SCHOOL!

Today, and for a long, long time, I am so very, very, very grateful to be able to study at BYU. They have impressed upon the incoming class how very lucky we are to be here, and that since we're here, we must be pretty spectacular.

I am also grateful for a friendly roommate to eat and explore with :)

I am grateful for my Mom, who's connections are very handy, and it's nice to be known as a close relation to someone who was completely wonderful. (And still is!)

I am grateful for my jobs. And my FAFSA. And I sure hope that next year the government doesn't cancel the Pell Grants, and that I can earn a scholarship from BYU, so I won't have to worry about jobs and loans and whatnot so much.

I am grateful for my lovely dorm. I am settling in quite nicely. Every morning, I apologize profusely to my bed for having to abandon it, but in the end I'm not sorry at all, because I get to go LEARN!... But I feel sorry until I'm past the hill. After that things pick up.

I'm grateful for my new ward :) And FHE, even though I work when they meet... bummer. Next semester I"ll have to see if I can't change that.

I'm grateful for lots of family, and miss my people back in Aiken. I'm grateful that I know for SURE I am going back for Christmas, because my plane tickets were already purchased. :)

Let's see... and I am grateful for people who smile at me when we pass each other on the sidewalk. When people don't smile, it puts quite a damper on the encounter. Or, it's just awkward when you don't look at each other at all... because you KNOW they know you're passing.

And now, I am grateful for warm showers and lovely beds... and hopefully nothing will go off in the morning before my alarm. SOMEthing has gone off every morning... my iPod, my roomie's Mom called (at 6:30 our time... yeesh...), and today some college called for a Mary Porter on my cellphone, so it was buzzing and making noise at about the same time as yesterday. (When the iPod went off, it was my old alarm for the bus, so it went off at 4:30... >.<..) I called the college back today, it's the second one in a few days... I'm really hoping Miss Mary Porter gets her number straight, soon. And that no more colleges call me trying to reach her.

...and hopefully, I will very soon be grateful for study groups. Still working on that one.

Early to rise...

Today I am grateful for the UTA Bus system. I can get to BYU in 2 hours any day I want. I wake up at 4:30, make it to the bus stop before 5:30, and get to BYU at the Wilkinson Center at 7:30, before anything really opens up. It's amazing how much longer the days are when you're up before the crack of dawn.

I'm also grateful for seminary, and the practice it gave me getting up early.... admittedly, I was terribly unpunctual for the later years..... I would recommend not doing that. It wasn't so hard this morning to get up for the bus, though. I think the problem was that I had to push myself for seminary. If I miss the bus, I miss the bus and I miss work. I'm grateful for something else to push me out of bed in the morning.  (Seminary should be reason enough, but after long nights of homework during the teen years... it's hard to convince yourself to leave your bed when you're not fully conscious.)

I'm grateful for good books, museums, and iPods. :) Today I read a fair bit of Pride & Prejudice on campus, walked around the Monte L. Bean Museum, and enjoyed the wonderful songs of Enya on my long bus rides. :)

Tomorrow, I will go to campus to work. Today was just to make sure I could navigate the bus system. :) 'Cause I'm a big kid now....