"I got bettuh"

Well everything has suddenly taken a turn for the better and sunshine is shining down on me. First, I got to see my best buddy since birth, Bryce Skankey and the rest of the Skankeys, and I have been hanging out with them the past few days! Second, well this one is actually a double edged sword. I got my math stuff all taken care of so now I'm in the system but that means I have a ton of make up work to do and I will probably be playing catch up for the awhile! Bleh! Third, I GOT A DATE! haha... So there is really cute girl in my Sociology class that I noticed on the first day and I had been planning on saying "hi" to her since then. I couldn't build up the courage for some reason. I think that while they were shaving my head they shaved off all my confidence and left me "swag-less." So I have had a hard time gathering my old confident self back together.

I have tickets to the "Stadium of Fire" here at Provo, which is apparently a huge deal, all thanks to my mama! Thank you Mama! So I told Miss Tish that the Stadium of Fire was at the end of this week and she told me that I had better act quick! She told me that I should finally say hi to this girl and then ask her on a date to the stadium of fire! I totally had to sike myself up to do something like this so all that night I planned out in my head how I would talk to her and then ask her. So this was my plan. I would say hi and chat a bit at the beginning of class and then after class ask her! So this is what happened...exactly as I planned! There's a first! I said, so Mallory, do you like Country music? she said something like, "yea its alright I guess" then I said, "well do you like Carrie Underwood? and she responded, "oh yea, all girls love Carrie Underwood!" then I went in for the kill! "what are you doing Saturday night?" and she said " No way! do you have tickets to Stadium of fire?!" and I said "you bet babe." Then we hopped on my Harley and drove off into the sunset.

True story, real talk.

Ever since then I have only been able to see the good side of things! Hah!

I went to IKEA with the Skankey's and we walked around looking for a bed for Rob and Mel for post wedding life. While we were waiting for Mel we all sat at one of the "living rooms" and watched "The Incredibles." I actually fell asleep on my lime green therepy couch and everybody said I was getting strange looks the whole time I was out! IKEA was fun, but we were there for a long time. I felt bad for Rob as we loaded up the car with all these boxes knowing that he would have to eventually put them together! I always hated when my mom came home with IKEA boxes because I would be the one that had to construct them!
After all that we went to Wendy's for dinner and then they took me home. Tomorrow I am hanging out with them again because it is Bryce's official last day. He checks into the MTC on Wednesday at 1:15! pretty exciting!

This monday, I think and hope, is the start of a good week!

Jag vill festa hela natten!

This has kinda turned into a little "rant spot" for me but it helps me wind down for the night.

I went to Sweden today!Well, not really. My friend Chris Loomis asked me if I wanted to go to a Swedish festival and I said "sure, why not!?" We met at one of his friend's house and we got into cars and drove to Salt Lake City. The people we went with were all RM's (Returned Missionaries) from Sweden, so really, this was just a big MR. (Missionary Reunion, I just thought of that =p ) They were all really cool and I had a lot of fun but they would all speak Swedish to each other so I didn't know what was going on half the time!

This festival is called "The Mid-Summer Festival" and it is actually kinda like a spring time thing for them in Sweden because their weather system is so wack! Chris told me that it is a Pagan tradition and that the Sweds love their Pagan traditions and that people will take off the entire week of work for this "Mid-Summer Festival." The parties never end because the sun never goes down! We got to the park where the festival was being held and we got there right in time for the dancing. Everyone gathers around a giant Pole and holds hands in a circle and dances around it while some old lady sang songs in Swedish! The pole is decorated with flowers and wreaths (Chris told me later what it symbolized, and its pretty weird, but maybe you can figure it out by looking at the picture).


A lot of the mission presidents from Sweden were all there so it really was a Giant MR for all of them. It was all pretty fun.

I got home and played capture the flag with a bunch of people from my ward, but everyone wimped out so it was an incredible lame game of capture the flag!

I think we should have a moment for our US world cup soccer team.
I watched the second half and truly went on a "roller coaster of emotions." I yelled out loud in Disgust/anger/pain/astonishment/grief/ and again, pain when ghana scored the winning goal right after the extra time started. I was pretty upset. I couldn't sit still for the rest of the 25 minutes. But we did our thing I guess, even with all of the FIFA refs against us. So I guess it was semi-successful, hopefully we've(the USA) finally figured out that international soccer is a huge thing and we'll put more time and effort into making a grade A team. I'll bet we win it in Rio 2014!

"Y?" "Y not?"

So I'm not gonna lie, I've been really homesick today. And this is my room.
I woke up feeling kinda upset for some reason (probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or perhaps because my feet were freezing because they were sticking out of the covers and dangling about a foot off the bed). I did my home work for the day and took care of all that college junk that you have to do when your in school. In sociology we just talked about random stuff so I went on ESPN and watched the end of the Spain and Chile game. My math 110 class wasn't happening for some reason so I went to the RB so I could swim some laps. Open swim wasn't for another hour so I just rode my bike home. When I got home I met with some kids from my ward and we hiked up to the famous 'Y' hovering over all of Provo. I don't know why but I just didn't feel all that social on the hike. I didn't want to make friends! This behavior is odd for me and I'm not sure what came over me. I really only spoke when I was spoken too. When we got to the top we all became quiet as we looked over Provo with the sun setting and I couldn't help but think about how foreign this new land looked. Where the heck am I!? I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore! Maybe I didn't want to be social because all the girls there were really strange.

I'm not so sure I like being around so many members of the Church. Back in Virginia, I was different because I chose the better path, because I loved Disney movies, and because I liked and used cheesy pick up lines. But here, in Utah, I'm just another do-gooder. In sociology we have been talking about finding our social identity and I knew who I was back in virginia but I'm not so sure where I fit in with a campus of people who think just like me! The song "Strange Things" from Toy story comes to mind with all this:

I had friends, I had lots of friends
Now all my friends are gone
And I'm doing the best I can to carry on

I had power (power)
I was respected (respect)
But not any more
And I've lost the love to the one whom I adored

Let me tell you about the strange things are happening to me
Strange things
Strange things are happening to me...
Ain't no doubt about it

Again, where is all the fun stuff happening around campus?! How is BYU fun!?! I mean, I've been hanging out with my roommates a lot and I really like them but it seems that every activity is just EFY kids messing around!

But back to me being homesick. I guess it actually started when I was up on the Y thinking about where I was. I got "home" and I saw a video message on Facebook from two friends(Jonathan Litalian and Amy Green) and their video was just 48 seconds and it was them saying that they missed me. It was really nice. My roommate called me and said some people were all bowing because it was only a buck a game. So I get down there and I totally became the 5th wheel(two guys with girls and then me). It was kinda dumb. I texted our other roommate and he came down so now at least it wasn't so awkward because we had an even number. But at the Bowling Ally they were playing "The Killers". Now, I LOVE the Killers, and the CD they were playing was my "Ticket to Ride Music." Every time I would play my mom or my sister, or both, in T2R, I would turn on the Killers most recent CD and jam while I smoked my mom and sister in some transcontinental railroading. But that really made me think of home so I got even more homesick. So I ate some oreos, a whole sleeve to be exact. I didn't even realize I had eaten so many until the entire sleeve was gone. But don' worry, I still have 9 more sleeves of oreos =D

Quack

Today marks the third day of me being a student at BYU! yay! It has come with mixed emotions but most of them are good! First off, I really miss being at home with my family and seeing all my friends. Being at college is nice, but being at home is a bit nicer. My classes are are pretty good. I have two, Soc111 and Math110. I was in Calc112 but it was too much for me to handle. But after being in Math110 I'm not so sure I can handle that one either! The work isn't too hard, its just that I don't get what the teachers is saying half the time! He goes off on tangents but its still related to math so I'm not sure if I should write it down or if he is just babbling! Eh, we'll see how it goes. The guy that sat next to me today said it was his second time taking the class, that was real comforting for a first day! My sociology class is pretty chill and there are a lot of freshmen in it. I thought it was funny though, in class we were talking about things that make up a society and some how we got on the topic of black people. I looked around and there were only white kids from Utah in my class! Mayne! WhAtChYaLl KNaW BoUT U$ N******?!
Just kidding...Ahem...So Class is good and having my dad with me the first two days made the transition much better. I am so lucky he was with me. I feel bad for the kids that come out here without a parent or someone. That would be really rough, my hat is off to them.
*RANDOM*
I saw some ducklings today, they were so cute!
I hear from it seems millions of people that there is always something to do each night at BYU...WHERE!??! there is nothing to do! That's why I'm writing this blog!

Dorm life is pretty good and I really like all my roommates. I have yet to do anything with my ward so hopefully the bishopbric will think I'm inactive! That would be really funny!

Most of the kids in my classes are from Utah, Utah kids are soooo weird! The whole Utah Mormon Culture is so strange! Also, I'm not so sure I like having my teachers as members of the church, I feel that the everything is biased!

My first "bit" of homework took me about 5 hours to accomplish. I knew it would take hard work in college but I don't know how much more of this I can take! I hope it will all get better from here or at least I will adapt to it all.

I hope I don't come off as complaining too much, I really am grateful to be out here in college. I guess I just need to figure out how to get in the groove of things. I've had fun being on my own this week, but all in all, I think I'm ready to go home.