Social Life- Finally

Alright, as college has gone on (third week I think, maybe fourth..) I have started to get more of a handle on things. I'm still realizing things I forget (i.e. my Foundations of Leadership class has an essay due every week. Oops. And my INDV class essays have to be 600 words or more. Once again, oops.) But I am at least remembering most of the information.
My weekend was wonderful, it went by way too quickly! But the game was great! I made two new friends, Derrick and Reginald. Here we are:

Aren't we just so cute?



UA won (of course) stomping out the Citadel Bulldogs! Woohoo! Serving before the game was a bit of a challenge. We were slightly understaffed so I was giving out chicken fajita meat with one hand and beans with the other. Overall it was a blast. :) And this weekend is another home game! I'm really hoping I get to work it again.

Sunday was a lazy/homeworky day. I got a ride to church from my former bishop's son (how coincidental, my neighbor Anika got the ride for me :) she's so nice). I walked home, it was warm and I got honked at (why do people even think that is funny??) but I liked the exercise.

Monday was a good day. I spent a lot of it at Institute and really enjoyed seeing everyone there. My friends Bethany and Grace and I ate lunch together. I also talked to Bert and Amy and Derrick (who might drive my car to me on Saturday! Woohoo!). Then I just did a lot of homework.

Today was a bad day. I was running around like a chicken with its legs cut off (thank you Greyson) all day. I only got partial credit on a rough draft for my English class (it must have REALLY sucked eh?). My Paladins class was nice, I won a prize but didn't get it yet. I need to do that tomorrow. We had a scavenger hunt a few weeks back and my partner (Aaron) and I won for most creative picture. My INDV class was disgusting. We went to a waste water treatment plant, I had been to one before but I forgot how much they reeked. I feel this one smelled worse because it was so so hot. It was very informational and our guide was a little kooky, so that kept things interesting. Thankfully my friends Becky, Grace, and Trisha are in the class with me. It was nice to hang out with them.

Tomorrow seems promising so far. I only have New Testament and my preceptor group as far as classes go. Hopefully I will be able to pick up my prize tomorrow too. :)

This weekend I'm babysitting for my aunt and uncle which will be really fun. My friend from NAU is also coming to visit. And I might be making pizza with Reginald! :) I can't wait.

I'm off to bed now, sleep is calling.

Chanda C. :)

Weekend!

Thank goodness for Thursday!! I get so happy when school is done for the week. Thursday night Lucia and I just hung out around the house. We went swimming, watched some TV (Bones, John Tucker Must Die), ate some delicious food (fettucini alfredo), procrastinated homework, etc.. It was a relaxing night :)
Friday morning Lucia had classes so I slept in, woke up at nine, took Luna outside and decided to make cinnamon rolls (I had frozen ones... That made me very happy). So while they were thawing/rising Lucia and I did some shopping, Sam's Club had a bunch of free samples and they were delicious. Albertson's gives 10% off everything to UA students on Fridays (woot!) and they had some nice sales running. I bought some lettuce, spaghetti sauce, nectarines, cheese, green beans, cream of chicken soup (Lucia hates mushrooms.. crazy girl), french fried onions (guess what we're making!!), chicken, and raspberries. Spent about $21 so that brings my total down to $36, but Lucia still owes me some.
Yesterday Lucia and I ran into a cliche-- we couldn't open our pickle jar. Thankfully we had gotten friendly with one of our neighbors (he has a husky puppy- so so cute!) and eventually he came and opened it for us. That was very thoughtful of him. His name is Taylor. He's nice. And he likes Superman (the BEST superhero). :)
Last night Lucia's dad and boyfriend (Tyler) came and visited. Tyler, Lucia, and I went to the laser lights show at the Planetarium on campus. It was so cool! It was like being in a screen saver... Very awesome. Tyler paid for all of us too (isn't he so sweet) so I went for free! We also walked around Main Gate which was really fun (except the DQ didn't have soft serve.. Lame sauce).
Today we are going to go laser tagging (its been a laser sort of weekend) and I'm excited for that! It's expensive, but it'll be worth it. :) Also today I get to work at the tailgate party, hopefully make some new friends, and then watch the game! :) I'm all dressed up in red and ready for our team to take down the Citadel Bulldogs! :) Wootwoot.
On Sunday it will be back to homework and getting ready for the rest of the week. Luna is adjusting really well, she's so funny around other dogs. She is so afraid of them when they get close, but until they're close she acts all tough and mean. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, I have to go put on some black for laser tag!
Chanda C.

Football Game!

All week I've been trying to figure out how/if I should go to the football games, if they're worth the money (a ZonaZoo pass is $90- yikes), if I should just go to one game/which one to go to, how to buy a ticket for just one game, etc. The Institute was the answer to my problems! There is a gentleman who runs the Game Day Grill at the tailgate party before the game at every home game. He wanted volunteers to hand out the food and in return they get free tickets to the games!! :) So I'm signed up to do that on Saturday and then go to the game. I'm so excited! I've never been to a college football game (any football game other than BR, and those were mostly just full of us stomping the other team ;) haha). Granted, it won't be as wonderful as going to a BSU game would be, but I'm super excited!! :)
Today I had granola and yogurt, string cheese, a granola bar, salad, and french toast to eat. Not a bad day for sure. I got invited to attend a meeting where there will be free pizza, so I'm heading there now. And I will also be going to the Cliffhangers meeting tonight. I'm really excited about potentially joining that club. I do worry it is going to cost a lot though, but I'll figure it out tonight. :)
My audition was awful. But thats ok. I'm accepting it. I should have read my monologue out loud a couple of times before auditioning. I might help with lights or sound or something like that which will be a new experience :)
My mentor for my Assurance program is really neat! She has done some inspirational speaking before (which is what I want to do) and she majored in sociology (which I am hoping to do). She plays tennis and handball. She is in Big Brother Big Sisters and I think I might try to get involved later on in the school year. I'm really excited to be able to work with her.
UPDATE: I went to the Cliffhanger's meeting and I am really excited about it. Unfortunately I need to buy my own climbing shoes and harness (should be between $100-$150 :P yeck) and then the weekend trips are like $5 to pitch in for gas. I'm debating whether or not I want to get involved. It seems like it would be a lot of fun, but shoes and the harness are going to cost a lot. One of the guys there said to not worry about the price, I can rent shoes for awhile to see if I like it and I can borrow a harness for the first couple of trips. We had to learn how to tie knots.. I'm really bad at it. But I'll get better :) Their first trip is this Saturday-- already schedule conflicts! They go pretty much every weekend though so thats good.
Anyway, I have to go figure out if I have homework!
Chanda C.

Back to School- what an adventure

Well, unfortunately my car was not finished at the mechanic. So the long weekend I spent at my mom's had no point- but it was fun. On Monday my mom drove me back down to Tucson, on the way back we noticed one of her tires was looking pretty flat so we pumped it up and went on. We stopped at Picacho Peak to walk around and use the restroom and my mom noticed that the front driver's side tire was showing steel through it (uh-oh). So she carefully drove to Tucson while I tried to find a tire shop that was open at 5:00 on Labor Day. Thankfully the Pep Boys Auto that she had taken Jane to was open so we went in there and they agreed to put new tires on the front, then they told us that two belts were fraying and needed replaced. We weren't certain if they were just trying to sell stuff to us, but the peace of mind was worth buying the new belts. So $300 poorer we left and stopped at Target to get me some groceries. I spent $43, half of that my roommate is going to reimburse me for though I think. So I'm now at $57 left for the month ($77 if my roomie pays me $20 back). I bought rolls, grapes, zucchini, tomatoes, avocadoes, onions, potatoes, rice, yogurt, eggs, and milk. My mom dropped me off at my sweet little home and left- unknowingly taking my wallet (including my cash, my student ID, my bus pass, my driver's license, and my Costco card) with her. Sad day. We have figured out a way for me to get it back, but for the next couple of days I have to pay for my bus rides with quarters ($1.25 a ride-- that sucks..). Oh the roller coaster of life..
I'm here now and safe. I had a little flu-scare-- last night I was running a fever and had body aches, but I took some Vitamin C and some ibuprofen and I feel a lot better today. Thank goodness. Now I have 3 days of classes to get through, an audition for the Honors play tonight, a Meet- Your -Mentor event for a scholarship program I'm in (also tonight), and a Rock Climbing Club meeting (which I hope isn't tonight, but I am concerned it is).
Hopefully at some point I will get my car, but that is going to take some doing (the road from Avondale to Tucson is cursed I'm pretty sure..).
I got a letter calling me to be a Visiting Teacher in University 5th Ward. I didn't know it was so formal that I would get a letter. I still don't know who I will be doing it with or who I will be doing it to (that sounds like its torture..) but I'm pretty excited to make some friends in my ward. I still feel like I am not making friends or memories (good ones anyway teehee). Lucia and I are going to have some people over probably next week.. So I'll be searching for fun looking people in my classes :)
I should go get ready for life. :)
Thanks for reading!
Chanda C.
UPDATE: Picture of Aaron, Melanie, and LunaBug waiting for my mom's car to get fixed. Thank goodness for technology! :)

Costco Cardholder :)

My Prestwich cousins came over today from Lakeside. Taryn and the boys had a cross country meet so they were down in the valley already. My mom and I got to add ourselves on to their business account at Costco and now I have a card. Woo! My roommate has a Sam's Club card, so we have all of the basic necessities more than covered. (I can't imagine a time where the two of us will need gallons of mayonaisse, buckets of condensed soup, or 2,000,000 feet of paper towels.. But we have access to it anyway.)
The car doctor never called us back yesterday, so I'm a little concerned I won't get Jane back in time for me to go to class. But my mom has generously offered to let me drive her car and she'll pick up mine on Tuesday. I'm so excited to have a car I can drive! :)
Thank goodness for long weekends. I did nothing productive yesterday (unless you count watching 4 Bones episodes on Netflix as productive :) hehe).
I'm thinking about doing a little experiment and documenting it on this blog.I want to see how cheap (cheaply?) I can live each month. Rent is $420 and utilities will run about $25 a month. But other than those expenses I want to see how little I can spend. I think I will start at $100 a month and then work my way down from that. My goal is to get to like $50 a month for groceries. This will be me making food for me and my roommate (but we'll split it 50/50) and LunaBug (but she just eats rice, frozen veggies, and canned meat). I am worried about getting enough fresh vegetables and fruits (I love eating raw food) so I think I will contact the Tucson CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and offer to make a kind of recipe blog for them if they give me a free subscription. I don't know if they will be up for it. But I would LOVE if they would let me. I think finding the recipes and trying them out would be a really fun way to cook- keep everything fresh and since my main ingredients are vegetables it might (hopefully) be healthier.
Has anyone heard of a CSA before? They're really cool. Basically they partner up with a farm and you buy subscriptions from the CSA. Each week you pick up a basket of fresh vegetables from the farm. You never know what you'll get til you pick it up and its just whatever was ripe that week. The one in Tucson runs $19/week for about two paper bags of vegetables. You have to buy the subscription for 3 months (a season) at a time. I don't think I could use an entire subscription by myself (seems like a lot of vegetables for two people and a dog) but it would be really fun!
So-- back to the budget idea-- I am going to take out the amount of cash I will need for the month at the beginning of the month and then lock away my debit card ;) I'll keep track of my receipts and at the end of the month go through and determine what expenses I can subtract for the next month. I won't spend any money other than what I take out (unless I'm starving, in which case I'll just try to get some guy to pay for my dinner and if THAT doesn't work then I'll allow myself another $10 to feed me, hehe jk). Hopefully it won't come down to that...
What do you think? How little can a girl and her dog live on? Keegan bets not less than $120 (I really hope to prove him wrong) :)
We're gonna go eat out-- Yay Texas Roadhouse (those rolls are so delicious...)!
Chanda C :)

First Post!

Hey, I've been told that college is the best time of your life. I'm horrible at writing in a journal so I figured I'd document here for the world to see. :)
A bit about me (as if you don't already know.. you should if you're reading this anyway):
I'm going to University of Arizona (somewhat reluctantly, great scholarships but I want to be at Boise State, GO BRONCOS!).
I graduated from Blue Ridge High School in 2010. I love this school.
I'm living off campus in an apartment with LunaBug, my sweet little mutt-mix (I'm guessing yorkie/dachshund) and my roommate Lucia.
I am in University 5th Ward in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
My mom lives about two hours away in Avondale (which is where I am writing this) with my little brother Aaron and my little sister Melanie.
My dad lives in Lakeside with my little sister Taryn.
My older brother, Wade, is going to Boise State and I am extremely envious of him.

I can't think of any other need to know information. So, first post.
College is nothing what I expected it to be. I was terrified to go, live on my own, ride the city bus (parking permits are outrageous, so I have a bus pass), blah blah blah. Then I got here and realized how seriously difficult it is. I figured I would have a lot of homework but I didn't realize that even finding the homework would be an issue. I'm taking five classes (six if you inclue New Testament at the Institute) and I have four different websites I have to use to do homework. Those are just the sites that the teachers put the homework assignments and syllabuses (syllabi?) on. Its ridiculous. The homework itself is mostly reading and reading responses which is fine once I find it. The other thing I've noticed is that there is no one to help. The college gives you a lot of resources, but actually finding those resources and talking to them is a task in and of itself. I've gone through chains of email just trying to figure out a program that I was put in (I never did figure it out) and people just passed me along to someone else, who told me to talk to someone else, etc until I got back to the original person I had emailed. Its ridiculous. I'm hoping to have it all figured out by the end of the semester though.
I really enjoy my classes. I have one that is all about places and how where you grow up affects who you are and how human's interactions with a place define it and it defines them. Its fascinating, but kind of a hard concept to wrap my mind around. One of my homework assignments is to eat authentic Tucson food at an authentic Tucson resaurant and then write about the experience (yay for tacos!).
I am also in a Foundations of Leadership class which is very interesting, the concepts and theories behind leadership. We've done some fun activities in that class and we're about to start on a group project which I can't wait for.
Another interesting class is my Honors Quest course. We're discussing what it means to be human, specifically what makes a human body. Our first class we debated whether or not Darth Vader was human. We decided it depended on which sequence you watched the movies in (seeing him grow up made him human to most people, but if you saw the robot scary man first then that image is what stuck with you).
I'm at my mom's house for this weekend, I managed to get every Friday off and we don't have class on Monday for Labor day. My car broke down (again and again and again.. bitter subject) but hopefully she'll be running today so I will be able to bring her back to Tucson with me. Her name is Jane by the way. She's a 94 Accord. Cute car. I almost had a heart attack when I bought her though. (Too much commitment...).
Right now I'm cuddling with Luna and watching Bones (amazing series.. I highly recommend it). This is the life :)