Welcome to BYU-I

I can’t believe it… a week and a half before I start school. 13 days. 432 hours. 25,920 minutes. 1,555,200 seconds. Am I excited? Yes. April to September. Six months is too long to be at home. I don’t care who you are. Going back to Brigham Young University – Idaho will bring many adventures. New roommates, new apartment, new classes, new friends, and… new dating experiences. Yes. It is true. Dating is part of college life. A good/bad part. For example: when you go on a date and he proposes the first date = bad. Do I know from experience? What? As a wise friend recently pointed out, dating is like a game at BYU-I. No wait. It is a game. At first it is incredibly exciting, but as time wears on, you begin to grow tired of the game. The rules are always the same. Ten steps to eternal happiness:

1. You see the guy for the first time. Whether he is in your class, or you seem him across the row at devotional, or maybe you just pass him every day on the way to your religion class. You think he is gorgeous/attractive/good-looking. Well, he is enough to catch your eye.

2. You play the eye tag game. He catches you staring at him and you feel flustered but you want to play it cool. So you smile a little as you look away. He is hooked. This can go on for days/weeks/months depending on where it takes place and the kind of guy he is.

3. He will finally work up the courage to talk to you. Or maybe vice versa. Either way, you will talk about classes, the weather, the devotional that you just had… trivial things.

4. He will ask for your number. You give it to him.

5. He asks you to devotional. You go with him. The devotional is about marriage. You feel kind of awkward.

6. He asks you on a real date. You go to Twizzle Berry. You find that you have a lot of things in common. You go on a walk around campus. He takes you home five minutes before curfew. You tell each other you had a great time. He will hug you. You do not let him kiss you.

7. He asks you to hang out. You oblige. You enjoy yourself. At the end, he asks you if you will go home with him to meet his roommates. You do so. They are nice. You take him to meet your roommates. As soon as he leaves, you all gather around and they tell you how they feel about him. Whether or not they think he is cute, if they think he likes you, if you should date him… etc,etc.

8. He asks you to hang out yet again. This time he suggests that you go home with him to meet his parents and family. You do. You like them. They like you. You invite him to meet your family. He likes them. They like him.

9. He asks you to marry him. You say yes. You get married in the temple for time and all eternity four months later.

10. You have five kids.

The end. The same. Welcome to BYU-I.

Do You Hear the People Sing?

Much has indeed happened since I have last written:

1. It is now August. The summer is almost over. My paper chain that I made back in May is getting very short. I leave in one month to go back to school. September 9^th. The same day Harry Potter left to go to Hogwarts. Just putting it out there.

2. I saw Les Miserables last Saturday night. It is perhaps the greatest musical ever conceived. No. It IS the greatest musical ever conceived. I cried and cried throughout the entire play. At the end I was a wreck. There was not a single dry eye to be seen in the theater. The hero of the story, Jean Valjean, is perhaps the greatest man ever known. No. He IS the greatest man ever known.

                Dear Victor Hugo,

Thanks for writing such a great story. I don’t know if you know this, but it has been turned into a musical. A good play. A little raunchy in some parts (okay… a lot) but a good play nonetheless. You are a wonderful, brilliant man. You should win a prize or something. Maybe a gold star. I just wanted to let you know that I am now reading your book. Yes, the unabridged 1222 page, three inches thick book. I’m not planning on finishing it for a while. Probably a few years.

                Much Love,

                Rachel

3. One of my good friends is getting married. Soon. Before the year is over. Am I in shock? Why yes I am.

4. I have decided that next summer I am taking the Disneyworld internship (if I get it of course…). End of discussion.

5. I have decided that the next summer I am going to do study abroad. I will be going to Europe and traveling all around the different European countries.

Do you know what this all means? That I don’t think that I can get married any time soon.