Culture Shock?

Is it possible to have culture shock within your own culture? I never really thought about this until now. Today was my first day of classes at BYU, and since I've been down in Texas for school for the past four years, coming to BYU is quite a change.

At Trinity I was either the only Mormon or 1 of 3 members. Here at BYU I look around and basically everyone is Mormon. At Trinity there were only 2500 students in the entire school. Here at BYU...35,000? I went from being the minority to being part of the large majority. At Trinity people are often scantily dressed, wearing anything (or nothing) from extremely short skirts...so short that most people see way too much...to low cut shirts exposing plenty of cleavage and bare skin. Here at BYU...well people are simply dressed modestly. And at Trinity I was a college athlete...here at BYU, I'm just a regular student.

Even though it's basically opposite from my experience at Trinity and I may or may not be experiencing a little culture shock (despite the fact that it's my own culture)...I must say it's quite nice as well. People dressed modestly and using clean language (no F words, thank goodness)...is so refreshing. Having prayer before every class starts and having my professors converse about the Gospel and the scriptures as if it's a normal subject for everyone...well it's definitely different, but I like it.

It is certain that BYU is a pretty unique place. But I think I'm going to enjoy my time here.

TUWS

Preseason started today for Trinity Soccer. For those of you who don't know what preseason is, basically it's the first couple weeks of the soccer season, which consists of two-a-days, fitness tests, classroom sessions, exhaustion, and lots of excitement.

It feels weird that I'm not going back down to Texas for another soccer season...kind of hard to believe. All day today I have been thinking about my lovely teammates who have been running fitness tests in the scorching Texas heat. However, despite the running and the heat, they get to play soccer and come together as a team...which is simply marvelous. So, as I was missing the whole experience I decided to try and run a couple fitness tests myself. It wasn't nearly the same...not even a little bit...but somehow it made me feel better.

Good luck girls! I expect you to kick some major butt this season. I will be creepily stalking you from the website because I miss you.

50 and counting...

Last week my mom had her 50th birthday. Since I have been in Texas for her birthday for the past four years I thought I should at least make a sign...so here's what we did.

First, we put a sign, balloons, and presents in our kitchen for her.

Second, we made a big sign and hung it on the fence by the buffalo so that the rest of Alpine could see. The crazy thing about this sign is that my mom went to the temple and came back, driving past the sign twice...and she still failed to see it! So I had to tell her about it and then drive by it so she could see it...silly mom.

And last, but definitely not lease, I decided to make t-shirts. I have been digging out my room and I found some t-shirt transfers...so I decided it would be best to use them and then I wouldn't have to find a place to keep them. So I made a shirt for me, my mom, and my dad, and we wore them to dinner that night at the Cheesecake Factory. My dad wasn't very excited about it...but I loved them.

Happy Birthday Mom, I love you! Thanks for everything!!!! ...literally everything.

a delectable recommendation

Everyone loves cookie dough and everyone loves chocolate (well except for my brother and his wife who are crazy non-chocolate fans...and my dad who won't eat cookie dough because of the raw eggs) But for all of us normal people...they are both delicious. Well thanks to my good friend Abigail Morten for suggesting this recipe...Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles.

Here's how mine turned out:

And here's the picture of the professional recipe one:

I'd have to say, besides their pretty blue background...mine look just as good. (And Dad...the cookie dough is egg-free)

These were quite delectable (basically I loved them!) And we have about 4 dozen in our fridge, so please please please come visit and eat some so I don't eat them all.