Boise State: Bailey Goes to College!

College move in day finally arrived! A little too soon for me, and probably not soon enough for Bailey. She has been so excited to get started! She got to move in a couple days early, since she is part of the Honor's College. It was nice to be able to get her all set up, without the chaos of everyone else doing the same thing. She is living on campus, in Taylor Hall. We spent the day getting her all set up, and finding out where everything is around campus. She lives with 7 other girls. They each have a single room, so that is super nice. There are two bathrooms, and a living room area. They don't have a kitchen, because all freshman have to have a meal plan. There are several places on campus where she can eat. 

Moving in!

This is her small closet area.

This is her study area. Also her fridge and microwave (which she loves)!

We love this part of her room. The only request she had for her college room, was a cute, live cactus. There it is! She also got a super cool Himalayan salt lamp from Triska, and she loves it. And to top it off, she framed the art work that Mark Antoine gave her in Haiti. So fun! 

Mark hung the lights, and Bailey picked out pictures from the past year to hang up around her room. Such a fun touch!

Can you tell by her cute smile that she's super excited! Her room turned out better than she hoped, her fridge was stocked, a stock pile of food under her bed, we walked around to find her classes, text books purchased, she was ready to go!

After we got her all set up, we went to the Honor's College orientation. They took the parents to one room, and the students to another, and spent some time telling them (and us) what to expect from the Honor's College, and what is expected of them. After that, we all met back up for a dinner on campus. Then it was time for Mark and I to head home. I cried a little during our hug good bye, but not really because I was sad. I'm actually super excited for her. Plus, it's hard to be sad when she's so excited, and ready for this adventure. I cried more because things will never be the same again. She will never live at home the way she did. Sure, she'll come back for summer and stuff, but it changes the whole dynamics of our family. Change is always hard; in this case it's great, but still hard.

The next couple days she was busy with Honor's College activities. They sort the students into 5 houses (yep, just like Harry Potter)! Her inner nerd could totally come out, and it was great, because most of the other students are the same way! The 5 houses are all Idaho birds of pray, because Boise State has the best rapture research program and graduate program in the country. Bailey got sorted into the Harrier House. This will be her house until she graduates. She'll have this little community of students the whole time she's at school there. Yes, there is also a house cup to be won at the end of the year as well!

The sorting ceremony.

The sorting.

This is what she got that told her she was in the Harrier House.

It didn't take her long to make tons of Honor's College friends!

At orientation they told us that they expect the students to get a few steps out of their comfort zones during the year. Not a mile, but at least a few steps. Bailey takes everything to heart, so on Thursday, she applied for a position with the Honor's Student Association. She had an interview on Friday, and found out that same day that she got the position! She's the only freshman on the council. Talk about jumping in with both feet! It's given her a great chance to get involved, and meet lots of people. 

The HSA council: Braden, Edwina, Claire, Holly, Demi, Jackson, Bailey.

On Friday, all her roommates moved in! She had already been chatting on social media with a lot of them. She thinks they're all great! They get along really well, and are already doing lots of fun stuff together. The whole first week of school was loaded with 'Welcome Week' activities, so she stayed really busy!

Most of her roommates: Hailey, Paige, Angie, Natalie, Santiago (not a roommate), Bailey, Allie. The other two roommates are both named Sarah. One is an RA for their dorm, and the other isn't around very often. 

Neon Night!

Neon Night in between all the dorms!

They had a really fun water activity. All kinds of giant blow up things with water running down them. She had so much fun, but couldn't get any pictures, because they didn't want to get their phones wet.

Bailey and Paige

Hailey, Natalie, Bailey

Movie on the famous blue turf!

David, Idanna, Liandra, Bailey

 

First day of school!

Paige and Bailey on the first day of classes.

I get lots of texts and messages like this each week telling me how much fun she's having, and how much she loves college.

She also started Institute and a new ward. She only has 5 people in her institute class. She's taking Book of Mormon. She likes her ward so far. She's been to a few activities with them, so she's making lots of friends from that too. So far they've floated the river, and had a BBQ at the Bishop's house. 

Between the honor's college, school, roommate, and church activities, I'm hoping she finds time to study! So far she likes all but one class! I hope things keep going this good for her, because she LOVES college so far!