Welcome to my College Life!

My first week of "Freshman" School has flown by! It's been so exciting!!! I attended a class all last week called Connections. You have a teacher and a class, but you attend workshops, do activities, and wander campus all day. I met some super wonderful girls who also happen to be in my ward too - I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Me, Amy, and Regi

Then after each day of class, they had some sort of activity for the freshmen to attend. There was a dance (which I could care less for), a comedic magician (who put me into a fit of hysterics) and the awesome "Taste of Logan" experience where you walked down Main Street and sampled tons of food and got free stuff. A poor college student thrives off free food and free stuff. It's everywhere!!! Me, Michelle, Shanna, and Spenser had a great time wandering through the crowds of freshmen decked out in our Aggie Blue shirts. We also wandered Macy's that night. It was wonderful.

Michelle, Shanna, and Spenser

And because Connections was technically a class that we earn credit for, we had to read a book entitled, "Barefoot Heart - Stories of a Migrant Child" by Elva Trevino Hart. It was actually really good. And as a bonus, on the night of the "Taste of Logan," Elva was out in front of the court house signing books! So me and Shanna brought our books to be signed and got a picture with her. It was rad.

Me, Elva Trevino Hart (yeah, she's pretty much famous), and Shanna

Saturday morning all the Connection students attended a seminar where we listened to Elva give a speech and have a question/answer session. It was really neat to hear everything straight from her lips - rather than the voice I had imagined in my head.

Then the institute had an opening social on Saturday night which involved free pizza and free ice-skating! It was so much fun!

Kaitlin and my roommate Mallory

My other two roommates, Rachel and Taylor, moved in on that day and so now we were all together! Happy days
!
My first official week of college has now begun and I'm loving it! I thought it would be far more intimidating than it is. I don't know if that's because of the classes that I'm taking, or because of Connections, or because I just over-thought the whole idea...any way, it's remarkable! My classes are everywhere and at random and slightly inconvenient times of the day, but I really don't mind. Every day is an adventure!

I attempted to donate blood yesterday for the USU vs. U of U "Blood Battle," but my iron levels were too low! I had a 12.4 and you need a 12.5 to donate. So they gave me a list of food that I should eat. No wonder! Poor College Student! I've been living off free samples and easy food - sandwiches, rice, cereal...I need some protein and veggies! I've adjusted my diet accordingly and I will attempt to donate tomorrow! :)

My institute class is interesting - it consists of 10 people...maybe less. But the teacher is wonderful and the people seem nice. We're studying the Pearl of Great Price - Bro. Woolstenhulme has got me pumped! He's already struck me as a very knowledgable person.

Interrupting Thought: The boys next door just stopped by. They had a ton of boxes that they wanted to punk somebody with...and Taylor and Kelsie currently happen to be out of the house...those two are good sports. So Rachel and Mallory let the the boys bring all the boxes into Taylor and Kelsie's room when the boys agreed to come pick them all up once they get home. Haha...oh boy...bored college students...

Anywho...

Besides the fact that it requires me to climb 88 steps to get to my Math class in the Geology building (I will have awesome thighs at the end of this semester), life is good. :) I love college life - and even more so now that I've figured out the Aggie Shuttle system!

My Home Sweet Home Away from Home

So it's official. I'm an Aggie!

I moved up on Saturday and have had the time of my life ever since. It's wonderful - as I was telling my aunt Alicia in an e-mail, there is an energy up here that I haven't quite felt anywhere else. Everyone is so nice and anxious to meet new people and are so involved with everything. There has been activity after activity that brings me to meet someone new everyday. I love the people that live in Rich Hall with me. I haven't met them all, but they have all been crazy amazing people. My roommates are sweet and I don't think there will be too many problems, but of course, not everyone has moved in quite yet. :)

I would now like to present you with a photographic tour of my "home." It's old...really old...and a lot of things are falling apart. In fact, this summer it was supposed to get renovated. All the other buildings around us did, except that ours was occupied all summer by guys...so no renovation for us. When I moved in on Saturday, I was kind of scared - I won't lie to you. My roommate Kelsie was the first one up here and she said that when she was rearranging the furniture, she found a box a ritz crackers and a gatorade bottle under the couch. :) But once I got all my stuff put away, and scrubbed down my walls and headboard and bathtub, it's grown on me. I love it. It's still considered "on campus," but it takes a good 10-15 minutes to actually get to where any of the classes are held. So it's slightly inconvenient, but I don't really mind. I'll use the free bus system when it gets cold. For now, it makes for good socializing time.

My room before (it was even worse before - it took me 3 days to unpack)

My room after

More of my room

Our living room

The economy size toilet

The kitchen

A note Val and Marie left on the white board after they helped me move in

Fire Hazard (the only plug in my room is near the ceiling)

Well, I must be off to a "comedic magician" for the evening. I will post more updates in a bit. I love you all!

Ship Shape for College

Oh my! I've been wanting to blog so badly for the last two weeks, but I have been so busy preparing for my "extended get away vacation" to Logan. But now it looks as if I'm ship shape for college.

It all began with my warts being removed. It was painful...and oh so disgusting. I will show you!

What a wretched place to have a wart...It's practically healed now!

The next day I went to the eye doctor to get a new perscription for my glasses...I walked away with contacts instead. The switch from glasses to contacts was interesting for me. I've had glasses since I was 8 - I felt so naked and insecure without them! I occasionally still reach up to push my glasses back up the bridge of my nose. I suppose old habits never die. :) But for once in my life I can now wear sunglasses. It's so wonderful!

Then I went to the oral surgeon to have a consultation for my wisdom teeth. I would be getting my lovely teeth extracted on July 23. That was the following week! The anesthetics put me in a complete state of delusion on the day of surgery. I hate that feeling of sleepwalking and not being able to remember a thing; this was fifty times worse. I was put out and woke up 45 minutes later with a wad of gauze packed into my mouth and a few select "items" missing. My family has a few good stories for you. :) We decided that if I were ever to take up drinking, I would be a "dark drunk." I get mean. But the whole procedure went well! I experienced very little pain and didn't hardly swell. In fact, I went to the Pioneer day parade and Jeremiah's the next day! My friends brought me ice cream by the buckets, and I got to lay around for 2 days watching musicals. I was in heaven!

My chin was numb. Right before this picture was taken,
my mom brought me down a glass of water. I missed my mouth.

I had my blood pressure taken four times that week. My wart, my eye exam, my wisdom teeth consultation, and my random drug test. Oh yes. I, Jessica, the part time employee at Redd Roofing, was oh-so-fortunate to be selected as one of the participants in the quarterly random drug test. I'm there one day a week! The receptionist, who has been there for a few years now has yet to be selected. So I got to drive down to IHC Workmed and pee in a cup. It sucked. Don't worry - the results came back negative. No need to rise to alarm.

I began my weeding job sometime amongst all these happenings. I get paid nicely to weed my uncle's 97 year old grandma's yard in Brigham City. She's a wonderfully healthy woman and incredibly nice. Heck, she still drives her car! I will be able to keep this job while I'm in school because it's just over the mountain, so I'm quite pleased with this arrangement. But I will still need to find another job up in college-town Logan. Wish me luck!

The receptionist at work went on vacation to Hawaii for 10 days. (Lucky!) So I was privileged to be able to fill her position while she was away. I was really nervous, but I was able to start figuring things out and got A LOT of help from Becky, the wonderful office manager. Everyone in the office was extremely patient with me. I thank them whole heartedly. I typed letters, filed, got the mail, ran to the bank, answered the phone, etc. Last week I had a hard time remembering how to answer a phone at home. Every time I answered the phone I always began to say, "Redd Roofing Company. This is Jessica." I had the hardest time remembering the simplest of words: "Hello?" I also loved the days I got to run to the bank because of Cameron the bank teller. He was very handsome and charming. Too bad I never had the opportunity to tell him good-bye. *Good-bye!* So I was able to make quite a few extra dollars before heading off to school this week and gain a lot of experience and a new kind of confidence. This opportunity helped me to realize a lot about myself.

I have dubbed this week "college prep week." I finished my book that I had to read and I called all the people that I needed to. I had a few problems finding where my scholarships were floating around, but I got a hold of them just in the knick of time! One of the people I needed to talk to ended up moving to Texas - so that was a joy ride. I went supply shopping for everything yesterday and spent all my gift cards and a lot of money besides that. Living is expensive! I will be leading a poverty stricken life for the next few years of my life, but I am content. I've always known it would be that way. :) But money is oh-so stressful...

I move up this Saturday - August 15. Tomorrow is my packing day. I don't know exactly what to pack, but I'll be ready. I'm really excited! I'm a little nervous, but more excited than anything. I hope to make fast friends and meet up with all of my roommates as they move in throughout the week.

Utah State! Here I come! *Go Aggies!*