Life at the Y

Well, I was absolutely terrified of coming up to College at BYU Provo. I was so nervous and anxious and worried about everything. And I was sad about leaving my family and being states away from them [over 614 miles to be exact].

But all of this didn't really hit me until Monday/Tuesday when I was literally packing all my belongings and starting my goodbyes. That was hard.... And I didn't even get to say all the goodbyes that i wanted. Time FLEW by at the end and before I knew it I was on my way.

I hung out with friends Monday, and then Monday night I hung out with Nathan and Ashley while I packed all my clothes and fell asleep in the process. The next day I finished packing, saw Naomi and my awesome nephews, packed my room at my dads, and cried. When it hit me it HIT me. But then I was pretty good for the rest of the day. My mom and I finally headed out around 5-ish and I drove straight through to Saint George. We got there about midnight Utah time, and I realized that I had just permanently lost an hour of my life.

My packed car about to head on to Provo

The next morning we continued on to Provo, which seemed like an extremely long drive! I was so anxious to get there! I didn't eat anything all the way, and started getting really jittery and bouncy in anticipation as I drove the distance from Saint George. As we finally got to Provo my mom took a video of me with her phone as we wandered around near where I knew my dorm was and attempted to find my building and where to check in.
After a couple of loops we found where to go and we made many trips to unpack my full little car and set up my new room. Only one of my roommates was already there and set up so it was great finally meeting her and I was so excited to get all situated.

The door of my dorm with all my roomies' names

before

empty closet before

All done!

The finished product

After everything was generally in place, I got my BYU ID/Signature card which allows me to get food and prove I am indeed a Cougar Student and then went to New Student Orientation. My mom took my car and drove to stay with her good friend Karen from way back when while I went on a tour of the campus and met some cool girls who live in my hall. After the tour they fed us a delicious BBQ sandwich and mashed potatoes. It was SO GOOD, but we think our tired and hungry stomachs were a little bit biased. I then just sat in a group with some girls from my group and some roommates waiting for the movie to start out on the field. While chilling, these two guys walked up to us and introduced themselves. They were really funny and outgoing and had us laughing instantly. We found out that they lived like 50 feet from our building so they invited us to their place to watch a better movie. So we did :)
It was 6 or 7 girls and 2 guys, then their other roommates slowly filtered in too as well as some other new friends of theirs. We watched "She's the Man" and laughed a lot. At about 11:30 we headed out with lots of exchanged numbers and new friends. A great first night of the college life :D

Day 2 involved another tour of the rest of campus, a couple really good talks, and some more free food. I got to get to know my roommates better as we went to Walmart for food together and to get some supplies that no one had brought. We learned to be more organized the next time we went shopping :) Lists are helpful... lol. That night we were invited to go swimming with one of my roommates friends who lives off-campus. He is her older brother's best friend and he picked us up to take us to his place. Only 5 of us went- Katrina started work the next day at 6:30 am, so she decided not to come.
Dani and I decided that we didn't want to get our hair wet and have mascara run down our faces so we stayed near the edge, but Eric made it his goal to dunk us. We fought and delayed it, but there's not much use in fighting a buff 6'5" basketball player in a pool. Needless to say our hair was not dry for very long. But after that we made a bet with Eric that if us 5 girls could dunk him, that he would have to buy us all ice cream. It wasn't easy, and he wasn't trying very hard- if at all- to resist, but we did it!
After we got too cold, cause it was night time by the time we got to the pool, we dressed and proceeded to another apartment complex to play outside nightgames with some people that Eric had met. That was fun too. We were there for a couple hours until people started going home, so Eric then drove us to a grocery store to purchase us our winnings- a gallon container of Cookies'n'Cream ice cream. YUM. We went to our dorm and stayed on the front patio with our ice cream and 6 spoons since visiting hours were long over by this time. Not the most sanitary method, but very delicious- especially at like 1 am.
I was also hanging out with Sarah and Elise from my building with Mitch [one of the guys from NSO who walked up to us] on the other patio for a while. It was a long night that ended with me finding the rest of my roommates and Eric swing dancing in the parking lot. Til 3 am. Good times!

Day 3 my mom picked up my sister from the airport and we enjoyed some Cafe Rio together and did a little shopping before Heather stayed with a good friend, I returned to my dorm, and my mom went back to Karen's house. My roommates were at a volleyball game and hanging out with Eric again so I met up with some other gals from my building and we got a group of people to play Apples to Apples in our lobby. Then just bumming around til about 4 am when we finally slept- just like the other nights.

Day 4, Saturday, we slept in and went to the football game against North Iowa where BYU won spectacularly. I had a good time with my roommates and other friends that we met up with [Mitch and his buddies] and I enjoyed my first of many Cougar games.

From left to right: me, Katrina, Karina, and Danielle

The Cougars rushing onto the field

Mitch and I after the game

Afterwards we went to a BBQ at a park by the temple with like a bajillion people. Eric had orchestrated it and even though it was dark and very windy we had a blast. There's a huge hill there that people rolled down and sat on enjoying the thunderstorm in the distance and the wind that reminded me of home :) It nearly blew us off the hill. We were joined by Mitch and a few of his roomies who walked there to meet us. Lots of rolling and playing the game "smurf" later I joined the guys on their walk home so that I'd be able to shower for church the next day before my roommates got home. Those guys are crazy and hilarious! We had quite and adventurous walk home, not to mention the giant rain drops that started falling and the lightning right above or heads! Way better than Palmdale :)
I had a good time with them and then enjoyed a nice chat with Mitch [on the porch of course] til my roomies returned. The rain and thunder continued and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Some of the group on the hill

Day 5, Sunday, we attended our ward- which is only 1/3 males - and enjoyed playing UNO, visiting with my sister who showed up on my doorstep while I was at church, and eating our first Sunday meal together.

Day 6, Labor Day, I purchased all of my textbooks with my mom and we picked up Heather in Midville, UT. We made a detour to Layton so that Heather could check out a wedding dress, which she ended up purchasing, and then I drove them both to the airport. We said our final goodbyes and I was officially on my own in Utah with access to my car. I was excited. I thought that I would have gotten really sad at that point, but my college life had already encompassed me and I was ready for it. No more fear. No more anxiety. Just happiness and a sense of adventure and freedom, I was hooked and enjoying it.
I got back to Provo and joined in my ward's FHE and then hung out with Mitch watching "The Italian Job" my last night before classes started. I didn't go to bed as early as I maybe should have, but at least it wasn't 4 am like all the other nights ;)

My first days up at college were AMAZING. I had such a good time and made so many new friends, did so many things, and had so much fun that it felt like a week or two. I'm loving life and am so glad that I get along with all of my roommates so well. We all are so similar in our craziness and senses of humor, they are all so great. In the next couple days I'll get some pictures of them all up here so that you will be able to put a name to the face of my new friends. I'm having a blast and can't wait to see what comes next :D