Inventory

As a "homebody," I generally like to be at home, around my family. I would much rather sit at home with a book & watch my mother in the kitchen than go hang out with my friends. Strange for a teenager, I know. But I am very attached to my family and I don't like being away from them. So to come all the way to Utah for school was a big leap for me! I was terrified of leaving, and I thought I was going to be beside myself with homesickness. But I have been very pleasantly surprised to find that I truly haven't missed them any more than if I gone to EFY for a week. Admittedly, the first week was rough, especially since school hadn't started and I had nothing to occupy my time. But as the school year has gotten under way, I have filled my days with various things that prevent me from ever missing/thinking about my family too much. I actually thought I would be spending all my time curled up in my room just crying and calling home, but that is not the case! I am constantly doing something - reading textbooks, writing notes, taking quizzes, organizing sacrament hymns, rugby practice, or even just watching a show online. So I guess I do spent a lot of time in my room, just not the way I had expected. . . This is definitely better than I had dared to hope!

There are a couple of things that are different/harder than I had expected. For one, everyone I know told me that it would be so easy to make friends down here, that I would have too many friends than I knew what to do with. I was told people just randomly started up a conversation and by the end you were exchanging phone numbers and setting up play dates. I suppose this is true to a certain extent, but it's not quite how people described it. I will sit by someone in a class and we can talk and get along and things but at the end we go our separate ways and I never see that person again because the class is so big! It is sort of sad when you meet someone that you kind of like and think 'Hey I'd like to be friends with them!' And then that's the last you see of them. . . That has happened a couple of times. I was also quite disappointed to find out how far I REALLY live from campus! We have friends back home who are @ BYU and they told us Wyview was a 20min walk to the centre of camps. That is a blatant lie! It takes me a good 30minutes to walk from my house to my first class in the JKB. Sheesh. The only good thing is that it is good exercise for me, which is crucial to my health (I am a diabetic). Plus I now greatly admire people who don't own cars and walk everywhere!

If I could change one thing about my experience here @ BYU so far, I think it would be one of three things: I would either move my family down here, be able to have the same experiences closer to home, or drag a friend down here. I think if I had someone who was a true friend (MY OWN AGE!) then I would look forward to school a lot more. Even if we weren't in any classes together, it would be nice to have a lunch buddy or just see someone around campus. I think I would also rearrange my schedule a little bit. All of my classes this semester are on MWF, excluding the homework lab on Thursday afternoons, and it can get a bit tiring. And then on TTH, I basically have nothing urgent to do and it feels like my entire day is wasted. So I would probably change things up a bit.

BYU Adventure

Today I dragged my older sister along with me and went to explore the campus craft store! I didn't even know there was such a thing until I mentioned to her that I needed an adventure and she suggested I go there, a place she had just recently discovered. I realize that some people might think that was the most boring thing ever, but for me it was quite exciting. I love cute, crafty items - whether I buy it as a decoration or make something myself (Note: I said nothing about talent.) So to find out that this little shop with all its nifty items was a pretty good catch for me! "Campus Craft & Floral" was a quaint store, with a homey atmosphere. It was definitely not one of those places where you walk on your tip toes making sure you don't accidentally knock something over. Rather, you felt relaxed, as if you had just entered an old friends home.

My sister and I are both avid scrapbookers, and while this small section was no Scrapbookers Paradise or Michael's (not sure if those are Canadian...) it was definitely a happy moment to know that we could obtain basic supplies from a nearby source.

There were so many fun things to look at that it was hard to keep from flitting around, jumping from one display to another. But my favorite thing to see was likely the Halloween setup. I absolutely love holidays and just seeing decorations or posters gets me excited. (Honest-to-goodness, I start listening to Christmas music by October. In fact I played some on the piano just today...) So anyway, to see the adorable display at the front of the store was a thrill. The child-sized 'trick-or-treating' bags made me think of my little niece and nephews going out together and being astonished at being given free candy all night! I can't believe I'm going to miss that this year. There were various witch and monster decorations - small and perfect for decorating a college apartment! Which got my sister and I thinking of our mom - she had some wacky Halloween decorations, including a huge creepy spider web/spider that always hung in the front entryway. We had a good laugh over that. Then I saw the cookie cutters and that really got me excited - to make halloween cookies (my favorite thing to make!). Steph (sister) and I had an interesting time trying to figure out what some of the shapes were supposed to be! Overall the Halloween things were a bit of a jump start to my holiday excitement.

Basically, it was a grand old time looking around and things that the two of us love. To be honest, we both got so excited that we couldn't believe neither of us had our wallet on us. We are definitely going back in the near future (and probably multiple other times) to make a few (??) purchases. Below are a few pictures...(in backwards order..)


Halloween Display


Scrapbook corner



Scrapbooking!



Trying it on for size..



Vinyl Board

Here we go..

Bloch Talk

I personally think that at this point in my life I most resemble the small child in the background of the scene. She (for I like to think it is a girl) has an aura of complete innocence about her, and yet a curiosity that compels her to look on at the miracle being performed. In some ways I too am like this. Having lived a sheltered life, as it appears the child has due to the mother’s protective arm, I am oblivious to much of the happenings in our world. Moving out on my own (perhaps going to the market for the child) forces me to realize that there is so much more than I ever knew. As a result, I find myself eagerly watching everything I can. Yet the girl is depicted as being rather shy (to me), not wanting anyone to see her looking; standing just outside the spotlight. I have lived a huge majority of my life like this. I am curious, intrigued by what is happening around me, but don’t want anyone else to watch what I am doing. I want to learn, but not be noticed. The shy little girl in this situation reminds me exactly of myself.
I am ashamed to say that the same characteristics I previously described also apply to my being a disciple-scholar. I would like to be adequately learned in all aspects of knowledge, but find that I am held back by my own personal insecurities. I don’t want to ask questions that everyone else may already know the answer to, and risk sounding dumb. My mind tells me I will never be the best, so why bother trying? What will people think of me if I reach out to someone in need, someone who doesn’t have luxuries that I do, someone different? This is what I must change about myself, what I need to do better at. To mirror Christ’s actions, I must mirror His attitude – that of humility and meekness. I need to ‘be in the world, but not of the world.’