The light at the end of the tunnel.

Finals are next week, and with that comes studying, stress, a lack of sleep, and unfixed hair. 

But next week means so much more than just finals.

Next week means moving to my new apartment-style dorm.

and

Next week means going HOME. 

I should probably get back to writing this anthropology paper, as this short blog post was merely another form of procrastination.

A series of fortunate events.

It's been a long time since I posted on here, but I assume all will be well with you because you probably also follow me on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook! Since I've posted last, I've made a few very important decisions that I should make you aware of. But before you get to read about those, I'm gonna bore you with a few fun things that have been going on!

In October I went home for homecoming,

In the fall my friends and I took pictures in the canyon,

I went home for Thanksgiving and also got to see my best friends,

And it's been snowing and we have been freezing but are having a blast! (that's my cool roommate)

And scattered between: football games, basketball games, shopping trips, and etcetera!

And now for the serious stuff.

The first big decision I made was to change majors. Originally I was a pre-nursing major hoping to get accepted into the extremely competitive and prestigious College of Nursing here at BYU. Honestly it sounded like a great idea to me, but I think the biggest driving force behind it was that I would get medical training, still have interaction with people, and not have to go to medical school. Which are all very beautiful things. But after sitting through my intro to nursing course, I began feeling uneasy about my decision. I thought and prayed very hard for several weeks and came to the conclusion that I was not going down the right career path. I realized that I didn't really want to be the one doing the dirty work (although I never planned on being a bedside nurse, I wanted to be a nurse anesthetist), and I realized I wanted a career path that would allow me to be my own boss. Nursing did not allow for both of these criteria. I was searching for a career that would allow the following:

• one-on-one interaction with patients
• the ability to improve lives and feel fulfilled
• the possibility of specializing in pediatric "fill-in-the-blank"
• the possibility and probability of one day being my own boss
• being able to have the job described above without attending medical school
• flexible so I can be a mom

After making a list of every possible job I could think of that met all six of these criteria, I narrowed it down to a select three careers. I then went on a hunt to discover what major I should actually be in by thoroughly investigating the majors offered at BYU, as well as looking into graduate programs at esteemed universities that specialize in training for the careers I am interested in.

I am now an Exercise Science major pursuing Occupational Therapy graduate school and hoping to specialize in Pediatric Occupational Therapy.

The second big decision was to move from Helaman Halls into New Heritage Halls next semester. It was a long and hard process to come to the conclusion that I should move, and I will only share a few of the details. For one, my original plan was to live in New Heritage because I have some friends from home over there. The dorms are basically apartments with full kitchens and living rooms. Unfortunately, I got a pretty stinky housing registration date and it was all filled up, so here I am in Helaman Halls, where I live in a jail cell and eat at a cafeteria. I have already changed contracts and have been in contact with my new roommate. There are people here in Helaman I will miss, but I am looking forward to the Winter semester!

Right now I am about to pass out via Nyquil, so it's time to tie things up (it's been a long post anyway). I have one week of classes left and then finals (ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!) and then CHRISTMAS BREAK.

Things just seem to be lining up for me right now.

A quick, quick update.

It has been nearly a month since I have updated this thing! I'm getting worse at remembering. Considering I'm going home this weekend and will probably have a lengthier post from that, I'll resort to another list :)

• essays
• midterms
• shopping
• stand-up comedy
• oktoberfest
• farmer's market
• google hangouts with big dogs
• BYU homecoming
• fine arts spectacular
• cold
• snow
• scarves
• boots
• homework
• hi-chews
• hallway yoga
• nail parties
• movies
• cooking in the basement
• lots of late-night procrastination with friends

Time to catch up.

Hey there. It's been a while. What have I been up to, you ask?

• great weather
• farmers markets
• snow cones
• stand-up comedy
• mentor meetings
• studying outside in the bugless grass
• dance performances
• playing in the rain
• art museum visits
• football games
• hiking
• waterfalls
• hiking waterfalls
• more football games
• church
• "family" Sunday night dinners
• ward prayer
• tunnel singing
• basement sardines
• exploring in places of buildings that we probably aren't allowed to be in

Oh and I guess

• school

I turned in my first few college papers over the past two weeks and have my first exam this week!

Hello September.

I failed to post about my second day of school, which was very different from my first day. So here's a quick overview: I started the day with chemistry, the professor is super cool and just recently got his doctorate. I've looked through the textbook and I'm pretty sure I can handle it. I then had anthropology. The professor is a weirdo, what he talked about seemed interesting, but all the books we have to read are super boring. Last was human development. The professor was nice, she was really into what she was talking about. It's going to be a tough class because we have a lot of research papers, but I think it will be the most interesting of my classes. I'll let you know in December.

Friday night Hannah, Lauren, Erin, Kelsey, and I went to the theater on campus and watched Monsters University for $1 and we were laughing the entire time, as was the entire theater. It's very different watching it before college as opposed to once you're in it! We then hit up a party for about 10 minutes but decided to head back to the lobby. Weekend nights in the lobby are awesome because they are full of people. So we walk in and there is a group of 30+ people playing signs, and a group of about 20 guys in the corner playing guitars and singing awesome arrangements of songs. It's such a cool environment. We had so much fun! The rest of the night was spent doing spontaneous things and laughing until we thought we were literally going to throw up.

Saturday was game day!!!! vs. University of Texas, which was extra exciting for me. The game started at 5 and the gates opened at 3, so we got there at 3 to ensure good seats in the student section. We got great seats and sat around for about an hour until it suddenly got dark. We watched a massive storm cloud roll over the south end of the stadium (where we were seated) and it began to get cold and crazy windy. Then it began pouring and we were soaked before we got to the portal to go under the stadium! Long story short, we got there at 3, went under at 4, went back into the stands at 6:20 to watch the game (still soaked and cold), and got home at 11. We ended up sitting in the end zone next to the band so that was fun! It was a very different experience going to a football game and being a part of the regular audience!

(might I add that BYU beat UT 40-21) (sorry Katie)

I'm pretty sure that storm was the beginning of the cold fronts, because the highest high this week is in the low 80's. I am excited to wear autumn/winter layers because they rock but I am NOT ready to be cold haha!

I'm doing pretty good on keeping up with my assignments, although it is only week one! I can't imagine what's in store. I have made a lot of friends and bonded with the ones I mentioned, but I am still looking forward to having best friends here!!

First Day of College!

Well today was the day I have been awaiting for over eighteen years: my first day of college! I woke up at a beautiful 6:30am to get ready and was out the door by 7:15, which is impressive for me. I walked outside and to my surprise I was cold and wishing I had a sweater! After grabbing some breakfast I began my trek up "freshman hill" (the hill that separates the dorms I live in from campus itself) and realized just how heavy my backpack was haha! My first class of the day was Preview to Nursing, which is a 2 hour class but luckily is only once a week and lasts 8 weeks. I met some new people and the professor was super sweet. But for the past few days I have begun to have doubts about whether this is really the profession I want to pursue. I hope that at the end of this course I will have determined whether to stick with it or not, because if so, I have to begin applying to the nursing program in February!

I had a two hour break so I made my way back home. I opened the door and found my roommate, who had thought she had a 9am class but later realized she had looked at the wrong day. She doesn't start until 1 on Tuesdays (lucky)!! We talked for a bit and then headed out to grab lunch. My second class of the day was Book of Mormon. The professor is super awesome and is all about teaching on a personal level rather than being oblivious to our thoughts and needs. He also told us that he is going to teach more about the doctrinal framework rather than specific details, which I think will be a lot more interesting and meaningful in the long run and I am happy about it.

My third class was 10 minutes later and in the building next door. I walked into what was expected to be a large section, considering it was held in a lecture hall that could hold 150+ students, but to my surprise there were less than 50 students. I sat between a guy and a girl, and soon came to the conclusion that I was probably the only freshman in the room. Weird. But after hearing from the professor who is cool in the way only a dorky physics professor can be, I am not as nervous about that class as I was walking in.

After school I came home and took a short nap, video chatted with some of my best friends, and got to work. SO. MUCH. HOMEWORK. Once I was done I wanted to go do something fun and my roommate was out, so I headed down to the lobby. There was a big group of kids who obviously knew each other (probably in the same ward) but I made myself go hang out with them. Those guys and girls were super nice and fun and we played extreme spoons for nearly an hour. I really hope they are down there tomorrow night because I want to be friends with all of them!!

Labor Day Weekend

Between orientation and the beginning of school, I seriously had nothing to do, especially since my roommate was gone for the day. I did laundry and watched snippets of the football game, went over to my friend's dorm across campus, and went to eat dinner. I sat by some girls that I recognized from the laundry room and we ended up going to the soccer game together! Some of Hannah's (my roommate) friends caught up with me at the game. And OF COURSE we won against Nebraska.

After the game, some of my friends and went bowling and to a party! The party was fun, and they even had those inflatable things they have at elementary school carnivals, and they are just as fun when you are in college vs. when you are in 3rd grade!!

Sunday was alright. I went to church in the morning, and it was really different because instead of having it in an actual church, each class was held in a classroom in a building on campus. In our church, where and when you go to church is determined by where you live. Each division is called a ward, and a cluster of wards is called a stake, and so on. Because there is such a high concentration here at BYU, there are a ton of wards. For example, I am in the 107th ward in the 8th stake. And that's only the ones on campus (mostly freshmen). Despite the fact that we were in classrooms and it was silent because there were no little kids talking to their parents or babies crying, I really enjoyed church. I liked being at church with people that are actually my age! After church my roommate left again and went to her aunt's house. Since I don't really do anything on Sundays, I ended up sitting in my room for a few hours and got a little homesick after taking my habitual Sunday nap. I decided to grab Jenga and go down into the lobby. People started staggering in looking for something to do and I made a bunch of new friends! We made it to 26 stories high, which I have never personally seen happen. Later that night we had a ward social and I met so many cool people, even someone from Zimbabwe! 

Monday was pretty boring because it was Labor Day and so everything was closed. Everyone slept in and took their time getting ready. Some of us decided to go geocaching, and went searching for the cache nearest our dorm. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it! We are definitely going again! 

In the evening, we had a ward social and again I met more people! I can't wait to get to know them all better. Towards the end of the social it started sprinkling so people started leaving. No more than 5 minutes later, we were in a complete downpour and still on literally the opposite side of campus from our dorms! We all ended up running all the way home in the pouring rain. In the end we were soaked and laughing!