Made it through.

Classes started today. As I was walking to my first class, I was having a conversation with myself in my head (you do it, too!) and it went something like: "Are you nervous? Nope. Not one bit. Remember when you used to get nervous on the first day of school? Yup. But not since like high school. I'm too old to be nervous. I need to get this crap over with..."

So as you can tell by my conversation with myself, I was not nervous. I felt a little anxious. Was I going to meet anyone cool? Is my Spanish Professor going to make me make a speech all en espanol on my first day? (because it's been about 8 years since I've taken a Spanish class. The Spanish class I took at Oxnard College a few semesters ago doesn't count because I didn't learn anything. Like, really. NOTHING at all.), etc. etc.

I got there a little early, so I decided to go try and see if I can figure out how to open the locker I rented. I got my little purple sticky note out with my hand-written instructions on how to do it. I seriously stood there for 10 minutes and was unsuccessful. It was a little embarrassing because there were a few people around, but after the 10 minutes I was like- forget it- and walked away.

I walked into my first class and almost immediately started talking to the people around me, everyone a little scared about their level of Spanish (but I think we'll all be ok.). First thing I notice: there being no non-white people- but I've given up on that because I'm with terms with the fact that hey- I'm in Utah). The Professor comes in and we start with a Opening hymn and a prayer-- which, still, I have to get used to.

Walking to my second class, I immediately notice the huge amounts of students on campus. It was nuts. There's SO many students!! And quite a variety I must add. I did see some diversity in the crowd.

I walk into my Linguistics class, and it's already almost packed. I took the first seat I saw which was in the front row. I look around and the first thing I notice was that there are a lot of nerdy people in the class. Nerdy-looking at least. My Professor for that class is really cool. He served his mission in Thailand. We had to partner up with someone next to us, talk for a few minutes, then introduce them to the rest of the class. That was pretty cool because I got to see that there were some interesting folks in the room. One lady--yes, she was a bit older-- wants to teach English abroad like I do. One guy served his mission in California and it was Korean speaking. There was a guy straight from Ecuador there. And a few more interesting people.

Anyway, after that class, I was going to go try my locker again (which is in the same building as my two Linguistic classes), but when I walked out of the room, there were TONS of people. So saving me from some more embarrassment, I decided against it and went to my third class on the floor above.

My 3rd class was... eh. It's another Linguistics class (actually- English Language class) and it's going to be much like my other Linguistics class. I think it'll be helpful to really get the material ingrained in my head. First thing I notice when I sit down-- there is a black guy in the class! Woo! Mixin' it up a little. Anyway, the professor spent the whole time talking about the syllabus. Nothing interesting.

After that class, which was my last class of the day, I was hoping to try my locker again. But nope, still too many people. So I went home.

When I got home, my grandma asked me about my day. I told her and I told her about the whole locker catastrophe. Then she said, "You should've asked someone to help you... like a good looking guy. Hey, if you're going to ask for help, might as well get something else out of it, too." Oh Grandma.

But I'll probably take her advice tomorrow. I plan on being there early and figure the dumb thing out (or am I the dumb one?). Once I've tried it a thousand times, then I'll ask for help. But really, do they have to make lockers so complicated?



Yesterday I went to church all by myself. I went to the YSA ward (Young Single Adult ward. It's where those who have graduated high school, are single, and are 18-30 years old go to church). I didn't really know where I needed to go. I saw a group of people my age waiting at the door for the chapel because someone was saying a prayer so they couldn't go in yet. But then I saw a girl sitting on one of the couches in the foyer and I overheard her say, "What are they doing? We don't have sacrament first..." So I was confused. I went up to her and asked her if this was the YSA ward and if we have class first. She said yes and offered to take me to the room. She was cool. We got to talking and whatnot. See, usually we have sacrament meeting, then our class meetings. But this ward was opposite. I met three other girls. After class, we had sacrament. When we went to the chapel, I just took a seat by myself because I wasn't sure if I was invited to sit with these new girls I just met. They took a seat behind me and one of them asked if I wanted to sit with them, so I did. One of them said, "I could never go to church by myself. I would like freak out, I would need someone with me...." So in my head I was like, Ok, so you invited me over here out of pity? But I let it go because I'm not that sensitive. But yeah, I manned up and just went by myself. And it did not turn out bad at all. I liked the YSA ward. We talk about things pertaining to us, in our "situation". Like in Sunday School we talked about dating and talked about fun dating ideas. A little culture shock to me, but I liked it. It was entertaining.

Everything is so far so good.