COLLEGE. Week 1.

And so it begins.

That big huge adventure called college? It has begun. This week has been amazing. I have loved every minute. Sure, it's had its hard moments as well, but it's all part of this crazy, awesome learning process. Im so intrigued by the wonderful things that await me in this little wonderland of mine.

Day one. 

We drove up, and unpacked the van. Simple. My cute parents took me grocery shopping so I wouldn't starve this week, and gave me lots and lots of tips..... usually twice. They also gave me lunch, and probably wanted to stay all day. But I would prefer to unpack my underwear by myself. Thanks though Mom and Dad ;) 

They even helped me finish purchasing my textbooks and solidify some last minute loose ends. My sweet mom gave me a care package of every little thing I didn't think I would need :)

Then, they left. That was it. The week prior to this, I went to lunch with a couple of my aunts, and one of them said something to me that I had been seriously pondering since then. She told me that it finally hit her when her mom drove away, and it was just her. Just her, and that she was now responsible for herself.

When she said this, I thought, "crap." But when that moment finally came, I just turned around and rolled up my sleeves, and began making my room look less like a hoarder's house.

I've always been extremely independent, and this was a day I had been looking forward to for a very long time. My summer was endlessly monotonous. It was literally a summer of existence. I was just surviving, and hardly living. I hated it. I was ready to move on, and go somewhere new, and be someone new, and discover new people! I was so done with my home town, and so ready to break new ground, and start establishing myself as myself. Not as a "Watson" or not as an attachment to anything or anyone, but as something that's my own.

And that is exactly what I've done.

I spoke recently with a friend of mine who is in the very same point of life. She made a comment I have been thinking about a lot. She said atleast for the next little bit, we will enter a period where we become homeless. Not homeless in the fact that we don't have a roof over our heads, but the fact that our parent's home is no longer our real "home", and that we are now beginning to define and create that feeling of "home" for ourselves. I have truly felt that. This town is amazing. It's buzzing, and I'm finally kind of finding my place. A place that's all mine, just me. It's really a wonderful feeling.

 So, The first day was a lot of unpacking. We hardly talked as roommates, because we hardly saw each other. When we finally got home for the evening, we were all too tired to even do anything so, we all just went to bed.

Day Two.

We stormed the Campus. We needed to acquaint ourselves more with the schedules we would soon be walking. So, Brigitte and I kind of walked our schedules.

First, Old Main. This is one of those iconic buildings on campus. The one that the campus is really identified by. Just that building that screams, "UTAH STATE: GO AGGIES!!!" My roommate, Brigitte has quite a few classes in there, so we walked in and checked it out. So I can at least say I've been in. 

Soon, I was itching to get to the Fine Arts building. So, we headed over. Now, Arts buildings are a little weird, but that's what makes them so great!!! 

So, the main entrance of the building is in this weird alley way. Don't ask me why, but it is. We walked in, and I was just so excited! 

"Brigitte, This is the Land of my People!!!" I said as I twirled with excitement. I was instantly at home.

Yeah, this is absolutely my place. I spent the entire day exploring my newfound home. I explored every crevasse and every corner. I walked upstairs past all of the practice rooms, and could just hear it. The music. IT'S EVERYWHERE! All of the piano practice rooms have a composer watching carefully over the study of the students. The music building is so close, and intimate. The rooms and hallways are a tightly wound web of musical bubbles that just combine and create beautiful melodies from absolutely every corner. It's so fun! There's just people everywhere, and action everywhere. And school hasn't even started! It's so cool. Every corner holds something new!

The next best thing about the Fine Arts Center is that the music and art buildings are very tightly wound and connected. I literally do not have to leave an air conditioned building to switch artistic mediums. 

I later came back to go through the art museum, and though it's under a bit of construction, it was still so much fun :)

I was interrupted by an official guy in a blazer asking if I was enjoying things. I said that of course I was. When I came downstairs to end my visit, he asked again if I enjoyed it, and began to tell me about the new exhibit they were working on. I said I planned on coming back to see it, and he was just so exited about the art! It was amazing! I mean, I've always been that excited about art, but now there are other people who are too! THIS IS THE LAND OF MY PEOPLE!!!!

I exited the art museum which lets out straight into the music practice halls. I heard our band rehearsing, and I stopped to listen for a minute. I soon realized that they were paling The Fox Song! Oh what a happy day! 

Now, as I'm a new freshman and new to the city, I decided to take the city bus home, and it ended up taking me an hour to get home because.... I have no idea what I'm doing. But now I have a map, and I was able to figure things out a little bit better for when I have actual school next week.

You know, taking the bus is actually one of my favorite things. There's just something about joining other people in the act of getting somewhere important that is just so cool to me! The lady who drives the campus bus I take is super sweet :) She held the bus for me when she recognized me with my cello and I was too tired to run to catch the bus :) 

There's just such a fun feeling in the air. Everyone here is kind of new. Even if they've been here before, they're still kind of new. So everyone makes a very conscious effort to say hello to other people. I've had more people say hi to me this week randomly than probably I've had in the last year. It's awesome! You'll just be walking, and people will say hi. I love it!

So, That night, One of my roommates' moms wanted us to take a picture and send it to her. So, we stayed up waiting for my other roommate to get home. Well, in the process of that, we ended up talking all night. Like, all night. I didn't get to bed until 2:00. It was fantastic! As Brigitte says we just, "put out all of our dirty laundry." We put out everything, and it was so open. So trusting between us. It's like we've known each other for years. So amazing! I love these girls :)

Day 3.

Well, I now knew the campus. So, I kind of started to get to know some more people. I had my first cello lesson, and that went well. I was a little nervous for obvious reasons, but it went really well, and I love my professor. She has a great way of focusing on the good in a student while bringing out the better in them. She asks a lot of questions. Not ones about technique or, ones with obvious answers, but questions that make me think about the music I'm making, and make me really define myself as a musician. It's awesome. 

I also met a nice Violist. I was trying to find my professor's office, and he was tuning his viola. Very nice guy. I also met one of my neighbors. I decided that a great way to meet people is to sit on your porch. It forces people walking by to choose to talk to you, or you to choose to talk to them. So, I was sitting on my porch writing a few letters, and my neighbor was walking by, and he stopped and we talked for a bit. Nice guy. It was awesome to be getting to know people, and establishing myself in this new place. 

Day 4. I was back in layton for a gig, so not much to report.

Day 5. Today.

Today was great. I discovered that most of campus is shut down on Saturday. Okay, makes sense. But it ruined my plans to finally go to that cafe in the Fine Arts Building. Danget, I really wanted a donut or something....... (pouty face.) 

Anyway, for lunch, I was really hungry, (due to my lack of a donut and the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about that....) Luckily, my new ward had set up a barbecue in the square in front of my apartment for all of the new people and just as a "get to know you" activity. Some of the kids from my ward had knocked on my door to tell me this, and I was nearly shouting praises! It was exactly what I needed! All of my roommates were gone, it was just me. Just hungry me. 

It was awesome. I already love my ward. A lot of the guys are return missionaries, and at one point I was sitting in between two guys speaking in Russian to each other, and two guys speaking in spanish to each other. It was so cool! It was just amazing! 

So, tonight was Waffle Night!

We. Made. Waffles. It was delicious. That's one thing I've learned through this college experience. Before college, you stress about food, and paying for gas, and figuring things out, and getting to class on time, and doing things right, but at the end of the day, If you're legitimately trying your best, it will work out. Food will be there. People will come when you're feeling lonely. Professors will help when you have questions. Roommates will talk back if you talk to them first. And chances are, you will discover yourself, and have an amazing time all along the way :)

During the week, there were activities for freshman every night. One night we went to a comedy/motivational speaker thing. It was really funny, and really cool, because his main theme was "being in your heart." This kind of just means, not talking yourself out of doing awesome things. He made the observation that for some reason, we operate under the assumption that people always turn into Raptors. For some reason, something human inside of us pulls us back. Maybe it's an ancient safety mechanism of some kind, but something stops us from talking to that cute guy, or answering that question we absolutely know the answer to, or asking that girl out, or even just saying hello to someone. Somewhere deep inside we think they will turn into "Raptors" or something weird will happen. 

Well, I'm beginning to see that this is not the case, and that it's when you put yourself out there that people do the same, and some really amazing things begin to happen :) I love the fact that here it is so acceptable to be yourself, and I can't wait to continue to do so, and to just discover even more of this beautiful little world I'm living in. It is truly an amazing place, and might just never ever leave. Sorry Mom and Dad ;)