made me very sad), and I didn't get to light things on fire in the lab. Being sick really stinks when you miss out on being a pyro haha...

On Saturday, Karinne and I did a bunch of laundry and cleaned our dorm. It felt really nice to do
something productive. We went to the BYU store in the afternoon just for fun, and found a bunch of cool stuff. One notable item was this amazing t-shirt that describes my life so well right now that I almost cried haha... The other one was a painting.

I loved this painting. When I think of Jesus Christ, I love to think of everything that He sacrificed for me. Another thing that always makes me in awe of my Savior is the sheer amount of His creations. This painting touched me so much and made me realize that even though I feel super overwhelmed right now, He is in control. He knows what is best for me, and I just need to trust that everything will be okay.

On the way home from the store, we saw a deer. That made me feel better too, like I was at home in the Midwest again. Deer are my favorite animals. It's like Heavenly Father knew I needed to see that so that I could know He was aware of me.

Last night, I went on a date to see BYU Dance in Concert with my friend Sam (the ballroom dance partner I mentioned before). Karinne was going to come, but we had to push it back to Saturday instead of Friday, and she has marching band. It was definitely fun, but I was really tired the whole time and felt super out of it. He was really good about it though. We saw our ballroom dance teacher (Casey) perform in a Latin dance ensemble. It was awesome!

(NOT-SO-RANDOM) PHOTO GALLERY

My ballroom dance teacher. This is the picture from the front of the program!

The sweet little yearling that let me take this picture, which is not zoomed in at all. I love deer so much. This was really, really special.

Sam and I before the concert started. Not the best picture... 

My schedule for next week. All the purple is chemistry (the midterm is on Saturday). I'm definitely not taking it early this week. I'm studying as much as I can and making sure I can sleep in and get a good night's rest before I take it, even if the lines to get into the testing center are long.

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P.S. I forgot to tell you all about the goblins!!!! The other day, I was washing our Brita water filter out, and I took the cap off. I turned around and THE CAP WAS GONE. To this day, we CANNOT find the lid. It has been almost an entire week and have looked everywhere, and it is STILL. GONE. Also, Karinne has a huge bag of pecans and a huge bag of almonds. Pecans are her favorite, and so she tries to eat way more almonds than pecans. HOWEVER, the pecans are disappearing like they are a volatile substance. Literally, there are about three times as many almonds as pecans!

We have a theory - there are goblins that sneak into our room through a wormhole and steal stuff. 

Love you all!! Talk to you again next Sunday. 

Settling In (September 4th - September 10th)

I feel really bad that I have like no pictures this week. This post is gonna be kind of random. I will definitely try to take more pictures this upcoming week!! I also feel like I need to include more pictures of myself, which is sort of awkward for me, because I hate pictures. (I took one semi-okay one of myself before I headed out the door on Tuesday, so hopefully that kind of counts.) Also, I am going to stop organizing my posts by day, since not enough happens in each day for me to do that.

Honestly, overall, this week was just a week of really getting into the rhythm of things. I'm starting to get a little more homework in some of my classes (lookin' at you PDBio 120), and it's hard to find time to do anything but study. I'm really trying hard to take breaks and be more social, though.

One thing that I did this week is super exciting! I got a BYU gym membership, and am planning on going to classes there in the evenings a couple times a week. It will be so nice to do something to let stress out and be physically fit. The first class I'm going to go to is Pilates, tomorrow, with my friend Emma. (Side note, there are three Emma's in my hall!! And three Emily's...)

The one thing that has been keeping me sane throughout the week is yoga and ballroom dance class. Yoga is so energizing and I feel about 75% happier after getting out of that class. Ballroom dance is hard, but it feels good because it makes me think in a different way than the rest of my classes. It's just very technical, and I'm nervous I'm going to worse in that class than chemistry...

Speaking of ballroom dance, last night my practice partner and I got together to rehearse the waltz routine we've been learning. I am such a klutz haha... Eventually we got it though and it was awesome!! I think I just need to practice it like five thousand times and then I'll finally remember the way I'm supposed to turn and focus my gaze and all that jazz. I think the reason ballroom dance is so hard for me is that in marching band, without fail, we were always taught to step forward with our left foot first, but in ballroom, girls always step backward with their right foot first. Ugghhhhhhhhh...

After we finished practicing last night, my partner and I (his name is Sam) walked back to Helaman Halls (where I live) from Heritage Halls (where he lives - Heritage is more like an apartment than a dorm, but it's still considered on-campus housing). We literally talked for four hours (and drank several mugs of hot chocolate and ate cookies). I think it just felt nice to talk for so long because since I got here a few weeks ago, I really haven't been able to socialize at all - I have been way too busy.

Being Relief Society president has actually been a really rewarding, albeit stressful experience. This first week I decided that I needed to meet with each girl for 15 minutes, which took up a lot of time I could have spent studying, but it was so awesome to see how amazing everyone here is. Everyone is so upbeat and nice and smart. Holy cow everyone is so smart. I can't wait to get to know all of the girls here better. It's gonna be an awesome year!! Also, getting to church at 7:15 this morning for ward council was great fun (insert sarcastic eye roll here).

RANDOM PHOTO GALLERY

The signup sheet for the girls in our hall to meet with me. When I took this picture, I still had about ten girls left to schedule. Like I said, it was stressful, but a really good experience overall. I love my sisters here!

Karinne has been dying to try blow drying her hair with the hand dryer in the bathroom ever since we got here. She finally did it, and apparently it works really well! 

Literally, this was the best smoothie I ever had. I sent this picture to one of my friends telling them of my grief that it was gone.

We have been having some low-key hall drama about keeping the door closed that leads to the rooms and bathroom. Basically it started because people wanted to be able to comfortably walk from the showers to their dorm while just wearing their robe or a towel (which is completely reasonable). Honestly, I think this one of the funnier things that has happened since I moved in!

 This made Karinne and I laugh sooooooo hard!! It's a doodle we found on the underside of her desk when I was installing the router for our dorm. Just take a moment to appreciate the art.

Karinne in the process of discovering the art and laughing hysterically.

We sprayed some air freshener in our room because it smelled disgusting. However, my nose was burning because the air freshener was so pungent, so I started wafting the fumes with the door. It was a moment of truth for me - I am very, very not strong in my arm muscles. (Also, I know that's incorrect grammar, but it's so freeing to not have to type something correctly nowadays...)

I love and miss you all! Next update - September 18th.

First Week of School!! (August 28th - September 4th)

This week has been crazy! (To say the least...)

SUNDAY (August 28th)

We went to church at 8:30 in the morning, which at the time, I thought was crazy early. Now I know better (explanations to come, I promise). Our stake was splitting, because the previous year, out of the one stake, 650 missionaries had applied for missions!!! They wanted to make it easier on the stake president and bishops.

(For those reading this who are not LDS, when a young man or woman wants to serve a mission, they are required to fill out papers and go through and interviewing process with several leaders of our church. Imagine being one man and having to interview 650 young men and women in one school year! That's a lot of hours.)

When we came home, we took a 4 HOUR NAP. It was AMAZING. End of story.

Just kidding! We also put up some really pretty twinkle lights all over our ceiling. Also, when we left our room, we found out that the shrine to Alfonzo had grown!! We came back and cut up a mini watermelon with a paring knife, which was an interesting endeavor to say the least.








MONDAY (August 29th)

First day of classes! For those of you wondering what classes I'm taking, here is a list:

- Teachings and Doctrines of the Book of Mormon
- Chemistry
- American Heritage
- Biology
- Yoga
- Ballroom Dance
- World Music Cultures
- Preview of Medicine

I almost didn't make it to class on several occasions, but by some miracle I managed to find everything and make it on time!

I have a lot of time between my classes, so I usually go to the library or the Wilkinson Student Center to study during the day. I took a picture of my view from a spot in the library that I like, but I think that my favorite place to study is the Garden Court in the Wilk. There's lots of natural light, barely anyone in there, and best of all, you can eat while you study!!! (One more thing; my chemistry teacher is hilarious!! See included picture of Snape.)




















TUESDAY (August 30th)

BALLROOM DANCE AND YOGA!!!!! Literally the most fun classes on this earth. I get to wake up at 5:00 AM to be to yoga by 6:30, and then I go straight to ballroom dance from there. After that I get something at Jamba Juice (i.e. a smoothie or power bowl). Tuesday and Thursday mornings are definitely going to be my favorite, they are so energizing!!

WEDNESDAY (August 31st)

On Wednesday I found out that I have the opportunity to volunteer abroad throughout college! This summer, I am planning to go to Nicaragua. I can't wait!! The only downside is, I don't even have enough money to pay the deposit to secure my spot, so I have to figure out ways to raise money... I'm not very creative, so we'll see how this goes!!

Seriously though, I am super pumped to go to Nicaragua!! We get to build houses for the locals, teach kids and adults to read, and sandboard down an active volcano! So cool.

That evening, the bishop of our ward (congregation) asked to meet with me to discuss a calling (basically an area of responsibility in which a member of the LDS church is asked to volunteer until released from that calling). He sat me down and asked me if I would be willing to serve as the Relief Society president (basically the woman in charge of making sure all the other women in the ward are looked after and happy). I was so shocked and humbled, I literally sat there for about 30 seconds stammering and looking like an idiot. I'm still having a hard time processing it all! It is so much responsibility. He gave me a list of names, and I had to call several counselors and coordinators to help me within 48 hours. It was so much all at once!

The reason 8:30 church is late for me now is because every other Sunday, I am supposed to go in at 7:15 AM for a meeting called ward council. (!!!) In that meeting, what essentially happens is the leaders of various organizations of the ward (Relief Society president, the bishop, the leader of the men, etc.) discuss what needs to be done to better the lives of those in the congregation. When I'm not there at 7:15, I have to be there at 8:00 to meet with my counselors.

THURSDAY (September 1st)

Literally nothing happened on Thursday, but there were some funny highlights!!







Lily sent me a picture of her with all her scarves piled on top of her head. Never grow up Lily.


Karinne did some blind drawings of people here at BYU. A blind drawing is a drawing where you don't look at the paper - you have to keep your eyes focused on the subject. They are the best drawings I have ever seen in my life.










A highlight that was not so much funny as yummy - I made myself some yummy hot cocoa in my beloved brain mug! (My family will tell you this is my most prized possession, and they are right.)





FRIDAY (September 2nd)

My chemistry professor blew up some balloons in lecture! That is all.

SATURDAY (September 3rd)

Karinne and I woke up at like 10:15, and decided to go to Denny's for breakfast with some of our friends from our hall (Jenna and Emma). It was so good to eat bacon. Bacon is my soul food.

After a nap (because we did so much that day), we cleaned our dorm, which made a surprisingly big difference. It looks so much better! After that we went to CVS to get some stuff and then to Rita's, which is an Italian ice/custard place. I got key lime ice mixed with vanilla custard. :):):)

The rest of the night I studied. Until 2:00 in the morning.

Love you all!! Look for my next post next Sunday. :)