The Semester so far...

An aspect of school that is better than I thought it would be is the class sizes, everyone was telling me that they would be huge and it would be hard to get a good education because there would be no personal learning and you would feel like just another grain of sand among the rest and that is not true at all. I have only a few big lecture classes and those classes have separate labs for their class for personal attention to learn the material. Other than that all of the rest of my classes are fairly small and it's easier to learn and get the attention I need when learning.
An aspect of school that is more difficult for me isn't necessarily something that I thought would be easier, I knew it would be difficult for me, but it's the fact that I need to be keeping up with everything that needs to get done. I find myself falling behind because I have so many tasks that need to be done, whether it's school related or just getting through life. I also ride by the seat of my pants and I find it's not the best path for me. I feel so scatter brained and I've NEVER been able to keep a planner or stay organized in the way people tell me will work, so I'm struggling to find the method that works for me. Juggling everything is definitely what I struggle with here at school.
The one thing I would change about my BYU experience so far is how far away I live from campus. I love the wyview dorms they're really nice, way nicer than heritage or helaman, but it's hard to be so far away especially when my source of transportation, the bus, only comes at certain times, it can make things a bit frustrating, and I feel like I'm wasting my time waiting for a bus when I could be getting things done. I wouldn't mind it so much if I had a car, but of course I don't, or even a bike, which is another thing that I don't have. But the thing that would make this situation so much better is if I had a motorcycle. Mostly for the fact that I've always wanted one, it's my dream in life to someday get one, I was hoping in college but of course since I'm a poor college student that's not happening anytime soon. But if I had one, I would be so happy and of course it would solve my living so far away problem! And of course make me very happy just for owning one.

My Adventure's at BYU

To start out I'd like to tell about one of my first adventures here at BYU. I was here for the summer semester, so this one wasn't exactly recent but it was when I really got to know the campus. It was a warm Sunday evening, that was slowly turning into the dark of night. After ward prayer a group of us got together and chatted to get to know everyone just a little better, most of us were at least acquainted with each other before so it wasn't too awkward. But a few of the boys noticed that their room mate wasn't there and concluded that he had yet again left with a girl in our ward that he'd become rather "comfortable" with. So with nothing else to do, the hunt started to find the two late night romantic walkers. I was just a follower, I didn't know what there intentions would be once they found them, but looking for better acquaintances and something to do, I joined in. We split into groups in search of the love birds. I went with two other friends. Our territory to search was up and around the bell tower and then to venture onto campus, pass the art museum and just go from there. We made our way up there, passed by all the Sunday night tunnel singers and made our way, on and on. We weren't having too much luck finding the couple we were stalking but we were sure having a good time finding our way across the dark campus, at that time I had no sense of direction for the campus and it just seemed so big and confusing, but now of course looking back I know exactly where I was and the path I took. After passing several other couples enjoying the moonlight that were not the couple that we were looking for, we met up with others that were on the search too that we had divided from in the beginning. And all of the sudden with them we started having luck. We spotted a couple on a bench over by the RB. We hid behind bushes, buildings and signs. After it was confirmed that it was them, all I remember was some boys taking action trying to sneak up on them, a yell and then everyone running so that they wouldn't be caught in the "stalking" party. Apparently someone had almost caught them kissing but were caught right before it happened. That night was fun, pretty pointless, and ridiculous. We had no purpose for doing it but I ran around the then unfamiliar campus and had a good time with people in my ward. It was probably my first adventure here.
And now for the sake of fully completing the assignment I'll tell my recent adventure, because I wasn't sure if that story would count considering it happened a few months ago way before the assignment was given. So my newest adventure... Since there is always booths around the Wilk, I decided I would be apart of one. And then I saw the perfect one and I could even get a free shirt out of it. It was the disabilities awareness booth. You could pick to be disabled for two hours then go watch a 20 minute video about real people who have to deal with real disabilities here at college and then get your free t-shirt. I chose to have a crippled hand. So they taped up my right hand so that I couldn't really use it. And my friend received crutches as his disability, which was limited leg use. I then preceded to order my breakfast of an egg and cheese omelet. Eating that was pretty difficult considering I only had one competent hand, which was my left. I also had to take notes in my Book of Mormon class with my left hand and it looked like a little child's hand writing. It was pretty interesting to see what I would have to do if I really did have a crippled hand, and especially my right hand. Luckily after two hours I was cured and could go back to normal, which makes me grateful that I can use both of my hands!
And I decided that now I'm always going to check out those booths and get involved, because there are a lot of things that are offered to do here at BYU.

Carl Bloch: Healing at the Pool of Bethesda

As I sat to examine this painting, I notice the obvious connections first. Like the fact that Jesus was in the light and the rest of the picture was dim. And that the man who was being healed was in a lot of darkness. I made the connection in my head, with the fact that Christ is the light of the world and until we come unto him, we are still in the darkness our selves. This statement is made very clear in the painting. But then as I sat there for a few more minutes I began to see things I had never noticed before. Why were certain things placed in the painting, and what was there theological meaning. Some of the items I could not rationalize why they were there, but for some I made my best guess.
First I'll start off with the beggars in the background. None of them are looking unto Christ, some are still staring at the pool and others are just simply not paying attention at all. For me this represents many of the people in the times of Christ, the Jews. Because of the Maccabees revolt, a false image of Christ was born. These people were looking for the wrong signs of Christ, just as the beggars are looking for the wrong source of power: the pool.
Next we can examine the little child standing by those beggars. This child isn't looking at the pool at all. He's looking towards the Messiah. Which represents the fact that we need to be childlike. And that is simply put by the soft and tender expression of the child's face.
Now let's focus on the pool. I find it interesting that part of the word Bethesda in Aramaic means "house of mercy" that sets the stage perfectly for the healing by the Savior. He has mercy on everyone.
Now what I had never noticed before that, and I still feel as if I was imagining it there in the painting was an obscure man in the lower left corner. I saw a man hunched-over underneath the Pharisees. He is hardly visible but I could make out his face. And a tiny slice of the top of his head was bathed in light. The connection I made with this man was that the Pharisees kept many people in the dark about Christ. They bore false witness and tricked many people into believing that Christ was just a man. That is why I think he is underneath them and in the shadows, but I also think despite what he was told, he was finding out for himself who this Christ figure really was. Which is why he has a little bit of light shed on him. This man I found to be very interesting in so many aspects.
But some of the things I couldn't figure out was the man slightly to the right of the man being healed. Why is he wearing a cap that is red, it's the brightest color in the whole painting. And also what is he trying to say with his face, and where is he looking. Also what confused me was why is there an object that resembles a watermelon by the leg of the man being healed? Does is serve a purpose or is it completely random?