The OFFICIAL First Week!

For our opening social for the ward, we went to "the Redneck Waterslide"

It was probably 300 feet long. I made it to "the cornfield" on my first try! (basically, the end of the slide)

Classes started, and I didn't take a single photo. I have Biology, College Algebra, Billiards, Acting, Connections, and Algebra Recitation. And Institute of course!

Billiards is great, and I think I will really enjoy my acting class. I have a very open schedule, and not too much work so far. Let's see if I can keep up!

Anyway, this week was the school's Week of Welcome. The activities ranged from blood donations, to barbecues, to dances, to bingo!

Here are a few friends duking it out in the inflatable boxing ring

The line for high stakes bingo. We got there an hour early and there were maybe a dozen or more people in front of us. By the end there was at least 200 behind us. 

But we had a show while we waited! Some students put on some music and started break dancing. They were pretty impressive.

I got two bingo cards because I brought a can of food! Too bad I didn't win anything!

Someof the prizes included a wii, a 42" flatscreen TV, a video camera, a goodies bag from the bookstore, etc etc. Hence the "high stakes".

And my first Aggies football game! It was against SUU and we completely crushed them. 34-3 to Utah State! 

My friend Taylor and I

I said "put on your game face" and this is what I got:

And last but not least... theeeeeeeeeeeee SCOOTTTSSSMAN!!!!

Hiking and Taste of Logan

Today I hiked up to the wind caves with my connections class. It is about a 3.6mile hike round trip (it was entirely incline), and for some odd reason I decided not to pack tennis shoes. What is wrong with me?! So instead I wore my cowboy boots. Not the best idea of my life. I was getting a major hot-spot on the back of my heel, so I decided to do something crazy. I sat down and took my shoes off. 

That's right. I walked about 2.3 miles wearing only SOCKS. I had a lot of fun! It was definitely an experience.... like when I did mud caves barefoot! So fun!

Basically I'm a mountain woman.

I forgot my phone on the hike, so no pictures :(

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Tonight was taste of logan. I thought I would have to buy stuff, but NOPE. It's all FREE. 

The bus ride (free... it's always free) was super crowded, both there and back.

Free italian ice, italian soda, hummus, chips and salsa, taquitos, chick-fil-a, peaches, apples, chocolate, water bottles, chocolate fountain (with oreos), meatballs, etc. etc. 

It was great, and I am SO STUFFED.

(This is a picture of the walkway; it was main street)

Here I am with my roommates. Sorry the right side is blurry, my key card slipped up (I keep my key card in my phone case, so I never forget it). This is with the "eat mor chikin" cow.

They even brought the aggie bull. Rumor has it that if you ride the bull naked at midnight you become a "true blue aggie"... there's one ritual I won't be performing!

Me and two of my roommates, (from left to right) Kelene, Janessa, and Kirsten.

Oh and JAAAADDDDEEEE!!!! Here is part two to your gift! I like the Sherlock better, but I present: Merlin.

Ice-cream, Magicians, and Comedy

Today I got... AGGIE ICE-CREAM. also known as the best frown dessert in town, mostly because it has 12% more fat than most other ice-cream, haha. It's worth it

My connections class. Can I add that I got this ice-cream for FREE?

My view of the wonderful tree we were sitting under, as I reclined on the hill.

And I finally bought a hairbrush! Somehow I didn't end up with one, so I have been brushing my hair with a COMB for the past 5 days. It was bliss to use a big brush.

After all of that excitement, I made a chicken fajita dinner for my roommates, and I think it turned out rather well. No pictures though :/

However, I did take a few pictures of this event: A Comedian/magician! One of the funniest parts was him trying to adapt his show to a primarily LDS audience. 

"One morning I had a ...... ... diet coke..... no? .... tea! Tea is okay right? ....no? ...ummmmm HOT CHOCOLATE! So I had a cup of hot chocolate, in my favorite coffee cup no less... oh wait."

It was HILARIOUS. 

http://www.keepitfunny.com/blog/ Here's his website. Hilarious, really.

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Alright, by the time I get done with school here my legs are going to be TONED. There are SO MANY STAIRS. and SO MANY HILLS. If you go the right way, you can go uphill both ways, haha. My legs hurt every night from the endless stairs and inclines I have to conquer. Not to mention how much I've been walking. No one walks in Arizona, haha.

Anyway, that's all for tonight, peace out.

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PS- I don't think I need to take the Math test. I am so grateful! Everything worked out in the end :)

Math, Classes, People, and Roommates

I'm sure most of you have heard about my math dilemma: I ned to get into two classes, but I have to get  a 60 on the math placement test in order to do it.

This is the DOOR.

And my face while I was waiting to take it.

Anyway, I got a 50 on the test. So I went back and studied some more and annie got a family prayer/fast going on (thank you so much! It helped me lose my stress). Later, in my first class of the semester, connections, I was derping around on the student classes site and I clicked on my pre-requisites page. And my math classes had a note on them that said "over-ridden". 

I wasn't sure what that meant, so I asked my teacher. She said that someone in the system had over-ridden the need for me to take a pre-req for those classes. I asked her her advice and she said that technically it means I don't have to take the placement test, but to e-mail the professors just to make sure it was okay. 

So that's what I did. I'm still studying for the test, but I have my fingers crossed and am praying that this will be my way in.

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In roommate news, I finally have all of my roommates. I will give my summary of each:

Kirsten: Super awesome. She is very chill and invites me to do things and is overall just great. (She does like One Direction though, and put a poster of them in the living room :/)

Janessa: Kirsten's friend, mostly. She is very quiet but also very nice.

Elizabeth: My personal roommate. A bit odd, a bit nerdy. She reminds me of Krystal. She likes her personal space and is pretty germophobic. Overall very nice.

Aubree: All I know about Aubree is that she moved in at 11:00pm at night and proceeded to unpack for more than an hour. she also wears short shorts and hangs out with a ton of guys, often in her room. Meh.

Eliza: She just moved down today, but she seems sooo nice. She just threw a "waffle night", apparently every Wednesday night :)

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In other news, today there was a GIANT SLIP N SLIDE down Old Main Hill. It must have been at least 300 feet long. SO FUN. I had a grand old time. Then me and my (potentially) new best friend up here laid out on the Quad to dry off and then went and got Aggie Ice-Cream. SO GOOD.

I went back to my apartment and then my friend (Taylor) went to a dance that the school put on, met some of her guy friends there and went back to our building. There (with Connor and Nathan) we played Blokus, ate waffles, and then played Egyptian Ratscrew (which I won, of course :P)

It has been grand. 

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PS- Here is my address:

Kelene Fletcher

303 Moen Hall

Utah State University

Logan, UT 84321

I knew I had to wake up early this morning. I had to get a bike. I got out the door by 7:45 and started walking. It is a sizable walk to where I wanted to go (it's a sizable walk everywhere, hence the reason I wanted a bike) and so I got to it. half an hour later I'm just coming within seeing distance of my destination and see this boy go right where I am headed. When I turn the corner, he is there, at the end of a line 5 people long (the bike place hadn't opened yet). I settle in to wait and a few people eventually trickle in behind me.

Finally, someone comes out and lets us know that there are FIVE 3-month rental bikes. FIVE. If I had walked a teensy bit faster that bike would have been MINE! But alas, I walked shamefully back. No bike for me! I'll try again tomorrow. I'll get there at 6 if I have to!

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In other news, I visited the library, walking around just to get the feel of it. HOLY FRIJOLES! That is a big library! 5 stories, and from top floor to ground floor (excluding basement flights) there are 72 stairs. So nice. I can imagine spending some time there!

Oh and JAAAADDDEEEE!!! I made something for you! (It's a bit off, but I think you know who this is)

New Friends

Well wasn't this a productive Sunday? I really enjoyed it. I woke up early (having gone to bed at 10, 9 Arizona time) and got ready, then, just as I finished breakfast (an omelet!), a fire drill alerted everyone in the building. So, of course, we all evacuated. The best part of all of this was my roommate Janessa was in the middle of her shower! It turns out that some boys on the first floor (who we will talk about in a bit) burnt something while trying to make their french toast.

After that excitement, my roommates finished getting ready and left for the day to go to a mission farewell/visit home and I was all alone!

And what better thing is there to do but make cookies?

Double chocolate chip! Here I am, enjoying it with some delicious milk.

Then I decided, why not spread the joy?! So I took 6 cookies for each room and left them as gifts for my roommates.

Ok, long bit of text here to document the rest of my day. Also, I took no pictures, basically. 

I didn't realize my church started at 11, so I left at 1, which is what the paper the the institute gave me said my meeting time was. I arrived just in time to hear the last remarks of relief society and then was herded off to individual ward mini-meetings (all the wards had been combined up to this point)

Once my Bishopric Second Counselor started talking, I decided to tai some notes for my roommates, since they wouldn't get this information (opening social, meet the bishops, etc). He notices me taking notes and lauds me for it, saying he was thinking of a calling for me. Yay!

Anyway, I met some others from my hall (Moen) and walked back with them. (Katrina and her boyfriend James) Katrina invites me over for cookies, and I told her that I had just made some, but we could do a mini exchange.

I go over and meet the rest of her room. In total it was Katrina, Rachel, and Taylor (there will be two more coming). We are getting along swimmingly, and they invite me to a mini potluck they are doing with the box next door and so I come back later to enjoy some DELICIOUS pot roast, mashed potatoes/gravy, and watermelon with Katrina's room and Bob and Ben.

Here is a picture of (right to left) Katrina, James, and Rachel. We were waiting for Taylor to finish talking to her mom so we could play Phase 10. While we did that, we watched some Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

About 2/3 through our game, a few guys pop in and ask if we wanted to play ultimate frisbee and of COURSE we said yes! I went and played my heart out for and hour and a half, until 9:00. And now, here I am, writing this blog post.

I am having SO MUCH FUN. We'll see how it goes once I get into classes, but thus far it is GRAND.

Over and out

--Kelene

The College Life

Today was the big day! I got 100% moved into my new home in Logan Utah. First though, let me tell you about my trip:

Thursday night, 8:30pm Dad and I left for Mesa. We arrived about 11:30, went to bed and got up at 5:30, leaving by six.

This was the view that awaited us on the road.

There were so many little sunflowers speckling the roadside.

Finally, I got to drive and just a few minutes after that we got stuck at a single lane road for fifteen minutes. This is my lovely view (right as a truck started driving past).

Dad and I ate at a (mediocre) barbecue place, but it had the COOLEST chair in the entrance. 

Lots of cows. I had fun watching them.

All of the sudden, there was this massive rainstorm. Flash-flood like.

Ten minutes later it was totally dry.

Five minutes after that it was pouring again.

This was the mushroom downpour Dad and I saw from the side.

The sun was RED in Salt Lake. Apparently, the surrounding fires in all the states have been dumping smoke into the valley and it leaves a massive haze throughout the air. It turned the sun this color.

The next day... we finally made it!

The view out my front window. It's better than it looks in the picture.

Before: Main area of my room

Before: Closet

After: Main area of the room

After: Desk space

After: Closet

It has been AWESOME. Now I just have to go to the job center, rent a bike, and study for my math placement test!

I love you all and I will update soon!