A Day in the Life of a BYU Freshman

Today I got up when I heard Preston playing in his crib just like every other day of my life and started to sift through my t-shirts to find one to wear to the gym (yes, I did start going to the gym...) when I found this little beauty. Here's a closeup shot and the back.This t-shirt brings back a lot of memories of my Freshman year of college thanks to the Campus Home Evening event. In our church we dedicate every Monday night to an evening with family. We have a lesson, sing songs, play games, and of course have a treat. Since we aren't living with family when we're at school we are put into Family Home Evening or FHE groups (I never heard this term until I went to college) with people that live near us. These groups consist of guys and girls and one girl and one boy are appointed to be the "Mom" and "Dad." Our "parents" were in charge of organizing each Monday night. Of course they didn't have to organize anything for this one night when the entire campus had a "Home Evening" with the campus President Cecil O. Samuelson and his wife. According to the Campus newspaper It was "an approachable setting where students feel like their questions are important, and it offers students a unique chance to make their voice heard." This is where my story begins.

Friday, September 24, 2004
I could totally give up on everything: school, boys, friends... it would be soooo much easier, but no fun! Except for the school part. It's cool that I'm at school though, that's what makes life amazing! I love being spontaneous like the other day, Tuesday to be exact, when I asked the student body president on a date in front of the President of BYU and a lot of the student body, it made me famous and I got a dollar out of it because my friend Brandon bet me a dollar if I did it. I don't think he really thought I would do it, but I did. I decided you have to make life what you want it, and if you want to have fun you have to do it yourself, not just sit around and be shy and boring... that's what I was doing lastnight for the most part and it was no fun. Anyway, because of this France Nielson thing A.K.A. student body president, a ton of people have come up and talked to me asking how it went, it's tons of fun being popular I'll have to try it more often. I like it when I can totally be myself, ya even though being myself is kind of a weird thing. Just because I am a weirdo, but I'm okay with that. It just means I'm an individual right?

Tuesday, October 12, 2004
I figured I should write down this story because it's one of the most exciting of my life. Alright, now I'm going to tell you the story about what I did at the Campus Home Evening with President Samuelson. There was a question and answer session and he was telling us that we could ask any question we wanted and told us how last year some guy asked how to get a date with his daughter and he said he was hoping that nobody asked that question this year because she's married now. But my friend Brandon who is my old roommate and best friend Megan's boyfriend told me he'd give me a dollar if I went down and asked a question. So I went all the way down from the top of the Marriot Center to the bottom so I could try to get the attention of the microphone guy. It took me like 20 minutes to get his attention with the help of the guy sitting in front of me because he knew the microphone guy and he thought my question was hilarious. So I asked the President of BYU in front of a large number of the student body what his opinion was on Seniors dating freshman, then I preceded to ask him how I could get a date with France, the student body president who happened to be sitting on the stand with him. He just started laughing and then said, "Well come down here when this is over and we'll work that out between you two." I was scared to death, I only did it so I could get a dollar and I didn't know what I had gotten myself into. I went down there after because the guy in front of me who helped me get the attention of the microphone guy, and the microphone guy were both friends with France and introduced me to him. He invited me to go to his office sometime and visit whenever I want to, his friends were all like, yea, come eat lunch with us sometime, blah blah blah, it was so funny. One guy even gave me a campus home evening t-shirt which was the coolest thing ever by the way because it's light blue and says "not your average FHE" on the back, I love it. Then the Dean of Students came up to me an gave me his card and said, anytime you want to talk to France just come to my office, he's there all the time. I was like a celebrity on campus for like three days. Everyone was coming up to me saying hey aren't you that girl who asked France on a date... it was so funny, I was just like yea, my friend gave me a dollar to do it. That was like three weeks ago and I never went to go see France because that would have just been weird. I had just gotten over it. Then last Wednesday when I was waiting to eat lunch with one of my friends I saw him and was trying to ignore the fact that he was there because I figured that he didn't remember who I was, but he came up to me and was like, "hey, were have you been, I haven't seen you around. Why haven't you come to see me in my office?" Then he preceded to ask me what my name was again and how to spell it. Then he said he had a meeting he was late to, but he'd give me a call sometime. Isn't that the funniest thing ever, I think he was going to look me up on stalker-net, and he was standing there talking to me when he was late for his meeting. I just thought it was the weirdest thing ever, and Mara (she's now married to my brother) thought it was hilarious. But he never called me, he must be too busy with homecoming or something. Then yesterday when I was walking to physical science and was like ten minutes early for once in my life instead of getting to class right on time. Anyway, I was walking and I heard someone yell at me from across Brigham Square and was like "Who's yelling at me" I turned around and guess who it was? It was France. He went out of his way to yell my name from across the courtyard. I went to talk to him, he was eating lunch with his younger brother who's 22, France is 24, they're really old, but they're both really nice. I talked to him for a while and told him that I was doing some of the homecoming activities, like going to hike and light the Y tonight. He told me that he has to speak at it, but to bring all my friends and come up and talk to him because he would be mad if I didn't, isn't that weird? I thought so. So I went to physical science and my friend Emily came in and was like you'll never guess who I just saw? France, he was sitting at a table talking to someone and I overheard his conversation, he was like yea, that's the girl who asked me on a date. I just thought it was funny how she passed him right when he was talking about me. It's the funniest story of my life, I really like it. WOW, that's all I can say.

Friday, November 12, 2004


Brandon owes me five bucks!
I"m going on a date with France, Tonight!

(Of course the bet was more than just the date asking, I received five dollars if I actually went on a date, 25 if we got engaged, and so forth... kind of silly really)

So there you have it, I asked a much older student body president on a date, in front of a lot of people, shy little me, right? And all for a dollar, or I guess potentially more. ;) He really was a very nice guy, but I have to say not quite my type. Every freshman girl thought he was sooo dreamy... except for me, and I was the one that ended up going on a date with him.

My roommate Dom who I wrote about in a previous post was in our dorm room when he called to ask me on a date (he looked me up in the online student directory we always called it stalkernet), and I was in of course in class. She gave him my cell phone number and he called me as I was rushing to do my homework before my psychology class. By the time I got home every girl in my dorm (literally) knew that I was going on a date with France, even the girls I didn't know, and they were all giving me tips on what I sure wear, and how I should do my hair. The worst thing was that he had to come pick me up at the dorms, so I was waiting in the main lobby surrounded by all the girls who wanted a peek, it was very embarrassing!

I'm guessing by this point some of you are wondering what France looks like. I wasn't good enough friends with him to ever have my picture taken with him and I wasn't just a passing admirer who could ask for a picture and not have to worry about it being awkward because they would never see him again. Hence, the reason I don't have any pictures of him... besides this one I found on the BYU website. I think this was right after he won the election which makes sense as to why he's got the #1 finger thing going on. He was very polite on our date to the dollar movie theatre, but the movie was pretty much all we talked about. The entire night was slightly awkward because we were doubling with his friend and his friends girlfriend and they obviously had been dating for a while. Plus, who goes on a first date to just a movie and nothing else? That could be one reason why he was single despite his supposed striking good looks.

All in all, it was an interesting experience, but I'm glad I found what I was looking for (Gabe, the best husband ever!), and I hope he did too. Maybe someone who really loved the dollar theatre and didn't eat much... because he definately was not my type. Plus, I ended up with a really cool shirt!