First Week of Freshman Year

Meet the view from the 3rd floor balcony of Carroll Hall. September 1, 2013. Labor Day. I reside on the second floor so we have a small balcony, but the third floor has a giant balcony instead of a lobby. Melissa, her guy friend (who's name escapes me at the moment), and I explored the building for a little bit and decided this would be a fun place to hold a dance. This is the first example of how beautiful BYU campus is.

The first time we really cooked! There just had to be a picture of this. Sam had never had chicken tacos. I don't really understand this since I am well versed in Mexican food. There are actually a lot of difference growing up in Michigan and Arizona. Melissa and I quizzed her all during dinner whether or not she had been to certain restaurants and stores. The left over chicken from this meal disappeared. :( We're still not sure what happened to it, but it's become an apartment joke.

Monday I played soccer for an hour and a half with some of the wardies and other kids walking around Heritage Halls we invited. Enough people showed up for three teams. We rotated who played who about every 7 minutes and had a great time. Then the first two pictures occurred. After dinner we went to our first FHE. Our family seems super fun and I volunteered to be a temporary Ma until all the ward callings are designated. Monday's FHE activity was get-to-know-you games, ice cream, and socializing. While walking back from the Conference Building it started to sprinkle. By the time Melissa got home a few minutes later it was raining pretty hard. What do we do when it rains? Dance in the street! Some of the kids in the ward were already playing in the rain so we joined them. Here's my picture after playing in the rain the night before school starts.

Where exactly is the RB and how exactly do you get there from the Benson? I'm not quite sure. It was a good thing I started off early trying to find it after my Book of Mormon class. I started walking in the general direction my phone told me to go (the BYU app is a life saver) and happened across this path. I thought to myself, "seems legit," and started down the path. I eventually found the RB and later followed my app to a vending machine and bathrooms. :)

This should have happened sooner. Water cups now have a place which slightly cuts back the amount of dishes we go through.

Walking to work at 8am is fine by me because it is gorgeous and hardly anyone is around. This waterfall opens into a small pond and then a little stream that goes under the path to campus and follows it for a bit. Dad questioned why this water feature exists. I told him it is a wonderful place to read scriptures... but mostly I think it's used to duck watch on the way to or from campus. Wednesday was also the first day I used my blender. Yay smoothies!

Meet the bell tower. It rings every hour on the hour and chimes twice at half past as well. There is also some class you can take where you play songs with the bells. We've heard a variety of hymns and some Harry Potter. It's another fun landmark walking to work.

A screen shot example on how the BYU app saves my life. Right after choir I have American Heritage. Ten minutes is ample time to get there if you know where you are going. Thank you BYU app. <3

Thursday I volunteered at BYUSA's back to school lunch time activities. This particular day was free hot dog day. For an hour and a half I took buns out of packaging and squeezed J-Dawgs sauce onto hot dogs. Everyone in the booth was fun to work with and the recipients of the hot dogs were even better. Some of my favorite responses include....

"I wanted to eat lunch so bad, but I knew if I did I wouldn't eat dinner. Right when I decided to hold back I turned the corner and there was a free hot dog stand. Thank you Heavenly Father!"

"Wait... wait... THESE ARE FREE!?!?! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"I love you guys so much. Thank you."

"Can I have two? (yes) Are you serious?!?! Thank you!"

During clean-up, the event coordinators realized we had way to much ketchup and mustard, so they handed it out. This explains why I walked around with 12 pounds of condiments on Thursday. I got so many strange looks. We're still not sure what to do with it. We'll probably save a little in Tupperware and give the rest away. One of the girls at work suggested having a fight with it. Team Ketchup vs. Team Mustard. I think I know what I'm doing this Saturday. :D

Remember how I couldn't find the RB on day 1? Well I had the same problem on Thursday. This new path fines any biker $50 for riding down since it gets so steep. I think my new goal is to go a different way to tap everyday. It's a fun way to see campus.

And this my friends is a "creeper shot" of Mallory, Matt, and Stacey from Studio C, as requested by my sister. A few more cast members were at the auditions for Divine Comedy. No, I did not audition. It was just fun to go watch the process and fan girl over the tv show. Isn't that sad? I saw Stacey on campus and I silently freaked out. They're celebrities now. My roommate saw Whitney and Steven at the grocery store the other day. Naomi, Melissa, and I may go back to watch day two of auditions. Maybe I'll participate next year.

After watching auditions I found Marie watching Pitch Perfect for the first time. Love that movie! <3 I had to watch the end with her and then we teamed with Melissa and Joelle to study for our first American Heritage quiz. (btw I got 5/5) It went pretty late for a school night since Marie and I discussed Les Mis for maybe half an hour. Her voice is fantastic! Speaking of fantastic voices I just ran into Maddi again. She made Concert Choir here and is as busy as ever. It's nice to have her even closer than we were back home.

I can't talk about I really do at work. It's a top secret job. ;) However, I can say there are fun people and the job is much better than working food or janitorial services. I was slightly offended nobody said, "Bless you when I sneezed." I guess I'm use to Mr. Flaherty's physics class where it was always a competition to see who could say bless you first.

I wrote this blog post while sitting in the HFAC. I think the art in this building is beautiful and the way it is set up is so modern. The stairs are a little terrifying though. I have Intro to Theatre in an hour so this seemed like a good way to help the time pass. I didn't know my Biology class doesn't happen on Fridays till last night. I spent a few minutes dancing around the building after hearing the news. :) Well this concludes week one. 

Let the weekend begin!