BYU- California!

Even through I have been a member of the mormon church my whole life, until I came to BYUH I was never surrounded by other members. I didn't dream about coming to a church school either. In fact, if you would have suggested it to me in high school I would have laughed in your face and thought you were crazy. I thought BYU was where all the “good mormons” went and I was a rebel. I didn’t do anything to give myself this bad reputation but I was the girl that parents told their daughters to stay away from because I was a “bad influence”! The only reason I looked into going to a church school was because my boyfriend wanted to go and after he had left me for 2 years for a mission there was no way I would let him leave me again. When I saw that going away to a church school was way less expensive then staying home and going to school my whole attitude started to change. I didn’t think I would get in; after all I was a “rebel”! Hahaha!

Anyway, here I am today, I have been at BYUH for almost 2 years and I will be graduating soon. My opinion about going to a church school has changed so much and I no longer think of myself as ever being a rebel. Although, I’m sure if you went to my home ward and asked, a few people might say something different. I have learned a lot academically but I have also learned a lot about mormon culture and to be honest I think it’s the funniest thing in the world. I understand completely now why there is no BYU in California! BYUC as they would call it wouldn’t last! California can not handle the mormon culture. To illustrate my point I made a list of the things I find so funny/weird/cool/unusual/interesting (whatever word you would like to insert) about going to a mormon school.

• Publicly praying in the cafeteria, before class starts and before taking a test
• General Conference is a school holiday – this past weekend was general conference and the bathroom didn’t get cleaned on Saturday because they took the day off to watch it. Teachers will also assign less homework so you have time to watch and the topic of class on Monday will be what you learned.
• All soda is caffeine free
• Random people will trust you - one night I was doing homework in my room and a girl I had never met knocked on my door and asked me to hold a plate of food for her while she went somewhere. She didn’t seem to think it was weird at all even though I had no idea who she was. I held her food because that’s just what mormons do.
• In class teachers will relate what they are teaching to the teachings in the scriptures.
• School shuts down for an hour once a week for a spiritual devotional and everybody goes!
• Students get drunk off of energy drinks
• You go to church in the same room you go to class in
• The whole town is closed on Sundays
• People flash gang signs like it’s the cool thing to do and they don’t get shot
• Hitchhiking is the main form of transpiration
• Parents let strangles hold their babies
• All doors are unlocked all the time

If you have any more please feel free to add them. These are just the few that came to the top of my mind.

(This is a real sign that you see all over school!)