My First Ventures into the College World

Heart pounding, sick to my stomach, and completely convinced that Mom, Nikki, and I were simply on a trip to Utah and would be turing around to go home at any moment, I finally made my grand entrance into the college world. Nervous, yet somewhat relieved, that my roommates were not around when I first arrived with all of my belongings, our trio quickly unpacked and organized everything so that it took up as little space as possible. It turns out the gesture was greatly warranted in the bathroom, but completely unnecessary in the kitchen. Half of each cupboard stands bare and everyone seemed to want to fill my shelf in the refrigerator which now gives the effect that we truly are what we are- broke college students.

Sarah (to the left) and I hit it off pretty quickly. A slightly quirky girl who walks the way I did for a spiel in elementary school, it turns out she is really chill and not too afraid to be awkward around other people along with me. On the other hand, I haven't seen much of Marley (to the right) yet. Sarah seems more willing to hang alonside me than Marley does, but that might be because I might be emitting a little "I'm jealous of you and there's no way I'd fit into your group of friends cuz I'm so lame so I'm just gonna shrink back into my shell now" vibe toward her. Or it might just be because she's too busy with her friends and family and kinda-sorta boyfriend who calls her every night or the boys who started flirting with her as soon as she stepped foot on campus. She does seem pretty sweet, though, so at least I have a good-natured room-roommate.

Sarah was the first to induce any social interaction, asking if I was planning on attending the superhero shindig that Wyview was throwing. I told her I hadn't decided yet, but upon hearing her say "We should go," I decided to stick to my commitment to be open to going out at all times so that I would continue to be invited to do so. I'm glad we did so, because we had a good time. Hot dogs (I only ate half of mine), chips (less than half), and salad (whole) composed our dinner. We started out scoping boys with hair longer than the dress code allows so that Sarah could have a victim to drag into the MTC so she could flaunt her skills and land a job. A few minutes later a boy asked if he could join us and soon we had a customer. Sarah (who falsely professed that she was bad around boys) put on her charm and soon she had the number of a returned missionary in her phone and a hair cutting date for Tuesday at 5.

Jared (the returned missionary) and I decided to go play Guitar Hero. It was really embarrassing for me. I haven't played for a long time, so we kinda... sorta... lost. In front of a lot of people. But not everyone, thank goodness. Then I bumped into a girl I knew from Gilbert who told me one other Goober was living in Wyview, too. After that, there was a dance where I met Kaylie, Haylie, Noel, Brittany, Jeff, Arthur, and a whole bunch of other people. I was asked to dance at every slow song I was at the party for, which definitely boosted my confidence. It's too bad they are all pre-mies.

It was while dancing that Sarah and I met Lincoln and Jeremy, two roommates who we found out live in our ward boundaries. They offered to take us to the dollar theater to watch Green Lantern. It was not a date. But Lincoln was quite a gentleman and paid for everyone. Oh, haha, and I couldn't believe it, but LINCOLN IS FROM ALAMOGORDO!!!! What a small world. But he likes it there... which is a bit strange.

So, I would say that my first night was a success. I felt confident about the upcoming year and I slept well considering the walls are paper thin, my head is 6 inches from the ceiling in my bunk, and it was a strange place with a stranger sleeping in the room with me. I was starting to feel at home.

And then I woke up.

Naw, just kidding. The day went pretty well. We managed to sneak around each other and squish in front of the mirror so we got ready without too many problems. Marley went off with her family to finish a few last minute things, and I haven't seen her since (granted it is only 11 o'clock, so don't worry too much). Sarah and I walked to the field for freshman orientation together where we were promptly split up into groups. When I finally found my color (which was supposed to be orange, but was really a pale pinkish color, whereas the red signs might as well have been pumpkins) I was greeted by a girl on crutches and a boy sitting on the ground with his arms crossed, looking quite grumpy. Our leader didn't show up for almost half and hour. In the meantime, I introduced myself to the other two, and we hit it off alright. Eventually, over the next hour and a half, people trickled into our group until we had probably 24 of the 35 kids who were supposed to be in our bundle. Since the trickle was pretty constant, most of our time was spent re-introducing ourselves rather than playing games, which actually was fine by me, because looking at the other groups making fools out of themselves was entertaining on my end and I was content with the vibrant green of my side of the grass.

We then attended Convocation in the Marriot Center, had lunch, took a couple of tours, and exhausted ourselves walking around. The grumpy boy seemed to take a liking to me during all of this; he was constantly trying to make sure he was standing next to me or walking with me and when we passed the Sharpie around to write our names on our wristbands, he had me write his for him. But he didn't talk to me, except for that first little while before our leader showed up. So when the time came to exchange a few phone numbers just in case someone slept in or got lost and he looked like he wanted my number but was too chicken to ask me for it, I didn't help him out. Maybe he'll be braver tomorrow.

Then, I unexpectedly ran into Danny, Rockford, and Lauren Nuckols. It was great seeing some familiar faces, and my spirits were soaring by that time. My attitude started its descent after that moment. I was delighted to see my mother, of course, but after spending some time recounting my adventures with her and realizing that she would be leaving soon, I started to get sad and let the exhaustion I was feeling consume me so I started to get a little grumpy. Needless to say, the Honor Code presentation thingy and pep rally afterward were not so fun. But I am now friends with the crutches girl, Natalie, who- by the way- broke her foot when she stepped on a nail tearing up her deck. She reminds me of Brooke.

Getting back to Wyview in the dark was an epic fail. I didn't realize how far the stadium was from the apartments, and I ended up crossing the street on the far side, which would have been fine except that I wasn't sure where the entrance on my side was, so I ended up walking extra, which just made me more grumpy. Then I realized that my roommates were probably actually college savvy and I would be the only one home. I was right. To make things worse, Sarah left a note that said "I'm out with friends. If you need me call***-***-****" Rub it in my face much? I got in the shower to wash off my gross day.

It ended up the gross day got grosser, because although the salt and stink washed down the drain, so did my make up. And right as I turned the valve to stop the water and step out, I heard voices in my living room. Male voices. Sarah had brought home at least two boys. And I looked like crap, just about to step into my "Team Jacob" pajamas. Great.

I made myself as invisible as possible, but Sarah ended up seeing me and talking to me, so my presence was discovered. Then one of the boys called out a greeting to me, and I figured it would be rude not to introduce myself. I walked into the living room to find three boys. Three really cute boys. Pretty much the cutest ones I've seen at BYU so far. And there I stood, in stupid teenage girl pajamas, and wet hair, and no makeup. I wanted to die. Thankfully they left a few minutes later, and now here I am, left completely and utterly alone with only my music and my thoughts to keep me company. I hope tomorrow will be a little more rewarding.