How I Survived College

1. Google It (when you're too embarrassed to ask anyone else) 

 Things like "how to microwave a potato"

2. Call Home (because mom). 

One afternoon I spent 3 hours looking for my keys. I searched every single corner of my house and ended up eventually calling my mom out of frustration. When her first question was if I had checked the key ring yet I was annoyed. Because OF COURSE I'd already checked the key ri..... oh crap.

3. Pranks (the good and bad ones). 
Filling your friends hallway with 1,000 cups of water at 3 am is always a good idea. Making a chore chart for your roommates without telling them it's a joke is not.

4. Having cool roommates/friends

5. Naps (because staying up until 4 am every night is a talent)

6. Being willing to not sleep (because no one remembers the nights they went to bed early). 
don't miss out on fun things because you're worried about being tired the next day.

6. Living Abroad (because mosquito nets and latrines build character). 
The eight months I spent living in Uganda and Nicaragua were the hardest and best of my life. Wouldn't trade em for anything because of what they helped me learn and who they helped me become.

7. Liking my job (even when that one guy asked me to pop his broken finger back in place). 

I worked the same job for four years.  I broke up fights, got sworn at, and didn't have much of a social life during the week. But I loved it because I decided on my first day that I was going to. The rest is history. Find ways to make your job fun, even if it involves a lot of unpleasant things (like telling girls they don't meet dress standards).

8. Stay active (but careful because you might end up playing every sport the intramural program offers)

9. Never say no to free food (even if its pizza from a dumpster). 
There should be no limit to the lengths you go to get free food in college. One time we stuffed my hood with an entire salad in the Cannon Center so I could eat it on the go. A salad. IN MY HOOD.

10. Improvising
I've been a third wheel, a fifth wheel, a seventh wheel, and even a ninth wheel. I've been all the wheels. All I'm saying is that these times could've been a lot crappier than they were. Just choosing to be happy for other people made all the difference.

10. Buckling down when necessary
One time I came back from Thanksgiving break and realized that a paper I was supposed to have been working on all semester was due the next day. I sat down on my couch and wrote for 11 hours straight. I got up twice to go to the bathroom and wrote through the night. I got the paper back two weeks later... 95/100. Moral of the story: Procrastinating is stupid but if you're willing to put in the time when you really have to then things work out. For the most part.

11. Knowing that no one else knows what they are doing either (cuz college). 
Do fun things and don't worry about looking stupid.

12. Choosing to do hard things

I used to sit up at night and imagine what my college experience would be like. In many ways all of my expectations were met. But in more ways than one have I been surprised with how things have turned out. My years at BYU taught me that life is about not knowing, having to change, making the best of things without knowing where you're headed or what's going to happen next. I've had to make so many decisions solely based on the way I felt or that I knew it would eventually be the best thing for me (even though I didn't want it at the time).

These decisions were tough but have panned out to be the best ones I got the chance to make because of how much they taught me and gave me a chance to progress. Last week I moved across the country because (after a lot of thought and prayer) I knew it was the experience that would pull me the closest to Christ. It has been a giant leap of faith but one with which I know will pay off. Ultimately it's been a  decision that I spent five years learning how to make. So if anything I would say I am grateful for the five years at BYU because they prepared me to be brave and start my real life somewhere else. Here is to the next five years, and then the next five after that.