From Provo

Well, ladies and gentlefolk, I am here in the great state of Utah. Actually, it's not that great. It's extremely hot and dry and brown. But anyway...
It has been some time since I have written and SO much has happened since then. I shall give a brief update on the recent past events:

1. Made the 14 hour drive from home to here. It was the longest car ride of my life. I did, however, purchase the first season of Gilmore Girls and was able to watch about six hours of it on the way. I had to sneak it by Bryce. I tried to tell him it was good because it had girls in it, but that only worked for the first two episodes. I love the speed limit in Idaho. It's 75 MPH. Wow. What a difference that makes! My mom also decided to trade her car in for a Honda Accord after spending a small fortune on gas for the trip. So, yes. We arrived on Wednesday to campus.

2. Wednesday I moved in. I am in a dorm complex with about seven towers, each with seven floors. I'm on the fourth. I knew my roomate somewhat before moving in with her, so that added a little comfort. With the help of my family we carried my mountain of belongings to my room, including two garbage sacks full of shoes. A girl can never have too much shoes...And then we went to dinner with an old friend, a returned missionary, and that was pretty much my Wednesday. Not very exciting, I know. But hey.

3. Thursday meant the first day of NSO (New Student Orientaion). For this, I was driven by mother to the Marriot Center (yes, that Marriot) which is where the BYU basketball team plays. It's the gym. My mom had a difficult time leaving me there alone. It was after all, the first step to a completely independent life. But she eventually left. After getting registered, we were ushered into the huge center where we were greeted by the BYU president and staff. We learned about the history of BYU -- a little too much history about BYU. With each new name that was introduced as a past president, my butt hurt that much worse. There was a sprit of entertainment, however, when we were graced by the presence of the BYU marching band and cheerleading squad. And yes, marching band members look the same no matter where you are at in the world. That did bring some sense of comfort, however twisted it was. Next we broke off into Y Groups, which was like our Link Crew Group. There were people from DC, Arizona, Washingtong, Mexico, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Idaho, etc. etc. etc. No new friends from that group. There were, however, some typical "Utah Mormons" in the group. For those of you who don't know what this species is like, I will enlighten you. 1: They all look the same. 2: They wear a buttload of makeup. 3: Their hair is dyed blonde and cut on the short side. 4: They give off a valley-girl auroa. 5: They are ditzes. 6: They stick together in packs, like wolves. And 7: Cocky, self-centered guys are attracted to them. That's fine with me. I'd rather the two types stick together anyway. But yes, we had three girls like that in our group. And of course there were three guys that immediately hooked up with them the rest of the day. Can you say annoying? Anyway, we played dumb games and then took a useless tour of campus before calling it a day. Later that evening I hung out with my family and we even went shopping. See, here at BYU, there is a dress and grooming standard. You can't wear shorts above the knee. So I didn't have any shorts like that, only capris. As a result, I got some. I guess now I'm official, A?

3. Friday was my open-major meeting. Basically, it did little more than confuse me even more on what I wanted to do with my life. Though, it did convince me to drop Anthropolgy. No classes on Fridays now! That evening I went with my family to Bridal Vail Falls. It was gorgeous. The only not pretty part of the little excursion was Bryce's attitude. He was angry at the world. He wanted to go the park, not Target afterwards. He kicked and he screamed and he cursed in words that he considered evil. And then he said, "I hate everything! I hate this car, I hate this freeway, I hate the store ---" My mom interrupted him. "Bryce," she said, "Are you having a bad day?" Bryce just looked at her for a second and then completely disregarded her question and continued on with his rampage. In the climax of the dramatic performance, he squished up his beat red face and yelled, "AND I HATE THE CRISTMAS TREE AT OUR HOUSE!!!!" Now, keep in mind that we do not, in fact, have a tree at our house this time of year. Nevertheless, at least we now know that he has distinct disdain for the piece of nature, the sweet symbol of everything sweet Christmas has to offer. Bryce, the monster. Friday also brought my first night in the dorm. I stayed here without my roomate. Now, there are only four showers per floor. So getting ready took some planning in the morning. However, all went fine.

4. Saturday morning my family came and picked me up. We returned my anthroplogy book and then went and ate lunch. Afterwards, we said our tearful goodbyes. I knew they would cry. Why did the cry? Why did the make me cry? Moms and grandmas...always up for a good tear session. As I watched them drive out of the parking lot, I experienced for the first time since arriving at campus somewhat of an empty feeling. I know that is normal and expected, but I thought I would be different. I thought I would be fine. But no. The rock in the pit of my stomach sat firmly, and would only grow as time went on. And no, rocks don't grow, but if it's a rock of homesickness, it explodes with the help of dynamite. Saturday my roomate and I kept busy. We played HORSE on the basketball court outside the dorms and then went over to the sand pits and peppered for awhile. Then two cute senior guys and a girl with them asked us to play, so we did. And we lost. But it was fun, and it was my first step to being more outgoing and meeting people. See, I'm not outgoing. I'm not one who instantly makes friends. I always have a wall built around me, and I thought that going into college I could make new start, begin a year without a wall. But I have come to realize that that is how I am -- it's just my personality. So I'm working on that aspect. Saturday night we attended the FINALE. It reminded me of a grad night. There was an outside dance. Now, let me tell you about an interesting experience at this dance. Jamie, my roomate, and I were just standing there, taking in the scene before us. Wo and Behold a guy comes up to us. Mental Picture: He is tall, skinny, wearing dress slacks and a blue buttom up shirt buttoned to the top (it was a completely casual dress for the party), slicked back hair, and glasses. So there he was just standing there, looking at us. And then he broke the silence when he asked, "Do either of you want to learn the Polka." "UH." "Well." "Nah." Mumbled responses kept jumbling out from us as wetried to decide if this guy was serious or not. "Come on," he replied. "I'll teach you." Teach us to what music, we thought, as techno blasted in the background. "You can polka to anything that's got a good beat," he said. The guy read our minds. And so Jamie took my purse and made me dance Polka with the biology major from upstate New York. There we were going around in what seemed like circles, dancing around people that were standing nearby. "Um, watch out!" "Oh! People!" "Whoa!" These were short cries from myself as we spun and crashed into people. So there you have it. Only at BYU.

5. Sunday brought church. We met in the late afternoon which was a change for me, and in a courtroom/classroom of all places. It was pretty bizarre. At one point in the three hour block, we all had to introduce ourselves. I heard from a lot of interesting people. One guy had been raised in Paris and took all of his classes in French, even though he was American. He's also fluent in Spanish and Russian. Another girl had lived in Embassies all of her life and most recently called Japan her home. There was a girl from Bankok, Thailand, and people from all over the country. I was pretty impressed by many and thought, "I am so not in Oregon anymore." Oddly enough, there are six kids from Oregon in our ward. After church we had a floor meeting with the girls on my floor. And then we ate dinner in the cafeteria. My roomate was visiting her brother, so I had to do what every high school dreads: Find a seat in the cafeteria when you don't know a single soul. Finally I settled on two girls who were sitting at a table. One from Conneticut, the other from Pennsylvania. I talked to them, but again, no friendships cliqued. I often wonder if I'll ever make friends. I know I will eventually, but as of now, I have only had conversations with people...friendliness on the surface. Non-involved conversations. Sometimes I feel very alone on this vast campus. But then I realize that everything will be ok in time. Time. It's such a small word, but has such a big place in our lives.

6. And here I am. It's Monday. I went to my first class this morning. Biology 101. It is a huge class! There's got to be like 800 kids in the class. It's in a large auditorium with a projection screen that stretches across the stage. And then following Bio I went to HEPE, which is my lifestyle management class. It fulfills the wellness requirement. Again, a very large class. I am amazed at how many people walk this campus. On an average day, 20,000 students pass through the bookstore. Incredible. And I love people watching, so this is a good place to do it. I thought that in coming to BYU, everyone would have a cookie-cutter image. But I was wrong. There are so many types of people here, it's amazing. And I really like that. I also like the annonymity of such a large campus. While I wish I made friends, at least no one knows I haven't, you know?

Anyway, that's the update in a nutshell. I'm sitting in my dorm room right now trying to cool off from walking from the center of campus. I'll try to keep this updated more. I know I was bad at that for awhile. Until then, stay classic.