Sunday, November 1, 2009

Just some stuff, mostly about libraries.

It is Sunday night and I'm bored out of my mind so I thought I'd post a little update. School is going well. Only 6 weeks of class and 1 week of finals until 3 weeks of Christmas break. Can you tell I'm excited?

This week I got the results of my last chemistry test, which were better than expected. I had a test in Sport Psychology that I feel pretty good about. On Monday, I got to see Laura Bush, governor Herbert, and a few other important people speak at the rededication of the Marriott library. That was pretty cool. I'll tell a little bit more about that later. My cousin Brooke came to visit on Wednesday which was awesome. We went to the Pie, checked out a couple of shops close to my apartment, and just hung out. Yesterday was a blast because it was Halloween! I didn't actually do anything that had to do with Halloween, I just went to the Blackout game with my pops and my little brother. It was so much fun to have them with me at the game. My dad went to the U so it's always fun to have him come and tell me about what it was like when he was in school. Before the game we went to the campus bookstore to get some gear for the game. Then we went to the pie and ate until we were bursting. The pie is awesome. If you haven't been there, you need to go. After we ate, we checked out the tailgate party and headed to the game. Even though the Utes played like garbage, the game was a blast. My little bro was super excited to finally be at a U game instead of the usual BYU games that the ward goes to. Despite the horrible playing, the Utes pulled out the win, luckily. After the game when my dad and brother had left, I went to party with Winters and Sweaty. I don't get to hang out with them very often and it was a lot of fun, except when they made me sing when we were playing the Beatles rock band. It's ok though, I guess I'll forgive them.

Anyway, here's more about the library rededication. The library was crazy busy. I felt a little out of place in my jeans and hoodie because everyone there was dressed pretty nicely. I didn't expect to be able to see the rededication live because most people had gotten their tickets already and I didn't have one. They were showing the rededication on TVs in some of the downstairs classrooms in the library so that's where I was planning on watching it. With about a minute before the program started, a lady came into the classroom and told us that if we wanted to watch the rededication live, we could hurry upstairs and fill in some of the empty seats. I hurried upstairs and was lucky enough to get a seat with a view that wasn't completely obstructed. The program started and I don't remember everything that was said, but every speaker talked at least a little bit about the importance of education and how lucky we are to have this great library that we can use. I love libraries, probably a little too much. In the Lucy A. Phillips library at Snow College, I had one certain study spot on the third floor where I would study for hours and hours every week. I loved that spot. I probably spent more hours studying in that certain spot than I spent anywhere else last school year, including my house. The only problem with that spot though, was that it was in the library, which is filled with.....you guessed it....books! I absolutely love books. I'm one of the losers that spends my school holidays curled up in a blanket on the couch with a book...or two...or three. Every day I spent in the Snow College library, without fail, I would find an interesting book that would distract me from my studies. I found books on poetry, sports, old Utah ghost towns, books of Andy Warhol prints, and giant books of prints of ancient drawings. I read about Harvard's medical school, global warming, astronomy, and countless other topics. I could spend the rest of my life in a library and probably be perfectly happy and content. There are books on every topic imaginable. In the Marriott library at the U, there are miles and miles of bookshelves. It is like heaven! On Friday morning, just when I thought I had found a new study spot to take the place of my beloved spot in the Snow College library, I found out that my new proposed spot is right next to a whole section of books on Rock and Roll. While I should have been studying for a test, I found myself looking through a book of classic rock posters from the 1960's. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, if I'm going to be distracted from my studies, books are probably not that bad of a distraction (except for those rock and roll books, those probably aren't helping me all that much :)).

Anyway, now that you all know how much of a bookworm I am, I'm going to write a little bit about my school experience lately. When I moved to Salt Lake in August, I was super excited about starting this new chapter in my life. I felt confident and ready for whatever was going to come my way. After my first week of class, however, I felt pretty overwhelmed. My classes were going well and my roommates were really nice and helpful, but I just felt completely out of place. Nothing and nobody was familiar and I felt really lonely. All I could think about was how all of my friends lived 2 hours away and how I still had 3 years of this friendless torture to endure until I could finally graduate. To be completely honest, these thoughts have stayed with me pretty much all semester until this past week when I realized how lucky I am to be in the situation I'm in. I still don't have a lot of friends that I hang out with in Salt Lake, I still don't feel completely comfortable in my surroundings, and I still miss hanging out with my family every day, but I do know how lucky I am to be able to be getting an education. Not everyone gets the chance to go to college and become anything they want to be. I've realized that I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and enjoy college while I can, because it's an experience that I am very fortunate to have.

Anyway, sorry this post is just a bunch of stuff jumbled together. I do feel better now that I've written a few things down, though. If you read this whole thing, I'm sorry for the couple of minutes of your life that I wasted :) I'll try to make it up to you sometime.