BYU

I started BYU this week, and what a new experience it was.  I'm such an optimistic person, I generally anticipate things to be easier than they actually are.  For my first class, I was nervous.  You would think I would be more familiar with BYU since I lived in Provo for more than 10 years.  I don't know what buildings are named what, and I don't know where the good parking places are.  So I went to my first class unsure of which building I was going to, and even where my class room would be located.  Stepping onto campus was already intimidating.  Students were walking briskly by, everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing or where they were going.  I was afraid of looking so out of place, I just followed traffic so I didn't appear to be walking around in circles.  Finally I found my building, and took only 1 wrong turn to find my classroom.  I sat in a corner by myself, and realized that nobody else was sitting alone.  As I got out my notebook and pen to take notes the old fashioned way, I noticed that most students got out their mini lap tops to take notes instead.  Wow- at that moment I felt old and out dated.  Thankfully a young man came and asked to sit next to me.  I was shocked really, I thought I must look so out of place, no one would sit by me.  After a few get-to-know-you questions and answers, this young man learned this was my first class and I was so unfamiliar with so many things.  Thankfully he was very nice and helped me understand some things on the syllabus that seemed to be such common knowledge.  He also took out a pen and paper to take notes, and I felt in good company.  While I wrote out my notes, I laughed in my head at the distant noise of all the clicking of keyboards and students typed out what they wanted to remember.  As the professor explained all the requirements of the class, I found myself more and more annoyed at how inconvenient all the extra curricular requirements were going to be.  I found myself asking "don't you know I have kids?"  This schedule is not going to be easy as most things are random days and randomly throughout the day.  I realize BYU is a school geared for the 18-22 year old single college student who lives, eats, and breathes school.  So for my first class, I was slightly over whelmed with how I am going to fit this all in, and not take away from my time with my kids.  I added up the amount of hours the professor expected his students to spend on this class, and it's at least 5 hours a week of simply studying.  The reading assignments are 80+ pages a week, plus papers, quizzes etc.  Finding an hour per day of quiet time to read and actually comprehend what I am reading will be difficult.  Some days I find it hard to squeeze in even 5 minutes of quiet time.  So we will adjust, and make it work as we go.  I'm excited to start my education!