Rambles From Rachel: "College Adventures"

I never know how to start these things...

I have a lot to catch up on though--

The day after Christmas, I drove up to BYU-ID for winter semester. So far, I am absolutely loving it here, I'm thinking if I can get a job here, I just wont go home. Being a college city, its hard to find a job- so once you get one, you want to keep it.

It does get a little chilly occasionally, the other day it was -20, felt like -30--- my first class is at 7:45 am, so the weather definitely helps me to wake up.

Overall my roommates and I get along really well- 4 of them knew each other before this semester began, so it feels kinda like there are 2 groups, me and Holly (my direct roomie) and the other four girls- Steph, Jen (twins from LA area) Jaime (Penn) and Carina (New Jersey)-- Steph and Jaime especially have different standards than me-- the first time Holly met them, they were taking pictures of themselves in bikinis in front of the shower curtain (which is pom trees)

But I do get along with them for the most part--there was one night, that Holly opened our window at night, and it froze open- it took me forever to fall asleep, i thought i was getting sick sisnce i got the chills so bad- when i woke up, and found the window open, i figured it out (that was the night it was -20)

I arrived in Idaho Falls a week before school started, so i spent that week with my aunt Marilyn and her family- I had so much fun. We went shopping (I was really impressed when my uncle and Tanner offered to hold my bags while we shopped...)we did some sewing projects together, my cousin Tanner and I watched a lot of movies and spent a lot of time with each other playing Wii--- he is such a funny kid. We had game nights every single night- I met a lot of guys, I met Ryan when he came to pick up my cousin Heather for a date--- he and his roommates live across the street from us, so I usually go over there to escape our apt (when my roomies have guys over til 4am, or when they rent R rated movies.... etc) they are all just a bunch of funny guys, Holly and I both love going over there- new years eve we had a game night, where i met a guy named Adam- he and I had a blast, and i met his parents- his dad is just hilarious- i had so much fun i cant even say. i also met zach, he brought over his HUGE potatoe gun- you could see flames coming out the end-- good times.

I was the first to move into my apt off campus from school-- Holly moved in 2 days later, and the rest the day before school started- I reallly enjoyed having the house to myself, although 4 of my roomies left things of theirs here from last semester, so i was unsure what things of thiers (like pots/pans/utensils etc) i could and couldnt use-- so i just didnt use any, which was a challenge. my first week of school was awesome- i did end up changing 2 of my classes, which I am very glad that i did. My favorite class is probably marriage prep (dont get any ideas!!!) and my Book of Mormon class--- right now my major is elem ed. - but i dont think i'll stick with it, i'm just not sure what I'll change it to yet... I'm thinking special ed something, or marriage and family counseling, or speech pathologist, or to just study diseases such as autism for a non profit foundation-- anything to work with kids directly... we'll see- I'm also thinking about taking some "fun" classes, that might peak an interest i havnt realised before, such as more relation classes (they are all sooo interesting, i love em) or others such as cake decorating, floral arranging, or photography- we'll see what i end up deciding.

my ward calling is visiting teaching coordinator. there are 3 supervisors, who report to me, then i report to the ward clerk-- i'm still a little confuzed as to what i need to do, but hopefully i can learn fast. a lot of the people in my ward are juniors or seniors, its really groupy-and there arent many freshman... so i've kinda been adopted into a friends ward, i'll go with him to his ward's activities and firesides when i can- i am hoping to familiarize myself with my real ward better though, since theres a reason why thats the ward i've ended up in.

friday night, my roomies convinced me to go to an 80s party with them at "the locus"-- basically, its a dance club for BYU-ID students. it was a lot of fun- but i dont think i'd do it again, there were some guys who were a little creepy, and in the future i'm just going to avoid it entirely.

on saturday i went with a couple of my friends, keshia and jessie to meet their parents in blackfoot. i reallly enjoyed meeting their families- they were all so good to me. i celebrated jessie's dad's birthday with them and her family- keshia's mom and i baked cookies sunday afternoon before we left to watch the super bowl at her cousin's house....

see pics below....