That is how I would describe my first week living in Salt Lake! Although I've lived in a big city before (Orlando for three months), this has definitely been a new experience for me. Mainly because in Orlando, I was in Disney World for 90% of the time I was there, and I only did a few things outside of Disney when my family came to visit and also when I saw the space shuttle, Discovery, make its last launch at Cape Canaveral.
I am getting use to the schedule of a grown-up slowly but surely. I am not a morning person, but I have been going to bed earlier ( yes, at 9:30ish... I'm so lame!) so I can get around 9ish hours of sleep. I need my sleep people! Is it sad that I love sleeping? I think so. I should be out all night enjoying the single life, but hey, maybe I will get there eventually. But since I have been going to bed earlier, I am ready to wake up and get ready before my alarm goes off at 6:30.
For example, on Wednesday I think it was, I leaned over and looked at the time on my phone, and I swear it said 6:20. So I put my glasses on, got up and started getting ready. But instead of getting in the shower right away like I normally do, I went back to my phone to turn off the alarm before it goes off. It was 5:20! Oh the life of a blind person! I have made sure to check the correct time on my phone ever since that incident. But I was wide awake at 5:20, and I couldn't go back to sleep after! So I'm grateful that I have been able to get up without a problem, because really I love sleeping past 8!
Some of the negatives I have discovered living in a big city:
The water is disgusting. I miss getting my water from a well back home! I didn't think it was bad until I realized the water gives me a bad aftertaste that is hard to get rid of. The people I tell that to think I'm crazy, but they don't know where the good water really comes from, so they are the ones that are crazy not me! My roommates and I will be investing in a water filter sooner than later that's for sure.
Traffic is the worst. I can't stand it. Seattle is way worse though so I can't complain. Normally it would take 15 minutes from the time I leave my apartment to get to the doors of the Deseret News building. But with traffic, it takes about 30 or even more. I shouldn't complain because half an hour isn't bad at all, but I still don't like being surrounded by a bunch of cars going ridiculously slow. Luckily, my work provides TRAX passes to their employees so I decided to get one, and I have only taken TRAX once but it was the best! Now I get to work in around 20 minutes and don't have to deal with traffic. I would have had to pay $80 a month for a TRAX pass so I am grateful to be able to get it for free!
Light and sound are part of the city life. I live right next to a TRAX stop, so I sometimes hear the TRAX coming by or the railroad crossing poles coming down to allow TRAX to come through. I also hear a train blow it's whistle every so often. And the brightness outside of my window is so bright I can see every item in my room when I turn out the light at night! I need complete darkness when I sleep, so the first couple nights were hard to get use to but now I'm fine. And with my fan blowing and earplugs in place, I never hear the TRAX thank goodness. Once construction is finished at my apartment, it will be twice as bright outside so I will need to do something about that. But for now it's livable.
People are interesting. I'm so use to my small town or Rexburg bubbles, where I am surrounded by normal and LDS people. But people here are quite interesting! I try not to judge most of the time but it is really hard. I'm glad I am in an LDS bubble at work, and can't imagine what it would be like having a normal job in a big city where no one is LDS but me. That time might come someday so I am starting to accept people for who they are and mind my own business. I still walk really, really fast from my apartment to my car or vice versa when it's dark outside. Who knows what someone could do to me when I'm all alone!
Those are some things I have learned so far. I'm learning a lot, especially at work. I already wrote four articles (two on events, one on a book coming out later this month and one on an author of another book), interviewed one person and scheduled two more interviews for next week, and am reading a couple books to prepare for the interviews. I come home and have reading homework! At least the books are fun to read, even though they are long chapter books. I have to say though, seeing my name on articles I've written online or in the daily paper is so worth it! I get so excited. I will be writing a lot about events and books I'm sure, but I will also be writing articles for the Mormon Times which will be way fun.
I spent my first full weekend in Provo with my friend Candice and her friends going on a group date to a haunted house. Actually it was four haunted houses in one. Everyone got creepier and the last one was the worst for me! The part of the haunted house was a hospital, and I was told about a "lobotomy" before I even entered from this creepy chainsaw guy, and I'm already scared to death of needles. A lobotomy is some procedure where they take a needle and stick it through the corner of your eye to your brain... I think? At least that is what the chainsaw guy said to me... I was so creeped out I don't remembered half of what he said. Then we went into the hospital and the lady was like "who is here for a lobotomy?" and all my group looked at me because that is what the guy told me about outside! I was so freaked out! The whole time in the hospital was freaky, and in the other haunted houses I didn't get scared when people popped out at me or touched me, but in here I was grabbing onto my date for dear life and I swear people were popping out so unexpectedly! The worst was when we were in a dark room with white masks hanging everywhere, and so I was like "someone is wearing a white mask and it's going to start moving," but no... the person was in a black mask, came out of nowhere and grabbed my arm and I screamed bloody murder! My date laughed at me so hard, I was so mad! Well not really I can understand that I must look ridiculous being so scared. But yeah, it all started with the needles talk. Thanks a lot creepy chainsaw guy!
Oh and by the way... I stayed out until 1:30 and didn't go to bed until 3:00. HA! Hooray for living a little!
Today after watching conference, my friend Candice and I came back to my place and we met up with our friend Kelcie at the mall. Then we hung out at her place for a little bit afterwards. I hadn't seen both of them in over 2 years because they both went on missions and have recently come back! It has been great to catch up back up with them for sure.
Here are some pictures from the week! The first three are Deseret News related, I'm holding up my first two published articles. The next two are from my group date at the haunted house, and the last one is my hair in a waterfall braid that Candice did to my hair. I was in love with it!
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