Hello everyone!! So this week has been the fastest but also the longest... I'm thinking that's how college is going to be all the time. The week has been fast because we had Monday but it's been long because thinking back on it... MLK day seemed an eternity ago!
SO let's start with Monday! Monday we had no school because of Martin Luther King Day and instead of doing nothing like Friday and Saturday of last week I had the wonderful opportunity to actually leave Ephraim, now don't get me wrong, I really like it here but it was nice and refreshing to leave it for a while. My roommate Paige and her mom invited me to go to Provo with them. It was AWESOME! We went to a mall to watch a movie. We saw The Legend of Hercules, a movie we both wanted to see and both came out a little disappointed. My personal review on the movie is not a positive one. I thought the acting was rather poor and cheesy. Speaking of Cheesy... the script was just that. Cheesy. Before the movie Paige and I went into a Hurricane Simulator and all that really did was blow air up to seventy miles in a tube, it literally took my breath away (no pun intended). The movie, the whole day was just amazing and I loved every bit of it. Though I will say seeing Paige with her mom made me miss my own mom a little bit but I'll get to see my family at the end of March for my Spring Break!
Tuesday we were back at school but I didn't have class till One but I had homework to complete during that time, which I did. My teacher, Mr. Dalley informed us of a test for chapter One that we would have to take on either Thursday or Friday in the Testing Center... Can you say.. NERVOUS!! English my teacher Mrs. Allred told us that we needed to have our first draft of our "Significant Event" essay would be due on Thursday.. Still had no idea on what to right about but figured that I would write about a significant event that happened to my family, it hadn't been significant to me personally but it affected my whole family. "The changes that were made when we moved to Manila and how it changed all of us. "
Wednesday was boring, nothing really comes to mind that day except that I someone from my institute class, Natalie is her name recognized me as the awful speaker from church that previous Sunday..... This is how the conversation kind of went.
Brother B. (the teacher) "Alright turn around and make sure you know your neighbor's name" Natalie is sitting in front of me. She turns around and asks my name. I tell her and expect her to turn away but she doesn't... For the longest time she stares at me but I don't make eye contact... "Hey, weren't you that girl who spoke last Sunday?" I tense a little bit. My talk.. was soo bad and I'm not saying it because I'm insecure, it was not good guys. I went from cute, "I LOVE DISNEY" girl to my black "Y'ALLS JUST NEED TO LOVE EACH OTHER LIKE GOD DOES!" girl.. so I was nervous that she recognized. I looked up at her and nodded. The next thing out of her mouth shocked me.
"You were SO adorable! Like I turned my friend and I said 'that girl is so cute and we're going to become best friends."
Me: "Oh.."
Natalie: "Yeah, well you're really adorable."
Me:" Thank you..
Yeah... so what do you say to that?? I hadn't the slightest idea, as far as I was concerned, only friends and family EVER called me adorable... That night though.. I did something completely scary! I sang Karaoke in front of the whole first floor of the Academy Square Apartments! I sang the Demi Lovato version of "Let it Go" not really the version I had intended but it had been fine, I did fine. Also that had been the day of compliments! Anytime I walked around campus wearing my "Toy Story Woody Hoodie" a couple of people would tell me that they loved it. It brought a smile to my face. It's nice to hear stuff like that once in a while.
Thursday... has been the hardest day I had to endure... Thursday I found out that an incredible woman, who I loved, who had been my guide for a long time had passed away from Breast Cancer. Sister Goodman was such an incredible woman, she's a better a woman than I could ever dream of being. I woke up to the news on Facebook and spent the majority of the day crying. Thankfully I didn't have classes till One again, so I could cry without worrying of who might see. Of course Paige saw and let me cry, she hugged me for comfort a little bit and I got texts and messages giving me their condolences and I offered my own as well... She will be greatly missed.. I wore all black with pink socks in her honor and I turned in my first draft in English without really caring about anything. All I wanted to do Thursday was crawl in my bed and not come out.
Friday, Paige left so I had the room to myself AND I got the AMAZING care package from my family! Included with Letters from everyone, which I loved by the way, Kit kats, a Puzzle, a few items of clothing that I had missed and.... COOKIES!! Oh my gosh I've been craving cookies for like a month!! Still am!!! So Friday night I had really hot date with Cookies, Milk and... Princess Bride!! I was up till 2 a.m and when I decided to go to bed my mind would not let me sleep! It's like 2:30 in the fletchin' morning and I wanted to go to sleep but my brain is just like nooooo why would you want to sleep when you could randomly make a list for Walmart right now! Don't save that for a reasonable hour do it noooww! So I pulled up Netflix watched The Emperors' New Groove and concocted a shopping list after I finished that, I passed out while the movie went on.. Now something weird happened... Usually, when I'm about to pass out, I'll close my laptop and set it back onto my desk but last night I forgot and after having a weird about Justin Bieber hiding out in my Dorm I woke up and found that my laptop had been closed.. No matter how hard I search my brain... I can't remember for the life of me shutting it myself.. It wasn't on my desk, the computer still had refuge on my bed but it had been shut.. just a twinge creepy.
Saturday has been a big day for me.. Only because I walked from my apartment to Walmart with my shopping list and everything all by myself, now you don't have to tell me that it isn't safe but come on.. in Nevada I couldn't even go to Smiths' by myself! (For those of you who don't know.. I lived right behind Smiths' in Dayton.. so it's a big deal for me.) Walmart is about a mile and a half away. I walked it all then talked to my parents for a while I shopped for a bit, I bought, Socks, the FROZEN soundtrack, Liquid Foundation (not sure I like it..), Elastic Headbands, black hair ties, clear hair ties, some milk, a tank, and some Orange Juice (not a gallon, just a small little thing) and I carried them all the way home. Yes, I am proud. For the rest of the day, I really had nothing to do, no homework or anything... so I was bored for the rest of the day... I will admit, I'm a little fearful of going to church tomorrow.. Some boys in my ward were there last week when I gave my crazy black girl talk...
So during church I felt totally ripped off. The speakers got talk about their favorite Scripture hero! There's no way anyone could mess up a talk like that! They all spoke well and I just felt jipped.. For the rest of the day I watched Disney movies, which make every pain go away for a while haha. Not looking forward to classes, yup I've finally got to the point where I want to be lazy again but alas, I will go to class with a song in my heart.. or in my head... we'll just have to see!
Thank you to everyone who has been supporting and reading this blog! I miss and LOVE you all!!
~ Allanah <3
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Week # Two!!!
Week number two, completed and I got a lot accomplished also! First I would like to give a big thank you to everyone has been so supportive and reading my blog, it really means a lot to me that people care haha... THANK YOU!
Anyway... My week... On Sunday night I was reading through my scriptures and a thought occurred to me, a thought seemed very out of place while reading my scriptures.. I had the thought that I really should drop my Psychology class. I had been thinking about it.. but at the time that's all it had been, thoughts just running around my head. It isn't like I don't want to take it because I did, I really enjoyed the first week and with the way Professor Marsing was speaking, I felt like I would love the class, even the hard projects but the thought continued throughout my head to Drop Psychology and they didn't stop there, no, they gave me reasons on why I should drop Psychology. I'm thinking and voting on Holy Ghost inspiration, anyone else? So Monday, right after my General Studies class I marched right over to the Student Center, put on my big girl panties and marched right into the "Student Success" a thing I had been terrified to do because I hadn't a positive experience the first time around for my loan.. but with Divine Help, I walked in and waited for someone to come to the front desk and answer my questions about dropping, since I couldn't do it online... terribly inconvenient.... a student who was working in there asked if I needed helped with complete and utter confidence (when I say that, I mean that my whole insides were mirroring earthquakes while playing with whirlwinds.... but my outsides were as calm as a Summer afternoon!) She gave me a sheet to fill out and to sit until someone else would be ready to help me. After I thanked her, I collapsed (I say 'collapse' because I felt that if I were stand for another minute I would have fainted due to all the earthquake activity going on inside me) on to a chair and filled out the designated areas. After a while she inquired if I had finished or not, I told that I had and she told directed me to another desk cubicle. Numbly, I sat down and handed over my form thingy over to the lady who sat parallel to me. She found my class and informed me that if I were to drop this class, I would be down to 12 credits, I told her that I understood and with a nonchalant expression, she dropped the class then excused me. As soon as I walked out of there, I felt this huge burdened lifted off of me, I couldn't stop myself from smiling, ear to ear all the way back to my flat. Got a few 'hellos' from strangers, which only boosted the smile. I didn't have class till noon. Though as happy as I had felt, it had all gone away when I remembered what was due in my Acting class... My first monologue of the semester..
I hadn't done a monologue since high school, for me that was already a lifetime away... This hadn't been just any old monologue, it had been a famous speech from history.. The speech, I chose for myself was the "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" by Patrick Henry. I had started it that previous weekend, except Sunday (day of rest) and I hadn't gotten very far on Saturday or Friday... I struggled with staying calm, I usually had a few friends in Drama but this time, I had been alone. The whole speech had been four thick paragraphs long... nothing major... right? Our teacher "B" told us to simply get as far as we could get... Death sentence right there! When an Acting teacher tells you to "get as far as you can" that's a hidden message for memorize the whole thing in three days, good luck and May the Odds be EVER in your favor... let's just say they weren't in my favor this time.. I got two paragraphs down by the time I get to class and I'm alright with it. B then tells us that we're going to perform using theater lights (exciting, right? Not this time...) and that she grades easiest on those who go first. Usually, I'm ok if I go in the middle because I've got it memorized for the most part but I didn't have it memorized this time. So who went first? I did... I get up there, with the lights nearly blinding my sight, which is alright with me, makes me less nervous. I start to go... and three words in, I'm a shaking, blubbering mess and stop and ask if I could start over.. B's cool with it. I take a few deep breaths then get a few encourage cheers (and a wolf whistle) from the audience. Then start again and as I talk, I can feel the character of Patrick Henry flow through me.. until I forget my favorite word out of the whole speech - my favorite word! I continue, my Patrick Henry faltering and I didn't even make it past the second sentence in the second paragraph.. which is one that I knew. I got the polite applause everyone is supposed to do after on finishes and walk back to my seat and of course right as I sit down, I remember the rest of the paragraph.. Typical. Let's just say that experience but a dent in the remainder of my day...
Tuesday, I started applying for my loan and... I'm still waiting for Snow College to tell me what kind of a loan I can apply for... but I got the basics down and I can continue once I get the email, besides that nothing exciting happened.
Wednesday, I bought my books (finally!) and then discovered that there are a lot of married couples in that class, it's really weird and makes me feel like a creepy spinster, good thing I'm not going to college to date! Went home then looked on the internet "How to Flirt in 13 easy steps"... I've come to a conclusion about flirting... it's tiresome and sounds like a lot of work, work I'm not really willing to do. So flirting is out of the question.. so are males.. except the ones I absolutely can't have, the celebrities, I'll always have those ;) (sorry for the text language right then, I had to) Also on Wednesday our acting class got its first group project. I'm working with a girl named Emily, thought it was coincidental, since one of my best friends is named Emily and took Drama with me in High school! The project is every group has been handed a script, the same exact short scened script. We are to come up with a scene using that script but thinking of an "out of the box" idea. Emily and I have decided that we are two old ladies at a Rest Home and she's trying to get me to tell her that Kilroy (some unknown character in the script) is my lover... Kilroy is going to be portrayed by a picture of Hunter Hayes. We're going to perform it this Friday, wish us luck!
Thursday, Paige and I ate pizza and great Pizza it was! It's called doubled layered, all meat pizza or something like that. It didn't look like a normal pizza but man did it taste so good! While watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and while she did her Homework, I had already finished mine, so I went up to keep her company. Pizza was fantastic, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, not so much, don't really like the acting in the movie. When we were finished with that, we went down back to our dorms where... I received a text from the second counselor from the YSA 12th Ward (my ward) and it says and I quote: "Hi Allanah, it's Bro. Bodrero from the YSA 12th ward. Welcome to the Ward! Will you be here on Sunday? If so, would you be willing to speak in sac mtg? Topic is Loving Others, especially those different from us (8-10 min)"
I haven't even been in the ward for a month and they are already asking me to speak... and on a touchy subject for me. I get real passionate talking about loving those who are different.. So, reluctantly, I responded with a "Ok..." oh and did I mention, I'll be the only one in my whole apartment going to church?? Yep, everyone appears to be gone for the long weekend, while I remain here... in loneliness... yeah... Sunday is going to be fun. Funny thing though, I was debating whether I should go to all my meetings this week or just to sacrament meeting... then after I thought that I got the text... God definitely works in mysterious says (she says with heavy sarcasm while looking upward towards Heaven)
Friday has been the easiest day so far.. I had one class at 9:30 in the morning and that's it. I talked with Paige while she waited for her dad to come and take her home for the long weekend... wish I had gotten to come home... it's creepy here by myself. Instead of socializing with uh no one this weekend... I've been watching Downton Abbey and I've felt pathetic doing so!
Saturday turned out to be no different that Friday... I did almost nothing, though I did do laundry and I tidied up around my half of the room, which took me only twenty minutes to do... I tried to write my novel but just couldn't... so I went onto Pinterest!! Then that night Anna Austin and I skyped for three well deserved hours! It was good catch up with her and laugh with her and talk about college with her! Miss that girl like crazy!!! After we talked I finished writing my talk and read it out loud and figured it made sense. Read my scriptures and night time prayers then went to sleep. Got up the next morning!
When Sunday came I blasted MoTab throughout the entire apartment, no one was home so I didn't feel bad about it. Got ready, went over my talk again, and ten till One I walked over to the Church, shaking the whole way. Got up on the stand and read over my talk... again . Brother Bedrero told me that I would be going first and it was one of those times where the "ladies first" phrase didn't exist... I stood up and shaking like a person who was about to pass out... thankfully the passing out part never came to pass but my talk was awful, I could speak in coherent sentences but they made no sense at all... The other two speakers (who were male *wink wink*) were amazing! One of the them was preparing to leave on his mission in Argentina and the other just made me laugh and smile! He went on his mission to Maryland and for the last six months of his mission he went to Virginia.... SIDE NOTE! For those of you who don't know... I've wanted to visit Virginia because of it's history and my first college choice was in Virginia also... so having this guy talk about how beautiful and wonderful Virginia was, made me want to go there even more than I did before! Right for second hour I was overcome with tremendous nausea but wanted to go to my class and Relief Society but decided that it be better that I vomit back in my apartment, so I left, got in my pjs, curled up in my bed and slept for a couple of hours... Thankfully I never did throw up but I definitely felt like it... Sorry if that was a bit TMI.
Thank you for reading my blog! God loves you!
~ Allanah Staggs
Anyway... My week... On Sunday night I was reading through my scriptures and a thought occurred to me, a thought seemed very out of place while reading my scriptures.. I had the thought that I really should drop my Psychology class. I had been thinking about it.. but at the time that's all it had been, thoughts just running around my head. It isn't like I don't want to take it because I did, I really enjoyed the first week and with the way Professor Marsing was speaking, I felt like I would love the class, even the hard projects but the thought continued throughout my head to Drop Psychology and they didn't stop there, no, they gave me reasons on why I should drop Psychology. I'm thinking and voting on Holy Ghost inspiration, anyone else? So Monday, right after my General Studies class I marched right over to the Student Center, put on my big girl panties and marched right into the "Student Success" a thing I had been terrified to do because I hadn't a positive experience the first time around for my loan.. but with Divine Help, I walked in and waited for someone to come to the front desk and answer my questions about dropping, since I couldn't do it online... terribly inconvenient.... a student who was working in there asked if I needed helped with complete and utter confidence (when I say that, I mean that my whole insides were mirroring earthquakes while playing with whirlwinds.... but my outsides were as calm as a Summer afternoon!) She gave me a sheet to fill out and to sit until someone else would be ready to help me. After I thanked her, I collapsed (I say 'collapse' because I felt that if I were stand for another minute I would have fainted due to all the earthquake activity going on inside me) on to a chair and filled out the designated areas. After a while she inquired if I had finished or not, I told that I had and she told directed me to another desk cubicle. Numbly, I sat down and handed over my form thingy over to the lady who sat parallel to me. She found my class and informed me that if I were to drop this class, I would be down to 12 credits, I told her that I understood and with a nonchalant expression, she dropped the class then excused me. As soon as I walked out of there, I felt this huge burdened lifted off of me, I couldn't stop myself from smiling, ear to ear all the way back to my flat. Got a few 'hellos' from strangers, which only boosted the smile. I didn't have class till noon. Though as happy as I had felt, it had all gone away when I remembered what was due in my Acting class... My first monologue of the semester..
I hadn't done a monologue since high school, for me that was already a lifetime away... This hadn't been just any old monologue, it had been a famous speech from history.. The speech, I chose for myself was the "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" by Patrick Henry. I had started it that previous weekend, except Sunday (day of rest) and I hadn't gotten very far on Saturday or Friday... I struggled with staying calm, I usually had a few friends in Drama but this time, I had been alone. The whole speech had been four thick paragraphs long... nothing major... right? Our teacher "B" told us to simply get as far as we could get... Death sentence right there! When an Acting teacher tells you to "get as far as you can" that's a hidden message for memorize the whole thing in three days, good luck and May the Odds be EVER in your favor... let's just say they weren't in my favor this time.. I got two paragraphs down by the time I get to class and I'm alright with it. B then tells us that we're going to perform using theater lights (exciting, right? Not this time...) and that she grades easiest on those who go first. Usually, I'm ok if I go in the middle because I've got it memorized for the most part but I didn't have it memorized this time. So who went first? I did... I get up there, with the lights nearly blinding my sight, which is alright with me, makes me less nervous. I start to go... and three words in, I'm a shaking, blubbering mess and stop and ask if I could start over.. B's cool with it. I take a few deep breaths then get a few encourage cheers (and a wolf whistle) from the audience. Then start again and as I talk, I can feel the character of Patrick Henry flow through me.. until I forget my favorite word out of the whole speech - my favorite word! I continue, my Patrick Henry faltering and I didn't even make it past the second sentence in the second paragraph.. which is one that I knew. I got the polite applause everyone is supposed to do after on finishes and walk back to my seat and of course right as I sit down, I remember the rest of the paragraph.. Typical. Let's just say that experience but a dent in the remainder of my day...
Tuesday, I started applying for my loan and... I'm still waiting for Snow College to tell me what kind of a loan I can apply for... but I got the basics down and I can continue once I get the email, besides that nothing exciting happened.
Wednesday, I bought my books (finally!) and then discovered that there are a lot of married couples in that class, it's really weird and makes me feel like a creepy spinster, good thing I'm not going to college to date! Went home then looked on the internet "How to Flirt in 13 easy steps"... I've come to a conclusion about flirting... it's tiresome and sounds like a lot of work, work I'm not really willing to do. So flirting is out of the question.. so are males.. except the ones I absolutely can't have, the celebrities, I'll always have those ;) (sorry for the text language right then, I had to) Also on Wednesday our acting class got its first group project. I'm working with a girl named Emily, thought it was coincidental, since one of my best friends is named Emily and took Drama with me in High school! The project is every group has been handed a script, the same exact short scened script. We are to come up with a scene using that script but thinking of an "out of the box" idea. Emily and I have decided that we are two old ladies at a Rest Home and she's trying to get me to tell her that Kilroy (some unknown character in the script) is my lover... Kilroy is going to be portrayed by a picture of Hunter Hayes. We're going to perform it this Friday, wish us luck!
Thursday, Paige and I ate pizza and great Pizza it was! It's called doubled layered, all meat pizza or something like that. It didn't look like a normal pizza but man did it taste so good! While watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and while she did her Homework, I had already finished mine, so I went up to keep her company. Pizza was fantastic, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, not so much, don't really like the acting in the movie. When we were finished with that, we went down back to our dorms where... I received a text from the second counselor from the YSA 12th Ward (my ward) and it says and I quote: "Hi Allanah, it's Bro. Bodrero from the YSA 12th ward. Welcome to the Ward! Will you be here on Sunday? If so, would you be willing to speak in sac mtg? Topic is Loving Others, especially those different from us (8-10 min)"
I haven't even been in the ward for a month and they are already asking me to speak... and on a touchy subject for me. I get real passionate talking about loving those who are different.. So, reluctantly, I responded with a "Ok..." oh and did I mention, I'll be the only one in my whole apartment going to church?? Yep, everyone appears to be gone for the long weekend, while I remain here... in loneliness... yeah... Sunday is going to be fun. Funny thing though, I was debating whether I should go to all my meetings this week or just to sacrament meeting... then after I thought that I got the text... God definitely works in mysterious says (she says with heavy sarcasm while looking upward towards Heaven)
Friday has been the easiest day so far.. I had one class at 9:30 in the morning and that's it. I talked with Paige while she waited for her dad to come and take her home for the long weekend... wish I had gotten to come home... it's creepy here by myself. Instead of socializing with uh no one this weekend... I've been watching Downton Abbey and I've felt pathetic doing so!
Saturday turned out to be no different that Friday... I did almost nothing, though I did do laundry and I tidied up around my half of the room, which took me only twenty minutes to do... I tried to write my novel but just couldn't... so I went onto Pinterest!! Then that night Anna Austin and I skyped for three well deserved hours! It was good catch up with her and laugh with her and talk about college with her! Miss that girl like crazy!!! After we talked I finished writing my talk and read it out loud and figured it made sense. Read my scriptures and night time prayers then went to sleep. Got up the next morning!
When Sunday came I blasted MoTab throughout the entire apartment, no one was home so I didn't feel bad about it. Got ready, went over my talk again, and ten till One I walked over to the Church, shaking the whole way. Got up on the stand and read over my talk... again . Brother Bedrero told me that I would be going first and it was one of those times where the "ladies first" phrase didn't exist... I stood up and shaking like a person who was about to pass out... thankfully the passing out part never came to pass but my talk was awful, I could speak in coherent sentences but they made no sense at all... The other two speakers (who were male *wink wink*) were amazing! One of the them was preparing to leave on his mission in Argentina and the other just made me laugh and smile! He went on his mission to Maryland and for the last six months of his mission he went to Virginia.... SIDE NOTE! For those of you who don't know... I've wanted to visit Virginia because of it's history and my first college choice was in Virginia also... so having this guy talk about how beautiful and wonderful Virginia was, made me want to go there even more than I did before! Right for second hour I was overcome with tremendous nausea but wanted to go to my class and Relief Society but decided that it be better that I vomit back in my apartment, so I left, got in my pjs, curled up in my bed and slept for a couple of hours... Thankfully I never did throw up but I definitely felt like it... Sorry if that was a bit TMI.
Thank you for reading my blog! God loves you!
~ Allanah Staggs
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Week ONE!!
So the first week of school is officially OVER! My what a week it has been, I couldn't believe it had only been a single week, felt like ages but my roommate Marianna reassured me that it goes by quickly! So my professors, you know only one of my teachers has requested that we call him 'Professor' the rest are just chill if you call them 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.' etc.. So much has happened this week, I'm not sure where to start! I'll start with the Roommates!
So I share a room with Paige and it took us a day but we finally talked and honestly we haven't stopped talking since! She and I have many, many similarities mostly about celebrities... although she finds Benedict Cumberbatch weird looking... which is alright with me.. More Benedict for me! Whilst we have an abundance in common, we also have our subtle differences like she's really into Asian men, me not so much but that's because I'm really into British men.. We also love Irish and Scottish men! So by now I think you can imagine what our conversations mostly consist of *wink wink*. In short Paige is amazing, and funny and just in one week we've had a lot of fun together... at least I've had fun with her! She talks in her sleep, which is quite amusing to hear!!
Classes are intense and I'm thinking about dropping Psychology, don't ask me why, I just feel like I need to. I haven't done anything yet so no one freak out, it's really just a thinking process for now.. but yeah anyway I digress... My English teacher.. is short.. is crazy! She talked about how much she dislikes her husband's old wife and called her a "hag"... yeah I think I'm going to like this teacher. My math teacher wasted half our class to talk about where he thinks numbers came from.. He thinks that number came from Shepard's... and he told us a whole story about how the Shepard and his wife would count their sheep in different scenarios... Yeah I didn't learn much that day, the math is easier, I remembering it from high school, has been a tremendously huge help! I have to finish that homework because I didn't finish it last night.. Then I have to do English homework.
I have come to discover that Eli isn't the reason why I like Institute, during the times I didn't have that class, I reminded myself why I was at school. Not to date but to succeed in my schooling. So when I went into Institute, I kept that thought and had an even better time because I got Paige to come with me! Of course she dragged her feet but she came! The lesson was intense, we were talking about Ammon and the slicing of arms and oh man that hour just by soo quickly. I couldn't believe it went by that fast, can't wait for next Monday!! My theater teacher is awesome and we have our first assignment. I have to memorize Patrick Henry's Famous "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death", which I have not started yet but will do that as soon as I update this blog! My theater teacher seems really chill though and I love it!! She's doing a Musical (at least I think it's a musical... hang on a second, let me check.. nope not a musical) so she's doing a play called "The Blithe Spirit" have no idea what it's about but I'm going to audition for it, if I have enough time to..
So we've heard the positives.. on comes' the negatives.. So my mother and I had a miscommunication somewhere, I have no idea where but I thought she had told me to pay for my Housing up front and so I did that on Thursday and I did it in a check. Housing included my Meal Card so I could finally stop starving myself. I texted my mother when I got back to the dorm and told her what I had done and it turns out that I was supposed to use that money in my account to buy books... then I was to go to the Finical Aid and get a student loan and that's where I was supposed to pay for Housing and tuition.... oops... Thankfully my wonderful Grandpa helped us.. THANK YOU GRANDPA! But this has only stressed me out a little bit more because I still don't have my books... which I need... Oh boy... Well if you wouldn't mind keeping me in your prayers, I could really use the help!
Going back to my roommates, I won't dive in too much about them, you know privacy rights and all.. but I'll just say that a lot of them make me laugh like I haven't laughed ever since I have lived in Dayton and for me, a girl who just adores laughing.. that's a long time! So all of my roommates are amazing Anna and Paige make me laugh whenever they interact because they are so different! Marianna makes me laugh when she interacts with the R.A. Courtney and Ashley are both really funny when they are happy, making me laugh along with them! I feel really blessed to such amazing Roommates living with me!
Thank you everyone for reading this, I still really need your prayers!
Have a great and blessed Day!
~Allanah Staggs
So I share a room with Paige and it took us a day but we finally talked and honestly we haven't stopped talking since! She and I have many, many similarities mostly about celebrities... although she finds Benedict Cumberbatch weird looking... which is alright with me.. More Benedict for me! Whilst we have an abundance in common, we also have our subtle differences like she's really into Asian men, me not so much but that's because I'm really into British men.. We also love Irish and Scottish men! So by now I think you can imagine what our conversations mostly consist of *wink wink*. In short Paige is amazing, and funny and just in one week we've had a lot of fun together... at least I've had fun with her! She talks in her sleep, which is quite amusing to hear!!
Classes are intense and I'm thinking about dropping Psychology, don't ask me why, I just feel like I need to. I haven't done anything yet so no one freak out, it's really just a thinking process for now.. but yeah anyway I digress... My English teacher.. is short.. is crazy! She talked about how much she dislikes her husband's old wife and called her a "hag"... yeah I think I'm going to like this teacher. My math teacher wasted half our class to talk about where he thinks numbers came from.. He thinks that number came from Shepard's... and he told us a whole story about how the Shepard and his wife would count their sheep in different scenarios... Yeah I didn't learn much that day, the math is easier, I remembering it from high school, has been a tremendously huge help! I have to finish that homework because I didn't finish it last night.. Then I have to do English homework.
I have come to discover that Eli isn't the reason why I like Institute, during the times I didn't have that class, I reminded myself why I was at school. Not to date but to succeed in my schooling. So when I went into Institute, I kept that thought and had an even better time because I got Paige to come with me! Of course she dragged her feet but she came! The lesson was intense, we were talking about Ammon and the slicing of arms and oh man that hour just by soo quickly. I couldn't believe it went by that fast, can't wait for next Monday!! My theater teacher is awesome and we have our first assignment. I have to memorize Patrick Henry's Famous "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death", which I have not started yet but will do that as soon as I update this blog! My theater teacher seems really chill though and I love it!! She's doing a Musical (at least I think it's a musical... hang on a second, let me check.. nope not a musical) so she's doing a play called "The Blithe Spirit" have no idea what it's about but I'm going to audition for it, if I have enough time to..
So we've heard the positives.. on comes' the negatives.. So my mother and I had a miscommunication somewhere, I have no idea where but I thought she had told me to pay for my Housing up front and so I did that on Thursday and I did it in a check. Housing included my Meal Card so I could finally stop starving myself. I texted my mother when I got back to the dorm and told her what I had done and it turns out that I was supposed to use that money in my account to buy books... then I was to go to the Finical Aid and get a student loan and that's where I was supposed to pay for Housing and tuition.... oops... Thankfully my wonderful Grandpa helped us.. THANK YOU GRANDPA! But this has only stressed me out a little bit more because I still don't have my books... which I need... Oh boy... Well if you wouldn't mind keeping me in your prayers, I could really use the help!
Going back to my roommates, I won't dive in too much about them, you know privacy rights and all.. but I'll just say that a lot of them make me laugh like I haven't laughed ever since I have lived in Dayton and for me, a girl who just adores laughing.. that's a long time! So all of my roommates are amazing Anna and Paige make me laugh whenever they interact because they are so different! Marianna makes me laugh when she interacts with the R.A. Courtney and Ashley are both really funny when they are happy, making me laugh along with them! I feel really blessed to such amazing Roommates living with me!
Thank you everyone for reading this, I still really need your prayers!
Have a great and blessed Day!
~Allanah Staggs
Monday, January 6, 2014
First Day Jitters and adventures
I realize that I said I would only be updating every weekend but it's the first day of school... so I have to update it today and I've got a really long break in between classes and no homework so here you go...
The night before my nerves were driving me mad, I couldn't even socialize with the rest of my roommates who, on a first impression seem a little... I don't want to say snobby because they probably aren't but let's just say some of them remind me of those snooty popular Mormons but it's something I can live with. Paige and I shared more words together (I'll get to it)! So in order to calm my nerves I decided to wake up and 6:05 in the morning, get dressed and possibly go look for all my classes seeing as how I found the rooms and buildings. However, that did not come to pass. I jumped out of bed (literally jumped, my bed is tall, when I stand next to it without any shoes on, it comes to the top of my waist and I'm 5"8..) checked my facebook (as per usual) got dressed, washed my face, trying to keep vomit down. Did morning prayers (I'm trying to do that more) got my key card and left my dorm about 7:20 ish. My plan had changed from looking around first to looking around after I got my I.D Badge. Again... this did not happen. I got to the building where the R.A told me to go and exchange cards and at first the whole building was dark but unlocked. I went through the first floor, nothing, went up the stairs.... no one.... I went back thinking that I had gone to early and I had forgotten my fuzzy light blue gloves.. Left again ten minutes later still somewhat dark but this time there were students but the office was not open... left again came back ten minutes later, no line! Went in and inquired to the lady at the front desk if this is where we exchanged cards.. It wasn't. I asked where I could do that and the only thing she said "Over there"... wow real descriptive.... I walked to "over there" and didn't see anything... I had class in an hour, no I.D card and had absolutely no idea where my first class would be located.. My First class is call GNST, which I think stand for General Studies. The website said it would be at the L.P.B... again... that's descriptive and I had my roommates tell me that the building was over by the the Fine Arts class.. I rushed over there and couldn't find it... Here comes a blonde moment! Went back and started to think, maybe I should just drop the class because I couldn't find it but there was another problem to that.. My math class was in the same building a math class I can't afford to miss.. So at my dorm I FINALLY pulled up the school Campus map and it turns out I had been walking past it the whole time.... L.P.B stands for Lucy Phillips (i think) Building.. The first class went fine, nothing too exciting to tell.. Next class is Intro Psychology and so far it is the biggest class I have. It's taught in a Performance Hall in the Library, didn't know where the classroom was in the library thankfully I'm comfortable around Libraries and Librarians so I asked the librarian and it was down the hall and to the right. We waited for our teacher, Professor Marsing who is funny as he is going to be tough but friendly enough for me to comfortably ask him questions, which I will have to do already the homework he's assigned is on something called "Canvas" on the Snow website... and I can't get on and he's asked for so many things for us to bring to class like an eyeclicker... or i clicker... no idea how to spell it haha and we have to get two books thankfully one is only eight dollars! Acting I won the prize as shortest college class ever and if anyone who is reading this took Dayton Theater will be happy to know (as I am ecstatic) that for once the boys outweigh the girls!!! Made my day! I need a book for that class as well but I think I'm just going to order it online instead of just buying it. Math 099.. bleh... don't even want to talk about it. Everything that I never understood in Algebra II are the things we are doing in that class... whoopee... The professor..Professor Dalley strongly reminded me of Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof only shorter..and well.. uh fatter... I hate to say but he sounded like him if he were American and Mormon... haha anyway so he's decided to use an ancient book, which happens to price at $80 for a rental. Thankfully, I have a Roommate who is taking the same class who offered to share the book with me if I reimbursed her half of the cost... hmmm now let's think $40 vs. $80?? Yeah I think you all know what I chose! After math I came back to the dorm and prepared for Institute.
Institute.... now that class... oh my gosh I didn't want to leave! The teacher was amazing, I'm not sure how to spell his name so I'll get back to you and I can assure that there will be plenty more stories about him and the class. The class size is really small, mostly because it's an afternoon class, which is perfectly fine with me. There are four guys, one is married and takes the course with his wife and they are the cutest thing! The other three, I'm not sure on.. One of the guys sat in front of me and usually I get ignored but this guy, Eli, is his name turned and talked me whenever the teacher instructed and sometimes when the teacher wasn't talking. Yes.. he was cute... and tall and he had really sky blue eyes but like I said in the first post, I am not here to date and even if I was interested in Eli, which I'm not, the possibility of him being single.. not so good. No one that cute and that nice is single but I like him, he's nice. You know this one day I've done things that I would have never done at high school! I talked to strangers asked for help, not students... adults, haven't gotten to that yet.. NEW GOAL! But Institute.. was just amazing, words can't describe it, Spirit was definitely strong and I never wanted to leave, though I'm not sure that feeling was because of Eli or of the actual class... hmm I'll let you know.
Thank you for reading this update. I promise the next one won't be up until this weekend! Love and miss you guys!!
~ Allanah
Institute.... now that class... oh my gosh I didn't want to leave! The teacher was amazing, I'm not sure how to spell his name so I'll get back to you and I can assure that there will be plenty more stories about him and the class. The class size is really small, mostly because it's an afternoon class, which is perfectly fine with me. There are four guys, one is married and takes the course with his wife and they are the cutest thing! The other three, I'm not sure on.. One of the guys sat in front of me and usually I get ignored but this guy, Eli, is his name turned and talked me whenever the teacher instructed and sometimes when the teacher wasn't talking. Yes.. he was cute... and tall and he had really sky blue eyes but like I said in the first post, I am not here to date and even if I was interested in Eli, which I'm not, the possibility of him being single.. not so good. No one that cute and that nice is single but I like him, he's nice. You know this one day I've done things that I would have never done at high school! I talked to strangers asked for help, not students... adults, haven't gotten to that yet.. NEW GOAL! But Institute.. was just amazing, words can't describe it, Spirit was definitely strong and I never wanted to leave, though I'm not sure that feeling was because of Eli or of the actual class... hmm I'll let you know.
Thank you for reading this update. I promise the next one won't be up until this weekend! Love and miss you guys!!
~ Allanah
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Moving On...!!
College is place that every parent and student thinks about at one point or another, some sooner than others. It's each hard working student's mission to get accepted, whether or not it is the place he or she desires to go. I can tell you first hand that Snow College had not been my first decision, it wasn't even my last decision. I had no idea what Snow College was or it's location.... Never known it had existed until our first day at church in the Manila Ward. Mom and Dad were talking to a set a parents and talked about their daughter who is my age and headed off to college at SNOW! This inspired the Idea of looking at cheap colleges in Utah, seeing as there were more options in Utah than in Nevada.. So we looked up all kinds of College's and a few small named universities in the Utah area. Came upon a few contenders but there were two that really stuck out to me... Weber University and Snow College.
Weber had every single one of the classes I wanted to take. Musical Theater, Regular Theater, Latin, English, Creative Writing etc. We read some reviews about the school and all of them seemed pretty balanced out in negatives and positive and then I went to Snow's Website. Snow didn't really have anything special to pull me from Weber, it had the same classes, Theater, Psychology, English etc. but it didn't have Musical Theater! I read the reviews on that one and they were overwhelmingly positive but I still wanted to go to Weber... I looked at the reviews for that one once again and found one comment that told me that if I had trouble with Math to go to a regular college to get my generals done then come (or something along those lines). I hadn't seen that comment the first time and found it odd that it was there the second time. I went back to Snow and there were no negative comments about the Math so that made the decision for me. Some may think coincidence well I'm saying HEAVENLY SIGN!
Got everything done, registered for housing and classes, faxed over my residency (well almost, we're still getting there) and the date for my leaving was January Fourth (just YESTERDAY!). Leaving on the third, my dad was weepy and so had been Robert, even though he pretended to not be, I could see straight through that puffiness. Dad did not hide and mom lost after watching dad lose it... I hate tears... Mom, Erin and I got in the car and I drove us all the way to American Fork, where we stayed with Heidi Alldredge and her family. It was absolutely fantastic! Mom, Erin and I got to see Frozen, which was AMAZING, words can't even describe how I felt about this movie! I want to watch it again!
The next morning we got up and drove to Ephraim, Utah, which took about two hours. We left about Ten in the morning and got there five minutes to noon. I am living in the dorms, the newest (and most expensive) place called "Academy Square". It's beautiful, all decked out in a dark Blue that kind of borders a TARDIS (doctor Who) blue but not quite... My room is actually set up like an apartment or "Flat" as I like to call it. You walk in and the kitchen and dinning room is right there, with a sink, microwave, full fridge and cupboards. You can either go left or right and if you were to go right, that's where I am residing. First door to the right to be exact! I share a room with one other girl, Paige Eaton. She just got here on Sunday when Ashley (I'll get to her) and I got back from Church... 9:30 today because it was technically still on break or something like that. Anyway, back to Paige... out of the uh.. well two words we've said to each other, I think I'm going to like her! Just from looking at her side of the room, she's got loads of books, some that I've never read and some that I have like "Inkheart". My side of the room is a nice space, I wish I had brought my Star Trek Enterprise Poster with me along Van Gogh! Though Starry Night is having a hard time staying on the wall... If anyone knows how to hang a poster without using push pins. PLEASE tell me!! Besides that, everything is nice and orderly in my room.
Ashley was the first person that I met and I actually met her last night while I skyped with Emily and Natalie, it's funny now but at the time it had been just a twinge awkward Hahaha. Ashley is from Iowa, twenty minutes from Iowa City and she's the oldest like me and she is a member so today at .... 9:30.... we went to church. Usually Church is at 1:00 and I know you're all wondering if there just happens to be any cute guys here. Well I am here to tell you that the answer is Yes, there are loads of cute boys.. er.. guys... most of them fresh off their mission (that's what the majority of them said during Testimony meeting..) but nonetheless, I am not here to date, I am here to succeed in my classes. I do not plan to date anyone while I am here. That is that. Ashley has been a huge help, thanks to her, I now know where my classes are... they weren't on my schedule but thankfully they were on the Badger Web and she told me the general area of where my classes were, just pray that I can find them easily....
Today in Relief Society, we talked about making goals and if anyone knows me they would know that I really don't like making goals because I always fail but then someone said to make small monthly goals. So aside from the cliche 'Do my best in class' and 'study hard' long term goals that I'm going to do, I wrote down some monthly goals.. 1) Get to Know my Roommates, I wrote the 'How' and the 'Why' 2) Act more confident, can't be more confident, act like it... 3) Don't stress too much (yes I really wrote it in bold..) I wrote the 'How' and 'Why' for that one too. Hopefully I can keep up with these goals! Someone also said that it's better to publicize my goals so people know and can help... I'm counting on you guys!
Pictures may or may not be up on here... it all depends but they aren't on here then you'll find them on Facebook! I hope everyone has a great Sunday like I have had! I will be blogging weekly you can count on a new blog either Saturdays or Sundays.. depends on the day! Love you all!
Weber had every single one of the classes I wanted to take. Musical Theater, Regular Theater, Latin, English, Creative Writing etc. We read some reviews about the school and all of them seemed pretty balanced out in negatives and positive and then I went to Snow's Website. Snow didn't really have anything special to pull me from Weber, it had the same classes, Theater, Psychology, English etc. but it didn't have Musical Theater! I read the reviews on that one and they were overwhelmingly positive but I still wanted to go to Weber... I looked at the reviews for that one once again and found one comment that told me that if I had trouble with Math to go to a regular college to get my generals done then come (or something along those lines). I hadn't seen that comment the first time and found it odd that it was there the second time. I went back to Snow and there were no negative comments about the Math so that made the decision for me. Some may think coincidence well I'm saying HEAVENLY SIGN!
Got everything done, registered for housing and classes, faxed over my residency (well almost, we're still getting there) and the date for my leaving was January Fourth (just YESTERDAY!). Leaving on the third, my dad was weepy and so had been Robert, even though he pretended to not be, I could see straight through that puffiness. Dad did not hide and mom lost after watching dad lose it... I hate tears... Mom, Erin and I got in the car and I drove us all the way to American Fork, where we stayed with Heidi Alldredge and her family. It was absolutely fantastic! Mom, Erin and I got to see Frozen, which was AMAZING, words can't even describe how I felt about this movie! I want to watch it again!
The next morning we got up and drove to Ephraim, Utah, which took about two hours. We left about Ten in the morning and got there five minutes to noon. I am living in the dorms, the newest (and most expensive) place called "Academy Square". It's beautiful, all decked out in a dark Blue that kind of borders a TARDIS (doctor Who) blue but not quite... My room is actually set up like an apartment or "Flat" as I like to call it. You walk in and the kitchen and dinning room is right there, with a sink, microwave, full fridge and cupboards. You can either go left or right and if you were to go right, that's where I am residing. First door to the right to be exact! I share a room with one other girl, Paige Eaton. She just got here on Sunday when Ashley (I'll get to her) and I got back from Church... 9:30 today because it was technically still on break or something like that. Anyway, back to Paige... out of the uh.. well two words we've said to each other, I think I'm going to like her! Just from looking at her side of the room, she's got loads of books, some that I've never read and some that I have like "Inkheart". My side of the room is a nice space, I wish I had brought my Star Trek Enterprise Poster with me along Van Gogh! Though Starry Night is having a hard time staying on the wall... If anyone knows how to hang a poster without using push pins. PLEASE tell me!! Besides that, everything is nice and orderly in my room.
Ashley was the first person that I met and I actually met her last night while I skyped with Emily and Natalie, it's funny now but at the time it had been just a twinge awkward Hahaha. Ashley is from Iowa, twenty minutes from Iowa City and she's the oldest like me and she is a member so today at .... 9:30.... we went to church. Usually Church is at 1:00 and I know you're all wondering if there just happens to be any cute guys here. Well I am here to tell you that the answer is Yes, there are loads of cute boys.. er.. guys... most of them fresh off their mission (that's what the majority of them said during Testimony meeting..) but nonetheless, I am not here to date, I am here to succeed in my classes. I do not plan to date anyone while I am here. That is that. Ashley has been a huge help, thanks to her, I now know where my classes are... they weren't on my schedule but thankfully they were on the Badger Web and she told me the general area of where my classes were, just pray that I can find them easily....
Today in Relief Society, we talked about making goals and if anyone knows me they would know that I really don't like making goals because I always fail but then someone said to make small monthly goals. So aside from the cliche 'Do my best in class' and 'study hard' long term goals that I'm going to do, I wrote down some monthly goals.. 1) Get to Know my Roommates, I wrote the 'How' and the 'Why' 2) Act more confident, can't be more confident, act like it... 3) Don't stress too much (yes I really wrote it in bold..) I wrote the 'How' and 'Why' for that one too. Hopefully I can keep up with these goals! Someone also said that it's better to publicize my goals so people know and can help... I'm counting on you guys!
Pictures may or may not be up on here... it all depends but they aren't on here then you'll find them on Facebook! I hope everyone has a great Sunday like I have had! I will be blogging weekly you can count on a new blog either Saturdays or Sundays.. depends on the day! Love you all!
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