This weekend was CRAZY. How crazy, you ask? Well, whenever I hear the song "Last Friday Night" by Katy Perry, I can only think "My Friday nights are so much more fun than this!"
Ok, no, I don't go absolutely insane and wreak havoc on the community (although there are occasional noise complaints) but I still wouldn't trade weekends with her for anything.
This Friday started off with a trip to a cute Halloween village with my aunt and uncle, and a barbecue at my grandma's house. I don't usually feel homesick when I'm at school, but as soon as I step into my grandma's house and remember how nice it was living there for two weeks, I never want to leave. There's free food, a huge TV, tons of movies and books, animals, and of course, my loving family. So yeah, family time was fun. When I got back, a group of us went to a nerd dance. Ironically, I didn't have time to dress up, so although I was the nerdiest person in the group, I looked the most normal. The dance was pretty fun. We stayed there for a couple of hours, but then they played a bad song so we left (aren't you proud of us???)
After the dance, the rest of the night is kind of a blur. We went to Del Taco, as always, and we kind of wandered around campus for a couple of hours. All I know is that around 4 o'clock we ended up in a field by the dorms, waiting for a meteor shower. There was really only one shooting star worth mentioning, but it was enough. It completely lit up the sky, it's tail trailing far behind it. It was so incredible. We stayed outside for a couple more hours, but didn't see anything to top it. However, just because we were done watching the shooting stars didn't mean that we were done with nature. You see, in front of our building are a couple of huge bushes. Courtney, one of our really good friends, had decided to dive into the bush a couple weeks before, and apparently it was really fun. Monica had also taken a dive into a bush, but that one was accidental and not nearly as enjoyable. Several of us decided to take Courtney's approach, and although I was wounded, it was worth it. I got a scratch across my cheek (my "battle scar") and thanks to the magic of make-up you couldn't really tell it was there. It's healing now, but I'm a little disappointed. It was a sign of my successful bush dive. Around 7, we wandered down to Helaman Halls and visited a friend of mine and Monica's from back home. There were eight of us, and we were the most pathetic group. I was wearing my Snuggie over my coat, Monica was in her pajamas, Blake was wrapped in a blanket, and Tyler was wearing blue BYU spirit hair and my purse. We came back home and had breakfast together at 8, which we decided was the start of Saturday. Everything before that had been Friday. By this point, we were a mess. Tyler had an intramural volleyball game, and Monica, Mike (another guy friend, who is awesome), Courtney, and I went to watch. Monica line-judged, and the rest of us were cheerleaders. It was so much fun. We bugged the heck out of everyone else in the gym. Tyler's team lost (I think it was my fault. I swear I'm a bad luck charm. I have never seen his team win a game. The only games they've won are the ones I haven't been to) but it was still a blast, mostly because we were so delirious. Saturday is a blur as well. I spent the whole day in the boys' apartment. I slept for like 45 minutes on their couch (while they were all trying to get ready for cleaning checks) and stayed there the rest of the day; eating ice cream, working on my Sunday School lesson, and I don't even know what else. Somehow seven hours passed. Saturday night, I saw Captain America with some people at work. It was a sign of how sleep-deprived I was that I started dozing off during the movie. Yes, Chris Evans as Captain America was on the screen, and I fell asleep. I'm so ashamed.
Friday and Saturday were basically the same day, but Saturday night I got a full seven hours of sleep. And I took a four hour nap after church. My lesson in Sunday School was extremely sub-standard, but it doesn't matter because the whole class sleeps anyway. Oh, the joys of having 8:30 church in a Single Adult Ward in college. I don't know what the stake was thinking. Anyway, we sang "Come Thou Fount" in Sacrament Meeting, and it sounded really good. It was Parent's Weekend, so there were some families in the congregation, and I'm glad they got to hear us sing such a beautiful song. Nothing else of importance happened on Sunday until the nighttime. Our guy friends cooked dinner for our whole apartment. It was pancakes and eggs. While they were making it, they realized "Hey, Emily doesn't like breakfast food," and they made me an alternate meal. It was so nice. Then they decided if they were catering to my diva-like taste in food they might as well go all out, so they pulled in a nice chair from the lobby and made me a place setting, so that everyone knew where my spot was. The place card said "HM Emily Hales, DDS, Esquire" (Yes, I am a queen, a dentist, and a gentleman.) They even put a lettuce-leaf garnish on my plate. I, of course, loved every minute of it. I really should work on my self-esteem issues. I either feel completely horrible about myself, or I'm ridiculously vain and arrogant. But I digress. I got to be princess for the evening, and it was fabulous.
Monday isn't really part of the weekend, but I'm going to talk about it right now anyway. For FHE, we had a ward talent show. Have I mentioned how amazing my friends are? I think I need to give a detailed description of them all one day, just so you know how lucky I am. Courtney and Mike both had hilarious performances. Courtney and her roommates did an extremely deep and inspirational poetry reading of "The Foot Book," by the great sage Dr. Seuss, and Mike performed the classic "Yeah Toast." Look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about. Tyler and his roommate Nic thrilled Monica and I very greatly with a singing duet, so much so that we made them give us a private encore performance in their kitchen. Then we had an intellectual discussion about human nature for our Anthropology class, and then I had to go to work.
Today, so far, we had a pretty cool devotional by Senator Joe Lieberman. The best part was that Elders Cook and Perry came too, and we got to see Lieberman chatting with our apostles before he started speaking. So many celebrities all in one room! BYU is a pretty wonderful place.
That brings us up to speed. I don't know what I'll talk about next. We'll see! Is there anything in particular about my life at BYU that you would like to know about?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
It's called "Heritage" for a reason
Here's a funny story: I was in my room one night at the beginning of the year, when I hear a knock at the door. Monica opens it, and I hear a guy's voice saying "Are all your roommates here? Get them all out here." I go out into the hallway, and two guys I've never seen before are standing in the doorway. One is super excited about something, and the other is kind of hanging back. The super excited one says "You guys live in the coolest apartment on campus? Do you want to know why? Sixty years ago, my grandma lived in that room right there, and while she was living here she met her husband, my grandpa. Last year, we had a really good friend who lived in that room, and he got married while living there too! Whoever lives in that room is getting married this year!"
What can be learned from this story? 1) One of my apartment-mates is getting married this year (the room in question was the middle room, which is not the one I live in. Thank goodness) 2) There are no boundaries between strangers at BYU and 3) My building is so OLD!!!!!
60 years ago my apartment was bringing people together, and it was probably old and disgusting back then. It's quite funny how run-down they are, especially compared to New Heritage (which used to be Deseret Towers) and Wyview (which used to be married housing). The appliances are the worst. My microwave is incapable of popping a bag of popcorn. One night Monica and I were eating dinner with another apartment, and their stove caught on fire. It spontaneously burst into flame. They put it out with a fire extinguisher, and since a fire extinguisher only has one use before it has to be replaced, when the stove caught on fire again a week or two later they had to use wet rags to put it out. Another apartment in my building had a stove fire as well. Since the beginning of the school year our bathtub drain didn't work, which meant that if you wanted to use that shower, you had to be prepared to take a mud bath as well. Our other shower is reminiscent of the showers in a locker room, which is not what you want to come home to after work. THANKFULLY maintenance came yesterday and fixed the drain, so I got to take a REAL shower last night. It was so beautiful.
Despite all the issues and general grossness of my dorm, I would not want to live anywhere else. I love love love having a kitchen, and my own little apartment. I'm close to everything on campus. We also have the prettiest outdoor scenery.
Here's another story: During New Student Orientation, they had a big party at the Wilkinson Center, including a performance by BYU's DIVINE COMEDY (have you looked them up yet?), and Monica and I were going over. We took a wrong turn, and ended up walking by the guy building from our ward (our ward is made up of two girls dorms and one guy dorm) just as three guys were walking out. Monica and I were like, "Hey we're from your ward!" and they said "Cool, walk with us!"We asked where they were from, and one of the guys, Tyler, replied “Texas.” With that fatal word, our fate was sealed. Monica and I were so excited to find someone else from Texas, we started talking solely to him, and ignoring the other guys (but we became friends with them later.) The three of us went to the Divine Comedy show together, and hung out a couple more times that week, along with another guy we met (at a sanctioned church get-to-know-you thing) named Blake (who is in to all the same books and Monica me), but the ultimate test of friendship came the first Friday night, at the Carnival. It was kind of a lame thing, but they had two blow-up bounce-house slides and a Tea-Cup Ride. Oh, the tea-cup ride, or as it’s really called, the “Exciting Tubs of Fun”. It is the most horrific and exhilarating ride I’ve been on in my life. That was the bonding moment. We-a group of about 9 people-went on it twice, and felt so sick afterwards. We then went to play hide and seek in the Tanner building, but we felt too awful to play for long, so we went back to the boys apartment and watched Psych, in an ingenious way. Monica and I couldn’t actually go into the apartment because it was past 12, and we couldn’t watch Netflix in the lobby, so we put the laptop on a table in the apartment and pulled a couch up to the door, so we weren’t breaking either rule! Over the last two months, the four of us have just grown closer and closer. Tyler frequently refers to our kitchen as “his” kitchen, which houses “his” couch. He and Blake are always over. At least one of them is always still there when I leave for work. We have other friends too, like Tyler’s roommates, but these guys are our brothers (the actual family relationships we’ve worked out are more complicated, and much weirder, so lets just say that we’re all brothers and sisters). In fact, we’re going to watch an opera tonight in the Fine Arts Center! There’s always so much to do here.
What can be learned from this story? 1) One of my apartment-mates is getting married this year (the room in question was the middle room, which is not the one I live in. Thank goodness) 2) There are no boundaries between strangers at BYU and 3) My building is so OLD!!!!!
60 years ago my apartment was bringing people together, and it was probably old and disgusting back then. It's quite funny how run-down they are, especially compared to New Heritage (which used to be Deseret Towers) and Wyview (which used to be married housing). The appliances are the worst. My microwave is incapable of popping a bag of popcorn. One night Monica and I were eating dinner with another apartment, and their stove caught on fire. It spontaneously burst into flame. They put it out with a fire extinguisher, and since a fire extinguisher only has one use before it has to be replaced, when the stove caught on fire again a week or two later they had to use wet rags to put it out. Another apartment in my building had a stove fire as well. Since the beginning of the school year our bathtub drain didn't work, which meant that if you wanted to use that shower, you had to be prepared to take a mud bath as well. Our other shower is reminiscent of the showers in a locker room, which is not what you want to come home to after work. THANKFULLY maintenance came yesterday and fixed the drain, so I got to take a REAL shower last night. It was so beautiful.
Despite all the issues and general grossness of my dorm, I would not want to live anywhere else. I love love love having a kitchen, and my own little apartment. I'm close to everything on campus. We also have the prettiest outdoor scenery.
Here's another story: During New Student Orientation, they had a big party at the Wilkinson Center, including a performance by BYU's DIVINE COMEDY (have you looked them up yet?), and Monica and I were going over. We took a wrong turn, and ended up walking by the guy building from our ward (our ward is made up of two girls dorms and one guy dorm) just as three guys were walking out. Monica and I were like, "Hey we're from your ward!" and they said "Cool, walk with us!"We asked where they were from, and one of the guys, Tyler, replied “Texas.” With that fatal word, our fate was sealed. Monica and I were so excited to find someone else from Texas, we started talking solely to him, and ignoring the other guys (but we became friends with them later.) The three of us went to the Divine Comedy show together, and hung out a couple more times that week, along with another guy we met (at a sanctioned church get-to-know-you thing) named Blake (who is in to all the same books and Monica me), but the ultimate test of friendship came the first Friday night, at the Carnival. It was kind of a lame thing, but they had two blow-up bounce-house slides and a Tea-Cup Ride. Oh, the tea-cup ride, or as it’s really called, the “Exciting Tubs of Fun”. It is the most horrific and exhilarating ride I’ve been on in my life. That was the bonding moment. We-a group of about 9 people-went on it twice, and felt so sick afterwards. We then went to play hide and seek in the Tanner building, but we felt too awful to play for long, so we went back to the boys apartment and watched Psych, in an ingenious way. Monica and I couldn’t actually go into the apartment because it was past 12, and we couldn’t watch Netflix in the lobby, so we put the laptop on a table in the apartment and pulled a couch up to the door, so we weren’t breaking either rule! Over the last two months, the four of us have just grown closer and closer. Tyler frequently refers to our kitchen as “his” kitchen, which houses “his” couch. He and Blake are always over. At least one of them is always still there when I leave for work. We have other friends too, like Tyler’s roommates, but these guys are our brothers (the actual family relationships we’ve worked out are more complicated, and much weirder, so lets just say that we’re all brothers and sisters). In fact, we’re going to watch an opera tonight in the Fine Arts Center! There’s always so much to do here.
Side note: Tyler was upset that I didn’t mention him by name in my last post, so hopefully he’s happy now (also, were there enough digressions in this post?).
Quick test update: My Book of Mormon teacher dropped a question on the test, so I’m going to have like a 97!!! I made a B on my Humanities test, and a 95 on my Greek and Roman Literature test. And I have no more tests for a while!
Emily <3
Monday, October 17, 2011
A Brief Summary of the Last Two Months
Obviously I'm not going to go into detail about every activity I've done while I've been up here, but I can start off with a little overview of the basic status of my life right now. I live in Heritage Halls, in an apartment with 5 other girls. My "room" roommate is one of my best friends from back home, Monica. We take care of each other, drive each other nuts, and basically have the time of our lives. It was a struggle the first week or two to make friends and be social, since I'm a rather small and quiet person, but thanks in large part to Monica's outgoingness we have a really good group of friends. BYU is a phenomenal school. There's always so much to do, the classes are interesting, and the people are hilarious. It is so weird being surrounded by so many Mormons. I feel almost corrupt compared to some of these kids! My parents told me I'd be shocked by how bad Mormon kids could be, but so far I haven't come across it. Maybe it's because I'm a freshman living right on campus. On the whole, though, I'm afraid to say that all of the stereotypes of BYU are exactly right. Everyone looks the same, everyone is intelligent, and many, many people are obsessed with dating and/or getting married. When you're walking on campus and you see an attractive person, you have to look over them twice: once to note their appearance, and again to check for a wedding ring.
There is so much I can say already about the uniqueness of BYU, but I don't want to ramble on and on right away. Essentially, everyone here is nerdy. Everyone loves Harry Potter, everyone loves Disney (my friends and I regularly break into Mulan-quoting sessions) and everyone is intelligent. The average high school GPA for incoming freshman this year was a 3.8, which is what I had. That's right, folks, I'm average. Whatever shall I do?
BYU, and college in general, has a reputation of overwhelming the students with fun activities. I would like to inform you that this is absolutely true. There are:
-Carnivals
-Dances (I've only been to two, but I think a dance is going on somewhere every weekend)
-Sporting events (football, volleyball, and soccer are the most popular. I haven't been to a soccer game)
-Music performances (one of my friends is in Men's Chorus, so we watch them sing often)
-Divine Comedy shows (look them up on YouTube if you haven't yet. Do it now)
-And, of course, the random things my friends and I do at unholy hours of the night. I've decided that, despite what various Young Women's leaders, bishops, and parents have preached, the Holy Ghost actually goes to bed at 3:30 AM.
To get the best idea of my current life, I'll give you my basic schedule:
Monday: Wake up at 8 AM, go to Book of Mormon at 9, Anthropology at 10, and Greek and Roman Lit at 11. I have no more classes today, so I go home and take a nap, do some homework, shop at the Creamery, watch TV, etc. Then it's FHE at 7, some more homework, and work at 10.
Tuesday: Wake up at 9 AM, get ready for the day (Tuesdays and Thursdays are my cute days), go to the devotional at 11. Then it's English class at 12:05, and homework until 4:35 when my Humanities class starts. The class ends at 6, and I do various activities until work.
Wednesday: Same as Monday, only without FHE
Thursday: Same as Tuesday, only I get to sleep in longer because there isn't a devotional
Friday: The best day of the week. I don't have Book of Mormon, so I get to sleep in a little bit longer. Anthropology is in a lab setting, with a TA, so it's a smaller class and we do fun things. Like watch Pocahontas. At 12, Monica and I, and two of our guy friends, always have lunch together. It's a tradition. Then I usually lay around until 7 or 8, when the fun begins, unless there's a football game. The last two Fridays I've gone to dances, which were very fun. Since it's always a mixture of guys and girls, we have to stop hanging out in our dorm buildings at 1:30, so we take to the streets. We used to just hang out outside on the grass for hours, but it's too cold for that now, so we usually walk to Del Taco. It's the only time I ever leave campus, and we always go there because nowhere else is open that late (early?)
Saturday: It just passes in a haze of tiredness. Monica watches football all day, I pop in and out, do some laundry, maybe work on homework, go over my Sunday school lesson. If there's a Saturday game I go to that, then Del Taco again, and for the past two Saturdays we've gone to the bell tower and sat and talked for hours and hours.
Sunday: Wake up about 8, hurriedly get ready for Relief Society at 8:30. I got there on time this Sunday! That doesn't often happen. Every other week I have to teach Sunday School (joy), which means I'll be teaching this Sunday. Sunday's are lazy days. At 8:30 we have ward prayer, then some people come over and we work on homework together, and then it's time for work.
That is the core structure of my life. I can't wait to start telling you guys all the details. For instance, today I took a Book of Mormon test, and I made a 94! I was so thrilled! I also took a 3 hour nap. That was beautiful. Now this post has gone on long enough, and I'd better study for my Humanities test tomorrow. TTYL!!!!!
Emily <3
PS-Coming soon: The joys of living in the oldest dorms on campus
There is so much I can say already about the uniqueness of BYU, but I don't want to ramble on and on right away. Essentially, everyone here is nerdy. Everyone loves Harry Potter, everyone loves Disney (my friends and I regularly break into Mulan-quoting sessions) and everyone is intelligent. The average high school GPA for incoming freshman this year was a 3.8, which is what I had. That's right, folks, I'm average. Whatever shall I do?
BYU, and college in general, has a reputation of overwhelming the students with fun activities. I would like to inform you that this is absolutely true. There are:
-Carnivals
-Dances (I've only been to two, but I think a dance is going on somewhere every weekend)
-Sporting events (football, volleyball, and soccer are the most popular. I haven't been to a soccer game)
-Music performances (one of my friends is in Men's Chorus, so we watch them sing often)
-Divine Comedy shows (look them up on YouTube if you haven't yet. Do it now)
-And, of course, the random things my friends and I do at unholy hours of the night. I've decided that, despite what various Young Women's leaders, bishops, and parents have preached, the Holy Ghost actually goes to bed at 3:30 AM.
To get the best idea of my current life, I'll give you my basic schedule:
Monday: Wake up at 8 AM, go to Book of Mormon at 9, Anthropology at 10, and Greek and Roman Lit at 11. I have no more classes today, so I go home and take a nap, do some homework, shop at the Creamery, watch TV, etc. Then it's FHE at 7, some more homework, and work at 10.
Tuesday: Wake up at 9 AM, get ready for the day (Tuesdays and Thursdays are my cute days), go to the devotional at 11. Then it's English class at 12:05, and homework until 4:35 when my Humanities class starts. The class ends at 6, and I do various activities until work.
Wednesday: Same as Monday, only without FHE
Thursday: Same as Tuesday, only I get to sleep in longer because there isn't a devotional
Friday: The best day of the week. I don't have Book of Mormon, so I get to sleep in a little bit longer. Anthropology is in a lab setting, with a TA, so it's a smaller class and we do fun things. Like watch Pocahontas. At 12, Monica and I, and two of our guy friends, always have lunch together. It's a tradition. Then I usually lay around until 7 or 8, when the fun begins, unless there's a football game. The last two Fridays I've gone to dances, which were very fun. Since it's always a mixture of guys and girls, we have to stop hanging out in our dorm buildings at 1:30, so we take to the streets. We used to just hang out outside on the grass for hours, but it's too cold for that now, so we usually walk to Del Taco. It's the only time I ever leave campus, and we always go there because nowhere else is open that late (early?)
Saturday: It just passes in a haze of tiredness. Monica watches football all day, I pop in and out, do some laundry, maybe work on homework, go over my Sunday school lesson. If there's a Saturday game I go to that, then Del Taco again, and for the past two Saturdays we've gone to the bell tower and sat and talked for hours and hours.
Sunday: Wake up about 8, hurriedly get ready for Relief Society at 8:30. I got there on time this Sunday! That doesn't often happen. Every other week I have to teach Sunday School (joy), which means I'll be teaching this Sunday. Sunday's are lazy days. At 8:30 we have ward prayer, then some people come over and we work on homework together, and then it's time for work.
That is the core structure of my life. I can't wait to start telling you guys all the details. For instance, today I took a Book of Mormon test, and I made a 94! I was so thrilled! I also took a 3 hour nap. That was beautiful. Now this post has gone on long enough, and I'd better study for my Humanities test tomorrow. TTYL!!!!!
Emily <3
PS-Coming soon: The joys of living in the oldest dorms on campus
I got a blog!
So, I made a blog.
The concept of a blog is so fascinating. It's basically an online diary that the whole world can read. Since I love to write, and talk, and rant, and post things on the Internet, it's surprising that I never made one before now.
Before you make fun of the title of this blog, let me explain myself. I wanted to come up with a name that encompasses a majority of the facets of my personality: my bloated ego, my obsession with children's entertainment, and my love of writing/talking about myself and the fun things that happen in the world.
The world really is a very funny place, when you stop to think about it.
But we'll save that for later...
Even though, hopefully, you already know me, let me indulge myself a little bit by sharing some info with you. This blog will mainly be about my experiences at BYU Provo--the most interesting college in the world. I am a freshman, in my second month. I know I should've started my blog right when I started school, but I am the queen of procrastination. I must confess, I am a nerd. Everything about me screams "This girl does not conform to social norms! She reads books for fun! And would watch a Disney movie over a chick flick any day!" But I'm ok with that. I like who I am, social awkwardness and all.
The most important things to know about me are 1) I love Harry Potter more than just about anything 2) I love my cats, and miss them very much. Hopefully I won't end up the crazy old cat lady all the neighbor kids terrorize, but it's still up in the air. 3) I really do enjoy being with people, and I really do love my family. I promise. 4) I make many, many references to entertainment. Finally, and most importantly, 5) I seriously love BYU. I am having so much fun it's ridiculous. Oh, and I'm learning lots of great stuff too. Yeah, college pretty much rocks, and I'll explain why in great detail right here in this blog.
I hope everyone finds my thoughts enlightening, or at least entertaining. It's 2 AM, I just got home from work, and I have stuff to do (like sleeping. Maybe.) so I will start posting the first of many, many fantastic stories tomorrow. Have fun, and try not to judge me! ;)
The concept of a blog is so fascinating. It's basically an online diary that the whole world can read. Since I love to write, and talk, and rant, and post things on the Internet, it's surprising that I never made one before now.
Before you make fun of the title of this blog, let me explain myself. I wanted to come up with a name that encompasses a majority of the facets of my personality: my bloated ego, my obsession with children's entertainment, and my love of writing/talking about myself and the fun things that happen in the world.
The world really is a very funny place, when you stop to think about it.
But we'll save that for later...
Even though, hopefully, you already know me, let me indulge myself a little bit by sharing some info with you. This blog will mainly be about my experiences at BYU Provo--the most interesting college in the world. I am a freshman, in my second month. I know I should've started my blog right when I started school, but I am the queen of procrastination. I must confess, I am a nerd. Everything about me screams "This girl does not conform to social norms! She reads books for fun! And would watch a Disney movie over a chick flick any day!" But I'm ok with that. I like who I am, social awkwardness and all.
The most important things to know about me are 1) I love Harry Potter more than just about anything 2) I love my cats, and miss them very much. Hopefully I won't end up the crazy old cat lady all the neighbor kids terrorize, but it's still up in the air. 3) I really do enjoy being with people, and I really do love my family. I promise. 4) I make many, many references to entertainment. Finally, and most importantly, 5) I seriously love BYU. I am having so much fun it's ridiculous. Oh, and I'm learning lots of great stuff too. Yeah, college pretty much rocks, and I'll explain why in great detail right here in this blog.
I hope everyone finds my thoughts enlightening, or at least entertaining. It's 2 AM, I just got home from work, and I have stuff to do (like sleeping. Maybe.) so I will start posting the first of many, many fantastic stories tomorrow. Have fun, and try not to judge me! ;)
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