Things Seen at BYU

Since this is such a special place, I figured I'd share something that makes it so special. Specifically,  few things that you literally can not go a day at BYU without seeing.

(pardon the creeper photos, but it had to be authentic, right?)

1. Captain American Tshirts.

I don't know if this is a national phenomenon that I just missed, or if Mormons have some sort of affinity to captain america, but you literally can not go a day without seeing a captain america shirt. and not just one. No, you see dozens. Every. Single. Day.

2. Porn Kills Love Tshirts.

What is this you say? This is what that is:

"No one would ever wear that in public" should be the next thing you say. But oh no, people do.

(I'm actually super proud of this pic, I managed to get it in like the 10 seconds she stood up to speak in class)

On a regular basis they do. I see people in this shirt every day. And as much as I support and believe in the cause, no one should ever wear a shirt that has the word "porn" on it, in any reference or context, EVER. Biggest. Turn-off. Ever.

3. Jesus Sandals.

Seattle loves birks. Utah loves Jesus Sandals.

(I didn't actually get a picture of these cause a cold snap hit and people started wearing real shoes again)

They are everywhere. I swear, I had never seen them before I got to Utah, and now I see them every day on almost every girl I see. Despite the fact that they are pretty similar to birks, and I love my birks, I can not stand them.

The only thing I do love about them is their many names: Jesus Sandals, Jerusalem Cruisers, Air Bethelehems (Jerusalem Cruisers being my favorite.)

And no matter what, they will always be better than the shoe choice of a guy in my communications class:

His roommate's girlfriend insulted his shoes the first week of school, and told him that he'd never get married at BYU if he didn't wear the right shoes. So what did he do? He stopped wearing shoes altogether. We are 8 weeks into the semester here at BYU, and he has not worn shoes since the first week of school.

4. A building evacuated because the fire alarm is going off

Okay, this doesn't actually happen every day. But it happens an alarming (hah puns) amount of the time. Today it was the Kimball Tower. Last week it was the library. It's not usual to see a crowd of students standing outside a building while the alarm goes off.

5. Mustaches.

Here at BYU, the honor code prevents guys from growing a beard. However, mustaches are still okay. I don't know who made that decision, what they were thinking, or why is hasn't been changed yet, but that's the way it is.

And it is the nastiest thing ever. I can handle a mustache when its paired with a beard. But mustaches on their own? Gross. So gross. And it's about to get worse, because November. Boys here can't do no shave November, because they aren't allowed to have a beard. So they all do Movember, and grow a mustache. Ewwwwwwwww.

I had more to add, but forgot most of it due to being in class and then dinner, so I'll have to post a second edition of this sometime. As for now, I just look forward to the day when it gets cold enough to cover up the tshirts, and put real (or any) shoes on.




(if you're curious about the porn kills love shirts, here's the website behind that campaign.
http://www.fightthenewdrug.org/ )

Hide and Seek

I am considering a theatre minor, which means I have a few classes in the Harris Fine Arts Center here at BYU. It is a crazy building. It has so many theatres and floors an absolute maze of rooms and shops hidden in the basement. Staircases lead to staircases, and there are four different ways to get in and out of almost every room. It is so crazy that when they give you a tour the first week, they call is disorientation rather than orientation. I joke with one of my friends (who works in the program and knows her way around the entire building) that if she dragged me into the center and then ran, I would never be able to find my way out.

We've also joked about how much fun it would be to play hide and seek in the building.

Apparently we're not the only ones who have thought that. This came out in this week's school paper, and promptly went viral. It was trending on reddit and tumblr, and the picture I got was taken off of the app ifunny.

I can promise you that if those students were theatre majors, they we're never found because they simply disappeared into the building. With how many hiding places there are, the campus police never even had a chance.

I can honestly say that I am so proud of my peers right now. And now this is on my bucket list.

Construction at BYU

Here at BYU, as at most Universities (so I've heard), there is always construction going on. I swear every time they finish one project, they start another one.

 They just finished that new Life Sciences building, but none of the parking lot area around it is finished, and since it is right next to the Marb science building, there is constant construction noise during my bio and nutrition classes. It's great.

And I have honestly no idea what is going on here, but it's been under construction since the first week of school, and for some reason it makes the walk to class really annoying. It's probably just my own impatience, because it in no way blocks the walk way, but whatever.

Anyway. Here at BYU, we are very trusting (almost to a fault), and so we tend to leave things like building supplies out. And what happens when you leave building supplies out around college students?

They make ancient temples out of left over bricks.

I think my favorite part is the detail in the stacking, and the fact that whoever built them went way out of their way to find branches and leaves to put around the temples. These things are actually pretty impressive too. Major props to who built them! and I'm curious how long they'll stick around before the construction crews need the bricks to finish their projects...

The Deer of BYU

Despite being in the middle of a city (if you can call Provo a city...), there are deer all over the BYU campus. To me, this is whatever. I come from the Northwest, where there are deer everywhere all the time. But I guess to a lot of BYU students, this is a new and strange thing to be around. Almost annoyingly so. For the first weeks of school, whenever someone spotted a deer, literally everyone would stop to take a picture of the deer (or with the deer). 

Major pedestrian traffic-jams that drove me crazy. Its just a deer ladies and gentlemen. Luckily that chaos has died down for the most part. Doesn't mean the deer are gone though, you can still see them running all over campus. Today's story of crazy events that happen at BYU is about a deer.

I was talking with one of the guys in my classes a couple days ago, and looked at me and went "I have to tell you what happened to me yesterday!" and proceeded to tell me this story.

He was walking to class, and was kind of in his own zone, listening to music and minding his own business. All of a sudden, it feels like someone is tackling him from the side. He tries to brace himself, but just gets taken down, and the wind totally gets knocked out of him. He manages to look up to see who the heck just knocked him over, and he sees two deer run off. The deer had RUN INTO HIM and totally knocked him over.

Because it was in between classes, the area was full of people. He said everyone had completely frozen, gone silent, and they were all just staring at him. Literally no one could believe what they had just seen. Finally one guy broke the silence and called out "dude, you okay?" and all of a sudden it was like the trance was broken. People started moving again, my friend got up, and it was like nothing had even happened.

The best part of the story? He was looking at the BYU snapchat story later, and SOMEONE GOT IT ON CAMERA. They had been filming the deer (remember the obsession with deer?) and happened to get the whole thing on camera. He said it was one of the strangest and funniest things he'd ever seen.

Second best part? He went to the police station yesterday and asked if he could get the security camera footage from that day, time, and place. The officer looked at him weird, and asked why. He kinda of explained what happened, and said he was hoping he could have a copy of the film to keep. The officer started laughing, and said that he was about the 6th person to ask for it, but because he was the one who it actually happened to, they'd try to find it for him. Which means that 5 people who happened to see it happen had already gone and asked for the security footage of it happening, just so they could watch the poor kid get knocked over again!

I still haven't stopped laughing about all of this.

Watering the Steps

The Landscaping crew here at BYU is pretty awesome. They do a really good job of making Utah pretty, which in my mind is not an easy task (kidding, I'm getting used to it here). Anyway, it takes a lot to keep grass green and plants alive somewhere where its almost October and still 90 degrees every day, so the landscaping crew works hard.

But what I don't understand, is why we need to be watering the stairs.

That is a sprinkler that is aimed entirely at the stairs. It is not watering any of the plants. And the sad thing is, this happens all over campus. Our stairs and sidewalks are kept very wet and happy, thank you very much.

I don't understand. Call me crazy, but aren't sprinklers intended for watering plants?



(I really do love the landscaping crew. If I could choose any on campus job, that's the one I want. No joke.)

Breakfast for Dinner

Breakfast for Dinner are three words I hate hearing. 

I really don't like breakfast foods. Pancakes do not excite me, eggs make me nauseous, and toast is just gross. Call me crazy, but I would rather eat leftovers from dinner for my breakfast any day. However, considering that I am eating from a college cafeteria, I don't really have that option any more. I'm just glad they have biscuits almost every morning, and waffle makers 24/7. Other than those, I usually stick to the fruit bar, and sometimes grab some yogurt. The breakfast hater in me loves the sight of the yogurt bar in the morning, especially the toppings you see on the far left.

That's right. Someone else out there who also hates breakfast decided to make it better by having gummy worms, m&m's and chocolate chips available to put on your yogurt (kinda gross, but its the thought that counts). They also have the hot fudge and caramel canisters full in the mornings for your waffles, which warms my little heart.

But anyway, I walked into the cannon center for dinner tonight, and it was the worst sight of my life. Breakfast for dinner. Eggs everywhere. I was so annoyed. I ended up grabbing some eggs and covering them in salsa, and I was on my way to the fruit bar to grab something edible, when I saw the most wonderful sight.

Deep fried french toast sticks. 

I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life. There is no way that those qualify as a dinner food, or even a food. They are so desert, but since they were not in the desert section of the cafeteria, they counted as my dinner tonight.

I have no regrets.

Blue Friday

Being a native Seattleite, I am very proud of my Seahawks. (and also willing to admit that I am a bandwagon hawks fan, please don’t judge me) Hawks fans believe in Blue Fridays, where every Friday, no matter where you are, you wear your Seahawks gear to show support for your team. I love Blue Fridays. Why?

Well for one, it makes it so it takes me about three minutes to get ready for school. I don’t have to decide what to wear, the Seahawks decided for me. And it’s great. It’s a valid excuse for not caring what I wear on Fridays.

Two, it helps you make instant friends on campus. You see another hawks shirt, you make eye contact, and it’s this instant agreement that you and that random stranger are friends. It’s pretty fun to wander around campus and see just how many people here love the hawks.

Well, a couple weeks ago it was Friday, so I was wearing my hawks shirt. I walked into the cannon center for breakfast, and the worker who slid my card (who I love dearly, she always says good morning and compliments every single person who walks in), looked at my shirt and asked me the fateful question:

“Wait, is that the team that we’re playing tomorrow?”

Is that the team that we’re playing tomorrow?

Okay. First off, this is an NFL team. NFL. Not college. You know, the team that won the Superbowl two years ago, and tragically lost last year? And second, there are posters literally all over campus talking about the upcoming game against Boise State. Boise. All over campus.

I honestly didn’t even know how to respond. I kind of stuttered for a second before saying “haha, no.” and walking away.

But that brings us to the fun reality of Utah. Unless it’s a BYU sports team, Utah does not care about sports. At all. It’s actually pretty crazy. I see hawks shirts, I see the occasional Utah Jazz shirt, and that’s it. It’s very strange. I think it’s a Mormon thing, stemming from the fact that most LDS families won’t watch or support sports on Sundays, due to the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy (that’s one of the Ten Commandments y’all, every Christian believes in that even if they don’t act on that belief). But it’s crazy. You mention Studio C and every BYU student starts quoting their sketches, but you mention the Seahawks and half the time you get a blank stare from who you’re talking to. Gotta love BYU.