Update from Marisa

So this week was a pretty crazy week of adjustments for me. Last Sunday night Missy and Clark dropped me off in my new dorm and helped me get settled. It’s pretty weird to be away from all of my family now and on my own, but BYU is a fun place to be. The first few days I was here, I just found my classes and ordered textbooks and took care of some last minute things before classes start. On Tuesday night a few roommates and I went to the fall sports kickoff, where I stood in line and got autographs from almost the entire BYU football team, which was totally worth it. On Wednesday we started our new student orientation with games, dinner and a dance for the dorms in our area. Speaking of the dorms, I’m basically living in the Hilton of BYU on-campus housing. The dorms are so spacious and new and comfortable. We have awesome air conditioning and multiple bathrooms and showers and an elevator, which is really nice. Most of the other dorms on campus don’t have air conditioning or have 6 or more people sharing a single bathroom. I am very, very lucky to be living where I am. I’m also really lucky to have the roommates I have. They are all really sweet and we all get along really well. One loves to cook and has been making us dinners and cookies, which I of course appreciate :) Other rooms are having roommate drama troubles already, but we are all good friends. Anyway, we’ve had a lot of fun activities during orientation, and have gone on a lot of tours and been to a lot of meetings. They’ve also been feeding us lots of free lunches and giving us free ice cream samples! We’ve had a few dances and other activities, but there are soooo many freshmen. It’s impossible to remember everyone’s names and every activity is super crowded, but at the same time it’s really nice to be surrounded by people who are intelligent and really want to be better people. It’s really refreshing and inspiring. Like today in church every person was singing and several people were excited to volunteer to give prayers and play the piano and even teach lessons to a bunch of people they’ve never met. It’s so nice to be around so many people that are my age and so similar to me, and the spirit is so strong. This week has been really nice because we’ve been able to enjoy BYU and the fun social activities and we haven’t had to worry about classes yet. Unfortunately we do start classes tomorrow, but I think I’m prepared and I’m pretty excited about finally getting started. I’m sure next week I’ll be telling you all about how stressed I am already with homework. I am really enjoying everything so far and I’m excited about being here for a few years. I’m glad Alayna had a good birthday! She’s getting so old! I miss you all and hope all is going well!