And your time starts... NOW! Aug 17- Aug 23

Monday was a bit crazy! I hung around most of the day and then I had an RA meeting at 5pm. It was good! We talked about how to handle homesickness. We then were having FHE at the double decker and JJ's Meat Shack was catering! They have such good Barbecue! We had a ton of people there and it was super super fun! I got talking to some returning students from last year. It felt soo good to see them!! 
I have been finding a lot of lady bugs in my room!

Tuesday was the last of my chill days. I went to lunch and then spent all afternoon with Alison Krites. Her and her husband have decided to adopt me! I think I did something else.. but I don't remember. I do know that I went to bed super late which didn't help in the area of sleep because I had to be up at 6.
These are all the bottles I helped Alison label. 

 Homemade bread from helping in Robey.

So Wednesday was check in..... IT WAS CRAZY!!!!! So over 50% of the schools student population lives in the lofts. We checked in way over 100 girls in that one day. We started at 7:30 and by 9:45 we already had one parent mad. Parents can be CRAZY! They are not very nice and the things that happened just that day were not okay! It was so stressful! I hadn't left the lofts all day, so at 5:30 I said I had to come down to dinner because I couldn't be in the building any longer! Dinner was good. It was a great break! When I got back it seemed like everything got even crazier! I have never been that completely exhausted before. High point of the day: We all needed lunch so Cody went and brought us back 4 large pizzas :)

Thursday I didn't even get to sleep in.... I had to work the caf at 7am. They didn't tell anyone that they updated the whole system... like they changed systems.. So there was just a paper telling you how to do it. At one point i didn't have change for a mom and she stared me down. I hung out down there and went to the first Orientation meeting. I think we scare the freshman with our excitement more than help them.. I started to help out where ever they needed it. A big group of us were walking around to each orientation group.  I had to work another hour swiping cards and the system was being soo stupid! We had whats called Knight Games and I had to leave to run up and check a girl in. I walked back down and got stopped by a girl asking me a question.  We also had a giant school bonfire which was fun. All the RA's were pretty sick of talking to anyone though! 

 Spider outside my window.

Friday was another crazy day of checking people in and helping with orientation. That night there was the women's soccer scrimmage which I was at for only a few minutes because the Krites called and invited me to their apartment to watch an episode of Doctor Who before the dance. The Krites told me that they adopted me the other day :) We then had the orientation dance. Our arena got new lights which are synched to the music. It s super fun! I spent the majority of the dance making sure all my girls were having a great time! It was fun and crazy all at once!
Note from Genny. 

Saturday I woke up early to go to Rise Up For Honor. It was fun experiencing all of Orientation not as a freshman. I thought it was way better! HAHA After it was over Genny and I went to talk to the Krites and we discovered that all of us hadn't ate breakfast yet! So we got in the car, picked up Alison's sister and went to a place called Country Cookin. It wasn't the best, but it was fun to hang out! After that we went with them to Walmart and Food lion! I love them a lot. I finished checking in my last girls and that night I went to the Men's soccer scrimmage. I sat with all the HRA's and a few friends. The sunset up at the fields was awesome! I left the game a bit early so I could go grab a blanket and a sweatshirt for the outdoor movie. They showed the second Avengers and I sat with one of my residents names Kaylee and John John. Kaylee and I were so cold by the end. We were huddled close under two blankets. 

Sunday was awesome! I was looking foreword to the boost of spiritual energy. It had been a long few days to say the least! Our ward got a new bishop, and its one of my favorite people ever! He's also my institute teacher! Bishop Rasmussen is amazing! I am again signed up for one of his institute classes and he has helped my testimony grow so much! Sacrament Meeting went well and so did Sunday School. I loved the Relief Society lesson which was all about ..................... After church I went to dinner and then John John and I went and talked on the rocking chairs in front of main hall. We had a stake fireside that night that was awesome! The stake presidency spoke and it was amazing. Genny and I then drove to Roanoke to pick up one of my residents that had just flown in. 

 Spider John John found! It was huge!

It has been a crazy week! Things are just starting and I know it will be a stressful yet rewarding year! 

Sadness, Fear, and Joy

I woke up early on Monday and decided I would go on a run. It felt really good. After I came back home and got ready for the day, Jared called me asking if I wanted to take him to the store to help buy stuff to make a birthday cake for another RA. So Jared, Kadee and I all went to Food Lion and got the supplies. We made the cake in Reva's room and then all sat and talked. The rest of the day was kind of rough just because of things that happened. But Kadee, Emma and I did eat pints of ice cream and Carla loved her birthday cake. 

I didn't sleep too well, so since I was awake I went down to breakfast. I hung out in Kadee's room for a bit and then went back in my room, showered and got ready for the day. I went down to lunch and Rylee and John John had to help make the orientation video and needed help filming people doing stuff around campus and town. So a group of us set off to make the video. RA training was good but we were all falling asleep.. it had been a long two days. That night we did have chick-flick night in Reva and Cody's room. They made us pizza dip which was probably the best thing ever!
This is a place called the Double Decker. Its just a hang out spot with the prettiest view!

 Look closely and you can see the giant spider web outside my window!

PIZZA DIP!

Wednesday was pretty boring. I slept a lot better though. After lunch I helped sand down some chairs that were going back in Robey.  They started to stain them as well, but I was wearing too nice of a shirt so I came back home and then went right back down for training. It was two hours and it was suppose to be the last day.. They said they realized how heavy the past two weeks have been so they gave us a journal that they wanted us to write down three new things we are grateful for everyday, and one positive experience! Im excited! After training we ate dinner. Emma wanted to go on an adventure so after dinner we went to Walmart and then to my storage unit. Basically I have WAAAAAY to much stuff!! I need to get rid of most of it! Its ridiculous! Also the whole roommate situation hasn't been solved, but I have unpacked and taken over the whole room... literally! Every drawer, every bed, and I brought in my couch. 

We were leaving to go to Walmart and there were a whole bunch of deer just wandering around!

 Here's the lamp I bought at Walmart!

Thursday was my first day swiping cards! It was really fun, but also a weird and surreal experience. And it was the breakfast shift starting at 7AM...  The rest of my day was full of sitting in my room re-watching Gilmore Girls while knitting... it was not productive, but I think a much needed relaxing time! I did go down to lunch, and an RA meeting with the President and his wife. After dinner I came back up to my room and just sat in the hallway with Emma and Rylee. After a while I went back in my room and waited for Emma to check in her first resident. We were both sooo hangry (hungry enough that it makes you angry)  that we hopped in the car at almost 10 and went to Sheetz! I came straight back to skype Genny, Alex, Anna and Savannah. I am so excited to see most of them next week!!!! I have missed then A LOT!  

Friday was a crazy long day that went from bad to pretty good! When I went down to lunch I got asked if I could come over and help continue to try to finish Robey for the next day. They had 15 rooms that were getting checked in and they wanted them to move straight in. Well half the rooms still didn't have furniture, the lobby wasn't painted and there was trash everywhere. I got there at 1:50 and left at 9:50PM with a 40 minute dinner break. I was on the truck going from storage back up to Robey loading and unloading. Loading and unloading. After dinner pretty much everyone left to go to the drive in movie theatre, so the only people left working were some of the HRA's, John John and I. We were all determined to get this whole project done! They let John John and I leave so we could go meet up with the group of people at the drive in. They show two movies so we caught the second one (It was the new Fantastic Four). It was kind of a dumb movie and everyone didn't really like it. I think John John and I had such a long day that we thought it wasn't that bad! We thought it was funny and quite enjoyed it. 

Emma texted me at one point asking if I could go get her colored pens from her room! It was so random. I love Emma!!

We didn't get home from the movie till after 1AM and we all had students checking in Saturday! So we all awoke (I was sooo sore from moving furniture the day before) and everything started to begin! I had three girls check in through the day. Its kind of weird now actually having the girls I have to worry about, be here. It's kind of stressful! After lunch I got asked again if I could help finish Robey.... I was not happy but some guys had already been checked in earlier that day so we needed it to be done! I went and worked over there for a while. The rooms were pretty much done but they were just starting to paint the lobby. Which isn't that big. I sat with John John while he swiped for dinner and then I came back up to my room. I talked with one of my girls for a bit and then met up with Jared, Rylee, Jerica, Sam, and Carla to all go get gelato in Lexington! So yummy! I then got to facetime Maddie Maddie for a really long time! 

Sunday was really good! We had an awesome sacrament meeting. For third hour we split into our wards. I'm really excited! We also had another linger longer with root beer floats and then dinner! After dinner I face timed my family and went to hymns on a hill, where there were so many people! Then we came up to the Rogers apartment while they made cookies. I had to pick Lainie up at the Lynchburg airport at 11:38pm. Jared was going to come with me until he found out he had a 7am practice the next morning. So one of my cute residents offered to come with me! Once we got back Lainie came into my room till 3AM! 

Murder Mystery (dun-da-dunn)

I arrived Saturday night about 7:30! I came into the lofts and said hello to Cody and Reva Rogers (They are the HRA's in charge of the lofts) and John John. I got checked in and Cody and John John were super nice and unloaded my whole car while Reva and I talked :) John John and I then went to Cook Out to get some dinner and when we got back to campus I told him that I was so sick of the car so we went on a walk and then stopped and sat in front of main hall. It felt so good to be back at school!!! We talked for a while and then came back up to the lofts and sat with some of the other RA's till 1:30 AM! I came back to my room and just crashed!

Can I just tell you how much I missed my school's YSA ward!! It is the best! We had an incredible testimony meeting and a great Relief Society lesson all about being a virtuous women. It was awesome! For dinner we had a big BBQ for the RA's. It was delicious. After that we had a big game night in the lofts and we played Catch Phrase and Mofia. I LOVE THE RA's! After the guys left we got in are pajama's and all went into the Rogers room for story time and popcorn.

Monday was fun! We woke up to go to breakfast. Its only open for breakfast from 8-8:30...ya we went down at 8:20. After breakfast I came back and slept for another hour! I worked on my room for a bit and then we had to go get our keys coded to our rooms and floors. We went to lunch and then to Panther Falls! Its this super pretty waterfall! You can jump of these rocks or just play around. It was super hot outside so the water felt good. I totally fell at one point and now have this massive bruise on my leg!! First day of training was great! We were all given a new name and career because we were now solving a murder mystery! (In the coming days we were required to dress up and act the part!) I love everyone involved with the Residential Life Staff! AHH! They are the best! After training John John and I went on a walk, where we tried to catch the fireflies for like 30 minutes! I LOVE FIREFLIES! They are the coolest thing ever! At the end of our walk we ran into a few other RA's and a group of us got together and started to watch Wreck it Ralph.

 This just sums them up..

Tuesday I had plans to wake up early and I just kept snoozing the alarm till finally I just turned it off. It felt great to finally sleep in! I worked on my room a bit, took a shower and then went down to lunch. After we went to Walmart and Goodwill because we needed costumes for training. My name is Birdie Riddle and im a lifeguard... HAHA!!!! Training was great agin! We learned our responsiblilites keeping up with our residents each week and what that requires. They are really holding us accountable this year and said they are not scared to fire us.. Which is a good thing! I love the RA's in my building. A group of us all hung out in one room when we got back and sat and talked for a long time. The boys then texted us wanting to do something. So a little while later we all piled into John John's car and went to cook-out! So good! Oh I love that place!
Here's all the RA's after training!! 

I have loved the quite campus. Its so fun to just be hanging out with few people here! Wednesday was just a chill hang out kind of day. We did go visit the knock off Swig truck. It was good! Training was exciting because we had the police come and show us a whole bunch of drugs so we could detect them! It was cool. They also brought in their new dog that can sniff out drugs. He did a demonstration with him and it was awesome! We also had a picture scavenger hunt we were suppose to do, so some of us went and took some of those pictures after training! 

 Heres some of the scavenger hunt pictures.

 Everyone tried to follow Emma!

 Im definitely still in "costume"... thats why I look so weird!

 Here's the new dorm coming in! It looks really good!

 I love these people!

Thursday I woke up to help paint Robey (One of the guys dorms getting redone). Everyone was super messy by the end and I had nothing on me.. till John John came up and painted my arm. They couldn't understand how I stayed so clean while I could not figure out how they got that messy! We went to lunch and then I went on a quick run. It was so nice outside! I missed running with the perfect weather with the perfect buildings. Then I came and crashed in Emma's room on the ground. Her best friend just left Wednesday on her mission, so we can really relate seeing how Alley just left! :). I then decorated my hall and got ready for training. It went well! After Emma and I decided we were going to go sit and chat with Reva and then Cody. We probably went in there about 8:30 and for the next two hours Reva just kept saying all she wanted was fried chicken! Cody got back from paining about 10:30 and one of the other RA's saw a light on in one of her rooms... so we were all scared a murderer was in the building. Don't worry, we checked and we were safe! We then had to do some begging.. but Cody was very very nice, and at 11:30 we were eating homemade fried chicken! Other highlight of the night is when a moth flew in the room and we all screamed while watching it near its death because of the ceiling fan! 

 Cody and Reva. These two are seriously some of the most amazing people I have every met!

Friday was another pretty chill day. I finally got my room all set up! You can move the beds up and down and mine were stuck! So we called Cody (who is the absolute best!) and he figured it out! The best part is for a Residential Life trip we went to Lynchburg where there is a place basically like Boondocks. They have lazer tag, go-karts, mini-golf, and an arcade. It was a blast! We spent two hours there and then ate at a super yummy Italian place! They gave us a certain amount of money for dinner, so 4 of us got together and with all the money combined we got two 16 inch pizzas and 4 desserts! It was super funny! I love these people a whole heck of a lot! 

Saturday was..... Ugh. So they told us to meet at 9 at the schools storage space to start moving furniture into Robey. So we show up and we were locked out. We waited and waited and finally got let in and were told to unload 45 beds, 45 dressers, 45 desks, and 45 chairs, and to clean them with none available cleaning supplies. It took a very long time and there was lots of waiting around for people. It wasn't very organized so we got a little frustrated! 

We finally got lunch and after we met over at Robey to unload. By the time everyone back at storage filled the trucks and came back.. We had been hanging around for a very long time. It was fun to sit and talk to the amazing HRA couples and RAs! We got mostly all the furniture for the top floor put in. It looks really good! Dinner was funny because football arrived today but they weren't allowed in the dinning hall for dinner. So we are in one of the alcoves and had to push them all away from the door. Haha after dinner Cody and Reva texted us saying there was a treat in their room for our hard work. They had gone to Food Lion and bought all their RAs their favorite snack/treat! It was so nice! They also had a fire and s'mores for everyone that helped later in the night! After that I sat and talked to Kadee and Emma for a while and then watched Finding Nemo with John John! I love that movie! If you haven't watched it recently.. Go watch it! Overall It was a loooong day!

Sunday was good, but it was one of those days where it felt like we were at church for a very very long time! The bishops all introduced themselves though and i'm super super excited to be in 5th ward! Sunday can also be described as "The a day of talking about life". We spent HOURS with Cody and Reva talking! We all help make Emma's door tags and we went to Hymns on a Hill. Once home from that we sat and talked again till 1:30AM! We ate a lot, talked, laughed, and got some life advice!

In case you were curious... I LOVE SOUTHERN VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY! I don't know what this year has in store (man I don't know what tomorrow has in store), but I know that life is good! I can't wait to see how this crazy adventure plays out!