oh the joys of college.

Hi all. Welcome to another session of me, ellen genevieve larson, rambling about my goings on in life. It is such a sad occasion for summer to end....but I am actually really excited and happy to be at school. I was done slaving away at emigration every day.. i needed that break. (and can i just tell you how bad scooping ice cream sucks! never again!) SLC serves me well but let me tell ya, Logan is pretty freakin sweet. I'm glad to be back. I hope to aptly describe to you my experiences in the last week of summer and the first week of SOPHOMORE YEAR USU.

One of the last saturdays of the summer some of the girls packed up and headed to lagoon. what a great place. but FORTY BUCKS for a day pass...that is freakin ridiculous. It's not six flags standard, or even DISNEYLAND for that matter but it's all we got and people will pay the price. we all did. we hit all the major rides (wicked of course the favorite) and i also loved the bat. that'll jiggle your brains.

me, liza, and jeff enjoyed icees at one of the overpriced stands. YUM!


Ali and I headed down to Orem for one of our friend's weddings. Well sorta a friend of a friend. We were sent on a wild goose chase to this massive house in highland/alpine with a great backyard. we saw our friend mckay who just recently returned from the Australia mission (he has a hilarious accent!). Reunions are such fun.


On Friday, Aug. 22 I came up to logan for a big occasion. Go utah state for having ISHMAEL BEAH come to speak to all the freshmen. If you haven't already read his book "A Long Way Gone". It is harsh and really hard to read but he is an amazing writer. (he attributes his skill to his culture being a "storytelling" one and the fact that many things he translated directly to English from his native tongue Mende which is very poetic.
Background Information: He was born Nov. 23, 1980. At 13 years old he was a child soldier for 2 years. In 1996 he was rescued by UNICEF and taken to a rehabilitation camp. In 1998 he won a contest to come speak in America and came to NYC. He graduated from Oberlin College and is now 26 years old. He is so cute!!


As an avid fan of this African writer- I wasn't going to miss it. (however I was 20 min. too late for the book signing friday night dang! I was so excited to meet the man himself). Saturday morning he gave a convocation speech to tons of freshmen and a few lucky community members/older students. They stuck us on the last 3 rows in the Kent Concert Hall. That was frustrating as I got there early to try and snag a seat. The speech was amazing. So inspirational. This man has had the hardest go at life...he really is lucky just to be alive. He told all the kids that they should be SO grateful for their life in the Western World and for their opportunity to gain such a good education. He said that one of the first times he ever cried was when he got his college diploma. It was finally something taht nobody could take from him. He said that one of the things that was really hard for him when he came to the U.S. was the way that Africa is portrayed as "hopeless- a lost generation. there is nothing we can do." He was upset that people thought of Africa as a war-ridden country always. When he came around to writing a book his main goal was to portray the strength of the human spirit. For people to feel the exhaustion of going day to day fearing for your life. He felt the responsibility to put a human face on the whole experience...

EDUCATION:
He said it changed his life. I told you about the way that graduating from college hit him so hard emotionally. He said "All you people are the luckiest in the world to have access to higher education. Imagine having thoughts and feelings and not being able to write them down. Education is a self-discovery process. Never forget those less fortunate than you. Think about places outside of SLC, UT. Learn about other cultures before they become war-ridden. Exercise respect for all humanity. I miss the human connection in Sierra Leone. I miss the food! American food is .... bad."

I felt so lucky to have caught word of this thing that was happening. After reading the book I went to youtube and watched Beah read some excerpts form his book. How lucky I was to hear him speak. A LOT of people came out for the event and the book signing.

Ok I'm done with talking about that. Next- my classes. I LOVE my classes. I am taking all interior design classes and nothing else. I'm hitting the program hard. I'm taking an AUTOCAD class, Graphics, Computers&Art, Interior Design Seminar, Spinning (P.E.), Gospel&World Religions, and Doctrines of the Gospel. I have lucked out. I've got fabulous professors in every class and I'm going to love my homework this semester. It's going to be really tough- as I have heard- but very worth it.

The apartment: Oakridge- 25 apartment buildings with 24 students per building: hmm. SOCIAL. There is lots of fun people here. I love the ward and all the people that live in my building. My room mates names are Debbie and Whitney. They're really nice girls. Our personalities get along because we are all very clean. Such a plus. Debbie provided the 34'' flatscreen, Whitney provided the Xbox/guitar hero, and I did the decorating. Yes. We are happy. I love having an actual kitchen this semester. The shuttle picks up right in front of our building and I can get to campus in 5 minutes. WE have a swimming pool, a hot tub. and unlimited laundry. Yes, I'm happy. Now- the only thing we need is wireless internet. I HATE having to plug my mac into the wall. Quite annoying.
The Kitchen

Room




Whitney Playing Hero


It's only been a week and...I've already had tons of fun and met a lot of new people. I love to make new friends. Thursday was "movie on teh quad" basically hundreds of poeple showed up to wrap up in blankets and watch Ironman on a huge projector. Good fun. After that me and Andrea hung out with some really fun boys. In all the excitement they dropped me off to my car in a random gravel parking lot down the street. They drove off and I realized...that there were caution signs taped all over the car. I HAD GOTTEN BOOTED! dang. $70.00 fee to get the big ugly metal boots off. I didn't think the tiny gravel apt. was permit only. Oh joys.

Next day: I fork over 70 bucks to get the boot off and 20 minutes later i'm pulled over off main street by a po-po. The registration was expired on Mom's Infiniti. Oh wow. What a lucky day for ellen. After that whole ordeal I felt like staying in the rest of the afternoon. That was Friday. AT 7 that night I headed up to Bear Lake to meet the fam for a little labor day cabin time. We had a lot of fun. Me, Mom, and Aunt Mary, oh and neighbor Penelope (such a name!) went on the BL Parade of Homes and saw many ridiculously beastly cabins throughout the BL valley. It was a good time. Fun to see brother Graham for the 2nd time the whole summer. HE is glad to be home from Puerto Rico. Done with the Del Sol thing.

Well that's all I have for now! Until next time.

Elle.