Well it seems fall semester has come and gone already, and with it comes the dreaded winter semester. Most of the stories I've heard about BYU growing up have been about how insanely cold it always is the entire winter semester and how that same cold made both of my parents independently choose to return to Florida instead of staying here. So naturally, as I returned to Provo I was expecting to pretty much die of freezing before I ever even made it to finals. Clearly though, I haven't frozen yet so y'all still get the chance to read my boring and usually lengthy blog posts about my highly uneventful life. My flight back out here was not all that eventful, though when I got here it was rather cold. After my flight I took one of the airport shuttles down to Provo and it wasn't too bad of a trip.
It ended up that I got the chance to work the night I got back, and the night after that as well. The next day was my favorite as of yet, since it was my first day of two p.m. church! I woke up eventually, hung out with my roommates, and made it to church perfectly on time :-) My new ward seems super awesome so far, and I even found a couple people I already knew there. After church, I made some snickerdooodles for man meeting, but I ever-so-slightly over cooked them so they weren't as soft as I had wanted. I actually went to bed really early Sunday night so that I made sure to wake up on time.
And so, the first day of classes begun. It started out like most days this semester will - freezing cold in the negative temperatures, but somehow I still made it to class on time. My first class on Monday was C S 142, intro to computer programming. That class (as evidenced by my pre-semester anticipation) is likely to be my favorite class this semester, and so it seemed on the first day when I found out that it actually has extra credit rewards for turning things in early. After that I went to Chem 112, and honestly I'm still not sure what to think about that class. At 11 it was time for differential equations, and my Asian professor makes me fear that I won't be able to get much from the lecture and will have to rely on the TA and book to get the material into my head, such a shame too because I was kind of looking forward to this class. After D.E. I head to Bio 100, where my professor somehow managed to find an excuse to play a clip from star wars (where Yoda is training Luke around the part with the x-wing) and a clip from the lion king all in one class period while wearing a Jedi robe with a $300 light saber :-) After a two hour break (for now... come march I'll have two hours of tennis there!) I headed over to mission prep and was totally blown away with how enthusiastic my professor and classmates were to be there. It would seem that everyone was super glad to be in the class that at one point had a waitlist of over 150 people for a 60 person class size, me included. Anyway, after that awesome class, I went home and chilled out until it was time for bed.
Then came Tuesday, which as a general rule for me is a pretty chill day. I started my day at 10 with chemistry again (stupid daily classes.) then went off to staff meeting and work for a little while until it was time to go to University Chorale at 4. Then I went home and ate some food afore heading back up to work until midnight. Then it was time to rinse and repeat Monday's schedule on wednesday, but there were definitely some cool things that happened Wednesday as it was no longer the awkward first day of class. Foremost, in my mission prep class, Steve Jones (the guy from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs ) Anyway, he was super awesome and had a great testimony of missionary work to share with us. Another cool thing that happened on Wednesday was that I experienced for the first time what it's like to have awesome teachers who have different sections of the same class later in the day then my scheduled class time. I slept in a bit late, and was able to start my day in chemistry, then go to computer programming, then bio, then at two I was able to go to Diff Eq, and mission prep at 3. I went to work later that night as my co-worker's brother was getting his mission call, so overall it was a pretty sweet day :D
Ya know... I think I'll stop this post here and let the next one catch up to today so that I can finally start writing about stuff other than my boring life :P
'Til I finish the next post,
Jordan Nielson
Showing posts with label Start of a new Semester/Term. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Start of a new Semester/Term. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Changing directions
So ya know how this blog usually details all the fun little things that happen to me? Well, that will probably be changing a little bit at least so that I can use this to fulfill a requirement for my mission prep class :D
Hopefully that gets you readers as glad as I am, because it gives me an excuse to write on here at least 3 times each week! That means you'll get updates incredibly often, and you'll probably actually get some insights and things I've learned since I gotta find something else to start writing about if I'm going to be posting that often or y'all would get incredibly bored with my life story.
So for now I'll give y'all the good old rundown of what's been happening since my last post all those many months ago. I'll make it brief:
October: Video games, being social, working, baking, and such took up the vast majority of my time and my priorities started to slowly shift away from class and more towards having fun since I wasn't liking my classes.
November: Boy was I looking forward to that break, more so because of the lack of homework that had to be turned in than anything since I wasn't able to go home. It was definitely an interesting month as I saw my motivation wane and my desire to achieve fall into a pit and never climb back out.
December: Wow. This month was probably the craziest month I'd experienced yet here at college, filled with tons of sadness, grief, fun, tests, and insanity that I can't even begin to capture it in this brief paragraph. But! I got to go home halfway through the month and that was absolutely spectacular. I was super happy to be able to catch up with so much awesome family that is still down in Florida, and I even got my wisdom teeth out and lived to tell the tale!
And now I'm back to January! Magical isn't it? I just find it crazy that yet another semester and set of classes here at BYU has started once more. This semester I'm taking a whole new slew of classes, so here's the list including my pre-semester reaction to each:
Hopefully that gets you readers as glad as I am, because it gives me an excuse to write on here at least 3 times each week! That means you'll get updates incredibly often, and you'll probably actually get some insights and things I've learned since I gotta find something else to start writing about if I'm going to be posting that often or y'all would get incredibly bored with my life story.
So for now I'll give y'all the good old rundown of what's been happening since my last post all those many months ago. I'll make it brief:
October: Video games, being social, working, baking, and such took up the vast majority of my time and my priorities started to slowly shift away from class and more towards having fun since I wasn't liking my classes.
November: Boy was I looking forward to that break, more so because of the lack of homework that had to be turned in than anything since I wasn't able to go home. It was definitely an interesting month as I saw my motivation wane and my desire to achieve fall into a pit and never climb back out.
December: Wow. This month was probably the craziest month I'd experienced yet here at college, filled with tons of sadness, grief, fun, tests, and insanity that I can't even begin to capture it in this brief paragraph. But! I got to go home halfway through the month and that was absolutely spectacular. I was super happy to be able to catch up with so much awesome family that is still down in Florida, and I even got my wisdom teeth out and lived to tell the tale!
And now I'm back to January! Magical isn't it? I just find it crazy that yet another semester and set of classes here at BYU has started once more. This semester I'm taking a whole new slew of classes, so here's the list including my pre-semester reaction to each:
- Differential Equations [Meh. another pure math class... wahoo time for super repetitive homework and no fun in class]
- Into to Chemistry Part 2 (112) [ Ah, so it begins anew - my fight with chemistry will never end will it? Perhaps I'll like this half more than the first half... I never was a huge fan of the microscopic anyway]
- Into to Computer Programming [Wahoo! A 3 credit class that I can take for fun to actually have a marketable skill! Totally down with that - definitely looking forward to this class the most]
- Bio 100 [meh, it's a GE so i might as well get it over with]
- Mission Prep with Brother Wilcox [This class will probably be my second favorite as it's the most applicable to me now... what with getting started on my papers and getting ready to go and all]
- University Chorale [Wahoo! I got into a choir class! This will hopefully be one of the more fun classes I take and relieve stress instead of adding it]
- TWO Tennis Classes?!?!? [Scratch that. I'm most excited for these two classes, but sadly they don't start until March.]
- RHA class [Well... I don't really have a pre-semester vibe for this class since I was just convinced and worked out how I could do it tonight]
In case you missed that... I'm taking 18 credits in a total of 9 classes, 9 credits of which I'm really looking forward to and the rest I hope to be as excited about once I actually start class.
In other news, I switched back to my summer apartment to room again with Master M (the awesome RA I was rooming with summer term). So, if ya wanna send me mail or anything (always appreciate it - you might even get a shoutout on my blog and on facebook!) my address is once again 1938 N 40 W #68 Provo, UT 84604.
Anyway, this post looks long enough to me for now, I'll probably write another one later tonight if I get bored that actually talks about the start of this semester from when I got back to Utah until whenever I'm writing it. After that though, I'll have to start incorporating random things that I learn and encounter throughout that seem interesting.
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Oh hey... It's fall already?
Preface: So... because I want to get at least something published tonight, and I could probably type on for another few paragraphs about the next few days I figure I'll make 3 different posts about the time since I last posted, the first being this one that covers from when my roommates moved in to Monday night ( a period of about 5 days).
Well... It's been about a month since I last posted on here, and there's been quite a bit happening, so I might have to cut this post into two parts depending on how I'm feeling and if I actually check the length before posting it. Anyway, it would seem that Fall is already upon us here at BYU and we've finished two weeks of classes already. But before that, I figure I should start way back when with my roommates already getting here at the beginning of the semester.
So, way back on like the 22nd of August, my first roommate moved in. I didn't know him before he got here, but he's pretty awesome. He plays guitar, likes to play some of the same computer games I do, and happens to be from Utah. He, like most freshman, actually went to New Student Orientation, although he liked it probably about as much as I would have if I had gone. Anyway, so the first couple days were kind of interesting, but we didn't yet have our other roommate here. So, a few days later when the roommate that I met summer term got back from home, the party really started. The one I met summer term also plays guitar, also likes some of the same computer games I do (albeit they like different ones), and is overall just a pretty cool guy. So, it looks like we're going to have a great semester cooped up here in north wyview.
Moving on... it ended up that we have 9am church, which is kind of a stretch for my roommates as they both like staying up rather late, and a bit challenging for me since I don't get home from work on Saturdays until a little bit after midnight. But it ended up that one of my roommates, who is from Utah, went to his home ward with his family, so it was just me and one other roommate. We ended up being a couple minutes late, which wasn't a big deal, and church was pretty good otherwise. Sadly (kind of) there were no good stories like the first Sunday of Summer, so we're just going to move on. After church, I went home and made some cookies, which were super tasty, and my roommates got their first taste of what it's like to live with me (at least since I got out here and started baking a bunch). Then that evening, some friends from home and I all got together and ate a super tasty dinner. It was in one of the girls' apartments in the new Heritage Halls buildings which was kind of nice, but it made me realize all the more how much I like being in Wyview. For example... I definitely prefer knowing most of my building fairly well instead of just knowing the 5 other people I room with. Another thing is I've gotten used to not having a dishwasher, so it isn't a very big issue that I don't have one. Anyway, so dinner was a blast and it was super awesome to see all those people from back home that I hadn't seen in 2 months (side note: it's the 13th of september and I haven't seen any of them since... sadness :( close side note). Moving on, that night we had our first ward prayer for these new wards, and ours is at 8pm in the 4 rooms that we usually use for Priesthood meeting on Sundays so it was exceedingly tight to get the entire ward in there for 20 minutes. That pretty much sums up my first Sunday in fall semester, so I guess it's time to talk about classes.
Monday morning came bright and early, especially since my classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays start at 8am. My first class is my Foundations of Global Leadership class, which I'm still not entirely sure what it is actually supposed to be about, I just kind of go with the flow on that one. It looks like it's going to be a blast though, as the first day we got to play a song as a class with Kazoos. After that I go to multi-variable calculus at 9am, which would probably be more interesting if I hadn't already taken most of the class material at Valencia during spring semester but I need to take it again since at Valencia we never got around to the fundamental vector integral theorems (like Green's and Stokes') so I kind of wish to learn about those. Finally comes chemistry (111 honors for those who care which one) at 10am. Chemistry looks like it should be a ton of fun, as the first day my professor found an excuse to use a flamethrower to blow up balloons filled with different gases which was pretty spectacular. After classes I took the shuttle home, and chilled out for a little bit. I did some math homework, and since I already know the material I went ahead and did all the homework that was due through Friday. Anyway, after I got tired of math I watched my favorite show on Netflix, which is called "The Adventures of Merlin" (if you want to find it on Netflix you can just search merlin). There's three seasons of it on Netflix, and during the break between semesters I discovered it and watched the first season and a couple episodes of the second one. So today I watched a couple episodes of that before it was time to head off to Home Evening - Entire ward style. As typical of BYU wards on the first monday that the ward exists, we have the entire ward gather together for a social thing on Monday evening called Home Evening where they assign apartments into home evening groups and generally have some sort of ice breaker for us to do while providing dinner for us. My home evening group ended up consisting of my apartment, another guys' apartment, and 2 girl apartments, for a total of six guys and seven girls. Sadly enough there will usually only be around 4 or 5 guys there as at least one of my two roommates are usually working monday nights when we have home evening.
Anyway,
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Well... It's been about a month since I last posted on here, and there's been quite a bit happening, so I might have to cut this post into two parts depending on how I'm feeling and if I actually check the length before posting it. Anyway, it would seem that Fall is already upon us here at BYU and we've finished two weeks of classes already. But before that, I figure I should start way back when with my roommates already getting here at the beginning of the semester.
So, way back on like the 22nd of August, my first roommate moved in. I didn't know him before he got here, but he's pretty awesome. He plays guitar, likes to play some of the same computer games I do, and happens to be from Utah. He, like most freshman, actually went to New Student Orientation, although he liked it probably about as much as I would have if I had gone. Anyway, so the first couple days were kind of interesting, but we didn't yet have our other roommate here. So, a few days later when the roommate that I met summer term got back from home, the party really started. The one I met summer term also plays guitar, also likes some of the same computer games I do (albeit they like different ones), and is overall just a pretty cool guy. So, it looks like we're going to have a great semester cooped up here in north wyview.
Moving on... it ended up that we have 9am church, which is kind of a stretch for my roommates as they both like staying up rather late, and a bit challenging for me since I don't get home from work on Saturdays until a little bit after midnight. But it ended up that one of my roommates, who is from Utah, went to his home ward with his family, so it was just me and one other roommate. We ended up being a couple minutes late, which wasn't a big deal, and church was pretty good otherwise. Sadly (kind of) there were no good stories like the first Sunday of Summer, so we're just going to move on. After church, I went home and made some cookies, which were super tasty, and my roommates got their first taste of what it's like to live with me (at least since I got out here and started baking a bunch). Then that evening, some friends from home and I all got together and ate a super tasty dinner. It was in one of the girls' apartments in the new Heritage Halls buildings which was kind of nice, but it made me realize all the more how much I like being in Wyview. For example... I definitely prefer knowing most of my building fairly well instead of just knowing the 5 other people I room with. Another thing is I've gotten used to not having a dishwasher, so it isn't a very big issue that I don't have one. Anyway, so dinner was a blast and it was super awesome to see all those people from back home that I hadn't seen in 2 months (side note: it's the 13th of september and I haven't seen any of them since... sadness :( close side note). Moving on, that night we had our first ward prayer for these new wards, and ours is at 8pm in the 4 rooms that we usually use for Priesthood meeting on Sundays so it was exceedingly tight to get the entire ward in there for 20 minutes. That pretty much sums up my first Sunday in fall semester, so I guess it's time to talk about classes.
Monday morning came bright and early, especially since my classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays start at 8am. My first class is my Foundations of Global Leadership class, which I'm still not entirely sure what it is actually supposed to be about, I just kind of go with the flow on that one. It looks like it's going to be a blast though, as the first day we got to play a song as a class with Kazoos. After that I go to multi-variable calculus at 9am, which would probably be more interesting if I hadn't already taken most of the class material at Valencia during spring semester but I need to take it again since at Valencia we never got around to the fundamental vector integral theorems (like Green's and Stokes') so I kind of wish to learn about those. Finally comes chemistry (111 honors for those who care which one) at 10am. Chemistry looks like it should be a ton of fun, as the first day my professor found an excuse to use a flamethrower to blow up balloons filled with different gases which was pretty spectacular. After classes I took the shuttle home, and chilled out for a little bit. I did some math homework, and since I already know the material I went ahead and did all the homework that was due through Friday. Anyway, after I got tired of math I watched my favorite show on Netflix, which is called "The Adventures of Merlin" (if you want to find it on Netflix you can just search merlin). There's three seasons of it on Netflix, and during the break between semesters I discovered it and watched the first season and a couple episodes of the second one. So today I watched a couple episodes of that before it was time to head off to Home Evening - Entire ward style. As typical of BYU wards on the first monday that the ward exists, we have the entire ward gather together for a social thing on Monday evening called Home Evening where they assign apartments into home evening groups and generally have some sort of ice breaker for us to do while providing dinner for us. My home evening group ended up consisting of my apartment, another guys' apartment, and 2 girl apartments, for a total of six guys and seven girls. Sadly enough there will usually only be around 4 or 5 guys there as at least one of my two roommates are usually working monday nights when we have home evening.
Anyway,
'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The First 10 Days: Part 2
Note: This a continuation of the post here: First 10 Days Part 1
Day 5/6: June 19/20, 2012
The second day of classes was actually much easier than the first as I only had my BoM classes, and therefore didn't have to be bored in ELA for 2 hours. But in those classes we actually talked about the text in the second one, while in the first we began a series of days talking about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. After classes, and during my 2 hour break, I ended up reading and doing my ELA homework, and picking up my bike from the BYU bike share program available for Wyview residents. Though it turned out that I couldn't actually ride the bike until I got a helmet, and the cheapest helmet you can get on-campus is $40, more than I wished to spend on one. So, I ordered one from Walmart.com and waited for it to arrive. It actually just arrived today, June 27th, so I can finally use my bike to go places! Anyway, Tuesday wasn't a very exciting day, and Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday, with some non-exciting Linear algebra added. But, whenever I get bored I'm able to walk outside and shoot some hoops, as the basketball court is literally right outside my apartment. Meanwhile, on Wednesday night the Bishopric was roving around, making sure all the people were where they were told they would be, and asking them questions about their previous experiences in church, I'm assuming for possible callings. One exciting/important thing did happen on Wednesday though, as my roommate had his team's (which he is the captain of) first Intramural Ultimate game. So, I went with him and learned a bit about the game, and actually got to practice a little with them as their opponents didn't show up.
Day 7, June 21st was much more exciting than the previous two days, largely because I was finally able to get out and play some tennis after classes. But before that, during my religion classes on Thursday, we ended up getting caught up in the material, and in BoM1 ended up a day behind, so the schedule was shifted back. Meanwhile in BoM2 we ended the week about a day and a half behind, but she insisted that we keep up with the syllabus and not with where we are in class. After classes, I went and played tennis with another guy in my building, and he totally crushed me. It turns out that I need to practice more often so that I can actually return his 90-120mph serves. But that was a great experience to have, even though he was definitely holding back some. It turned out that the closest tennis courts where non-students don't have to pay are about a 30 minute walk away, over past Heritage Halls on the other side of campus, so it was nice to get to know a little more about him and how he ended up helping take care of a handicapped person. Anyway, after tennis I went home and took a nap on the couch, which by the way is exceedingly comfortable, and then ended up reading and doing homework. Such is the life of summer term though, as classes meet twice as often (or for twice as long) as during a usual semester, and therefore have twice as much homework. That evening,
Moving on to Friday, Day 8, June 22nd. Friday is definitely my easy day, as I only have ELA, and that doesn't start until 10am. So, after class on Friday I went and made some snicker-doodles, which were added to the cookie bucket that my roommate and I keep since I like to bake when I get bored. Some night during the week we watched Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, which is by far my favorite episode (I'm fairly certain it was on Friday... but it might have been Thursday). Anyway, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all kind of blurred together, though a few distinct events did happen. One such was on Saturday I was able to make some crepes, which were super tasty, especially when topped with a mixture of nutella and frosting. Saturday evening I made a pot of chili, which tasted super tasty, especially considering I didn't actually have chili seasoning and had to improvise (for those who care I used a mixture of chili powder and taco seasoning). I had a super awesome girl come over who also happens to be on the afore-mentioned planning committee for the combined ward activity, and we planned our part of the activity. Saturday was also the day we got our home teaching assignments, which is super awesome as it gives me an excuse to dress up on a day other than sunday, as those have proven to be super packed without much time for home teaching unless it's before church, which I failed to mention before starts at noon.
Anyway, Sunday came, and unlike the first Sunday I actually slept in a bit and didn't get up at the awful hour of 5 hours before church, but a mere 3. So, I was able to chill out and take my time getting ready, eat some tasty breakfast, and read my scriptures. During sacrament meeting the Bishop and his wife spoke, along with one of the girls I am assigned to home teach with my companion. Then, during the second hour I went to Mission Prep class, which was taught by my roommate who did a phenomenal job, working from Preach My Gospel chapter 7 about the Spirit. Then in the 3rd hour we had almost the same lesson taught by the Elder's Quorum president, though with a slightly different focus. Directly after church ended, I headed home, ate a bowl of leftover chili super fast, then headed up to the planning meeting. The planning meeting was an interesting experience, because we had just found out that on the same day this activity is planned for there is an event for all of BYU housing, and so we had to shift around our plans in order to accommodate that new conflict. We ended up nixing the part that I had worked on the previous day, and I was assigned a new part in the condensed schedule, and so have to plan that before this upcoming meeting the next Sunday. right after that I headed to choir, and was only about 10 minutes late this time! We again worked on our first song which we're singing the second week of July, O My Father, and started learning a new song for Pioneer Day (which is like a legitimate holiday out here, I even get class off). After choir I went back home and worked on some homework, until building meeting at 7. At bro meeting, we discussed Fire Safety, and how we aren't allowed to shoot fireworks on campus (in preparation for Independence Day coming up), and the bros devoured the snickerdoodles I had made earlier that week. After bro meeting, we had ward prayer, and one of the girls (who also happens to be in my BoM1 class) sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" which is definitely one of my favorite songs. After ward prayer, I ended up going back home and working on my ELA assignments, and ended up getting an assignment ahead.
And Thus ended my first full week of college living, and it was a total blast!
Anyway, I probably won't be doing this Day-by-day thing every entry, as the days already seem to start running together and I've only been here 2 weeks.
Til next time,
-- Jordan L. Nielson
Day 5/6: June 19/20, 2012
The second day of classes was actually much easier than the first as I only had my BoM classes, and therefore didn't have to be bored in ELA for 2 hours. But in those classes we actually talked about the text in the second one, while in the first we began a series of days talking about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. After classes, and during my 2 hour break, I ended up reading and doing my ELA homework, and picking up my bike from the BYU bike share program available for Wyview residents. Though it turned out that I couldn't actually ride the bike until I got a helmet, and the cheapest helmet you can get on-campus is $40, more than I wished to spend on one. So, I ordered one from Walmart.com and waited for it to arrive. It actually just arrived today, June 27th, so I can finally use my bike to go places! Anyway, Tuesday wasn't a very exciting day, and Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday, with some non-exciting Linear algebra added. But, whenever I get bored I'm able to walk outside and shoot some hoops, as the basketball court is literally right outside my apartment. Meanwhile, on Wednesday night the Bishopric was roving around, making sure all the people were where they were told they would be, and asking them questions about their previous experiences in church, I'm assuming for possible callings. One exciting/important thing did happen on Wednesday though, as my roommate had his team's (which he is the captain of) first Intramural Ultimate game. So, I went with him and learned a bit about the game, and actually got to practice a little with them as their opponents didn't show up.
Day 7, June 21st was much more exciting than the previous two days, largely because I was finally able to get out and play some tennis after classes. But before that, during my religion classes on Thursday, we ended up getting caught up in the material, and in BoM1 ended up a day behind, so the schedule was shifted back. Meanwhile in BoM2 we ended the week about a day and a half behind, but she insisted that we keep up with the syllabus and not with where we are in class. After classes, I went and played tennis with another guy in my building, and he totally crushed me. It turns out that I need to practice more often so that I can actually return his 90-120mph serves. But that was a great experience to have, even though he was definitely holding back some. It turned out that the closest tennis courts where non-students don't have to pay are about a 30 minute walk away, over past Heritage Halls on the other side of campus, so it was nice to get to know a little more about him and how he ended up helping take care of a handicapped person. Anyway, after tennis I went home and took a nap on the couch, which by the way is exceedingly comfortable, and then ended up reading and doing homework. Such is the life of summer term though, as classes meet twice as often (or for twice as long) as during a usual semester, and therefore have twice as much homework. That evening,
Moving on to Friday, Day 8, June 22nd. Friday is definitely my easy day, as I only have ELA, and that doesn't start until 10am. So, after class on Friday I went and made some snicker-doodles, which were added to the cookie bucket that my roommate and I keep since I like to bake when I get bored. Some night during the week we watched Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, which is by far my favorite episode (I'm fairly certain it was on Friday... but it might have been Thursday). Anyway, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all kind of blurred together, though a few distinct events did happen. One such was on Saturday I was able to make some crepes, which were super tasty, especially when topped with a mixture of nutella and frosting. Saturday evening I made a pot of chili, which tasted super tasty, especially considering I didn't actually have chili seasoning and had to improvise (for those who care I used a mixture of chili powder and taco seasoning). I had a super awesome girl come over who also happens to be on the afore-mentioned planning committee for the combined ward activity, and we planned our part of the activity. Saturday was also the day we got our home teaching assignments, which is super awesome as it gives me an excuse to dress up on a day other than sunday, as those have proven to be super packed without much time for home teaching unless it's before church, which I failed to mention before starts at noon.
Anyway, Sunday came, and unlike the first Sunday I actually slept in a bit and didn't get up at the awful hour of 5 hours before church, but a mere 3. So, I was able to chill out and take my time getting ready, eat some tasty breakfast, and read my scriptures. During sacrament meeting the Bishop and his wife spoke, along with one of the girls I am assigned to home teach with my companion. Then, during the second hour I went to Mission Prep class, which was taught by my roommate who did a phenomenal job, working from Preach My Gospel chapter 7 about the Spirit. Then in the 3rd hour we had almost the same lesson taught by the Elder's Quorum president, though with a slightly different focus. Directly after church ended, I headed home, ate a bowl of leftover chili super fast, then headed up to the planning meeting. The planning meeting was an interesting experience, because we had just found out that on the same day this activity is planned for there is an event for all of BYU housing, and so we had to shift around our plans in order to accommodate that new conflict. We ended up nixing the part that I had worked on the previous day, and I was assigned a new part in the condensed schedule, and so have to plan that before this upcoming meeting the next Sunday. right after that I headed to choir, and was only about 10 minutes late this time! We again worked on our first song which we're singing the second week of July, O My Father, and started learning a new song for Pioneer Day (which is like a legitimate holiday out here, I even get class off). After choir I went back home and worked on some homework, until building meeting at 7. At bro meeting, we discussed Fire Safety, and how we aren't allowed to shoot fireworks on campus (in preparation for Independence Day coming up), and the bros devoured the snickerdoodles I had made earlier that week. After bro meeting, we had ward prayer, and one of the girls (who also happens to be in my BoM1 class) sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" which is definitely one of my favorite songs. After ward prayer, I ended up going back home and working on my ELA assignments, and ended up getting an assignment ahead.
And Thus ended my first full week of college living, and it was a total blast!
Anyway, I probably won't be doing this Day-by-day thing every entry, as the days already seem to start running together and I've only been here 2 weeks.
Til next time,
-- Jordan L. Nielson
The First 10 Days part 1...
Note: This is the first 4 days, as the post got a tad long for my liking and I wanted to get something up. The other 6 days will be posted once I finish typing them out.
Welcome Reader, to the inaugural post of my blog that details the good, and occasionally the bad, of what happens to me while I'm out here on my own at Brigham Young University. This blog is mainly intended for my family and therefore will be written with them in mind, but if you got here then I must consider you part of my family in some way! So to start off I'm going to let you in on my take on my first 10 days here at BYU with a day by day recollection of events, but be warned some days are not nearly as fascinating as others. First though, I'm going to explain the title I picked for this blog, because it may confuse some. Due to my choices in high school including Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual/Concurrent Enrollment I graduated high school with 72 credits. This number (since the total amount of credits transferred over to BYU) places me as a junior. But, due to the fact that this is my first term/year at BYU, and I haven't progressed at all in my major specific line I am considered a freshman by my major and those who have been at BYU for multiple semesters.
So I guess I'll start with day 1: June 15th, 2012.
I started the day at my second cousin's house, and once everyone was ready we headed down south and hiked up to Timpanogos Cave and all had a super awesome time doing it. After that, we stopped at Subway on the way to my great aunt Erma's house to pick up the things my daddy bought me while he was still here. After we had loaded up the car with all my junk, my cousins brought me up to Wyview Park, where I am currently living and helped me get it all into my apartment. Later that night I finally met my roommate, who happens to be the Resident Assistant (RA) for this building. It turns out, he's super awesome and I don't think I could have asked for a better roommate for my first term here. It also happened that the other person who was supposed to be my roommate (in the same room), was hired as an RA in Helaman Halls and therefore I still have the "shared" room all to myself.
And then there was day 2, June 16th, 2012:
I actually didn't do very much exciting today, though I did make a batch of super-awesome vanilla cookies. I also got to know my roommate a little better, and met a few people that it turns out I see fairly often. Other than that, I just kinda chilled and got settled in my room.
Day 3, June 17th, 2012 was actually much more exciting as it was my first day at church in my new singles ward, and I must say it was absolutely awesome. The first hour I was able to help pass the sacrament, which made it feel more like home, and then we had some incredible speakers. One of them was one of the daughters of a member of the bishopric, and the other two were really inspiring. During the second hour, the entire ward went up to introduce themselves stating their name, where they are from, how many terms/semesters they've been at BYU, and mission status. Both to my roommate's and my surprise, there were a number of girls who stated that they came here planning to get married, not go on a mission. The second hour ran a little over, so during the abbreviated third hour our Elder's quorum president and one of his counselors taught about the importance of home teaching, especially for all these people who no longer have a father they can call upon for blessings whenever they need. Shortly after church ended, I attended a meeting of a volunteer committee to help plan a combined activity among the wards of Wyview that is happening in mid-July. Directly after that ended, I headed over to ward choir practice, although all those in the meeting were about half an hour late to it. That was probably the second most exciting thing about church that day. After choir practice my roommate tried to make some cookies from a mix, and they ended up sticking to the pan and not rising at all. So, for building meeting which started a couple hours after choir practice, we ended up eating the cookies I had made the day before, along with some of the chunks of cookie made that day. Building meeting was a very interesting experience, as a good majority of the building residents actually showed up, and we all crammed into our apartment. We discussed various things ranging from stud/dud stories to setting up a temple trip as a building. Right after building meeting it was time for ward prayer, where a kid with the same major as me played a nice rendition of a tune from the Lord of the Rings on the saxophone. After ward prayer, I headed back to my apartment and got ready to start classes in the morning.
And then arrived the dreaded day 4, June 18th, 2012, a.k.a. the first day of classes. I had all three of my summer term classes today, Book of Mormon 1 (hereafter abbreviated as BoM1) at 9am, Elementary linear algebra (ELA hereafter) at 10am, and Book of Mormon 2 (BoM2) at noon. BoM1 was an interesting experience, as it was my first class at BYU. I was kind of thrown off, but very excited, when the professor announced we would be singing at least 1 verse of a hymn every class period, as we did that day. We then proceeded to talk about the syllabus, and didn't actually end up talking much at all about the Book of Mormon. Then came ELA, where the professor basically handed us the syllabus and dived straight into the material after pointing out a few key things such as the homework schedule. After spending two dreadful hours talking about matrices and very basic things about them, it was time for BoM2. In BoM2 much like BoM1 we discussed the syllabus and basically the exact same thing we did in BoM1, about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. After classes, I took the Ryde Shuttle back home and had a job interview about a possible position at the front desk of the housing office. I passed and will be starting sometime in the middle of July, after that I went home and did some homework and some reading to get caught up on what the professors had assigned to be done by Monday, though most hadn't told the class about them. At 6:30pm, Home evening started, and it was a combined ward event. We had some tasty taco salad in a buffet-style line, and then proceeded to play some get to know you games. Afterward, we had Banana splits (or just plain ice cream if you so desired), and I went back to finish up my readings that needed to be done for class in the morning.
Part 2 coming as soon as I finish typing it...
-- Jordan L. Nielson
Edit: You can now find Part 2 here: First 10 Days part 2
Welcome Reader, to the inaugural post of my blog that details the good, and occasionally the bad, of what happens to me while I'm out here on my own at Brigham Young University. This blog is mainly intended for my family and therefore will be written with them in mind, but if you got here then I must consider you part of my family in some way! So to start off I'm going to let you in on my take on my first 10 days here at BYU with a day by day recollection of events, but be warned some days are not nearly as fascinating as others. First though, I'm going to explain the title I picked for this blog, because it may confuse some. Due to my choices in high school including Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual/Concurrent Enrollment I graduated high school with 72 credits. This number (since the total amount of credits transferred over to BYU) places me as a junior. But, due to the fact that this is my first term/year at BYU, and I haven't progressed at all in my major specific line I am considered a freshman by my major and those who have been at BYU for multiple semesters.
So I guess I'll start with day 1: June 15th, 2012.
I started the day at my second cousin's house, and once everyone was ready we headed down south and hiked up to Timpanogos Cave and all had a super awesome time doing it. After that, we stopped at Subway on the way to my great aunt Erma's house to pick up the things my daddy bought me while he was still here. After we had loaded up the car with all my junk, my cousins brought me up to Wyview Park, where I am currently living and helped me get it all into my apartment. Later that night I finally met my roommate, who happens to be the Resident Assistant (RA) for this building. It turns out, he's super awesome and I don't think I could have asked for a better roommate for my first term here. It also happened that the other person who was supposed to be my roommate (in the same room), was hired as an RA in Helaman Halls and therefore I still have the "shared" room all to myself.
And then there was day 2, June 16th, 2012:
I actually didn't do very much exciting today, though I did make a batch of super-awesome vanilla cookies. I also got to know my roommate a little better, and met a few people that it turns out I see fairly often. Other than that, I just kinda chilled and got settled in my room.
Day 3, June 17th, 2012 was actually much more exciting as it was my first day at church in my new singles ward, and I must say it was absolutely awesome. The first hour I was able to help pass the sacrament, which made it feel more like home, and then we had some incredible speakers. One of them was one of the daughters of a member of the bishopric, and the other two were really inspiring. During the second hour, the entire ward went up to introduce themselves stating their name, where they are from, how many terms/semesters they've been at BYU, and mission status. Both to my roommate's and my surprise, there were a number of girls who stated that they came here planning to get married, not go on a mission. The second hour ran a little over, so during the abbreviated third hour our Elder's quorum president and one of his counselors taught about the importance of home teaching, especially for all these people who no longer have a father they can call upon for blessings whenever they need. Shortly after church ended, I attended a meeting of a volunteer committee to help plan a combined activity among the wards of Wyview that is happening in mid-July. Directly after that ended, I headed over to ward choir practice, although all those in the meeting were about half an hour late to it. That was probably the second most exciting thing about church that day. After choir practice my roommate tried to make some cookies from a mix, and they ended up sticking to the pan and not rising at all. So, for building meeting which started a couple hours after choir practice, we ended up eating the cookies I had made the day before, along with some of the chunks of cookie made that day. Building meeting was a very interesting experience, as a good majority of the building residents actually showed up, and we all crammed into our apartment. We discussed various things ranging from stud/dud stories to setting up a temple trip as a building. Right after building meeting it was time for ward prayer, where a kid with the same major as me played a nice rendition of a tune from the Lord of the Rings on the saxophone. After ward prayer, I headed back to my apartment and got ready to start classes in the morning.
And then arrived the dreaded day 4, June 18th, 2012, a.k.a. the first day of classes. I had all three of my summer term classes today, Book of Mormon 1 (hereafter abbreviated as BoM1) at 9am, Elementary linear algebra (ELA hereafter) at 10am, and Book of Mormon 2 (BoM2) at noon. BoM1 was an interesting experience, as it was my first class at BYU. I was kind of thrown off, but very excited, when the professor announced we would be singing at least 1 verse of a hymn every class period, as we did that day. We then proceeded to talk about the syllabus, and didn't actually end up talking much at all about the Book of Mormon. Then came ELA, where the professor basically handed us the syllabus and dived straight into the material after pointing out a few key things such as the homework schedule. After spending two dreadful hours talking about matrices and very basic things about them, it was time for BoM2. In BoM2 much like BoM1 we discussed the syllabus and basically the exact same thing we did in BoM1, about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. After classes, I took the Ryde Shuttle back home and had a job interview about a possible position at the front desk of the housing office. I passed and will be starting sometime in the middle of July, after that I went home and did some homework and some reading to get caught up on what the professors had assigned to be done by Monday, though most hadn't told the class about them. At 6:30pm, Home evening started, and it was a combined ward event. We had some tasty taco salad in a buffet-style line, and then proceeded to play some get to know you games. Afterward, we had Banana splits (or just plain ice cream if you so desired), and I went back to finish up my readings that needed to be done for class in the morning.
Part 2 coming as soon as I finish typing it...
-- Jordan L. Nielson
Edit: You can now find Part 2 here: First 10 Days part 2
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