College Life 101

These are some reasons why college life sucks.

A little preface:

About two weeks ago, it was fast sunday and it was the funniest testimony meeting ever. Fast and testimony meetings are great and hard at the same time, because it gets to the point where you have to learn to put your natural man aside and tell your stomach to shut up because you will eventually feed it.
Well, it was a funny meeting because all the testimonies were linked. You know how sometimes someone will share their testimony about gratitude or something and then all of a sudden, everyone realizes that they, too, have a testimony about gratitude? The Spirit works in wonderful ways.
This week, the reoccurring theme was the fact that it'd been a hard week. I was feeling the same way; I'd had like three midterms that week, and they weren't Book of Mormon midterms (even though those  BoM tests had questions like --as a former roommate put it-- "What's Nephi's toe's circumference?). And, I'd been experiencing a case of that "what am I really doing with my life" feeling that apparently everyone and their rent-a-puppy dog feel while they're at BYU.

It's hard not to get discouraged while living among such talented people. Before coming here, we all thought we were pretty good, contributing citizens. Got good grades, pretty talented in other areas, and then... people who are just like us congregate in one city. Someone will always be better than you at baking those delicious cookies, or playing that super cute Tangled song on the piano (just go sit in the Terrace for five minutes and you'll know it), or getting A's on every single o-chem test (I hate you. not really, but come on.) And the more I thought of it, I realized there's a few reasons why college life kinda stinks.

1. You just wanna be rich already and all the years of school ahead make it seem like the impossible, most unreachable dream.

And you think about it very time you go to the grocery store and get your $2.50, 30 pack of Top Ramen.

2. Roommate problems.

I am envious of all the people that room with someone random and everything works out perfectly. I've been there once. But the rest of the time, there's all those little things, without being OCD, that bug us. And I know what you're thinking, "Girl, then just room with your freakin friends. Then you won't have problems." Wrong. When you're a girl, rooming with your best friend isn't always the best idea. For the friendship's sake.

3. There's all these other things you wanna do but you have to study

Let's be honest. Handling a social life and balancing school is hard. #firstworldprobs



Then, you start thinking about the things you're whining about. And realize how stupid you are to whine about them in the first place. Even the hashtag #firstworldprobs kinda nauseates you.

Remember, whatever your situation is, there is always someone who's having a harder time than you are. And also remember, trials are relative. What may seem like a huge deal to you won't seem like a huge deal to someone else, and vice versa. You should be considerate of everyone. Like our good friend Dieter Uchtdorf said, "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." And along those lines, don't judge me because I have different trials than you. Whatever I'm going through is a big deal to me, and they're trials that are designed specifically to test me and make me (hopefully!) a better person.

Let's face it, our 20s are going to be difficult because of all the decisions we have to make. And it is a big deal. But it's not the end of the world. Everyone older than us already went through it and survived it. If they're ok, we'll be ok too. We might get super self-absorbed every once in a while, but what we must realize is, the world keeps moving, with our without us.
  "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Countdowns

You know what the worst part is about having 5 names? People don't even know what to call you. 
Well, Melissa and Michael are in town for the weekend; they finally got their marriage license yesterday! Haha they experienced some trouble at the county offices, dealing with all of our family's last names. Apparently, we can't just use our father's last name, since in our countries they use both our dad's and our mom's, we have to use both here as well. Silly Americans. Oh well. Since the people running the offices were so confused, the visit ended up taking like 2 hours. It was a party. 

This last Sunday, Tori came over and we spent a good while, reminiscing. We were laughing so hard, we woke my parents up. Of course, no reminiscing trip is complete without whipping out the old yearbooks and staring at awkward teenage selves. We laughed about how we didn't realize that we'd end up such good friends... knowing each other for about 7 years and rooming together in college, helping each other out through our down times and celebrating together in our successes. We realized we were on the same yearbook page since 7th grade!!! Oh, how times have changed. 

And we have gone from hanging out at the lunch table in Alta Sierra...

To going to crazy college paint parties together..

Oh good times, good times. I can definitely say that I have been blessed to have the best of friends. They have gone through everything with me, and have been there for me when times got tough. Well, enough reminiscing. 



Now the countdowns begin!!! 19 days til the wedding. 20 days until we're back in the motherland. 36 days til I drive back to Provo, 39 days til all my friends and I are once again in the same town. And I'm super excited. I was talking with my friend over the phone, and he thought about making a paper chain to countdown the days until we can be up to our old shenanigans. We're all really excited to see each other again and go dancing and hardly sleeping and eating lots and lots of $1.50 pupusas from El Mexsal, and laughing until our ab muscles cramp and we start randomly clapping. And by we, I mean mostly me. I miss these kids like crazy.

 Well, since I do have a couple of weeks left here, I need to make the most of it. Today, I plan on being active in my maid of honor duties and make a video of Mike and Mel to play at their wedding. I seriously wish I could capture on camera every time they make me laugh. Because they're constantly saying something funny.
 I saw this idea of the video when I went on a random wedding date, and I thought it was hilarious! You can really capture the personalities of both the bride and groom, and it takes up some time at the wedding, so people aren't feeling awkward the whole time... because, let's face it, sometimes you go to weddings and don't even know what to do with yourself.
 So, I will ask them about each other, and why their relationship works they way it does... because, I have never met two people so different from each other, yet so good together... well besides my parents. It's the whole opposites attract theory! It works! 

Thoughts and happenings

Well, today provided time for me to think about life. Super dramatic, right? Haha. Today was the funeral of my parents' dear friend, Timothy Lee Stott. So naturally, mom and I went to the memorial service while dad was at work. It was a really sweet service. His sons talked about how he had lived such an exemplary life; he was a pilot during the Vietnam War, and then worked as a fire fighter here in Clovis for many years. For his service in the military and for showing the utmost courage, he was awarded a Purple Heart. All the other people that spoke bore witness to Tim's integrity, kindness, and intelligence. It made me want to live my life in such a way that, when I'm gone, people will say some of those things about me too. It also made me really grateful for the Gospel and for the Plan of Salvation, and (as cheesy as it sounds) that families really can be together forever.

This weekend I was able to finish my preparations for the wedding; I finally bought both of my maid of honor dresses!!!! Hooray! They weren't the one that I was shooting for, but the one I was shooting for was a BCBG MaxAzria dress that was $350... haha so I guess it's reasonable that I got two other ones. I'm wearing white; call me Pippa Middleton. But I'm really excited to wear both the evening and day dresses. I just need shoes and jewelry now, and I'll be set.

Mom and I finished the invites today, so I hope that things just keep rolling and August 2nd gets here fast. Cuz I'm tired of being in Clovis and can't wait to go to Guatemala. 


Today, a life-changing event happened. Daddy let me drive the new BMW. And I think it wouldn't have happened in any other situation; but I took full advantage of the opportunity and took a detour on my way home. I drove down my favorite road, Old Friant Road, and enjoyed a great relaxing 20 minute drive back into Clovis while listening to my new favorite songs at full volume. Juan Magan is the perfect summer artist.

Mariah- Juan Magan
  and
Algo Me Gusta de Ti-- Wisin y Yandel


... I had to take a picture to document the event

The summerwind

Yep, I finally gave in to the world of blogging. And I know everyone says this on their first post, but there's something about being home from college with lots of planning for a sister's wedding that makes me want to sit at the computer and hash out all the feelings. Not much going on right now... I know; I should be off in a different country, exploring ruins and sites constructed by our 2,000-yr-old ancestors; but seeing as that is not possible at the moment, I will continue to sit here at my house, discussing with my mother the best consistency and pattern for the cardstock in my sister's wedding invitations.

I'm excited for the wedding... I can hardly believe that my one and only sibling is getting married in LESS THAN A MONTH!!! Woooooohoooo!! Congrats to Mel and Mike.

They're like the hottest couple ever. 

So this Wednesday was the 4th of July, and I realized that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday!!! My mom asked me why and I said, there's so many reasons for it. No expectation of gifts, hot dogs, the blistering Fresno heat, and just an all around great day filled with family, friends, food, and fun. We love our brown friends... this year, we decided to get a water bounce house and it was a blast. 

Days like this are what makes coming home so great. So, I'm excited to be here... even if it means that I have to look at 234932412394 patterns of cardstock and do a whole bunch of other boring stuff. But I can't wait for August 2nd, my sister's wedding, and our exciting trip to the motherland. This summer's gonna be pretty great.