How is it already February?

I had a great fast Sunday full of talking to family and hanging out.

One of my classes called Becoming a Leader Servant, requires that every Monday we get to read a conference talk for homework. It is the best! For this Monday I got to read the talk entitled "Come What May and Love it". Its one I have read a lot and I find new things in it every time! Its a really great talk. For FHE on Monday we had a fashion show. We split into groups of about 4-5 people and were given a theme. We then had 15 minutes to run home and dress a boy and girl model for the runway. My group was given the theme of country. So we sent our boy model to find things and we ran up to the lofts to dress Anna. It was really fun and some groups got really creative! Malia (who is the head of everything) pointed out that we all felt very comfortable. That made me happy!

On Tuesday I had my Review meeting and then a work meeting. But between those Ewa and I sat and talked to people from the Review staff for a while and then some people working the dinning hall. After the work meeting I worked the first shift and then came back to get some homework done.

On Wednesday, I worked double shift. The first shift was pretty slow but the second shift was super fun because it turned into call center choir! We have music playing in the background to keep us entertained and in between calls we all just started to sing! It was super funny. We are also allowed to be on the school website and our school has a blog called the Scoop. I took up reading that between calls and I have now read every post and the first one was in early 2011. I now don't know what to do to keep myself entertained!

Thursday was a pretty full day. I went to lunch and then had to go talk to the financial office, then I decided to go to the library to take my online test for microeconomics. I ended up spending a couple hours in there when Genny appeared! We sat and talked for about an hour and then headed to dinner. Genny left to go work the first shift and as Savannah, Anna, and I were about to head up to the Lofts, John John came and offered us a ride up which was super nice because it was very cold outside! We all sat and talked for a while and then I came in to finish some homework. I worked the last shift and then when Ewa and I got done we decided to go say hi to John John again, who told me he was working the game room shift. We said hi and hung out and then came back home.

Friday was a much needed day! We had an amazing Forum from a man who graduated here a few years back. He related different business tricks to SVU and how amazing our school is! I felt so happy and proud that I go here! My friend Lauren and I also noticed that we were totally inverse matching. It was so cute! And then we realized that so many of us were wearing stripes! After forum we had lunch and then we sat in the dinning hall talking to people for a while. Ewa and I then headed up here because we had a study group at 1:30. Then I had to go meet with a teacher at 2, and then I met Lauren who dragged me to this extra credit lecture where I may or may not have dozed off..... It was interesting though! We came back up here and Lauren and our friend Sam all sat and talked for a while. We then changed and headed down to dinner. After that we all hung out and then at 9 they were playing Big Hero 6 (which I still hadn't seen!). I headed down with Anna and we met Savannah as well. I loved the movie! I thought it was super great! The next day our school was holding an express EFY, so we stayed after and put up 500 chairs! I love how a lot of us stayed to help. It was great. We came back with full intention to probably go to sleep, but instead stayed up and talked and played bannanagrams!

 This was us laughing at something and then Genny taking a candid shot! I love it!

Saturday I woke up and started my wash and reading something for my internship. (They are sending me drafts of books they are publishing this semester and I am proof reading them). At 11:30 we met in Anna's room to do a secret service project. All of us wrote happy compliments and statements on sticky notes. We then secretly hung them up on every single door for every single person in the lofts. I hope it spread a little cheer! We then headed down to lunch. Alex lost her choir folder so after we took a detour to Chandler hall to see if we could find it. We ran into this nice girl named Karla and John John who were both "counselors" for the EFY express starting in like 30 minutes. We talked to them for a minute and Alex went to look for her folder but then couldn't find it. We all came back to the lofts for a bit and then went back down for the mens basketball game. It was a little crazy because we were in the arena and right next to us were 500 EFY kids! It was nuts! Our campus doubled in size! It was a close game but we did win which was awesome! We went to dinner and then later that night we came to my room to watch one of my favorite movies, We Bought a Zoo.

 Here is Ewa after dinner posing with all the EFY kids sitting eating dinner! We had never seen so many people ;)

Sunday was a crazy spiritual day! I woke up and got a text from the first counselor in the Bishopric. He said he wanted to meet with me. So I got ready, ate a quick lunch and then headed to the church. I am now a Gospel Doctrine teacher! I was a little shocked but I actually really wanted a teaching calling! Im super nervous but very excited! We had a great testimony meeting about missionary work, a great Gospel Doctrine class on apostles, and a wonderful Relief Society lesson on agency and the action of faith. I had a quick teacher training meeting after church, then got set apart, and then went to a choir practice for ward conference next week. It was almost 70 degrees which was a nice change from the freezing cold, so we slowly meandered back up here, dropped off our scriptures, and then headed to dinner. After dinner, Alex, Genny and I just sat on the stairs talking and enjoying the sun. I finished up some homework and then we went to Hymns on a Hill. This is something that goes on every Sunday but I haven't gone yet! We all just join outside main hall and sing hymns. It was awesome! Then we came back and watched 17 miracles while sipping apple cider out of Genny's tea set! It was a pretty great day!

Honor Week, Dances and Shenanigans

On Sunday, I went to church and it was exciting. I then came back and did homework for a while and just relaxed. Then Sadie invited me over to come and talk which somehow led to trying on dresses for an upcoming dance. Well while I was in there Ewa, Savannah, Genny and Alex all appeared outside the door. It turns out they had been knocking on my door for 20 minutes and when I didn't answer they were worried about me. They thought I had died. I didn't appreciate this because it makes it sound like I never leave my room!!Which is definitely not true!

On Monday, I had my classes and then we just chilled. We had FHE, where we did a giant scavenger hunt in the Church building. We had 24 pictures of things we had to find and take a picture of. Another ward was also doing a scavenger hunt so it was a little crazy! It was really fun!

On Tuesday, I had a work meeting and then worked the first shift. Nothing that exciting happened :/.

On Wednesday, I had lunch with the craziest bunch of people ever! We were really excited about these live web cams online that show penguins, sea otters, and jelly fish! Then we were telling crazy stories and I was laughing so hard! After lunch I ran into Nicole who also hadn't done the homework yet for our class on Thursday. We teamed up and sat on these benches inside the hallway between the ballroom and Chandler Hall. We completed that and then just sat and talked! I then worked double shift, and first shift was super super super long! Then the second shift I worked on the same team as Nicole and we kept each other sane.

On Thursday, after my classes I went to lunch and then was hanging out with Savannah, when my friend John-John came over and we sat and talked outside in the freezing rain! I think we were all too lazy to actual walk 5 steps into Jonzzeys. We then went to Main Hall because he had some things to get done (he's in charge of activities and stuff like that on campus), so we tagged a long. We made some joke about how the rain would turn to hail, and as Rebekah (who had just gotten out of class) and I were walking back up to the lofts, IT STARTED TO HAIL! I did not appreciate it. I did some homework, went to dinner, and then went to work. At work we are doing a "Super Bowl" competition. We have a football field table cloth set up and then two footballs. For every ding you get to move your teams football two spaces. When you get a ding you get a skittle, when you get a combo you get a chocolate football, and when your team gets a touchdown your whole team gets a chocolate football! Its the best. Chocolate makes work more enjoyable :)
If you look at the bottom of the picture you can maybe see the hail.

On Friday we had our Honor Forum. Some students, a counselor, and a teacher all spoke. It was soo good! I felt so proud and honored (hehe) to be a student at Southern Virginia University! I absolutely love it here! We ate a delicious lunch and then I ended up sitting and talking with my friend Lauren till almost dinner time! We went down to get a package and then sat in the dinning hall waiting for dinner. At dinner we realized that Lauren, me, and our friend Taylor (who is Anna's new roommate) were all wearing jean shirts from dark to light. It was cute! After dinner we all came back to my room to get ready for the Honor Ball. The VMI jazz band was playing again and they attempted to do dance cards... which didn't really work. But it was good, not the best dance we have had, but still good memories. After the dance we came back and changed and then ate food and watched my favorite movie, While You Were Sleeping.
Here is Genny, Alex, and I at forum.

 The dark to light jean shirts! Lauren is on the left, Taylor on the right.

 I did Genny's hair for the dance!

 This was my hair after the dance so it is a little messed up.. but I thought it still looked cute.

 My dress! Thanks Sadie!

Here are the decorations

 I really don't like this picture... we look like midgets! But there we are.....

On Saturday we had an on campus open house. I was in charge of a group of students that I would direct around. Only one kid in my group showed up, but John John had to work a shift in the dinning hall swiping cards because he is an RA. So I took his group for him and went to lunch with them and gave them a tour. I realized that is sounds way more fun and exciting than it actually is. Its hard when I was trying to be all happy and funny and they didn't give me anything! John John said that he would call me to meet again with his group when he was done. Literally the second I said goodbye to them and I turned around, he called! Nice timing..... We ended up just talking and both procrastinating homework for a long time. I did finally come and get homework done with Elizabeth and then we went to dinner. I didn't realize how tired I was till that point. Open houses sure do drain you! I then called my family and we went to the Shenanigan show. That is the improv group on campus. They are so great! And I love being friends with so many people in it! After the show, Alex really needed to go and get some emergency stuff at Walmart so I drove her at like 10:30. It was fun to just sit and talk to her for like an hour!
Oh all the Shenanigans...

 We bought some peanut M&M's because they are also my favorite!

Ready, Set, GO!

Take note that I finally posted about the last two weeks I was here! And another special blog as well. So you can scroll down and read those too!

I arrived on Friday around 3:30. It was a long day of travel and I was grateful to be back. As I looked out the window when I was landing I felt so at home! I couldn't wait to go back to school. Reid picked me up and told me I could stay for dinner (which was awesome because I hadn't ate anything all day!). I stayed for about 2 and a half hours and after I was full from fish tacos I started to drive home. I was blasting music to stay awake, but to be honest I was so hyped about getting to see everyone, I was wide awake! I arrived to hugs and welcomes and it was awesome!

Saturday we went to lunch and then came home. I unpacked and then it was time for dinner. It was pretty empty by the time we were there and it was just nice to be with everyone! I said hi to some more people that I hadn't seen yet and then we came back to get ready for the 80's theme dance. It was super loud and they blew out the system twice, but it was really fun! After the dance Anna, Genny, and Alex all came to my room and we stayed up talking until almost two in the morning.

Sunday was awesome! I really needed the spiritual boost for the week and I was so grateful for the people in my ward. My Relief Society president made bookmarks for each of us that have traits that she has noticed in us. It was super nice and we all got our own copies of Daughters in my Kingdom which is an awesome book! That night we watched two of the Liken the Scripture movies which are so cheesy but so great! And we stayed up late again....
We love church!

Someone decided that it would be a good idea to go to breakfast at 8 in the morning! So thats what we did. The guy swiping cards said "why are you guys up?" I was asking myself the same question! We sat in there and goofed off for a really long time. When we left we walked outside and sat there and talked for a while because it was soo pretty. We came home and played bananagrams and then got to some homework. We went to lunch and then Genny, Savannah, and I went on a walk to the front of main hall where we sat and talked in the sun for an hour. It was so nice out! We had dinner and then went to FHE where we played apples to apples but for each round you had a different stipulation. So the first 5 people in were the ones you judged, or the first 5 people to stand, or you had to do the opposite of the green card instead of actually what it said. Then we came back and face-timed alley!

 This describes how we felt about the sun :) haha

Tuesday was my first day of classes. I had American and the Enlightenment (Which is basically just US history. And its much more fascinating knowing i'm only like three hours from some of the places we have been discussing), Choir, and Introduction to Theatre History which is amazing!!! I am absolutely loving that class! I had a meeting for the literary magazine called the Review and I also went back to work and had a work meeting. Another nice thing that happened was when I was walking back up the the Lofts (they have started construction on the new boys dorms and we arn't allowed to use the stairs. So we have to hike through the institute parking lot and go up the hill), my sort of friend (because we are all friends here), offered me a ride up! It was very nice of him! I am very thankful for all the extremely nice people on campus.

Wednesday I had institute (which is amazing!), Microeconomics which will be my hardest class, Reason and the Self, and Leader Servant. Overall I love all my classes, there is just a lot of reading! I had to work a double shift but I got to help train my friend Nichole which was super fun!

Thursday I went to all my classes and nothing really exciting happened. My student card snapped in half though!

Friday I went to my classes and then we had forum. President Wilcox spoke and it was amazing. He was talking about our mission here on this earth and at this school. It was really great. We had a good lunch and then five or six of us stormed the financial office with different things. So I got a new card with a new picture, and this time I don't look like a bunny! I had a meeting at 1:30 so we were just walking around and it started snowing! It was very cold but pretty. I went to my meeting with a teacher to get caught up and then went to the library to take a test (yes... I already had a test). I hung around till 4 when I had an information meeting for the Open House coming up. After that we hung out in the dinning hall till dinner and than ate. That night we had the first round of SVU idol. I think maybe 10 or so acts performed (including Ewa) and then the judges decided on five to go through. It was an awesome night of some great music! And with a hilarious "What does the Fox say" performance while waiting for the results. Ewa did make it through which was awesome!! It was pouring rain when we had walked down there and my shoes were still wet more than two hours later, so I managed to get us a ride back up the hill by being sneaky :) We came back and Jane, my new RA freaked out because she had bought us Nutella to go with our animal crackers. So we sat in a giant circle and ate that and talked for a while. At almost midnight I went and was talking to the other RA on my hall named Lanie. She is super amazing. We talked for a while and somehow I ended up sitting with some people in her hall till like 2:40. Then I talked to Lanie again and Merissa, my old RA, was texting me till 4AM! It was super fun but crazy!

Saturday I slept in and then went to lunch. I was so out of it and was starting to get sick (due to the fact that the earliest I had gone to bed this week was 2AM and I have 8 o'clock classes everyday). I came back and watched TV then took an hour nap. It was great! I got some homework done and talked to Alley and then went to dinner. After dinner I tried to get some stuff done and then I went to the SVU Idol finals. Ewa did such a good job! But she didn't make the cut to the final three. They performed again and then the audience voted. It was a lot of fun! We came back from that and then went to Sheetz to buy frozen hot chocolate and then watched Letters to Juliet. We talked again till about 2 and then Sam and I stayed up and talked till 4AM.... again....... whoops! It was much needed though!
Here are all the finalist singing :)

12 things I learned about Me my first semester in College

1. Cereal is my comfort food! I can and will eat it at almost every meal. It makes me think of home and it is always delicious!

2. I love leaves. Everything about them. They fascinate me and can be a great metaphor for life. They always grow and change, but a leaf always appears on the tree, year after year. I am obsessed with the crunch they make as well. Every time one is on the ground, I make a deliberate effort to go and step on it!

3. I love laundry. I think its so relaxing to put in a load of laundry and then fold it when its all warm, clean, and soft. Its the best thing ever!

4. I have mastered the Facebook stalk. I never use to do this but the second I got to school there were all these new people, so it was only normal to go and find out stuff about them...... okay, maybe not.

5. Naps are essential to life. I set an alarm for 15 minutes. I fall asleep with 10 minutes left and that's all I need! I feel better and have energy to continue conquering my day!

6. Being alone is how I relax. Give me knitting, a movie, Netflix, or a book and leave me alone and I am set! I will relax in minutes!

7. I do like people. In fact I love people! I always knew the importance of a best friend. Someone you can rely on always. But I never realized that all the people surrounding you is the key! I have met some amazing people this year that I know without them I would be going crazy! They are amazing and I look forward to spending time with them. I never liked going out with people before because I honestly think I didn't really like all the people that would be there. I never felt like I was comfortable or could truly be me. A big group of amazing people that love you for you is pretty dang cool!

8. Not reading a book for my own leisure drives me nuts! I had to read a lot this semester so by the time I would have a moment to relax I resorted to TV because it was a mindless thing to do. It drove me crazy!!

9. Theater is a huge part of my life. I found myself thinking about being on stage, how a character would act, how I would do a scene if it were on stage, etc. I remember going on stage the first time in months to sing for choir. I felt so at home! I absolutely loved it! I miss acting sooooo much!

10. Art really is everything. My art wall in my room keeps me fascinated for hours. I never realized how much I rely on art. I think about it often and wonder the stories each painting holds. It's very distracting!

11. Service is not in the big things. There are so many people on campus that serve in the smallest of ways. Growing up I always felt like people focused on the biggest most spectacular service projects in the world! I learned that the greatest piece of service is noticing the people around you. A compliment can brighten your day in seconds. Its amazing!

12. The gospel really does bring joy. I look around campus and think, "Wow! We are all so happy! All the time!" You can look around and see the few people that aren't going to church or are making bad decisions. The ones that are going to church, serving, reaching out out to others, going to FHE, and making time to read their scriptures and truly happy. There is such a difference in the ones that do all that and the ones that don't. This semester is the first time that I have truly felt 110% happy! I laugh all the time and find that things that use to bother me don't anymore.

I love Southern Virginia University. The people and experiences I have had are shaping me everyday! It's truly a blessing and I am counting down the days till I get to return to my Virginia home! 

Its Christmas Time!

Monday for FHE we made gingerbread houses. The Bishop and his wife were the judges. Our family was the only one that hadn't won anything this semester so we went all out! We were so into it, and it definitely paid off because we won. It definitely was the best one :)

On Wednesday our choir sang down in Buena Vista at an art festival. We sang a couple songs and looked at all the local artists works. There were some gorgeous ones.

Friday was such a fun day! For forum we had a giant Christmas celebration. The choirs performed and we had lots of other small groups perform. It was very funny!

We had our Christmas concert that night and I am always so impressed with the talent at my school! It was incredible. The orchestra and big choir sang stuff from the Messiah and it was spectacular!

Then finals week happened and everything was a blur. But here are some moments from that last week.
There was a mens basketball game, which we watched and then went to play in the rain!

 These are the gingerbread people I made to represent Sam and I. We are super different but just similar enough!

It snowed!

All during finals week, they serve breakfast from like 10 to midnight! It was awesome!

Still can't get over how pretty it is!

 Here are my two friends, Savannah, Erika, and I.