The College Years: Back to School

Time for my first installment of Kuab Ci: The College Years! It's been kind of an interesting experience going back to school. A little bad, a lot of good, but mostly the time back has just made me think about the future and what I'm going to do with my ever-lovin' life. I'm enrolled in five Psych classes, aaaaand that's about it. It makes my head hurt sometimes but I am working hard and after two weeks I can gladly say I'm still caught up with reading and homework! (Now, if only I had all of my books...)

In the last two weeks, I:

• Shaved. *sob*
  
• Bought almost all of my books online, for the first time (I usually just like to get them all at the bookstore, but five books at 150+ each, no chance. I bought online and saved at least $300, and they'll all here by now but one).
• Moved into a house south of campus (A total of NINE guys live there--three shared bedrooms upstairs and three private rooms downstairs, three bathrooms, two kitchens, actually pretty spacious). It's a 15-minute walk to school, five-minute walk to Elise and Jeff's house, and really pretty close to a lot of my friends who moved to Provo.

• Worked out my class schedule (which includes two night classes, but also features a Friday completely free of classes).
• Attended FHE (seems like a nice, varied group of students).
• Made callbacks for Concert Choir (at which I thought I was a shoe-in, due to the shocking, American Idol audition-esque display there), but did not make the final cut (the reasoning given: Recent shortage of basses has made competition for other sections quite stiff, and apparently, "when you're up against people who have taken voice lessons for ten years or are vocal majors", your chances are even smaller... Turns out there are BYU choir politics after all, even if it means there's a weaker choir as a result. She said if I were a bass I would have been in like *that*. Whatev. She offered me a spot as Tenor II in Men's Chorus, but the time slot wasn't good for my schedule, and I decided to try to concentrate on getting into grad school this semester).
  
• Looked for new work (I told Jandaco I'm still semi-available during school, but I think they hesitate to contact me in case I'm too busy).
• Helped Elise and Jeff through their bad scooter accident (Luckily, Lacie and I were half a mile away and could rush to the scene immediately). I was terrified when I saw the ambulance and police lights, but they were incredibly fortunate to have suffered relatively minor injuries (in Lili's case, well, none, and Jeff is such a good sport to be bound by two slings).
  

• Finished one George Orwell book and started another (what a writer! And I can't believe I've never read Animal Farm or 1984 until now).
• Applied and was accepted to serve as a Hmong interpreter for General Conference next month.
• Nearly caught up watching Prison Break.
• Traded in my sad, old iPod for a discount on a new Shuffle, perfect for running (I really was sad to say goodbye to it, and felt weird going to the Apple store, like I was walking into a futuristic toy store rather than a store of higher-end electronics).
  

• Went to the airport to see a couple of mission friends come home, and went to hear one of my dearest ones speak at church.
• Spent time with a few nice girls.
• Saw at LEAST one mission friend every single day on campus (generally it's more like two or three on average).
• Stressed just a little about my chances of getting into grad school (I think my referrals are going to be the key).
  
• Talked to six people (and counting) on campus and one person over the phone about my FAFSA. It's a long story, and a pain, but it should be through in the next few days. In the meantime, a nice short-term loan is my friend.

So, there you go! A few events that have been occupying my time for the last fortnight. We'll see how this semester works out. It's nice being back in Provo, but I miss home. In fact, I'm home at this moment.