Life is Better

I can't thank all of you enough for loving and supporting me on my adventure!! I know I have worried quite a few of you but I promise life is getting better!! My birthday was phenomenal I had so much fun!!! I had a mini birthday party with a few friends. We ordered Greeks Pizza (which is really good) and just had a blast. We watched 13 going on 30 and had a really good time.

This past weekend was a regional activity. We went down to a corn field maze and then had a dance. Sadly I didn't meet anyone new but thats ok I had fun!

I have alway watched the 6th Harry Potter movie. Passed my hardest midterm and seem to be doing much better all the way around.

Oh! There is a lady in my ward named Nan Noble and I've been able to go to her house a couple times to eat and cook and that has been tons of fun! This last time we paired up with the missionaries. They made one dish, I made my pasta and Angela made dessert and it was wonderful and a really good meal! We actually plan to do it again in a week or two!

Oh and as for my stressful calling I talked to Bro. Hall about it and we are going to find a way to compromise or release me. So I am doing something about that. Thanks again for your love and support! LOVE YOU ALL!! I am doing much better. Until next time!!

Love,
Valerie

Quick Update

Thank you thank you all for your support and love! You have helped sooo much. I know I am worrying quite a few of you right now but the fact that you guys are worrying has given me a lot of comfort. I do have some good news to tell you about my birthday. It was a wonderful day. I will give you more details hopefully tomorrow after 5. I'm a bit stressed tonight but thank you all for you love, support and prayers! It really means the world to me. Today has been a good and busy day.

Love you all!!
Valerie

Take me home

I wish I could tell you I love college and I never want or need to go home or anything. Nope. I don't like college, I dislike being alone up here, nothing is changing, actually I've started to get some failing grades. How exciting is that? Its not that I'm not trying. I really am, but I'm failing at life. Sorry to those I'm letting down. I really am trying. Oh for those who thought college was going well based on my blog, its cause I haven't written about the many times I've broken down and cried. So can I just go home now? Any advice? Please? Hope life is good for you.

Love,
Valerie

Surprise!!

So, I had an exciting weekend. Friday night I went and saw My Sister's Keeper with Angela, Heather, Catie and her friend. It made me cry, many times. It was a really good movie though. It brought up interesting questions like How far are you willing to go to save your child? Is it worth it to save one child but neglect the others? It was very intriguing and it had some really sweet moments too so I can't complain.

Now Saturday is where it gets interesting. I woke up at 11:10 and needed to be at Ball Gym by 11:30. Needless to say I was late. Late for my self defense class! Actually it worked out alright, I really only missed part of the intro but I now have four ways to attack any attacker. I can elbow them on the side of the head if they come from behind, use the palm of my hand and break their nose. Smash their head/groin/stomach into my knee or if they push me down I now know how to kick effectively from the ground. I then met up with Angela and we attempted to go to Walmart. After standing at the bus stop for 30 minutes we went into her building to see if we could find someone she knew with a car. We ended up calling Emily who drove us there and we were very greatfull. We got what we needed but I went up to the jewelry counter to see if they could fix my watch which died. Turns out that my watch is too expensive therefore Walmart won't risk putting a new battery in my watch in case something goes wrong. In which case they would owe me a new watch. I don't really care I just want a working watch!!!!! We then called Sis. Noble up and she picked us up and took us back to her house where I proceeded to cook my pasta. It made me so happy!! She sent us off with some leftovers and we then preceeded to go to the Institute building for games and a meeting I had with the YSA leader but I had thought he said come between 7 and 7:45. Well at 7:20 the Stake President called me....A.K.A. I was going to be the new female YSA representative for my ward. So Angela watched me freak out on our way to the building. I get set apart next Sunday. Also apparently everyone forgot it was game night so after my meeting it was just Angela and I and the Radford's who own the home. So Angela and I played Pit which is a really fun card game and Angela absolutely dominated.

Sunday I got to talk to Sarah for an hour and it made me really really happy! So on Monday I figured out I was sick, but I didn't care very much. I chose not to go to family home evening because I figured I was contagious and also because I wanted to finish my homework so I could go to bed early. I also had a surprise on Monday, apparently the Angelus Harp Ensemble (my old ensemble) had their first rehearsal Sunday. Before I left I had given Bonnie a card and some money to buy the girls chocolate since I couldn't personally crash the rehearsal myself. This is the email that Bonnie sent me:

Hi, Valerie!!

We miss you and love you and we thank you so much for your thoughtful card and chocolate!! We loved it!

Here we all are - well, actually not all - Margaret was ill and Brianna had a family complication - but, anyway, it's 7 of the 9 of us. And James is taking a year off. :( The Ensemble will miss you and Amy! It just won't be the same without you!

We hope that you're enjoying college and Ms Richter! Bet you're doing lots of interesting playing and studying. We'll be playing at our usual venues, and five of us are trying out for All-State this year. Have fun, take care, and hugs from us all!

Wait there's more :)

Long Weekends

Hey guys!

So I have had my first long weekend at college and let me say it was strange. EVERYONE goes home! So the campus was practically deserted. Friday wasn't bad, I went to Greeks with some friends named Natalie, Blake, Steven and Trevor, and then went and saw UP and had some fun. Saturday I got really homesick because I had practically no human contact and it was just a bad day. But on the upside I talked to my mom for two hours and introduced her to skype which was a ton of fun and definitely helped so much. Sunday church was great, we had a break the fast which was an interesting experience but a very good free meal. I am really loving the church group up here. They are so sweet and inviting and Angela (the only other freshman) and I get along very very well. Monday was good too, the YSA (Young Single Adults) had a get together at the Jacobson's house. Their house is gorgeous!! I wish I had taken my camera to take pictures. The live by a pretty good sized lake and we were able to canoe on it. We also had bar-b-que and different games. We also had our family home evening lesson there which was over charity and it was rather intriguing. I then went back to the dorm and managed to do my laundry in 1 hour! I have also learned that making my bed is an absolute pain! So, now I'm back to doing homework and what not but I have to say the night everyone get back from a long break is crazy. The dorm had never been so noisy and it was rather entertaining as I was watching band kids try to learn the dance to thriller for marching band. Oh and I got a most wonderful surprise! Morgan, Sarah, Michelle and Alyssa called me and were all talking to me at once! I think I only understood half of what they said but it made me really happy that my friends called! I then called Ashley and was privileged to hear her wonderful voice before turning in quite content! Until next time!

Love,
Val

1st Week of School

So, I have successfully made it through my first week of classes!!! I was on time, I kept up with homework and took my first quiz. Woo! So I'm thinking English is going to be one of my favorite classes because the teacher is different. Think about this: what is the difference between a high class college and any other one? The courses are the same, biology is biology, calculus is calculus, it can't be any harder than it already is. So if the course work isn't different why is it such a renowned school? Tuition and one on one attention. If you go to these renowned schools, such as Harvard, there is no such thing as skipping class. If you skip the professor will call. If you skip twice they will be at your door. Normally colleges don't do that. Students must be self-sufficient and self-motivated. So students who go to normal colleges and succeed are more prepared for later life! That was my English discussion on Thursday.

Last night I hung out with Chelcea, Larry, Trevor, Mike, Nick and lots of other people who's names have escaped me. We played a game called "Curses" which is actually really funny because you get curses like you were playing with super glue and now your wrists are glued to your head. So you sit there with your wrists attached to your head for the rest of the game. It was pretty hysterical. We then went and saw the new Star Trek movie (for free) and it was awesome. I don't know much about Star Trek but I enjoyed that movie.

Today I went to Indianapolis with the harp majors. We bought tickets to a symphony concert that has a ton of harp parts in it. We then went and ate at an Indian restaurant which was very very yummy. Downtown Indianapolis has some very very neat architecture. When I got back Heather and I went and did laundry for the first time. It went pretty well actually. Took forever though cause people weren't watching their laundry so it was just sitting in these machines and they were all full and we didn't want to take it out cause it wasn't ours but we finally got it done. I then went to The Price is Right (like the TV show) unfortunately I didn't win anything. I wanted to win the 22" HD flat screen TV but no such luck. Better luck next time! So now I'm just chilling in my room with Heather. Have a great day!

Starting classes

College has officially started. I have now gone through my whole schedule with the exception of one class which is only on Wednesdays. I am proud to announce that I made it to all of my classes without getting lost or being late! I do have 8 and 8:30 morning classes so I'm very proud of that.

Yesterday my first class was history at 8 a.m. and can I say my teacher is very intense. He is a historian so he's very hardcore history...like Andrea. We started taking notes already and he told us that if we miss class we'll fail cause most of any test is based off his lectures, so miss a lecture fail the class. Exciting I know. Math was so easy after that, then i had a break before going to my first theory class, which gave me homework.

Then on to recital hour which is every Monday and I can't miss any of them because I'm a music major. Fun. Then I had harp ensemble which was much better. We didn't play yesterday because we had to work out private lesson schedules and then Peter Wiley (i don't know how to spell his last name) taught us how to change our base wires, which is really great cause I don't really ever change my own strings. I generally pay John to change them all every couple years, so it was completely new for me. He also taught me that to hear the very low base wire strings for tuning and things to pluck it up by the disks because you hear the actually pitch better up there. (For you non-harpists its ok if you don't care, it was just really exciting for me).

Today I had piano group at 8:30 in the morning. My professor is from Japan and has a really thick accent, but I needed my piano text book by thursday but lo and behold it was the one book on backorder. So, I had to go to the book store in the village to get a hold of the book and I then went back later today to get my english books. Moral of the story, I hate textbooks. Period.

I also had english today. That professor is really really informal, he swore a couple times in class but other than that I think I'm really going to enjoy his class. OH! The best news of the day was I didn't have to go to orchestra rehearsal!!!!! That saved me three hours today in which to begin homework, do this blog, practice more, (I've practiced twice today. Yes, be proud) and get more in control. So now I am much more relaxed. I hope high school is going well for those still in it, and that life is great for those who have graduated.

Love you all!
Valerie

Moving into College Life

Hey guys!

Ok I'm gonna give this blogging thing a shot, the idea sprang from school (Mrs. Lauver), and Candace's amazing blog that Grandma love's so very very much so I'm copying her. :) Just know ahead of time there are no guarantees on how often I update but I will try to make it semi-regularly.

I made it to Indiana in one piece! It took two days of driving and the Harry Potter books on CD to get here but we managed it. On the way up we went through Arkansas, Tennesse, Kentucky and Indiana. The only place we stayed to sight see was Memphis. We stopped at the visitor center first which had a really cool model of the Mississippi River! It was about a mile long and it showed how the river flowed, where other river's merged into it. The dams along it and it was filled with running water as well. As we traversed the Mississippi, where I was taking great pleasures in leaping over it in a single bound, we came upon a pair of wild foxes. They were very pretty and not very shy. Well one was more skittish than the other but the two stayed within humans and that was very neat. We then went to Graceland home of Elvis Presley. We took an hour tour of the house and grounds. It was really really cool. It was an audio tour but what made it so awesome was it was filled with things Elvis and his daughter had said but it was also filled with Elvis' songs which made it even cooler. This is the famous jungle room. After leaving Memphis we finally made it to Muncie at 1:30 A.M. in the rain. Oh did I mention that we drove the WHOLE way in Indiana in the rain? The only time it didn't rain was while we were in Memphis, Hurray! We then woke up at 8:30 and proceeded to move me into my room. It took my mom and I at least half an hour to an hour of destroying the set up in my room before we were happy with what it looked like. My roommate Heather is extremely sweet and and we're going to get along just fine. My floor is coed, so there are boys living next door to me. Don't worry. I'm not stupid. Luckily I have a semi-private bathroom which means I share it with my roommate and the two girls across the hall. How nice is that? So I think I'm really going to like it here, oh and before my parents left we went to Kokomo to tour a glass factory for a DOLLAR! It was sooo cool watching how glass was made, rolled, and blown. Very fun and so worth the money. Until next time!

Love,
Valerie!!